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[What You Prefer] VN Length Playtime

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#1 by KEVINNGW808
2023-03-08 at 06:43
< report >Hi, KEVINNGW808 here.
This time, we are talking about Visual Novel Lengths.

Lengths in Visual Novels are how many hours to finish those Visual Novels 100% (full complete).
You can set up those length when you input new visual novel or edit existed VN length.
In general, we have 5 types of VN Lengths.

- Very Short. This visual novel is extremely short. You can finish below 2 hours, like 15 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour. Estimate to finish this VN is one day. Length can be variaty depends of readers speed.
- Short. This visual novel is short, but not short as very short. Depends by your reading speed. Finish those VN 100% with 2 until 10 hours. Can take less than 1-2 weeks to finish a short VN.
- Medium. This visual novel length time is most common. Can take less than 1 month to finish a medium length VN.
- Long. Another most common. Mostly popular moeges. Can take 1-2 month to finish 1 Long VN.
- Very Long. This VN not so common, but common for most RPGs/Survival/Fight VNs. This may take more than a month - less than a year to finish.

And now, my question.
If you pick a visual novel, what VN length you prefer mostly?Last modified on 2023-03-08 at 06:44
#2 by Draconyan
2023-03-08 at 10:42
< report >I don't know what I prefer, but the average reading time of all the VNs I've read is about 13 hours.
#3 by cubky
2023-03-08 at 10:47
< report >I don't know what I prefer, but the average reading time of all the VNs I've read is about 30 hours.
#4 by anonymous
2023-03-08 at 13:02
< report >(15 - 50).

The short ones need a very strong sense of direction. They do something specific and the nuances or depth can be hard to fit.

The 50+ ones, have the opposite problem. You may end up seeing too much under the hood and detect a lot of problems or things you dislike.

I think that a solid VN, needs some time to grow on me and only the excellent ones, can extend their welcome.
#5 by zakashi
2023-03-08 at 13:46
< report >My favorite VNs tend to be on the longer side.
#6 by butterflygrrl
2023-03-08 at 14:48
< report >Depends really? I don't think I play a lot of Very Long games... in fact the only one tagged that in my vote list is a game I dropped early because I hated it.

Anything Very Short is probably just a joke game not worth my effort of setting up to play in the first place. Short is to me useless as a category because there's such an enormous difference between a 2 hour game and a 10 hour game that I can't make any meaningful statements about them. There's a huge difference between a fluffy shallow dating sim with four romance options where the whole thing can be 100%ed in three hours because there's nothing there, and a twisty-turny dark mystery with very little branching that takes 9 hours to complete for a fast reader.

Can take less than 1-2 weeks to finish a short VN.

you mean, can take 1-2 days most of the time? (but again this is the problem with the 'short' category)Last modified on 2023-03-08 at 14:49
#7 by cheekyman07
2023-03-08 at 23:04
< report >Medium or longer pretty much, there are some stand out shorts though.
#8 by plisken
2023-03-09 at 03:56
< report >I used to favor very long VNs, but after the dumpster fire that was Umineko, I've grown a bit wary of them. Medium to long is probably my preference these days.
#9 by Redevil387
2023-03-09 at 12:54
< report >Assuming quality and direction are even, I prefer long to very long visual novels.

Short visual novels just feel unsatisfying and are more often (but not exclusively) just gimmicky or 18+ games that are just pumped out for a quick profit. Otherwise they just end too soon for me to enjoy them.

Medium novels are in between. Easier to push out and have a bit of work done on them but the studios don't seem as heavily invested in them.

Writing can vary regardless of story length, but I prefer a longer plot that isn't afraid to really take the time to let you get to know the characters/setting and do things with them.

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