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VNs with nameable protagonist, are they actually saying the name you put in?


AMMSY

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The only thing that does that that I can think of is not a VN but a game - Freedom Wars on the Vita. Some of the characters in that game use voice modulation for their dialogues, so they can pronounce the name you input too - and they do call you by it - but eah, not a VN.

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Highly doubt this exists, the whole naming thing is just so you can feel like you're the protagonist by having your name display on the text box whenever you say a line/do something. Characters will refer to you as "you" or "onii-chan", etc. because there's no way a company will make a voice bank just for the sake of (badly) pronouncing your name, in fact that'd be 10 times more awkward.

Though i'd be interested to know if there really is one somewhere. I've never seen anything like it though.

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I remember someone on #tlwiki mentioned that he encountered once a VN with nameable protag and voice bank of common japanese names. I forgot title name tho, and cannot find it in logs.

EDIT: actually, found it.

Moogy: btw one of the gimmicks in the -cation series is that they had the seiyuu record hundreds/thousands of clips of themselves saying various common japanese male names so that the player can enter his own name and hear it

So it was about http://vndb.org/v6682 http://vndb.org/v10288 http://vndb.org/v14005

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An easy (lazy?) way to get around that, is to give your character a set last name (like Bioware does in most of their videogames). But that doesn't really work in most VNs, as the appropriate form of adressing others is really important in japanese culture. 

 

Another thing is the identity of the protagonist though. In general, our protagonists have their own backstories and arcs developing over the course of the plot. Sometimes naming them after yourself might hurt the immersion more than it would help.

 

Moogy: btw one of the gimmicks in the -cation series is that they had the seiyuu record hundreds/thousands of clips of themselves saying various common japanese male names so that the player can enter his own name and hear it

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Highly doubt this exists, the whole naming thing is just so you can feel like you're the protagonist by having your name display on the text box whenever you say a line/do something. Characters will refer to you as "you" or "onii-chan", etc. because there's no way a company will make a voice bank just for the sake of (badly) pronouncing your name, in fact that'd be 10 times more awkward.

Though i'd be interested to know if there really is one somewhere. I've never seen anything like it though.

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Lovely x Cation and Pretty x Cation are as close as it gets.

In Pretty x Cation you are able to enter your name and surname. They won't "say" it but they will type it.

You also is able to choose from hundreds of common Japanese names and characters will actually call you like that. With some minor differences like honorifics. Don't remember the exact number but it was 2-3 hundreds not counting different honorifics. Thousands? No way, I counted.

Edit: but these common Japanese names are referred to as "nicknames". You are supposed to enter your name AND select a nickname. They both co-exist.

Edit2: actually you are also able to change the way you refer to yourself. Like Boku/Watashi/Ore etc. But this hardly matters :D

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I can't think of any off the top of my head but I do think it could be somewhat doable, at least in the Japanese language. Japanese alphabet characters all have set pronunciations so if they record each of the different characters theoretically they could arrange them to form any name they wish and it would come out decent. I get the feeling it's more complex than that but it seems doable from where I stand.

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I can't think of any off the top of my head but I do think it could be somewhat doable, at least in the Japanese language. Japanese alphabet characters all have set pronunciations so if they record each of the different characters theoretically they could arrange them to form any name they wish and it would come out decent. I get the feeling it's more complex than that but it seems doable from where I stand.

There is no way to make it better than in prettyxcation without making it sound like Vocaloid :D

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An easy (lazy?) way to get around that, is to give your character a set last name (like Bioware does in most of their videogames). But that doesn't really work in most VNs, as the appropriate form of adressing others is really important in japanese culture. 

 

Another thing is the identity of the protagonist though. In general, our protagonists have their own backstories and arcs developing over the course of the plot. Sometimes naming them after yourself might hurt the immersion more than it would help.

 

Wow, that must've been a boatload of work. 

 

At times like this, I feel a little bad fo turning off voices...

I disagree completely, in VNs they intentionally make the character witouth much features (Like no face, VA or no parents) so players can immerse themselves and adding a naming option it increases the chances of that happening. Thats why game like Persona are so popular, because MANY people see the characters as YOUR friends and not the character friends because the MC is there to represents the player and not some author character wich increases immersion.

 

I think no adding naming function is why VNs dont fare well compared to date sims (That and the gameplay).

 

 

Anyways as for the topic Lovely x Cation series do that but you have to choose from an available list of predeterminated names, bothe love plus and Tokimeki Memorial 2 uses a system to allow the name you type to be voiced (TM 2 is a little more restrictive though.

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I disagree completely, in VNs they intentionally make the character witouth much features (Like no face, VA or no parents) so players can immerse themselves and adding a naming option it increases the chances of that happening. Thats why game like Persona are so popular, because MANY people see the characters as YOUR friends and not the character friends because the MC is there to represents the player and not some author character wich increases immersion.

 

I think no adding naming function is why VNs dont fare well compared to date sims (That and the gameplay).

 

Well, think about someone like Phoenix Wright. 

 

I highly doubt the Ace Attorney series would've been as successful, if Mr. Wright had a normal haircut and his grade school backstory didn't exist. I also highly doubt Trials and Tribulations would've hit home that well without his college past. 

 

Phoenix Wright feels like a real person to the audience and his human character connects you to the plot and it's protagonist. That is enough for millions of fans to immerse themselves into his character, even though he is not the same person as you. Immersion can be achieved through different means and in no way is your view on it wrong. It's just different. 

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I think no adding naming function is why VNs dont fare well compared to date sims (That and the gameplay).

 

What are you talking about? Dating sims are super unpopular right now and don't do nearly as well as regular bishoujo VNs. Dating sims are kind of a dead genre in Japan right now, with only one or two notable ones coming out each year.

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What are you talking about? Dating sims are super unpopular right now and don't do nearly as well as regular bishoujo VNs. Dating sims are kind of a dead genre in Japan right now, with only one or two notable ones coming out each year.

The date sim genre did better than the Vn genre, they even had "golden years" compared to the VN genre wich has always been niche with few tittles ever selling decently (Clannad is probably the only VN that ever had mainstream popularity and that was mainly because of the anime).

 

Sadly yes the genre is dead but at least it isnt dragging on the mud that Vn are doing right now.

 

@Texasdice

I was talking mainly about the naming feature, and to be fair PR is niche as hell. Compared to the surge of popularity Persona has, not to mention PR is more liked because of the crazy cast. 

 

But yeah it depends how you approach games.

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I'm just not sure how your preferences line up with the rest of the customer base like you seem to think it does. The PW games outsold the persona games by a considerable amount, although I think it's absolutely ridiculous to claim that's due to the way the protagonists are portrayed, they're different genres entirely. The polls here indicate that most western VN players don't prefer cipher protagonists. And there are very few VNs in Japan that go as far as having the protagonist be nameable, indicating that the market there doesn't like those as much.

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I cant find sales figures for PR but so far it seems it met expectations, i guess you are right.

 

What poll was that? Because its strange seeing that preference when the genre itself is full of ciphers so how can you dislike them and still be a VN fan when hardly a protagonist has its own character (As in has a face, voice acting and strong personality)? 

 

Anyways i cant wait for the technology to allow a voiced naming feature, will probably take a while though.

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