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Are there any Japanese visual novel games that are good and a bit normal? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A while back I found this site called vndb (visual novel database). What fascinates me about sites like this is that they curate user reviews over a large period of time so you can find a decently reliable consensus of what is considered remarkable by the users. In the same vein as something like rateyourmusic. It isn't a perfect indicator by any means but a good starting off point.

Unfortunately a lot of games listed there are a big no no for me because of the sexual content. I browsed the top rated list and skimmed through what I would like. The first I played was a game called "The House in Fata Morgana". I thought it was pretty good. It is like a gothic horror romance story and the art style was unique despite being anime adjacent. I wished it was less heavy on the romance aspect but the romance was a core aspect of the story so I can't complain too much.

The biggest downside was that it was incredibly long and left me visual novel hungover for a really long time. Recently I started looking for a new one to play because they are super chill to play on the Steam Deck before going to bed.

I found one called "Fate/Stay Night". From the synopsis the it looked super interesting. Upon playing the game though, while it is not awful by any means, there are some parts of it that I find objectionable. It is too heavy on the romance bit which I think is undermines the larger premise. The love interest is an undying girl who didn't physically grow over the age of 13 because of a magic ritual but is emotionally and intellectually immature which I find uncomfortable. I am gonna finish it because of sunk cost but it doesn't jive much with me.

Are there any VN games that you folks have played and liked? I reckon there might be a handful decent games in this genre. Or is it doomed?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago

what kind of visual novels are you looking for?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

Steins gate, 13 sentinels, etc. All of them contain romance, but they all have larger narratives that are on par with Fata Morgana

And if you want a political VN, consider Suzerain

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/999:_Nine_Hours,_Nine_Persons,_Nine_Doors

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

What? There are plenty of good VNs, this sounds more like you have a hangup over romance. If you want to avoid your hangup you can just search up the tag excluding romance on vndb, btw.

Also, it's been a very long time since i have played fate, but illya is specifically not a love interest. Not that the sexual comment in fate is anything but a meme.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

spoiler

I am talking about Saber. They say that her weight is about 40kg and based on CDC data 40kg for girls can range in age from 9 to 15.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

spoiler

I would probably not use CDC data for this. From what I found for Japanese women:

Among the women with height ranging 149 cm and less, 79% of the women have their waists in the range 56 cm to 58 cm and the weight is in the 35 to 39 kg range. In the 150 to 159 cm height group, the weight range is 40 to 45 kg and the average waist size is 61 cm.

And saber is listed as 154 cm, so her weight would be perfectly average for an adult woman.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

She's not Japanese

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It is a Japanese game. I would say that almost none of the characters actually look they are from the place they should be. If her story makes you uncomfortable, that is fine. But I wouldn't base it solely on one throwaway piece of information that you probably couldn't even find in the game itself.

spoiler

Canonically, she is supposed to be probably 25. And I would say that is a reasonable portrayal of someone who was forced into being queen at the age of 15. Again, completely fine if that makes you uncomfortable, but if you are uncomfortable with this, you might have some more issues later in the game. (Not sure how far you have gotten.)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The Fandom wiki page says physically 15yo and cites some spinoff that I don't know about. But yeah I hear you. I shouldn't fixate on that too much.

EDIT:

spoiler

I would say that almost none of the characters actually look they are from the place they should be.

That Gilgamesh is now my headcanon though.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

Ever 17: The Out of Infinity is very very good and to my knowledge doesn't contain any sexual content - I think there is a smattering of romance but it's not the main thing.

I played it like 12-15 years ago though so may be misremembering some things!