General Visual Novel Appreciation Thread

He's the main character of Never7. Tom, or something.

12Riven is considered pretty terrible, since there were different writers than the rest of the Infinity series.

Well I got Ever17 up and running without a problem. I completed one route (Kid/You)and I'm a good way through a second one. It's really good, but I can't help think that the creators are missing out on good opportunities all over the place. And there's a whole bunch of logical inconsistencies and physical impossibilities that I get the feeling are mistakes instead of clues that'll be resolved later on. Those really bug me. It's still great though, and I'm gonna continue with it.

Edit: Actually, it makes me want to try making my own VN. I'm not sure about the overall plot, but I know I can write better stuff than that when you get down to the level of individual scenes. But alas, 'tis naught but an idle fantasy.

edited 2nd Sep '10 1:39:53 PM by CDRW

Anyway, does anyone know how I can maybe get Symphonic Rain to run properly on my computer? The solutions I saw online didn't work. The text simply doesn't display.

^^ Finish it. That's all I can say without spoilers. No seriously, like anything I say about it will be a spoiler. Like Takeshi being a ————-.

^ Eh, I'll try to help if I start it up myself.

^^^ I'm pretty sure making a Visual Novel is pretty easy technically, as long as you figure out how to do the "visual" part.

I made a very small Clannad spin-off visual novel with the most basic of basic programming tools, turing (It was a school project). It took a DAMM long time, but that's because of me having to photoshop the pictures from the original VN.

Sounds like making a VN could be fun then. Of course it's still out of the question since I'm a horrible artist and know literally nothing about programming (Ok, not nothing I did teach myself how to make games on my TI-83 in junior high, but I don't remember hardly any of that and I have a feeling it's not the same sort of thing anyway.), it also doesn't help that music is pretty much out of the question too.

Anyways it's time! I've completed the Kid/You Good End; Kid/Sara Good End, Epilogue, and Bad End, and Takashi/Tsugumi Bad End (How the hell do you weasle a good end out of that arc anyways?)

Theories on the life counter.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS, BUT IT'S TOO MUCH FOR ME TO PUT TAGS AROUND ALL OF IT.

1. It registers Sora as a real person.

Pros:

• It accounts for why the counter settles on six people.
• It accounts for why nobody corrects Takashi when he says that all the people registered on the counter are in the room and that six is the correct number, assuming You and Tsugumi understand that she would normally show up on it.
• The fact that Sora sometimes seemingly interacts with physical objects is explained, like her closing the door to the re-compression chamber when Coco gets the bends.
• It could possibly be mixed up with the reason why Sora is still functional even though she's seemingly cut off from the surface. (Maybe there's a real Sora and a Fake Sora. That could explain her schitzophrenia and why she's able to show up in more than one place even though she explicitly says she can't do that. But there's too many details that simply don't mesh with that theory.)
• It explains why there's always one lifeform left over at the end of the arcs, unless the part about Sora being based in a computer up top is true.

Cons:

• Sora is a computer AI and projection, not a lifeform. If she's somehow both then there'd better be a DAMN good explanation.
• It doesn't nothing to explain the counter fluctuations.

2. The counter picks up animals. Pros:

• It explains the number seven in the routes where Coco is present. The sensors would have a difficult time picking them up.
• It explains why they don't show up as dots, because it's difficult to pick them up.
• It explains the fluctuations because the animals could move constantly in and out of the sensor's range and because they would be difficult to pick up.
• It falls into line with Takashi's line at the beginning about him thinking the park didn't allow pets. It would throw off the count.

Cons:

• It doesn't explain the fluctuations when everybody is in the control room together. The animals are all present.
• It doesn't explain why six dots are visible instead of five. The dog might be big enough to display as a dot, but it isn't present in the arcs without Coco so those arcs should never display a seven.
• It doesn't account for why the counter stays on one when everybody is either dead or not in the park anymore.

3. It picks up on the researcher in the basement (Coco's dad I presume?).

Pros: It accounts for the leftover one at the end of some arcs. Cons:

• The computer systems aren't connected, so their sensors shouldn't pick him up in the first place.
• He dies before the implosion in the one arc anyways, so there's no reason to suspect he lives in the others.

4. The sensors are pickin up on Coco during the Kid arcs and Sara during the Takashi arcs. (the one I think most likely)

Pros:

• Most reasonable explanation for why the counter is unsure.
• Could account for the one person left over since they weren't with the group they didn't die or escape.
• It's weird, which is in line with the stuff I've heard about the game.

Cons:

• It requires theory 1 to be correct to boost the count up to seven, or for Kid's theory about there being two of him.]]

edited 3rd Sep '10 3:43:03 PM by CDRW

You do know we can't confirm any of your suspicions, correct? Nor your assumptions or conclusions? It's all way too spoilertastic. Everything in Ever17 is a spoiler. Everything.

Yeah...I know.

I'm willing to bet that all of my theories are way off base anyways. None of them even come close to making it all work.

Oh, just want to say, Sara's arc and Tsugume's arc are pretty freaking awesome.

Also, I'm currently working on Sora's arc. After finishing that am I going to need a walkthrough to get onto the next path or is it fairly easy to find?

edited 3rd Sep '10 4:33:18 PM by CDRW

It's fairly easy to find but I heard that Tsugumi's route is a pain. Being the wimp that I am, I went through the whole thing except Sora's with a walkthrough to start with.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/931349-ever-17-out-of-infinity/faqs/43865 for a walkthrough.

Whew. Just spent a considerable time fixing up the Kira Kira page. It's now much fancier, and much, much longer. I think I just might like Kira Kira too much...

It was really THAT great? When played the first ten minutes, it seemed meh, and I prioritized a few other games over it. But everyone seems so ecstatic about the game, so I am now too!

If you only played a bit of it, then of course it's not that great. It really shines when you get to know the characters and their situations. It's a really fun visual novel, and it does have some drama, though not as much as comedy. And I think the drama is very well done, when it does pop up. It's definitely worth a read. Especially Chie's route, or so I think at least.

I kinda want the inverse of It's Popular, Now It Sucks!. If it's more popular, maybe Overdrive will make more Kira Kira stuff. And maybe Chie will be the main heroine. I can dream!

CDRW readng your theoryizing is awesome.

Well, I don't know if you're going to like it but I did. Then again, I tend to prioritize art a lot in V Ns.

I focus a lot on the music. I'm completely serious when I say it has the best BGM of any visual novel I've played. It's not the kind that's in Ever17 and Tsukihime, where a few tracks get stuck in your head. There are just a bunch of really awesome, really thematic songs. Plus, the actual concert music and opening and ending themes are all great, too.

The only real problem with it is the late branching plot making playing each separate route possibly boring. Luckily each of the girls' routes are very different once you actually get into them.

Eh, I'm not a big fan of rock so I can't really appreciate the as well as I could with something like Ef.

Ha ha, thanks Pata.

All right. I've unlocked coco's route. Hopefully it explains everything. I'll be impressed if it manages to clear up all the loose ends. I'll be REALLY impressed if it manages to give a good explanation for why everyone, including Sora herself, treats the fact that she's a hologram as some big secret that needs to be covered up until the obvious truth is pointed out. I'm not expecting that one though. I still think that particular point is going to end up being a case of Idiot Plot.

BTW, I've managed to make it all the way on my own with the sole exception of using the walkthrough to get Tsugumi's good end.

I think this show definitely needs an adaptation for TV though. It'd be awesome, especially the mindscrew you'd pull on the audience with re-starting the story every couple episodes.

Edit: Oh, and the siphon they used to escape the complex in Kid/You's route would not work as stated. In order to work there has to be a clear air path between the two sections for the air pressure to equalize as the siphon drains, otherwise it'd stop. Maybe there's some ventilation or something that serves that purpose, but it doesn't sound like that from their explanation.

edited 4th Sep '10 2:03:38 PM by CDRW

^Impossible. It's a shame really. You'll see why once you play through the route. It works ONLY as a VN and it's impossible to adapt it.

Btw, didn't Higurashi already do the restart mindscrew thing?

And I was confused by the siphon a bit too. I just ignored it and went "awesome", pretending to know what was going on.

edited 4th Sep '10 2:05:42 PM by neobowman

Higurashi did it, and it was awesome, but I don't think it (anime) did a very good job making it all work out in the end. The second season had a completely different feel to it.

I don't believe it's impossible to adapt Ever17 into an anime. It would just be difficult.

The siphon thing makes sense to me, but then again, I've finished the game. Just about everything is explained, as I recall.

I do have to say this though. You'll probably think I'm crazy, but most of the stuff in Ever 17 comes across as way too upbeat to me. It's not the mindscrewy spoilery stuff, but their normal conversations. Nobody seems as stressed about being shut up in an underwater deathtrap as I would expect.

^Once you're through the route, you'll get why I'm saying it's imposssssssssssible. Ok, my mind was completely misinterpreting what you were saying there for some reason.

It tends to be a bit slow because honestly, what the hell are you going to do when you're trapped and can't do anything about it? They expect they're going to be rescued sometime soon so just spend time as enjoyably as possible. It also helps that most of the people trapped happen to be upbeat and easygoing.

Finished Chie's route in Kira Kira. On to Kirari's!

edited 5th Sep '10 1:54:07 AM by neobowman