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"Everything disappoints me"


MarcomiX

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Hello there!

Just a simple question: have you ever had an "everything disappoints me" kind of situation?
Let's focus on VNs here...

Almost every VN I read in the last 4 or 5 months were disappointing. Disappointing enough to make me drop them.
Take Tsujidou-san no jun'ai road...I dropped it 5 mins ago. Until a certain part of the story, I was like "whoah! Finally an Hands-Down good VN!". Then, that part arrived.
It wasn't as shocking as it was for Hatsukoi, but still.
That's the kind of VNs I hate the most: the ones that are close to perfection, until a certain part.
Before that, Little Busters!, That I dropped out of exhaustion.
Before that, Majikoi!.
Before that, To Heart 2.
....
well, probably it's the lil' old me that is getting older and more critic, but damn....the last, VERY good VN I read was Wagamama High Spec, for cryin'out loud!
So, have you ever had a similar situation? 
If so, how did you managed to get over it?

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You don't. I have being hating on moeges since the past 2 years. I just don't even give them the chance anymore. I focused on other genres, at first I was too scared to read utsuuge VN's. I didn't want to feel sad. However, I absolutely love this genre. So try something totally new, it might be a nice change of pace. 

Edited by Asonn
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I had a similar feeling with anime a few years back. What helped me was like Asonn said, trying something new. Turned out I was just a bit burnt out from watching the same genre over and over. Trying out all kinds of different genres rekindled my interest in anime quite quickly.

So, perhaps try reading a completely different genre. You might find yourself loving it.

Ninjaed by Lesiak, grr! Being the second one to say something is fine, but the third? GAH! Darn you, making me seem like a parrot!

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First of all, do you even want to continue reading VNs? Maybe you're feeling a bit tired of them, take a rest, try anime or manga or even something less weeb for a change.

If you really want to continue, try to write down everything that you like and dislike in a VN. Don't go for VNDB scores, don't go for other people's recommendations, go only for what you really like. I enjoyed some VNs that are barely a 7 on VNDB and I found them totally randomly. Search the tags by yourself, don't be afraid of opening the spoilers if you REALLY want to avoid certain stuff, research a bit about the novel here on Fuwa.

And I also agree with Asonn, and Lesiak, and Dergonu, dammit lots of parrots, try not to read the same type of stuff one after another, it becomes tiring REALLY FAST if they use the same cliches. Why not try something different? A plotge, an otomege, a yurige maybe? Maybe you'll surprise yourself.

Edited by MaggieROBOT
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You are just reading SoL VN's. It's not surprising that you are bored. It's the same as to eat pizza 🍕 every day. Sometime you don't want to see a pizza anymore because you feel like vomiting.

Try something else! Read Umineko, Higurashi, Tokyo Babel or try other genres out! 

However I would recommend you to take a rest and do something else.

Edited by -soraa
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I get what you are saying I've put quite a bit of things on hold/dropped them

Tsujidou-san is on hiatus for me as well because of one awful character and the fact that I don't like the direction every route seems to be going in.

So yeah play something completely different then what you are used to, expand your horizons. Who knows, you might find something wonderful.

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I have had my ups and downs with VNs. Since I started reading back in 2015, I have multiple times, during several months, almost completely stopped reading VNs, only to come back newly encouraged and be once again be dissapointed, having read another novel in which I found myself more reading for completion's sake than anything else, and once more leaving for months upon months. 

I think what has kept me going this long is how at the start of me reading VNs I also started learning Japanese (why I honestly have no clue, I am one of those guys that just goes ahead and does something and will not be discouraged I guess). Once I had then gained enough leeway in the language I started pretty recently reading VNs once again (in Japanese) and found it a whole lot more encouraging and enjoyable, both from a learners perspective - getting to see your own progress in the language, and from a perspective of being able to read VNs that I were more interested in than perhaps I was others I had read purely based on them being translated.

As a side note I will give a tip for Japanese learners - read a novel you really want to read and not just one purely based on your skill in the language. I had previously tried reading various VNs purely because they were easy and I found myself not able to stand it (whether this is the case for you is, of course, not certain, just my experience).

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54 minutes ago, VirginSmasher said:

I personally feel insulted by this comment.

Yeah pizza is awsome and when it's bad it's still pretty good :D

 

Well this kinda things happen in 3 occasion as far as my experience goes:

1. You read to much VN-s from the same genre so you are bored of it
2. The genre you read doesn't really suit your taste
3.  You read something really good and now look for that in everything

Most of the time changing the genre or just stopping reading for a time is a good idea (like the others said). In my case I just simply lower my expectations depending on the VN I read.

Funny how I'm the complete opposite of you :D I droped Wagamama but I love Majikoi and I will love Tsujido when it is completly translated.

Edited by TheCrimsonFucker
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1 hour ago, Weiterfechten said:

As a side note I will give a tip for Japanese learners - read a novel you really want to read and not just one purely based on your skill in the language. I had previously tried reading various VNs purely because they were easy and I found myself not able to stand it (whether this is the case for you is, of course, not certain, just my experience).

I had this same exact experience when I started with unTld. Reading VNs that were around my level bored me to tears and felt like studying. Except, even with studying I had more fun. Then I found a VN way out of my level but that really interested me. And although my progress was kind of slow, it was really fun.  

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6 hours ago, MarcomiX said:

Hello there!

Just a simple question: have you ever had an "everything disappoints me" kind of situation?

All the time, which is when I cycle mediums. So I'd go through a phase where there seems to be so many great VNs out there ... until there isn't, at which point no matter what I pick up it's a one-way trip to Grand Disappointment Central. So I'll head to books, and wow look at all the great books released during my VN phase, but after a while I'll burn through those as well. Then I'll head to games and man, I can't believe I missed out on Trails of Cold Steel. Then when I burn out on games I head to anime and manga. Light Novels. Western and Asian TV series. Then I'll come back to VNs and look at that! Tokyo Babel has been released, and what a great translation too! I'll just gobble that up ...

VNs are just a medium for storytelling, and there's plenty of mediums out there. There's always something out there in some form that'll entertain :) 

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Find something with a better protagonist.  While Tsujidou is all about mismatched couples, Dai still sucks, no matter how you put it.  The midpoint of the common route

Spoiler

(stay with Tsujidou or not)

is the absolute worst part of the game, but there are a lot of other face-desk points. 

Either that, or switch to normal video games or another genre (nakige, for instance) for a playthrough or two... or even take a break for a week. 

If you absolutely have to stick to the same or similar genres, I suggest Minamijuujisei Renka; Floral Flowlove; Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no; Komorebi no Nostalgica; or Kamikaze Explorer.  These all have great (much better) protagonists and are first-class games. 

If you are interested in a change of pace while sticking to VNs, you might consider challenging yourself with the Tiny Dungeon series; Hello, Lady; or perhaps Semiramis no Tenbin. 

 

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47 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

It's kind of amusing that the OP gets immediately adviced to drop moege's to avoid disappointment, if the only VN he didn't drop and even considered very good was a 100% pure moege with little to no story or drama parts. Do people even read posts before answering anymore those days?

I didn't tell him to drop moege. I just explained that's how it worked with me personally. He can drop whatever he pleases.

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As for how to get over that, I think what Rooke said should be enough. Or maybe take a rest and play more serious VN if you really tired of moege. Although I understand though in OP case it's more or less like HatsuKoi, only that Hiroshi kissed three girls at the same time. Honestly seeing that it almost have the same atmosphere as Majikoi and have the mid VN twist that's basically amplified that one twist back at HatsuKoi - Maya kissing act and not to mention pseudo Love Triangle trope, I would say Tsujidou here is have the worst affinity with the OP here, and therefore in regard of that I would suggest OP to just drop Tsujidou and maybe just lower the expectation in regard of the girl in VN. Hope my suggestion would be help.

PS - As for the question from the title, well hard to answer but if I ever hit by that I think I take some rest for not play the VN.

Edited by littleshogun
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Well...the problem is more complicated than it seems...
I don't think I'm tired of Moege...and the reasons I dropped all the VNs I'm reading is because their story take a "not-so moege" turn.
For example, in Tsujidou-san no jun'ai road....
 

Spoiler

....The main character gets dumped. After that, they have sex, but they don't get together.

About Little Busters! well...I just can't stand to lose the baseball match and the fact that you have to finish all the routes to unlock the final part of the main heroine's route.

For majikoi, well....
 

Spoiler

...It's the fact that Christine wants to have a threesome.

For To Heart2, it's the Ending of the Sasara's route....
....


So, I see why you're suggesting me to give another genre a try, but the elements that are disappointing me of moeges are the main elements of non-moege VNs.

As @Clephas suggestet, trying something with a better protagonist might me worth it. The best main character of a VN I encountered was Fujishima Takumi from Noble Works (that I consider to be one of my favourites VN, almost as good as KonoOozora). Damn, even Aoi from KonoOozora has got his good moments (even if he's basically an a**hole). The problem is: it's hard to tell if there will be a good main character in a VN you've yet to read.

I must admit that I regularly do what @MaggieROBOT suggested....Well, I thought I got it right with Tsujidou-san. I didn0t saw that coming, tbh. And, yeah...I tend to have pretty specific tastes about VNs...that's why I tend to be extra cautious with what VNs to pick....maybe I was just unlucky?

 

Edited by MarcomiX
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To more clearly answer your question @MarcomiX I have indeed experienced a 'general feeling of disappointment in everything I tried'.  I've been a story-addict for the better part of thirty years.  If I hadn't experienced that feeling, there would be something wrong with my psyche.

The very first time I experienced that kind of feeling was about fifteen years ago, when PS2 jrpgs were dominant and I was still playing them like crazy.  I suddenly took a step back, looked at what I was playing, and I realized that I was dropping more games than I was playing.  My backlog built up.  There were well over a dozen games I'd gotten halfway through before dropping... and that wasn't a minor expense, since I wasn't making nearly as much as I do now, even in a bad year. 

My reaction was to take a step back, ignore video games for approximately two months, and marathon anime and book series until I regained my sanity.  I didn't buy any games during this period, and I ignored all game-related news, no matter what it was.

The results were great... when I went back, I was able to plow through my backlog, and I found that I actually paid attention to what I was looking at before I bought it (my instincts from the era in which jrpgs were rare drove me to buy everything for the longest time). 

In hindsight, it is rather obvious that the reason I was so screwed up was because I'd been playing the same genre (even the crappiest games in it) for almost ten years by then.  I rarely played other things, and that narrow vision eventually resulted in me, quite frankly, getting bored. 

Nowadays, I'm a lot better at recognizing the warning signs... though my most recent experiences with that kind of feeling have all been the results of over-playing charage for VN of the Month (approximately three-fifths of non-nukige VNs are charage or moege-variants these days)

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I might recommend trying a different game genre just to do something a little different. My main game for the past couple months has been Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (with some recommended mods) and I've been having a blast with it at over 100 hours in and that's just at the  main story content. In between I've picked up Hatsukoi 1/1 again for something lighter to play, finally got through the common route and am currently liking where I'm at in Midori's route.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've felt similar a few times. In one (summer... 2016?), the utter slog that was Muv Luv (especially Extra, what an utter god awful mess that is) had drained my love of the genre over 7 months of torturous reading basically, and I was unable to find anything else I was interested in. YU-NO got me out of that slump and made me binge a game for 10 hours straight for the first time.

The second time was when I read Zero Time Dilemma, the sequel to the two visual novels that got me into the genre and Japanese media, and found it lacking in every aspect. I was close to losing interest in the genre altogether, but then solidbatman gifted me The House In Fata Morgana, which became my favorite VN of all time.

Try something out of the ordinary. Umineko, perhaps, or Cartagra. Possibly Remember11.

Edited by Funyarinpa
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I completely understand. For me it’s music. I can’t seem to find any good bands, other than a couple songs here and there. I’d say just pursafere. Perhaps your tastes have changed slightly, and you just need to find what those new tastes are.

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