Anyone read/play any of these? I expect not many people to know about it or do I have to create some kind of summarization of this "visual novel"?
I personally just started, I only read Tsukihime. That was close to 2 months ago. Now I got Planetarian, which I haven't started yet but it is suppose to be very sad =/. If it is as depressing and tragic (most likely) as Tsukihime then I don't know, I'll become emo for a week or so.
Edit:
Visual novel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaQuote:
Visual novel is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art. As the name might suggest, they resemble mixed-media novels or tableau vivant stage plays. Visual novels are classified as a sub-genre of adventure games, referred to as AVGs in Japan.
95% of the time you just read, while the other 5% is picking and choosing what decisions the game gives which will ultimately decide where the storyline will go and which end you will get. Most visual novels have bad ends and dead ends.
Visual novel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaQuote:
Most visual novels have multiple storylines and many endings; the gameplay mechanic in these cases typically consists of intermittent multiple-choice decision points, where the player selects a direction in which to take the game. This style of gameplay has been compared to the Choose Your Own Adventure novels. Most, however, strive for a higher level of plot and character depth than the aforementioned series of interactive children's books. These can be more closely compared to story-driven interactive fiction. While the plots and storytelling of mainstream video games is often criticised, many fans of visual novels hold them up as exceptions and identify this as a strong point of the genre.
So, now if you are interested, you are wondering where you can get the these games from? The more proper way to get it is at Hirameki International Group, Inc.. Although I haven't played it myself, Ever17 from what I heard is a good one. I hope I see them at this year's convention so I can buy it.
The other way of getting these visual novels are through fan translation, nothing wrong with it you just have to buy/dl (if you know your sources) the games yourself and dl the translation. Shii.org have list of titles that is available and the ones being worked on. The ones I recommend is Tsukihime, Planetarian and some other one I don't remember. Something Sister. Also insani has a lot of completed projects (mostly demos =/), you might want to check out.
You might find it, "wtf read?" but let me tell you I had the exact same attitude when I first read Tsukihime, and holy shit I got hooked and I couldn't stop reading it.
Oh yea, a warning, some visual novels have h-scenes. Type-moon stuff have em but you get the option to choose not to install the h-scenes. Ever17 doesn't have any and thats all I know.
