The general thread of generalness (a.k.a. we talk about everything)

Me? No, it doesn't seem like it. Weird. I never really looked into P Ming and whatnot on this forum, though it seems I have no messages.

Christ, Canvas 2 is seriously dragging on and the last heroine is just annoying. Dunno if I can finish.

I just started it. Wish me luck.

I skipped the last part. Elis annoys me when she's being focused on.

...I don't want to start Muv-luv, I hear it sucks. But apparently Muv-luv Alternative won't make any sense otherwise. Meh, can't be any worse than Wind a Breath of Heart or Chaos Head. My Girlfriend Is The President, Little Busters and G Senjou No Maou need to hurry up and finish being translated.

I should probably quit whining about it, I'll probably find it 'okay' at worst.

Edit: O hey, I didn't realize the last one already had an article.

Edit 2: Wow... This is... really bad so far.

edited 31st Oct '10 9:10:48 PM by Arha

Just last month, a rather dark and serious VN called The Chaos Gateway was released on XBLA Indie Games.

Also last moth, broken_angel on the Lemma Soft forums released a demo called "Memoirs of an Angel." (Worksafe link: http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=8158 ) The CG scenes are described as only 75 percent complete, but I found the demo quite impressive. It seems to contain a full story with branching paths, a modest amount of stat management, and a variety of endings.

Here's how the author describes the story: "As the nation's former princess, Zuleika, it's up to you to take back your throne from an evil tyrant, restore peace and prosperity to your people, and find love with your 'Prince Charming.'" I found it to be a fairly serious story with a few cute moments. The female lead character's choices can lead to prosperity or ruin.

So, in the interest of actually having people post in this forum, what would people say their absolute, #1 favorite VN is? I think for me I have to say Cross Channel narrowly beats out Sharin No Kuni due to the latter's pacing problems.

edited 6th Nov '10 9:27:11 PM by Arha

Kira Kira!! It's really, really awesome. Even though I love Ever17 and Tsukihime and a ton of other visual novels. I just find Kira Kira to be all around the most well made visual novel ever.

Clannad.

Ef A Fairy Tale Of The Two.

I liked Kira Kira but the plot wasn't engaging enough for me. The Nasu VNs have amazing plot but aren't my favourite genre. Ever17 was freakin amazing and mindscrewy but again, not my favourite genre.

Clannad would probably be my second favourite, but I like the anime better. Playing through the VN does fill you in on a lot of minor details but the anime paces better imo.

Umineko would be one of my favourites if the art was better. God.

Shuffle was great. But it was just a really simple romance story for the most part and once again, didn't have intriguing plot.

edited 7th Nov '10 12:01:26 PM by neobowman

So, Symphonic Rain is now actually installed properly on my computer and the text is displaying and stuff. Yay.

Edit: Tsugumi and Sora. Interesting. And also Nagisa, which I am less happy about since I never liked her voice.

edited 7th Nov '10 2:49:25 PM by Arha

^Was that just a random blurb?

I'm currently splitting time between Kira Kira curtaincall, Umineko and Canvas 2

Yeah, just a random comment. I spent forever trying to install it awhile back to no effect, and then I tried again this afternoon and it randomly works now.

How good is Kira Kira curtain call, anyway? I never got around to that one.

I really like the protagonist for being a complete idiot unlike the more normal main characters of most V Ns. Also, it has hilarious moments and a few returning characters which are nice. I'm still only at the beginning though.

Hmmm, I tend not to like stupid main characters. Still, Kira Kira was pretty good even if I didn't finish, I should check it out.

Well, if you don't like stupid leads, then you should stay away. I mean, Shirou has some common sense at least but this guy is really hot-headed and impulsive.

It's acceptable sometimes. Depends on the story and presentation. Also on how it balances with the rest of their personality; I don't think of Shirou as being stupid, I think of him as being insane. In an interesting way.

Yeah, I actually like Shirou as a character too and don't really feel his idiocy as much.

I think what bothers me is when it's portrayed as being a good thing, or when it's used for too many jokes.

Hm, both of the sisters are voiced by Mai Nakahara. Fortunately, only the one gets the soft Nagisa voice.

edited 7th Nov '10 4:20:09 PM by Arha

It's not really used for jokes, it's just his state of existence.

And I have no idea what you're talking about. Sisters? Mai Nakahara?

Symphonic Rain. Two sisters, Torta and... the one the main character is supposed to be dating but I don't think shows up in the story really. Their both voiced by Mai Nakahara, who also voiced Nagisa. The one that doesn't show up has Nagisa's soft voice, the other one sounds more normal.

By stupid, do you mean unintelligent or impulsive/rash kind of stuff?

Both. Kind of. I should start symphonic rain once I'm done all the stuff I'm doing right now.

Well, that was a bit of an unexpected turn of events. It suffered a little from the distant? aloof? style that Symphonic Rain is written in though.

To spark discussion to people other than myself and Arha, what do you think is the most important aspect of a VN?

I'd list

• 1. Plot
• 2. Writing
• 3. Art
• 4. Music
• 5. Voice acting

I may be being extremely generic in my choices but I'm wondering if anyone thinks differently.

• 1. Characters
• 2. Plot
• 3. Writing
• 4. Setting
• 5. Art

Perhaps? Messing up any of these except maybe art is a bit of a gamebreaker though.

I'd have:

• 1. Characters
• 2. Art (switch Art with 3 if it's decent)
• 3. Setting
• 4. Voice acting
• 5. Plot
• 6. Pace
• 7. Porn (seriously that should have its own category.)