What do you think about VN with no Renai at all

[Greeny]

There are lots of themes I'd personally love to see explored in OELVNs other than romance.
I'm talking about stuff like thriller, mystery, detective, horror, adventure...

And yet everyone wants to make a romance story. You know, maybe we shouldn't even be calling them
"Original English Language" Visual Novels if we're just going to mimic the Japanese styles and themes.
Heck, a lot of vn's here even have characters with Japanese names.

/rant

[J. Datie]

You know, maybe we shouldn't even be calling them
"Original English Language" Visual Novels if we're just going to mimic the Japanese styles and themes.

But their Original Language is English. What else would we call them?

[Voight-Kampff]

"OELVN" is a pretty dangerous term to use, in my opinion.

"OEL" as far as I'm concerned has some fairly negative connotations associated with it thanks in large part to Tokyopop's "OEL Manga" line, which audiences generally...didn't like.

I don't think there's any reason to handicap oneself by appending "OEL" to their "VN" project.

After all, if people write a book they say they're writing a book. Not an "Original English Language Book".

[Aetheria]

And yet everyone wants to make a romance story. You know, maybe we shouldn't even be calling them
"Original English Language" Visual Novels if we're just going to mimic the Japanese styles and themes.
Heck, a lot of vn's here even have characters with Japanese names.

/rant

I wouldn't say it's just copying Japanese games. Might be the same reason most fanfiction written is romance stories - people just really like romance. It's instantly appealing in a way that other plot elements can't quite match. Which is why it so often gets used as a crutch to prop up bad writing.

[Tsundere Lightning]

I think of Phoenix Wright. It's a very good medium for mystery stories.

[LVUER]

Phoenix Wright have lots of romance, right? At least lots of hinting would-be couples.

[MaiMai]

Phoenix Wright have lots of romance, right? At least lots of hinting would-be couples.

It's not particularly focused on romance though so I don't think it really counts even with all the context.

Another VN like game that isn't very romantic would be The World Ends With You. Man I love that game... Great story and characters and very interesting relationships.

[LVUER]

Hey, I love that game too ^_^ And I love how customizable the game is.

[Tsundere Lightning]

I'm from a strange alternative universe where I consider Mass Effect to be a very slick, big budget visual novel. It isn't one, not really, but it uses a lot of the same storytelling techniques.

Of course, there is a romance subplot or five I ship manshep with Tali... and Garrus and femshep with Garrus... and Tali, but the focus is on a space opera plot, a love song to 80's rocketpunk.

[LVUER]

Even if you take Mass Effect as a VN, it's not a pure VN, right? But a hybrid VN... And adding a gameplay would make the whole thing different.

Just say that good gameplay could make player forgives bad story...

[GeminiStar00]

As much as I enjoy Ren'ai games, I also really like just general visual novels, if they're written well. The real selling point for me is having a good story and good characters. If a novel manages that, then it's awesome in my book.

[LVUER]

It seems that (after reading all previous post), though it's possible and perhaps a good idea too make a non-renai VN, it's considerably harder to do.

[GeminiStar00]

Why is it harder? I imagine it would be either equally just as difficult or easier. I mean, you don't need the framework of a dating sim game, or to work out separate storyline paths for each character, or even worry about things like stats.

All you really need for a non-ren'ai VN is either a chose-your-own-adventure-style story map or a linear series of decisions with endings that change depending on what choices are made. Nothing particularly difficult about it.

[LVUER]

Because when there's no romance, people will hope much more from non-romance section (like the actual story or gameplay, if there's any).

In short, to fill the hole left by romance, the story must be better than VN with romance.

[GeminiStar00]

I think you've got a disproportionate view of how hard that would actually be. It's not about "filling the hole left by romance" if you go into the game never intending to make it Ren'ai in the first place. It's about devoting the energy and creativity you would devote to romance to the other emotions. It's not like it's any harder to write a good mystery or sci-fi story than it is to write a good romance. It's pretty much equal no matter what story you're trying to write.

Though if people really do think romance is easier than other stories, that would explain why the YA pararomance section has sucked so much in recent years...