Otohiko wrote:Yup, Bashar nailed it. I think it would be much easier to justify them as games if there wasn't such a trend towards dynamism in gameplay and the user-driven experience in Western gaming. That's why the comparison becomes really unfair and one-sided. On the gameplay side, they just don't hold up. I could go on for hours about the gameplay deficiencies of VNs, but I won't because I also see their narrative merits (and hey, I just spent the last few days being slightly addicted to Utawarerumono and successfully finishing it, so you can't call me a hater...)
I don't think people who dislike VNs are necessarily idiots. To each his/her own. But I do think the differences would be a lot easier to stomach if the "game" moniker wasn't used for VNs with such pretension.
There is a HUGE difference between ADV and NVL.
NVL is in novel style, text box fills up whole screen with picture in background (reads like a book).
ADV is for Adventure which isn't totally accurate but who cares, that's why I use the acronym. There is a text box at the bottom of the screen. Sprites and backgrounds are displayed above the textbox.
ADV usually has more choices, more dialogue heavy, and have a very different story telling style. They make you feel like you ARE the main character (Very good example of this is Katawa Shoujo).
NVL VNs are usually more linear (have less choices, some notable exceptions to this exist). Less dialogue. You almost always feel like you are seeing the story through the eyes of another, unlike VNs which put you in the position of the main character.
