Zalor

Yes, I do beleive that VNs as a medium can tap into realistic modes of human thought. Very few of them do, but there are some out there, and the medium definitely has the potential to have more of such works. I emphasize the ability of VNs to communicate human thought, because even in VNs where some unrealistic events are happening, the emotions and that characters feel could still be portrayed realistically. A few VNs that I feel succeed in capturing realistic emotional (and sometimes intellectual) responses are: Narcissu, Symphonic Rain, Yume Miru Kusuri, and Swan Song. Then there is Sayooshi, which while it portrayed the perspective of an insane person, did a really good job in portraying his insanity. There is no reason why VNs can't have intellectual merit. There exists a scarcity of such works because 1) it is an entirely new medium that has only really been around since the 90's. 2) The medium isn't profitable enough, and when money is tight, content creators are more scared of the risk of doing creating something unique.

Alright, I submitted my answers. Chiitrans is my favorite btw (thanks Deep Blue for introducing it to me).

I joined Fuwanovel a month before I turned 16. Back then I think I was one of the youngest members. But now that is no longer true. Also, I've been reading VNs since I was 13. ;P Also, Thank you and everybody else that wished me happy birthday.

I second Symphonic Rain, it's great. Admittedly a slow start, but fantastic. Especially when you get to the true (Al Fine) route. About the art. The background art in Symphonic Rain is gorgeous, it's just the character designs and CGs that are a bit lack luster.

The problem, is that writing for VNs is different than writing a book. I know that at least Dischan struggled with that for a while. As one of their writers was a good writer for books, but he didn't write in a way that accommodated VNs very well. When writing a visual novel, you have to take into account that audio and visuals will accompany the writing. In particular because of visuals, you don't need to describe things quite as much as your would for a book. Furthermore, how writing is presented is very important as well. Will you mostly use textboxs, or go for full screen text, or will you use a different style all together (Like how Narcissu and Swan Song use neither of the typical styles). If you present text differently, you can write differently. Swan Song is written more like a novel, and the way text is presented in that VN works with that. Swan Song would be a very different (a worse VN), if it used the same exact script but in textbox format. So the gist of my point is that simply being a good fiction writer for pure text media, won't necessarily make you a good VN writer. You need to see good writing in the medium you are planning to write for.

So make them edgy as fuck. Additionally, I feel like what you said applies just as much to Chuuni antagonists as well. I've only seen a few scenes from Dies Irae, but holy shit is Reinhard cool and twisted (and his voice actor does a bloody good job portraying him).

Fucking Denko refrence isn't that?

Yeah, I elaborated on what I meant by "debatable" in my post two above yours. I do admit at its core it is a love story. What I meant though, is that I think solely defining it as a love story ignores the other themes Saya no uta addressed. It isn't just a love story being my point. But rather a love story that tackles other themes and issues as well.

Sorry, allow me to elaborate. What I meant, was that while love is an important part of the story. In my view, the story is about so much more than just love/romance. I wouldn't want to confine Saya no Uta as "mostly just a love story". Which is what I meant by debatable. Even more specifically what I meant, is that I would still recommend it to people even if they were not big on romance stories. But what you said is right.

Narcissu certainly not (read my article on it, as Narcissu is not about romance at all. Btw, my article is linked in my signature). But admittedly Saya no uta, and Swan Song do have some romantic elements. So that may disqualify them. Sayooshi on the other hand has sex, but not really romance. So I standby that Narcissu and Sayooshi should have this tag included.

Umm, a lot of my favorite VNs aren't focused on romance (at least arguably). Narcissu, Swan Song, Sayooshi, Saya no Uta (debatable) are all VNs I would add to that tag. And that is just off the top of my head.

While I have never yet been to Japan (I will be going for the first time this summer for a paid internship though), my interactions with Japanese people have always been pleasant. Even though I couldn't say Japan is 100% the place for me, I am sure that I don't want to live in my home country. While I am an American, I have never been able to relate to Americans very well. Growing up (particularly in High School), most of my friends were of Asian descent. And admittedly, around half of them were Chinese. Now in college, I get along pretty well with the Japanese exchange students. Ironically, I can relate to them (and often their way of thinking) better than I can with other Americans. I have studied Japanese culture for around 2 years now, and am well aware of its flaws. But I don't want to live in America for my professional/adult life, and I see myself enjoying Asia. And since my Japanese is better than my Chinese (almost all of which I have forgotten at this point), and my knowledge of any other asian languages are non-existent, Japan wins by default.

Always happy to be grouped together with Palas and Rose, people I genuinely respect. Also happy to be mentioned despite my semi-infrequent activity at this point.

Didn't lose anything of value. Shuffle sucks.

Wow! I love the western art style. It's something more Original English language VNs should do in my opinion. I'll check the demo out right now! (And really, I love the art style already.)

Nah, only doujins exist. Trust me, I know.

"Moogy's secret project" is probably just him trolling the VN community again, so you can rule that one out.

Thank you! I was introduced to Deemo by a friend of mine who was in my beginner level piano class during my last year of High School. Back then I didn't have a smart phone, but when I did get one during the summer of that year, Deemo was the first app I downloaded. Its truly a beautiful game, and V.K克 is probably my favorite as well. Wings of Piano was the first song I heard from Deemo, and it is still my favorite song.

To provide some context, Deemo is a Taiwanese rhythm game developed for the iOS and Android by Rayark Games. For the most part, I think this game has escaped the notice from most western otaku. Which honestly would make sense, since it isn't marketed towards Otaku like other rhythm games (notably Love Live and Osu). In fact, the game play is arguably not even the primary purpose of the game. Rather, the songs serve the broader purpose of telling a story together with the visuals. The word "visual novel", by its name suggests a story that emphasizes the visual aspect to express the story. Taking this loose understanding of the term (and not the conventional definition), Deemo certainly qualifies as an interesting example. In fact, Deemo mostly relies on its visuals and audio to convey its story, hardly using much text at all. This aids the experience excellently as the story is quite simple, and most of the experience is emotional. And nothing conveys emotions as well as music. The game begins in a cut scene showing falling sheet music, and a mysterious figure that resembles a walking shadow (Deemo). The next thing we see is Deemo peacefully playing a piano, when he is suddenly interrupted when a girl falls from the sky into his house. Catching her, they then ponder on the best way to return her where she came from (in the sky). It is then that they discover a little sapling growing on the ground, and they realize that when it grows into a large tree, she could climb it up. Thankfully, the tree grows through the power of music, and that is where the game play becomes relevant. The tree grows by playing music, but in order to keep it growing you need to keep discovering new music. This is where the other key game mechanic becomes important. For the most part, you unlock new songs when the tree reaches certain heights. But usually you can only get the music by finding it. So you have to search through Deemo's house to find new songs. In doing so, you discover all sort of other clues that provide hints about Deemo's true identity. As you search through Deemo's house, you are not only discovering new music to progress the game, but also learning about the weird world you are in. Deemo's house, is essentially the whole world in this universe. By exploring, you will inevitably ask yourself 3 questions. Who is Deemo, who is the masked lady, and what is this world? Visual Novels typically use choice structures as a means to direct the story. Similarly, but also quite differently, you guide the story and its progression in Deemo through exploration of the limited areas. There is not much to explore, just like how VNs usually only provide a few branching choices, which provides the same sense of confinement that VNs give. You are given some room to explore and deviate, but you are mostly restricted to a few places. The art cover for each song also adds a level of storytelling as each picture captures an image of Deemo's and the girl's relationship developing. The song itself provides the mood to interpret the picture. In other words, the song is essentially the words. Or another way of thinking about it is that each song could be broken down into musical notes and transcribed on paper as sheet music. Well that sheet music, is the script to this story. The game focuses all the comprehensive aspects of the story to imagery and exploration (with minimal use of text), allowing for character development and all things emotional to be expressed by the music as opposed to text. And while narrative can always communicate plot points more efficiently than music, music trumps narrative in terms of emotional expression. And ultimately Deemo's story is more focused on mood, than it is on plot. The game wants the player to use their imagination to string the plot together by using images and the music as the core tools to do so. In much the same way that novelists want the reader to use their imagination when visualizing descriptions. In this way, I think this music game, captures the true heart of music; emotional expression. The title of this article suggests that I think that Deemo is in some way a visual novel, and using the term loosely, that is true. As I briefly mentioned before, the term “visual novel” implies a story that is primarily expressed through visuals (this is of course ignoring the historical context to how the term was coined in the first place). And I have seldom seen any story that has relied on the visual aspect as much as Deemo. The game almost solely relies on images to express what is going on, and music to infuse emotional meaning to those images. And it is truly impressive how effective a story can be told in this limited way. To the extent where by the end of this journey, I was in tears. And when I return back to replay certain songs, or to view certain cut scenes, the feelings I initially felt are still there.

Fuwanovel has been obsessed with click bait titles recently. Whats more its all centered around a niche group of friends. This is getting to be almost as bad as when hsmful, HMN, and his buddies were spamming the forums. So... I vote ban Kurisu for the Shogun.

This is really encouraging Getsuya, thanks! Interpreting sound like a high reward low stress position (at least for you), which is great. Also for those interested, there are jobs outside of translating and interpreting that knowing Japanese would give you an advantage in. If you choose to go to graduate school, you have two good options. Going for a law degree, or an MBA. With high level proficiency in Japanese and with a law degree, you can do very well for yourself as an international lawyer. If you do an MBA, investment banks and hedgefunds will want you because you will be well qualified to trade Japanese stocks/debt/etc and broker investment deals that deal with Japan. So yeah, while interpreting sounds great, there are also other great options to choose from.

So its basically Sakura Spirit, lol? On another note, its nice to see you again Getsuya. Haven't seen you in a while.

He's not kidding about the Shit taste btw

Thanks man. And also, I appreciate the light you shed on the history of TLwiki. I remember that a while ago they were quite important, but I never really knew much about them.

Swan Song: Humanity sucks Narcissu: Suicide ftw Kanon: Tragic girls in snow Saya no Uta: you're crazy and have sex with a grotesque disfigured monster Sayonara wo Oshiete: You're crazy and reality isn't real