Leaderboard

Well event CG is obviously very common feature in the VN, and obviously the company make it as the way to attract the people into buying the VN, because after all the people tend to check the CG whenever they saw the VN before they decided to get it. That said, not all successful VN using event CG though which Ryukishi manage to prove it with both Higurashi and Umineko with Alchemist add the even CG for both in the console version. For the first point, obviously this is what the developer thinking when it come to make the CG, with they use the very first CG in order to introduce the heroine that the player will date. Another standard usage for this is obviously HCG with it far more prominent in nukige because the main selling point of nukige is the sex scenes, and the developer of nukige would put their focus on the HCG for very obvious reasons (The CG need to be visually exciting after all). Sometimes we also have CG in video games, with the most prominent company that like to use it is Gust in their older games, and it should be noted that one of their game, Ar Tonelico, is available on VNDB with it has a number of CG. Another obvious usage of the CG is SDCG, which as you say is to emphasize the comical moment. Note that many charage company made their VNs have SDCG, like Yuzusoft and Purple Software with they hire Komowata Haruka who is quite a well known name who working on SDCG. That said, not all of the company use SDCG to express the comical moment, with tone work's just use the SDCG as the hint for the player to know which route they'll enter if they chose a certain choice (At least in Hoshiori and Ginharu). For the last point, obviously chuunige (Or like any VNs that have battle scenes) are the one that like to use the event CG to show the casts use the special move in the battle, and obviously it's the attempt to copy the action scene in the anime with VN can't really do animating the action scene. Again not all of the battle scenes in the VNs use the event CG to depict it (Particularly Umineko with Ryukishi use the sprites movement in order to make up the lack of the CG), although it definitely help the reader to immerse themselves in the battle scenes. That's all for what I can write in regard of this topic.

The Event CG is both a central part of the story and potentially the single most expensive part of any given visual novel (at least, that's the way it is reported). A lot of visual novel makers include their number of Event CGs in their advertising, and often the final Event CG for a route becomes the defining memory for the reader. The CG above, from Tokyo Babel, is one of a number of defining moments, where hints of the reality that lies behind the facade, become evident, even as the characters battle to fulfill their desires. Poor utilization of Event CGs can often result in the wrong scenes being emphasized or major plot twists being overlooked, because VN readers are trained to associate them with story progression. On the flip side, effective use of an Event CG can give life to even a trite or mundane plot. Despite the fact that I often made fun of 'charage' (the standard sol-focused VN that had a strong focus on character development but lacked overall cohesion), this was one aspect a lot of companies excelled in. A single Event CG at exactly the right time could turn a mundane romance into a dramatic, emotional one that feels more real to the reader (and I'm not talking about H-scenes, though I'll get to those in a moment). Now, for the more controversial aspect of Event CGs... the H-scene CG. To be blunt, in the vast majority of plot-focused visual novels, sexual content is neither necessary nor does it add anything, save that if there wasn't one, a lot of readers would think they were missing out. However, for a lot of romance-focused visual novels, experienced VN-readers feel cheated if there isn't an H-scene, even if they don't necessarily want to watch/read it. Rarely, a visual novel makes the H-Scene a vital part of the story progression, and in these cases, it is easy to feel that it was a valid choice. Devils Devel Concept's H-scenes (the majority of them, anyway) usually have a role in how the story comes to life, as the protagonist's near-emotionless persona tends to crack open the most in these scenes, and the author does an excellent job of portraying the way his way of thinking and that of the heroine don't quite match. Similarly, Draculius's H-Scenes reveal a great deal about the characters and setting that would otherwise be missed by the reader. The Event CGs, in these cases, have innumerous variations in expression that go along with the text to bring the characters, their emotions, and their desires to life in a way that can't quite be expressed without them.