When do you feel a VN is "overstaying their welcome"?

[K115]

I want to start with the main question, to give further detail: When do you guys feel like a visual novel (usually done in Ren'Py) has too many scenes or think it has lasted way too much irl time-wise? Is there really such a point right now in some of the games here?

I remember more often than not playing a finished game and thinking "damn these scenes are really good" or "these scenarios are really hot, even if they are a bit cliché", but so far, I haven't once thought "man there are way too many scenes left to unlock still and some of them are probably unobtainable for the route in which I am on but there's still a lot to get from my route". I haven't been in that situation before and I wanted to try my hand at creating a VN with multiple girls (probably 5 or 6 tops), but as I was thinking basic scenarios and progression, I thought to myself "Huh, I want to do a lot but I don't know if players would appreciate having too much content. Wait... is there ever "too much content" in these"?

And that's how I ended up coming here and make my first thread, I want to know everyone's opinions. To give a little more context, for having multiple girls, I may be giving off a "free roam" style of VN but I'm not going for that, the question would be oriented for like a VN with branching paths but no free roam exploring as to not have to grind stats for multiple "days" just to get a scene or get the game/plot moving. I'm sort of aiming for something similar to Dreams of Desire, Where the Heart Is, Where it All Began, Girlfriend Tapes etc. It's not going to be 3D models, I want to make it using drawings so the last example is probably closer to what I'm going for.

 

[LewdSinner]

There's no such thing as "too much content". It's all about execution.

 

[Prokopije]

Game can't have too much content, at least not in my opinion. From my perspective, game can have too many characters (girls), which is "problem" for players like me who don't cultivate harem-ish playstyle and chase multiple girls at once, but like to focus on one girl, cause sometimes we wait too long for that particular girl to have some content.
More times I've been thinking that game ended way too early than it's lasting longer than it should (mainly due to lack of inspiration from dev how to continue story, repeating patterns all over again, etc. Or some drastic plot twists, for example having a "realistic" game, than after 5-6 updates, all of sudden aliens invading earth, demons rising from hell and game goes into some full scale fantasy mode. Screw that).

 

[Biceptual]

Understanding that I come to these games for the erotic content, there can't be too much. What there can be too much of is dialogue that is merely expository, and doesn't advance the action. There can also be too much grind in those games which have stat or money dependencies for advancing the game. Of course, if the content is merely the same scenes over and over again, then that is a different problem.

 

[HarveyD]

There can certainly be too much content in a game. Do I really need to see my character take a piss? Did I really need all that exposition? Do I really wanna wait 6 months for more content with my favourite of the games 20+ girls?

 

[imelman]

A game having everything in it is a recipe for a disaster, like a so called "realistic" modern shooter with anime girls that do stuff that completely breaks the immersion for sake of either being sexy or cute, for no reason at all other than trying to appeal as many as possible - and failing, since you have to focus on a particular point, like let's say a down to earth story with humans that act like humans, not like aliens that barely understand human behavior because otherwise it would be completely nonsensical and off-putting.

So yes, focus on a particular subject, don't do stuff that has no logic or sense, do not bloat content and that's a sign of something at very least acceptable.

 

[K115]

Thanks everyone for your answers! It really helped me understand what I should go for with my idea.

So yes, focus on a particular subject, don't do stuff that has no logic or sense, do not bloat content and that's a sign of something at very least acceptable.

Thank you for the advice, I'll keep it in mind