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Thoughts on long common routes


Nimbus

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G'Day everyone

 

Grisaia no Kajitsu is one of my favourite visual novels and, dare I say, it's the best visual novel I've read.

The only problem I really have with it is it's incredibly long common route that doesn't really go anywhere and drags on.

 

It got me wondering, does a long common route take away from a visual novel's overall quality and re-playability?

 

I personally feel that, while the quality isn't generally a problem, he re-playability does suffer.

what do you guys think?

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I think it really depends on whether you like the characters and their interactions or not. If you do then those hours are enjoyable, if not then they feel more like pointless padding.

I generally enjoy long common routes, in fact I almost never reread VNs simply because I can read something new instead, and yet every now and again between VNs I reread a bit of Rewrite, simply because I enjoyed the common route.

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It depends. If it's quality is good then I don't think I'll care about it's lenght, actually it's more likely that I'll enjoy it more like that. But a long common route that's not that good is just painful, basically, I think that it depends a lot on how it's written. Grisaia was really funny and the long common route was actually interesting since there were lots of foreshadowing about the girls pasts, you also got to know the characters more before deciding which route to take and that was a plus for me.

 

Personally some things were pretty annoying (I'm looking at you, Michiru scenes) but I'd totally replay it.

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It depends. If I'm really interested in one or more of the routes, then a long common route might serve to either annoy me or hype me even more. Usually, it's the former. I think Grisaia's common route is the only one I actually didn't mind being long. Mostly because the character interactions were...

Priceless.

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It's okay for the first playthrough, of course; but everytime after that, I find myself wishing it were shorter. "Rewrite's" common drove me mad. If they could at least present the same exposition in unique ways for each route, I'd be willing to read it more than once; but having a massively long common like "Rewrite's" was simply taking it too far. Key has no excuse for this: the common route for "Clannad" was much better in this respect.

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I think it really depends on whether you like the characters and their interactions or not. If you do then those hours are enjoyable, if not then they feel more like pointless padding.

Exactly this. I got bored with Grisaia because I didn't like any of the characters, nor their interactions, but I loved Rewrite from the beginning because I loved the characters.

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I got bored with Grisaia because I didn't like any of the characters, nor their interactions, but I loved Rewrite from the beginning because I loved the characters.

Blasphemy. 

 

At any rate, I tend to enjoy long common routes over short ones. Of course, having good characters and good interactions also helps. But I'm a fan of comedy, and common routes tend to be comedy oriented most of the time, so that might be why.

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Exactly this. I got bored with Grisaia because I didn't like any of the characters, nor their interactions, but I loved Rewrite from the beginning because I loved the characters.

i was also bored with the characters at first, wasn't really able to appreciate them until i reached the choices, which wouldn't have been a problem if the common route wasn't so long

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The only gripe I have with long common routes is the time I spent waiting for the skip function to reach a choice after a playthrough, because I have a thing that I have to always begin a new playthrough from the very beginning of the game, and not through saves. Otherwise I tend to like long common routes because it allows the game to build character before any major decision is made. Even though I only finished 2 routes(Sachi's and Yumiko's) and I'm on the middle of Chiruchiru's, I can tell that Grisaia is uber awesome and is on it's way to become my personal favorite.

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Exactly this. I got bored with Grisaia because I didn't like any of the characters, nor their interactions, but I loved Rewrite from the beginning because I loved the characters.

 

I get also really quick bored with the common route of Grisaia, but that depended on a lot of other reasons. And also I liked the the common Route of Rewrite a lot. I'm glad that there is finally someone who also do not hype Grisaia  ;)

 

Finally, I would say It always depends on the content.

 

Greetz

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Speaking of long common routes: there's Hoshimemo which is actually enjoyable (although a bit too long) and Iroseka as well just like Grisaia, but they are all entertaining in a sense and I actually don't mind except the skipping part taking too much time.

 

The golden rule here is still the characters and content, though.

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Blasphemy. 

 

At any rate, I tend to enjoy long common routes over short ones. Of course, having good characters and good interactions also helps. But I'm a fan of comedy, and common routes tend to be comedy oriented most of the time, so that might be why.

 

That's where we differ. I'm all about the characters themselves. Characters are actually more important to me than a plot or comedy, though comedy clicking with me usually comes from me liking the characters and their interactions in the first place. Though, I can't say why I dislike the Grisaia characters without going into mass depth, which would be derailing this thread a bit.

 

i was also bored with the characters at first, wasn't really able to appreciate them until i reached the choices, which wouldn't have been a problem if the common route wasn't so long

 

I'll just have to keep reading, only made it ~7-10 (?) hours in. I hear a lot of good stuff about the routes themselves though, so that's an incentive, though pressing through the scenerios might be tough, might just wait for the anime and hope it doesn't suck.

 

I get also really quick bored with the common route of Grisaia, but that depended on a lot of other reasons. And also I liked the the common Route of Rewrite a lot. I'm glad that there is finally someone who also do not hype Grisaia  ;)

 

Finally, I would say It always depends on the content.

 

Greetz

 

Always has to be those select few in the minority, else a majority can't exist :P

 

 

 

Missed the part in the OP about replayability. Starting the whole VN over from scratch? I probably won't be doing that, takes too much time. But having to go through the common route multiple times, do I reread it? I just ctrl til I find parts I really like, or just skim lines while rapidly pressing ctrl so I can follow the common route off memory.

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How much I enjoy a long common route naturally depends on the quality of the visual novel. As long as I don't find a visual novel boring, I much prefer a long common route to a shorter one. A long common route gives more time to world building, character building, and makes for a more organic segue into the character specific routes (or at least generally speaking). If I had to pick one over the other, I guess I would say I would prefer a game to have a long common route as opposed to a short one. Ultimately, you can always use the skip function or load a save after all.

 

I enjoyed Grisaia's common route in particular. The humor never fell flat and each scene developed my impression/interest of Mihama Academy's student body. This might sound strange, but I was actually a bit bummed when the common route concluded.

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It's irrelevant whether certain parts of story are long or short; what matters is whether they manage to appropriately deliver the context they were meant to deliver, without boring the reader to death. If he decides to close the book before anything really happens, it means the writer has failed to communicate with his readers.

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Depending on the interaction between characters, the characters themselves and the progression of plot, I could either enjoy reading the entire common route or it becomes a chore.

 

I didn't mind reading Rewrite's common route at all but Grisaia was, well a mixed bag to me. I did enjoy some parts of the common route in Grisaia but there were more negatives than positives. There was barely any plot progression, the character interaction was ok, some characters I didn't like and finally, it should've been shorter imo. Grisaia's common route was overall, boring at best and freaking chore at worst (to a point where I was really close to pressing the ctrl button to skip parts of the common route).

 

I don't mind reading long common routes as long as it doesn't bore me. As for re-reading the entire common route, I don't, I've already read it once so I skip to the unread text.

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A disproportionately long common route detracts from the relationship one has with a particular heroine, in my opinion. I believe that it should serve as an introduction, albeit an extended one, that allows the player to reasonably choose his heroine by getting to know the selection better. Therefore, I prefer a game in which the common route doesn't exceed half of the total playtime. There are plenty of good games that defy this, like Hoshimemo and Rewrite, but I think it would be better if they were constructed around a shorter common route.

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Common routes in a visual novel is like foreplay before sex. It can either enchant the experience or deteriorate it.

This all depends on the reader though. I personally enjoy long routes because it acts as a reminder telling me that, not only is the story not over but there is still a lot of content ahead XD

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I do prefer lengthy common routes, but ONLY if characters interactions are interesting enough, and also I do prefer common routes that have some kind of plot progression, even if it's a minor thing.

 

In Little Busters, I really appreciated the characters interactions and personalities, it was hilarious, and never really repetitive. All the different events, plus the different little "games" (Rin's investigations / battle, baseball minigame / Battle ranking) and the presence of an objective to reach in common (creation of the baseball team and beat the All Star team of the school) really made it that I never got bored once in LB.

 

Rewrite common's route didn't feel as interesting as LB, maybe because I feel that some of the characters are less charismatic than in LB, but also the fact that their interactions as a whole group often felt awkward and not really that funny (it's kinda explained later on on the plot, but you really lack the complicity that makes the group of protagonist a hilarious crew that you want to follow anytime). It was still funny, mind you, but not on par as with LB. Fortunately, it kinda compensates with very nice universe presentation, and lot of clever foreshadowing concerning what happens after common.

 

As for Grisaia, it's kinda of a hit or miss. If you love the characters, their personalities, and their hilarious interactions with each others (have to give props to the writers, they probably created some of the most interesting characters I've ever seen with personalities very unique, especially given the setting, school-life / slice of life, where it's kinda easy to rely on your everyday tropes), if you enjoy reading their dialogs, then the utter lack of plot development won't bother you at all. But if you don't LOVE them literally, even if you only find them alright or okay, you'll probably find the common route repetitive at some point and get bored.

 

But I really feel characters personalities and interactions are the key. For example, I never really found the characters in Hoshi Memo that funny, nor do their interactions were that exciting. I got really bored during common, and I kinda had to force myself to play through it.

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Highly depends.

 

If the quality's excellent like Grisaia, I don't mind how long it is. Great character interaction/dynamics is a must.

 

If it's poor/ok quality like Tsukihime (which nicely keeps the common route a minimum), I'd prefer it short and to the point.

 

(Edit) Didn't mean to say that Tsukihime common was awful lol. I thought that's what the ok was for? Readable quality. I meant that I don't want a common route like this to be medium or longer, which it didn't do ;D

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Highly depends.

 

If the quality's excellent like Grisaia, I don't mind how long it is. Great character interaction/dynamics is a must.

 

If it's poor/ok quality like Tsukihime (which nicely keeps the common route a minimum), I'd prefer it short and to the point.

Although it wasn't the best by any means Tsukihime's wasn't that bad.

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Hate them. I dropped Little Busters because the common route bored the the hell out of me. Currently I'm reading Rewrite (just started it two days ago) and I am really trying to like it. But just like with Little Busters the long common route is losing my interest. I miss the days when VNs were shorter and to the point, I hate stories that drag out.

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I prefer shorter common routes, the faster they get to the point, the better. But if there is some plot going on (like in comyu,) then I can deal with a longer common route. Grisaia was too much, 5 hours would've been fine, but it was 25 hours of doing fucking nothing at the school, with no plot to speak of. I liked the characters, but their interactions grew tiresome after so much time, and they tended to play up the same aspects, all the time (yes, Michiru's really, really blond. Got it the first 25 times.) that they stopped being unique. Fuck, if they're gonna spend 25 hours doing nothing, at least change it up a bit, make the characters go somewhere, have some "event of the week" to deal with, I dunno...

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