Other Dating sims and Visual Novels
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2003 4:25 pm
Right from my Review thread in the ToL1 forum comes a new topic which has popped up there: Which other Dating Sims and Visual Novels have you played, and what are your opinions about them?
For me, Dating Sims started with "True Love" (ouch, unabriged Hentai), which gave me a kickstart into a genre I had mostly ignored before. Soon, I spent a few Deutschmarks (yes, it was that early) on the PC version of Tokimeki Memorial, got a translated script from the 'net, and off I was into the wide world of dating sims. And still today, I consider Tokimemo the best dating-sim I've ever played. Unfortunately, that doesn't account for much because the only other "true" DS I played (besides True Love and Tokimemo) was Sentimental Graffiti, which was pretty cool but didn't quite have the same replay effect.
My first Visual Novel was "XChange" (even more Hentai), and well... I wasn't really impressed. Even Tokimemo, which didn't have a real story at all, had more plot than this sorry excuse for a perverted comedy. Virtually no choices that made any difference, and all endings depended on what teacher you chose for help. Way too short... I played all six endings in two hours, and that was that.
Then came "Snow Drop" (hentai) and my first experience with GOOD Visual Novels. At first, I didn't think of Snow Drop of something special; even the fourth or fifth time I played it, I got the same ending, which was a rather unexcited nice final to the skiing holiday you take and a lot of hints at what the history behind your holiday site was. Then I accidentally did everything right for the first three days and the REAL story unfolded... and I was totally overrun by the great writing. True, it was a bit predictable, but the sheer DEPTH of the story impressed me, and I really liked the full voice acting.
Next came "Kana: Little Sister"... and I wept. It was the first time a computer game actually made me weep. If there was only one Visual Novel I had ever played, it should have been "Kana"... it was an absolutely stunning experience, and no way am I going to give anything away about the game except for "it's worth every single buck". My work on LoveRevo... no, my work as a writer altogether is probably more inspired by "Kana" than by any other game or book I've ever played or read.
Then there was "Tokimeki Check-In" (you guess it, hentai) - once again, full voice acting, a HUGE cast of characters and beautiful graphics... well, and at least some of the storylines were moderately interesting. Unfortunately, TCI also featured a few of the silliest choices in Visual Novels ever: Sweep the floor or mop the floor? Greet the guests inside the hotel or outside the hotel? The worst part is that these choices all influence which girl you're gonna get... choose the "wrong" answer and you won't be able to get the Best Ending for the girl you've wooed perfectly for the rest of the game. The girl won't even appear in the "wrong" segment of the game... but there's no way for you to know that sweeping the floor will also sweep away all your chances... All in all, TCI was a mixed blessing.
The latest Visual Novel I've played was "XChange 2" (yup, hentai). Call me a fool but I hadn't learned my lesson from XC1, plus I was also intrigued by more full voice acting and a way longer gameplay. This time, there were no goofy choices I could find (except for one where you have three possible reactions to being "caught in the act" by your girlfriend and none of the choices actually helps), and there was a heap of datable characters... but was it REALLY necessary to be forced into not one, not two but THREE rape scenes during the course of the game? Nothing you do will prevent these from happening, and a few of your choices add more rape scenes to the game. I was not amused.
...well, that's MY experience in the large field of Visual Novels and Dating Sims. What are yours?
For me, Dating Sims started with "True Love" (ouch, unabriged Hentai), which gave me a kickstart into a genre I had mostly ignored before. Soon, I spent a few Deutschmarks (yes, it was that early) on the PC version of Tokimeki Memorial, got a translated script from the 'net, and off I was into the wide world of dating sims. And still today, I consider Tokimemo the best dating-sim I've ever played. Unfortunately, that doesn't account for much because the only other "true" DS I played (besides True Love and Tokimemo) was Sentimental Graffiti, which was pretty cool but didn't quite have the same replay effect.
My first Visual Novel was "XChange" (even more Hentai), and well... I wasn't really impressed. Even Tokimemo, which didn't have a real story at all, had more plot than this sorry excuse for a perverted comedy. Virtually no choices that made any difference, and all endings depended on what teacher you chose for help. Way too short... I played all six endings in two hours, and that was that.
Then came "Snow Drop" (hentai) and my first experience with GOOD Visual Novels. At first, I didn't think of Snow Drop of something special; even the fourth or fifth time I played it, I got the same ending, which was a rather unexcited nice final to the skiing holiday you take and a lot of hints at what the history behind your holiday site was. Then I accidentally did everything right for the first three days and the REAL story unfolded... and I was totally overrun by the great writing. True, it was a bit predictable, but the sheer DEPTH of the story impressed me, and I really liked the full voice acting.
Next came "Kana: Little Sister"... and I wept. It was the first time a computer game actually made me weep. If there was only one Visual Novel I had ever played, it should have been "Kana"... it was an absolutely stunning experience, and no way am I going to give anything away about the game except for "it's worth every single buck". My work on LoveRevo... no, my work as a writer altogether is probably more inspired by "Kana" than by any other game or book I've ever played or read.
Then there was "Tokimeki Check-In" (you guess it, hentai) - once again, full voice acting, a HUGE cast of characters and beautiful graphics... well, and at least some of the storylines were moderately interesting. Unfortunately, TCI also featured a few of the silliest choices in Visual Novels ever: Sweep the floor or mop the floor? Greet the guests inside the hotel or outside the hotel? The worst part is that these choices all influence which girl you're gonna get... choose the "wrong" answer and you won't be able to get the Best Ending for the girl you've wooed perfectly for the rest of the game. The girl won't even appear in the "wrong" segment of the game... but there's no way for you to know that sweeping the floor will also sweep away all your chances... All in all, TCI was a mixed blessing.
The latest Visual Novel I've played was "XChange 2" (yup, hentai). Call me a fool but I hadn't learned my lesson from XC1, plus I was also intrigued by more full voice acting and a way longer gameplay. This time, there were no goofy choices I could find (except for one where you have three possible reactions to being "caught in the act" by your girlfriend and none of the choices actually helps), and there was a heap of datable characters... but was it REALLY necessary to be forced into not one, not two but THREE rape scenes during the course of the game? Nothing you do will prevent these from happening, and a few of your choices add more rape scenes to the game. I was not amused.
...well, that's MY experience in the large field of Visual Novels and Dating Sims. What are yours?