Realism vs Anime Style (thoughts please?)

[charmsie]

Hey all, I've generated some placeholders for my VN using AI, and now I'm stuck with a conundrum. Realistic vs Anime style. My sprites are anime/digital art style, though I know from playing games that the sprite style can be completely different to the bg style and no-one really minds.

Here are the images, what is your preference? And also, could I get away with just using AI generated backgrounds in the final product?

[Donmai]

Hi, Charmsie. I may not be the best person to answer your question, but it seems your concern is whether your work will be well received if you don't follow the "rules." I've never really cared about the "rules." All of my visual novels feature digital art and 3D renders. Some people have enjoyed them very much, while the majority either rejected or ignored them, and that’s perfectly fine with me. I create visual novels as a hobby, and I don’t aim to please everyone.

Based on the samples of your backgrounds, I believe they would look great behind anime characters. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you have fun working on your project. In the end, that's what matters most.