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Are Kinetic Novels Good or Bad?


Giki190

Your Thoughts on Kinetic Novels?  

33 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think about Kinetic Novels?

    • They're fun, but I wouldn't play them often.
    • They're fun, I play them often.
    • They're fun, and better than "Normal" Visual Novels.
    • They're not fun, what's the point of a Visual Novel without choices?
      0
    • I haven't played them, but they sound okay.
    • I haven't played them, but they sound horrible

This poll is closed to new votes


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So I was thinking about the novels I've played and noticed that in certain titles, in the beginning of the common route, they give you choices that have little story effect just to give you a sense of fulfillment which some readers like. Of course their are normally big choices later on, if a development team puts time into choices that really no effect in the long run, just to keep the reader interested, why are kinetic novels gaining popularity? You have absolutely no effect on the plot (like you're reading a normal book) so why do so many people pay money for these over-hyped books disguised as games?

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I don't know, why do people still pay money for books? What a silly endeavor.

 

The "Kinetic" part merely defines the format, what's important is the content, therefore there can be really good Kinetic Novels just like there can be really bad Visual Novels with choices.

 

You can't really generalize them as good or bad since a format does not affect the content, although you can say if you dislike the format or not and in that regard you're more than welcome to say you prefer a format where you have some control over the story.

 

I personally just feel like they're 2 different ways to read a story.

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This is like comparing apples and oranges.  Meaningless.

I think apples are better, if you have tasted both then you'll have an opinion

 

 

Your poll is bad because it has no neutral option, so I didn't vote. Nose got it right.

"I haven't played them, but they sound okay." seems neutral to me, and if you have played them then you should have an opinion 

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Choices in visual novels are most of times completely useless, they're too obvious and are just here as a pretext for side routes to exist. I have nothing against routes in VN but my three favorites are kinetic, the story is often a lot more consistent and I read them much quickly because the scenario isn't splitted and something always keeps me in, that's a really strong point.

But conventional VNs are also good in their own way.

In short I think that characters-driven VN are far more suited to work with choices, even if they're obvious (Comyu,Rewrite and all the Key stuff for example) but it's the opposite if we're talking about story-driven (07th Expansion stuff, Muv-Luv Alternative....)

G-Senjou No Maou has plenty of useless choices for instance and the side routes aren't that good imo, even though I totally loved the VN I definitely think it would have been better in kinetic format.

The only good use of choices I've seen so far is in Tsukihime and FSN.

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Choices in visual novels are most of times completely useless, they're too obvious and are just here as a pretext for side routes to exist. I have nothing against routes in VN but my three favorites are kinetic, the story is often a lot more consistent and I read them much quickly because the scenario isn't splitted and something always keeps me in, that's a really strong point.

But conventional VNs are also good in their own way.

In short I think that characters-driven VN are far more suited to work with choices, even if they're obvious (Comyu,Rewrite and all the Key stuff for example) but it's the opposite if we're talking about story-driven (07th Expansion stuff, Muv-Luv Alternative....)

G-Senjou No Maou has plenty of useless choices for instance and the side routes aren't that good imo, even though I totally loved the VN I definitely think it would have been better in kinetic format.

I was totally thinking of G-String when I was making this topic, choices in the beginning had little impact but I think the routes and the games as a whole was a masterpiece. Even as a kinetic, if it went through a certain route, the amazing story would've still been their but I feel routes gave it more of a broad sense over the world in that VN....I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did, that's my point.

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I don't really like it when a VN doesn't have choices, but since there are some good ones that I still think are worth playing, I picked the" They're fun, but I wouldn't play them often" option. It also depends on how the story itself works with the format- Planetarian and Narcissu were great examples of the Kinetic format done right, but I think something like Killer Queen would have really benefited from some choices. So it can either add to the experience or detract from it.

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Honestly it depends on how well the story is For example Muv luv Alternative is a kinetic vn but the story is pretty amazing then again it comes down to weather or not you need to feel engaged or part of the story to actually get into the visual novel. So like mentioned above it's all a person preference.

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Since I almost don't care about choices, all VNs for me are kinect :D

 

Seriously, I read them for the story, not for choices

 

There has not been a visual novel I read without the use of a walkthrough. I bolded "read" in my previous sentence because I don't seek to play a visual novel by making choices, I only care about the story; hence the reason why I shamelessly use walkthroughs. Having to sift through bad choices and backtracking to get the proper ending seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass when I only care about the story. 

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There has not been a visual novel I read without the use of a walkthrough. I bolded "read" in my previous sentence because I don't seek to play a visual novel by making choices, I only care about the story; hence the reason why I shamelessly use walkthroughs. Having to sift through bad choices and backtracking to get the proper ending seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass when I only care about the story. 

Though you could say, experiencing all of the endings (both bad and good) is you unlocking the full experience. An experience Kinetic and normal books cannot give you.

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I dont know most the bad endings ive ever seen hold no true value to the main story line and they're usually quiet dumb school days for example the bad endings are completely retarded an over the top

True, but some bad ends are really thought out (ex. Fate/ Stay Night) and give different insights into certain characters. It's normally a sign of a good VN that wasn't rushed in development. 

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Well, for example, in the case of Steins;Gate, you need a Walkthrough to get the true ending, since the specific phone trigger that triggers the 2 biggest endings happens in the first 3 chapters, and you just can't guess it, because it's such a trivial message.

 

 

For me, i often use Walkthroughs if i want to get in a specific route or is affraid of too much bad ends.

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shes doing it right now :o

True, but some bad ends are really thought out (ex. Fate/ Stay Night) and give different insights into certain characters. It's normally a sign of a good VN that wasn't rushed in development.

Fate is the exception but most other VN's the bad endings are oh hey die a gruesome death that holds no apparent tie to the plot

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But what about routes? They are the reason I love VNs

I understand the route part but honestly most the time bad ends unless it's where you end up alone serve no purpose or add nothing to the plot or expierence. They only reason they add stuff instead of it popping up and going bad end is so people go for full completion.

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I dont know most the bad endings ive ever seen hold no true value to the main story line and they're usually quiet dumb school days for example the bad endings are completely retarded an over the top

 

But routes doesn't mean bad endings only. Think of the infinity series (and 999 and VLR,) you couldn't do them without routes. Routes can be used as an effective storytelling device.

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I think of them the same way I think about any other VN. The reason I like VN's is the unique way of telling a story so it doesn't make much of a difference.

I think the dividing routes coupled with multiple converging storylines, are what sets VNs apart and what makes it unique, Kinetic don't have that uniqueness. I'm not saying their particularly bad, just sub-par to great experiences like Fate/ Stay Night and G-Senjou 

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