Saw a thread recently complementing gameplay in vns on this subreddit... and I thought about how some vns would have been legit better for me if they didn't have gameplay at all...
Easiest example that comes to my mind, and that's because of how much anons complained about it... is Heaven Burns Red, Key's latest visual novel... you can't believe how many of them I have seen who dropped the story because of the game or didn't even start it because of it... even though all of them always talk about how they wish they could just read the story that did succeed in attracting them and is clearly one of the highest quality vns that were ever made in the industry..... personally?... I don't dislike those sections, if anything? I believe they were utilized in a good way and they are very forgiving for people who are not into playing video games (like me), and are even fun sometimes.... but I 100% get the ones who didn't want any gameplay to begin with or were afraid of the FIFA monetization systems... at some point I was always trying to fix their misinformation about it, but I realized that the game is getting an offline version in the foreseeable future and they would have their chance with it when the time comes....
Other than that... even though I did enjoy the Zero Escape series gameplay? I ain't finna lie... sometimes? I thought "Just let me see the story already and stop this puzzleee!!!!!" ...... I was stuck in some of them for such a long time that it broke my immersion with the scene T-T even though Uchikoshi was very smart in how he injected those sections with some of the funniest and most fun writing in the whole game, it just prevented me from getting angry but I was still a little bit frustrated with them... this is true for just 999 and Virtue's Last Reward... Zero Time Dilemma? That one was very straightforward and felt like the puzzles were there just for the vibes of the series @_@
Rika Suzuki vns have good gameplay and even though I was playing them on my phone, I can still see how great those mechanics were for the 3DS players..... but that game loop.... the fact I was going in circles whenever I got a new item or was about to solve a new puzzle and sometimes I went through the whole map just to do my best in not missing out on any interaction or missable items/lines.... her games really activated my OCD T-T For Hotel Dusk and Last Window, I was playing with a guide... don't get me wrong, I only used it when I felt super stuck in the game and after I finished the section I was playing... I used that The Let's Play Archive site guide, which btw might be the greatest and highest quality way of making a guide? That site is truly amazing... the guide listed everything that could be missed in that section and even some notes that were fun to read about the game @_@ That guide is something I missed so much when I played Another Code... I missed multiple items and probably some interactions also, I was sure that I missed an ending?... I tried to check online for the most important stuff but I'm sure that I didn't do a thorough job with it like how I did with her previous games... because honestly? I liked the game but didn't really love it... and the biggest reason is because I am decided to play the remake which I will 100% for sure V-V before I play the sequel~
NEEDY GIRL OVERDOSE made me nearly cry because of how bugged my version was and how many times I lost my saves... it wasn't the game's fault, it was mine... but still, I really wished I could get those endings easier... even when I forced my male cord friend to play it, who is btw a very big gamer, he also mentioned how mundane getting those endings was @_@ and what really made me wish it was more vn-ish than game-ish?... That fandisc it got..... that 1 hour of pure visual novel? It won my heart and made me assured that Nyalra can actually write T-T This made me super hyped for his next game, Sister Other Paranoia, when I learned that it will be a pure vn this time with no gameplay sections... am going to get some real KINO with it T-T
As someone who enjoyed Hanachirasu a lot... I had some very high hopes for Kaigen Seito, especially after I found out it was the game that had that one VN girl I used to see a lot when I was younger on some obscure board that talks about anime.... what did I get?.... a video game with barely any visual novel parts.... it was like 9 hours of playing and 1 hour of VN?....... that made me nearly cry ,-, especially with how Nitroplus is one of my favorite developers and they stopped making VNs, so I won't have that many of them left to read...... I didn't hate the gameplay, but I just didn't think this VN should have been that focused on it when we were waiting for.... more story?...... and also, it was grindy ~_~ but it was still way more fun than Kaigen's Ambition @__@ That one was just dreadful to go through and actually win.... I think I just won once and then gave up on it and watched the other endings on YouTube... which btw, you should do that because it is canon..... wtf is wrong with you, Nitroplus ,-,
Dohna Dohna's grindy grind....... I didn't like this game, especially that gameplay that I didn't care about at all.... I would've been fine if it was just there to let the story pass, but Alicesoft, the devils, made it legit grindy..... I remember grinding for like +3 hours in the boss before the last boss just to barely beat him and ended up breaking the balance of the game for me afterward........ worst offense? I legit only learned about the fact you could speed up battles with the press of a button..... in my 2nd walkthrough T-T .... and that walkthrough was speedrunning everything so it didn't last that long...... if I knew about this function? I think my +60 hours in this game might have ended up being 10 hours less at least..... :(
I started the Baldr series this year with their first game ever, Baldrhead...... I don't hate the gameplay, this series must have it, I understand.... but why the hell is this game so hard it made me nearly crash out?..... oh wait, I did crash out multiple times because of it!!!..... zero guides online, and being a JOP-baby, and not a gamer to begin with made me misunderstand one move that would've made this game a walk in the park for me..... but for those who were like me?..... this game is easily one of the hardest murige kusoge to ever exist...... no visual novel should have hard gameplay like that T-T
