I don’t really understand what you’re trying to say in the first two paragraphs, and this is pretty far off topic now, but as for the rest…
My point is that the audience of people who know they’ll finish Clannad is small. Very few people are going to drop money on Clannad to test if they’ll enjoy it.
First of all, volume games aren’t high sellers and are quite the rarity.
Nevertheless, volume games should be seen as a future investment. You spend the initial small amount to see if you’ll enjoy it, and then you can decide whether to buy future volumes. Every volume bought can be seen as directly influencing whether a future volume will release. You’re effectively funding extra content.You can decide after initial purchase, as the Visual Novel releases part by part, whether it is still something you support or not. For those who are patient however, you can wait for the complete product to release, as many did with Fault. Some would prefer to get in early and experience it over the development period, helping the product come to completion, while others would prefer to just binge read the Novel once it potentially becomes complete. You pay for what you desire.
Now, I don’t think this release format is bad, but I do think the wrong types of VNs are making use of it. Heavy continuity games don’t strike me as good choices for volumes. The hype remains consistently present between parts as it would a TV show with episodes, however if you decide to dropout early you have made a bad investment. Where I do think the Volume structure could be well used is with more traditional romance VNs. I can think of many heroine routes I would buy standalone, but wouldn’t buy as part of a bigger release due to that release being a lot worse outside of that one route. Gimme that one good route of Canvas2, or a couple of the Da Capo routes. I’d love that.
As far as I’m aware, there are no Sakura games that make use of volumes.
You call it a scam, but I completely disagree. You see the cost and you know what you’re buying. If having multiple volumes gives you multiple slots on the Steam store’s frontpage and keeps you in readers’ minds while also being a more consistent cash revenue, I don’t see why publishers wouldn’t do it. It’s a strategy proven lucrative in Manga, Film and Video Game, so it’s only natural to make use of it with Visual Novel.
Not only is that essentially a fandisk made for those who simply wish for more stories from the Grisaia universe, but it is an episodic series developed especially for the volume format. It seemingly does a good job at it too. I’m sure that once every volume releases it’ll all be put in a discounted bundle for people to buy.
It’s also Front Wing, so if you aren’t expecting them to cash-in, you don’t know Front Wing.
I don’t think there’s much of a problem. I just find it weird that some people here have such grand expectations for Litbus when it’s unlikely to be anything much greater than what Clannad was. It’ll sell to the VN fans, some of us will read it, some will enjoy it, done. You don’t have to go out of your way to become a human advert for it, just appreciate it for what it is, with people who are ready to listen.
