Am I missing something

[juliejayne]

This I bought in the belief that it was a game.... a graphic novel style, yes, but a game.... you know with interaction and choices.

I am 97 minutes in and bored to death with this insane character.

Are there actually any choices, or does this simply go on and on and on.

Seriously considering seeing if I can get a refund!

But as per the title, Am i missing something. Does something happen at 100 minutes... or ever.

[✨Nutkun7993✨]

I think you should refund. Because it sounds like you don't into visual novel.

It will be like that throughout entire "game".

On related note, there're choices but that many.

[juliejayne]

Thanks.

[kyojin_desu]

I'm still considering whether buy this VN or not. I can enjoy "playing" VN, but if it's relatively short, like for instance Doki Doki Literature Club! that I played a while ago. But I heard S;G is pretty damn long. Besides I've already seen the anime (and really loved it btw :) )

[Choco]

The game/anime has a slow build up but has an incredible and rewarding pay off. El Psy Congroo

[juliejayne]

Originally posted by Lintahlo:

Originally posted by kyojin_desu:

I'm still considering whether buy this VN or not. I can enjoy "playing" VN, but if it's relatively short, like for instance Doki Doki Literature Club! that I played a while ago. But I heard S;G is pretty damn long. Besides I've already seen the anime (and really loved it btw :) )

The visual novel offers 20-30 hours of gameplay. What makes it so long are Okabe's inner voice, scenes that are not shown in the anime and multiple endings. People who say they do not like it complain about Okabe's character and slowness of the story. But I think that you will like it, because you love its anime. It's the source material of the anime, you should give it a chance.

There is no appreciable gameplay. At least not for a long long time.... unless you count clicking the mouse at the end of every sentence.
It is IMO a poor "visual" novel as the visuals are poorly drawn, and oft repeated, whilst you have to read through the "story".

Suffice to say that I called it and got a refund. There are better anime, visual novels and games out there.

[kyojin_desu]

I'd still suggest you giving the anime a try, if you haven't seen it yet ;)

[Graysonn]

Why would you play a VN if you have the patience of a gnat? Speaks more about you than it does about the VN.

[Nav]

I honestly don't mind if you dislike the VN genre, but "visuals poorly drawn"??? How the heck could one say S;G has poor visuals???

For the most part, VNs wreck anime and manga in terms of detail and effort put into every single frame/panel, of course that's because the latter two have their own concerns and VNs rely heavily on reusing art. And on top of that, S;G 's art style really contributes to story itself, while it might seem a little off from the "mainstream" style, it builds the atmosphere in a way that other styles couldn't, and NOT in a bad way.

I just wanted to say that even if you didn't like the story (I admit Rintaro was a bit shameful to look at in the beginning) or the gameplay( let's be honest, who the f looks for gameplay in a VN?) , the incredible art of this VN is really something to appreciate.

[juliejayne]

Originally posted by NavKor:

I honestly don't mind if you dislike the VN genre, but "visuals poorly drawn"??? How the heck could one say S;G has poor visuals???

For the most part, VNs wreck anime and manga in terms of detail and effort put into every single frame/panel, of course that's because the latter two have their own concerns and VNs rely heavily on reusing art. And on top of that, S;G 's art style really contributes to story itself, while it might seem a little off from the "mainstream" style, it builds the atmosphere in a way that other styles couldn't, and NOT in a bad way.

I just wanted to say that even if you didn't like the story (I admit Rintaro was a bit shameful to look at in the beginning) or the gameplay( let's be honest, who the f looks for gameplay in a VN?) , the incredible art of this VN is really something to appreciate.

Maybe it gets better later... but from the first 90 minutes it was appallingly bad.(IMHO).... go back and check for yourself.....

But if this is the level of quality to be expected from Anime/VN then I will give them all a miss in the future. I just believe that Anime can be much much better.

[yoscrafty]

Originally posted by juliejayne:

Originally posted by NavKor:

I honestly don't mind if you dislike the VN genre, but "visuals poorly drawn"??? How the heck could one say S;G has poor visuals???

For the most part, VNs wreck anime and manga in terms of detail and effort put into every single frame/panel, of course that's because the latter two have their own concerns and VNs rely heavily on reusing art. And on top of that, S;G 's art style really contributes to story itself, while it might seem a little off from the "mainstream" style, it builds the atmosphere in a way that other styles couldn't, and NOT in a bad way.

I just wanted to say that even if you didn't like the story (I admit Rintaro was a bit shameful to look at in the beginning) or the gameplay( let's be honest, who the f looks for gameplay in a VN?) , the incredible art of this VN is really something to appreciate.

Maybe it gets better later... but from the first 90 minutes it was appallingly bad.(IMHO).... go back and check for yourself.....

But if this is the level of quality to be expected from Anime/VN then I will give them all a miss in the future. I just believe that Anime can be much much better.

I was also in the same boat as you. I purchased the game when it was on sale because I heard so many praise about it. If you go on forums there's a LOOOOOOT of hype and praise for it.

I booted it up and also found myself unbelievably annoyed and put off by the characters. I enjoy Japan/anime culture but this just reeked of aggravating weeb culture. I did the same thing as you and wrote "does this game get any better" and unanimously the reddit forum I was at all said yes. I was about to stop until someone said they were in my shoes and that they too were annoyed by the weeb aspect of this game.

And so I kept going. I finished the game and here's my opinion of it:

The game does get better. The plot really is good, in fact, it's very good. But the way the story is told is way too slow and a lot of it could (and should) have been cut off. There's just a lot of a repetitive moments, too much exposition that doesn't really need to be there to appreciate the core of the game and it's just slow all around.

The game starts revving up by the end of chapter 4. Which is like 8-10 hours into the game (and that's by speed reading it).

I thankfully got it on the Vita and so had the chance to play it on the go and on my bed which made the slow-crawl experience much more bearable.

I could not imagine myself finishing this game on a PC.
While I think the game is grossly overrated, I still think it's good. I will say that I have finished the game with all the endings and watched the anime (mostly to see which one is better), so take that as you will.

Tl;dr
Game does get better but it doesn't really excuse how slow it is (and, in my opinion, barely compensates for it).
If you feel you're really bored, stop the game and go watch the anime where you last left off. Watch the turning point of the story and if you're still not mind blown or in awe, stop there and go on with your life.

[juliejayne]

I have obtained a refund. Now just for a heads up for you all, with the refund money, I bought, Beyond Eyes, Portal 2, Orwell, and Life is Strange.

3 of those are Visual Novels. Life is Strange has game elements, and is immersive.
Orwell,is very structured, but has a story.
Beyond Eyes, is THE Visual novel. There are hardly more than ten words spoken, a very few pieces of text. Yes it i slow paced. But if you have a heart, then go check it out.

I spent 7 - 8 hours engrossed in just 2 of these, and they were well worth the effort. NO they are not Anime.

So thanks to those of you who were honest about Steins Gate. To those of you who enjoy it, great, but it simply was not up to my standards.

[yoscrafty]

Originally posted by juliejayne:

I have obtained a refund. Now just for a heads up for you all, with the refund money, I bought, Beyond Eyes, Portal 2, Orwell, and Life is Strange.

3 of those are Visual Novels. Life is Strange has game elements, and is immersive.
Orwell,is very structured, but has a story.
Beyond Eyes, is THE Visual novel. There are hardly more than ten words spoken, a very few pieces of text. Yes it i slow paced. But if you have a heart, then go check it out.

I spent 7 - 8 hours engrossed in just 2 of these, and they were well worth the effort. NO they are not Anime.

So thanks to those of you who were honest about Steins Gate. To those of you who enjoy it, great, but it simply was not up to my standards.

If I can make one suggestion, I strongly recommend the Danganronpa series if you still have some cash to spare or for a future purchase.

It's a murder mystery game that's unbelievably wacky and has some really funny characters due to unorthodox archetype the designers have made.

I think there are some demos available before purchase so you can try them out. I also think you get a good sense of the game within the first 2 hour as the first trial takes place around that time. Go through that and if you like what you see give it a shot.
Happy gaming.

[VOLIN RABBAH]

Originally posted by juliejayne:

I have obtained a refund. Now just for a heads up for you all, with the refund money, I bought, Beyond Eyes, Portal 2, Orwell, and Life is Strange.

3 of those are Visual Novels. Life is Strange has game elements, and is immersive.
Orwell,is very structured, but has a story.
Beyond Eyes, is THE Visual novel. There are hardly more than ten words spoken, a very few pieces of text. Yes it i slow paced. But if you have a heart, then go check it out.

I spent 7 - 8 hours engrossed in just 2 of these, and they were well worth the effort. NO they are not Anime.

So thanks to those of you who were honest about Steins Gate. To those of you who enjoy it, great, but it simply was not up to my standards.

Sorry, but you have absolutely no idea about wehat a visual novel is. None of these 3 games is a visual novel. Try searching on google what a VN really is. Expecting gameplay like that from a vn is ridiculous, probably only dangaronpa, the zero escape series and Ace Attorney have more gameplay. You bought Steins;Gate without knowing what it was, that was your mistake. Not that you have to like it, just try to know what you are getting into next time, if you go to a play expecting a movie, you will be disappointed.

[VOLIN RABBAH]

Originally posted by yoscrafty:

Originally posted by juliejayne:

Maybe it gets better later... but from the first 90 minutes it was appallingly bad.(IMHO).... go back and check for yourself.....

But if this is the level of quality to be expected from Anime/VN then I will give them all a miss in the future. I just believe that Anime can be much much better.

I was also in the same boat as you. I purchased the game when it was on sale because I heard so many praise about it. If you go on forums there's a LOOOOOOT of hype and praise for it.

I booted it up and also found myself unbelievably annoyed and put off by the characters. I enjoy Japan/anime culture but this just reeked of aggravating weeb culture. I did the same thing as you and wrote "does this game get any better" and unanimously the reddit forum I was at all said yes. I was about to stop until someone said they were in my shoes and that they too were annoyed by the weeb aspect of this game.

And so I kept going. I finished the game and here's my opinion of it:

The game does get better. The plot really is good, in fact, it's very good. But the way the story is told is way too slow and a lot of it could (and should) have been cut off. There's just a lot of a repetitive moments, too much exposition that doesn't really need to be there to appreciate the core of the game and it's just slow all around.

The game starts revving up by the end of chapter 4. Which is like 8-10 hours into the game (and that's by speed reading it).

I thankfully got it on the Vita and so had the chance to play it on the go and on my bed which made the slow-crawl experience much more bearable.

I could not imagine myself finishing this game on a PC.
While I think the game is grossly overrated, I still think it's good. I will say that I have finished the game with all the endings and watched the anime (mostly to see which one is better), so take that as you will.

Tl;dr
Game does get better but it doesn't really excuse how slow it is (and, in my opinion, barely compensates for it).
If you feel you're really bored, stop the game and go watch the anime where you last left off. Watch the turning point of the story and if you're still not mind blown or in awe, stop there and go on with your life.

Steins;Gate actually isn`t nearly as slow as think it is, it just feels like that because games are very fast paced. I mean, read something like Clannad or Umineko and you will see what is slow pacing. Or even if you read books you should be used to that, i mean, just look at The Lord of The Rings or Les Miserables, for example. And exposition do you think that coould be removed? It`s possible to shorten anything ever written, but just because something doesn`t advance the plot is doesn`t mean is unecessary. "Filler" moments are all necessary to get attached to the characters, as character driven story can`t just have character interations that only serves to advance the plot. Not that the aren`t moments that couldn`t have been cut, but not a lot of it could.

[Blowfeld]

Let's be honest, I read a ton of books, but Steins;Gate has its pacing issues, especially noticable in the first third of the VN; With some sharper writing and the possibility to give readers at least a minimum of identification with the protagonist, it would have been a better journey.

Still, a very good VN, but not without its flaws.