FMW Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 Hey, I've got a question for folks about visual novels. I'm talking specifically about the kind where the player is presented with a lineup of male or female characters and get to choose from the lineup which romance they want to pursue. The question is, isn't that a kinda creepy/insidious premise? The way a game parades the selection of romances in front of the player for him/her to choose from is a bit of a power trip for the player (only the players choice matters, any of these characters will fall for you if you pursue them) and also kinda dehumanizes the characters in question don't you think? It's kind of weird when you put it down on paper. But on the other hand, is it really such a creepy thing? How is this any different from choosing which of the single males/females you know to pursue? People make exactly the choice these games present you with in the real world all the time. So now we finally get to the questions. 1. How do you feel about being presented with a lineup of potential partners to choose from in a video game? 2. Are there ways that a game can approach presenting this choice that makes it more palatable? What are some games that do a good/bad job of handling this first act of a visual novel? 3. How does the way Katawa Shoujo handles the lineup problem compare to how other visual novels present their roster of romances? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixTwoSixFour Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Something tells me you won't get many replies. I find visual novels fascinating- baffling and weird and interesting- so I might as well chip in. I think variety is a necessary thing if you are giving a player the option of romance in ANY game. Love is an issue very close to people's hearts (har har), so it's even harder for them to be neutral about it. We don't choose the person we think best suites our MC, we choose the person we like best ourselves. Or at least, such has been my experience. I didn't give a shit that FFVII clearly thought I should end up with Tifa, when I got that night at the Golden Saucer it was Cloud and Yuffie because I thought she was more interesting. (Then Advent Children came out and it turned out she wasn't that interesting. Oh well.) So yeah, I think the lineup is important... but you need to make an effort to avoid making it obviously a lineup. This is one of the problems I have with Persona 4, for instance- there were times where characters like Yukiko were only there so that I had more options as to who to sex. Not very subtle, and annoying. Clumsy. All visual novels are complete shit at the lineup problem. I, of course, haven't played ALL visual novels, but I've played enough that I feel I can confidently make that statement. It's just in their nature- they're so focused on the pursuit of getting in someone's pants, that it's really obvious when they're introducing a new love interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted May 11, 2012 Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 are there any free examples you can download for PC/android? This has made me rather curious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Well Ren'py exports to Android(it is Java based) so I reckon there's a fair few. Though probably just random .APK's around the web than anything on the Play store. http://www.renpy.org/doc/html/android.html Oh n Ren'py has a largish collection of games, though these are mostly amateur productions: http://games.renpy.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMW Posted May 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 are there any free examples you can download for PC/android? This has made me rather curious... Google Katawa Shoujo. It's on PC, and it's free. It's also the only one of these I've ever played. I kinda liked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 You sure are making me think way back in time since it been ages since I played these sort of games. Also I just found out Simgirls is FINALLY completed two weeks ago when it was started back in 2002 and with Simgirls 2 in the planning stages. I remember playing this game when it first came out... brb playing for old times sake... :'D I think SixTwo got it down for the first question. These sort of games present you with multiple girls with different personality and traits. Obviously, one girl can't appeal to everybody so we as a player will choose the ones that we like best. Then on a later time, we can come back to see the other endings if we like. Are these sort of games proper? No, not really but being story driven it would be pretty hard to make a visual novel that targets men, women, straight or gay/lesbian. Making such stories work would be hard. For example, if I choose a guy and I decided to go gay, am I suddenly going to find homosexuals or turn other dudes gay? To make it seem less weird, the choices should be more organic and have a bit more complex of an outcome. Yes, the number of possible love interests are going to be fixed but decisions regarding them and the outcomes of those decisions could be more complex. However, again, it pretty damn hard to make a story and game make sense if you make it so complicated. These games don't have large budget or any budget at all so the creators are not going to do much more than they have to. Also these complex systems could be broken down too. As for the last question, I can't answer it since I never play the game. I nearly was involved in it though... Now onto to Simgirls. I always preferred this game to Gurango Girls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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