It's All In The Hips - What makes up a visual novel...

First off, I just noticed that this site's URL is almost a rip off of another site (i.e. the Novelty visual novel creator page), and to think I thought I was being original...

Anyway, the next order of business, before looking at reviewing anything, I thought I'd get down my thoughts on VN's in general, starting by breaking them down into the main parts (so I can have a look into them later on).

ART
This is a make or break thing for many people, and you can see why to an extent, I mean no one wants to devote time reading something that is just downright painful to look at. Though the art itself I feel is more important in some areas, such as the CG's, to reward the player (and no I'm not talking about H-scenes), whereas other areas like backgrounds and such can be overlooked. With that said, I still enjoy good artwork, especially with characters (how can I truly feel connected someone who's only 16bits?), but it's more important that the art style of the game is unique and truly adds to the game. Most importantly again this is with characters, in many VN's which are hurriedly developed, the characters are essentially copies of older designs (I forget the exact term), changed by simply sticking on a different colour hair for each character or other simplistic changes. This in my opinion is terrible, as each character should be unique and have their own feel, or the player may just ignore them even if they have a completely different story. All in all, art is important, but more so in that it is unique rather than having 'sik graphics...'

Music and SFX
An often overlooked aspect, music in my opinion is a key component in getting a reaction from the player. Just hearing the songs from the Clannad soundtrack sometimes reduce me to tears. I feel that these songs (usually the main themes for each character) are underused, and should play more of a part in the game (for example May Sky, which uses its aural component as a key part of the story, it truly must be heard to be experienced). Background music is also important, but more to ensure the player is not bored.
SFX, are less important, but should not be ridiculously looped or terribly recorded (nothing ruins the mood more than some annoying noise in the background). Voices are also becoming an important feature of many VN's, but as most of mine are translated versions I cannot really comment on this feature as it has limited affect on me...

Story and Characters
The meat and potatoes of ALL VN's should be the story and characters, both are separate things to be ranked, but I feel that any successful game should have a mixture of both. Firstly story, this is self explanatory, no one wants to play something which they have no interest in. The story itself is the dialogue, as well as the events involved, the dialogue plays a key role, as it is the main thing the player is devoting their attention to. In my opinion it should be, deep (but not the the extent where you need a thesaurous to play) and should be once again 'unique'.
Helping with the dialogue and uniqueness of the story are of course the characters. I will be a bit biased here in talking about characters, as in the VN's I play, mostly romance (or 'drama'), they are what drags the player in. I feel a connection with VN's that I don't with any other form of media, because of these characters. I cry when they cry and laugh along with them (sorry to be a bit melodramatic here, but it truely is how I feel). Characters, themselves can be cut outs of previous ideas, like the generic KEY sick girl, or the childhood friend that secretly pines for the main character, but when using these as a basis, it is important that they bring something different in, otherwise it will be written off as a generic copy.

Features/Extras
These bonuses are not very important, whilst they may add something fun or rewarding at the end of the game, I feel that if a bad game has time to make features, they should have used that time to improve the key aspects (story, story, story). That said, some features should not be ignored (save function... for crying out loud).

Alright, and there you have my first rant (sorry if its a little overbearing or dry, but it is my first real post XD ). Also, I notice my spam of 'uniqueness', essentially I feel that a game must be special in one way or another (or preferably many) in order to distinguish itself from the rest of the crowd and to let it truely shine.

Humble Beginnings

Hello all people who are kind enough to give this unknown kid's attempt at blogging a go. I have created this blog to talk about the things I love and to get involved in the anime/manga/VN culture I've been looking into for a while now. So, I guess I should explain what this blog's main themes shall be about. Being a 'self-proclaimed' otaku, I love everything in the 2D world, be it anime, manga or otherwise. However, as the title of this blog suggests I have a special place in my heart for visual novels, a pleasure which I have discovered recently. As such, I guess my main themes will be based around these subjects, involving some reviews, general opinions, deeper analysis, and just general rants.
Well that's enough for a first post, be sure to tune in another time when I've really started writing. So, good night, after all those CG's won't get themselves.

- Mccurry

P.S. Please provide me with feedback if ever you feel the need, I need all the help I can get with this, and I'd be happy to oblidge with requests.

P.S.S. Also, to leave you with an idea of what's to come, I am a KEY fan (though I still enjoy lots of works from other publishers), and Clannad is my favourite novel and anime.