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Karifean
12-08-2013, 02:31 AM
So... recently I've started to become interested in the vast world of Japanese Visual Novels. Probably the most well-known series of Visual Novels in western culture is Ace Attorney. I suspect many people here have played it.

The Visual Novel is quite a fascinating medium actually. It's a combination of a book, an animated show and a game. Most of the time is spent reading text while mostly static character images are shown. The game aspect comes from the choices you make during gameplay. Now this varies hugely from visual novel to visual novel. The Ace Attorney series at times plays a lot like an adventure game rather than a visual novel, and during court sessions there's cross-examination. At other times the gameplay is reduced to just making choices every now and then. In some visual novels, the effect of your choices is huge and there are vastly different outcomes. In others, there are only a few meaningful choices that may lead to altenate endings and for the most part, you're on a linear path.

I have played the Ace Attorney series, but also one other visual novel, Clannad, and this one REALLY fueled my interest in the genre. If I can ever find something quite like it, I'm content. One other Visual Novel I'll definitely grab as soon as it's out is Steins;Gate, which is scheduled to have a US Release in Q1 2014. Since I loved the anime, I'm very excited to see what the original is like.

So, is anyone here particularly into visual novels? Maybe give a few recommendations to someone like me who would like to get into it? What do you think about the medium of visual novels in general? Can they even be called "games"?

Freya
12-08-2013, 02:42 AM
They are awesome. My favorite is Yo Jin Bo.

I Took the Red Pill
12-08-2013, 07:42 AM
Personally I would say that the Ace Attorney series falls more on the "game" side of things. I haven't read/played/whatever anything I would consider a visual novel except for Katawa Shuojo, because I had heard that it was like this monumental piece of art or whatever.

I absolutely despised it. I understand that it's supposed to be more of a novel than a game, but I would only be able to make a choice like once every half hour of gameplay. I got so bored with it that I was just skipping through the dialogue as fast as I could to get to the next choice. And then, of course, I had no idea what my choice would mean or the context of the situation. Maybe it would have been more special if I didn't have a girlfriend in real life. It just seems like a waifu simulator for lonely 4chan kids.

So for those of you who are big into these things, can you recommend something with more choice? Like a choose-your-own-adventure story for adults zit-faced-weaboos.

Freya
12-08-2013, 07:53 AM
Honestly I kind think of the telltale games are kinda this genre. The whole choose your own adventure/choices matter for the ending. Thing.

Ayen
12-08-2013, 08:06 AM
I think the closest thing I've come to this has been Phoenix Wright and a couple of fan games on the internet.

Karifean
12-08-2013, 10:00 PM
Clannad has my favorite cast of characters and storyline to date.

So, Yo Jin Bo is one I should check out? I suppose the resemblance to the FFX Aeon a coincidence? Any other recommendations?

ShunNakamura
12-13-2013, 01:26 PM
Clannad has my favorite cast of characters and storyline to date.

So, Yo Jin Bo is one I should check out? I suppose the resemblance to the FFX Aeon a coincidence? Any other recommendations?

Yo Jin Bo is somewhat interesting. I never finished it though due to the timed choices. I prefer to take my time at choice segments and even save once presented with a choice. Yo Jin Bo blocks that and thus got put on my back burner.


@Red Pill - The big ones that usually get suggested as more suited to adults would be ones such as Fate/Stay Night and Family Project. F/SN has a lot of choices and a number of awesome death scenes and in general has a more game like feel than some other VN's. Meanwhile Family Project is a large novel that waxes philosophy to a high degree. What is a Family it asks?

As for ones that are big on the gaming side. You have two of my favorites. Aselia the Eternal (http://www.jbox.com/product/jast002) and Utawarerumono(I hoped I spelled that right). Utawarerumono is a standard SRPG type game. But unlike your basic SRPG Utawarerumono is much more focused on the story and plays like a VN with mini game battles. The battle system is more complex than it looks on the surface though. And I can't beat it on the hardest mode. You really have to plan ahead to win those battles. As you go up in difficulty the AI is programed to better utilize the game rules. Sadly it has never been officially translated to English so you need to fan patch it.

Aselia, as the link shows, is officially translated and has, to me, very fun gameplay. The story is fairly solid too. Though I wouldn't award it a Nobel Prize or anything. Though speaking of Aselia. Yumina the Ethereal has a similar battle system though it is far less serious. Basically Yumina is going to get held back unless the school's rules get changed and it just so happens that if someone becomes student council president they can change any one thing about the school. Oh and an election is coming up. And the election is decided through Debate Battles. So when you 'debate', virtual 3d battlers appear and beat the tar out of one another to represent the progress of the debate. Yeah. . . I know. But is friggin hilarious!

Jessweeee♪
12-14-2013, 07:53 AM
If you liked Ace Attorney, definitely give Ghost Trick a try! It's made by the same team I believe. (Also my signature is a sprite from that game.)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/Cabanela_dance.gif

Cing made some pretty great visual novels for the DS. Trace Memory and my favorite visual novel ever, Hotel Dusk: Room 215. They both have sequels released in Europe and not the states which made me sad. They also made one called Again, which I greatly enjoyed, but it's kind of their black sheep.

Though of the games I've listed they're more like puzzle type adventures with lots of reading rather than literal novels.

NeoCracker
12-14-2013, 08:02 AM
...Me and Fate/Stay Night have a rocky relationship. On one hand, it handles certain things with an extremely high level of quality. For example, one of the best moments of the game is when Gilgamesh and Sakura's brother (I forget his name) are having a "Dialogue". I say Dialogue loosely, because it feels more like a Monologue from Gilgamesh, as if this guy is absolutely nothing and unimportant. You get such a powerful pressence of power and authority in this guy you yourself kind of feel small next to him, as if he really is the larger then life man he see's himself as.

Then you have a LOT of unceremonious off screen deaths and a terrible lead character.

I've also played Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, which is awesome and adorable. GO BUY IT NOW! It's on PSP. :p

Ultima Shadow
12-14-2013, 04:00 PM
So, is anyone here particularly into visual novels?
I love them to the degree that I'm trying to learn japanese better only so that I can read visual novels that haven't been translated basically. :greenie:


Clannad, as you already know, is awesome.


FSN, as has been mentioned, is one of the more popular go-to VNs. I personally love it, but to be perfectly honest, it's probably the action more than anything that makes it great. Some of the battle scenes are just pure gold, and there are also a couple other just pure "badass" scenes that are epicgasm. But yeah... like Neo mentioned it has both its ups and downs. I have an easier time forgiving the less desirable stuff as soon as sexy action shows up though. :p


I've played the demo of Mahou Tsukai no Yoru (Witch of the Holy Night), which is another Type-Moon title, and I gotta say... Aoko Aozaki makes a much better MC than Shirou. Easily my fav Type-Moon MC. I really can't wait to play the full game, because the demo was great from start to finish. The graphics are also very well done. And so far, it has suffered from none of Fate's or Tsukihime's issues. If it can keep the same level of quality through the whole game, it will probably end up being my fav Type-Moon title.


Umineko no Naku Koro Ni is... very different from anything else that I've ever read. But man, I love it. At its best, it's pure freaking gold. At its worst, it can be kinda bad though. But overall, the good far outweights the bad. And almost every single character in a huge cast gets proper development. It's hard to not end up loving... pretty much everyone, really and overall this is one of my absolute fav VNs. That said, it's probably not for everyone. Also: don't watch the anime. Don't do it! Just don't!


These, as well as most VNs I've played, are more battle, murder and fantasy-themed etc and don't really share much in common with Clannad other than being awesome reads.


Katawa Shoujo is one I'd recommend to any Clannad fan who is looking for more of that stuff though. It's still very different but... if you loved Clannad, you should love this too. Seriously, play it. It has some great humor, and it also has "all the feels" moments that will make your heart explode. Or implode.



Speaking of which, I just started playing "If My Heart Had Wings", which also appears to have similar themes. But I'm not far enough into it to really say much about it yet, so I'll get back on it later.














http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/mio2y.png
"What? I don't even get a mention?"










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel6.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Mio4.png
"No one cares about Japanese-only BS.
Besides, Umineko is the only thing that
really matters anyway... until the next
'When They Cry' comes out at least.
And that one only matters if I decide
to show up in it. Basically... anything
that does not include me is irrelevant."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Mio4.png
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Rider4b-1.png
"But Bern... didn't you say that
you hated Umineko because
*spoiler* *spoiler* *spoiler*?"










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Riderb-1.png
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel1.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/mio2y.png
"What's that? I don't have any
memories of such stupid nonesense."
"Denial won't change anything, you know."

Freya
12-14-2013, 05:18 PM
I like yo jin bo cause it's funny. It has a lot of pop culture hunor

Karifean
12-14-2013, 07:00 PM
Sounds like I'll definitely be looking at Katawa Shoujo after all. It might still have to wait though since I've still got a lot of other stuff to check out. I will probably also be giving other Key VNs a try. Do you know Tomoyo After?

Oh and speaking of Bernkastel, I might check out Higurashi as well. I've seen the anime adaptation and loved it, so I imagine I'll like it :P

Ultima Shadow
12-14-2013, 09:47 PM
I haven't read Tomoyo After yet, though it's on my list so I'll be getting to it eventually. :greenie:




Oh and speaking of Bernkastel, I might check out Higurashi as well. I've seen the anime adaptation and loved it, so I imagine I'll like it :P



http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel6.png
"I do approve. The Visual Novels
will always outshine the animes.
Higurashi is no exception. After
all, the anime made the massive
mistake of not even mentioning me.
At least the manga didn't completely
skip the most important character."










http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Yukari2.pnghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/AGAFURO/Bernkastel2.png
"...I think you overestimate your
importance to Higurashi's plot just
a tiny little bit there. Your role and
significance in Higurashi and Umineko
are worlds apart to say the least."
"I'm always the most important,
even if all I do is write poems between
chapters, I'm still the most important.
Anyone who dares to think otherwise
should just die terribly like a worm."








Edit:

Also, for another more game-like VN-ish thing, Dangan Ronpa might be worth checking out.

It's kinda like... some kind of hybrid between Ace Attorney and Persona, though I would say that Ace Attorney handles the trial/investigation parts a bit better and Persona has much better "Social Links". Still... while it doesn't really get "the best" from both worlds, it's still pretty darn awesome and most of the characters are well done. There are a select few things in the game that nags me a little, but they are not too many and easy to forget. Overall, it's well worth it and one of favourite PSP titles.

The second game will also be translated and released for the Vita eventually.

Botchmun
12-14-2013, 11:18 PM
Katawa Shoujo was made by 4chan. My friend got into visual novels a while back (poor guy) and its still his absolute favorite.