Are visual novels worth my time?

[Fox12]

Recently I discovered that new favorite anime writer, gen urobuchi, got his start in visual novels. Apparently a lot of major animes start this way. This led me to wonder... What exactly IS a visual novel? Is it more like a comic book, a show, or a traditional video game? Is there a lot of player input? Are there any that are good, and if so, where would one find them? I'm legitimately curious if the medium is worth my time, or if I should simply avoid them.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

The closest thing I could compare visual novels to that you've listed is comic books. There's a lot of dialogue and such, but it's typically spaced in short one or two sentence increments that are easy to digest.

Player input depends on the specific visual novel; some might have none, while others might have set points where choices are made affecting the ending the player gets. The latter is more common as far as I can tell.

Sometimes games combine the visual novel aspect with other gameplay elements, like the Danganronpa games, where murder cases play out in a novel-like fashion with minigames peppered throughout. People sing praises of the later Persona games all the time and a large part of their gameplay (outside of combat) is like a visual novel. They're both series of games that are definitely worth looking into if you're not absolutely opposed to Japanabanana games.

As for more pure visual novels, I can't really think of many that I've played. Katawa Shoujo is great, at least. Hatoful Boyfriend may be good for a laugh.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

The only Urobuchi VN I've read is Saya no Uta. That one was just a novel with pictures and music. There are two choices in it but, besides that, it's just a novel on your PC.

The others I've read have been much the same but I very rarely read them. I'm given to understand some of them are basically adventure games and dating sims like Katawa Shoujo are a type of VN.

 

[Asita]

You're going to hate this answer, but Visual Novels are spectacularly varied. You get things like Katawa Shoujo that are effectively choose your own adventure tales on one end and things like Ace Attorney[footnote]I'm going to trust Wikipedia's categorization on this[/footnote] which veer closer to being a text-based game like Cave Adventure.

As to recommendations...I can't personally vouch for most of these (my personal VN experience is limited), but I do remember an image devoted to that topic. Though I leave it to those more familiar with the medium to either dispute or affirm its recommendations. It's my understanding though that Type-Moon's works (Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, Melty Blood) tend to be fairly popular suggestions.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Long live the Queen is a pretty good visual novel, with a spreadsheet like skill system and choices that can result in death that turns it into the Dark Souls of visual novels.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I think Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius would count as a visual novel given the overall style and yet it's also a turn based strategy game, a very good one. Where most visual novels seem to lack much gameplay this has a good amount of both. Besides it's mechs in space, what's not to love?

 

[MintSM]

I think it's more helpful if you see visual novels as a separate art form; not a comic book or video game, just its own distinct thing. Like both those two, there's a lot of variance, as stated above. It can be mildly gameplay-based with some interaction in the environment itself to affect the story, or it can just be like a more technical CYOA book.

As for whether they're worth your time or not, I'd say just take a look at one and see if it sticks. Also like video games and comics, whether you think a certain medium is highly variable, as is the subjective quality that you'll get from all the shittons of them out there, which can be done good or bad; can't really help you other than that. Just see for yourself if you think they might be worth your time.

 

[Elfgore]

The thing about visual novels is that many of them are very different from each other. Some are choice heavy, others have no choices, some have combat systems, some have mini-games. I know you don't want to hear this, but there is a whole bunch of them out there. In other words, there are genres within the visual novel genre.

Honestly, obtaining them legally is really hard. The only places that come to mind are Manga Gamer [http://www.mangagamer.com/] and maybe a few other sites scattered about, they usually mostly have the porn heavy games anyway. The main issue is, most VNs are fan-translated. So they often translate for free and just to spread the games to the west.

A good game to test your interest is Katawa Shoujo. A free visual novel, made by a collaboration of visual novel fans. Play a route or two, decide if you like the genre or not.

I asked this same question a while ago and someone gave me this list. Figured I should pass it on. [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120505153831/animu-mango/images/0/09/1336223611303.jpg]

Edit: For some genius reason, I forgot Steam has started selling VNs as well. I have no clue how I skipped that. I own at least two VNs on there.

 

[Marik2]

Recently I discovered that new favorite anime writer, gen urobuchi, got his start in visual novels. Apparently a lot of major animes start this way. This led me to wonder... What exactly IS a visual novel? Is it more like a comic book, a show, or a traditional video game? Is there a lot of player input? Are there any that are good, and if so, where would one find them? I'm legitimately curious if the medium is worth my time, or if I should simply avoid them.

Here is a good video that explains what it is and the appeal

 

[T_ConX]

It's a genre that's really getting a lot of renewed attention on this of Pacific, especially since people are starting to realize that they aren't all about porn. The downside is that there's a lot of shit on the market too.

If I had to make some recommendations...

Steins;Gate

Played through this last summer. It shares a writer with Bravely Default. It's about a couple of kids who make a time machine out of a microwave, only to find themselves neck deep in green gooey trouble.

Ever17

Highly recommended for anyone who is still bummed over Virtues Last Reward not getting a follow up. It's about a couple of kids stranded at an underwater park that holds some terrible secrets.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

This game ruined Gone Home for me.

This was the game I finished right around the time Gone Home came out.

This game is the reason why I think Gone Home is an overrated piece of shit.

If Gone Home is supposed to be an emotional roller coaster, then Umineko is doing a Felix Baumgartner space dive into an active volcano, swimming through lava until you reach the center of the earth, kicking Lucifer in the balls, flying out the other side of the planet, giving a double high-five to Jesus and FDR, before returning to earth with a splash landing in an Olympic-class diving pool filled with the purest of THAT FEEL.

What starts off as a simple supernatural murder mystery slowly morphs into a elaborate deconstruction of who-dun-it novels, a sad love story, and an epic saga of time travel and multiple universes. Everything from economics, quantum mechanics, sorcery, sexual identity, and even the very nature of truth plays an important role in this.

The characters are numerous, but each and every one oozes with personality. The heroes have tragic flaws and quite a few skeletons in the closet. The villains have complex but sympathizable motivations. Even the most despicable character in the game (a self described 'Intellectual Rapist' with a fondness for exaggerated Engrish and a mastery of duct tape that would put Red Green to shame) has a semi-legitimate reason for her evil deeds.

The music is obscenely good. From the bone chilling coldness of System0 to the aloft majesty of Happiness of Marionette, the game never compromises the tension in each and every scene.

If I had to mention one problem with the game, it would be length. A full run of all 8 chapters will cost you 150 hours, but it is worth EVERY GLORIOUS MINUTE. Unlike Gone 'I beat the whole damn thing while waiting for my pizza to arrive' Home, this is not a game for the 'Twitter Intelligentsia'. You have to commit to this thing. Finishing Umineko means having to completely ignore other, lesser games in the meantime.

Another problem is acquiring AND patching it. I'm not just talking about a translation patch. The original game has TERRIBLE character and background art, and no voice work. However, a Japan-only release of the games for PS3 included improved art and fully voiced characters, and fans have succeeded in making patches to add that content to the PC release.