Sunday, February 9, 2025
Dancing To The Beat
Merging
Rhythm Games and visual novels into a single package is something not
seen often yet when it does happen it reveals interest facets in both
styles of game. The audience of Rhythm games generally expects an
extremely focused experience where the gameplay is the sole focus with few distractions from it. As such the inclusion of visual
novel elements has a delicate relationship born out of the need to
achieve something outside their normal speciality. Most of the time
this is to meet some kind of outside need for the game to justify the
player continuing to engage with it. It can also be due
to its status as a spin off game which demands a narrative it is
otherwise not equipped to produce. Then there are the rare exceptions
where the Rhythm Game is the smaller part and exists as a means to
create emotional resonance. Let’s find our grove and see what each
of these practices reveals about the nature of these genres.
As Part Of The Package
A
common reason for a hybrid to exist between Rhythm Games and visual
novels is due to the presence of a third element which exerts a
pressure of the overall product that cannot be met by only the Rhythm
gameplay. Perhaps the most dramatic third element in this hybrid is a
gacha system. They demand a reason for the player to pull the new
products it is offering and this often means characters. Rhythm Games
on their own do not have the best avenues to capture the player’s
interest in a specific character or encourage them to engage with the
gacha due to the inherently detached nature of their mechanical
focus. They want people to get lost in the music rather than any
other part of its presentation which is not helpful in selling the
player on something external to that moment. It can have a
character on screen but how much attention can the player really give them when their focus is entirely on getting the best score. Here is
where the visual novel sections come in to support what
characterisation has been established. By spreading them out wherever
there are gaps in the player’s engagement with the Rhythm levels,
they can frame the characters within a desirable context as their
constant presence works the endear them to the player. This is mainly
done through providing a story which justifies the existence of the
Rhythm mechanics and links them to the characters generally in the
form of the characters being musicians of some kind.
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| Gacha consumes all |
Taking a look
at games like Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! and D4DJ Groovy Mix we
can see this practice in action. Characters are everywhere in these
titles, they are what is being sold and the player will never be able
to escape the influence of this choice. Despite the visual novel and
Rhythm game sections occupying the same space, there is slight
disconnect sometimes in order to serve the content model of a gacha
through events and core additions often causing the two halves to
segregate in order to be released at a fast pace. Some effort is made to
try and prevent this issue from becoming too pronounced through
common theming in the choice of songs and stories for each new update
and this is generally enough for the gaps be less noticeable. Each
games’ respective ability to pull in players should speak to appeal
this hybrid has for new and old players and its ability to be a means
of expanding the potential audience of both genres.
Invoking Feelings
When
the visual novel is in the driving seat of this hybrid a change in
emphasis occurs with a desire to enhance the narrative over
everything else. In order to meet this expectation, the Rhythm Game
elements lean into their music nature and the power it has to invoke
emotions. The ability of music to influence a person’s feeling is
something visual novels already understand and utilise extensively,
but what makes the Rhythm mechanics better than this baseline is the
way they have the player act out the music. Having a direct role in
the successful presentation of the music, through adhering to the
beat, provides a tangible connection to it that is absent when it is merely
background noise and connects the emotions of a piece directly to the
player while keeping them immersed in the experience. If this is used
selectively over the course of a visual novel it can work as a means
to engage people with the story and allow for the key feelings of
characters to be obvious during these moments. Since this draws the
player out of the visual novel it has to match the narrative in some
direct form in order to not be distracting and as such it is limited
to only certain kinds of story like those which contain musical
motifs.
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| Musical theming is a good pair with a Rhythm Game |
Symphonic Rain showcases how this balance can work in
practice with its highly musical presentation. This is a game which
really leans into musical ideas as a framing device for its narrative
and characters to the point of being set in a city of music with the
protagonist’s goal being to become a master musician. Using
intermittent Rhythm Game sections gives it a means of directly tying
the musical theming to the characters emotions and this has a greater
power since it is the player who makes this link between them with
their own actions. It also provides a direct representation of the
abstract idea of music and a tangible process of input for those
without a pre-existing background in its creation so opening it up to
a wider audience. The protagonist motivation of becoming a master
musician has a greater immediacy when the player participates in his
dream which helps to blur the line between the two.
Spin off Syndrome
Another
subset of this hybrid is those born from the needs and expectations of
its existence as a spin off title. If the original title the hybrid
is based off has a strong narrative element then a pure Rhythm Game
would clash against established ideas for the series so the visual
novel sections act as a means of bridging that gap. The two halves
often share a relationship similar to a visual novel and an RPG in
that the Rhythm elements act as a stand-in for some form of conflict
or what would be a battle in an RPG. Let’s look at an example of
this in action with Persona 4 Dancing All Night. The Persona games
are well known for their long JRPG stories and so any sort of
spin-off would need to meet this expectation hence the visual novel.
During the main campaign of Dancing All Night various forms of conflict
will arise and the characters will be forced to dance in order to
resolve it, these are the Rhythm Game sections, and they take the
place of what would have narratively been a big fight in the original
titles. This change of how the characters deal with the threats they
face is exceedingly contrived and the game is aware of this tension
so it leans into being a more comedy centric title with an overall
light tone. It helps compliment the already brighter music which
forms the core of the Rhythm sections and brings the whole package
together.
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| Rhythm Games as method of conflict resolution will always be funny |
Conclusion
While
visual novels and Rhythm Games are an odd pairing, they can be made
to work as a cohesive hybrid with careful consideration. If there is
a pressure from a third element in the mix, a common focus on
characters can provide a bridge where an emotional resonance for them
can be crafted when both side push towards that goal. In a spin-off,
the visual novel half can be a stand-in for the narrative expectations
of the original work with the Rhythm sections being a replacement for
conflict mechanics. Should the visual novel be in the driving seat
then Rhythm Game elements can enhance the power of the game’s music and any
musically themed aspects it might use. Overall, you can make this
pairing work with the right framing and purpose, but it will never
truly managing to shake off the feeling of how different these two
parts are from one another.
