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For me the importance of graphics is a multiple-threshold sort of thing:

- Below the low threshold, the graphics become distractingly bad.
- Above the high threshold, the graphics are enough to keep me interested, even if the story isn't that great. (This is the case with Makoto Shinkai's movies, save for Voices of a Distant Star)
- Between the two points, the quality of the show matters more than the quality of the graphics.

Sogard3 wrote:FOr me, the most important thing is always graphics, no matter the type of game. After graphics, I look for game play and story line =P

Me too!! The same here! (O_O) I repeat: If I want only a good plot, I will read a book... no download needed! LOL
Visual novels hare VISUAL novels!... that mean... graphics... I guess...
Sometimes I play some games only for the graphics, and the rest is terrible, but I play because I like the graphics... Some games have more focus in the text, with loooooooong lines of plot... a good plot but the art is the same every scene... You have to read 300 lines of text to find a new graphic... I don't like that... It's boring for me...
You can put just a little amount of graphics in a game, but if that is a good graphic work... I will play until the end.
I play a game with 50 hours of gameplay, and only 4/5 backgrounds and 5/6 characters without modifications... (O.o) So, I play 2 or 3 minutes and... uninstalling in progress...
All this, is ofcouse ONLY MY OPINION. There is nothing wrong with a game text focused...

Ukio wrote: Visual novels hare VISUAL novels!

One could equally say "Visual novels are visual NOVELS!

lol... can you say higurashi for the novel part?

Jake wrote:

Ukio wrote: Visual novels hare VISUAL novels!

One could equally say "Visual novels are visual NOVELS!

But I agree both....
Okay, graphics doesn't matter, really, but what Ukio said about waiting for 300 sentences to the next image is sucks!
Lol
To me still, storyline rules in VN!

PyTom wrote:For me the importance of graphics is a multiple-threshold sort of thing:

- Below the low threshold, the graphics become distractingly bad.
- Above the high threshold, the graphics are enough to keep me interested, even if the story isn't that great. (This is the case with Makoto Shinkai's movies, save for Voices of a Distant Star)
- Between the two points, the quality of the show matters more than the quality of the graphics.

Ah, yes, precisely! Well phrased - I had an inkling that I felt something like that, but I hadn't identified it precisely enough to recognise that that was the situation. I thoroughly agree.

BTW, just to clarify, I thought Voices was good enough that the story carried it, while I think that other Shinkai movies are phenomenal graphics with only an okay story.

PyTom wrote:BTW, just to clarify, I thought Voices was good enough that the story carried it, while I think that other Shinkai movies are phenomenal graphics with only an okay story.

Of course, but that's the hard part XD.
Not everyone can draw magnificently, so medium-and semi-low quality graphics are okay for me.
And voices....
Hmm... If the voices made the game has HUGE size, I'd rather buy the CD

To clarify a second time, by "Voices" I mean "Voices of a distant star", a really good short anime OVA Shinkai animated in his basement. The problem is that his other movies felt like they were 2 or 3 times too long.

PyTom wrote:To clarify a second time, by "Voices" I mean "Voices of a distant star", a really good short anime OVA Shinkai animated in his basement. The problem is that his other movies felt like they were 2 or 3 times too long.

Ooops, a bit misunderstand, sorry
I never seen that, but something long is reaaly.... what I like, (IF the plot doesn't end up repeating and the plot doesn't twist so much it really confusing)

Joining in the a bit late but anyway...

Which element is the most important? The element which the player encounters the most.

If the VN is mostly visuals then the art is most important.
Similarly if the VN is mostly text (the default mode) then the writing is most important.

But remember that visuals are components of a story. So just because a VN is mostly visuals doesn't mean the story isn't important. It only means the story is carried by the art rather than by the words.

JQuartz wrote:Joining in the a bit late but anyway...

Which element is the most important? The element which the player encounters the most.

If the VN is mostly visuals then the art is most important.
Similarly if the VN is mostly text (the default mode) then the writing is most important.

But remember that visuals are components of a story. So just because a VN is mostly visuals doesn't mean the story isn't important. It only means the story is carried by the art rather than by the words.

Uh-uh......
I think the graphics and text has the same strength.
We encountered both the most, every time there's graphic, there's text. But if there's text, graphics can be encountered, can be not encountered...

My theory is that if you consider VNs a popular medium, designed around games, web 2.0 and opinions, the visuals are definitely top priority - usually in a fast-paced world you will intuitively choose the better-looking one, and eye-candy is instant gratification, great for screenshots and so on. The story is really secondary here - not that it doesn't matter - but meaning you can get away with a pretty simple plot, as long as it looks good - it will always be more popular than some literary masterpiece that just has illustrative photographs as visuals.

If you consider VNs as an art form, means to express something, then the question which is most important doesn't really come up, since it's essentially your vision that dictates the amount of text, graphics or audio, and your audience is typically open to your vision (as opposed to common VN players who expect a certain entertainment or consumer value out of the VN - meaning that they expect that the VN will appeal to them, or are less ready to make efforts to understand the visions - this is why objective skill is often important for the popular works, since it's a measurable thing).

In essence, it's much more difficult to make a popular VN, as opposed to make an artsy one. And for a popular one, you critically have to have the visuals. Even though this community is typically very forgiving in the graphics department, I'd say if you want to be successful outside these circles, the graphics should be there.

mikey wrote:My theory is that if you consider VNs a popular medium, designed around games, web 2.0 and opinions, the visuals are definitely top priority - usually in a fast-paced world you will intuitively choose the better-looking one, and eye-candy is instant gratification, great for screenshots and so on. The story is really secondary here - not that it doesn't matter - but meaning you can get away with a pretty simple plot, as long as it looks good - it will always be more popular than some literary masterpiece that just has illustrative photographs as visuals.

If you consider VNs as an art form, means to express something, then the question which is most important doesn't really come up, since it's essentially your vision that dictates the amount of text, graphics or audio, and your audience is typically open to your vision (as opposed to common VN players who expect a certain entertainment or consumer value out of the VN - meaning that they expect that the VN will appeal to them, or are less ready to make efforts to understand the visions - this is why objective skill is often important for the popular works, since it's a measurable thing).

In essence, it's much more difficult to make a popular VN, as opposed to make an artsy one. And for a popular one, you critically have to have the visuals. Even though this community is typically very forgiving in the graphics department, I'd say if you want to be successful outside these circles, the graphics should be there.

hM, so it's based on what we see in a VN!
In common.........?

If the graphics are mediocre, then my attention goes elsewhere, no matter how much potential the story might have. I'm a visual person like that..

Also, music is really important as well. I've been a few days with a broken sound card, and only now have I noticed how big an impact music (and sfx) really has in games. It doesn't have to be a symphony orchestra soundtrack, necessarily, even a simple midi with a well-chosen mood adds so much emotional impact to a scene. I'll try to keep that realization in mind when I get that far with my own project..