Jump to content

Experience


Darood

Recommended Posts

Can you tell me what it was like reading/playing with your first visual novel? Did it fully immerse you into its world? What did it feel like? Would you say visual novels fall in the categories of games? I'm curious having never used a visual novel before, I'm in the process of downloading fate stay night so I'm interested in your views and experiences of visual novels, particularly this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really remember how it was reading my very-very first VN, which was Katawa Shoujo, though, I do remember my first impression of Fate/Stay night, and honestly, it was painful.

 

The problem I had with Fate/Stay night is that the intro was way too long. It took at least a good 5 hours to get started, it handled exposition in a terrible way by literally out right tell the reader what he/she needed to knew instead of weaving it into the narrative, and you even have to play through the opening two times from two different person's perspective. Furthermore, I had already seen much of the anime, so I knew most of the plot in the Fate route, which did not help either.

 

Also... about 10 hours in Fate/Stay Night also had what I personally still consider to be the worst h-scene in visual novel history, so.... yeah, that happened.

 

Still, after I had gotten past that initial bump Fate/Stay night turned it to be a pretty darn amazing read, so I hope that you will be able to enjoy it.  :)

 

By the way, welcome to Fuwanovel! Hope you will enjoy your stay and I recommend that you never-ever-ever-ever click and links given to you by Steve without having your loli-protection barriers up.  ^_^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my case, I found it similar to reading a comic + music. I started with Ever 17 (highly recommended as a starter VN, this, Steins;Gate or 999 are pretty good points of entry for the medium, IMO.) and while the first 10-15 minutes look like they could be at home in any moe/comedy anime, things started happening really fast. From there, it was pretty gripping. It also helps that the situation in which the characters found themselves was pretty unique, too (until Archer's last episode of season 4 lol)

 

F/SN is good. Except for Shirou. Fucking Shirou. I personally don't think is anything special but I can't really say anymore without spoiling it. It's also pretty long, so if you're new to the medium I'd suggest to start with something shorter, stick with it to the end of at least one route (many VNs have plot branches, where the story goes in different directions/focuses on different characters. That's a route) and then see how you liked it. In F/SN case, if you really, really want to get the complete story then you have to finish all three routes, and that's easily 50+ hours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first VN was Katawa Shoujo. At this point I'd only recently got back in to anime and manga, I think I was trying to find another medium in which I could find enjoyment.

I really liked KS, and thankfully cause of that I have now read many more. Grisaia No Kaijitsu is one of my favourites, along with Muv Luv Alternative.

Both had me contemplating deeply about everything, and I normally don't let things faze me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first was Aselia the Eternal (Eien no Aselia), though at the time I didn't know it was a visual novel. It had gameplay but the story was incredibly immersive and I ended up playing it every chance I got. Pure visual novels are not games but that doesn't stop them from having gameplay elements. VNs that do have gameplay can often be hard to categorize.

 

Fate/Stay is an amazing visual novel despite its age and I expect you'll really enjoy it. Just keep in mind that many visual novels have a much longer introduction sections than games or books, which can be a turn-off to new readers. Fate/Stay Night takes a while to get into things but once it does you'll be hooked. Just save at every choice....there are lots of bad ends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started with Planetarian. It was boring and I dropped it after three hours. Then I tried Little Busters, since I was watching the anime. It was okay, but I wasn't interested in reading about the characters fooling around (read: common route = no plot, no story) for 16 hours, especially since I had already experienced some of it through the anime. After the first season, I finished it and twas amazing. 

 

My first official VN, then, would be Rewrite. That was amazing; there was a dynamic story and an awesome cast of characters. Tonokawa's routes blew, though. I didn't know how routes worked, so I thought I was on a route on the calendar days, but then a black screen showed up saying, "KOTORI." In other words, I felt like I had spent an unusually large amount of time (60 hours), but it was worth it! I mean, it was better than the 60 hours I spent on Final Fantasy XIII

 

I haven't played Fate/stay night, but my friend couldn't get past the beginning. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm grateful for your replies, I find them very interesting. As interesting as Fate Stay night is the intro is sapping the life out of me so I'm sticking to Kamidori Alchemy Meister to get use to reading so long as well as to do a bit more interacting :D.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, Fate Stay Night was also my first. I didn't like Shiro. I didn't like the H scenes because everyone went so out of character. I didn't finish Heaven's Feel because it was so...I didn't like it, to not spoil you. The music and art were good, and the story was novel in some ways. I may be rating it generously since it was my first, but I'd probably put it at 7/10. I prefer novels with less drama and more routes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first true VN I read was Higurashi (just the first 4 arcs) and it really brought me in.  Your first experience with a VN will certainly be jarring; prepare for pacing slower than anything you've seen before. It's worth it though. The slow pacing allows VNs to set up a really good atmosphere,  create a believable setting, as well as establish various characters and their backstories. With every VN I've completed thus far, it feels really rewarding to spend time getting invested in the characters and story so that when the major plot kicks into motion you actually care about what's going on.

 

Whether or not a VN is a "game" depends. It's a case by case basis for me. I would think Kara no Shoujo is indeed a game because of its extensive interactive elements while I would say Umineko no Naku Koro ni isn't.

 

I finished Fate/Stay Night just yesterday, so I can give you some feedback on that in specific. The first route (probably around 15-20 hours of reading) is honestly not good. It's full of action shonen cliches and is generally just unsatisfying outside of 2 or 3 good action scenes. The other two routes are spectacular however, so if you think you can get through the slower first route then I'd say it's worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...