So yeah this is obviously a thread where I want to answer some questions about visual novels and our club. Nearly everything inside the first spoiler is just copied from other sites. There you can find useful informations about what visual novels exactly are and how you are able to install them correctly. Copy and paste for the win. In the second spoiler are also some rules which I set up for this club. Most of them are obvious but I will still write them down. If you have any questions feel free to ask but please don't forget...
About Visual Novels
1. What is a Visual Novel?
A visual novel can be seen as a combination of a novel and a computer game: they're computer games with a large text based storyline and only little interaction of the player. A typical visual novel consists of text over an anime-style background image and is accompanied by background music. Throughout the game, the player usually has to answer a few questions which will have an effect on the story, thus playing a visual novel a second time while giving other answers may result in an entirely different plot.
For more information see the Wikipedia article on visual novels or the description on Visual-Novels.net. To get a general idea of the genre, try one of the free short visual novels from al|together.
2. How about Eroge, H-Games and Dating Sims?
An eroge or H-game is basically any Japanese game that features sexual content. Many visual novels are eroge and many eroge are visual novels, but this is not a rule. The definition of dating sim is a bit more vague, but it's usually the same as a visual novel, except that a dating sim generally uses a gameplay based on statistics.
There are no strict bounds to the definition of "visual novel", most eroge and dating sims include elements of visual novels, but may - strictly speaking - not be visual novels themselves. VNDB has its own rules for inclusion in the database, see the guidelines for more information.
3.Where can I get Visual Novels?
Of course you can use google and get them via download but please don't post any illegal links in our club. I will delete them instantly or kick you out of the club when it's done to often. Everything you write in messages or on your profile doesn't matter but we want this club to be clean. If you want to buy a game then you should take a look at places like Mangagamer or JList.
4.I installed one but it won't run, what can I do about this?
Please be sure to do every one of the steps below. There are sometimes visual novels which will run without doing anything but mostly not. If you have still problems with starting a visual novel, please ask in the club comments. We will probably help you.
This is a windows xp guide. It's nearly the same with vista or 7 besides the way of getting the japanese language.
1.Click Start, Then Control Panel.
2.Click Date, Time Language and Regional Options.
3.Now Click on Regional and Language Options.
4.With me so far? Now on the region tab go to location and you will see a scroll option for languages, scroll up to Japan.
5.Next you need to click on the advance tab.
6.Okay now this is part is tricky but still simple to do, on the other half of this tab you will see "code page conversion table" Click in the Japanese option to install the language.
7.In order to install you will need your windows xp disc that came with your computer, just put that disc in and it will install the language pack you need. Click apply then restart
Wa la your computer is now ready to play Japanese visual novels and other games from Japan.
To download language packs for Windows 7
1.Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then, in the search box, type Windows Update.
2.In the list of results, click Windows Update.
3.Click Check online for updates from Microsoft Update, and then wait while Windows looks for the latest updates for your computer.
4.If any updates are found, click Optional updates are available.
5.Under Windows 7 Language Packs, select only the language pack that you want (installing all of them might take up too much space on your drive).
6.Click OK, and then click Install updates. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. You might have to restart your computer too.
To download language packs for Windows Vista
1.Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.
2.Click Check online for updates from Microsoft Update, and then wait while Windows looks for the latest updates for your computer.
3.If any updates are found, click Optional updates are available.
4.Under Windows Vista Ultimate Language Packs, select only the language pack that you want (installing all of them might take up too much space on your drive).
5.Click OK, and then click Install updates. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. You might have to restart your computer too.
5.I have a visual novel but it's in japanese. Where can I get the english version?
Most of the games are still in japanese but there are a few fan translations teams who are working on english patches. To get them you just have to visit their pages and find the download link. In the last years the whole visual novel fanbase grow like bamboo and so you can get nearly every month a new translation patch for a game. Just download the patch.exe and install it. Sometimes you will also find archives which you have to extract. After this everything should be translated into english.
6.What are good visual novels?
I love this question so much...not. To keep it short. Who knows? Since I just copied the first three points out of the vndb FAQ I will also give you another link which shows you a rating of visual novels. Click here.
7.There is a visual novel which I want to play so badly. Is there any chance for a patch?
To be honest, no. I know this problem (Tayutama, whyyyy???) but you just have to wait forever. Maybe you are interested in the visual novel news thread in our forum. There I and other users will post every new translation which was released.
About the club
1. What is this club about?
Obviously about visual novels. All of the members play these games and talk about them. Suprised? Yeah? I guess not. Nevertheless we have still great fun while speaking about many other stupid topics. So what's up with the petition part in the club name? Our club creator Quintessence and most of the club members want a visual novel section on myanimelist. If we reach 1000 members he will write a message to one of the admins and ask about it. At least that's what he told me. We reached 1000 members and now we have to wait for an admin response.
2. Can I add new club pictures?
Only if I allow it. Sounds stupid but let me explain. I will delete all of pictures every year so that you can upload some newer ones. Of course I will inform everybody when they are allowed to upload their pictures. Another thing is the "1 visual novel - 1 picture rule". I won't accept if there are 4 screenshots of the same visual novel. One is enough, let's keep some variety. To end this point, please upload in good quality, we all want to see the picture without bleeding eyes.
3. Can I open a new thread in the forum?
Sure, no problem with that. Only if the thread is really stupid, about illegal things or nobody besides the creater wrote a comment I will delete it. Otherwise you are free to open a thread. If you want to delete it because of some reasons just ask me.
4. I miss some titles in the club relations. Where are they?
Obviously not there. Please tell me if you want to have a specific anime or manga in the relations and I will probably add it. I won't add all seasons of an anime because it's kind of useless since you will watch the first season anyway.
5. I want to be an admin or officer, can I?
To be short, no. If we need a working hand we will say it otherwise we are fine by the current team.
6. I hate this thread. Please delete it.
Fuck you!
If you have some other questions which should be listed in this thread, tell me so that I can add them. That's all. Your granny.
