![]() ![]() By contrast, many VN’s are anything but an exception to the rule of Japanese mass media or follow the same tried-and-true formula for excessive graphic and sexual imagery with no sensible narrative and completely lacking any redeemable, intelligent characters. This is typical of Japanese TV and media, which can appeal to the lowest common denominator. Because of the habitual hyper sexual appearance and shallow character traits that are trademark of the anime female cast members in VN’s, people here have critiqued Visual Novel’s as perpetually misogynistic and a defamation to the character of women. VN’s are nothing new in Japan, but in the west ask a fellow gamer if they’ve played the latest critically acclaimed VN and all you’ll get are a lot of dumbfounded looks and confused questioning asking if VN’s are some kind of acronym for a bizarre, new STD-pandemic they should be concerned about. While multiple, branching story arcs are nothing new in video games they are certainly not a requisite for console games and in fact, most popular recently released AAA games are linear ie: The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, Journey, Dead Space and Assassins Creed series More choices will follow, until the path you choose becomes your own. A passive experience for the first few minutes, eventually you will be lead to make a game-changing decision that can send the story branching off in several completely different paths. These type of games are analogous to the “choose-your-own-adventure” books I read during my childhood, recreated deftly for the digital era in the format of Visual Novels. What is this hybrid-fusion of literature and gaming I speak of? I am suddenly breaking for something that is unique, visceral and totally unconventional for a conventional gamer. ![]() But now, I have become enamored with an amalgamation that blends my love of literature with visual graphics into an interactive, non-linear storytelling mechanism. Which is probably why I’ve been a gamer since Mario and Luigi were plumbers, because even the visual grandeur that is cinema and masterful aesthetics of comics and graphic novels left me yearning for a more interactive, intimate experience that only video and PC games can offer. By contrast, this seems at odds with my affection for writing and enjoying AAA video games. Watched “Never Let me Go”, “The Hunger Games”, “Jurassic Park”, “A Scanner Darkly” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” but was never inclined to read the source material for any of them. I do not bury myself in literature and usually if a good book is recommended to me I almost always wait for the movie. ![]()
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