Is it good to skip visual novels?

[LonerD]

What do you think about skipping visual novels without reading?
Just 100% speed in game and one more 100% game.
Is it "cheat"? Is it means - you don't really play the game, but get achivements ?

As I see - top achivers on Astats site do it and think it's OK. But it looks some unnaturally...

[Cos]

I can't read.

[ShikenNuggets]

Would skipping all the cutscenes and speed-running the hell out of a normal game be considered okay? I would say yes. It's not really "cheating". You're missing the point of the game itself, but I wouldn't say that it's illegitimate.

That said, it does somewhat defeat the purpose of playing the game in my opinion. I totally understand people who just want to have tons of achievements doing this sort of thing, but I'm not one of those people. I usually only 100% games that I really enjoy (or at least, enjoyed enough to justify getting any easy achievements I didn't get through natural progression).

[The Phantom Chicken of CS_Italy]

It is fine if you "don't really play the game". As an extreme example, how many people who played Universe Sandbox for one year, non-stop "really played" the game every minute and hour of that time?

[ladynadiad]

I honestly don't get people who just skip the entirety of a VN for the achievements. I can get it if you gave it an actual shot and just aren't digging the story and characters and just want to get the rest of the achievements.

Obviously, it's not cheating when the game does include an option to skip text. I just wonder why someone would do this, especially when they spend actual money on the game. I think the person really has crossed the line into caring more about achievements than the games.

[Romek]

For me Visual Novels are not really games. They are more Ebooks with pics.

[-TEK- Melnum]

As the achievements usually simply reward you for reaching certain points in the story or different endings, the methods with which you arrive at them are irrelevant. If you can just press a button to skip through the dialogue, that's the problem with the game's design and not with the people using that built-in feature.

Originally posted by ladynadiad:

I just wonder why someone would do this, especially when they spend actual money on the game. I think the person really has crossed the line into caring more about achievements than the games.

Personally, I mostly get VNs from bundles that I buy for other games, or from sales to satisfy my need to hoard games (it's gotten out of hand, I'm trying to cut back). Since I already have the game, might as well install and plow through it to get the achievements and maybe idle for some cards.

I've read a few of them from start to finish (well, at least one path), but the stories most of the time just aren't that appealing to me. Also, a desktop PC isn't exactly the ideal platform for Visual Novels, I'd rather use a tablet so I could read while I commute. Laptops, however "portable" they're supposed to be, are still quite cumbersome to drag around buses.

[Hysteria]

There are some visual novels that I like to read and was actually pretty enjoyable. For example "The sad story of Emmeline Burns" was pretty good for a free visual novel and had decent music. Another visual novel I played and liked was Written in the Sky because who doesn't like free ecchi scenes am I right? No but in all seriousness everyone has different tastes for games. Some people don't really have an attention span to just sit there and read and I understand that. I personally enjoy some VN. :D

[Askalpone]

Originally posted by Sergije Treci:

To me its if you dont play, read and immerse yourself in the story Why are you playing? The reason why i go after achievements is to squese every last drop the game has to offer.

this ^

[The Stranger]

There is nothing wrong with skipping in visual novels. If the VN has it and user wishes to use it, then it shouldn't be a problem. The user should decide if they want to immerse themselves in the story or not.

What's the next complaint? Should walkthroughs be banned from adventure games because they didn't immerse themselves in the frustration of pixel hunting or figuring out some obtuse logic puzzle? Sorry, but I've experienced my share of this with 90's adventure games when I didn't have internet and was stuck on some bullshit puzzle for 3 months. The euphoric high of finally solving some assinine puzzle afterwards isn't cracked up to what it was supposed to be.

Out of the 100+ visual novels I've played, I've probably read through only 50% of them and skimmed the rest. It helps if you're also a good speed reader so you can just click click away the pages. Some of the VN's you do have to read a little to make sense of the choices if you're not using a walkthrough. So I guess you could say I'm a little biased towards skipping not being a problem. I have no issues with people skipping their way to an easy 100%, but it's also not something to brag about, i.e. I beat this VN in 5 minutes.

[SpookyOwl]

If it's a quality story like Higurashi then I read it, but if it's something "trashy" or i'm just not interested, then I skip through it. I am basically one of those people who likes getting the mega easy 100%'s, but I will slow down and enjoy the experience a fair amount of the time.

[Whimsy]

Part of the enjoyment of getting achievements for me is the sense of accomplishment when you get them. While it's not cheating to skip through a VN, I think you're robbing yourself of the sense of success, as well as the possibility of enjoying a really good story.