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The effect of finishing a novel (in you opinion)


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NOTICE (READ HERE FIRST BEFORE SCROLLING DOWN): Disregard all the comments people make about their feelings towards a VN's ending on them and describe it on your own personal interest. (close your eyes and scroll down to reply if you can)

After thats all done you can enjoy and compare your feelings with other members of the group. Feel free to discuss what you agree, forgot to add, or even disagree (not in a DESTRUCTIVE manner)

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NOTICE (READ HERE FIRST BEFORE SCROLLING DOWN): Disregard all the comments people make about their feelings towards a VN's ending on them and describe it on your own personal interest. (close your eyes and scroll down to reply if you can)

After thats all done you can enjoy and compare your feelings with other members of the group. Feel free to discuss what you agree, forgot to add, or even disagree (not in a DESTRUCTIVE manner)

=========

IF your eyes are still open and you haven't replied yet your failing (haha, close your eyes please ;)

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I for one feel a sense of "loss" when I finish a VN (particularly, a good one)

But its also mixed with satisfaction at the very least. I feel a disconnect button was pressed when I completed all routes and I delete the game. Forever lost as if the VN has never existed.

Emptiness soon enveloped me and I currently think of my flaws, my friends (who also read VN's) are happy when they finish a VN and do not feel the same way as I do.

So basically I feel like an empty shell...if that makes any sense at all....

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Well VNs for me are never ending stories neverending-story_96x96.jpg

Even after I finish, I still live with the characters in my mind :)

And I finally look up all the MADs, mashups etc on youtube and niconico xD

And since I have full soundtrack unlocked I download OST so I can listen to it outside of the game.

Well, what more to say, if the ending is good, it just inscribes into my heart and stays there forever.

I never skip ED song and I just enjoy it the last second, sometimes if the VN doesn't automatically transition into menu, I just stay there looking at the company logo or whatever the last screen is, thinking about how good it was :)

Often tiemes it transitions into menu and the menu is changed so I look at the new menu xD

Then I often replay good moments from memo saves I make throughout the game.

Don't know what more to say without mentioning specific VNs, but that would be for the specific VN topic including spoilers, not this one.

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After my first VN katawa shoujo I felt some emptiness and had a very insightful week which changed me for the better if you ask me.

It was the feeling that something was lost and I would never have as fun as the people in the VN or experience the same thing, was pretty much afk for a whole week or two. It's a very powerful feeling really and some might hate it but I kinda like it, it works like a motivator to improve your own situation.

But yeah I only got it that one time.

Now I just feel a bit sad if a very good VN ends but nothing big. I like to daydream so the characters kinda stay for a while, and I also have some good dream recall so sometimes some familiar characters might pop up. :)

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(I love this topic idea. Well, well done) (Edit: And we know it's going to be a great discussion because, after all, a Luck Dragon debuted on post #4 ; ))

My Second Visual Novel - Fate Route

When I finished Fate/Stay Night (Fate route), I sat back from my computer, turned off the speakers (the menu music was playing), and struggled to breathe through minor heartbreak and tear-blurred eyes. Phrases like, "Wow..." and "How did they do that?" floated through my mind. My heart ached for Saber (and all the characters, really), and I kept replaying the last few scenes in my head. My thoughts then went to, "How and why did that so powerfully affect me?" I thought a lot about Saber, and how she embodied a lot of the things I loved most about my wife.

It was ~4:45 in the morning, my wife was asleep but soon to be waking, and so I remember slipping into the bedroom, snuggling up to her and kissing the back of her head.

And then I fell asleep.

What followed was 2-3 days of wondering whether or not I wanted to immediately continue on to the next F/SN game route (I ultimately waited two weeks), and then after lunch I started Sharin no Kuni.

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I'll begin by quoting something I wrote somewhere else about why I love characters in VNs:

[because of] the visions of a perfect human spirit that they burn inside your brain. The way this vision makes you feel such longing - and the way this longing compels for you to do your utmost to realise it in a reality which you come to be aware actually holds a very fragile world.

See I think VNs, or indeed art in general, presents to you a version of reality is tailored to get you to notice SOMETHING you would otherwise have overlooked. The short version is probably that people don't know how to appreciate what they have untill they are shown what life is like without it. This isn't to say human beings are ungrateful scumbags, mind you; its more to do, I think, with the fact that people perceive many things in relative terms. For eg, if you ask a pepople born blind what they see through their eyes, the answer isn't "black". We may say we see "black" when our eyes are shut because we know what "white" is - we have seen it when our eyes are open, so when this sensation of "white" is taken away the impression is that we see the opposite - ie, "black". In contrast when people don't have anything to compare what they have effectively known all their life, the answer isn't usually, "Black"; rather, it's quite simply, nothing.

In similar vein we don't know what we should be thankful for until we lose it - and Art is an absolute MASTER of of showcasing this. We don't appreciate peace until we're forced to go out and experience the horrors of war. We won't know what our friends are for until we consider what is like if our memory went blank and we lived life not knowing them. And we can't possibly hope to know what love is until we fall so deeply into it, and oftentimes afterwards out of it, and thus are able to compare what "normal" friendship is like against that seemingly unsurpassable feeling. Cut a long story short, by being made aware of what, in the extreme, life COULD be like, this knowledge becomes the standard against which all our other experiences are judged. In VNs, the music, images, and interpersonal relationships help add to the emotional salience, making us hyper-alert to the possibility of this experience being repeated, and then spurring us on to take steps to avoid it, or repeat it, as we see fit.

tl;dr: VNs for me often end up being some form of life-lesson; or at the very least, a medium through which to understand the complete gamut of human emotion, and in so doing, I think, helps make me a better human being.

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I'm not very good at getting my point across on these kinds of things, but hey, I'll give it a shot.

If I made it to the end, then that means I liked the story enough to see it all the way through. That also means I've built up a considerable attachment to the characters, the story, etc. In every case, one of two feelings spring up in me. I'm either satisfied or unsatisfied. That has more to do with the level of closure I receive than anything else. I'll use examples to make my points. Since we're discussing endings and I'm using examples, there are obviously going to be some heavy spoilers below.

Little Busters! is a good example of a satisfying ending for me.

You've spent countless hours as Riki getting to know the characters quite intimately. You've solved their problems, and Riki also grows from the experience. Once Riki has grown as a character and experienced quite a traumatic event, he resolves himself to get stronger and continue to the Refrain route. It's there that you lose pretty much everything. Rather than accept this, you get to go back and change the events and save everyone. In the end, Riki and friends take a trip to the beach, now that everything is finally over. I was attached to the characters, I watched them go through a ton of shit, then I watched them earn a happy ending. Nice warm, fuzzy feeling in my stomach.

Muv-Luv Alternative is an example of an ending that left me with some seriously mixed feelings.

After Takeru's enormous struggle to return back to his reality, he is eventually able to return. I'm very pleased that he was able to return, since he absolutely earned it, but the fact that he has no memories of the events in Unlimited and Alternative leaves a bad taste in my mouth. There's no sense of appreciation for his everyday life anymore, since to the current Takeru, nothing has changed for him. Just my opinions.

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It depends upon the ending, plot quality (hey not all visual novels have that heavy plot) and how I can relate to it.

When I finished a visual novel, I try to look at all the routes and the choices I've made to get to the route. The choices might not be applicable in real life but it makes me think what are the choices I need for my life. If what I've read is a kinetic novel then I just look at is as a normal story.

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The choices might not be applicable in real life but it makes me think what are the choices I need for my life. If what I've read is a kinetic novel then I just look at is as a normal story.

I go by this rule:

for all choices IRL I select :

don't go, play VN instead

except one choice, there I select go make some food

xD

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Depending on the VN, I'll be glad that it's over so that the character doesn't have to endure anymore hardships, or I'll be sad that the story is over and that there isn't any more to read (I guess that's why fandiscs are made).

Also I might compare myself to the character and reflect on if I think that I'm the person that I want to be. Reading a VN can be a life changing experience for me, I hope others feel the same way!

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After finishing a VN, different emotions surface..

There is the sense of fulfillment as you have finished something that you have been doing for the past days..

There is the sense of loss.. Because the experience of playing a specific VN cannot be repeated.. Every game gives the player different dimensions and twists that are enjoyed.. Every VN is different in some way or another..

And sometimes, the sense of dissatisfaction.. Sometimes, the story does not give you the ending that you want, or the development that you want.. Sometimes, characters die (like in Da Capo, which I am currently playing), which is very unfortunate..

Finishing a VN is inevitable, as well as feeling these emotions..

Well, after finishing one, we could just start over and play another one ^^..

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After finishing a VN, different emotions surface..

There is the sense of fulfillment as you have finished something that you have been doing for the past days..

There is the sense of loss.. Because the experience of playing a specific VN cannot be repeated.. Every game gives the player different dimensions and twists that are enjoyed.. Every VN is different in some way or another..

And sometimes, the sense of dissatisfaction.. Sometimes, the story does not give you the ending that you want, or the development that you want.. Sometimes, characters die

(like in Da Capo, which I am currently playing)

, which is very unfortunate..

Finishing a VN is inevitable, as well as feeling these emotions..

Well, after finishing one, we could just start over and play another one ^^..

use spoilers pls sad.gif ↑↑ like that, fixed for you

now I know something I didn't want to know

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use spoilers pls sad.gif ↑↑ like that, fixed for you

now I know something I didn't want to know

At least you don't know who it is. I subconsciously expect every VN's heroine to die while I'm playing, but I still end up surprised when it actually happens.

Case in point, I'm still playing through Steins;Gate. I only just now got to Suzuha's ending, so there's still a ways to go.

I was NOT expecting Mayuri to get shot through the fucking forehead.

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Okay, scrolled down with my eyes closed ><

Finishing a route may instill mixed feelings: sadness, fulfillment, happiness, you name it...

BUT finishing an entire novel left me somewhat empty. It's like facing the end of the world, everything you experienced suddenly stopped, ended, just like that. Maybe not quite end of the world, but I can say that I'm not content. I was enjoying every moment, and really can't face the fact that at one point it ended, and then it happened. The novel ended. That's why I always wanted more.

Well, that's my opinion. Now, off to read others !!

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  • 2 weeks later...

It depends on the vn;

Fate stay night did nothing to me except leaving me astounded about how many hours I've put into it ('bout a 100,), not saying I didn't liked it though. Damn... some of that stuff was intense. :P

Games like Little Busters! and G-Senjou no Maou have left a HUGE impact on me though. Little Busters kept me on the verge of crying almost throughout whole refrain and I've never had such a strange emotional connection to fictive characters. Right now, even in real-life I sometimes think "It's a shame Masato ain't here, he would've liked this." or "I wonder what Kyousuke would do in a situation like this." I'm never forgetting Little Busters... ever, and i'm really excited for Ecstasy ;)

The reason why G-Senjou no Maou left such an impact on me is because of the nature of vn's; YOU are the protag, YOU talk to all the characters, YOU make the choices etc. I ended up really taking a liking to Haru and the ending made me feel... lost. It was such injustice I thought, and then

when Kyousuke had to self-sacrifice himself to safeguard Haru's well-being, throwing everything and everyone he had away.

I just cracked. In fact, I cracked so bad, that when I was talking about it with my mother, I started crying again. Just recalling the scenes, the dialogue, the injustice was enough to make me cry again. Especially because it all involved Haru.

Anyway, those are the only 2 that had such an extreme impact on me. The rest... not so much. I remember when playing Sharin no Kuni my emotions were also running rampant, yet it wasn't quite as memorable as Little Busters or G-Senjou. I guess that's because of it's good ending and it's pretty straightforward throughout the game.

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