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What makes Visual Novels unique?


atchikotchi

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Now before i continue, let me just say that i didn't say that question as ridiculing or bashing visual novels whatsoever, just, well, as it exactly says, what makes visual novels unique from other video games and such? i came to love visual novels because they're varieties of them, the ability to choose a alternative & different ending (im not only talking about different girl/boy routes, but also the outcome of the story too) seems neat.

Rewrite-choices-blacked-out.png it's like a win-win situation where you choose the best ending without being dissatisfied with a bad or obligatory "canon" ending, one of the reason why i came to love VNs so much (Visual Novel: Rewrite)

other non-VN games that i have played that determine the outcome of the story based on your choices and decisions are Fallout (3 & New Vegas) and Record of Agarest War Zero (which is mostly reading and some rpg combat.)

fallout-new-vegas-11.jpg (Fallout: New Vegas)

agarest_war_zero_new_screenshot_06.jpg (Record of Agarest War Zero)

Anyhow back to VNs, most people that know little to nothing about VNs would say they are just eroges (dating sim or a "sex-only" game) while it is true that most have some or few sex scenes that fuel the story, the stories are somehow impacting and great, and hell, VNs without the eroge scenes also have great stories, Little Busters!,Rewrite and Clannad are good examples. So in all, what do you guys think makes VNs unique?

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I would say what makes VNs unique for me is the story telling, a visual novel really does feel like a novel. If I had to place it, I would say it is similar to those make your own adventure books where you flip to pages when you make decisions. That is what I absolutely love about VNs, the format in which they are able to tell the story and to be able to conceptualize it really is a work of art. From shorter VNs to longer VNs, I would say that is what hooks me. Also I do agree that people who don't know VNs just think of them as eroge or worse yet nukiges. I have yet to convert any of my friends otherwise, but maybe one day they will see it.

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Well for one the art is fantastic, but honestly I think the biggest thing visual novels have that other games do not, is that a visual novel can tell a story without the need for bloodshed.

You can tell an emotional, impactfull story, have agency over certain parts of that story, and your character isn't some sociopath fighting his way through hundreds upon thousands of doodz.

Jon Tron was recently on the Co-Optional podcast and described The Last of Us (a game I haven't played, but had a friend who was really hyped for it ultimately drop it due to this) as "A video game pretending to be deep that's just another excuse to blow peoples heads off".

The less agency a player has, the better a story you can tell to the player. The more agency a player has, the more chance there is of the player creating their own story through game play mechanics and emergent game play. Both are valid forms of entertainment and both do unique and cool things for the player.

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I rather take the "book" point of view.

For me, a visual novel is a book that uses strong immersion tools like graphics and music.

The music is especially important: associating the right scene with the right track enhances its impact a lot, but graphics are important too, because they really take you into the story in a much easier way than in a regular book, which is why you can afford to put lots of fluff text or SoL scenes without boring your reader.

The 'choice' aspect also makes VNs unique, because from a single situation you can see what kind of different stories can happen, alternatives, etc. It feels like you're actually exploiting the synopsis to its fullest. That's why in VNs that only offers alternative endings rather than really different routes, choices feel unnecessary to me.

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I love anime and VNs are most similar to anime + in VNs you don't have to worry about bad endings and protagonist not ending up with the girl you want him to end up (Alot of great anime were ruined for me because of thouse two thing). Also VNs usually have longer stories than anime and I love long stories because you can batter get into the story and you can also get to know characters batter in longer stories.

As for non VN games thouse days I only play the ones that have choices that determinate outcome of the game like mass effect, dragon age and jade empire.

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The level of story telling in VNs is what draws me in. You don't find many video games that just revolve around everyday school life (Persona 3/4 are the only 2 I can think of) or have as many plot twists. The writers of VNs don't actually have to do nearly as much as a writer for a video game. There is no including random plot points because of the way the game plays. All they have to do is write. So, in my experience, the story telling in VNs is often tighter and more detailed than a video game story.

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There is very little a VN can do that cannot be done in another video game genre - though most gamers would not even consider VNs to be games at all. However, if there is one advantage VNs have that no other medium currently existing has... it is the greater leeway some companies give to their writers (outside of moege and nukige) thus allowing them to create stories that would not be allowed in other mediums either because they don't have much mainstream appeal, are socially unacceptable on one level or another, or take on issues no one wants to admit exist.

It's precisely because the medium isn't taken seriously that it can get away with all of this, which is one of the ironic aspects of it. Akatsuki Works games, for instance, always have a philosophical theme that they frequently approach from a point of view that would be considered cynical or anti-social, and they do it in a way that would most likely never have been allowed in another medium. To be blunt, this is just my personal view of the value of VNs... most people probably wouldn't agree.

Understand, I mean that amongst the 'visual' mediums (anime, movies, tv shows, video games, manga) in Japan, VNs are the most likely to do something with a story that none of the others would even consider otherwise. Anime series like Fate/Zero would never have been allowed in such an unadulterated form if FSN and Tsukihime hadn't 'gone there' and proven there was a demand for such works even in the current age of moeblob and brainlessness.

PS: Japanese paper novels are my other passion, for similar reasons. Where Americans have stagnated, there are still some seriously good new insights there.

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There is very little a VN can do that cannot be done in another video game genre - though most gamers would not even consider VNs to be games at all. However, if there is one advantage VNs have that no other medium currently existing has... it is the greater leeway some companies give to their writers (outside of moege and nukige) thus allowing them to create stories that would not be allowed in other mediums either because they don't have much mainstream appeal, are socially unacceptable on one level or another, or take on issues no one wants to admit exist.

It's precisely because the medium isn't taken seriously that it can get away with all of this, which is one of the ironic aspects of it. Akatsuki Works games, for instance, always have a philosophical theme that they frequently approach from a point of view that would be considered cynical or anti-social, and they do it in a way that would most likely never have been allowed in another medium. To be blunt, this is just my personal view of the value of VNs... most people probably wouldn't agree.

Understand, I mean that amongst the 'visual' mediums (anime, movies, tv shows, video games, manga) in Japan, VNs are the most likely to do something with a story that none of the others would even consider otherwise. Anime series like Fate/Zero would never have been allowed in such an unadulterated form if FSN and Tsukihime hadn't 'gone there' and proven there was a demand for such works even in the current age of moeblob and brainlessness.

PS: Japanese paper novels are my other passion, for similar reasons. Where Americans have stagnated, there are still some seriously good new insights there.

I wouldn't really say that VN's aren't taken seriously it is probably that VNs don't require as much money as anime and other mediums so writers have more freedom because thouse who sponsor VNs and/or manga writers don't risk as much money in investment as thouse who invest in anime. Also a Japanese media as a whole have more b*lls than western media. And as for "There is very little a VN can do that cannot be done in another video game" I disagree with this totally as none other games can give you such detail deep stories and freedom of choices as VNs.

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One of the major advantages of eroge is that they're targeted at an adult and highly literate audience. This sets a higher bar for storytelling that's difficult to achieve when everything has to be dumbed down to a 5th grade reading level to appeal to a mainstream audience. Also like Clephas said, not having to appeal to a mainstream demographic allows a much greater freedom of storytelling and the ability to explore themes that wouldn't be accepted by a mainstream audience. It's not really the medium that's special. It's the unique market that has risen around the medium that's special, enabled in part because VNs are cheap to produce and don't require the massive budgets that other mediums require (thus necessitating mainstream appeal).

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There are several personal reasons why I think I find them to be unique.

Self-insertion and idealistic scenarios are at the top of the reasons why I like VNs. I feel like I can identify with these characters more easily.

I don't read books often. I was more into video games and MMOs growing up, so I've probably spent more time reading VNs than I have reading books ;x

I think the dramatic execution and up-close and personal relationships between you (the protagonist of a VN) and the characters can make a huge difference.

What I'm saying might be mediocre, since I'm writing off the top of my head and don't have a ton of literary experience or anything, but I'll give an example from Muv-Luv (no spoilers)

I think if I was watching the Muv-Luv Trilogy (mainly Alternative) animated, or in third person, I wouldn't be able to company sympathize or understand his idealistic progression.

I was able to really get into Takeru's head and see the extent of his ideals. I always thought "What's going to happen next?" in regards to his plan of action, and they kind of grew on me.

I have a solid ground for my own ideals, but I think following his, and seeing them develop throughout the story was pretty cool. Seeing the generals and other cadets and their own motivations personalized the war against the BETA for me. Without the first-person relationship I got from playing from Takeru's perspective, I think it would've felt overly idealistic to watch everything take place in an anime. I guess I just was really able to get into the VN at the time.

I've been reading Rurouni Kenshin, and I find each of the characters to be very idealistic, but ironically, the familiar shonen fighting characters don't seem to hit as close to home as the Americans and Japanese cadets from Muv-Luv in terms of voicing their ideals. I love the series, but for the action moreso than any personal relationships I've gained with the characters.

Anyway, the first-person perspective seems to do a lot in VNs. I think there should be some more manga or anime done in this fashion, instead of having the MC always shown in third-person. It may change things up significantly and add some level of self-reflection and creativity in how the reader connects to the character.

I figure plenty of books would be like a VN, but I'm comparing a VN to mostly anime and manga.

I guess the storytelling and basic features of a VN work well for me. Reading, hearing, and seeing the characters at your own pace does help. The scripts in VNs are less abridged than in anime, which can add a sense of dynamic realism and personality to otherwise cliche characters.

I think Japan's heroine archetypal characters benefit from longer storytelling a VN than in an anime, especially. Tsundere, kuudere, etc. characters don't feel quite as restricted to their archetype in this medium.

I also kind of enjoy the type of things Jun Maeda does/pioneers. Starting out a story a comedy before progressing to deeper and more tragic events works well to create character attachment, and can be found in a lot of VNs. His Key magic is alright, save for the asspull endings, but Key magic fixing everything is never what people love or remember about Key's stories anyway. Hmm, not sure what else x.x

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what makes visual novels unique from other video games and such?

I hold a similar opinion to Down on this one. To me, visual novels aren't games, they're books which are told in the first person with graphics and music. They're like a natural evolution of the 'Choose your own adventure' books you use to read.

I don't consider Visual Novels unique, interactive fiction has been around for a very long time and has recently made something of a comeback. I regard Visual Novels as an example of what the IF community could do with a little bit of backing and resources. Take a look at Emily Short's recent work of interactive fiction here: http://lizadaly.com/first-draft/

Now think of the work she could produce if she had a million dollars at her disposal...

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One of the major advantages of eroge is that they're targeted at an adult and highly literate audience. This sets a higher bar for storytelling that's difficult to achieve when everything has to be dumbed down to a 5th grade reading level to appeal to a mainstream audience. Also like Clephas said, not having to appeal to a mainstream demographic allows a much greater freedom of storytelling and the ability to explore themes that wouldn't be accepted by a mainstream audience. It's not really the medium that's special. It's the unique market that has risen around the medium that's special, enabled in part because VNs are cheap to produce and don't require the massive budgets that other mediums require (thus necessitating mainstream appeal).

Hm. I kinda disagree. On several points actually.

Well, first of all, visual novels aren't particularly well written. And I don't think the eroge audience is THAT much biased toward more intelligent or literate people (though I don't really know what you mean by "highly literate").

Second point. Sure, you're pretty much free to tackle any theme you want in your VN. Still, eroges are deeply rooted in a rather specific sub-culture, one that also includes most anime and light novels, and some mangas. As such it has a lot of codes, especially for character traits, and a lot of tropes. You can't really escape them and thus it's not a medium that allows as much freedom as you say. VNs are indeed cheap to produce but they're not free. Most VN companies are not doing particularly well, and doujinshi VNs are sold... at the Comiket. Which is THE one place where you have to appeal to your audience by subscribing to that sub-culture if you want to sell.

There are exceptions. But there are always exceptions, in every other medium too. There are tons of books/movies/TV series that also deals with rarely dealt with themes, that try new things all the time and that doesn't try to appeal to "the mainstream audience". Visual novels aren't something really particular. In fact, the market being so small doesn't make it very healthy, and thus doesn't push the authors to try out new things all the time.

Final point, but that's rather a personal fight of mine. Just because something tries to appeal to a wide audience (mainstream audience) doesn't make it necessarily bad or dumb, just as having kids as the demographic target doesn't. In fact (although that's less true for books, it is for movies or TV shows or anime), sometimes that's where you'll find some of the best works.

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It's like a nicely written book with pretty images on top of it. The greatest strength of VNs, for me anyway, it's not just the story but the character interaction and learning one's personality. You wont get to know character anywhere else like you can learn in these types of games (aside from few other gameplay-related Japanese games). From the life important things to unimportant things, all that info gives us insight of a character that we are looking at and it's what makes us love them. The choices during the VN, if there are any, drive us to pick the girl that intrigues us the most, be it by her looks or some moe stuff that she showed. But of course, there are always exceptions, like Down said above...

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I don't really much that VN's have to offer that you can't find in other media forms: you can find multiple routes and alternate endings in video games; you can get the same kind of character art, voice acting and such from manga and anime; you can find the same kind of writing style in light novels; and you can find romance anywhere.

What's different about VN's is that it's pretty much the only artform that has all of these combined in such a way as they do.

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Well, first of all, visual novels aren't particularly well written. And I don't think the eroge audience is THAT much biased toward more intelligent or literate people (though I don't really know what you mean by "highly literate").

I meant that VNs are above the reading level of anime, JRPGs, and most manga. It's exceedingly obvious if you're learning Japanese and you try and see what you can understand in various media types. The level of grammatical complexity and variety of kanji you see in VNs isn't something you find in anime and many manga, especially anime. Anime tend to be targeted at teens.

I had a rather interesting conversation with an NISA employee. He claimed that Japanese language and culture was simplistic and limited the level of storytelling that could be achieved (as evidenced by the bland and repetitive dialogue that had to be improved and given added flavor in the game localization process). Well, obviously, his reference point was (NISA) JRPGs and what anime culture he'd been exposed to. It didn't dawn on him that his exposure was predominantly biased towards media aimed at middle schoolers. If he'd played a selection of the best VNs in the genre he'd probably have revised that opinion.

Second point. Sure, you're pretty much free to tackle any theme you want in your VN. Still, eroges are deeply rooted in a rather specific sub-culture, one that also includes most anime and light novels, and some mangas. As such it has a lot of codes, especially for character traits, and a lot of tropes. You can't really escape them and thus it's not a medium that allows as much freedom as you say. VNs are indeed cheap to produce but they're not free. Most VN companies are not doing particularly well, and doujinshi VNs are sold... at the Comiket. Which is THE one place where you have to appeal to your audience by subscribing to that sub-culture if you want to sell.

The specific media I had in mind for comparison were anime, manga, and games--mostly anime and games, since I don't read manga. Every medium has tropes. Especially compared to games, VNs offer a low-cost solution to tell a story without having to spend most of their budget on 3D graphics and sound effects. I see VNs with gameplay as the cure for the common JRPG: a medium with manageable development costs, targeted at an adult audience (less chuuni, more mature themes), with a potential for innovation amidst the stagnation of the JRPG.

Final point, but that's rather a personal fight of mine. Just because something tries to appeal to a wide audience (mainstream audience) doesn't make it necessarily bad or dumb, just as having kids as the demographic target doesn't. In fact (although that's less true for books, it is for movies or TV shows or anime), sometimes that's where you'll find some of the best works.

I can't recall the last children's production that appealed to me at all. The need to appeal to the mainstream dictates the type of story you're allowed to tell, or if you're allowed to tell a story at all. Look at RPGs these days; conversation skip is becoming increasingly common because many players just don't give a damn about the story at all. We're seeing a move towards optional storylines and narrativeless gameplay, because that's what Western gamers are demanding.

I suspect we aren't going to reach agreement here. I doubt we even share the same tastes in VNs, much less other types of media we'd use as a reference for comparison.

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I meant that VNs are above the reading level of anime, JRPGs, and most manga. It's exceedingly obvious if you're learning Japanese and you try and see what you can understand in various media types. The level of grammatical complexity and variety of kanji you see in VNs isn't something you find in anime and many manga, especially anime. Anime tend to be targeted at teens.

I had a rather interesting conversation with an NISA employee. He claimed that Japanese language and culture was simplistic and limited the level of storytelling that could be achieved (as evidenced by the bland and repetitive dialogue that had to be improved and given added flavor in the game localization process). Well, obviously, his reference point was (NISA) JRPGs and what anime culture he'd been exposed to. It didn't dawn on him that his exposure was predominantly biased towards media aimed at middle schoolers. If he'd played a selection of the best VNs in the genre he'd probably have revised that opinion.

I'm not exactly sure that VNs are above the "reading" level of anime/JRPGs/manga (essentially because there are rather complex works in those categories too, and because not all VNs are well written), but I do agree that it often is quite simplistic in those media.

Sadly, at least for anime, those are aimed at 18+ old people. There are two main kind of anime: the ones aimed at kids and young teens, and the ones aimed at 18+ old otakus. The "blu-ray sales dependent" variety, the one we westerners mostly watch, is the latter and is aimed at 20+ old people who can buy said blu-rays.

I suspect we aren't going to reach agreement here. I doubt we even share the same tastes in VNs, much less other types of media we'd use as a reference for comparison.

Rather than tastes, I think it's because you're mainly taking the point of view of VNs as games and compare it to games, a domain that I mostly don't know about, whereas I'm taking the point of view of VNs as books and compare them with anime and mangas.

Overall, what I'm trying to say is:

Anime and mangas (especially the latter because it's cheap as hell to produce) also have their fair share of complex, well-written and mature works. And VNs don't strike me as having a much larger proportion of good versus bad, although I haven't read that many.

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I don't read manga, light novels, or novels in general (anymore). VNs have a number of features that make them distinct from and not comparable with books, whereas VNs share a number of characteristics with games. In fact many VNs ARE without question games, while there's not a single VN you would say is a "book". And in general, my favorite VNs are the ones with greater interactivity and gameplay elements.

I play VNs and games for immersion in a fictional world. This is something VNs can do better than just about any other medium out there except for other games. Over other games, VNs have the advantages I've already discussed.

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Look at RPGs these days; conversation skip is becoming increasingly common because many players just don't give a damn about the story at all. We're seeing a move towards optional storylines and narrativeless gameplay, because that's what Western gamers are demanding.

Whaaat? :huh:

Firstly, fans of Obsidian, Bioware and CD Projekt want to have a hostile get-together little talk with you!

Secondly, 'Telltales - the Walking Dead', a game often referred to as a Western VN (maybe interactive movie would be a better description), wouldn't have sold 8.5 million episodes if Western gamers didn't care about storylines. A game released to much critical acclaim because of its mature storytelling, and one of the biggest sleeper hits over the last couple of years.

2012 will go down in gaming history as the year of the narrative, thanks largely to Telltale Games' tour de force The Walking Dead. Spend some time in the indifferent and bleak world crafted by main writers Sean Vanaman, Jake Rodkin and Gary Whitta, and you'll see the power of character come to life amidst a dead world. Over the course of the five episode Season One, Lee and Clementine became characters we cared about, suffered with, agonized over, and ultimately wept for. Through tumultuous side stories, like Kenny, Katjaa and Duck's tragic arc, to the many colorful characters we met along the way, The Walking Dead created such a strong bond between its characters and the gaming community that its reverberations will be felt for years to come, setting the bar that all narrative-driven games will be measured against in the process.

http://au.ign.com/wikis/best-of-2012/Best_Overall_Story

Lastly, I'd argue the opposite of what you're saying. Story is becoming a much, MUCH bigger part of gaming then it used. Take 'Tomb Raider' for example, used to be all about puzzles and gameplay, but now it has a gripping story and character development to boot. The story in 'The Last of Us' is VERY hard to ignore, 'Bioshock infinite' had a compelling story. Even 'Spec:Ops - the line', a military shooter, included a VERY strong story on it's single player campaign. And that's without touching the RPG genre. You have game designers coming out saying how narrative has become increasingly important over the past 5 years, with David Cage going even further with his view that games need to take inspiration from the film industry. David Cage is the head of 'Quantic Dream', the company who developed 'Heavy Rain'. I honestly don't see how western games are transitioning towards 'narrativeless gameplay'.

PS - I like the 'conversation skip' feature. Because after you play through a game 15 times, a lot of the conversations you can recite by heart. I'd like the option to 'skip' them please. However, allowing gamers to accidentally select a conversation option when they're trying to skip a conversation is not cool. And yes Bioware, I'm full-on glaring at you.

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Whaaat? :huh:/>

Firstly, fans of Obsidian, Bioware and CD Projekt want to have a hostile get-together little talk with you!

Secondly, 'Telltales - the Walking Dead', a game often referred to as a Western VN (maybe interactive movie would be a better description), wouldn't have sold 8.5 million episodes if Western gamers didn't care about storylines. A game released to much critical acclaim because of its mature storytelling, and one of the biggest sleeper hits over the last couple of years.

2012 will go down in gaming history as the year of the narrative, thanks largely to Telltale Games' tour de force The Walking Dead. Spend some time in the indifferent and bleak world crafted by main writers Sean Vanaman, Jake Rodkin and Gary Whitta, and you'll see the power of character come to life amidst a dead world. Over the course of the five episode Season One, Lee and Clementine became characters we cared about, suffered with, agonized over, and ultimately wept for. Through tumultuous side stories, like Kenny, Katjaa and Duck's tragic arc, to the many colorful characters we met along the way, The Walking Dead created such a strong bond between its characters and the gaming community that its reverberations will be felt for years to come, setting the bar that all narrative-driven games will be measured against in the process.

http://au.ign.com/wikis/best-of-2012/Best_Overall_Story

Lastly, I'd argue the opposite of what you're saying. Story is becoming a much, MUCH bigger part of gaming then it used. Take 'Tomb Raider' for example, used to be all about puzzles and gameplay, but now it has a gripping story and character development to boot. The story in 'The Last of Us' is VERY hard to ignore, 'Bioshock infinite' had a compelling story. Even 'Spec:Ops - the line', a military shooter, included a VERY strong story on it's single player campaign. And that's without touching the RPG genre. You have game designers coming out saying how narrative has become increasingly important over the past 5 years, with David Cage going even further with his view that games need to take inspiration from the film industry. David Cage is the head of 'Quantic Dream', the company who developed 'Heavy Rain'. I honestly don't see how western games are transitioning towards 'narrativeless gameplay'.

PS - I like the 'conversation skip' feature. Because after you play through a game 15 times, a lot of the conversations you can recite by heart. I'd like the option to 'skip' them please. However, allowing gamers to accidentally select a conversation option when they're trying to skip a conversation is not cool. And yes Bioware, I'm full-on glaring at you.

I'm strongly against using "Tomb Raider" as an example, but everything else is certainly what I'd consider truth on our current state in the industry. It isn't all at once heading in any direction in particular: there's so much variety nowadays.

I think if there's one common goal to which the majority of developers are heading, it's player immersion.

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Over other games, VNs have the advantages I've already discussed.

I accept that VNs take on more socially risky themes because of it's smaller audience, but I don't agree with the other points (if I read your original post right. It was sorta vague).

If you're talking about how VNs are targetted towards more adult audiences, that's really only true for Japanese games. In Japan, not many adults play games whereas in the West, a lot of gamers are adults. So VNs may very well be targeted at an older audience in Japan (I really wouldn't know) but that's not the case in the West.

The Witcher, for example, definitely not aimed at kids. The same with Telltales.

In the West, the average age of a gamer is 30 years old, 68% of gamers are older than 18. In Japan, most gamers are young. The average age of a gamer in Japan is about 15. Most games released in the West are released for adults, in Japan, a lot of games are targeted at children.

If you're talking about how VNs are aimed at a highly literate or learned audience, that's may be true compared to JRPGs, but seeing as their primary demographic are teens - it's not saying much. It's definitely not true at games in general. In fact, you'd probably be the target audience of CD Projekt or Obsidian if you could stomach their gameplay.

Planescape Torment's 'What can change the nature of a man' is one of the greatest themes in gaming. I haven't seen it's equal in any VN I've come across (but I can't read the vast majority of VNs, so that may not mean much.) The Witcher's political intrigue is also something that needs to be experienced. Very detailed, very mature, aimed at adults and aimed at a highly literate audience.

It isn't all at once heading in any direction in particular: there's so much variety nowadays.

So true, mate. 6 years ago I couldn't say that, but these days there's pretty much a game for everyone :D/>

Good times!

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Very interesting discussion we’ve got going here. I absolutely love visual novels, of course; but much of why they are so good has already been said quite well. So let me, for the sake of argument, play devil’s advocate, and put forth some points.

Point 1: Visual novels are offshoots of Japanese media (ie anime/manga/LNs/other VNs etc).

That is to say, all VN devs are influenced by Japanese media in some way or another. While there have been attempts to produce a “Western” VN, such efforts feel like feeble attempts to imitate the better Jp VNs.

Point 2: The direction that Japanese media is currently progressing in is VERY different to where it used to be heading 10 years ago.

The overwhelming majority of anime (or manga/LNs etc) is drawn, storyboarded, and produced as a direct homage to what people think to be “moe”. While not all anime are as blatant about it by dangling the carrot of added blu-ray fanservice as a possibility, all of them have that one girl that they will try to push as poster-girl. There will always be the same hints: she will be single, have firm ideals and a great “inner strength”, but still with an obvious air of vulnerability about her. The show may also implant in the viewer’s mind the idea of a relationship by mentioning she is single, showing how popular she is with her other cast members, or discreetly sneak in a fanservice shot or two. She is almost never already “taken”; or in the rare cases that she is, her boyfriend will invariably be some embodiment of the classic otaku stereotype that she is designed to appeal to.

Point 3: This has implications for the future of VNs, because VNs are offshoots of Japanese media.

The reason why the above discussion is relevant to VNs is because VNs originated as stories that “focus on the appeal of the female protagonists” – or, in common parlance, their level of “moe”. Not one VN does not have getting together with said female protagonists as their end-point. As such, to make this a desirable end-point, they make their girls more likeable, more moe. The resounding success these VNs have had proved to devs of other Japanese media that this is a sellable stereotype, and as such they have tried to incorporate it into their stories as well. Furthermore, the “moe” phenomenon is not the only thing they had borrowed from VNs; anime take their lessons from VNs in many other ways – it could be as subtle as this; or as obvious as discussing VNs in the anime themselves.

Point 4: By having ALL VNs “focus on the appeal of their female protagonists”, it restricts the market – of ALL Japanese media – to developing ONLY the aforementioned – at the expense of all others.

While it is true that we have VNs to cater to all tastes, it is perhaps more surprising that this has occurred DESPITE the fact that ALL VNs have this common theme of characterising each of their endings as belonging to a specific girl (ie one of their protagonists). This almost certainly is detrimental to the devs’ creative potential, as it forces them in to making sure EVERYTHING they produce fits this specific critieria – almost as if the presence of moe elements as an inviolable dictum that devs would fear to breach for fear that the market would not yet be ready for such ideas. There are endless ways in which a story could develop or end on, whether or not it “belonged” to a girl (or indeed if romance is present or not); but now, because that is all everyone seems to be restricted to developing, I fear Japanese media market runs the risk of stagnation once all possibilities in this field are exhausted.

As always, alternate points of view are welcome~ B)

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Overall agreed.

I would restrict "japanese media" to anime, LNs, VNs and maybe games (not very knowledgeable on that point) though. Mangas are in a large part unaffected (not saying it's not but that's far from being overwhelming) because it has a muuuch wider audience and is very cheap to produce, allowing pretty much all the variety you could imagine.

Light Novels should be this way too, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be.

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