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high rated
If you want VN's here, keep voting them and GOG may eventually reconsider it's stance.

Winter Wolves

Love & Order
Summer Session
The Flower Shop: Summer In Fairbrook
The Flower Shop: Winter In Fairbrook
Heileen: Sail Away
Heileen 2: The Hands Of Fate
Heileen 3: New Horizons
Heileen 3: Sea Maidens
Bionic Heart
Bionic Heart 2
Always Remember Me
Planet Stronghold
Loren the Amazon Princess
Loren the Amazon Princess: The Castle Of N'mar
Nicole
Roommates
Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf
Seasons of the Wolf: Bad Blood
Dead But Alive! Southern England

Hanako Games

Long Live the Queen - Already on GOG
Cute Knight Deluxe
Cute Knight Kingdom
Science Girls!
Date Warp
Magical Diary
The Royal Trap
Sword Daughter
Black Closet

MoaCube

Cinders
Solstice

White Cat

Blue Rose

To name just a few. Vote one, none or all. Or pick your favorite(s) from The Visual Novel Database and vote for it or make an entry for it if one hasn't been created already.
Post edited July 24, 2015 by Petrell
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Kristian: Blanket refusal of a genre is stupid. It wouldn't even matter if 99% of the games in a genre were shit. In that case why take it out on the remaining 1%?
The claim isn't that all visual novels are shit (which is obviously a matter of opinion), it's that visual novels don't have enough interactivity to be called games (which is an opinion too, but most VN's only have as much interactivity as a CYOA novel, some don't have ANY choices).

This doesn't include games with a VN-like interface like Princess Maker clones, which are absolutely games and which are on GOG now (Long Live the Queen).

I personally like many VN's (Type-Moon stuff in particular), but I'd be hard pressed to call them games instead of just novels.
Post edited July 24, 2015 by Crosmando
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Crosmando: The claim isn't that all visual novels are shit (which is obviously a matter of opinion), it's that visual novels don't have enough interactivity to be called games (which is an opinion too, but most VN's only have as much interactivity as a CYOA novel, some don't have ANY choices).
But that in itself is a grand generalisation (and an opinion, as you said). Not all VNs have minimal interactivity. Some have a substantial amount, and as Kristian said, why should they all be declined just because the majority are rather passive experiences?

Personally, I think (most) VNs should be considered games, but I've voiced my opinion on this numerous times, so don't feel the need to do so yet again here.

If GOG are going to refuse visual novels outright, well fine, that's one thing. While I may not like it, I can certainly understand the decision considering how many people don't even consider them 'games'.
The problem here is that GOG is now even refusing games that aren't really VNs, but have similar styles/interfaces.
Using the example of HuniePop - it wasn't accepted immediately due to it being perceived as a visual novel. In reality, it is not a visual novel at all, it merely implements a similar aesthetic.
Similarly, Loren Amazon Princess and Seasons of the Wolf which are turn based RPGs with VN elements were also rejected for being 'VNs'.
These titles are most certainly 'games' and shouldn't be rejected for being VNs when they're not.
Post edited July 24, 2015 by Kerchatin
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Kerchatin: Using the example of HuniePop - it wasn't accepted immediately due to it being perceived as a visual novel. In reality, it is not a visual novel at all, it merely implements a similar aesthetic.
Similarly, Loren Amazon Princess and Seasons of the Wolf which are turn based RPGs with VN elements were also rejected for being 'VNs'.
These titles are most certainly 'games' and shouldn't be rejected for being VNs when they're not.
Hur dur, then they aren't [pure] VN's, are they, we are talking about VN's, not VN-RPGs or managerial Princess Maker clones where you have stats (HuniePop and others seem to be in this category).

Even the VN's with completely branching story are still novels with pictures (and sound/voice). If they have other elements like turn-based combat or whatever then we aren't talking about your average VN are we.

Do you think CYOA audiobooks are games? They have choices, they have sound, and even some pictures (I assume?).

Again I'm not neccessarily passing my own judgment, I'm just trying to make sense of what GOG management's thinking is. GOG has obviously drawn a line between "pure" VN's and games-with-VN-elements like Long Live the Queen.
Post edited July 24, 2015 by Crosmando
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Crosmando: Hur dur, then they aren't [pure] VN's, are they, we are talking about VN's, not VN-RPGs or managerial Princess Maker clones where you have stats (HuniePop and others seem to be in this category).

Even the VN's with completely branching story are still novels with pictures (and sound/voice). If they have other elements like turn-based combat or whatever then we aren't talking about your average VN are we.

Do you think CYOA audiobooks are games? They have choices, they have sound, and even some pictures (I assume?).

Again I'm not neccessarily passing my own judgment, I'm just trying to make sense of what GOG management's thinking is. GOG has obviously drawn a line between "pure" VN's and games-with-VN-elements like Long Live the Queen.
Hur dur, you didn't fully read what I said, did you? ;)
I know very well they're not pure VNs. I never said that.
Look back at what I said before the part you quoted:

"The problem here is that GOG is now even refusing games that aren't really VNs, but have similar styles/interfaces"
My point was that while GOG are rejecting pure VNs, they're also automatically rejecting many other games like those that I mentioned, that only have VN elements (but are what you'd consider 'real' games)! This is surely an issue worth addressing and pointing out.
As I also said before, I can possibly understand GOG refusing true VNs, but refusing other games purely because they share a similar style seems quite bad.

It's pretty clear that GOG has not drawn that line (as they did accept Hatoful Boyfriend, which is very much a VN), or at least changed it since the release of Long Live the Queen (a month after Hatoful).
HuniePop (and others) were rejected after the release of Long Live the Queen, reason being "we don't accept visual novels", so your point is somewhat moot.

Please note that it very much comes across as though you are passing your own judgement. I think most people here, be they for or against visual novels know that there is some debate as to whether VNs should be considered 'real games'. It's one thing to simply state that this is likely the reason GOG doesn't accept VNs (which it probably is), and another to start bringing in arguments about CYOA audio books and generally coming across rather negatively.

For the record, I probably would consider a CYOA audio book (though Ive never tried one)a game assuming it has a decent number of choices, good and bad endings, etc. Perhaps a very passive and limited one, but a game nonetheless.
This all ultimately comes down to what we should consider games and what we shouldn't. How much interactivity exactly should it have? What form must it take? How much focus on story can it have compared to gameplay?
Some people don't consider 'To the Moon', or 'A Bird Story', or 'Gone Home' games. Should we then not consider something like 'Planetscape Torment' a game, as that has a large focus on narrative and very little combat?
Obviously I'm being a little facetious, but I just don't like the idea of limiting the possibilities of what games can be. Naturally, not everything can be a game, but in the case of visual novels, I do consider them as such.

Good day kind sir. :)
Post edited July 24, 2015 by Kerchatin
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hedwards: Then there's people who insist upon calling comic books graphic novels purely as a measure of elitism. I sometimes attend meetups with professional comic book and comic strip folks and I never got the impression from them that the distinction is about anything other than elitism.
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Kerchatin: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the assumption that 'graphic novels' specifically referred to complete 'long form' comic narratives published into a full book or 'novel'.
'Comic books' on the other hand are the single issues, or periodicals, not necessarily intended to be a full book, or 'novel'.
They're all comic books. The mainreason for the term Graphic Novel is to try and dress it up and legitimize it. Something it wouldn't need if people that like comic books would stop letting people get to them. It's a lot like computer games. There's a stereotype of it being for kids stuff, but inventing a new word really doesn't solve the problem.

I do agree that the book format is somewhat different than the regular one, but trying to draw a line there is harder than it seems. For example Superman has had special issues that were much longer and told a single story, even though it's more of a periodical with timelines spanning over longer periods of time.

Also, I'm not really sure how common it is for people to use both terms. It seems to me that the people I encounter will use one or the other. I'll have to pay more attention to see if people are actually making a distinction, because I'm not sure people do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcGPYxpPt6Q

Jesus, why did I even look that game up....
Post edited July 24, 2015 by Crosmando
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hedwards: snip
Thanks for clearing that up,and fair enough! :)
You brought up some good points.

Personally, I've heard people use both terms fairly often, but I don't know, maybe that's just my group of friends... :p
Post edited July 24, 2015 by Kerchatin
What it's fun is that I didn't even submit my VN/Dating Sims, but only my RPGs, and they still were rejected :)
In particular SOTW, I think it's hard to call it a "visual novel". It's much more a RPG than anything else.
GOG, you don't want more money? Wherefore?
Annnd here we have Humble Sekai Project Bundle. xD
cus they're too lazy for age verification
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zeroxxx: Annnd here we have Humble Sekai Project Bundle. xD
Annnd HELLO! thread necro, how have you been? Haven't seen you since last year, hows the family? Me? Could be better, been waiting for GOG to start adding VN's at some point...
Diablo 2 STRIKES AGAIN!

ps I don't consider vn's games at all they are interactive books with moving images. but it's welcome here any day by me ;)
Post edited June 07, 2017 by UnrealQuakie
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KneeTheCap: Believe it or not, Visual Novels have a pretty decent sized fanbase, and if GOG chooses to alienate them, it's a real shame. But it's GOG's call, maybe they don't want to get more customers and money.
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jamyskis: The fact that visual novels seem to end up in bundles pretty quickly...
Maybe a certain kind of low-quality VN does, but a lot of the good ones are rarely if ever bundled and are kept for sale at almost full MSRP.