2013-03-13, 08:25
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Link #1 |
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
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playing visual novels for completion
Often when I play a visual novel I do it with a walkthrough because they are very long and it's easy to miss the right choices. I would like to play them without a walkthrough but then I'll get lost. For example, a game like Ever17, how are you supposed to know that there is another true route after you got the other 4 good ending? and when you do get the all the 4 endings how do know you how to get to the true route?
I heard that some games have even more complicated and obscure things you have to do to see everything the game has, one game that comes to mind is I/O (although I have not played this game myself). On one hand I feel like if I'd play visual novels without a walkthrough I'll have a better sense of completion, the ending that I'll get is because of the choices I made on the other hand I just want to enjoy the whole story so a walkthrough is good to overcome the obstacles that prevent me from enjoying it. Share with me how to do you guys play visual novels? do you have any tips? do you maybe save at every choice so you could go back? |
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2013-03-13, 15:47
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Link #2 |
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The "Insane" Biochemist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Merry old England
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I find that myself, too, use walkthroughs to play visual novels, mainly because I like to treat it like a book. Consequently, I prefer the fairly linear feeling when playing the main story. That said, after the main story I often go back to points of interests or replay routes to get a fuller feeling for the characters etc. I usually save after a few choices so I can easily skip forward if I need to come back.
Honestly it's up to you which way you prefer - some people treat it as a game, and therefore walkthroughs are like the anti-christ as they want to enjoy making their choices. Other people, like me, treat it as any other book, just with appealing visuals and music added in for atmospheric effect. Too many choices just makes it to complicated IMO; just let me experience the story :P |
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2013-03-13, 16:35
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Link #3 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
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I like to play through once making my own choices, then use a walk-through to unlock the other routes, which works fine for most games. What bugs me are the ones like Clannad where you have to play routes in a certain order to access everything
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2013-03-13, 20:30
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Link #5 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
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1. most obvious: substantial number of CGs not unlocked 2. title screen changed after finishing certain (or certain number of) normal routes 3. additional option on title screen after finishing certain (or certain number of) normal routes 4. grayed out options during play 5. hints in the plot (such as certain key plot elements untouched or left alone at some point in the routes) Well, if the game becomes too obscure to clear, it's a Kuso game  For me, I used to save at every point (though some games have too many of them, I feel, making the branch tree humongous) in my studying days (also, in those days, almost all the games were simpler and more straightforward usually), but now, I almost always use walkthroughs to (1) save time, and (2) to determine in advance the route order I want to clear, sometimes searching for recommendations to get the most satisfying order. |
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2013-03-13, 21:08
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Link #6 |
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
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I'm glad I'm not the only one with this who feels this way. I love good stories and visual novels definitely scratch that itch for me.
Has anybody here played Divi-Dead or Eve Burst Error? These have some of the most obscure things that you have to do in order to advance the story. In Eve you sometimes had to go to some place and use the same options over and over, it does'n seem that bad because you might say that the game gives a feedback on it, like for example if you guys played snatcher or policenauts, in those games every time you select the same things you get a new description and then when the description repeats you know you can move on, but in Eve at some point the description don't update anymore and you think you can move on but no you have to keep doing it again and again. In Divi-Dead the routes you get are determined by where you select to go to at some point in the game, it's even more obscure, how the hell are you supposed to know that if you go to, for example, the the library you are gonna get onto one route and if you go to the track field you go to another route, there is absolutely no feedback to the player. By the way both games have interesting stories so if you can get a walkthrough check them out. |
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2013-03-13, 23:57
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Link #7 |
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Hiding Under Your Bed
Join Date: May 2008
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If you don't use a walkthrough, and avoid gamefaq type of websites, you won't know you missed things, and thus won't be able to feel regret over doing so, while on the plus side, you'll enjoy being able to play it yourself, rather than simply doing what someone told you to do.
But, to each their own. 
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2013-03-14, 01:36
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Link #8 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohayo
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Back when I was a more active visual Novel/Ero-game player, before most of the companies I liked starting to produce less and less of the style I enjoyed(What's with all the dark stories lately?) my playing style consisted of me doing whatever my first time and just going through with the game.
Then after I beat I would mostly IN ADDITION to using walkthroughs just save at each choice selection and if I get an ending as a result I just go back to the choice and do the opposite and continue on.
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2013-03-14, 02:12
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Link #9 |
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Banned
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Philippines
Age: 36
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The only reason I use a walkthrough is simply to complete the route. Though it's basically easy to end with your desired route, the problem is the things that you will be missing... Walkthroughs avoids that ad also it saves time...
Imagine, I played Clannad with a walkthrough and I finished it in a month...one route in one month.... The imagine if without it...man, if I missed a CG or scene, I'll be mad... |
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2013-03-14, 02:19
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Hiding Under Your Bed
Join Date: May 2008
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2013-03-14, 10:59
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Link #15 |
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見習い魔剣使い
Join Date: May 2006
Location: 大陸の片隅
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I used to pick choices outside of route progression if only they had some value to them, like hilarious manzai dialogue, or some brief foreshadowing that's relevant to the route-of-the-moment story, or some exchanges that helped reinforce characterization. Those were fun times. The titles that had these kind of choices made me abandon guides, so I usually went in blind for my first and second playthroughs because part of the fun didn't lie in just route progression but also in these alternative choices and seeing what else they had to offer in terms of adding to the entertainment.
Recent titles...don't do this sort of thing anymore. Now, if you just pick the wrong choice, you get something along the lines that makes you go "...eh?" and then the thing proceeds along with a missed flag. The "choice exploration" fun isn't there, at least from the recent ones I've tried out.
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2013-03-14, 11:11
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今宵の虎徹は血に飢えている
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Actually, I only use walkthrough for complicated ones. Eg Chaos;Head Noah or SRPG like Eien Shinken series. Baldr Sky would come under this too
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