Dark or Bright? (Odd title yeah...)

[azureXtwilight]

Dark stuff, generally. The ones who doesn't make me skip the texts are Saya no Uta and When They Cry series.
I like semi-dark too, like Fate: Stay Night.

Just not the "forced" dark please.

[Niki]

I prefer dark games, only because the plots are usually more intriguing? x);; Especially games with horror/guro elements lol (sweet pool!). I don't actually have a valid reason... orz Maybe I'm secretly a sadist? Yikes.

[Fawn]

Basically anything that's by Nitro+ is going to be dark hahah xD and high quality, I hope they translate lots more of them into english!

@Otome Weekend: Sounds like you haven't really tried that many other ADV games, hahaha. Maybe start out with Higurashi and work your way around. It's a shame to stay in one bubble of a genre!

[babyfish]

For me, anything that is either extremely dark or extremely happy-peppy is going to get tiring fast, no matter what. When I'm playing an incredibly dark game, a light-hearted moment every once in a while, done appropriately of course, really helps to vary the pace and ease off the tension.

Likewise, a generally happy and bright game should have some serious moments as well, since there are times when I'd like to 'sober up' from the otherwise excessive cheerfulness.

In other words, the mood of the game(along with several others) should be dynamic, not completely flat. Having a lean towards either dark/bright is fine, but there can be variation within the game itself.

Of course, you mind end up getting a case of mood whiplash, which might or might not be appropriate for the feel you are trying to achieve.

[PervertPrince]

I love watching gory horror movies and reading scary novels but when it comes to video games, I find dark stories to be somewhat boring. The only video game with a dark story that I've actually enjoyed was Persona 4 and anyone who's played that knows that it's not the best example of a particularly dark and gritty story because even though the main theme of it is very dark, it has numerous light hearted and funny moments.

Actually, now that I think about it, I like stories that start out silly, light and fluffy but that take a darker turn as they progress. Although I don't mind if the game stays all bright and happy through out the whole thing and never gets deep.

[Anthy]

I like both, dark comedies rock. Even the dark and disturbing can be funny and absurd depending on how you look at it. Life is neither one or the other-- isn't that what makes ADVs fun though? You could probably make the story lighter or darker depending on how you play. Whenever I write something that is dark or creepy I have to mix some humor/lightness in somewhere, otherwise it's too much. Good wacky humor can stand on its own though if it's a shorter story; it's always really easy to write silly stuff.

Even Higurashi and Umineko sort of went with that angle, it always starts out like slice-of-life fluff before the mood starts spiraling down, even though I wouldn't describe it as 'comedy' (Umineko has great fridge humor value, though... and some of the secret scenes that are in the script are definitely 'dark comedy'). But for drama to have an impact, it needs light, happy or funny scenes to contrast with.

[HigurashiKira]

Killer Queen, Corpse Party, Saya no Uta, anyone?

You just named my 3 favorite games. In their exact order.

Killer Queen's first route is a nice mix of dark and lightheartedness. The second route however...

And Corpse Party is definately on the Dark side of the light/dark spectrum, like, Ultra dark.

[OtomeWeekend]

＠ｆａｗｎ：　ｉ　ｈａｖｅ　ａ　ｐｈｏｂｉａ　ｆｒｏｍ　ｇｉｒｌ　ｈａｒｅｍｓ　＊ｓｈｉｖｅｒｓ＊　ｌｏｌ　ｊｋｊｋ，　ｉ　ｃｏｕｌｄ’ｖｅ　ｄｏｎｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｉｆ　Ｉ　ｃｏｕｌｄ　ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ　ｆｉｎｉｓｈ　１０＋　ｏｔｏｍｅ　ｇａｍｅｓ　Ｉ’ｍ　ａｌｒｅａｄｙ　ｃｕｒｒｅｎｔｌｙ　ｐｌａｙｉｎｇ（Ｉ’ｍ　ａｖｏｉｄｉｎｇ　ａｄｄｉｎｇ　ｍｏｒｅ　ｃａｕｓｅ　ｉｔ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｆｅｅｌ　ｅｎｄｌｅｓｓ）．

[Fawn]

@HigurashiKira: Yaaay someone who knows what Killer Queen AND Corpse party are! xD I want to play them. I've just seen the ops and read about them hahaha... Corpse party has a translation, but I dunno about Killer Queen.

[Gear]

There's definitely reason to love both. I love light stories because they're usually infused with humor, a good ending, and after you're done, you can sit back and realize how much you enjoyed it.

Dark stories have the utmost potential for character development, and can put the player in difficult situations. After you're done, you can sit back and realize how much you enjoyed it...but won't be able to sleep that night. lol

[HigurashiKira]

@HigurashiKira: Yaaay someone who knows what Killer Queen AND Corpse party are! xD I want to play them. I've just seen the ops and read about them hahaha... Corpse party has a translation, but I dunno about Killer Queen.

Killer Queen has an almost compete translation (albeit with some errors) available on the TL wiki, the only way to play with knowing what's going on is by being in windowed mode and reading along with the translation. (The entire first Arc is translated, while the second arc only had the finale to translate)

And Corpse Party's demo is translated, however the demo is quite lengthy (granted, it's like an RPG, except you don't do any fighting). Oh, and the OP you probably saw for Corpse Party was probably Corpse Party:Blood Covered:Repeated Fear

[Snow Blossom]

Err... I guess either? I really like ones that deal with psychological problems and fragile characters, and if a game gets too... err... sparkly or cliche, I get sick of it pretty quickly. Comedies are good as well, but it's harder for a game to be all-around funny without seeming forced.... My favorite type of game would be one that has a dark plot or some sort of mystery, but also with a good dose of humor to lighten up the mood.

[Glasskitten]

I like sweet, adorable things with happy endings like this platform game!

[papillon]

*spanks Glasskitten*

[Blue Lemma]

*spanks Glasskitten*

Kinky papillon!

I had to look up a Let's Play on that... Eep!

I guess it's a good example of dark AND bright! For games, sometimes you want dark, and sometimes you want bright. Dark usually overpowers bright, though, sort of like a drop of food coloring in water. Choosing between dark and bright is like choosing sweet or salty.