Long VS Short

[Okami]

Be it VNs or Anime I always thought that longer is better as something objective as to me it's only normal that if you like something you want it to last as long as possible, also longer also gives more time for deeper character development more complex stories it gives you more time to connect with characters, etc. Generally VN or Anime being longer to me was always something positive and I couldn't see it as not positive and I didn't think that there would be anyone who would dressage. But lately I saw some post saying how something is shorter implying how that is a positive point. So I am just interested to see how many people out there thinks so too.

[Guest]

It's not the size that matters ! ;-;

 

But really, the problem with long VN's is that the tend to be full of fluff, and stuff irrelevant in the plot.

As someone who reads VN's for their plot and their character developpement, I often don't finish long games because i get bored half way through their common route.

Therefore I prefer short VN's, because, I finish them, and there no space for things I find meaningless.

 

If most long games where long because they had to be, and not because of filler scenes, then I would read long VN's.

Unfortunately, this is very very rarely the case.

 

Edit: Plus, > 50 hour games are to big of a time investement.

[Lambda]

My attention span is that of a gnat, as I've said before. Given that they're the same quality, shorter VNs have a better possibility of keeping me there the entire time. Also, shorter = less time investment to get to the point to see if I'd like it. Longer VNs also seem to have more fluff...

[OriginalRen]

I like short prologues that don't take a massive amount of time to get to the opening of the game, but I enjoy longer common routes. As for actual routes, I also enjoy short ones that don't jump into pointless drama or take forever to solve it. To name an example, I disliked Hoshizora's routes due to the fact that the actual problem in each 1 was presented early on, but it took forever to actually solve anything.

 

As for anime, I felt Angel Beats was way too short and could have expanded its characters more. On the other hand, I felt Code Geass was dragged on for no reason whatsoever. For me, its arbitrary.

[Eclipsed]

I'd say it depends on what you are in the mood for.

Sometimes people will want a quick short story as opposed to a longer story and vice versa.

Planetarian was the shortest VN I've read, and I actually only chose to read it because it was short (I read it after reading the behemoths of Rewrite and Grisaia no Kajitsu)

Longer stories do indeed have the benefit of having more time for deeper character and a complex plot, but not everybody has the time and/or patience to commit to them.

~~~
That being said, I have time, so I'm voting for longer stories xD

[suikashoujo]

I'm not sure how to vote on this, because while it depends on the game, I usually prefer them to be somewhere in the middle. t the same time, though, there are some VNs that I was glad had a longer run time (Grisaia no Kajitsu), some that REALLY tested my patience (Muv Luv Alternative), and some games that worked better with a shorter run time (Saya no Uta). So it really depends, but I usually prefer games in the Medium-long range.

[Nerathim]

I would say longer, because no matter how good the VN is, if it's too short sadly it will  not left much of an impact on me. I need to be immersed in a good story for a while, no less than G-Senjou's length. Time investment isn't a problem, I'm not a compulsive reader nor at death's door, a story takes as long as it takes, no more no less.

[Ezeefreak]

I would choose quality over the length. But If I should choose between a short one and a long one with the same quality, I would always choose the long. You just can spend more time with that work, the characters or whatever you enjoy there. For me it is always sad when a good anime/VN ends. So a longer one doesn't end that fast.

[Pabloc]

Hmm, let's see. My top 3 favorite VNs are Saya no Uta (short) Katahane (medium) and Ef (long). And among my favorite anime, I have Kuttosukiboshi (2 eps), Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu (6 eps), Death Note (37 eps), Princess Tutu (38 eps), and both Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny (50 eps each, 100 in total).

...

Now what?

 

In short - everything should be exactly as long as it is necessary for the plot and characterization. Longer titles give you more time to grow to like (or hate) characters and can have epic, complex stroylines, but short ones can deliver a lot of emotional impact as well (Planetarian, Narcissu). Only as long as they are done right - otherwise you can get a horribly bloated yawnfest or a tiny, forgettable story.

Length itself doesn't matter. How said length is used is the important thing. Pointless fillers can ruin a story just as much as insufficient characterization or overly simplistic plot.

[Stray Cat]

For me, in any form of media (be it anime, video games, VN, etc) I've tended to find that longer stories tend to have a lot of extra material that I could go without and I start to get bored a certain point, so I prefer medium to short.   However, there are longer stories that are some of my favorites and can maintain a good quality while holding my attention (One Piece, Persona, etc.), but many of them tend not to.  Also,considering my limited time, I prefer something I can enjoy in a shorter time-span. 

[Clephas]

As a rule of thumb, long is better.  However, long charage and moege are frequently just boring, so I'm reluctant to state it as an absolute.  A good chuuni game should last upward of thirty hours (for me and around eighty for someone else), and if you want to make a good nakige, you frequently need a twenty-five to thirty hour game.  I've found the games that I most wanted more of in recent years were the ones that didn't have enough length... mostly because companies decided to skimp on funding during an off year.  On the other hand, there were a few games I played that were interminable because there was no substance to their length.  Grisaia is on one end of the spectrum, a game and a series that definitely benefited from its extreme length.  The Tiny Dungeon series, on the other hand, benefited from putting out its games as shorter stories that created a larger story (together their length is about equivalent to that of Grisaia's first game). 

 

However, there were games I've played that really only needed the one main path... G-Senjou is one of those.  If they'd cut out the side-heroine 'routes' (it is hard to call them that, since they really aren't) the game would have been more enjoyable.  Sharin no Kuni, on the other hand, would have benefited with more unique text in relation to which heroine you went with. 

 

It's a hard thing to balance.  I've played some short games that really were great.  Konakana comes to mind... as does Eden*.   On the other hand, about two thirds of the games I've read/played that had short lengths also failed to properly develop the characters and failed to make them sympathetic without using cheap sentimentalism.

[Rose]

It's hard to answer this since it relies a lot on how the game goes. Sometimes things get just boring and pointless, but if it's used to get a deeper understanding and/or development of a character, as well as expanding the novel universe, then it can be good. Taking Cross Channel as an example, you get days looping over and over again, you basically start reading the same thing you just read but that is an important part of the immersion the game brings you. Now, I think F/SN had a lot of moments when I really wanted to just skip to get to the good parts, because honestly, I got bored of reading it when too many times.

[Bolverk]

I tend to like the longer ones the most. They have more of the good stuff. I do often get burnout from reading the same story for too long if it's like 50+ hours or so. Even at moderately good scenes I'd not get really satisfied. I change between my vn's if that happen, too bad to ruin the experience imo.

 

Short ones are nice as well, some have nice pacing and are great. They feel complete even if they are like only 10 hours even. Isn't unusual for me to wish a vn could be longer though. More of the good stuff. Luckily most vn's are quite long

[Ariurotl]

That heavily depends on what that length is used for. Grisaia had this huge, self-indulgent and unnecessary slice-of-life bit at the beginning that made me stall it twice (for half a year in total). Clannad was the same, only even more bloated (and with much, much less funny humor), and I still consider it a miracle that I even got through the whole blasted thing. If a scene fails to advance the plot or give additional insight into characters or circumstances, it's usually wasted in my book.

 

Shorter VNs tend to be more focused and to the point (although that's by no means true in all cases). Saya no Uta and Crescendo are two great examples of shorter VNs I enjoyed. The flashback mechanic in Crescendo specifically was a very satisfying choice, it made the VN feel much longer than it actually was without detracting from the whole "last days of school" premise.

[miria]

I would choose quality over the length  

[Parallel Pain]

It's not the length that counts, it's how the author uses it

 

Actually now I think about it, in general I probably prefer medium-short length 1 path stories (though multiple "endings" are okay I guess). They're shorter than normal VN, but they're longer than each of a VN's route individually.

 

It also gives the story more focus and clarity and better develop characters.

 

Now I think about it, just 1 path stories, regardless of length. But I'll say short because 1 path stories are on average shorter.

[Carronade]

That heavily depends on what that length is used for. Grisaia had this huge, self-indulgent and unnecessary slice-of-life bit at the beginning that made me stall it twice (for half a year in total).

 

Oh God, I thought I was the only one. It was sort of fun for about 3, 4 hours or so, but after that long, you want the author to get started with the goddamn plot of the game. And everytime it seemed that it was about to happen (Look! Yumiko's father came to visit! Important!) it was a fakeout, and more slice of life scenes remained.

 

To answer the question, I'd like my VNs as long as they need to be. Most of what I've played is bloated as hell though, and could use some trimming (Looking at you Grisaia, Umineko and MLA...) I disagree that a short VN can't make an impact; Saya no Uta would've been, er, "unique" even if it was two hours long, and Hanachirasu's Akane was such a funny dick that he was endearing within mere minutes of reading the game.

[solace]

i find that i prefer the longer ones because i have a stupid amount of free time. also as i am a bit of a shut in, i quite enjoy your so called fluff.

[Nimbus]

For me the length should not only be dependant on the quality of the narrative but also the character development. Sometimes when an amine is too long characters undergo little to know development and pull the same tricks over and over again. An example of this is Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z who doesn't really develop as a character until the very end of the series which is very annoying given that Tien Shinhan underwent the exact same character arc in one third of the time in Dragon Ball

[edwd2]

Unless we're considering extreme cases, length alone doesn't tell much at all.

 

[Zalor]

Every story has a proper length to it. A long story is not intrinsically better than a short one, nor vice versa. The Great Gatsby is a fairly short novel, but it is considered one of the best works of American English literature. On the other hand, Ulysses is a very long book but is also considered among the best English literature has to offer. The same rules applies to VNs.

 

If I were to give my subjective opinion, than I would say I never read a VN that is 50 hours or longer that I enjoyed. So for me personally, too long is a bad thing. 

[nohman]

Some stories benefit from brevity and others overstay their welcome. Others have such a rich setting that it's better if things are fully explored. Like most things, it depends. I say this as someone who really liked Grisaia's common route, though.

That said, I get not wanting a good book, TV show, movie, VN to end.

[Eclipsed]

I would choose quality over the length  

How about short quality vs. long quality

But yeah I think the poll should have a 'it depends' option but it seems long has the majority vote so far!

[Kaguya]

It depends. I think both are fine. The time it takes to finish a good VN doesn't matter too much to me.

It should focus on the story, though. If there are non-explained things and the VN felt rushed, I'll have wanted it to be longer. If there's too much fluff and pointless scenes that we've already seen 1000 times with different characters, I'd have liked it to be shorter.

[Daeyamati]

I voted for shorter because my attention span is practically on par with a goldfish, but it really depends. Ideally I like VNs with a shorter common route. If the common route is too long then usually my interest in the actual routes drops and I may drop the game.