discussion Thoughts on VN vs. Sandbox

[Romalous]

You only have to look at the plethora of point and click adventure games to see how it could be done it's just most devs of adult themed games tend to leave in things like repeatable events or make you click 20 times to leave a house which ruins the overall experience

 

[BS3DX]

I like sandbox over VN but I would prefer RPG with sandbox. Black Parasite is a good example of this but I would change the battle exp style. that one-time exp per battle type is some bullshit.

 

[jeriko65]

I am trying to see if I am alone in this thought and the industry is just heading the direction of it. I prefer a great immersive VN with choices that make me feel involved in the story as it develops. The VN format tends to have a smooth flow to the story as well.

I am seeing an increasing amount of stories going the sandbox/point and click path. To me this option tends to make the story flow poorly and is broken up sometimes a jumbled mess. Seems to me this tends to be a shortcut for devs. as they create snipits of content then dump it in a spot on the map.

I won't even consider looking at RPG or Text Based games so I won't talk more about them. Please drop a note and let me know your take on this.

i like vns more, both are good when done right

 

[User_99107]

i like sandbox so long as its user friendly and not too grindy like my cute roommate or a home in the desert. i like vn's with multiple routes. if youre just along for the ride you might as well just go to pornhub.

 

[Raodos455]

i really like sandbox games like Struggle with sin, Peasant Quest and Goblin Layer when they're not plagued with bugs, and VN depends on the quality of the writing and how interest the setting is

 

[eljopo]

I like both but i think i enjoy a VN way more than a sandbox mainly because i feel the progress in a VN is much more noticeable than in a sandbox, especially if it's still in development. What i mean is that in a sandbox you can be so far ahead in a character's route, doing many sexual things and wild shit, but then you go to another character and you are still barely holding hands. It's so weird. If a VN has good pacing it flows much more naturally than a sandbox does.

 

[smite22]

I like both but i think i enjoy a VN way more than a sandbox mainly because i feel the progress in a VN is much more noticeable than in a sandbox, especially if it's still in development. What i mean is that in a sandbox you can be so far ahead in a character's route, doing many sexual things and wild shit, but then you go to another character and you are still barely holding hands. It's so weird. If a VN has good pacing it flows much more naturally than a sandbox does.

I agree with you on the natural flow to a good VN. Far too often with sandbox the flow of the story is choppy.

 

[User_3471]

Hate Sandbox.... Period.

 

[kakarottooalgo]

Good sandbox are amazing but super rare
A sandbox in the first few updates is usually just garbage

 

[lolquip]

I will take a well made sandbox over a VN just about every time. Problem is, most sandboxes aren't well made.

 

[Bignev89]

I will take a well made sandbox over a VN just about every time. Problem is, most sandboxes aren't well made.

Can you recommend any good sandbox games? any I've tried are just a grind . I like the idea but can't find any good one's

 

[rocketsheep]

Can you recommend any good sandbox games? any I've tried are just a grind . I like the idea but can't find any good one's

I find it hard to recommend any because in my opinion the best are basically just regular visual novels with some parts that can be done in any order. I don't even remember them as sandboxes because they don't annoy me. For example today I realized that Solvalley School is a sandbox with long regular VN sequences. It was only a few months ago that I played it, but I had already forgotten completely about the sandbox part.

It would be a bit silly to recommend Solvalley School as a good sandbox game, as it is basically not a sandbox game at all and that's precisely what is so good about it. (Plus of course the humor and the sex.)

 

[lolquip]

Can you recommend any good sandbox games? any I've tried are just a grind . I like the idea but can't find any good one's

If you haven't played it already, I think Harem Hotel is a great example of a sandbox done right. The creator doesn't consider it a sandbox because it does still follow a relatively linear story but there are a lot of things to do outside of the main progression. The story is also properly gated so that you don't stumble across disjointed interactions. You're building up a hotel, training the girls in various stats, exploring the city to find side content, earning money in various ways so you can unlock outfits, toys, and additional locations, etc. While there is that money grind for unlocking stuff, I never felt like it was egregious enough to hinder the gameplay.

 

[Bignev89]

If you haven't played it already, I think Harem Hotel is a great example of a sandbox done right. The creator doesn't consider it a sandbox because it does still follow a relatively linear story but there are a lot of things to do outside of the main progression. The story is also properly gated so that you don't stumble across disjointed interactions. You're building up a hotel, training the girls in various stats, exploring the city to find side content, earning money in various ways so you can unlock outfits, toys, and additional locations, etc. While there is that money grind for unlocking stuff, I never felt like it was egregious enough to hinder the gameplay.

Thank you for the recommendation I will give it a go

 

[nimroot]

Vn all day everyday

 

[Tigerdiamonds]

VNs are better if you are doing like a real plot.
Sandboxes are good for non-linear stuff.
A lot of them don't really do the genre justice.

 

[Seo In-guk]

Because others are complex, sometimes it closes on Android, sandbox is one that knows how to be difficult since it requires time. Suppose you are playing for 30 minutes to be able to see a scene, having to play for several days, a set time to earn a point out of 50, that is ugly. I only play sandboxes that are easy and with a guide, that's why I prefer renpy

 

[billwanna]

For every good sandbox game there are about 100 that are just miserable grindfests because of this I tend to stick with VN's. There are also a lot of sandbox games that the devs put in pointless "quests" that don't really add anything to a story or meaningful content but by putting it in they can talk up how much there is to do in their game.

 

[SirBanana]

VNs are a lot more tailored and made with a specific story in mind, sandbox games can feel diluted at times with their content because they want it to be as open as possible and some scenes just happen or repeat with minor variations so often they become annoying.

 

[tain]

I overall prefer sandbox.

To me this option tends to make the story flow poorly and is broken up sometimes a jumbled mess. Seems to me this tends to be a shortcut for devs. as they create snipits of content then dump it in a spot on the map.

The same dev making a VN won't be any better.

a sandbox game has overall more potential than a VN. If you remove all the "sandbox", you're just left with a VN. If the story is good but the sandbox isn't, you can usually just cheat around it (assuming the dev hasn't listened to feedback). The extreme example of this is Rick and Morty: Another Way Home, where the sandbox was bad enough someone just made the game as a VN.