Hi, a certain writer might be doing an article on PC dating-sim games, and I’d like to ask everyone for the record, what do you find “good” about these games? If possible give me your thoughts on YUME MIRU KUSURI :: A Drug That Makes You Dream, Snow Sakura, Raidy, and The Sagara Family, however other impressions are more than welcome, too.
I’ve only got a few minutes, as I should be doing homework right now, but I’ll leave a brief comment.
Perhaps I’m alone here, but have you ever been playing a computer game with an excellent and interesting story only to have your immersion and enjoyment destroyed by the required combat sequences? Haven’t you ever played a game and thought “you know, this game would be remarkable if not for the tedious battles”? That’s what draws me to these games first and foremost - the fun and enjoyable stories for which you don’t have to slog through repetitious blood fests and increasingly frustrating combat sequences designed to prevent you from ever seeing the ending.
Okay, off to homework - more later if no one beats me to my remaining thoughts.
Concerning YMK and Snow Sakura (my two favorite eroge) it’s the immersion. Seeing how I can feel “emotionaly” involved it those games is what moves me (no I’m not emo lol).
So of course the story and the characters are what’s more important.
On a more general aspect, I’m fond of the arts. I really like the “manga style” artworks. If those games were drawn in a different way I probably would have never wanted to play this kind of games.
Then I didn’t play Raidy (I’m a rape hater :D), but concerning the Sagara Family… there is no real story but the game was funny. So it’s not my favorite one but it was still good (nevertheless any other game WITH a story and without rape is better then that).
Just a quick thought or two…
Story. Story. Story.
And better yet, a different sort of story than your usual game. For one thing, the focus is almost always on human relationships and usually not on excessive amounts of violence. Even if you look into a genre that’s normally not about violence (the “standard” adventure game market which includes games like Myst, The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, etc.), you’ll find the stories there always seems to be “macro” stories. You have to be saving the world, or the journey isn’t worth it.
B-games offer a more “micro” story-- you’re helping the main character forge relationships with the people around him or her. (I bet that’s the first time anyone’s ever said a b-game was “micro” in any way… cough :)) It’s a more personal story and a refreshing change from the shoot-em-ups/save-the-world(s?) game. Since the level of the story is so personal, there’s bigger opportunities for a more impactful story, IMHO. Some b-games are funny too, and they explore humor in relationships in ways that other games never will. There’s no room for that sort of thing in all the Half-Lifes, Bioshocks, or even The Longest Journeys out there.
There’s an awful lot of comparisons made between the movie industry and the video game industry, in terms of dollars made, consolidation of publishers/studios, etc, etc. But if you look at the stories they are providing, you’ll notice a huge gaping hole on the game side. The video gaming market has got the Rambos/Aliens/National Treasures all down pat. But there seems to be no real equivalent for all the “relationship stories” in the movie theatres, both in comedies and dramas. There are “simulation” games like The Sims, but realistically, those concentrate on the aspect of just living and don’t specifically focus on the relationships. Bgames help to fill that vacuum by providing those “relationship” stories that are so lacking in other gaming genres.
That’s all for now. Got a doctor’s appointment to go to, but I might be back to add another 2 yen to the conversation.
Hope this helps!
The SEX, what else 8) :lol: ?
As typical Italian 
I dare to say that our “regular” fiction already boasts most of the above topics, and even our experience with sex has a venerable history :twisted: , but GOOD&varied videogames gifted with GOOD&varied sex are still a Japan-only specialty, to my knowledge.
Maybe in America is different…
The story is number one. You find yourself immersed in a different world as a different person, and you build relationships with the people around you. As you move forward you encounter situations you that you’ve probably never been in, and you can get choices on how to handle the situation. The characters can make you feel for them, happiness, sadness, love, hate. It’s all there, and it will bring some feeling to an otherwise mundane existence.
The art is number two. Who doesn’t want to watch and read a story about beautiful women, most of whom are attracted to the player character, or can become attracted to him throughout the story. Bad art can be a big turnoff, but when it is good, it pays off big time in the end.
Just my two cents.
Hmm, suppose I’ll edit and add something about Yume Miru Kusuri since it is still fresh in my mind. The story can be wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. You can find yourself living happily with the one you found, or you may end up alone, still leading a boring life. The girls, though small in numbers, are nicely varied, and have a pretty big story to flesh out with each of them. They all offer very interesting and entertaining scenarios that can be uplifting and wonderful, or dreadful and angering. The girls are all well drawn, have excellent Japanese voice work done for them, and can be lost just as easy as they are obtained. I was drawn into the story instantly, thought about it while away from my computer, and finished it in about a week.
YUME MIRU KUSURI :: A Drug That Makes You Dream, Snow Sakura, Raidy, and The Sagara Family, however other impressions are more than welcome, too. Any thoughts that might help them know how to approach the subject with more understanding and perspective would be good.
Okay then, well in the case of ren ai type bishoujo games such as Yume Miru Kusuri, Snow Sakura, Crescendo, Private Nurse, Tsukushite Agechau 4,and Figures of Happiness, what I find the most appealing about them are the stories and the characters. The two essentially go hand in hand in how they provide us a look through the eyes of a character and the relationships that he builds with those around him, most especially the heroines. How and how much they interact with each other leads to finding out more about the specific heroine such as her backstory, what problems she’s facing, etc. All of this combines together to form the path of her scenario, which leads to either an altogether satisfying resolution of whatever major problem that the main character and heroine must overcome (and a nice cute romantic scene at the end or in the epilogue) or a heartbreaking end that is the bad ending. And once you finish one heroine’s scenario, you want to see the other ones so as to see how all the aforementioned occur in her case as her story will be quite different from the previous heroine. Also you gain insight into a different heroine’s character from before and maybe even in the main character’s (and in some cases in some side characters).
In the case of games such as the Sagara Family, Come See Me Tonight 1 and 2, Bazooka Cafe, Kango Shicyauzo 1 and 2, Let’s Meow Meow, and many others, for me it’s a combination of the ero but also kind of a more toned down reason for liking ren ais. Games like the Sagara Family may not have as in depth characters as ren ais do but they do have rather amusing heroines at the very least (the main character can vary, but usually falls into the “lovable loser” (ie, Tenchi Masaki or Keitaro Urashima clone) type of character). Also These types of games tend to be more light hearted and comedic so they’re worth playing for all the amusing scenes involving the heroinces and main character. Still, that doesn’t mean these games lack drama, there are brief instances of it where the heroine has some problem that your character needs to help her solve in order to get her good ending. Basically, these are the games that you go for if you want a light hearted romantic comedy with a good bit of ero. The harem scenario (in most of these games) that is unlocked after getting all the good endings for the heroines can be a hit or miss though.
As for Raidy, I enjoyed that game mainly because it was like returning to a classic old school dungeon crawler like I played when I was a kid. That and I liked the art style.
I’d give my opinion on the dark genre, but I don’t think I could do that genre justice. I’ll leave that to experts such as Narg as he’s played the cream of that genre and can give it a better explanation.
One thing though, for a good review for Yume Miru Kusuri check out this youtube video, though I have to disagree with him about Mizuki’s route and think he should have at least finished that route before making this review:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQNB1mrbc8Q
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMP4Fux … re=related
Hope these help.
For me it’s mostly the characters. I think that visual novels are one of the few mediums of sufficient length to develop a sufficiently ‘realistic’ romantic relationship between characters. I dunno, but a lot of said relationships that develop in movies, books etc. don’t ring true to me at all, whereas there’s plenty of VNs that do.
In general I just feel it’s the perfect storytelling medium. Visual Novels can be as long as they need to be to tell the story; there’s no artificial limitations on paper size, film length etc. in the way, and no need to break it up into multiple parts. In addition, the ability to actually elaborate on the potential ‘what-ifs’ on the story makes Visual Novels seem to have a lot more depth than other mediums used for telling stories. Next to Visual Novels that use this very well, stories told on other mediums feel sorta like the Arcueid route in Tsukihime, or the Fate route in Fate/stay Night; i.e. a perfectly good story by itself, but you can’t help feeling that you’ve missed out on something.
EDIT: Oh, sorry, opinions on ruf’s yume miru kusuri and DO’s yukizakura, um…
For me, Yume Miru Kusuri managed to portray something more ‘extreme’ than you would typically find in a story told in another medium, and in a way that made it feel more personal (thanks to VNs being one of the few mediums able to effectively tell a story from the first-person perspective). With regards to aeka’s traumatic hazing, mizuki’s presentism and caitsith nekoko’s fairy kingdom, the protagonist essentially follows the same pattern of taking care of and responsibility of each girl, then gradually coming to love said girl. This was also all put into perspective with the protagonist’s relationship with his foster family in the background, and in each route typically resulted in the protagonist learning something from his experience with the heroine and his home life improving as a result. It was all very well done. I think that, if the game was a bit longer and the routes a bit stronger, this game could have taken out Cross Channel and possibly even Kazoku Keikaku. It’s a masterpiece that didn’t feel quite as polished as it could have been, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
Yukizakura… well, it’s been a while for me, so I think others should talk about this one. I personally felt that the individual routes were a little bit weak, but the cousin and teacher ones were decent. I haven’t played any of the other games mentioned.
i think they’re ideal for an idea of real romance. like in snow sakura, seasons of sakura, or crescendo you see real romance and relationships build from a real life scenario, high school. rather than most show hentais where it’s just a sex romp, these actually get more into personal relationships ^^ like my favorite, true love, you actually plan out your day. you build your character around what you like, you find the girl you’re interested in in that type of activity, and you get into their world. you can see how something like love builds in those types of games ^^ that’s what i think anyway. that’s how i originally got into these games. i was a neglected lonely schooler tear
Something else - Reading. I know this only applies to non-japanese speakers, but I really enjoy the fact that I have to read my way through the story. People don’t read enough as it is these days and games with virtually no required reading make that even worse. Mind you, I love listening to the voices, but I’m glad I don’t understand the language - it forces me to take a more active role in my entertainment and draws me more deeply into the story.
Now someone might ask, “then why not read a book?”. To which the answer is, I do. I am an avid reader, but for all their fine qualities, books with good stories rarely have the level of art available in an h-game (including most comic books) and none of them are accompanied by themed music and beautiful - though unintelligable - voice acting. You can’t get quite the same effect from any other medium I’m aware of. (though I guess you could find an appropriate radio station for your book, then an appropriate untranslated anime to watch intermitently while you read - but what a headache)
For me a major aspect would be the degree of control you have over the outcome of the situation. I feel that these sorts of games are bested suited to the Seinen category of anime fans who see romances and other such things and often find themselves wanting to end up with a different person. We’ve seen so many animes where our favorite characters are relegated to supporting roles or not fleshed out enough because of some heroine stealing the show.
The KGNE anime for instance made me want to run out and buy the game (which I ended up doing) because I wanted a Haruka ending I hated the other girl’s guts. Similarly True Tears is making me wish there was a game version of it because I can already tell that I’m going to severely hate the ending.
Many games simply do not give you the control over your fate, the ability to get close to someone else besides the typical cliched heroines and have the element of choice as to how your fate ultimately turns out. I feel that is the #1 defining factor for many of these games, aside from a good story, it’s just that added element of control. If you’re patient enough, and the story is good enough, these sorts of games give you the power to get immersed in an anime environment that can relieve you of stress and let you have a nice feeling at the end of it all. You get to interact with characters, and throughout the game you know that you are fully in control of the story and will allow it to unfold the way you wish (with some limitation of course). That kind of freedom is something only a few games offer, like Oblivion, Witcher etc. After playing through Crysis or something I feel the urge to just put down the game for a bit, and play one of these for a change of pace before going back to it.
The main defining features of these games are they are intellectually challenging, they offer a story, immersion and control over the end result. With a good story, and convincing realistic characters that seem almost human in how they interact with the character, the seemingly limited element of control over the plot becomes near total if the player clicks with the personalities of the protagonist and the chosen heroine. Sometimes it isn’t even about heroines either, the plot is just so good it sucks you in (Ever 17) and all you care about is solving the mystery.
As someone mentioned earlier, there are some games that just plain suck with the combat like Final Fantasy, where the random battles just piss me off to a point where I want them to end quick so I can focus on advancing the plot further. Thats another aspect these games resolve because the focus is 100% on plot.
For me, usually, i look at the story as a deciding factor, but not totally; artwork, translation (i also play untranslated games, so may be an exception), voice acting, and game controls/UI & features also count a lot. Have’nt learnt any video creation and editing skills yet, so i could’nt post reviews right now, but i hope soon later.
The General’s Opinion:
Bishoujo games, Visual Novels, or Eroge, as they are usually called anyway, are good (though not all, but i can say most of them are) beacause they present the player with a story unique to the game; you don’t find these in all those power-hungry games that need next-gen hardware (Crysis) and consoles.
(which BTW is also one mf my complaints of games that require skill - it’s become all about which consumes the most CPU cycles ala-benchmark, and only gives minor consideration for GAMEPLAY. CoD4 is the bomb, tho) even though i know some eroge are ported to the PS2 (F/SN, Private Nurse, etc.)
You find yourself in some situations you know (or so you thought) never happen in RL, but tangibly get at you as if it can really happen given some weird events. And somehow, somewhere, you find that it changes YOU, the player, to be more aware of the people around you, and makes you aware that every desicion you make in this life will affect what happens to them and what happens next - the outcome. If you ever played Kana -Little Sister- , you might know what i mean.
You also get stories you don’t get in the movies you see on the big screen theaters anyway; they’ve been mostly about senseless war, gangs, bombings, horrific flesh shredding and all that crap (and i’m kinda sick of it; some movies are worth a watch, though). In Visual Novels, you get a story that’s all about life, not necessarily over-dramatic (unless it is a depression/drama type VN) and the ending you get sort of reflects you (what kind of person you are, etc., unless you haxed with a walkthrough or constantly get Bad or Dead Ends [lol]) and get an attachment for a character in Fictionland, even if only for a while. (Hopefully not forever though)
Now for the games:
Yume Miru Kusuri:
One of the best titles i came across, and in my case, is the first translated game i played; though there are some noticeable typos (even with text patch applied) it is quite understandable. (may post complete list of typos and grammar errors one of these days) I’d recommend this to anyone starting out on the world of Visual Novels, and maybe a few gamers open-minded enough to take this relatively underground (?) game genre.
Somehow, i really got to like this game and the stories behind it; and believe me, i kind of related to Kouhei a lot when he goes
" click WTH… It’s morning already? click "
and that i also played it multiple times, having liked it so much. The only thing i regretted was not saving Aeka’s path as the last one i’d unlock; it was kind of sad not to be able to save her in the other two paths.
(However, same thing goes for the other two characters. if i had the soft & tools i might just edit the entire script lol)
Other than that, the typos, and some minor CG misdrawings (huh, not that bad at all, though. I’m no art appraisal expert, and this is not a Picasso art piece, so i digress; never mind me) this is a perfectly solid game to recommend for beginners. (Score: 98% out of 100 - Gets the General’s Golden Seal of Approval)
Kana - Little Sister - (also noting remake, Kana -Okaeri- ! [Welcome Back] )
Even for a depression game, this is one that really deserves more than just an Oscar and being an underground title with limited popularity. Having been through all endings (and as my technique of checking reviews for a game first before ever playing one, and some R&D, saved Ending 1 as the last ending i’d unlock for the final playthrough) i can definitely say that Kana is one of those special games that everyone (of the appropriate age) must play.
Granted, the theme (incestuous relationship) is a bit of a problem (actually, in the game it is NOT), but this title really deserves to be played by anyone brave enough to take it - and stocked with enough tissues and a wastebin too (for tear-soaked tissues, mind you, before you get any ideas)
Although i do have issues with the game system/UI (Audio incontinuity [effect plays, but can’t continue until it finishes playing], BGM / music looping, and the [somewhat limited] savefile slots…
workaround: create copy of saved files for one playthrough and place in a folder; then you can overwrite the first batch,and if you need to reload, just copy the 2nd batch into another folder, copypaste & overwrite the 1st batch; for this method, you need a notepad.txt as a savefile datalog to put in the respective folder, telling you savefile# and scene description
…as well as one really unremovable one (unable to opt out of having sex with Yumi, which was kind of ‘granted’) and in -Okaeri-, the .gif style H-scenes (<<this had me go WTF? and NEARLY made me STOP playing), i don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a playthrough for at least one ending for this game, for anyone. Though, i do want to limit recommending this to people who can handle the theme and the drama.
Kana -Little Sister- (Original artwork) (Score: 91%, gets a Silver Seal of Approval)
Kana -Okaeri (All-new artwork and Voice Acting but with .gif h-scenes :S) (89%)
Side Note Survivors of Ending 1 ought to go and read Darkling and TheRealZero’s Flash Fanfic project (My Sister, My Strength) HERE for the fanfic and HERE for the Flash version. (<<these get 97% lol)
Other games may follow as soon as i get them, but then…
F&C 2 (Cocktail Soft) = Welcome to Pia Carrot! 3 (True Dating Simulation, JP only/untranslated)
This, admittedly, is my first ever eroge/VN. It took a long while to play through this, since i didnt have text hooking programs to use at the time, and relied on Japanese dictionaries (kanji) for translating. However, it was worth it all; though i’ve only managed to clear 96% of the entire CG archive (so comprehensive; they literally put every scene there) and each character has to be played through three times, one for each Waitress Uniform (ParoParo, Tropical, Floralmint), i can definitely say i spent my time well to unlock all the girls’ good endings. There are no such things as ending up with two girls at once; however, that’s a good thing here.
My only problems were the ‘stats’ i had to fill up - i never got the gist of what they were for; and it seems like all you have to do to get an ending with a girl is to be with her most of the time; however i’m not too sure about that.
Can’t be recommended yet, but if someone wants to go through all the translating work i’ve done to play it, yeah.
(Score: 94% and a Honorable Mentions Award)
(Type-Moon, and to mention, Mirror Moon)
Fate/Stay Night
(PC, Dark-themed Action Visual Novel, JP only but fan-translation patches available for 2 out of the 3 available paths)
If an eroge gets an anime adaptation, a PS2 port-off, a sequel (Hollow Ataraxia) & a prequel (Zero), and a manga series, it must be REALLY GOOD - and Fate lives up to this very well. It was quite a shock for me, however, to find out that F/SN IS/WAS an eroge, having been introduced to the animated version by accident at first. But earthquakes do end after a while; even though, the aftershocks come rolling in. I’m sure that those who have watched the anime first would probably be saying the same thing after playing through the Fate route: “OMG, now i know what REALLY happened back then…” and yet, we still have two paths to go through.
This is one of the things i had problems with, but not really affecting the game as a whole: the requirement to go through one path at a time to unlock all of them. However, it may also be a good thing, as it was described in three stages.
“Fate” being as a child who lives on with his fantastic ideals in life;
“Unlimited Blade Works” being a teenager who holds on to these ideals yet compromises with some aspects of reality; and
“Heaven’s Feel” being an adult, letting go of all ideals based on fantasy and being more realistic with goals in life, for the people they love.
And then, people who say that Emiya Shirou is a rather dumb, stubborn and ignorant protagonist. Somehow, i find that wrong; although his ideal is a bit problematic, as his ideal of ‘saving everyone’ is an impossible feat that can be accomplished by a Goddess 1st class, 2nd Category, Unlimited, it’s a good thing he’s actually trying to do just that - with whatever means he has. (I think the critical mistake/fatal exception error made here is forgetting to add himself to the equation.) If one were to consider what he went through (sole survivor, the fire last Holy Grail war), it’s easy to see why he is like that. And besides, it’s a plot instrument; if he was’nt like that, we’d probably get a different story than what we have now.
Anyways, the artwork - topnotch, down to the Noble Phantasms. The Extras section is just fully stocked with the things about the game we are interested in - the Servants’ backgrounds, abilities, etc., weapon descriptions (lol at the Tora-Shinai?), sound center, and, of course, the CG gallery. The game system is someting noteworthy, as well as the save slots; you can literally save all the desicion points with room to spare, for all the paths (15 groups of 20 slots, total 300 O.O)
And the Fan-translation by the folks at Mirror Moon is something i must really mention here - TOP NOTCH work as well. Although i do see very few typos and grammar mistakes, they don’t affect the translation at all. Mad props to them and all they have done for this; wish i could help them out with Heaven’s Feel. (300+ basic, 1,945 full literacy… kanji are the PAIN to learn - and Fate has a LOT of them in use; so trust me when i say i know what kind of hell they went through to do that.) And Mr.Payne ought to hire them lol 
Having played through all of the game (I also did Heaven’s Feel, even though it was hard work translating kanji, and not going through obvious dead end choices (or so i thought - i hit dead end on several innocent-looking choices :S ) I’d definitely try recommending this to people who are’nt too scared of a mixed bag of a really intriguing storyboard, nicely done and yet very horror-themed artwork and sounds (if anyone ever heard that ‘munching crunching’ sound in HF, you probably would’ve lost your appetite if you knew what it was, even if it was ) and then some ero, however censored it may be.
If not the best, one of the best VNs ever made in history - and might even get a Live Action Hollywood movie if we’re lucky enough (and yes we do hope they do that without ‘Westernizing’ it too much.)
(Score: 99% and gets the General’s Golden Seal of Approval)
More suposed to be coming up, but time is short for me; maybe on next post. But i hope this helps
I would never have guessed based on your post .
Ya know, you could always go with the, it has a story, and sex mixed in, all those routes, and we each play them for our own reasons.
But ultimately i think it may come down to the fact that like in a regular mainstream porno, one of these games puts us in a fantasy world we could never even hope to be in by our selves.
So it takes all the normal elements and adds the fact that its a game, and you get to decide what happens in the story, for those of us that like that kind of thing.
So what do I like whats do I think is good, well exactly that, it puts me into a situation and world id never be in my self, and then i get to decide how things play out based on the way things are answered or done.
Its about living a “dream” that you couldnt experience in your regular life,
a world and story that captivates you but is interactive enough to feel like you are the director of your dream.
Since centuries people loved to enter alternate realities, such as books and to immerse themself in such worlds.
Bishoujo games make the world they are set in feel realistic and immersive by their focus on other characters and persons
interacting with you.
No other genre of game offers that much depth when it comes to simulating people’s emotions and personality,
wrapped in a deep story.
No other genre of game brings a tear to your eyes like Bishoujo games sometimes do.
Its the emotional good and bad moments in life they tell you about, that you can identify with the characters.
A good bishoujo game is just like a good book, if the story and the characters appeal to you, you will find yourself enjoying the game for hours.
Like a novel. A visual novel.
In that case Bishoujo games are form of art and literature,
even if they are (like many other game genres) not considered a cultural good.
I’d like to read one of the novels written by the eroge scenarists. I know some of them have no choice but to write novel because of the current problems in the eroge industry.
Still I think it wouldn’t be the same without the visual support.
I really helps to feel immerged in the story. With novel it’s always difficult to have an idea of what the characters look like (except in lite novel since they had the good idea to put some artworks).
it’s the combination of the story and visuals. You can read a novel anywhere…you can read a graphic novel as well, even one that is quite wordy, such as Death Note, but it’s not the same experience as playing a game. When you play a game, you are transformed into that character temporarily allowing you to live of a fantasy, a temporary escape, from reality… It might be to allow you to do stuff you’d never do in real life, or stuff you’ve dreamed of, but never had the chance, etc.
Thus the 3 keys to good bishoujo games are: story, character development and artwork, mostly for the characters, but also the background as well. Because the medium relies on reading, it has to develope a level of narrative similar in quality to commerical novel writing. Yes, there are pictures, but those are only to engage the audiance, sometimes produce a laugh or other times emphasize a particular moment. Second is character development because these scenerios all focus around characters. This includes more than just the main character and the targets. It also includes a lot of the supporting characters, often times family members are portrayed, or a male friend, etc. Good games show a world beyond just the main characters…the world around them also moves on and developes and has impact on themselves. That does not mean every character needs to have a whole life story, but if an storywriter has not at least attempted to give a personality, motivation and background in their minds, if not in the game, it shows up. The artwork is important because it can either turn someone on or off from a game alone. People have certain styles of artwork as well as certain ideals of what they’d like for a fantastical partner and artwork can sell. Case in point, a lot of copies of Dragon Quest 8 were sold in NA because of Toriyama’s artwork and others refused to play it because of that.
YMK: I particularly liked it because I knew someone like Aeka in my school…
TSF: This one i wasn’t too fond of until i did Emiru’s path. It’s defiantly the scenerio writer took liberty to make something that was not a standard cookie-cutter mold (in some sense it kind of was, but not so much as the others). This one however is clearly one more focused on the artwork and appeals more to those who want a lot of scenes. Which i don’t think is bad necessarily to want graphics, but it shouldn’t take from the storyline or character developement.
And yes, i did still like Ruruka’s artwork, though her character wasn’t as good nor was the development as well done…PP needs more lolis in there games.
The other 2 i haven’t played.
read and waste your time on this post at your own risk :mrgreen:
First off, I view it as a common mistake (in the west) to view visual novels as a single gender. The way I see it, it is the same as saying that pc games are of the same gender, ex. Down of War vs Crysis, they are both pc games, but they are not the same!. The same thing apply to visual novels, but again that is just my opinion.
A visual novel (not a dating simulator!) is as the name suggest it is, it is a “novel” that have “pictures”, simple right?. The type of novel depend on who is writing the novel and to whom s/he is writing it to. Then when you add graphics to the novel, making it look like a manga, that is when you get a VN. But unlike the normal novels, with a VN, the graphics, the music and (optional) voice adds a new depth and emotion of the story. Unlike the novel that will try to describe the emotion of the scene when one of the main characters dies, with a VN you get to see the character and hear the crying of the people in the scene, and there is the music that will get you into the mood of the scene. Novels are good to read, VN are even better, and I’ll say this, some VNs do leave me very refreshed after finishing them. Also with VN, you do get to interact with the story and make “some” choices that will unlock the different sections of the VN. The only way for a novel to accomplish this is to produce a set of novels each one getting you at that one ending.
Although, many VN do contain ero in them (not to be mixed with ero-games that have a weak or no story), in many cases the ero seem to be an “extra” that was added at some point of the story “for the sake of it”!. Just like with a normal novel, you do get to “know” and “like” or “love” the characters in the story and they do tickle your emotions. So in my opinion, the ero does become offensive when the story is very emotional (I mean you get to see the heroines doing it… with someone “else” :mrgreen: ). I am still of the opinion that deeply emotional stores should not have ero but they shouldn’t be all-ages as well, fanservice and nudity is as far as they should go.
Also, there seem to be some miss concept that the main character is some sort of a looser or wimp. That is not always the case, sometimes the main character is having his/her own problems (ex. Clannad) and sometimes s/he is the one everyone look up to (ex. Utawarerumono). Also, not all b-games are targeted at lolicons, in fact some of them have no lolis in them, that is also another wrong assumption about b-games, they are not full of lolis!.
Most VNs are not based on fantasy novels, but on comedy/romance/love novels. They take place in current day Japanese high school/collage and present the reader with a verity of scenarios that can or might happen in real life (to someone else :twisted: ) and add characters that can only exist in anime, then you get to read those stories. (and if I may add, they are most of the time very funny, Snow Sakura have some of the funnies scene I’ve came across, be it a movie, anime or novel). As it have been pointed above by other users, some VNs have a deep emotional relationship that a movie can never show 
The answer to the question is simple. Sex/adult material or whatever you want to call it. Some of these games have good story while others sucked. Snow Sakura and YMK were pretty good but there are games with way better storylines (be it romance, save the world, more personal or more grandious type) so really, if all people want is a good story, there are plenty of romance/horror/adventure etc books out there for them to read, or for that matter, there are plenty of manga if you want visual stuff. There are also alot of good RPG’s with excellent story (Chrono trigger, Xenogears etc). Hence the conclusion, the Good thing a bishoujo game has the others don’t is sex scenes, that is of course not to say that bishoujo games are sex fests although some are.
Ehh… some of my favourite VNs (‘Himawari’, ‘Clannad’ and ‘Syarin no Kuni’) have stories and characters that I think outclass every other game I’ve ever played or even know about. Clannad isn’t even an eroge! And I don’t think I’ve read many books better, either. Visual novels really do provide a unique experience, and in general the amount of sex is so ridiculously low that it’s honestly not worth clicking all that way through an eroge to get it, so I don’t think it’s the fact that they contain sex scenes at all.
And I challenge you to find a non-VN story that deals with the same material as Yume Miru Kusuri at anywhere near the same level. =P