4.50 star(s) 154 Votes
Oct 22, 2017
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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.
 
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lehu84

Newbie
Mar 26, 2021
90
109
I feel like at this point, you put too much "real life" in some of your points :D..

I'm mainly gonna go into detail regarding the last part. "Convincing" is such a weird way to describe what is going on in my games. You don't have to convince any of the girls to sleep with you - It is always a result of emotionally connecting with them on a level that goes beyond the usual family relationship you have with them. The MC is not the initiator most of the time because I feel like that can come of as creepy. Let's take Yukiko in MNM for example. You have a date with her since she could see the MC as more than her father. Through the date you learn more about her and in the end, you can decide if you want to go that way with her or not - The kiss. There was no convincing needed because Yukiko might think that she wants this. Of course this could change, she might change her opinion later on and then you have to fight for it if you want it - But never in a way that you have to convince them to love you more than they should. It's all based on feelings after all. And like I said, it's usually the girl that initiates it - The MC has also interest and he might go for them as well, but if it's someone from the family, it will usually be the girl that starts it.

Then the part about incest and birth defects... Again, it's a game, there aren't any of these negative consequences regarding this. Neither are they scared to go this way once they made the decision. The biggest "fear" factor is usually when there is not enough money in the family - which is also not the case in both games.

And then you also have Jessica, who was the "first" but never actually had the chance to go that way with the MC, which plays a huge role in her overall behaviour. She is the one that could cause "drama" or issues, and maybe there will be another one with similar reactions. But in the end, it's about building a relationship with people that already love each other, just in a different way.



You played My New Family so you know which way I'm gonna go. No reason to be concerned. I will always do my best to make sure it's not going to be boring.
English is not my mother tongue, so please forgive me if my choice of words is weird sometimes as with "convincing" :).

My thinking is that the more VN reflects reality, the easier it is to immerse yourself. I'm not saying it should be 100% realistic. 100% realistic VN would be also boring as fuck and your chances of building a harem would be close to 0 :D.
As I said already: the first two chapters of MNM are interesting to me and that includes Yukiko's story. The things I mentioned are things I think could create a mild challenge for the protagonist in the upcoming chapters. Nothing too serious, just adding a little bit of spice to the already very good dish.

For me, Jessica is so far the most interesting character in MNM! I see great potential in her story. Building a relationship is usually very difficult, and changing the way someone views you (for example love as a family member vs sexual attraction) is extremely difficult.

Contrary to that other poster (though in part they did remind me of this) I actually love that K7's works are basically just fleshing out the "and then they lived happily ever after" part.

I've said before in the MNF thread that that game basically "ended" with a "and then they lived happily ever after" when Martin died.

The rest is just actually seeing the "ever after" (maybe literally in MNF's case).
I like this approach. Portraying the "ever after" :). I have to ponder on this, maybe it will give a bit of new light to my view on MNF :D.
 

Elhemeer

Forum Fanatic
Jun 20, 2022
5,660
9,434
The things I like a lot about MNM are tits and asses. Yeah, I know how it sounds, but hear me out. I like that Killer7 doesn't create humongous boobs and asses. In Killer's games they are more like the nature created them: diverse. Some bigger some smaller. I like that a lot!
Heart wave.gif *This message has been brought to you by "FARL" (Fappers Against Reaction Limits)*
 

OptimusCrime

Member
May 26, 2022
103
245
is MNM set in Chicago? Or am I reading into the GPS map too much. I recognized the three-four streets on it when you're in the car with Yukiko and Lena
 

alutarox

Active Member
Nov 15, 2017
566
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I mean, the only things we know about the setting of MNF is that it's an english speaking nation that has Roman ruins and yet there's the potential to reach another country by rail without noticing. We also know that the vacation house isn't in Germany or Spain (and we know that they're not to the west of Spain as Becca is mocked for thinking Spain was to the east), they're not in Asia and that they have a coastline, but where they are is big enough that there's a large city without access to a beach nearby.

My personal suspicion/pet theory is that MNF is set in an alternative world where at least portions of Italy were annexed by the US post-WW2 and now speak english as a primary language (and are somehow part of the EU or a similar free-travel agreement). This explains the weather (which is very consistently sunny for an english-speaking area in Europe (has to be Europe due to the Roman ruins) hence my mediterrainian idea). It's not Gibraltar, as again, needs a sufficiently large city nearby that is in the same country and isn't coastal. It's not a mediterrainian island due to similar issues and it's not in Portugal due to the whole "Spain to the east" thing. It could also be in Greece/the Balkan coast, but I doubt that as WW2 seems to have happened similarly (from Maddie's second test) and I don't see a reason why any of those areas would be primarily engish-speaking at this point.

Add to that the fact that the MC laments that he never got to go on school trips: "I was stuck at home whilst my classmates were exploring Italy" and that suggests some proximity. The reason I think it's been annexed by the US is because Anita has hospital bills and that's basically a unheard of among non-US english-speaking countries (maybe south africa? I don't know though...).

So yeah, I'm thinking somewhere on the Italian peninsula, probably the western coast, but not near Rome, maybe more northern in Tuscany or perhaps down towards the boot.

MNM is, of course, set in the same universe (we have pretty obvious references to Fiona and Maddie in MNM and a reference to Samantha in MNF). And again, English-speaking country, may be the same rough location as MNF considering that Samantha and Fiona know each other, but Fiona travels a lot, so that's not guaranteed.

All of this is just speculation, though, as where they are isn't really important.
 

OptimusCrime

Member
May 26, 2022
103
245
I thought both games were in unnamed European countries myself ...
On the second trip to the hospital with Yukiko and Lena the streets all line up with the ones in Chicago on the Magnificent Mile. I dunno it just caught me off guard cause I just finally paid attention to the GPS screen and it threw me through a loop when I recognized it rofl.
 
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alutarox

Active Member
Nov 15, 2017
566
1,230
On the second trip to the hospital with Yukiko and Lena the streets all line up with the ones in Chicago on the Magnificent Mile. I dunno it just caught me off guard cause I just finally paid attention to the GPS screen and it threw me through a loop when I recognized it rofl.
I'm willing to bet that's just a stock asset and K7 didn't even pay attention to which map is on it.
 

Killer7

My New Family / My New Memories
Donor
Game Developer
May 14, 2019
2,193
17,275
Both games are set in some "non existant" country, but on earth since the other countries exist. You might get the chance to visit an actual country in My New Memories Chapter 4 though... :p.

Maybe I should clarify: I don't want to set a certain country since it would limit me in some of the assets I can use. That's why the country they live in is never specified.
 
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4.50 star(s) 154 Votes