Learning to play VN's

[Stormwolf]

I hope this is the right place to go. So i have started playing my very first VN (Rewrite) I absolutely love Key and plan on playing Little Busters or Planetarian next. 

 

Ok, so i'm confused how to go about playing these games properly. They are pretty damn long so it's no fun playing for 20+ hours only to get a bad ending (well, it's a key production so bad endings are a given, but you know what i mean ). I want to try getting all the routes and have seen the walkthrough, but i'm not sure how many of those points for each heroine are essential go get so that i get the proper ending for that heroine. 

 

For those who have played this title, should i always load up the game to not follow and save chihaya at oct 6 before advancing with another heroine? 

 

Also looking for general tips and tricks for this title and in general!

 

Thanks!

[Narcosis]

Save a lot. Visual novels usually have a lot of savegame slots, not without a reason. You could preety much save during every single decision point and it's advised to do so, as it makes replaying a lot easier.

[douggle]

I hope this is the right place to go. So i have started playing my very first VN (Rewrite) I absolutely love Key and plan on playing Little Busters or Planetarian next. 

 

Ok, so i'm confused how to go about playing these games properly. They are pretty damn long so it's no fun playing for 20+ hours only to get a bad ending (well, it's a key production so bad endings are a given, but you know what i mean ). I want to try getting all the routes and have seen the walkthrough, but i'm not sure how many of those points for each heroine are essential go get so that i get the proper ending for that heroine. 

 

For those who have played this title, should i always load up the game to not follow and save chihaya at oct 6 before advancing with another heroine? 

 

Also looking for general tips and tricks for this title and in general!

 

Thanks!

Like Narcosis said, be sure to save, and if you want to guarantee you get on the route with the heroine you want, you can use the Rewrite Walkthrough in the Walkthrough section

[Stormwolf]

Thanks. I haven't been saving all that much though. I've made saves for the first three heroines in the start as i need to finish them before unlocking the last two. I haven't saved on what's probably seen as minor decissions though.

 

Ohh and how much does the game change depending on which heroine you go for? Is it like the same game with just a different character on the side or does it have a major say in how the game plays out towards the end?

 

One last thing, how much can i depend on the skip function for previously read text? Does it skip minor dialogue changes?

[storyteller]

My own personal habit is to save at every presented choice and work backwards if I should ever fail.

 

A lot of games come with what's called a common route and bunch of branching routes.

Your choices in the general route usually determines which branching route you end up in.

You'll experience a lot of skipping in general routes.

 

The skip will very much depend on the game engine.

Most games will, however, never skip even the slightest difference in text unless you have "skip all text" on.

Ctrl skip usually doesn't care, though.

[Stormwolf]

That's a habit i should get into as well. For now i think i'll try with just the walkthrough choices. After this i'll probably have some better understanding of VN's. 

[Zakamutt]

Rewrite isn't very hard in the choice department, though you might have to do somewhat weird things (kinda stalk Chihaya for example, ahem) to get into girls' routes at some point. Heroine routes (and the two routes unlocked after those, moon and terra) are vastly different from each other in the storyline department, to the point where people complain about it.

[Stormwolf]

Does that mean things that shouldn't be different is different depending on the route?

 

Key games is more or less about tragedy as far as i have experienced from watching anime based on their VN's. If rewrite is the same, would one route spoil another? Like finding out what happens to another girl which would come of as a surprise when you're actually going her route.

[the_dive]

Does that mean things that shouldn't be different is different depending on the route?

 

Key games is more or less about tragedy as far as i have experienced from watching anime based on their VN's. If rewrite is the same, would one route spoil another? Like finding out what happens to another girl which would come of as a surprise when you're actually going her route.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Going through one route would not spoil another route. I would also say that Rewrite is ... different from previous Key VNs so expect to be surprised.

[Stormwolf]

I wouldn't worry about it. Going through one route would not spoil another route. I would also say that Rewrite is ... different from previous Key VNs so expect to be surprised.

 

Yeah, the longer i play the worse it gets. I'm at oct 18 and it stands out even more as a haremish high school rom com with it's typical tropes. The other Key productions that i've seen had soul, this is becoming generic. I do hope something picks up soon.

[Zantax]

Does that mean things that shouldn't be different is different depending on the route?

 

Key games is more or less about tragedy as far as i have experienced from watching anime based on their VN's. If rewrite is the same, would one route spoil another? Like finding out what happens to another girl which would come of as a surprise when you're actually going her route.

 

All Key VNs are nakige, that is romance comedy with a bit of tragedy and happy ending...

 

All except Rewrite.

 

You didn't read anything else from Key before, so these words wont effect you as much but: don't expect typical Key route structure. There is even not that much romance in here, and routes are very focussed on world and heroine backgrounds. Also you can argue, that final route that you unlock after finishing all others have no heroine at all (at least in typical romantic sense).

 

Yeah, the longer i play the worse it gets. I'm at oct 18 and it stands out even more as a haremish high school rom com with it's typical tropes. The other Key productions that i've seen had soul, this is becoming generic. I do hope something picks up soon.

Oh you will be so shocked and unprepared... ;p

[Stormwolf]

Well, as long as it's not NTR then i'm looking forward to it!

 

Ohh, and how do i know if i stumble upon a bad ending instead of  a good one? Does the game inform me about it in some way?

[Zantax]

If I remember correctly there are no bad endings in this VN - here are no choices in routes whatsoever (though some routes don't end very happily...)

[Stormwolf]

If I remember correctly there are no bad endings in this VN - here are no choices in routes whatsoever (though some routes don't end very happily...)

 

I think you can choose Chihaya at the end of the Kotori route for a bad ending.

[Zakamutt]

There are a few choices that lead tobad ends, but you'll know soo nafter picking them; they aren't v. long and you'll be given a chance to return to the choice even eventually I think. Since there is a joke ending that is quite entertaining at 100%, and at least a certain one in Terra is pretty interesting, there's really no reason to fear them. They're not drawn out depressing stuff.

[Deep Blue]

Use guides, I don't bother anymore when I read the novels because most of the times the choices you pick are really unintuitive in relation with the result, "drink a soda"---------> oh yeah?you picked the yandere girl! "don't drink the soda" -----------> bad ending. I'm not kidding I saw choices that didn't make any sense changing the whole route.

So meh

[Zakamutt]

In Rewrite choices are fairly easy to trace to be honest, but for some VNs I will definitely agree with using a guide. That said, if you ever decide to read Fate / Stay Night I really do recommend not using a walkthough due to how well it handles bad endings and the general atmosphere gain

[Deep Blue]

Well I forgot to mention, if you use a guide don't scroll down to the end, just do it little by little as you play the novel that way you wont get the plot spoiled.

In rewrite the whole friend list, quest missions and gps thing is kinda bs.

In fsn I got all the bad endings just to see taiga getting mad but still doing that can pull you off from the novel so there are some people that don't like it, there are novels that without a guide are pretty much impossible like cross channel where you get stuck in a loop if you pick something wrong in the first week and you don't even know why.

[Stormwolf]

I have only seen choices for characters, so i haven't been spoiled at anything plotwise. Are the quests and such really necessary? I do want to see proper endings and such of course, but if they are only there to waste your time then i won't care about the quests.

[Deep Blue]

if you want to see a really funny ending then you need to complete the game 100% that means getting everything out without exception and doing it without a guide it's really hard , I used a 100% save game after getting the terra ending xD because I was tired of the game already I just wanted to see the ending.

 

The choices  will hardly spoil anything in this game so don't worry too much about it, there are other games where they will spoil you big parts of the plot so be carefull.

[Stormwolf]

Hmm, does it have any negative effects to use powers? I'd like to use them, but it's always a matter of using it or not and that gives me the inkling that using it will bring some negative effects. I don't mind the vague spoiler if i'm free to use it or not.

[mjriedstra]

Maybe this marks me a failure as a purist, but I think following the walkthrough is almost necessary for certain games, Rewrite being a prime example. The sheer enormity of the story and the pixel-hunting nature of the mini-game would have made it nearly impossible to see most of the content without a half-dozen playthroughs. It's worthwhile to follow a good walkthrough step-by-step to get each ending and most of the easter eggs without pulling your hair out.

[Zakamutt]

You very much do want a walkthrough for 100% / joke ending; the thing is though, that is best done after you've finished the final route anyway. If you're not aiming for that, you definitely don't need one.

 

As for using powers, at least during the common route it doesn't matter much (there's like two unimportant lines that change a bit later). Can't remember if there's any place it matters, but if it does then again, Rewrite's bad endings don't take too much of your time and you should be able to make it through np w/o a walkthrough.

[Clephas]

I suggest just using a walkthrough... though I do recommend playing through your first three or four big VNs without one (as long as it isn't in Japanese) simply so you can understand why you are better off with one, lol.  In some VNs, bad endings are actually worth looking at, though... Fate/Stay Night being a prime example of this.

[Stormwolf]

Holy shit Rewrite is one huge game. How long are the heroine paths? I thought it was just like a day or two more, but boy was i wrong