H-scenes in Visual Novels: Opinions and discussion

[Takafumi]

Wouldn’t they be decreasing the potential amount of buyers by increasing the age gate?

Not really.
Kids in Japan spend time with their families, playing with friends, and at school.
Teenagers want to get away from the family, so they go to the arcades or hang out with friends.
Early 20s are either studying or focusing on securing a stable income, with a bit of free time at home or with friends.
Late 20s into 30s are busy working (or just traveling to and from work) for a lot of the time, but have some time to do whatever they want.
Most are expected to take care of their parents as well, which can be a time sink. All of this, plus the pressure of finding a partner and starting a family in a country with declining birth rates, makes PC use unfavorable.
18~30 is the market with the most amount of free time spent at home. They have an income, and may not be in a situation (or want to be in a situation) where they can find a partner or people to socialize with daily. In come the VNs and dating sims.

Of course, this is generalizing, and there are other factors, but the important thing is that teenagers aren’t a big enough PC market to be valid. These things also explain why the mobile market is so big in Japan.

[MalignantSeraph]

I never thought I would be the one to revive this thread, but I think I might actually have something worthwhile to discuss.

Anyone here heard of 蒼の彼方のフォーリズム?

If not, its probably because it’s barely been out for a month now. The reason I bring it up here is because despite being advertised as an adult romance game, the developers did not release any preview HCGs before the VN came out and it turns out that it was actually set to have very little sexual content. To a sizable group of Japanese fans however, this was seen as a poor decision on the developers part and I know of a few people that even refused to buy the game because of this.

As far as I can tell, Sprite did not add in additional the HCGs that had been requested, yet it still maintains very high ratings on VNDB at the moment(though that is subject to change in the future) and it already has an anime being planned for release sometime soon.

Here’s where the discussion comes in:
Do you think Sprite should have added the extra H scenes to boost sales? if so, do you think that would have affected the ratings/anime adaptation at all?
Would it have even been possible to make more H fit into the game that late in development?
Taken to extreme levels of extrapolation, what do you think would happen to the VN industry if more developers did this? would it die out? would it eventually become stronger than ever before? just a few thoughts, feel free to discuss more.

Like I said, I just happened to stumble upon this VN and thought this story might be a pretty interesting thing to debate, considering how current it is and potentially controversial it could be.

[Yerian]

Ah yes I remember seeing this and liking the art, but didn’t think much past that. I hadnt heard of this ‘controversy’. Now that you bring it up I might actually look into it. Here’s what I think:

Limiting H content is good, good for them. Even if there is an appropriate moment for H-scene, which I still think the definitely can be, having tons them really causes them to lose any possible meaning they had in the first place besides just being porn.

Of course there will be people who complain, because one of the main reasons those people will by the game in the first place is for the H content.

Will this harm the game’s sales and Sprite’s business? Depends. If its just another standard romance VN with nothing new to add to the market (you guys know what kind of VN Im talking about), then yeah, it might. If it is original and has a reason to be popular and successful, then it will, and there won’t a problem.

The fact that it already has an anime scheduled makes me lean towards the second option. Not only has it been popular enough already to get one, but the anime will also raise popularity greatly if done well. It also already has a team working on an English patch, another good sign.

I’m sure they could have added more H-scenes if they wanted to. Its not that hard to just thrown in a random scene. But I’m almost positive it would have lowered the quality of the VN, which the company obviously didnt want.

[Takafumi]

I’m not sure how they marketed it, but judging from the reaction it was either unclear or misleading. From the view of the consumer, it was marketed as a porn game. People felt mislead by this when they actually got to try the VN, despite there being no official showings of H-content.

As for the VNDB stuff, there are two factors that go into that. First, the people complaining are just the loudest, and may not be the majority. People who had no problems with it have nothing to say, and negative is more memorable than positive to most. Secondly, VNDB is a western site. It’s possible that of the small amount of people who played it, very few knew of the marketing controversy or just didn’t care about it, or they may have been led in by the controversy and had lower expectations than warranted.

Either they had a marketing fault, they wanted to try and boost sales using the H market, or they purposefully created a controversial piece to drive sales… Or a mix of the three~

Naturally the distrust would ruin the industry somewhat, but it might not be significant. It’s hard to tell with such a small market. EA and Ubisoft get away with it all the time.

[MalignantSeraph]

I definitely agree that there was a fault somewhere in the advertising if something like this is happening. While I don’t doubt they might have been trying to use the H market to boost sales, I don’t think they tried to make it controversial on purpose. Then again, I’m only on episode 3, so what do I know…

[quote=“yerian98, post:144, topic:401”]
I’m sure they could have added more H-scenes if they wanted to. Its not that hard to just thrown in a random scene. But I’m almost positive it would have lowered the quality of the VN, which the company obviously didnt want.
[/quote]I’m not so sure about this. between the release of the demo and the full game they only had about a month and a week of development time. If the story wasn’t designed to have H, I don’t think that’s even enough time to add in a random scene for each character. I actually think they would have put in some more H scenes if they had the time for it.

[Ekalina]

Umm— as a girl…sometimes it really bothered me…but…if the main character as handsome as Yuuji in Grisaria no Kaijutsu---- it would be a pleasure for me to see how he react to every girls in that VN… //////

BUT FOR RIKI---- I THINK I WOULD NEVER ACCEPT IT—But if RikixRin do some ero things I still can accept it----

I don’t like how Riki become too much OOC in Saya’s route (I’m not really played esctacy yet…just watching EX anime) and how he become too much pervert in Kud Wafter manga----(how he try to seek Kud’s panty in Kud room)---- I CAN’T ACCEPT IT!! RIKI ISN’T LIKE THAT… HE’S NAIVE GUY---- I CAN’T NEVER IMAGINE HE DO A SUCH THINGS…

And you know…I’m a KyouMari and MasaKud hard-shipper here…So to see Komari or Kud do some H-scene with Riki just HELL NO!

[Takafumi]

There’s always DRAMAtical, ahaha~ I still need to read that…

One of my problems with EX is that I just can’t imagine Riki realistically being in those situations, apart from maybe Yuiko’s and Haruka’s routes should they decide to be forceful.
I definitely don’t see it happening in the… month(?) or so that they are friends for.

[Yerian]

I’m not so sure about this. between the release of the demo and the full game they only had about a month and a week of development time. If the story wasn’t designed to have H, I don’t think that’s even enough time to add in a random scene for each character. I actually think they would have put in some more H scenes if they had the time for it.

Ah, see, I actually don’t know anything about this other than what you have said, so I didn’t realize the circumstances. I was really just making some general statements.

[I21j_I21j_Hunter]

Sex sells and that’s there is to it. When some people don’t get what they believed was advertised I can understand why they would be angry, Just look at this:

MangaGamer (MangaGamer)

If someone brought the game for reasons which shall not be named then that’s their right to complain if they don’t deem it satisfactory, I just don’t see a point in jumping into the shark pool if you know what I mean.

My personal view is if it’s there just leave it there and let me decide if I want to read it or not,I ended up FF most of the scene in Kamidori Alchemy Meister cause there’s no relevance to the story. Just put in a fast forward option or a remove h-scene and leave it at that.

@Ekalina

I’m a KyouMari and MasaKud

I can see the first one, but I’ve always thought of Kud and Masato’s relationship as more of bro/sis. Besides Riki was always a pervert, I don’t doubt Kurugaya’s wisdom -_-

[Ekalina]

just leave it there and let me decide if I want to read it or not

yup~ haha it’s all my fault from the start—I like to play VN which have handsome main characters + harem–of course it will be full of ero things…I think I accept eroge more than hardcore yaoi 18+ . Because ero is straight~

Yaoi is so much wrong-----

[I21j_I21j_Hunter]

There’s nothing wrong with discussing the subject, I am not criticizing you for anything. I’m just voicing my opinion on the subject. The only thing I responded to you was you’re idea of a NoumixHara ship that “I” just don’t see happening. >v<

[Takafumi]

I agree with what you’re saying, but citing MangaGamer is a bad example. Their target audience isn’t the all ages version. Actually, if I’m reading it correctly, they have to get the all-ages version through the MangaGamer site… which is a NSFW website that says “If you under 18 years old, please leave this site immediately.” Not exactly the environment to sell an All Ages product in.

It’s like sending a kid into a adult video store and saying “Oh, there’s some Scooby Doo on the second floor.”

That, and of course a stupidly large amount of people think the removal of H-scenes is incredibly damaging to the vision of the writers and it makes the story not worth reading at all >.>

[Mow]

If more company’s did that, it would just shift their sales, it may hurt them a ton but they may attract a new market. H or no H imo is no different from any other video game decisions. Do you put blood in the game? Do you want the game to have a competitive scene? ect. They will all effect the sales and what not, so I don’t seen any difference. It is a bit different, because sex sells is more true than say violence in game sells… or is it? god only know how many cod games we have now and really western market is different from east so yeah. What if the new cod game had no blood? is pretty much what you asking lol it hard to say how many people would bitch or not and sales. They are hesitant to remove it because they are worried they will miss out on easy money from the market.

[I21j_I21j_Hunter]

I understand it is not a good example, but it shows thrre is a discrepancy between AA vs AO of the same title. Besides, I’m sure Nekopara will have a similar situation for us release :}

[Takafumi]

Of course. Nekopara’s only selling point is the explicit content. Without it, it’s just a badly written slice of life VN where nothing really happens…
It was made around the idea of H-scenes.

[MalignantSeraph]

MasaKud

I think Kudohara sounds better. probably just me though.

[quote=“yerian98, post:149, topic:401”]
Ah, see, I actually don’t know anything about this other than what you have said, so I didn’t realize the circumstances. I was really just making some general statements.
[/quote]ah, it shows that in the VNDB link, but I probably should have explained it a little better in the original post. my bad.

[quote=“I21j_I21j_Hunter, post:150, topic:401”]
I ended up FF most of the scene in Kamidori Alchemy Meister cause there’s no relevance to the story.
[/quote]Kamidori has some of the worst H I have ever read in a VN. I didn’t too much like the story either, but the gameplay was more than addicting enough to keep bringing me back.

[quote=“Takafumi, post:153, topic:401”]
That, and of course a stupidly large amount of people think the removal of H-scenes is incredibly damaging to the vision of the writers and it makes the story not worth reading at all
[/quote]here’s something I can kind of agree on. While I do support H in VNs and I think it should stay as part of the medium, I do also think that it doesn’t have to happen so often. 3-4 H scenes per heroine is a bit too much. unless there is a specific reason they have to have that much sex(which I have actually seen a couple times) just one or two H scenes should be perfectly fine.

[Takafumi]

I think a well known VN, that is an example of how many H-scenes you can add without making it distracting, is DearDrops.

[AngelofDeath720]

Finished this game the other day. I originally only picked it up as a distraction from Holy Breaker! because I knew it would take a while for my copy to get here, but it quickly became the main VN I was playing (beating out Hapymaher Fragmentation Dream, Cocoro@Function! NEO, and Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura Doki. all of which I very much enjoy reading) and when my copy of Holy Breaker! DID get here, I ended up using that as a distraction from AoKana, hoping to keep myself from reading all of it too fast.

As for my thoughts on the H scenes, there was definitely “less” than an average VN (which seems to be about 3 per heroine nowadays) but I think that what it had should have been more than enough as far as most fans would say. Though I do remember a few instances where it felt like the H scene was kinda plopped in there, so maybe Sprite actually did respond to the fans asking for more H, I don’t know for sure. All that said, the H probably won’t have an effect on the anime and I can sure as hell tell you it didn’t have much of one on the ratings.

[EisenKoubu]

I’m religious, so there’s a certain stigma when it comes to erotic material. Even though I am of age to read and purchase said erotica, I find it uncomfortable and repulsive, and prefer to avoid it whenever possible. I also tend to view characters in a different, more negative connotation when they are the subject of said erotica. Poor Ayu and Nayuki… :’(

Because most of Key’s early visual novels contain H-scenes, I found it rather difficult to find a reason to read through the entirety of a route when the H-scenes are present and unavoidable. It’s also why I’ve been rather hesitant to purchase AIR, because no All-Ages patch exists to my knowledge.

In short, I won’t accept anything beyond kissing, and half-to-completely-naked sprites are a no-no. But I’m not going to tell people to stop reading visual novels with H-scenes. It’s their choice, not mine.

[Takafumi]

I also tend to view characters in a different, more negative connotation when they are the subject of said erotica.

I had that when I read Kanon.
“Huh, all ages? Is there gore in this or something??”
Playing through Kanon, a H-CG appears NOPE. Close game, open folder, drag in all-ages files Safe-o!

What’s your opinion on the Satako CG controversy that’s been going around with the Steam release of Higurashi? If you know that there was controversy at all.