Some people think that writing branching story in the visual novel is the main part to make your visual novel looks nice. Not only visual novels, such assumption is also spreading on other story-based games. The question is: is this myth true? The answer is yes and no.
I say "yes" because branching stories made your story seem more complex and real. We live in a world which full of choices, this "branching stories" thing provides it. We're not just readers, but also becoming main characters in the story we are reading. With branching stories, developers expected that the reader will "sink" deeper into the story.
And I say "no" because there is no guarantee that the branching stories are far superior than linear stories. Visual novel is a visualized novel, so it means that the power of visual novel is equal to the regular novel: the story itself. It doesn't matter how many endings that you have in your story, if the story is bad, the visual novel is bad. Reader will "run away" before they finish reading it. Take a look at Ripples (visual novel made by Sakevisual), without any branching in the story, it is still interesting to read. Why? Back to our answer beforehand: it's all about the quality of story.
So, we come to a conclusion that the quality of visual novel is not determined by the branching. Branching story is just a "seasoning powder" for VN, but it's not the main component. Its main component is certainly a story itself. As said by someone: "choices do not make good stories, good writing does."
Note : This note is not intended to discredit branching stories fans, I just convey a broader insight about branching stories facts. :)
Cheers ,
Bima Ratio - Littobi Visual Lead Writer
Core of Visual Novel
Posted by littobi.visual on
