In BL VNs: do you care more about the protagonist or the LIs?

[usagi-k]

im having trouble phrasing the question lol but basically ive noticed in most of the blvns i've played my main source of enjoyment of the story was because of the protagonist(s) and his writing! i obviously care for the lis as well and the different dynamics each guy has but the main character is almost always who i end up being attached to the most and who influences my experience with the story ^^

as an example while i really really love sweet pool the character i enjoyed fully in it was youji himself and only him TT tetsuo is also an important character and i did enjoy zenya's backstory and the suprise that was makoto's route lol but at the end of the day i dont think i wouldve cared for the game anywhere near as much as i did if it wasnt youji's story whereas if you swapped out any of the li for any other character or changed their writing i honestly dont think it wouldve affected my experience too much TT

i sort of felt this with luckydog1 too when i played it like i love luchino down bad and everyone in that game is so freaking entertaining but the center of it was gian to me and i find that his position and writing is irreplaceable ^^

from what i remember the only time i cared more about the lis in a game compared to the mc was uruc but that's just because yomi was too good lol

tldr is i guess i care far more about the protagonist in blvns rather than the lis because if his writing is good then i can already tell the im going to love my time with it and i wanna know if it's the same for everyone else ^^

 

[haiane]

I think your question is perfectly comprehensible. For me, it varies from game to game. When I was playing Tokyo Onmyouji, it was definitely Tengenjibashi who took the spotlight (he's still my No.1 protagonist). Same thing was in Slow Damage - Towa was awesome. About sweet pool and Luckydog1 - I think we're on the same page On the other hand, in Nie no Machi I actually preferred the LIs first - Hisora was such a hopeless aho, but in the true route and fandisc (especially in that mind**** "nii-chan" end) I ended up caring for both a lot, probably because I got to know him better. With Galtia, I was definitely more into the LIs, same with Lamento.

In the end I guess I care more about the better fleshed out or distinctive characters, be it protagonists or LIs. Protagonists have often the advantage in BL, because writers aren't too afraid to give them a personality, and since the story is written from their point of view, they get more opportunities to shine.

 

[ufoufufu]

Boring answer but what usually sells BL for me are the dynamics as whole I think. I do need a well written/fun/interesting protagonist because not only he's the lens through which I'll experience the game world but also ideally he'll make the LIs shine! So I think a boring MC would hinder my enjoyment of the LIs themselves as well. I too can't imagine luckydog without the luckydog himself but I also need Youji to be surrounded by those exact freaks around him to get the best out of his nitro+ essential deep seated alienation from humanity.

That being said I don't mind games with a primary focus on the protagonist. Like when it comes to Slow Damage, most people I've seen that didn't like it also didn't care for Towa or the amount of focus on him, but I enjoyed it (though I wouldn't say the LIs were uninteresting at all). Also my Uuuruc favorite is Shoutarou and he was big part of what made the game so special for me...

 

[fr4pp3cinn]

I'd say I usually get interested in a game for the LIs, but whether I like it or not depends on the protagonist! sweet pool is my favorite N+C game, just because I loved Youji so much lol

The thing is, if the game has average LIs but an amazing protagonist I'll stick with it (and even get some enjoyment). But if the game has a bad MC, it'll sour my opinion on it very quickly, even if the LIs are well written ;b

However, the way the LIs are written is very important to help me learn more about the protagonist! To me, with sweet pool it was (mostly) Youji's relationship to Makoto, DMMD was Koujaku and Clear, LD1 was Ivan... I feel like the way the protagonist deals with all sorts of LIs is a huge part of his personality! That's not specific to BL for me (I get that with galge/eroge also), but it's the VN genre where most of my favorite characters are MCs

 

[satory]

I wanted with a lot of certanty answer that I always love MCs more, but then there is Tamamori from Hashihime. I don't hate him, but he is not the best person So I *almost* always care more about MCs, I can't read stories where a character I take no interest in has the most amount of screen time.

And I'd be kind of put off (mb jealous is the right word here), if I didn't like MC and they ended up with a good LI in the end, so I tend to drop or don't read stories that fall in this category. Although Tamamori can have his guys

 

[Natalieee62]

A majority of the time I definitely fall in love with the protagonist much more than the love interests ^^' Especially when they get more development or the final route is focused on them moreso, I love it!! I also loved Youji from Sweet pool more than the other characters, I feel like Nitro Chiral games always have lots of focus on their main leads ^^

My favourite MC though is definitely Michael from Shingakkou, I could write an essay on how he's one of the best written protagonists of all time but I'd be here hours... ｡⁠:ﾟ⁠(⁠;⁠´⁠∩⁠`⁠;⁠)ﾟ⁠:⁠｡ but at the same time, there are definitely games I prefer the love interests for. In Ooe I loved Oosaki but the other characters definitely stole the spotlight ^^'

 

[shuubaruotaku]

ooh this is a tough question, in my case theres two blvns i love that i care more about the protag than the li's.. it depends on the game. for example, hanakage i care about the protag more than the love interests because of how i didn't care about them being with the protag. hanamachi i care about the protag more because he's my favorite. togainu no chi i care about one of the li's more but i also care about the protag. so it really just depends on the game and if i feel a close bond with them