I’ve noticed a strange thing - whenever I play an eroge with several heroines, one of which is considered “main” (e.g. gets the most dialogue, has the longest storyline, the largest picture on the cover, etc), I almost never go for that character in my first game. In fact, more often than not the main character’s route is the very last I clear. I struggle to remember a game with multiple heroines where I went for the main one first.
I guess the reason for that is the fact that most main heroines in eroge are kind of the same, and a bit bland. They’re mostly your usual kind-hearted feminine submissive girls, who want nothing more than to serve the protagonist and bear his future children. On the other hand, peripheral characters are almost always quirky, eccentric or just plain funny.
I wonder if it’s only me, or does this happen to other avid VN gamers here?
Depends how you choose your games. I imagine a lot of people choose games based on the main heroine. In that case, these players would tend to go for the main heroine first, just because they got the game because they were interested in the main heroine. Your scenario can only happen if the attractiveness of the main heroine is only a small (or non) factor in deciding whether to purchase and play the game.
That out of the way, as you suggested, and for the reason I described, companies generally try to design a main heroine to appeal to a broad audience (unless it’s a fetish game–and those can be fun too). If your interests stray from mainstream, then it makes sense that you might not like a lot of main heroines. With a wide enough selection comes variety, including in main heroines–but a wide selection is something the English market currently lacks.
I went for Nemu in Da Capo first, and was less than impressed. (The people who said the game overall is less than impressive were absolutely right.)
In fact, the only reason I’m even going thru the rest of the game at all, is I’m interested in Miharu’s route. She is decidedly a minor character, yet she’s (generally) the most interesting one in the cast.
I have to say that I prefer those games that don’t have a fixed main heroine (like Yume Miru Kusuri), although they seem to be the minority. I find the whole idea of having a main heroine somehow unpalatable: why would that girl be more important than the other ones? Just make good scenarios for all of them, and let me decide which one I like the most. For example, I think Fate/stay Night made a good job in this, giving every heroine her fair place on the stage.
if i play a game the got turned anime
i play the main heroine last because her story is fresher on my mind most of the time
most of the time i complete of the heroirine i like the most
Simple. There’s a story they want to tell. All the other characters are meant to fill in background info or to satisfy the typical requirement of having multiple paths.
Pretty much. The main heroines is typically the writer’s favorite girl, so she’s canon from that prospective. Also when/if they make sequels, it can help as a reference point. Sakura from Sakura Taisen for example.
My love for a main character depends from title to title. Sometimes I agree (Yosuga no Sora)… sometimes I don’t (MinDeaD BlooD).
However it goes beyond just bgames. I didn’t like Naru from Love Hina… and I think Mizore is way better than Moka in Rosario Vampire.
Yes, I know that’s the case, but it’s exactly what I don’t like. If you want to tell one story, then focus on that (Saya no Uta comes to mind). If you insert more paths, you should put equal care on each one of them. Too bad this happens quite rarely.
There are a lot of games where you can’t tell if ther is a canon girl or not…
Just think about YMK, Snow Sakura, Famiy project, Cross Channel, secret wives club, …
Most of the time (in VN with at least 3 girls), you can tell there is a main girl just because there is a “true ending” with this girl.
The general setup of the story might not really lend itself to that very effectively. If in the overall plotline, someone is a minor character, then even if you can get an ending with that character, it’s not going to be as in-depth as a route for a character central to the storyline.
This is a crappy (and contived, since you can’t actually do it in game) example, but even if Keika had a good ending in Snow Drop, it would have been a pretty terrible ending compared to the two main leads, just because of the way the story works. A better example is the endings with secondary characters in Critical Point: those are not even available if you get into the main storyline.
I’m fine with some of the girls not having their route. It is perfectly fine for minor characters to be…well, minor characters. My point is that when you decide to add a path for a girl, you should make sure that it’s on par with other paths in the game. I think it’s pretty lame adding it only for the sake of making that girl winnable.
I can’t say I’ve ever picked up a game based on the main heroine … usually I read the blurb on the web site, decide which girl I’m going to shoot for and stick with that. Upon occasion I can’t decide and so wait until I’ve met everyone in game, but my choice there is always made based on the play then, never who seems to be the female lead. That said, if the lead is boring, cookie cutter girl, then I probably won’t be pursuing her first. (though sometimes i feel bad about that because they make it so obvious and the girl seems to need you so much)
Main heroines aren’t always bad - neither are secret heroines - Kana, for example, is really the only girl I could imagine pursuing in that game. And it is true that, unless touted on the box or made very obvious, you can’t always tell who the preferred girl is going to be … though I have to disagree about Snow Sakura - I think that one was rather obvious. (and Snow Drop was a beautiful game if you followed the walkthrough and didn’t pull your hair out trying to figure out where to be at each point during the days. I kind of wish it had been longer … and his sister had been winnable - or at least sexable - as well.)
Because I like to save the best for last, and the main heroine is usually the best one. Observe:
I did Haru’s route last in G-Senjou no Maou.
I did Ririko’s route last in Sharin no Kuni.
I did Ellen’s route last in Phantom of Inferno.
I did Sora’s route last in Yosuga no Sora.
I did Saki’s route last in MinDead Blood.
I did Muramasa’s route last in Full Metal Daemon Muramasa.
I did Ayumu’s route last in Natsuyume Nagisa.
I did Nanami’s route last in Suigetsu.
I did Suzu’s route last in Ayakashibito.
I did Keiko’s route last in Sense Off ~a sacred story in the wind~.
I did Mei’s route last in Devils Devel Concept. (yeah, yeah, I know you HAVE to do that one last, shut up)
I did Sakura’s route last in Sakura Musubi.
I did Shirako’s route last in Bengarachou Hakubutsushi.
I did Mutsuki’s route last in Sayonara wo Oshiete ~comment te dire adieu~.
I did Akiho’s route last in Moshimo Ashita ga Hare Naraba.
I did Aqua’s route last in Himawari.
I did Miyabi’s route last in Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashino.
I did Hatae’s route last in Konata Yori Kanata Made.
Note that the main heroine isn’t necessarily the title heroine at all. The main heroine doesn’t necessarily have the most dialogue, either. See Hoshizora no Memoria, for example. The main heroine is clear, but she’s not on the cover =p
So, how do you spot the main heroine, if it’s not the girl with the biggest face on the cover or plastered all over the promo material? It’s actually pretty easy, because the main heroine is by definition the most important heroine to the story. As such, you can do this: take the story for your eroge at a whole. Which character would cause the most damage to the story if you removed them from it?
Yes, you do need to play an eroge to work out who the main heroine is for certain, but you can often guess - for example, in Baldr Sky as a whole, it’s pretty clear Sora’s the main heroine even though Baldr Sky DIVE2 isn’t even out yet.
Goes without saying that I totally disagree with everything listed here. =P
Of course, even after saying all that, I will concede that the main heroine is not always the best one. In Kanon, for example, Ayu is plainly the main heroine, but Mai has the best route. In ONE, Nagamori is clearly the main heroine (she’s the cause of EVERYTHING. ONE wouldn’t exist without Nagamori) but most people (including myself) prefer Misaki. In these cases, I still do the main heroine’s route last, and that’s fine.
I’m surprised nobody here has mentioned Princess Waltz yet. Even though the game gave you the illusion of choice, you were still forced to go back to the main heroine. I personally didn’t like Chris very much and found the other female characters in the game to be much more interesting, especially Lun Lun and Angela. It’s a shame that they didn’t flesh out the support cast more to give them a bit more character development though. In this case, as a developer, if you’re only going to focus on one main heroine, make absolutely sure that she possesses enough qualities to make her universally likable.
To answer Russo’s question, I originally started tackling the main heroine’s paths first before moving onto the secondary heroines. I’ve only just started doing it in reverse by saving her for last. Seems better that way to me.
They have to add a bunch of paths because it’s expected. Would you prefer games with a central character to only have one path? You’d lose a lot of content/background info. If you don’t like the main girl, you’re completely screwed. Expecting them to be able to put the same amount of effort into all the characters is unrealistic. They don’t have the time/money to do that, and I doubt it’s easy to make a story where every girl has a central role. It’d likely just turn into a mess.
And why would that be? You can put all the content/background in a single route. It’s not like I have to read multiple versions of the same book to understand what’s going on.
Well, that’s true. I guess you’ll have to choose carefully.
Only if you suppose there has to be six+ characters. I think it’s pretty fair to ask them to put the same effort in every path in a game with 2-4 characters.
If you put all the content on one path, then there’s no content left for each character’s path. Books are meant to be linear, so they provide you with all the information. What would an eroge turn into if you put all the content into the main path? A sex scene per route and that’s it? They used up all the main content already. They need to separate each character’s background/story for a reason.
