For GxB game. Do you prefer a side image or no side image?

[Chu-3]

I just wonder about the side image. (The main character's face that displayed within the text box)
Do you think it is necessary? or you would prefer a game without side image?
As a player, I prefer a game with the side image, since I like a main character with a personality.
But recently, I found that lot of game disabled the side images, since lot of players said that they don't need the main character's personality or name.
So I wonder which one do you prefer? Or maybe you won't mind if the game has side image or not?

Ah, and this is a question about the side image within the otome game.
(But for games that focus on story development, not on the dating system.)

Thanks

[OtomeWeekend]

i prefer heroines with personality... face.... that's why i love games like hakuouki and hiiro no kakera or any other games from otomate....

[Chu-3]

Eh? but mostly otomate game doesn't have the character face @.@
Hakuoki and Hiiro doesn't have the main character's face, I believe. (that displayed on the text box, the main character has a face in the CGs though)

[Darkmoonfire]

I prefer having a side image.

[OtomeWeekend]

oh, i completely forgot about the side image(btw, renai banchou has the heroine's face) D3P's vitamin series also has it XP

I prefer that I saw them on side image but if your character is an annoying one(blush everytime like crazy like those shoujo manga heroines), you better show them on CGs only

[Chu-3]

ah yes some of otomate game has side image (like desert kingdom, which you can choose to enable/disable it)
and renai banchou is developed by rejet i guess, since the engine they used is kind of different with other otomate's game.
Otomate/idea factory is the publisher.

D3P and 5pb. games usually use the side image. Takuyo games too.

Still honeybee (starry) and Otomate has more popularity in this field.
I checked Koei game>>seems Haruka series has side image, but corda not.

And lately I found more games without side images....
Otomate, they even announced to make a game without main character's dialogue (Amnesia), and kannou mukashi banashi>I don't know how will it be, since the drama cd has no main character.
And now

[chensterrain]

If the character already has a default name and personality (basically if the game is a visual novel), side images are cool, though I'd happily play a game without them. If the game is a sim, on the other hand, where the heroine's name and personality are more up to you, I don't think side images are as necessary, but it's up to you, really!

The only time I specifically dislike side images is when they're exactly the same as a sprite already on screen (I think Garnet Cradle did this - they used side images for the character currently speaking as well as for the heroine).

[RemnantDream]

I have another question about this. Would you rather there be a side image of the MC or have the MC be a sprite on screen?
I didn't know if I should make a new thread for this since it's such a closely related topic..

[clannadman]

I have another question about this. Would you rather there be a side image of the MC or have the MC be a sprite on screen?
I didn't know if I should make a new thread for this since it's such a closely related topic..

One or the other? Usually the MC is offscreen and you play from their perspective but I've seen some VNs where there is both a side image and an on screen sprite for the MC. Usually a side image is used for when the MC speaks but not their inner thoughts.

[Arcanum]

I'm actually new to this whole side image business. Either I played some otome games where there was no image at all, or BL games where the main character usually appears as a sprite like any other character in the game. I've never actually played any game (besides fanmade games, of course) where the heroine appears as a side image... I rather like having the main character as a sprite.

[Chu-3]

actually for BL, lot of them is using third person point of view, not first person.
And again, different from otome, in BL, they made the game mostly without the concept that player=main character.
that's why lot of bl game doesn't provide a changeable name for the main character.
another reason is, mostly BL in japan is made for girls, which they want to see the pretty boys more, which is different with otome.

i don't know about the GxB games in english but, in japanese GxB games, it is very rare to see the main character as a sprite, if it's not an episode which the story is told from different character's point of view.

[Pyonkotchi]

i prefer side image. i don't really like having to wait for cgs just to see the mc's face (if its even shown)
i also don't like when the MC has a full sprite like the others, because i'm not used to it, i get confused to who the MC is supposed to be sometimes /slow

[GeneDNC]

I haven't played many VN's but my preference is (if you play as the MC):
side image > no image > on screen MC sprite

[sake-bento]

My general preference for any VN (GxB or not) is to have a side image if it's a first person game. If the story takes place in third person, then the main character really should have a sprite on the screen like everyone else. It would be weird, otherwise.

[Glasskitten]

Heh, I haven't got a preference as to whether the narrator has a side image, but a sprite would confuse me if it were written in first person. Side images of characters shown simultaneously as sprites would also probably annoy me if they were identical because of the redundancy, but confuse me if they weren't identical because I would be trying to figure out which was the "real" image at any given time.