Cross 12 Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Why I read Visual Novels By Cross “I've just finished a game whose story left me changed. At times viscerally uncomfortable, at others touching, it was a story of filial love, coming-of-age, the fragility of childhood and the bleakness of mortality. It's called Kana: Little Sister, and it's an incest-themed sex game.” (Leigh Alexander on The Escapist) (Attention: This article contains 2 spoilers for Tsukihime and Kana, Little Sister. Please don’t read if you can’t handle those^^). It was like four months ago when I stumbled on a thread named “The best Hentai Games” on some Warez-forum. Next to stupid rape simulators and 3D porn animations where some smaller files, almost hidden. I only chose to download them, because I needed some fap-material and couldn’t be bothered to wait for a 3 GB file to finish. I came for the porn, but got something different… The game was called “Tokimeki Check-in!” and it was my first Visual Novel (of course I didn’t know at that time). Strangely, it started quite calm. There weren’t any sexy-naked-dangerously-young-Anime girls, no tentacle rape, not even the slightest hint of sexy time. Instead I got a first-person narrative of some bum, who didn’t want to get up in the morning. What a massive disappointment. Despite that, I decided to continue, maybe the good stuff lies just beyond the introduction. To make it short, I only reached a normal end and nothing happened. I didn’t get any porn, but the experience changed my perspective on art, literature and entertainment. I was fascinated how such a cheap, slice-of-life story, written in bad English with tons of typos and quirky grammar, could affect me so deeply. How could this happen? It all starts with the first person narrator. I was not only a spectator, I was in the story. That lazy bastard, surrounded by attractive girls, was I. Western literature creates characters, Visual Novels make you a character. With this simple psychological trick everything in the story becomes more direct and vivid. When the protagonist enters a hot spring full of naked girls, or “accidently” gropes some tits, you, as the reader, are not merely watching from a grandstand behind him. No, you are directly in his head. It’s like it’s your arm that touches all the naughty bits and more. (When I read this paragraph it sounds a bit creepy, but I believe that these are the psychological foundations of a Visual Novel…) Later, when I read more stuff, it became clear that the second foundation of VNs is the emotional binding to the characters. It sounds cheap, but I will never forget the stinging pain in my heart, when Arcueid (of Tsukihime) left Shiki or the joy when Kana (from Kana, Little Sister) survived her critical surgery in the best ending. Those characters weren’t only tropes or metaphors from some crazy author. As long as I was with them, they were my friends, my family and my lovers. I shared their joy and their pain, and not always was everything happy in the end. But so is life and mostly it was worth it. Four months later I had finished a decent amount of VNs. Big ones and small ones, tragic or funny, I liked most of them and I’m not going to stop. Sure, many topics and characters were copied and repeated, but I was still able to find something valuable in the stories, the characters or the setting. Steven Erikson once said that art is about transporting emotions to the consumers and I agree. Love, hate, sadness, despair, friendship and fun – I never found an art-form, which is capable of delivering those emotions so deeply. And this is why I read and love Visual Novels. This is my story. Maybe some of you have similar experiences or completely different ones. Some of you came here from watching Anime or learning Japanese, but in the end it only matters that we as a group can enjoy this awesome medium. And I, for myself, am really looking forward to the VNs to come and I bet most of you do, too. Best wishes from your Cross Ps: I really would like to use this opportunity to thank the Admin of this wonderful site, Ivan, for bringing us so many English-translated VNs. You are one of the heroes of the digital age. Instead of bunkering your treasures in a safe like Scrooge McDuck you invest money and work for sharing them with a bunch of perverted strangers (^^) on the Internet. This is really great. Thanks. Ps 2: Please write a comment if you liked or disliked this article. I’m thinking of writing about more about topics related to Visual Novels, but don’t want to bother the community if you hate my goofy writing. Ps 3: English is not my native language (that’s German:cool:). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
udizzle 11 Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 this brought a smile to my face, we are all here bcuz we all have the same passion and interest in visual novels/anime/manga etc. all of us can relate to your post in our own unique way. this is a hobby/activity im proud of and you guys as well, anyway keep doing these posts i enjoyed it and now i want to check out ur VN ^.^ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SanosukeArg 10 Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Well actually I have the feeling that 80% of the VN readers are the typical "in for the H-Scenes, stayed for the stories" btw: nice article, a bit sad that your first VN was Tokimeki Check-in it's not even near my top 25, however it did have a couple of nice H-Scenes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Exsilon 15 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 First and foremost welcome to the board! This is obviously an interesting and enjoyable read I agree totally with your opinion. Especially the feeling of involvement with the main character. I wanted to add the reason why VN are more successful at getting the viewer to have the feeling of being the character is the way the game progress by given you the reader a choices of what to do in the certain situation. For me the way get the most enjoyment out of VN is to play the first run answering as if it I would do as myself. And if needed the walktrough will be use on second run onward. Hmm that about it I guess, my opinion on VN as a medium. Ps. I havent read Tsukihime and Kana yet but well I would forget the names soon lol Ps2. Tokimeki Check-in is my early VN exp too. My eroge experience goes like this: True Love > Noctural Illusion > Fetal Relation(I thinks) > Tokimeki Check-in Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Haika 12 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 I agree highly with the opening post here. Especially the part about being inside the main characters head. That's just not something that western art has caught up with just yet. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
higguy 10 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 I agree highly with the opening post here. Especially the part about being inside the main characters head. That's just not something that western art has caught up with just yet. this is one of the reasons i read VNs , it makes you feel that u are really the main character in the game , and i love this feeling. This feeling made me read one VN after another , without getting bored and stuff. (My first VN was little busters! , and i liked it very much) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Sword Slasher 10 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 It seems that most people have the same reasons. Actually, me too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cross 12 Posted July 9, 2012 Author Share Posted July 9, 2012 Thanx for your comments^^ Actually it's a bit sad that the most common entry to this scene is through cheap Nukiges and not the story-driven VNs, but this way the masterpieces are even better. Anyway, I guess I will write some more about the stuff I read and enjoy, expect my next post at the weekend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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