*Those* Japanese 'adventures'

Calin Leafshade · Sat 13/03/2010 08:30:37

So I was playing one of those Japanese adventures with an 18 sticker on and something occured to me.

(By the way, this is not a 'I was wanking the other day and' kinda story... quite the opposite)

I think those games would be better without the weird hentai shit in the middle.

The specific one I was playing was called 'Private Nurse', which ofcourse conjurs up even more nefarious thoughts... but its fairly innocent I promise.

Anyway, I played through a really quite charming story about facing fears and overcoming a lack of determination. And what does our hero do with this new found determination? He fucks the girl that helped him ofcourse.

Now, I don't particularly mind a, well done, appropriate sex scene but the whole thing was just completely out of character and it just left me feeling empty. It completely wrecked the story just for literally 2 pornographic slides with a couple of paragraphs of out of character bullshit.

Also it's not like this was a quick payoff to keep the boys interested.. this happened after about 3 hours of gameplay...well.. reading.

So yea.. my advice to those developers. Keep the sex scenes tasteful and in character or leave them out completely.

Thank you for your time.

Stupot · Sat 13/03/2010 08:50:32

You do occasionally get the odd one which isn't hentai. The only trouble is they mainly just consist of reading a bunch of dialogue and then choosing a path. But sometimes the story is quite good.

Have you played 'Fatal Hearts'? It's alright... starts of really girly and emo, but soon gets quite dark and nasty... pretty good really, although I didn't finish it.

http://www.hanakogames.com/fatal.shtml

I wouldn't say adventure games were the Japanese's strong suit, but they do make some awesome 'escape the room' games.

Arclight · Sat 13/03/2010 10:17:34

Calin, try some CYA (Choose-Your-own-Adventure) style IF. There's some quality stuff out there, all free. And, if you want something a little more interesting in terms of gameplay than CYA, try some of the other IF available.

I recommend anything by Adam Cadre. Photopia, Shrapnel, and 9:05 are particularly good for folks new to the genre. Heck, you can even play 9:05 right in your browser.

FSi++ · Sat 13/03/2010 10:20:07

actually, try Saya no Uta if you don't mind torrenting

Erpy · Sat 13/03/2010 11:18:20

Officially, the word they use for the genre is "visual novel". (adventure is a bit of a misnomer since you don't solve puzzles) It's kinda like those "choose your own adventure" books. Most of it is reading with the occasional choice to get onto the different story paths.

If you're interested in the genre, you may be interested in checking out this project. It's a project that's being developed by an international team of amateur game developers. (like a lot of projects here) It originally took roots on a 4chan subboard and the more committed members eventually split off and moved to their own development forums so they could start working in earnest without crazy folks dropping in and bogging things down all the time. Seeing where it was originally started and what the manga sketch the concept was based on was about (dating girls with disabilities), most people who followed it initially expected it to be an extremely demented fetish-fest where the player was invited to exploit the various (disabled) main cast members, but when Act 1 was released as a demo it actually turned out to be a pretty well-written VN that took a very respectful approach to handling the somewhat delicate subject matter.

The project was always intended to eventually have adult scenes in there (although Act1 doesn't contain any), so the developers are currently facing the very issue you're writing about...how to keep the adult scenes tasteful and in-character.

Sslaxx · Sat 13/03/2010 12:53:54

There's also http://www.renpy.org/wiki/renpy/Home_Page Ren'Py, if you know some Python.

blueskirt · Sat 13/03/2010 14:50:32

Long ago, a friend suggested me My Little Sister Kana. I haven't played it but according to him, it was the best visual novel he ever seen. You might also be interested in Masq.

Technocrat · Sat 13/03/2010 16:12:25

I would second 9.05, that game is absolutely awesome - and, it doesn't take up too much time, either!

Anian · Sat 13/03/2010 16:38:05

Quote from: blueskirt on Sat 13/03/2010 14:50:32
Long ago, a friend suggested me My Little Sister Kana. I haven't played it but according to him, it was the best visual novel he ever seen. You might also be interested in Masq.

Yeah, Masq is ok, but I've tried playing beyond the 2nd chapter (need to downlaod) and that file always gives some runtime error. (but I like the drawings)

Would be more into anime and similar, but those damn eyes just freak me out and bother me). Probably a culture thing, I don't like the humor as well.

cat · Sat 13/03/2010 17:45:40

Quote from: Technocrat on Sat 13/03/2010 16:12:25
I would second 9.05, that game is absolutely awesome - and, it doesn't take up too much time, either!

Yes, this is a short but great game, give it a try"

Igor Hardy · Sat 13/03/2010 19:03:23

I don't see much point in clicking through a Japanese visual novel no matter what the story is, if I can instead watch a proper anime or read a proper book.

qptain Nemo · Sat 13/03/2010 19:29:23

Quote from: FSi on Sat 13/03/2010 10:20:07
actually, try Saya no Uta if you don't mind torrenting

Actually, I even second that, that's an interesting experience.

LimpingFish · Sat 13/03/2010 22:26:41

The majority of Visual Novels translated into English happen to be hentai. But then, the only reason they're translated into English in the first place is because they are hentai.

But there was sex in Visual Novels before H games were even known in the west, and these titles wouldn't have been thought of as masturbatory material (which the majority of current Western imports would be) at the time.

FairyTale's "Dead of the Brain" is closer to a Resident Evil-meets-Snatcher type vibe, though it contains a two-image sex scene, and an attempted rape. The rest is shooting zombies and fleeing from Terminator clones. Their title "Ballad For Maria", though containing nudity, is an Argento-esque murder mystery, and "Necronomicon" is a Lovecraft-inspired horror story; again with some nudity. Similar content is contained in their adaption of "Dracula". All of these games pre-date the Windows-era (being available on home computers such as the MSX and Sharp X68000, with some ports to DOS).

One of FairyTale's last Visual Novel games, made around 1997, was the sadism-fest "X-Girl"; which I'm glad to say I have never played. By this point, it seemed that extreme sexual content was the order of the day.

And so it becomes another identikit H game, of no interest to anyone other than fans of such titles. Ugh.

mkennedy · Wed 17/03/2010 09:41:26

It's amazing what they could do using only 16 colors. Mind you I've never actually PLAYED any of those games, but have seen picture galleries and screen shots from them. I guess that some of the Legend Entertainment games like the Spell casting series or "Eric the Unready" are probably the closest thing I've experienced. Interactive fiction can be entertaining, though I prefer the kind where you get to explore the area and interact with people and objects rather than games that are just multiple choice questions where you reach then end after a series of choices.