Read, See and Hear - All About Visual Novels (Topic)

The whole truth about visual novels you would like to know if you ever heard of visual novels.

An amazing storyline and the ability to change it is what you hear when it comes to CD Project Red, BioWare and Telltale games [in fact, Telltale games don't have this except Walkers, but alas, people believe it]. Everyone likes to change the plot and it is clear why: who does not want to save the world for real, making decisions, and not just swinging swords or guns.

And here's a riddle for you in the topic, which is better: play, read or watch? The answer is visual novels that combine all three elements. Give you the opportunity to be heads. a hero who influences the story. Today this genre is quite developed, has its own history, various representatives, but remains unknown for most gamers. You may have heard about “Endless Summer” somewhere from someone, or even played it, but the genre is not limited to it.

Since one of the most famous visual novels Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney will be released on the ninth, in honor of this, we will fully analyze everything about visual novels.

Everything was wrong in the book!

The ancestors of visual novels were exclusively in text format. On the screen, if it was a game on a PC, the situation was described like: “Before you are two chairs, one with chiseled peaks, and so on. Choose which one to sit on ”and depending on the choice you were shown the following text. In game books [imagine there were] at the bottom of the page there were footnotes, for example, if you chose the first chair, turn to page 26. So history drove the then gamers through its pages over and over again. Much later, the creators of book projects realized that they could not be limited to quests, love stories or horror, and there is a place for skirmishes and action on the pages of text games.

There were projects that required constant dice rolls and calculations [that's what I understand interactively]. No sooner had they looked back than all the fans of the first computer games in 1980 were reading the quest books of the Fighting Fantasy and Choose your Own Adventure series. They were not the first of their kind, but it was in them that illustrations appeared to visualize what was happening. They became more and more complex, and thus migrated to board games. Today, some developers are trying to port their content to mobile devices or PCs.

"The combat system is good, but why is it needed, if it's better to tell an excellent story, add sprites, a soundtrack, backdrops to it - this way the atmosphere is better, and the literary basis won't get any worse from this" - some developers once thought ... So the desire to get away from the combat and RPG component led to the creation of a template for the whole genre, which we today know as visual novels. Quite original works, which are often made on such engines as Twine and Ren'py, began to actively develop in the indie sphere.

Anime is everywhere you look

Unlike Western audiences, Eastern countries, often Japan, liked the genre. And as you know - everything that becomes part of the Japanese entertainment industry is developing very rapidly. So visual novels took root in the land of the rising sun, and anime style became a distinctive feature of the genre.

He was particularly influenced by such a subspecies of short stories as otome, which translates as "for women / girls." They are essentially visual novels and a dating simulator in one. In the 90s, the market was full of them.

The formula for the success of such a game was, firstly, high-quality bisonen. This is how beautiful male characters with feminine facial features that give off a hint of yaoi are characterized in Japan. Secondly, a touching romantic plot, and thirdly: quality music, voice acting from famous anime actors [also known as suyu], and great visuals. Manipulating the feelings of women's hearts, and then money was earned. Otome riveted like today's royal battles, and the best seiyuu did not have time to drink a glass of water, as they were dragged to the voice acting of a new game. If you don't believe me, I can say that there are at least 104 famous otome games.

Another important cliched element was the gray main character, devoid of such a thing as an "interesting personality". This is primarily due to the Japanese ideals of a girl who should be quiet, timid and patient. Related to this is the problem of otome games, where often GG did not put anything into anything and treated her like a rag. Like, if you want happiness, be patient. But despite the controversy, otome games made a great contribution to the development of the genre, and also attracted the western audience.

Western view

Western game devs decided to look at visual novels from a different angle. They started by re-dubing some of the best visual novels and then releasing their own products.

Western girls did not like to play for the obedient heroine of otome games, and men just wanted to play visual novels, where they did not need to start a relationship with some bisonen character. So the faceless heroines and the rule of "happy relationship or death" were replaced by thoughtful and interesting characters, a high-quality plot, quests, intrigues and philosophical questions about life. Well, in between times you could glue waifu or hasbendo. The Japanese, in turn, also picked up this trend and began to make stories more diverse.

There were stories about investigations of crimes, meetings with the otherworldly, political intrigues. The plot became less and less linear, and the gameplay, which previously consisted of a choice of answer options, was diluted with mini-games.

Examples for dating

Now that you know everything, it's time to give some examples of must-haves to familiarize yourself with visual novels.

Katawa Shoujo / Girls with Disabilities

The name itself hints at some kind of harem. In fact, it is, but not quite. The story tells about a guy named Hisao Nakai who suffers from a congenital heart defect. Once at school, a girl confesses her love for him and at this moment he has a heart attack. Hisao is admitted to the hospital for several months. All friends turn away from him, including the one who confessed her love to him. Before being discharged, he learns that he has been transferred to a school for children with disabilities.

The authors of the game, who worked on it for 5 years, were able to show people with special needs without unnecessary whining as ordinary members of society, no different from us. The heroes are really alive, and their actions and twists in the novel will squeeze tears out of especially emotional players. The novel is distributed by the creators for free.

Long Live The Queen!

This is a true roguelike from the world of visual novels. In the story, the queen dies, and her place is taken by 14-year-old Elodie, the daughter of the deceased monarch. Most of the gameplay is learning. We have about 30 disciplines that need to be learned to rule the country.

It's impossible to learn everything, so you have to sacrifice something. Alas, all these sacrifices will lead to the death of Elodie. For example, by studying tactics, naval combat and politics, a queen who has not studied intrigue can easily be poisoned by her food. Or if you worry too much about your safety, it can lead to a popular uprising and the overthrow of the government. Over time, you play not to win, but to see how else she might die.

The Yawhg

In this novel, you know in advance that hurricane Yavg is about to hit the town by the ocean where the game takes place. Your heroes and other inhabitants of course do not know about this. Everyone lives an ordinary life. With your characters, there are always different situations that will affect the future. Offended a man, but he hop - hanged himself.

When Yavg comes, all your actions will make themselves felt. When a local apocalypse falls on people, everyone will receive what they deserve, depending on their actions. The game has 52 endings and most of them range from "sad" to "life is ashes." It has relatively good endings, but it could have been more positive. The game also has an amazing picture, which at first may make you think that it is not that sad and not a game.

The genre of visual novels continues to evolve, and we can talk about it for a long time. What we will do in the future, telling you about the best representatives of the genre. Until then, you have time to evaluate our proposed projects.

The Topic of Article: Read, See and Hear - All About Visual Novels.
Author: Jake Pinkman