Visual novels are not strictly games; the gameplay is usually limited to occasional decision-making and clicking through hour after hour of test. The entire content is story-based; if the story wasn't good, there would be no reason to play it.
Having completed Ever17 very recently myself, I would urge anyone looking for a "game with a story" to play it. It is pretty much the only commercially localized visual novel that doesn't completely suck. In fact, it is fairly incredible, to be honest.
Something like 75% of PC games released in Japan are visual novels (also called ADV, or adventure games). It's a shame that there's no real market for them in the United States. But yes, story-based games do exist, and yes, they rival actual books in the quality and depth of their stories. I must say that Ever17 is far better than the vast majority of books that I have read.
For more of a handle on the subject, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel
Slashdot Mirror
text, not test, oops
Visual novels are not strictly games; the gameplay is usually limited to occasional decision-making and clicking through hour after hour of test. The entire content is story-based; if the story wasn't good, there would be no reason to play it. Having completed Ever17 very recently myself, I would urge anyone looking for a "game with a story" to play it. It is pretty much the only commercially localized visual novel that doesn't completely suck. In fact, it is fairly incredible, to be honest. Something like 75% of PC games released in Japan are visual novels (also called ADV, or adventure games). It's a shame that there's no real market for them in the United States. But yes, story-based games do exist, and yes, they rival actual books in the quality and depth of their stories. I must say that Ever17 is far better than the vast majority of books that I have read. For more of a handle on the subject, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel
lol sup eggman PS I agree