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.

 

[joaoka]

I think the large amount of save files slots is to save scenes you want to replay but I think it should be separate from the regular save files ! I think the cupipara fd had something like that too tho it had a crazy ui

Aftrr playing kgk, I really think being able to skip the common route is a blessing

 

[heartimpact]

I'd appreciate it if more games released with font customization because I am always surprised with how much more I struggle with reading text from a visual novel compared to reading ordinary text on a website such as this.

 

[b3rryb3rry]

I've never played a VN that lets you leave notes on the save files but that sounds really cool!! I would love that. Especially when playing a game I haven't touched in a while.
Similarly, It would be nice if games had chapter summaries/character summaries so I can quickly remember what happened when revisiting a game.

ALSO more games need to let you change/adjust the font!!!!!! (Over Requiemz side eye)
Like it's a visual novel, the text readability is so hugely important.
Also idk if it's just me but I hate when VNs use a sans serif font lmao. E.g. For some reason Hakuoki Kyoto Winds/Edo Blossoms on PS Vita uses a sans serif font and the PC version doesn't?? The sans serif font just looks kinda tacky to me.
I was recently playing the Chou no Doku fandisk and I love that it gives you a selection of fonts to choose from in the settings.

 

[Lutina]

Totally agree with all the points that you and previously mentioned. Being able to customize the font and background color such as color, transparency level are really important to me as I often switch platforms back and forth. I have played a few VN games that allow you to "save" whatever the voiced lines you like so that you can rewind them later. I found this feature super interesting and helpful to me because some voiced lines are so fascinating and I would like to be able to replay them again even I finished the game.

 

[caducus]

I've never played a VN that lets you leave notes on the save files but that sounds really cool!! I would love that. Especially when playing a game I haven't touched in a while.
Similarly, It would be nice if games had chapter summaries/character summaries so I can quickly remember what happened when revisiting a game.

Notes on the save file is one of my absolute favorite features. I've only seen a handful of games that do it, but it's SO useful. I'm the type to save certain favorite scenes to replay later, and being able to leave a little note about what I'm saving is super convenient

ALSO more games need to let you change/adjust the font!!!!!! (Over Requiemz side eye)
Like it's a visual novel, the text readability is so hugely important.

&

Totally agree with all the points that you and previously mentioned. Being able to customize the font and background color such as color, transparency level are really important to me as I often switch platforms back and forth.

Off the top of my head, I know Lucky Dog 1 allows you to change the background color of the text box at the bottom of the screen, which was nice. I will admit, I haven't looked much into being able to change the size or the font - I'm going to have to start snooping the settings menu on the games I play to see if that's an option and how often.

You're both right, tho - with a text-based game, I feel like being able to make adjustments to the readability should be a bare-minimum standard.

 

[Marrychan]

I agree with what's been said here; I think I've played quite a few games that let you save and leave a "note" identifying which save is which. I could be wrong, but I believe the PC versions of the Heart no Kuni games —or maybe some other QuinRose title—allow for that. I never used the feature very often, though—since I usually save in the order of the character routes, the save slot itself serves as a sort of mental note.
As for the option to skip ahead to the next dialogue choice, I think it's amazing. It's become a standard feature in many otome games lately, and honestly, it really helps when you want to quickly switch to a different route.
Having a 'dictionary' in the game is a shortcut to reading quickly, and this is so common for me that when it's not there, I get very annoyed. I recently finished Temirana, and every time I had to open the dictionary to read something new, it irritated me that it wouldn't take me straight to the specific word. Even worse, it would always open the pause menu, which broke my immersion—and the game had so much content to read (both useful and useless) explaining what various things were.
One thing I would love to have in every game is something similar to what Winter Wish has, where you get a character profile card when you finish the game. I thought it was adorable—the character talking about themselves, their dislikes, their blood type, their likes, and things like that. It's pretty silly when you think about it, but I really liked it; every time I finished a route, I'd go and read through it.

 

[caducus]

One thing I would love to have in every game is something similar to what Winter Wish has, where you get a character profile card when you finish the game. I thought it was adorable—the character talking about themselves, their dislikes, their blood type, their likes, and things like that. It's pretty silly when you think about it, but I really liked it; every time I finished a route, I'd go and read through it.

I LOVE when a game gives you a little something for finishing a character route. I've seen profile cards before, which are really neat - but I'm also a sucker for little changes in the menu. There's a little 8-bit version of the main character that walks across the screen in the start menu for Dramatical Murder. Every time you finish a route, the character you completed will march behind the MC, and you collect them all in the order you finish them. Such a cool little gimmick.

Or No!! Thank You - when you start the game, the menu shows a picture of the main character with silhouettes of the LIs in the background. Whenever you complete a route, the silhouette is replaced by the actual image of the character until you've completed all routes

Spoiler

after which the main character disappears from the image. It's a really fitting ending for the game and was just one little additional gut punch after I'd completed the whole story

Little rewards and gradual changes upon route completion - or large changes to the menu upon all route completion - are super cool. I know it's not exactly a reasonable standard to hold for a game, but I'd love it if it was because I enjoy them so much.

 

[Ted]

One feature I didn't know about but definitely need now in other games is the ability to save dialogues in a special section.

I discovered this feature in the Switch port of Hashihime of the Old Book Town. I could mark dialogues in the backlog as favorites and listen to them later. 10/10.

 

[bugpudding]

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

Yessss just the sound volume for the little menu buttons!! I feel like everything else is so balanced that when I accidentally fling my mouse over 3-4 buttons while clicking back into the window I blow my ears out! This could obviously just be user error though, maybe I just need to slow down

 

[jurichi]

i think any vn with h-scenes has gotta have an emergency decoy screen/panic button!! off the top of my head, i know room no.9 has a hotkey for this, and it'll pause any sounds and put up a fake text document or webpage. god knows i would have appreciated a feature like that back in middle school when i got caught playing dmmd vitri ending. even as an adult i've had too many close calls lol