What do you think about artstyles?

[Wintersami]

Let's say i'm asking your opinion on the ''visual'' part of the VNs

 

Short rant here, reading is not obligatory:

 

There are many VNs out there either i start reading them and i cannot stand the damn artstyle they got, even someone that has never watched anime before wouldn't find how some characters are designed.

Even if games with good stories have sucky artstyles IMO (Cross+Channel Steins;Gate, Clannad, Rewrite, Air, many others) i cannot find myself reading them or taking them seriously (Asuming the game wants me to get into the story and the characters).

I hear many people say ''...it's a great story if you don't mind the artstyle'' and while that is true, we are talking about a visual novel, if the artstyle isn't going to be appealing at all it might aswell just be a book and your imagination would probably do a better job.

 

Keep in mind that i'm not critisizing any particular artstyle; i'm just asking if it's wrong of me to put down a VN because the artstyle wasn't nice to look at, if people here have done the same with some VNs and, if so, wich ones.

 

This is why Hoshimemo is my favorite VN i've ever read (Mind you, i have only read around 8 or 9 so far) because it does not only contain a good story it also contains great development values around it (Great CGs, voice acting and amazing OST) wich is i feel like a lot of people fail to mention or consider when rating a VN.

 

[suikashoujo]

The artstyle in Harukoi Otome played a big part in making me drop it early on, but that was just because it was one of many mediocre parts of the VN. Usually I can suck it up and get over bad art in a game with a good story, though, although it can be a little distracting sometimes (I disliked the art style in Swan song, but it was still a really good VN).  

[crunchytaco]

Dressing up is half the battle they say. Appearances matter, and if what you see don't match with what you get, you're going to have some difficulties believing that character. 

Someone described as a tall beauty with long dark hair and piercing eyes better not be a 5'2 character who picks her nose.

 

Unless you're Seo Yuzuki 

 

[GentleBlade]

The art matters to me.

 

The visual novel with the worstest art that i've played is Sengoku Rance. But the overall of the game, makes me give it a a pass. Although the no voice kinda piss me off, until the game draws my addiction and later on i never noticed about the voice.

[Monmon]

Hm....maybe arts like Majikoi,G-senjou,Hoshimemo or Sharin are fine to me from the start.

 

But for Period or Quartett, i need to adapt for it(it took me 3 or 5 hours) to like it.

I love both Old style graphics and new style graphics. 

But i will say...sometime the art will be one of my reasons to pick up or not a vn.

[Chronopolis]

Art styles, and whether or not I like them effect my enjoyment of the VN, so they probably indirectly increase the score I give the VN.

If I feel like the CG's really bring out or spearhead the important scenes in the novel, or if they contribute to the atmosphere, then I might consciously increase my rating of the VN. People rarely bring up and talk about individual CG's, and yet, there are those that really produce a great impact. In general VN's with an art style you like is more accessible. It can help you get through dull parts, etc.

 

Eustia had pretty good art, and awesome backgrounds, but the fight CG's were lifeless.

[crunchytaco]

The art matters to me.

 

The visual novel with the worstest art that i've played is Sengoku Rance. But the overall of the game, makes me give it a a pass. Although the no voice kinda piss me off, until the game draws my addiction and later on i never noticed about the voice.

 

Talk about differences lol. While not masteripiece, I thought some of the still CG in Sengoku Rance was very nice to look at. The character designs were attractive enough.

[nohman]

I used to be more discerning when it came to how a visual novel looked. If I didn't find something aesthetically appealing, I would put it lower in my reading queue.

 

That said, my tastes have become more broad over the past few years. Eventually I started reading the stuff I had put off and after awhile the visual novels that I didn't originally think looked that great managed to take on their own appeal. I was originally put off of reading F/SN and Tsukihime because of how they looked, but now I sort of have a fond appreciation for their style. It has become part of their charm, I guess.

 

There's still some exceptions of course. Higurashi will always look like ass to me.

[Tatsujin]

Let's say i'm asking your opinion on the ''visual'' part of the VNs

 

Short rant here, reading is not obligatory:

 

There are many VNs out there either i start reading them and i cannot stand the damn artstyle they got, even someone that has never watched anime before wouldn't find how some characters are designed.

Even if games with good stories have sucky artstyles IMO (Cross+Channel Steins;Gate, Clannad, Rewrite, Air, many others) i cannot find myself reading them or taking them seriously (Asuming the game wants me to get into the story and the characters).

I hear many people say ''...it's a great story if you don't mind the artstyle'' and while that is true, we are talking about a visual novel, if the artstyle isn't going to be appealing at all it might aswell just be a book and your imagination would probably do a better job.

 

Keep in mind that i'm not critisizing any particular artstyle; i'm just asking if it's wrong of me to put down a VN because the artstyle wasn't nice to look at, if people here have done the same with some VNs and, if so, wich ones.

 

This is why Hoshimemo is my favorite VN i've ever read (Mind you, i have only read around 8 or 9 so far) because it does not only contain a good story it also contains great development values around it (Great CGs, voice acting and amazing OST) wich is i feel like a lot of people fail to mention or consider when rating a VN.

Art is very important to me. Background and foregrounds plus characters. Something like Fate/Stay Night is "alright" material. It's good enough to get a passing grade. Playable, readable, etc. On the other hand, when I first saw Muv-Luv series I said "what the fuck is this crap?" and I never went into researching what Muv-Luv was about. Though I did hear so much about how epic the VN is. At the time I was a Type-Moon fan and I was also an Age-fan because of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (wtb someone to translate the VN :/). I played some other VNs, like Steins;Gate and I can say this is a really good way to demonstrate unique art styles. Though let me just say that what they did is just draw and color in the character per-normal and the rest is just heavy, heavy photoshopping (extremely easy to do) but nonetheless the art is great!

Then I played Grisaia no Kajitsu. Excuse my language, fucking awesome - awesome - awesome anatomy. Anatomy is very important in art. Nice details, great way to portrait characters. Nice backgrounds and excellence in my areas. I love this VN.

Then ... I came across Muv-Luv series. I read the text that supposedly to give you a sense of what Muv-Luv is about before hitting MLA (Yea I regret not playing EXTRA and UNLIMITED first) and I hit MLA. Nice action and scenes, characters were either dull and whatever and cool mouth-movements and what not. At first, I was like "alright, this is really interesting." I got hooked because the main character was so bad-ass. I was also so, so interested in Meiya than anything else. Meiya Mitsurugi is one of my favorites - top top favorite characters because she's

the Noble Confident that Takeru looks up to so much

. The art wasn't as good but after, lets see ... hmm ... I think about several hours into it I completely forgot about the art because of how deep, how critical and technical Muv-Luv is. Fucking Yuuko is such a plot-hogger. So that's one thing I can forgive about Muv-Luv because of the awesome rollercoaster mind-blowing - grand-scale-epic story. In fact, I like the art. I think that's a really unique style for Muv-Luv series.

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien - Latest Edition had a better and newer system than Muv-Luv Alternative (MLA 2006 release, KgNE ~ LE 2008 release) so the art was a bit better. I played through about 4 or 5 hours of not-understanding-wtf-i-was-doing because I really wanted to just play the game. Really good art, nice BGs and everything else. Both KgNE and ML-universe have a really good BGM/music that I've taking a strong liking to.

So that's the end of my boring rant. Quote away, people!

[Steve]

The artstyle and visuals is the most important aspect of a VN for me. They are VISUAL novels after all Combination of Visuals and Novels - so if I don't like one of those, I basically don't like half of the game

[sarayne]

The art matters to me.

 

The visual novel with the worstest art that i've played is Sengoku Rance. But the overall of the game, makes me give it a a pass. Although the no voice kinda piss me off, until the game draws my addiction and later on i never noticed about the voice.

This! I almost cant make it through clannad the art is so bad to me >.<

[DimDito]

Of course the art matters. It contributes to the overall value of a visual novel bigtime. Thankfully Clannad was my second VN so I didn't have much to compare with.

Unlike a certain other VN that I gave up on before even starting;

 

Still, many other aspects are worth more than the art and it shouldn't put you off from some brilliant storytelling.

[monkeysrumble]

I'm not a big fan of a lot of early visual novel art styles like Tsukihime and Higurashi. Though the art is important I try not to let it derail me from a potentially great visual novel. I can't lie and say that the art of a visual novel doesn't appeal me to read it though, in a lot of the case the art is my first impression of it and if it looks bad I may be turned off from it.

 

A lot of people said Clannad's art is bad, I didn't think it was the worst so if you haven't read Clannad because of the art I say you should totally reconsider, Clannad is a fantastic read.

[Tatsujin]

This! I almost cant make it through clannad the art is so bad to me >.<

I had to put up with that shitty art for Kyou and Tomoyo's arc. Didn't even care about the VN what-so-ever after that. They need to hire new artists for their new games. I'm worried about Angels Beats.

Art is also very important to me in Anime and Manga. Demonstrating bad anatomy or weird stuff or bad technical graphics is a serious matter - at least to me.

Take Good Ending (manga) and Kimi no Iru Machi. Both have some incredible, amazing art and anatomy posts so I was sucked in fast not only because of that but because of the story as well. So that's just something I'm throwing out there (even though they're not VNs).

[GetterEmperor]

The art is an important thing to me, but I don't mind it sometimes if I enjoy the story. A visual novel like Tsukihime didn't have very good art, but I enjoyed it very much nonetheless.

[Satsuki]

Even if games with good stories have sucky artstyles IMO (Cross+Channel Steins;Gate, Clannad,

Rewrite, Air, many others) i cannot find myself reading them or taking them seriously (Asuming the game wants me to get into the story and the characters).

....are you serious?

[sarayne]

I didn't like rewrite's art either >.>

[HMN]

the art is a crucial thing for me,i can't bring myself to fully enjoy the routes of the heroines or the story in general really if their appearance isn't to my liking  

[Slowpoke]

I don't mind different art styles, but some of the early VNs, I can't really see myself getting super into it because the characters look sorta funky.

Like Tsukihime. I heard it has some great heroines, but I just don't know if I'll ever get the motivation to play it.

 

But for the most part its not a big factor in what I read.

[Snowtsuku]

All I can say is that Art is pretty much the downside of every Key visual novel. The proportions look awkward.

[Life]

For me visuals are just a plus. I mostly care about the story and think of most VNs as first person novels. Despite some of the people in this thread, I really like rewrites art. Maybe not the characters but the art in general stands out for me.

[sanahtlig]

Artstyle in VNs is pretty subjective.  For many, "artstyle" is just a polite wording of "are there hot girls?".  If you're treating a VN as a sort of romance sim, then "are the girls hot?" is going to be an important factor.  Such sexual tastes are incredibly varied.  I lean towards the loli side myself, and if all the heroines are big-breasted and very mature looking that can be a dealbreaker for me.

[Funnerific]

As I was plowing through VNs after VNs and had less of them left, my art style requirements lowered so I don't mind reading things with art style like in Yukizakura or Steins;Gate. Hell, I'd read Tsukihime if it was voiced, but I didn't like Fate/Stay Night that much either so I'm keeping away.

 

And I don't understand why people don't like the art style in Harukoi Otome and especially Rewrite. Oh and yeah, I don't like kyonyuu heroines, but I don't really see that as part of the art style, more like character design (and hope that it's not all of them).

[Ezeefreak]

The first thing i check when i'm looking for an new vn is the plot and the setting. But thereafter i check the art. Obviously we speak about VISUAL novels ... so it would be shocking if that didn't count.

 

In my opinion none of the VN's i read had a bad artstyle. If i had to choose the "worst" of them i probably would say G-Senjou (though it's a good artstyle). The "best" art style for me is in "If my  Heart had Wings"... I really love that

 

Greetz

[Slowpoke]

As I was plowing through VNs after VNs and had less of them left, my art style requirements lowered so I don't mind reading things with art style like in Yukizakura or Steins;Gate. Hell, I'd read Tsukihime if it was voiced, but I didn't like Fate/Stay Night that much either so I'm keeping away.

 

And I don't understand why people don't like the art style in Harukoi Otome and especially Rewrite. Oh and yeah, I don't like kyonyuu heroines, but I don't really see that as part of the art style, more like character design (and hope that it's not all of them).

 

Wait...Tsukihime isn't voiced?!

Omg...that makes me want to read it, actually.

 

I've come so close to turning off the voices in VNs sometimes because I read too fast and they're still talking and then I feel like I have to wait.

It gets me bored REALLY fast.