Quality of Life - UI/features in BL/Otome VNs that should be standard

[caducus]

So I, like all of you, play a lot of VNs, and there's a couple of semi-standard features that most games have:

• Save from anywhere
• Ridiculous number of save spots (anything more than 30, I will probably never use)
• Skip already-seen dialogue on replay
• Hide the text box/UI overlay to be able to look at the sprites/backgrounds or CGs
• CG gallery
• H-Scene replay

I feel like these are pretty normal, to the point that I get actively annoyed if a game DOESN'T have them.

That said, are there any features that some games have that, once you've experienced, you can't go back? Things that you think SHOULD be the standard, the same way the above are?

For me, there's three.

• Able to leave notes on save spots
  • A couple of games I've played have let me write my own notes on my saves. I find this SUPER helpful when I'm saving a scene that I want to go back and replay in future.
• Scene rewind
  • Most games keep track of previous dialogue in a backlog text screen so you can read what happened previously. But I LOVE when games let me rewind a scene that I'm currently playing, either because I want to replay just a little bit of it, or I missed something and I prefer to go through it again. Some games will also let you rewind and pick different dialogue options, allowing you backtrack without reverting to a previous save. I wish EVERY game did this, it makes life so much easier.
• Previous dialogue highlighted OR story branch tree in extras
  • I've seen it sometimes where the options you picked before are highlighted in a different color to let you know what you've already chosen. It makes it easier to see what you've done and where you've branched off. This is especially helpful in VNs where you get more than 2 dialogue choice options, and I kind of wish it was everywhere. Maybe with a toggle on/off option for people who don't like it.
  • Alternately, I've seen it where a routes branches are mapped out in a tree, which makes it so much easier to hunt down endings and different paths. Sometimes they will also let you select a scene from the tree, letting you start from anywhere after you've completed the route.

I'm mostly just curious. Are there any features you look for that make your life easier? Make the game that much more enjoyable? What's your quality of life ask in a perfect VN?

 

[bugpudding]

Ohhhh, I definitely agree about the being able to rewind. Sometimes I'll move on to the next dialogue and then realize that I didn't actually fully comprehend what the previous sentence was. And sometimes... I realize that I'm lost in a conversation that's happening because I managed to space out and just continue the story without actually reading. So having the rewind option is suuuuper helpful for me - it's also way easier than just reading through the history because that's usually just set up as one massive chunk of text. Plus you can catch any sprite/portrait changes!

Also this one is just a very minor one for me - but having the option to turn down menu sound effects. Ooe has a nice chime noise when you mouse over the options (Auto advance, save, load, etc) but the amount of times I've accidentally moused over options while clicking made me hate that noise sooo much. It's so loud!!

 

[ufoufufu]

Oh wow I don't think I've come across the leave-notes-on-a-save feature before, which games were those?

I think it's pretty standard nowadays but I've gotten used to voice replay enough to get a little taken aback when I'm playing an older game and remember I can't do that lol

And not a must have QoL feature since not every game would warrant it, but I always like when there's an in-game guide containing info about all the characters the protagonist has encountered or defining unique terminology. Especially for longer games!

 

[caducus]

Also this one is just a very minor one for me - but having the option to turn down menu sound effects. Ooe has a nice chime noise when you mouse over the options (Auto advance, save, load, etc) but the amount of times I've accidentally moused over options while clicking made me hate that noise sooo much. It's so loud!!

I don't think I've ever really thought about if a game's menus has an option to change the sound effects. I feel like most games have the option to make sound adjustments in the settings and the menu would be included in that, but I've certainly not tested it Were you looking to ONLY change the menu sound volume and not anything in the game itself?

Also, on a related but not entirely related note, Hashihime of the Old Book Town has menu effects/visuals that take a couple of seconds to load through, and it does it EVERY time you access the menu. No way to speed it up or fastforward it, and you couldn't select any menu options until it finished - it drove me nuts! Like, okay, the first time you load the game, fine. But do you have to hit me with it EVERY time I access the CG gallery and go back to the main menu?

Maybe ADELTA just likes to make us suffer in little, Chinese-water-torture ways

Oh wow I don't think I've come across the leave-notes-on-a-save feature before, which games were those?

Two that come to mind are both BL. The Divine Speaker by Two and a Half Studios, and Voice Love on Air by Softstar Entertainment. It's been a while since I've played it, but I think you can also do so for Seven Nexus, by BLits.

I think it's pretty standard nowadays but I've gotten used to voice replay enough to get a little taken aback when I'm playing an older game and remember I can't do that lol

Fair. I do like voice replay. I also like it when a game allows me to star and save my favorite voiced lines for replay anytime - HolicWorks' Tokyo Onmyouji gave that option and I LOVED it.

And not a must have QoL feature since not every game would warrant it, but I always like when there's an in-game guide containing info about all the characters the protagonist has encountered or defining unique terminology. Especially for longer games!

I can get behind that, too. I love a game with solid world-building, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much to remember. Glossaries for characters, events, and terms are really nice to have, and the completionist in me likes filling out all the entries.