Anyone here play Visual Novels?

Personally, again, I haven't played many actual VNs other than the two I mentioned.

Heck, those two VNs kinda gave me inspiration to make my own story set within the SMT: Persona universe and tell it in the style of a VN.
I try to keep the events of the story from clashing with existing canon, which so far is not an issue...unless Persona 5 changes so many things that I'll have to do a lot of rewrites.

It happens.

But yeah, VNs gave me inspiration to make my Persona story in the same vein as one.

I might share my characters ideas, story ideas, and whatnot later on either here or in a separate thread. Who knows? I guess it depends on if anyone's interested.

I don't play a whole lot but I've played several. I often stronly suggest Eien no Aselia aka Aselia the Eternal to people. It's IMO a great entry point to VNs, it has enough gameplay elements to keep you entertained as a gamer who might not like Visual novels (so if you play it and you like the game but felt the VN aspect of it was a drag you know now to consider much more), but its VN appeal is good enough on its own as well.

I just think the very first chapter or two, or prologue and chapter 1, something like that...Anyway it drags on, and starts you off in some annoyingly typical high school setting, which has very very little in common with the rest of the game. I can see someone playing the first chapter and thinking they hate the game when the first chapter is practically a freakish offshot from within the game.

OK... So for someone like myself who has NEVER done one of these, can any of you suggest one that would be a good "test case" for me? Preferably one that is in English, easily and currently available, and has a good story.

Oddly enough, this YouTube channel known as the Let's Dub Project recently finished Saya no Uta. Yeah, they tend to cover VN-related material, or at least games with little-to-no voice acting. They've also got a Danganronpa 1 fandub (which is still a WIP), Katawa Shoujo (again a WIP) and Cartagra: Affliction of the Soul (again a WIP). They also dubbed a few Ace Attorney games, having done a full one of Apollo Justice and nearly finished with Trials and Tribulations (last left off on the final trial of Case 5). They also have one of Dual Destinies that is on hold in favor of Trials and Tribulations and they recently started one of Ace Attorney Investigations 1.

If you're a fan of good quality fandubs combined with LPs, I highly recommend checking that channel out. Also, they're not afraid to break the fourth wall and ad-lib a lot lol

As for other VNs, I don't get a chance to play many due to not having the means to play them. That being said, I do hope to play more of them.

^Cool, though I don't play VNs in English(not that there are many official VNs that actually have English voicing to begin with). Original voicing only for me.

Speaking of that fandub of Saya no Uta, does that mean they actually voiced the sex scenes too?

I tend to stick with Japanese voicing in general, since it helps me build my Japanese language skills. Nothing against English voicing.

Ok.... So now that I've seen the video... If I understand this correctly VNs are basically like taking a manga and doing an audio book (reading with voice actors) and slightly-ish animating the static panels from the manga and putting them together as a movie that is playable on consoles/PC. Is that even close?

I mean I got the feeling that there really isn't any player participation in what's going on, your just watching a movie that's done with semi-static images rather than full on action.

Or am I completely off base?

It's pretty much an interactive manga with voice acting and special/sound effects. The voicing acting isn't like an audio book, rather its the character themselves speaking, like watching an anime or listening to a Drama CD. Parts where no one is speaking, it won't have voice acting. Interactive means there are points in a Visual Novel where you have to choose between a few choices, and the story will progress from what you pick. There's a chance for you to meet a dead end(I recommend you see these, they're awesome), or continue with the story. People generally save before choosing, so they can witness what happens with each choice, and not lose progress if they meet a dead end.

Here's an example of player choice:


Most Visual Novels have a gimmick of some sort that makes them unique. Tears to Tiara is a full on game for example. Fate/Stay Night has a status menu thing that gives you info about a certain group of characters, among other things like info on weapons that you have seen so far. It really adds to the experience.

An example of Fate/Stay Night's Status Menu thing:


Visual Novels that don't have player choice are called Kinetic Novels. Planetarian ~The Reverie of a Little Planet~ for example is a Kinetic Novel(and a freakin' damn good one at that).