What's a visual deal breaker to you ?

[laidy]

• Regarding the content:

I don't like games that prioritize the canon guy too much. I especially hate it when the other LIs only get half-baked happy endings, while true happiness is reserved for the canon route (usually the True End). Some games even treat each route as just a reset process for the MC until she reaches the True Ending. I find it so unfair. Why can't every guy have a satisfying, complete happy ending with the MC? Another reason is that I rarely ever fall for the canon guy.

Because of this, I've skipped quite a few popular titles. I know this trope is super common, though, haha...

• Regarding the display:

I really don't like games with this kind of layout:

I play otome games for the characters first (I love looking at the art) and the story comes second. Why on earth would they display the dialogue in a way that covers the entire background and the characters like this? I usually pick games based on the art style first. There have been several games I actually liked (including the one in the picture) but I ended up skipping them anyway just because of this layout.

Also, I can't stand games with tiny text. My eyesight isn't the best, so if a game has poor, small, or hard to read fonts, it's an auto skip for me.

Fun fact: I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but this is actually the older "sound novel" style of visual novel!!! It's a more dated predecessor of visual novels! I also found it really immersion breaking lol ;^; so much so that there's even a mod for Higurashi (horror VN) that changes it from that format to the modern format which I ended up having to use... I think the fate eroge games also have this sound novel format!

 

[Nekowan]

For me, it's also the art as well, since it's the first thing you look at when you check out the game. And then... consider the abuse of AI nowadays, I also have to check to see if the art is AI or the script is written by AI. It felt awkward sometimes.

 

[Kyouri]

I'm not a fan of realistic art styles like Love and Deepspace, for example. It feels a bit uncanny to me personally, even though I've heard a lot of good things about the game itself :( I just can't get past the art style.

I totally get that!! I struggled so hard with LaDS because something about it just felt too uncanny to me. So yeah, I'm similar that I'm not really into 3D/Realistic. I'm also generally turned off by that uhmmm Tumblr/American Comic/art style? (hard for me to put it, you might know what I mean..) it's the reason I just can't muster interest in a lot of English Indie otome things.. No hate to the artists, it's just a style I am personally not attracted to at all.

 

[raspberyll]

I totally get that!! I struggled so hard with LaDS because something about it just felt too uncanny to me. So yeah, I'm similar that I'm not really into 3D/Realistic. I'm also generally turned off by that uhmmm Tumblr/American Comic/art style? (hard for me to put it, you might know what I mean..) it's the reason I just can't muster interest in a lot of English Indie otome things.. No hate to the artists, it's just a style I am personally not attracted to at all.

I know exactly what you mean! I was having a hard time putting that art style into words, so I just left it out of my original comment lol. Something about western artstyles just doesn't interest me at all... That style seems common with Indie otomes. But I feel the same exact way! It makes it hard for me to find any interest in playing Western Indie games that lean into that art style...

 

[LuhgVekr]

Faceless MCS, for sure. I don't like self-inserting myself into a story, it lowkey breaks the immersion for me HAHAH. And also, it's a major turn off when the characters have this really weird proportion especially when their face looks off

 

[tf_charge]

i personally love fleshed out and pretty mcs more than plain ones but mcs that look fresh out of a galge would be a total miss with me lol

What's wrong with galge characters? Surely you mean "eroge" right? I'd argue a large number of otoge MCs would fit no problem into galges, especially given how pretty some of them are.

 

[bokuranoOurs]

Visual dealbreaker for me is extreme dorito shape, why are their legs like that? It's like a tomato with toothpicks for legs.

 

[m000000]

I don't think I really have many dealbreakers…
If anything, I tend to avoid characters who look way too young compared to their actual personality. I know that's part of the appeal for some people, but it just makes me feel kind of guilty for some reason lol. Even if they're technically adults, if they look super baby-faced, I just can't fully relax into the route.

 

[fraizumin]

Too much sprite animation. I don't mind simple eye and mouth movement, but the shaking hands, head tilt, pose change, breath etc - i often find myself avoiding looking at sprites if they have a lot of movement.

I also can't play games with first person view (like LaDS), since i don't self-insert and it just feels awkward for some reason ":\

 

[Leviathan_01]

With me, it's the opposite. I always consider the game's plot first and then the art, so I don't worry so much about the visuals as long as they're not AI-generated.

 

[Leviathan_01]

LOL 100% agree with faceless MC and when the proportions are off.

the biggest thing that bothers me though... are when characters pose unnaturally haha

dang im trying to find the game where this was a huge culprit.. hang on.

edit: this guy from amnesia: memories.

edit2: i guess stick legs from this game was also criticized which i kinda agree with too lol

He's making a Jojo pose XD

 

[あ～ん]

I think art-wise, if there is no mc face expression left to the text box, cause I don't like self insert much. And there is Seiyuus that I don't like voices of, but I'm trying to accept them (T . T)