What is considered "finishing" a Visual Novel?

[AstralSword]

I can only have peace after I read all possible choices. That means I will go back to every choice option and choose all of them just to know the dialogues/possible outcomes. Normally there are hidden jewels in those ones.

And that includes all possible Bad, Normal, Good and True endings.

[Weiterfechten]

I am pretty sure I have already said this somewhere else but to me finishing a game is to be done playing the game, whether that is you having completed it 100%, all the options available explored, or just having done the routes you feel like playing (I do however not consider a game complete if I have not come to a single end credit sequence for a game). If I do not feel like continuing a game I will not do so purely for completion's sake.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Weiterfechten

[Kabu]

For both games and VNs it depends really on how much I'm enjoying it overall, though for VNs it depends a lot more on the actual characters than anything else. For both games and VNs I like to try and be a completionist as often as possible but sometimes It's just not worth going for the gold.

[kooolm]

When it comes to visual novels you usually think of 100% completion, especially since some true endings require you to get to the other endings before unlocking it.

[Stormwolf]

When you've reached the end of the main plot and the potential afterstory, or when you've read the heroine routes which interest you. I am finished with a vn when the crappy loli route is left, and i consider it finished.

[tymmur]

27 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

I am finished with a vn when the crappy loli route is left, and i consider it finished.

I too prefer to skip any route containing scat. I just don't find that fetish attractive at all

[Zander]

1 hour ago, Stormwolf said:

I am finished with a vn when the crappy loli route is left, and i consider it finished.

Agreed. Based on my experiences, the universal opinion around here and in the greater VN community at large [both in the West and in Japan] seems to be that loli routes are inherently worthless garbage that isn't worth anyone's time. Why developers continue to include them is beyond me.

[tymmur]

I have to say I'm a bit puzzled by rejecting routes purely based on the level of loliness. To me, how interesting a route is is based on parameters such as story, events, personality and such stuff. Some of them contains a loli, some don't. That in itself is not the deciding factor. If a VN has a loli route, which is junk, it most likely has multiple routes, which are junk because odds are that it's just not a good VN. If all the other routes are worth reading, odds are that the single loli route is also worth reading.

The problem is if a loli route is added just to be a loli route and there is nothing else in it. However you can say the same about the route about big boobs. If that is all there is to the route, that one too will be boring to read.

[Mistearea]

Huh.  Not as much diversity as I thought there'd be.  Interesting.

But I consider a VN to be finished once I have 100% completion.  Even if I think the route or the girl herself is complete garbage, I go through it.  Just not satisfied otherwise.  Sometimes this even includes fandisks.  There have been a few times where I consider a VN finished only to find out that there's a fandisk(or 5), which makes me reclassify it as unfinished.  Sequels don't really qualify for this though.

[FatEdenshaw]

Thanks alot for everyones thoughts. I get a clearer picture now of what is considered "finishing" a visual novel. Looks like to most people, completing all routes is a must. 

This is what I thought and also what frustrates me about VNs. Since VNs are classified as games, for the most part, I would certainly include them there, at least if there is player input, for instance making choices. But there are many other games that have choice making and different endings and with those people consider making your own choices and "shaping your own experience" to be the important part, and when you get "your" ending you have certainly completed the game. Games like The Walking Dead, Mass Effect, The Witcher, Exist Archive, Atelier series etc etc.

However it seems that is not the case with VNs (talking about the ones with player input). 

You can make your own choices but it feels like many games require you to choose like the game wants if you wanna get the "true end" aka the true experience. 

I'm not necessarily coming down on VNs, I love many of them and their way of storytelling can be amazing. I just find this aspect a bit frustrating.

And I'm talking about VNs where you get choices of your own. If there is no player input, there is only one ending and also it's debatable if it's really a game or not.

Edited April 25, 2018 by FatEdenshaw