Not sure if this belongs in another board. Please recommend your favorite Visual Novels, CYOA or any other multiple-ending media. What are the qualities that makes a good Visual Novel? When writing, what's important to keep in mind?
just started 13 sentinels its compelling. time travel nonsense stacked on top of each other.
>>25137215Haven’t read many, read Subahibi and Higurashi will start Umineko
>>25137215>What are the qualities that makes a good Visual Novel?Same as what makes a good regular novel, but with added audiovisual consideration.
>>25137215The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is pretty /lit/. The background/UI looks like an old book and it's basically a pseudo retelling of the French Revolution/Protestant Reformation through the lens of Russian depressionism. The conflicts are good in that you're constantly making sacrifices or compromising your character to advance your position.
>>25137215VN otaku are literally at the bottom of the nerd totem pole.Only bottom of the barrel artists illustrate VNs, even Vietnamese and Korean slaves produce better drawings in anime than VNs.
We haven't gotten one of these threads in a whileI suspect i'm not the only one reading White Album
I've read a few:Chaos;HeadSteins;GateThe House in Fata MorganaHigurashi UminekoOut of these, Fata Morgana was the only one I'd consider worth reading. It has the vibe of a gothic novel throughout most of it.
>>25138747Came here to post basically this, but add Katawa Shoujo to the list, I think it's worth experiencing.Steins;Gate is also a nice read if you can handle otaku stuff and isn't tired of the subjects it touches on.Umi, specially 1, if you really like murder mysteries. Not much a fan of where it went even if I like Life of Pi.There are more good ones I could list but those have heavier gameplay elements, and would be considered more games than books.
I like VNs as well.
>>25138747thats bcs it basically is. i dont remember the name but its heavily influenced by an english author woman i think. some youtube vid i watched on it had the info
Read Subahibi!!!
>>25140456And also Silver Jiken!!!
>>25138670go back
>>25140466How does it feel knowing you're lower than even anime watchers?
>>25137809Entered the thread to mention this, synchronicity ftw.Won't spoil anything but you have no idea how batshit the story gets. Surprised it hasn't gotten much attention considering it's from Fatlus and the art is pretty great.Natsuno best girl
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4465690/Quantum_Coffee_Conundrum__Directors_Cut/some vn by a litfag is out soon, taking inspiration from vonnegut, cervantes, camus and PKD set in a time loop, its going to be good
There's a dedicated VN general on /vg/ if you wanted to check there too, also Muv Luv Alternative is one of the greatest experiences I've had with fiction in the last 10 years
>>25140919/vn/ is the worst place on earth to talk about visual novels.
>>25140947You are not wrong.
>>25140952Thoughts on Henpri?
>>25140956Thats one I've yet to get around too even though the concept of it is so absurd that im very curious about it.
>>25140909Do I have to have read those to glean anything from it
>>25137215>Visual>NovelPick one, tranny.
>>25140982It's unironically a great character-based game. Also it's the funniest VN I've ever read.
>>25137215dies irae
>>25137215I've only ever read the entry level pleb stuff, but in my opinion, most of it is not worth the massive time sink most of them are. If you're a NEET, they're an excellent way to kill time. Better than a seasonal anime in that there's more space to expand upon the plot and enough time for slice of life levity to make you attached to the characters. Worse in that you can finish a cour in ~260 minutes, not 30 hours. I think the medium better lends itself to characters than plot.>Fate Stay/NightNot worth it upon reflection. Worth it at the time to be in on /a/ memes and shitpost. An anime cultural touchstone.>Steins;GateNot overly long, entertaining enough.>HigurashiGot worse as it went along, did not finish. I think I stopped at part 6 or 7.>Kara no ShoujoMisery porn. Not particularly good misery porn either.>Zero EscapeFirst two games were entertaining enough, followed by the worst fucking kick in the dick retroactively ruining the entire series.>Ever17 and Remember11Ever17 was slow before picking up. Remember11 was better, but leaned too hard on the meta elements.
>>25139110Depending how many time travel stories you've already watched or read before, Steins;Gate can be downright awful and derivative.
>>25141376Fate teaches magic, sex magic, and MO advocates consciousness tho
>>25137215i have read some like saya no uta, katawa shoujo and euphoria. i know none of these are niche or based like the ones you might have read, but i can tell a good vn is one that gives you the best immersion of the world, and that immersion is built with writing, plot and visuals all working together.i didn't get a chance to experience high school to its fullest back then, and i knew i would never have it again in my life. but when i played katawa shoujo, it felt like an empty hole from that time was finally being filled. i got to experience the things i couldn't back then. and it doesn't have to be real, like some obsessed otaku retards want it to be. it just has to allow you to experience something and feel the feels. that's when a vn becomes a good one. after reading katawa shoujo, i guess i don't feel empty anymore when i think about high school. it just fulfills you. fixes those small holes inside you. that's what a good vn is.
>>25137809There is an actual time war here.If you went back in time with guns and books you'd be worshipped as a god with powers We live in that timeline and people are fighting to move backwards or forwards to fix things
>>25141494> "it just fulfills you. fixes those small holes inside you. that's what a good vn is."That's beautiful, anon.
>>25141494You should try one of those high school experience games that are just pure dopamine injections to the point they become suicide fuel. Katawa Shoujo is a decent little western game but it doesn't have anything on any of the better Japanese games trying to do that sort of thing.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9C0HU1dKuc
The greatest literary work of the 21st century. A synthesis of War and Peace, Oedipus Rex, the Oresteia, and psychological drama like Dostoevsky's best, with Nietzsche's Overman at its center.
>>25137215>UminekoStarts out great, devolves into endless repetition in the same narrow setting. Most rate it solely based on the first chapter or two and give up.>Kara no ShoujoI would disagree with the gent who mentioned misery porn. Its more that it's just kind of... flat. Think Mad Men but without the witty dialogue. Some of the poetry and the visuals/music combo do have their moments of beauty but mostly boring.>MuramasaIt's hard to get over the premise, mecha samurai robot suits in a 1950s setting. It's just kind of... gay (archaic - 1990s usage). Characters are strong but it is actually a lot closer to "misery porn". It can be funny, not Japanese "humor" but actually funny with decent comedic writing. It's hard to rate. >Baldr SkyUsual VN problems. Strong opening, good premise, characters a little weaker than average balance by other things it gets right like a pretty awesome 90s techno UI design, interesting concepts, etc. Dragged down ultimately by need for a guide and hundreds of hours of repetition making it unfinishable for all but the smelliest weebs.A lot of very cool ideas poorly executed.>Muv LuvRegarded by many (weebs) as the GOAT. False. Anime "humor" for hours and hours and hours. Baka kawaai moshi moshi senpai slop. Le silly! man's game, excused only by brutal deaths. Every extent copy could be deleted and replaced with 2 waifus in bikinis smacking eachother with paper fans and nothing of value would be lost.>White Album 2Romancetranny fluff. Imagine Jane Austen but if feelings were basically confessed/obvious by page 14 and then the book just went on for 1000 pages.Western VNs:>Life and Suffering of Sir Brante/ Pillars of EarthA bit "midkino" as the broccolis would put it. Not great, but you won't hate them. Characters are definitely pretty weak but the prose isn't bad for a videogame.>Aviary attorneyThe only "pretty good" western VN. Not great because it's not really innovative at all, but short and sweet, funny, etc. A snack, and the only one that will leave you with a feeling of perfect satiety at the end.
>>25137215I have tried VN's but they all seem so sterotypical anime filled with nonsense tropes and bad writing. is there any that are actually worthwhile or is this entire genre just larp because people don't want to open a book
>>25141968Games you should play:>SteinsProbably the object all rounder GOAT if decided by committee. It's not the best at any one thing, but the its engrossing, the characters are all strong, its funny, there's not much fluff. >Nasu's Works (Tsukihime remake, Witch on the Holy Night, Garden of Sinners, Fate)These are the best in an unquantifiable way. Ultimately a VN is only worth reading for the immersion factor of the added visuals. And Nasu is the master of this. No other VN will disconnect you from reality and absorb you in the same way.Fate is a bit shit and he isn't without problems, but he really is just quite simply the best.Everything else>Everything else (Fruits of G, Devil on G String, anything with a bunch of waifus on the cover)The worst slop imaginable. There are maybe 10 VNs worth reading in an ocean of slice of life metastatic ass cancer absolute garbage. I would say the majority of the worst of the worst fiction ever written is probably found in VNs.Keep this in mind. Just because you enjoy Umineko and Steins does not mean you will become a VN enjoooyer generally. You will probably find the opposite to be the case.
>>25141974subahibi is as good as vns get
>>25141983It's a medium for otaku and it caters to that audience. That's just what it is. They're going to seem bad if you aren't the intended reader and you go in looking for something that isn't there. The people who pretend these games are literary masterpieces or something are pretentious retards.
>>25137215You can't get more /lit/ than the Russians and Everlasting Summer with mods is a modern epic.
>>25137215I played ganguro girl way back then.
>>25137215>Not sure if this belongs in another board.theres one in /vg/ and one in /jp/ but no one reads visual novels in those threads
>>25141974>is there any that are actually worthwhile or is this entire genre just larpThere are some decent vns, but they generally suffer from substance being lost in translation. I enjoyed 'Blind of the New World' and 'Looper' if you want to get into vns that no one talks about. Also Mamiya, if they ever release the rest of the story
>>25143478>Also Mamiya, if they ever release the rest of the storyThey did indeed do that and it was great.
>>25137215Snatcher is a pretty cool cyberpunk VN by Hideo Kojima
Some furry VNs are surprisingly good. 90% are gay smut, but others are SFW (in the sense that they don't contain pornography) and do tell compelling stories which you could get into even if you're straight. Read Losing Ground recently, it's entertaining if you like seeing furries getting tortured
>>25143675
>>25143677baste Shuichiro
jun maeda stuff
Dies Irae is the peak of western literature but you have to read it in Japanese because it's untranslatable kamige
The problem with VNs is that their plots, worlds and characters are all usually done really well but the dialogue takes a real beating. Idk if thats just VNs in general or a localization thing.
>>25138635Started playing this last week and the whole lot/caste system seems like an incredibly stupid way to portray class struggles. Does the game stay like this till the end or is there some sort of nuance beyond "rich people bad"?
>>25143677Kageakibro, please come back to /vn/. I miss you!
>>25143801Could you elaborate a bit? I don’t know Japanese, but sometimes the translation feels clumsy. As for the plot, I’ve only just started reading it – it’s entertaining in places, but nothing more.
>>25144398It feels very difficult to have a discussion about VNs there anymore. That's not to say it hasn't always been shitty, but I think the userbase is just becoming younger and there's a substantial disconnect there. Anyway, I'm taking a break from VNs and catching up on some other things, but maybe I'll come back before too long.>>25144434You should ignore retarded posts like that instead of falling for them.
>>25137215I like Full Metal Daemon Muramasa quite a bit
Futadom World
for me its Euphoria
>>25144434I've seen bits and pieces of the translation and it's utter drivel. It's not just clumsy, it's literally just wrong. On the LITERAL first page of the prologue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umZ2Nqj5zq4 the translation it says "fifty thousand troops" when the original says "50万" which literally everyone that has studied japanese for just 30 minutes knows is 500,000 because numbers are taught in the first 20 anki cards of any beginner deck.That's how bad the translation of Dies Irae is. There isn't a single sentence in the entire 50 minutes that I would translate the way this hack did. Since you can't read Japanese there's no value in posting excerpts of prose in Japanese but Masada reads at the level of McCarthy (except in Japanese), while the translation is janky fanfic written by an edgy 13 year old with google translate.When EOP readers tell you localizations are good, remember they are people that don't question seeing "fifty thousand troops surrounded Berlin" knowing ANYTHING about numbers involved in WW2.There has to be something wrong with people that read visual novels, or indeed any Japanese literature, in English.
>>25143801>>25144666>peak of western literature>but Masada reads at the level of McCarthy (except in Japanese)Fuck off idiot.
I love the og Tsukihime.
go to /jp/ you retarded weeb
which is the most literary visual novel? my vote goes for pic related
>>25144870its a cuckge isnt it
Hotel Dusk games were peak comfy
>>25144888not at all, it's a beautiful story about loving one person and one person only, and not sharing her with anyone
>>25144870Can only speak of translated ones:Sekien no InganockSeaBedMekei no LupercaliaKatahane(the latter two theater-themed)
Currently reading muramasa. Great prose
>What are the qualities that makes a good Visual Novel?It's not necessary to make a decent VN, but from my observation a lot of the successful ones seem to take a profound idea and subsequently vulgarise it in order to fit it into a compelling popular narrative. Subahibi is the most pronounced example, with its treatment of Wittgenstein, whose influences it wears on its sleeve. Besides that, there is also Umineko with fictionalism, Higurashi with determinism, Steins;Gate with the possible worlds theory, Saya no Uta with epistemic relativism, Milfy City with Freudism, and the German one with the psychology of the crowd.
>>25137215English mystery VNs on Steam from the past few years:>Beyond R: Rule Ripper>Birth ME Code >Blankspace>Bound Between Desks>Clean Slate>CORPSE FACTORY>Decide 4 God (Out now in full 1.0)>Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved>The Divine Deception>Entropic Float: This World Will Decay And Disappear>The Game of Fourtune>Head AS Code (remake)>Look Inside>Methods: The Canada Files>Methods: The Detective Competition>The Price of Flesh>Quantum Suicide>Reaplaced>Shards of Chaos>The Specters Desire>SYNESTHESIA>Thief's Roulette>Whispering Memories>The Zodiac TrialEnglish mystery VNs on Steam that are to-be-released:>The Lost Delinquents of Rollings High>NO MORE WORK FOR ITO>Ubel>Underground22>The Wonderland Killings
>>25141974If you had to read just one do the Tsukehime remake.
>>25145357Mogged by Ooe
>>25143677The writing in this was unbelievably bad. Maybe it was the translation.
>>25140463lend me 50,000 yen
>>25140463One of the best games I have ever played
>>25144434The translation is fine. The other two are just memeing and/or genuinely retarded.
>>25144666>fanfic written by an edgy 13 year oldGood.That's how you should approach chuunikino.
>>25145756>>25145757The difference is the prose in Dies Irae is actually great, the translation is dog water. You have no right to talk about translation quality if you haven't read the original work. You're a mongrel lapping up regurgitated bile. You didn't beat the game. Are you a retarded EOP or Steiner himself defending your own trannylation? Bet you read it in 16:9 with cropped art as well
>>25145782>The difference is the prose in Dies Irae is actually greatSo is the prose in Conan, but you don't see me autistically going on about how great it is.
>>25145782Isn't Masadashit hard to translate in general?>>25144666>That's how bad the translation of Dies Irae is. There isn't a single sentence in the entire 50 minutes that I would translate the way this hack did.How would you have done it then?
>>25145796>Isn't Masadashit hard to translate in general?>How would you have done it then?Short answer: I wouldn'tLong answer:It's not so much that it's hard to translate. You could easily write a literal translation or a localized literal translation that replaces expressions with english equivalents but it would be jank. To a certain extent this applies to text of any quality, but it truly becomes offensive when the prose is sophisticated enough for it itself to be a selling point.It's not just a weeb thing either. Japanese translations of English original works are complete shit as well, and the more characteristically English the text is, the worse it gets. It has nothing to do with sentence order or "the languages are just so different!" it's that thinking patterns themselves between cultures are too different.The translation of Dies Irae is a transgression of astronomical magnitude because it fails at every level1. It's filled with objective mistakes2. The translator is a poor writer in his native language and his prose doesn't match the original's quality even if he attempted to rewrite the sentiment3. The original work itself is untranslatable as the intended experience can only be had in the author's own wordsAn example I can give that requires no language ability is, if you watch anime or idols or whatever, and the girls go "heeee??? sugoooi~~" it's fine, but if a white American girl acted that way, it would be fucking stupid. But "ee sugoi" it not a weeaboo thing, it's a real thing. That's how real Japanese people act. The thing is Japanese people aren't retarded and there are other frontiers of the language where Japanese and its history grants authors the ability to reach heights not meant for English readers. In hieratic register for one, Japanese authors pull from classical grammar for more gravitas which is simply not something you're able or allowed to do in English.There's a reason Masadakino will never be translated.
>>25145477>The writing in this was unbelievably bad.Wrong.
>>25145843What is it about visual novels that leads people to become delusional fuckheads like this?
>>25145860It's the first time they've read prose fiction outside of school.
>>25145863The worst cases seem to be among the ones who learned Japanese which makes me think it's a kind of internalized sunk cost fallacy, combined with being a dumb weeb to begin with.
>>25145843white american girls be actin that way
Hello, I'm a dumb weeb. This shitty weeb game I like is actually high literature that's superior to any novel published in the past uh, we'll just say 500 years okay? Truly a profound philosophical experience which gaijin like you will never be able to appreciate. Oh, you read it and thought it was crap? Well of course you did because you didn't read it in Japanese. The mellifluous Japanese prose and its underlying cultural nous can never be translated into a vulgar language like English. Take that scene where the protagonist sees the heroine's panties. Do you think you even began to understand how funny that scene was? Unless you read it in the ORIGINAL language, that means you can't argue with me, so I win this round. Try again next time... heh...
>>25141974>they all seem so sterotypical anime filled with nonsense tropes and bad writingYou should expect the anime tropes. If you don't enjoy anime, VNs are not worth your time>bad writingThe more 'literary' VNs haven't been translated into English, and besides, VN translators are either hobbyists or work for pennies. The better translators either work in business/law or translate actual books. This is naturally reflected in the quality of translations.
>>25144666>>25144677>Masada reads at the level of McCarthyCan't be.Masada knows how to punctuate.
>>25145860Many visual novel fans are, unfortunately, homosexual with all of the deep-rooted mental illness it comes with. Like this literal faggot who takes every opportunity to bring up his favorite gay buttsex novel: >>25145388
>>25140909You advertised this with the exact same words in /ssfg/ you shill! You filthy shill!
>>25145753>>25145576Have you read 25th Ward? Is it as good as the first?
>>25149591I didn't like it as much but it is worth playing
