Archive for October 2022
Best Visual Novel Releases – October 2022
With
the spooky month reaching its climax with Halloween, it is about time
to go over the cream of the crop when it comes to visual novels.
There have been relatively few good releases this month but their
quality has been outstanding. We have a landmark titles receiving
their first official English translation, an excellent otome and a
spine chilling indie game. These are all visual novels you should not
miss out on, so without further ado let’s get started.
Official Releases
Fragment’s Notes Plus -
Nintendo Eshop VNDB Genre
– Romance, Slice of Life Play Time – 8 hours
Our
first game is an upgraded Switch port of a previously mobile only
title. It boasts redrawn artwork and is now fully voiced, making this
version a significant step up from its original. Notes is a
strong example of how a bit of spice in a narrative can go a long way to
helping the game stand out in the crowded Slice of Life / Romance
space. The special sauce in this visual novel is the presence of the
protagonist’s future daughter who has travelled back in time to
change his life for the better and help him find love. Having a
character with a lot of knowledge about the future adds a lot to the
comedy side of the story with high jinks ensuing and it also provides
some touching moments between father and daughter as the two bond.
While the overall narrative is nothing we have not seen before,
Notes’ unique flavour adds enough sources of engagement for it to
be an entertain ride.
CHAOS;HEAD NOAH -
This
is a visual novel which seemed to be cursed to never get an
English release. Despite being the first entry into the Science
Adventure series, all the other later titles including its own
squeal, Chaos Child, were released before it. Now thirteen years
after its original Japanese release we have the Director’s Cut
style version of Chaos Head called Noah. This game follows the
unreliable story of Nishijou Takumi as he struggles to distinguish
the real from the delusion and discover the truth behind a string of
horrific murders. Chaos Head is a strong example of the power of
utilising paranoia both on the part of Takumi and the player to
construct an effective horror / thriller atmosphere which keeps the
player on the edge of their seat. If you are curious about how the
Science Adventure series started then you are in for a treat with one
of the strongest visual novels to have ever been created.
soundless - A MODERN SALEM IN REMOTE AREA - Final Verse -
Our
only indie title on this list is here because it is a noticeable
upgrade to an already excellent game. Final Verse adds a slew of new
features including a new post-game epilogue, an improved resolution
of 1280x960 and a violent images toggle. All these create a smoother
experience for the player and make this version the definitive way to
play the game. This is an intense horror narrative which plays on
paranoia and isolation to warp not only the protagonist’s
perspective but also the player’s through careful control over what
they are allowed to know. Soundless understands the Denpa genre and
how having the familiar behaving in unfamiliar ways has a powerful
effect on the player, which is utilised in game to create a
suffocating tension to each event. If you have not played soundless
before then there is no better time to pick it up and feel the fear
of this extraordinary horror visual novel.
Harmonia -
Nintendo Eshop VNDB Genre
– Nakige, Sci-fi Play Time – 5 hours
Getting
a Switch release seems to have become a common way to expand the
market of your visual novel after it has been released on Steam. So
here we are with the latest port for the Switch’s library,
Harmonia. This is one of Key’s shorter titles which sits alongside
Planetarian and focuses on providing their signature Nakige style in
a condensed form. It follows a somewhat familiar formula of having a
robot protagonist learn what it means to have feelings and through
this express what it is to be human. The execution of this narrative
thread is where the strengths of Key’s writing shines through in the
characters who make you strongly empathise with their struggles and
the heart wrenching moments which make your cry. Harmonia is a strong
example of why Key are one of the leading visual novel developers and
the game’s short length makes it an accessible entry point into
their work.
Paradigm Paradox -
Nintendo Eshop VNDB Genre
– Otome, Mahou Shoujo Play Time – 30 hours
For
our big otome release this month we have the mahou shoujo focused
title, Paradigm Paradox. This visual novel stand out from its peers
with a strong and colourful art style which invokes its magical girl
influences and it mixes them with a narrative that is not afraid to
shy away from darker elements. However, this is no Madoka Magica and
the aim of the darker elements is not to subvert expectations or
examine what it means to be a magical girl. Instead, its focus is on
adding a more adult edge to its narrative to appeal to an older
female audience and provide an exciting flavour to their romance
adventure. Paradigm Paradox artfully manages to tow the line between
these two competing tones and provides a compelling otome story for
indulge in.
ALPHA-NIGHTHAWK -
Lair-soft
is one of the most distinctive visual novel developers around and any
new translation of one of their releases always deserves attention.
For Alpha Nighthawk they decided to go with an interesting mix of
kemonomimi and mecha in a far future space setting which as you can
imagine leads to a uniquely imaginative style of narrative
presentation. This is put to use in a story filled with Liar-soft’s
distinctive flare where evocative characters are placed with a plot focused around metaphor. Having a short play time makes this
an excellent entry point for a new
player into the wider works of Liar-soft, so if you have every found yourself curious about their
previous titles this is a great game to start with.
Collar X Malice -Unlimited- Review - After The Storm Has Passed
Genre - Crime/Police, Otome, Romance. Play Time - 30 hours. Developer - Otomate, Design Factory. Nintendo Eshop VNDB
A Story of Light and Dark
Fandiscs
are difficult to get right. Sitting in a strange midpoint between
sequel and expansion of the original game, they have to balance the
desire for more of the same with the sprinkling of something new they need justify their existence. The answer Collar X Malice Unlimited
presents to this problem is to create a contrast between its new and
old aspects by taking the lightest and darkest moments of the
original game and expanding upon them. This approach results in a
Fandisc which stands out among its peers but this approach it is not without its
own drawbacks. Let us dive into the mystery behind X-Day once again.
 |
| Getting to see this excellent cast again is a pleasure. |
What Happens After The Curtain Falls – Narrative and Theme
It
is in the narrative structure of this game where the focus
on the contrast between light and dark can be seen in sharp relief.
Unlimited is broadly split into two halves, the After Stories and the
Adonis Route. These two could not be further apart from each other
in terms of tone and work well to provide a balanced package by
preventing the overall feeling of the work from swinging too far in
one direction.
-After Stories -
These
are the follow ups for each route’s true ending and we get to see
where Hoshino’s relationship with each hero went after the dust
settled from the Adonis threat. The strength of the interactions
between Hoshino and the male leads continues here and the singular
focus on the romantic elements allows for the banter to take centre
stage. Getting to see them just be themselves without being under
constant threat is a nice change of pace from the original game and
gives some much needed growth to those relationships. They are also
the perfect length to not overstay their welcome with just enough
romance and conflict to wrap up their character arcs while still being
concise. These light stories act as a great antidote to the dark
parts of Unlimited and are a great pallet cleanser.
 |
| Okazaki is definitely best boy. |
However,
the After Stories have a few glaring issues which hang over them and
prevent them from being the star of the show. The loss of the primary
narrative thread of the original game does result in the After
Stories feeling a bit lost at times as they need to contrive some
form of conflict to replace it, and they can often meander too much. There
is also the unevenness of the After Stories with some being
dramatically stronger than others. The After Stories for Yanagi,
Shiraishi and Okazaki are noticeably better written than those of
Enomoto and Sasazuka. We can attribute this to the fact that the
first three characters had some room left for development since their
issues had only begun to be solved by the end of the original game,
while the other two had reached a more or less complete resolution.
With nowhere to go for two heroes, the resulting After Stories feel
uneven and might disappoint players who liked Enomoto and Sasazuka.
-Adonis -
Exploring
what happens after the Bad Ending of a visual novel is something
which rarely happens. However, this is exactly what the Adonis Route does, it expands on the ending from the original game where
most of the cast die and Hoshino accepts Saeki’s offer to join
Adonis. To start from such a bleak point is a bold decision and one
which lets the writers explore the darker side of this world and the
people who inhabit it.
 |
| Exploring the dark side of a story is always a treat. |
The
route itself is focused around a cycle where Hoshino has
been tasked with discovering a traitor within Adonis. In order to
find out who this Judas is, she must interact with each member of
Adonis and get to know them in a bid to uncover their true
intentions. As such the player is presented with a choice each day of
who among the key members of the group to spend time with as the
clock slowly ticks down to the new X-Day. Humanising the members of
Adonis is the focus of your time with them. They are all broken
people who desperately want a place to belong and Adonis has taken
advantage of that to use them as tools, but in the end they are still
people with hope and dreams just like the heroes. However, you have
to look beyond that and ask if they what they present to you is their true self and this is helped by
the impending X-Day adding tension to each encounter. This route is
the meat on the bone of this Fandisc and is the main reason for
playing as it stands far above the After Stories.
The Humanity of Heroes and Villains – Characters
Unlimited
is a game about the struggles and triumphs of its characters even
more so than most in its genre. As mentioned earlier, the main conflict
of the original game has been resolved and as such this Fandisc only
has the smaller personal conflicts left. This means that it leans
heavily into how attached the player is to the established cast for
its narrative backbone and luckily for it these are a strong set of
personalities.
 |
| Unlimited is a story about the people of its world. |
On
the one side we have the returning cast of heroes for their After
Stories which gives each a chance to have one final dance in the
spotlight. However, the issue with using established characters who
have already been the focus of an entire game is they may not have
much in the way of new interactions to give. This is a problem which
Unlimited has a hard time juggling as there are many conversations
and events which feel like the game is just wholesale repeating
itself with how similar it sounds to their interactions in the
previous game. Thankfully this ends up not being too bad since there
is an effort to space out the familiar by including new developments
for the characters and expanding on old ones. It does not
completely remedy the issue and playing the After Stories back to
back makes it stand out more with the repetition becoming somewhat
tiring.
The
Adonis side of the narrative does not suffer from the issues of the
After Stories in quite the same manner. Its cast are the antagonist
characters from the original game and these were not expanded upon
there given their role as an obstacle for the heroes to overcome.
This gives the writers a lot more room to expand upon what was
established about them and show a human side to them which was
previously absent. The result is new and colourful selection of
characters to get to know and their quirks make for engaging
interactions with the now stoic Hoshino. There is also one new
character who appears in the Fandisc, Tachibana Chisato. He is one of
the weaker aspects of Unlimited due to the fact even in his
introduction he has to play second fiddle to the main cast. As you
might expect from such a packed game, he barely gets any development
and he feels incredibly tacked on as a lazy antagonist for the heroes
to swiftly beat. Overall, the cast remains strong on the backbone of
the original game but the stretch marks are beginning to show
themselves.
 |
| Yanagi is one of the characters who had the most new material for the story. |
A Familiar Coat of Paint – Visual, Audio and Technical
Reusing
assets is the name of the game when it comes to Fandiscs and
Unlimited is no exception. A vast majority of the visuals and audio are
recycled from the original game. This is not to say that there are no
new assets, for example there are a selection of new CGs scattered
throughout both the After Stories and Adonis Route. However, they are
so sparsely used that you would be hard pressed to differentiate a
screenshot of Unlimited from one of the original game. While it is
unreasonable to expect a Fandisc to make an entire game’s worth of
new assets, it is nevertheless disappointing encounter so little new
material over the thirty hours you will be playing. A few more
splashes of new imagery and sound would have gone a long way to
helping Unlimited stand out in its own right.
 |
| The new artwork is still of the same high quality. |
On
a technical level, Unlimited is identical to its predecessor with one
exception, the mechanics of progression, and it is here where the game has
its most noticeable weakness. Gating the Adonis Route behind the
completion of some of the After Stories is a massive misstep. Not
only is it unclear which After Stories you need to complete to unlock
it, it also makes you play through content you might not be
interested in to get to the main attraction of the Fandisc. On top of
this once you reach the Adonis Route you have to start from the
prologue section after each cycle in order for your progress to count.
This might not seem to be a big deal at first until you realise the
game allows you to access any scene you have completed in the route, which are displayed
in the same list as the prologue, creating an unclear line of
progression for the player who might accidentally choose the wrong
scene. These issues cause needless confusion and muddies an otherwise
amazing experience to the point where you question why these design
choices were made.
Verdict – 9/10 –
An excellent fandisc which expands on both the light and
the dark elements of the original game in a well paced and presented
package.
Pros and Cons -
Pros
+ Expanding on one of the original game’s Bad Endings is a clever
move and expands the depth of Adonis as an organisation and the
humanises the people within it.
+ Hoshino continues to be one of most well realised otome protagonist
with a more even power dynamic between her and the other characters.
+ Revisiting the romances for the After Stories gives a good sense of
how these relationship have developed.
+ The banter between Hoshino and the heroes is still a pleasure to
watch and their interactions are the main appeal of the After
Stories.
Cons
-
Being forced to do the After Stories before you can access the Adonis
Route is an unnecessary barrier.
-
Uneven quality among the After Stories with some being distinctly
better and more thought through than others.
-
The lack of many new assets is a disappointment, but is
understandable given this game’s status as a Fandisc.
Top 10 Horror Visual Novels
It
is the spooky time of year again and what better way to get a chill
down your spine than with a horror visual novel. While this is not
the genre visual novels tend to venture into frequently, those which
do offer some of the most compelling horror experiences available in
any medium. This list will cover games of various lengths and types
of horror in order to give a good overview of what is out there and
its quality. Now let the scares begin...
Top 10
10. Miniature Garden -
One
of the most important aspects of a good horror game is a constant
tense atmosphere since there is nothing that kills fear faster than
a sense of safety. It is this tension which Miniature Garden uses as
the sole basis of its horror and is an example of how this feeling
can be used to its full effectiveness. Very little of what might be
traditionally called scary actually happen in game. There are no jump
scares and no monsters stalking the hallways, instead it is the
unknown which drives the sense of fear experienced by the player.
Just as the protagonist, Yasunari, is trapped by supernatural forces
with no understanding of what is going on, so too do you share this
position of weakness. Our fear of what we do not understand makes us
jump a shadows and Miniature Garden gives the player a bread crumb to
get their imagination rolling, the rumor that an unnatural death will
befall someone on the night of the festival. Its
relatively short length means that this one trick does not
overstay its welcome and the game provides a concise morsel of horror.
9. Sound of Drop -fall into poison-
The
ocean is a big and scary place filled with strange creatures whose
alien forms inspire as much wonder as they do fear. An aquarium is a
human made microcosm of the human obsession with the deep blue and
it contains many specimens to stare at from behind glass. But what if
that safety barrier of glass went way and this once human place
became the realm of that unknown world. This fear is the backbone of
Sound of Drop’s horror and it understands how the sea can be
leveraged to get under a player's skin. In particular it makes liberal
use of bad endings in order to sell the danger of the situation and
the powerlessness of our protagonists. To support this horror there
is a strong mystery which slowly comes into the light as events
unfold and acts as a hook to keep the player engaged with the narrative
so they have something to grasp onto to overcome their fear and press onward through the game. Overall this is a strong and focused visual
novel which knows how to get the most out of its chosen source of
spooks.
8. Lynne -
For
the eighth place we have a less standard form of horror, the trauma
of being a teenager. At first glance this seems like it would be less
scary than having a monster chase you or some other more direct
threat, but it is in the human mind that the greatest fears can
fester. Lynne perfectly captures the lost of control over mind and
body which teenagers experience and uses it to resonate with the
players own memories of this time in their lives. In doing this it
creates unease and as events slowly spiral out of control you feel
the dread of what is to come build up since these are feelings you
have had writ large on screen. This a game with a strong emotional
core which it cleverly uses to invoke a dread centric horror and
plays with your own experiences.
7. Corpse Party: Book of Shadows -
Of
the visual novels so far on this list, Book of Shadows is the first
to utilise the more traditional trappings of horror such a gore and
violence. These are used in a moderate manner with key horror scenes
being given free rein with these tools and restraint being shown in
everywhere else. Book of Shadows is a game focused around playing
with highs and lows. This could be high and low tension or the highs
and lows within a narrative context. It takes an almost gleeful
approach to building up the players hopes only to dash them or
subvert the standard outcome. Not knowing how things are going to
turn out adds a great deal of weight to each choice the player makes
and creates a fear born of this uncertainty. Book of Shadows is not
for the faint of heart, but for those looking for a new twist on a
more standard horror game are in for a treat.
6. Doki Doki Literature Club! -
Placing
Doki Doki Literature Club in a horror list might count as a spoiler
given how it initially presents itself, but it has been out long enough
that even people who have not played it know about its genre shift.
While this visual novel is somewhat of a one trick pony, this single
trick is extremely effective the first time you play through it and
has justly earned the game a reputation for the narrative and mechanical
tricks up its sleeve. It is difficult to say to much about what it it
does since its short length means there are not many examples to draw
from and talking about even one of them is ruining a good portion of
the fun. Instead I will say this, Doki Doki Literature Club is a
visual novel which completely understands the trappings of its medium
and by extension how to mess with them in a meta context to create a
horror atmosphere through taking the familiar and undermining it.
5. Chaos Head Noah / Chaos Child -
For
our fifth place with have a pair of visual novels from the same
series which share a similar approach to enacting their horror, Chaos
Head and Chaos Child. These both centre around their protagonists
being unreliable narrators and creating a sense of fear from that
lack of a safe source of information. This is further emphasised
through the Delusion Triggers which act as these games’ choices
where the player is asked to muddy the waters even more by choosing a
false set of events for the protagonist to witness. So when sudden
and violent things happen you are never quite sure if it is real or
just a figment of an unreliable mind, but you are still left with the
feeling something is wrong and you should be worried. These games
masterfully use this uncertainty to build up their horror in a
creeping manner which slowly seeps into your mind as you begin to
realise exactly what sort of situation these characters are in.
4. Spirit Hunter: NG -
Urban
legends, ghost and spirits are common features of horror but few can
do them justice in the visceral way Spirit Hunter: NG manages to achieve.
If there is one thing this game understands it is that build up is key
to making a monster scary. It is quite common for there to only be
the hints of a monster's presence for a long time before you get to see
them in the flesh. Their horrific traces tell the tale of what they
can do and this builds a tension which makes the actual encounter
with the monster all the more scary. This is wonderfully complemented
by the exceptional designs of the monsters themselves and their
motions as their grotesque forms writhe and twitch in wholly
unnatural ways. NG is a treat for fans of monster focused horror and
never has it been so much of a joy to be attacked by these
monstrosities.
3. soundless - A MODERN SALEM IN REMOTE AREA -
Isolation
and paranoia are powerful emotions which form the heart of soundless’
introspective horror. Mercy is isolated and cut off from her emotions
making her the perfect protagonist for a story about descending into
madness. She has been wronged by those around her and it is this
which the game uses to get the player to sympathise with her before
everything spirals out of control and right and wrong become much
blurrier. Watching stability descend into unrelenting chaos and the
feelings of powerlessness over the situation on the part of the
player keeps the fear of what will happen next high in your mind.
With the recent release of the Final Verse update there has never been a
better time to get immersed in this twisted tale.
2. Higurashi When They Cry -
It
should come as no surprise to find Higurashi on a list of the best
horror visual novels. There are few games which can match its ability
to stimulate fear in the player and maintain it for such a long time.
Higurashi makes use of the contrast between its slice of life and
horror sections to heighten the effectiveness of both by having the
player emphasise with the characters and invest in their struggles to
stay alive. This is all supported by a mystery which keeps you
guessing the whole way through and even as truths become revealed the
unclear nature of the picture shifts to make sure you remain engaged.
Keeping the delicate balance between each of these parts is something
Higurashi excels at and is the main reason it earns its position on
this list.
1. Phenomeno -
VNDB Play
Time – 3 hours
The
number one spot is occupied by a somewhat unusual game. Phenomeno is
an adaptation of a horror novel into visual novel form and does an
excellent job at showcasing how the medium can elevate a horror
narrative. This is at its core a haunted house story with a heavy
dose of the supernatural and a lot of uncertainty to create the
complete horror package. Since the game was developed by Nitro Plus,
it comes as little surprise that there a strong understanding of how
to use the features of visual novels effectively throughout its short
duration. We have it all here, cleaver use of sound and music,
distinctive and clear visual style and a mastery over using text
placement to control the tone of the narrative. While Higurashi is
arguably the better game, it is difficult to recommend it given its
over 100 hour length but Phenomeno is a much shorter and sweeter
experience for someone looking for a scare this month and so
ultimately won out as the best horror visual novel.
NVL VS. ADV – An Anatomy of Visual Novels
For
visual novels, the written word is their backbone and how it is
presented to the player is key to controlling their tone and pacing.
Over the years the methods of presentation have been standardised
into two types, ADV (ADVenture) and NVL (NoVeL). These two have
become the dominate styles and are often positioned as diametric
opposites in what they set out to achieve. When a developer creates a
visual novel they will often exclusively use one of these two types based on if it fits their intended vision. But what is it
that drives their choice and why have these two methods emerged as the
dominant forces in the medium? This article will examine these two
competing styles to find out what makes them tick and how you can utilise them
when making your own visual novel.
ADV
In
general ADV refers to a text box which only occupies as small section
of the screen. It is normally located at the bottom but also can take
different forms such as speech bubbles or other hovering text boxes.
ADV is by far the most popular type of text presentation with over
19000 tagged games in VNDB and it can be seen as the face of the
medium given how much it is associated with visual novels.
One
of the primary reasons for this popularity is the faster pace it offers. An ADV
textbox can only show a few lines of text at a time which the player
can quickly read before clicking to show the next
lines. This means the player is always being presented with new
content and encouraged to never dwell on previous lines which gives them a
sense that they are rapidly and constantly progressing through the
game. As such the overall pacing of the game is sped up and for games
focused on action or want a less dense feeling to their narratives,
the choice to use ADV makes sense. This can be further controlled to
the developer’s liking through the mixture of dialogue and
narration to slow or speed up the feeling of a scene. The 9-nine-
series is a good example of this practice with its mixture of slice
of life, suspense and action scenes demanding a shifting but brisk
pace. The game’s ADV delivers this by mixing speech heavy sections
with rapid descriptions of events depending on the needs of each
scene. Even with these elements it can be difficult to slow the
player down and make them contemplate what has occurred due to the
inherent forward momentum in of ADV and
the lack of space it gives to what has just happened.
 |
| 9-nine- demands for fast pacing come with episodic format |
Complementing
this faster pace is the lighter tone offered by unobstructed visuals.
The smaller textbox of ADV places a greater emphasis on the
backgrounds, portraits and CGs behind it and these cover the major of
what the player will be seeing. As you would expect this means
the visuals have to carry more of the weight in selling the narrative
and is a consideration for visual novels where their art style is a
big selling point as ADV allows it to shine. A focus on visuals also
creates a less serious tone than NVL due to the shorter segments of
text and an overall brighter feeling due to their prominence. This is the main reason slice of life and romance visual
novels prefer ADV as their aim is create an enjoyable but not
demanding experience for the player which they can comfortably slip
in and out of and ADV provides this flexibility to the developers.
One of the most prominent examples of this practice can be found in
any Yuzusoft game where the lighter tone of ADV is utilised to its
full effectiveness with their decorative and translucent text boxes
and bright aesthetic. It is impressive to see how small changes to
the colours of an interface can shift the player's
perceptions of a work towards a more relaxed atmosphere.
 |
| It is amazing what a proper use of colour can do for setting the mood |
By
emphasising images through the smaller textbox of ADV, the styles
of narrative told using it tend towards an external focus. What
this means in practice is that these visual novels tend to have flat
or self-insert protagonists with the focus being placed on the
interactions between and other characters to carry the players
interest. Amnesia: Memories is an extreme example of this external
focus with its complete commitment to the self-insert protagonist and
reliance on conversations between characters to carry the narrative
weight. There is only a limited amount of introspection possible in a
format which is inherently forward moving and what
is present tends to be brief and supported by emotional moments with
members of the core cast. This is one of the major downsides of the
momentum offered by ADV, slowing things down can be difficult without
killing the pacing of the overall narrative.
 |
| ADV places more emphasis on the characters in front of you |
Another
downside of ADV is lack of control it has over what text is shown on
screen at any one time. This is due to the limited space in the
textbox only allowing for a few lines to be displayed at once. As
such there is very little room for a game using ADV to experiment
with what and when things are shown on screen and the potential
effects this can have on a scene. The narrative presentation of this
type of game is simpler in general and tends towards a more balanced
approach rather than focus on the quality of the writing which is why it is more popular with new developers and those
with a more mixed skill set.
NVL
The
approach of NVL to text and narrative presentation is in many ways
the other extreme to the ADV method. It generally manifests as a
single large textbox covering most of the screen, sometimes with a
boarder around the edge, through which the visuals bellow can be seen
even if they are partially obscured.
When
a developer chooses to use NVL it is clear they want the writing to
be front and centre with the player's undivided attention. This is a
result of having the text take up a good portion of the screen and it
changes how the player interacts with the game. The presence
of more lines of text on screen at any one time creates a slower pace
to the narrative since past lines linger on the screen and the player
may reread them in light of the new information being presented to
them. We can see this clearly in Higurashi When They Cry which
utilises its tense and horror based narrative to make the player hang
on each sentence for a clue and attempt to find meaning in how the
lines are presented, which in turn fuels the atmosphere in a cyclical
manner. A side effect of this approach is the introduction of a more
demanding tone than is found in ADV due to the increased prominence
of the text and the way in asks you to dwell on the complete picture each
page is showing instead of just a since line. These combine to favour
more narratively complex stories since these elements of NVL are
often overkill for simpler tales.
 |
| There is a reason Higurashi focuses on its writing. |
One
of the largest benefits to using NVL is the minute level of control
it is possible gain over what text is shown as well as where and
when. This gives the developer the ability to emphasise key moments
by breaking from the established structure of the text and surprising
the player. These can be something as simple as a single word at the
centre of the screen to as complex as an entire scene presented as if
it were a text chat log. Perhaps the most vivid example of this is
Fate Stay Night which uses the colour, position, font and shapes
available to control player perceptions with a level of
finesse not possible without NVL. The ability to spice up the
narrative presentation can never be underestimated and it injects
life into what might otherwise be a boring wall of text. However,
there is the ever present risk of overusing this trick and the
temptation to show off through it must be controlled since it will
rapidly become familiar and breed complacency in the player.
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| Clever uses of formatting it Fate's specialty |
The
focus of visual novels which use NVL tends towards the internal over the
external with the protagonist’s intimate thoughts being on display
for the player. Having text covering the screen naturally increases
the sense of familiarity the player has with its contents and by
extension the characters they portray. Linked to this is the needed
for an increased amount of words to cover the extra space provided by
NVL which often leads to the narrator character spilling their entire
train of thought at the slightest provocation. For example, Lonely
Yuri is almost exclusively introspection and despite it been a short
game it uses NVL to cover the screen with inner thoughts and
feelings to sell the mood of work. This is both a blessing and curse
as if handled well it can give the player a sense of the depth of each
character and empathise with them, but on the flip side it can lead to
narrative bloat which can kill the pacing of a scene.
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| Presenting inner thoughts is what NVL does best |
A
major drawback of utilising NVL is way in which it pushes the visual
aspects of the game into the background. By placing a large text box
in front of both the background and portraits, it creates a sense of
distance from them and encourages the player to consider them less
important than the writing. As you would expect this means that their
art styles often tend towards clearer shapes and an uncluttered
visual presence since a more distinctive and loud use of colour and
form would become muddied or lost under the layer of text. While this
is normally worked into how the game presents itself so as to not
draw attention to it, there is undeniably something lost from not
being properly able to engage with the visual aspects in a more
chaotic and expressive fashion.
Merging The Two Sides
So
far I have been presenting ADV and NVL as if they are entirely
opposite and incompatible with each other. Of course this is not
true, in reality there is nothing stopping a developer from switching
between the two styles depending on the needs of the scene. Do you
want to have a moment of introspection then switch to NVL, or perhaps
you want a fast paced actions scene then switch to ADV. Wonderful
Everyday perfectly encapsulates this mixed philosophy as it weaves in
and out of both styles of presentation to allow the importance of a
scene or moment to be understood by the player. On top of all of this
it allows for the ability to play with player expectations through
establishing one of the styles as being only used for a certain
character or type of scene only pull back the curtain to reveal the
truth later on. The flexibility on offer is endless and can be
tweaked to fit the needs of the game’s narrative further adding
to the toolbox available.
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| You know something is important when they whip out the NVL |
If
utilising both styles opens so many possibilities, why is it not used
in every visual novel? The simple answer is most games do not need to
use it to achieve their desired story. Adding in an additional style
could create unintended confusion for the player because they might
lose track of what is going to due to the constant switching. On top
of this, the bouncing backwards and forwards between the two may lead to the
overall experience feeling unfocused. It takes a skilled hand to
navigate the correct use of this merger of styles and avoiding these
possible drawbacks by focusing on one style and its benefits is often the better choice.
Conclusion
As
with any medium there are differing approaches to presentation and none
of these are necessarily better than any other, but instead offer
benefits to certain genres and themes. Such is the case with the ADV
vs. NVL debate. On the one side we have ADV with its tendency towards
faster pacing and external focused narratives and on the other we
have NVL with its introspective tendencies and more demanding tone.
Of course you can combine the two in the same visual novel and play
with their contrasting properties if you are willing to run the risk
of confusing the player. Each one of these options is valid when used
properly and allow the developer to have control over the effects of
both the text and visuals in order to achieve their desired emotion
or theme. In the end you will have to make the call about what you
feel will work best within your visual novel and lean into what makes
your chosen style tick for the best results.
