- Oct 22, 2017
- 427
- 1,181
While I like VNs with some action/mystery/whatnot going on, I also like those more wholesome ones without all the drama. One reason why I played MNF and also started playing MNM.
But I feel like getting the right balance for those wholesome VNs is much more difficult than for the others.
To compare it with television, while you definitely can mess them up, doing an action movie is 'quite simple'. Put a lot of action and explosions in and most people are happy as long as the story and acting are not completely unbelievable/atrocious.
On the other hand, I'm having a lot of problems with a lot of tv series. It feels like regardless of the genre, you always have the overarching romance plot, and at the end of the first season (I know why they do it), you switch from 'happily ever after' and just continue their daily encounters like criminal investigations or other stuff, to it all falling apart and you have a second season where they don't like each other, a third where they 'can't' be together, a fourth where they might come together again and then it's canceled.
I'm not interested in this what I feel is the unnecessary creation of an overdramatic plot to hide that there is not enough other interesting content to keep going.
Then I'm sitting there thinking how great a return to 80ies/90ies series would be, where for me it often feels much more episodic and despite some season arcs, each episode is much less dependent on this outdrawn romance drama.
Only to find that on a weekly basis, they are great, but if I binge-watch those, it mostly gets boring after 5-6 episodes too, because they are now too independent and repetitive that the more prominent overarching story is absent.
There are exceptions of course. One for me being 'The Nanny' of them all. You have the overarching plot of Fran getting Maxwell (which is the main plot though, not tacked onto another genre/plot), but it is mostly a series plot, not overdramatized and changed up season plot, and has enough interesting/crazy stuff going on each episode it doesn't get to 'they stand up, eat breakfast, wait for the kids to come home, eat dinner, repeat'.
And at the end where it starts to get repetitive, they actually manage to call it quits and finish the series up.
As others said - wholesome doesn't need to mean boring - but it is a balancing act to add enough interesting/crazy to not be meaningless, but also keep it in check so as to not head towards unnecessary drama.
I like MNF, but in the end, it started to feel a little outdrawn for me. I think because of all the side girls/plots that all needed to progress and therefore a lot of days falling into the same routine 'morning talk, eating breakfast, strolling through the city with girlX, coming home, eating dinner, repeat'.
With exceptions like visiting Kiara and others.
Wholesome events like 'a day at the beach', 'going for a hike', and other daily activities, felt very scarce.
It began to feel like there were a lot of days/or at least encounters where nothing really happened, making the game feel lengthy at times when not skipping but reading it all.
While I don't need drama, I definitely like to have activities/agency, so wholesomeness doesn't deviate into triviality/boredom and each day feels like its own thing with a purpose.
But I feel like getting the right balance for those wholesome VNs is much more difficult than for the others.
To compare it with television, while you definitely can mess them up, doing an action movie is 'quite simple'. Put a lot of action and explosions in and most people are happy as long as the story and acting are not completely unbelievable/atrocious.
On the other hand, I'm having a lot of problems with a lot of tv series. It feels like regardless of the genre, you always have the overarching romance plot, and at the end of the first season (I know why they do it), you switch from 'happily ever after' and just continue their daily encounters like criminal investigations or other stuff, to it all falling apart and you have a second season where they don't like each other, a third where they 'can't' be together, a fourth where they might come together again and then it's canceled.
I'm not interested in this what I feel is the unnecessary creation of an overdramatic plot to hide that there is not enough other interesting content to keep going.
Then I'm sitting there thinking how great a return to 80ies/90ies series would be, where for me it often feels much more episodic and despite some season arcs, each episode is much less dependent on this outdrawn romance drama.
Only to find that on a weekly basis, they are great, but if I binge-watch those, it mostly gets boring after 5-6 episodes too, because they are now too independent and repetitive that the more prominent overarching story is absent.
There are exceptions of course. One for me being 'The Nanny' of them all. You have the overarching plot of Fran getting Maxwell (which is the main plot though, not tacked onto another genre/plot), but it is mostly a series plot, not overdramatized and changed up season plot, and has enough interesting/crazy stuff going on each episode it doesn't get to 'they stand up, eat breakfast, wait for the kids to come home, eat dinner, repeat'.
And at the end where it starts to get repetitive, they actually manage to call it quits and finish the series up.
As others said - wholesome doesn't need to mean boring - but it is a balancing act to add enough interesting/crazy to not be meaningless, but also keep it in check so as to not head towards unnecessary drama.
I like MNF, but in the end, it started to feel a little outdrawn for me. I think because of all the side girls/plots that all needed to progress and therefore a lot of days falling into the same routine 'morning talk, eating breakfast, strolling through the city with girlX, coming home, eating dinner, repeat'.
With exceptions like visiting Kiara and others.
Wholesome events like 'a day at the beach', 'going for a hike', and other daily activities, felt very scarce.
It began to feel like there were a lot of days/or at least encounters where nothing really happened, making the game feel lengthy at times when not skipping but reading it all.
While I don't need drama, I definitely like to have activities/agency, so wholesomeness doesn't deviate into triviality/boredom and each day feels like its own thing with a purpose.
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