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Visual Novels Are Boring


Ryan Dave Jimenez

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Don't get me wrong, I WANT TO LIKE visual novels. And I've tried many times in the past to get into them. I pick one up and play or read it. Then I quit as I get bored. Then years pass and I try again. Only to end up bored again.

Maybe you're playing crappy (or hentai) ones? My latest attempt into liking visual novels was Doki Doki Literature Club. So no. Doki Doki is hyped up for a reason. It's really good. I gave it a try. But I got bored and quit before reaching the good stuff. I kind of regret quitting early though. SPOILER WARNING....

It turns out, it is completely different from your usual one. And it got me. I quit because I thought, well here's another generic dating sim-harem school visual novel.

Maybe because you don't like reading? Err.... I read a lot of books. Granted they are all non-fiction. The only fiction book I read was Harry Potter. So I don't mind the reading part.

I think I can't get to liking visual novels is because they take a long time to get going. And I get it. They're trying to establish things. Setting up the world, the characters, and so on. But it takes way too long for me. 

And here is where it gets weird.

I am currently making a visual novel. Like I said, I want to like them. So even if I can't get through one I still want to make one myself.
I just hope mine doesn't make someone bored too. 🤣

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Ah... Yes, visual novels are boring, but they're also the source of some of the most legendary anime we've seen.

Steins;Gate uses the visual novel medium in a way to diverge timelines and let the audience pick when (or when not) to act. Fate/stay night uses the routes in a way to explore the nature of its main character. Clannad also came from a visual novel, but I haven't gotten around to reading that one yet.

On 5/12/2020 at 11:11 PM, Wedgy said:

I like reading and visualising the details for myself. A VN leaves very little to the imagination.

Argh, I'm so jealous. I can't read traditional books and light novels for this very reason: I have aphantasia. I can't visualize anything in my head, so imagery in books are usually lost on me. I prefer the visual novel medium because the text does not focus on these things.

But don't get me wrong; like I said, I agree that visual novels are boring. However, I do believe that they have a place as a medium. 

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11 hours ago, Wedgy said:

I've been hearing about this so often in recent years and it still just blows my mind. Like... how do you just... not? It's crazy and ironically I can't imagine what that would be like.

Most of the time, I think in concepts. I hear for other people with aphantasia, they can only think in concepts, but after talking about it with an expert, it seems like I have spacial awareness. I still can't visualize anything, but I have an understanding of what things are and how they look like. For the past few weeks, I've been trying mental exercises to help my "mind's eye", but it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere just yet.

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On 5/18/2020 at 1:55 AM, Musuko said:

Most of the time, I think in concepts. I hear for other people with aphantasia, they can only think in concepts, but after talking about it with an expert, it seems like I have spacial awareness. I still can't visualize anything, but I have an understanding of what things are and how they look like. For the past few weeks, I've been trying mental exercises to help my "mind's eye", but it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere just yet.

That is crazy.... This is my first time hearing of such a thing. If you don't mind me asking, how is day to day life? How is it different to that of a normal person.

And back to visual novels, yeah I really want to like them. I think they're something special and as you said they are their own unique medium.

I do find it weird how JRPG also means visual novel. In Japan I think. 

Where we see JRPG as games like Final Fantasy.

I guess you do play a role in a visual novel. So role-play. But every game lets you play a role. Hmmm.....

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2 hours ago, Ryan Dave Jimenez said:

That is crazy.... This is my first time hearing of such a thing. If you don't mind me asking, how is day to day life? How is it different to that of a normal person.

From what I know, it's not different from a normal person. The vast majority of people with aphantasia just live their lives normally. I've been trying to open my "mind's eye", and it's made me realize why I have trouble understanding certain concepts and reading certain books. I'm pretty good at math, but English has typically been my worst subject.

2 hours ago, Ryan Dave Jimenez said:

And back to visual novels, yeah I really want to like them. I think they're something special and as you said they are their own unique medium.

I do find it weird how JRPG also means visual novel. In Japan I think. 

Where we see JRPG as games like Final Fantasy.

I guess you do play a role in a visual novel. So role-play. But every game lets you play a role. Hmmm.....

Hmmm, well I don't think JRPGs are necessarily the same thing as visual novels. Visual novels are games where the players takes a role, (for the most part) but I wouldn't categorize Final Fantasy as a visual novel. On the other hand, I would consider Ace Attorney and Dangan Ronpa to be visual novels, even though they do have some gameplay aspect to them.

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Its funny that someone would say it's boring to you because you don't like reading, when for me it's more of the opposite. I find the writing of visual novels to be terrible BECAUSE I am used to reading actual well written novels... Just miss me with that.

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