Do you prefer more choices or more reading?

[ryuntsai]

One of the reasons I like to play visual novels is the choices. Being able to influence the story and reach different endings based on the decisions I make makes the experience feel much more immersive—something that you don't really experience by reading a regular novel (where there is only one ending).

So if I had to choose, I'd definitely lean toward VNs with meaningful choices. That said, if the story is really engaging, I don't mind a long common route or a more reading-heavy experience either haha.

 

[Nihilistic]

I enjoy more choices! As much as I enjoy an engaging story I also enjoy character building my own character when it has options too. It's more a western thing to have more choices but I do enjoy it especially when the protagonist is a self insert or a blank slate.

Though if it's a full story I don't mind as long as the choices are impactful and actually change the way the story flows.

 

[ninnikuryona]

im fine with either, but ive noticed lately that ive been leaning more towards kinetic vns as of late. sometimes even vns with choices or different routes feel like you are only supposed to play them the "correct" way, otherwise the story is pure nonsense. same thing with regular choice-driven games (*cough*quantic dream*cough*)
other than that, im just too scared of making mistakes.. even with guides. i remember reading gatenkei (not otome) last year, and i followed the guide exactly as it was written, yet i still got stuck on end03 and end06 for some reason. end03 was an easy fix, but i had to skip through the entire vn to fix the endless end06 loop! had to whip out a separate japanese guide and follow it instead of the translated english one. choices are facking scary....!!!!
besides, having to reread a vn and completely ignoring the boy you were pursuing just a while ago is,, really painful sometimes!!:"3 so even a single hero vns are okay to me. but even then, its not like a single hero equals kinetic vn.. navigatore is a good counterexample..!

it all depends on the story honestly. many people think kinetic vns are worthless or uninteresting, but higurashi didnt just become so popular for no reason at all, right? (not mentioning umineko because it is its own can of worms LOL) and as someone with a fanfiction reading background, its like a pure, uninterruptable(?) reading experience to me, just with pretty pngs to look at while you digest the story. im fine with that!! kinetic vns with nvl style presentation are the greatest (in my eyes).....!

 

[meruruchan]

I feel like I enjoy lots of choices in theory, but then again.. I religiously follow a guide anyway, so I guess it's pretty much the same as if it were a kinetic novel But I do love a VN which has lots of different endings, because I feel like that's the unique appeal of a VN over another medium: the way it can play with branching stories and different routes.

 

[nerim-w]

More choices all the way! As someone who plays a game raw (no guide/walkthroughs) I think its so much more fun to have choices and influence where the story goes - and as a self inserter its nice to inject a bjt of my own thoughts/actions into the story. Even small choices that dont change the story much apart from a small detail, like in Bustafellows where you can get Shu to stop smoking , those little changes can really enhance my experience imo!

 

[Watera]

I prefer more choices, i like to get more involved with how story go , sometimes heroine will agree on something without my opinion, i would like to disagree when everyone agree on something and see how will this choice affect my relationship with everyone or everyone will think about it and follow me instead

 

[totallyamanda]

it depends solely on the quality of the story or impact of the choices. ల(´= ◡ =｀)

a really riveting story will be engaging enough to keep me interested even on a linear path so a lack of choice or limited choices will not deter me from continuing a story.

on the flip side, i am a sucker for flavor text choices that may not impact the story and just gives me a little cute or flirty interaction. they do not have to change anything story wise accept for a few sentences. what can i say? brain go brr for flirting. (∗ᵕ̴᷄◡ᵕ̴᷅∗)՞

if it's more like interactive fiction where the choices shape MC's personality, background stat raising, or locks routes and options, i enjoy them as well. although, like others and myself, i'm an avid walkthrough user who will avoid truly sad bad ends so sometimes the pressure of choices, especially a huge amount of such, can be daunting and turns the game into a stressful chore. (´･_･`)

 

[usagi-k]

i love more choices as long as they actually lead to something !! a lot of times vn's tend to have choices that either lead to the same conclusion / merge into the same branch or are just present randomly for the sake of it TT choices matter to me esp since im someone who really enjoys exploring all the different endings (even if theyre just abrupt instakill bad ends lol) cause i think dialogues in those less than ideal scenes also help in shaping a character a lot ! esp since i have found myself liking or disliking a character just because of the side i saw of them through their other endings ^^

the choices dont always have to meaningful in terms of shaping the plot tho i also enjoy it when gag choices are included so that you can have a sillier interaction with a character by asking something personal instead of what you should actually be investigating or when you have a bunch of choices that all say the same thing just to reinforce how the mc feels about the situation !

 

[AyaAyaya]

I would prefer reading more (I love playing kinetic novel) but choices sure have its own fun interesting point too...

 

[Harumichi]

I think having more choices is a good thing. I also like reading long stories, but I love when the choices let us decide which path we take and what kind of ending we'll get :)

 

[washandwash]

More choices !!
Too much reading make it feel like I am watching animations.
If I wanted to watch an anime, I would have just done that instead of playing a game.

 

[Rbymprism]

I prefer more choices as well. I think it helps games not feel so linear if they are big enough decisions. Ones that have small impact are fine but it does leave me wondering why even add it lol

 

[Litth]

i prefer more reading. I play VNs because I want to experience a good story first. Choices are fun, but I'd rather have fewer meaningful ones than lots of random dialogue options that don't really change anything.

 

[satory]

I'm fine with either because more choices or not - I will always use a guide, so it doesn't matter in the end. If anything, more choices - more time spend skipping already read parts. Date with Death was a good example of how many choices can be bad - they couldn't even implement auto skipping, player had to click everything manualy and it was quite a chore to collect endings

 

[ruuuiii]

I think a good balance of both is the best! I like choices, but i hate choices that do nothing except give you two different lines of dialogue- i only like choices that have an impact on the course of the story or at least unlock a new cg. It would also get overwhelming if there's too many choices, so a balanced experience is my preference.

 

[makancurry]

Hmm i think it depends, i think it better to balance between choices and stories
I don't mind stories with few choices if the choices can impact the story more, i dislike choices that don't impact much but i also dislike choices that seemingly ordinary but impact the story too much... it's back again to the balance

 

[Marrychan]

I'm fine either way regarding whether there are many choices or not. I really enjoy reading, and I think having more choices is important when there's a cast of multiple characters. Aside from that, having few choices doesn't bother me much; Cupid Parasite secret route basically has no choices at all, for example.

 

[Puaro]

I prefer more choices, but of course it should be something more balanced. One choice every 30 minutes can become very boring if the writing isn't good.

 

[fr4pp3cinn]

I prefer more reading haha
I do like when games have fun and less obvious choices, but VNs usually won't have many different endings for a single route (a good ending, one or two bad ones, a normal ending if they're feeling fancy lol) so it just feels like padding game length to me. I don't really care for flavor text, even if it's a few paragraphs instead of lines lol it's pretty clear when the story goes one way and you notice the choices weren't planned as carefully

I'd also like if games were a bit more creative with choice styles, it's one thing I find really fun in Nitroplus/Nitro Chiral games. sweet pool's instinct/reason choices were pretty cool! DMMD's route-ending choices too :)

Not otoge/BL, but one funny thing about choices was when I played Fullmetal Daemon Muramasa Nemesis Route. Suddenly I'm in some kind of LucasArt 90s adventure game exploring that damn aircraft... and then random kendo questions during battles, that don't happen in any other route. What was that. It was so much padding for a game that otherwise barely had choices lmao

 

[eoeoao]

I prefer visual novels with more choices because I enjoy the feeling of making my own decisions. That said, having more to read helps me become more immersed in the story, so I think that's important too.

If I had to choose one, I'd say it depends on the game. For story-focused titles, I'd prefer more reading, but otherwise I'd lean toward having more choices. Overall, I think the ideal visual novel is one that strikes a good balance between the two.

 

[Sphyixz]

It depends on the story.

I don't really mind character focused games or plot heavy ones more, as long as I'm actually engaged. But if a game just keeps going and going without any choices and it's not really grabbing me, I start drifting off. Sometimes I'll end up skipping a bit just to get to the next choice.

 

[judahslove]

I think more choices is better, since if we look up we barely have any choices tbh ( most r done in the prologue or before we get into a specific route ) after that u have around 0 to 4 choices in a chapter which i found kinda sad….i mean otome games cost around 50 bucks so i would like them to make us interact more than just keeping spamming A

 

[virtua1]

I would like more choices that actually impact the direction of the story. It's nice to have that sense of control over the story. The problem with a lot of the games is that they have "fake" choices that don't make a difference.

 

[Lilia16]

I prefer having more choices. Reading is nice, but I find it easier when there are clear options to choose from.

 

[myfrral]

I like to have more choices because it allows me to better immerse myself in the storyline, experience it firsthand, and choose the direction and different endings of the characters according to my own wishes.