Out of curiosity, what makes a "good NTR" for you guys? I usually use the below criteria:
- Art: Sounds superficial, but it's really hard to get past terrible art in just about any VN's. On the other hand, great art definitely makes it easier to get into a game. Elf has produced excellent art over the years, and Atelier Sakura usually does a pretty decent job. I'm also very fond of Frill's recent art, but unfortunately most of their games aren't really full netorare.
Well, quality art is always a plus, but a crappy ntr with awesome art will still be crappy, and conversely a good ntr with mediocre art will still be good.
- Build-up of MC/heroine's relationship: Many NTR games barely spend any time building the relationship between the MC and the heroine, and this really hurts the impact of NTR when it comes, at least IMO. Elf's Gatenkei does this the best. 鬼監督と俺の彼女, while not anywhere near Gatenkei's quality, spends a decent amount of effort in this aspect.
IMO, the buildup doesn't need to be that big (but we need it of course): what is important is that you need to believe in the relationship. And 鬼監督と俺の彼女 is awesome :D.
I really don't like it when NTR games start with something along the lines of "I have a wife. Recently, she's been acting suspicious and I'm about to find out what's going on."
Yep, because you don't believe in it, you feel detached and the ntr feeling doesn't strike you...
- Spending enough time in both the MC's point of view and the heroine's POV. It's difficult to empathize with the MC if not enough time is spent in his POV. It's also a big plus to see what's going on through the heroine's mind during the NTR process.
I actually like when the pov is always the MC's, because the ntr feeling comes from him. I like stories giving choices to let you see later ntr scenes, in a diary for example. Conversely, only focusing on the woman is no good, it feels like a generic nukige with a succession of hscenes...
What I believe is the best is a well crafted story when there is at least a route in which the mc doesn't see anything, even after the end : I love the kind of stories when the couple is happy, and the woman goes to a lot of "meetings with friends" with the benediction of the mc, who doesn't know anything :) .
Also, what is important is the change you see in the woman from the mc pov: if you feel the ntr without any hscene, it's a win! And actually not a lot of writers are able to do that...
- Lack of group NTR: Probably a controversial aspect, but I really prefer the NTR games to not have any group scenes. It takes away from the intimacy between the heroines and the NTR'ing guy, IMO.
I'm with you for that one :).
- Slow, gradual progression of NTR: An example of this is the NTR nurse series. I prefer the heroine to slowly give in to the NTR'ing guy over time rather than diving to full H-scene from get go.
Yes, it is more believable that way. In fact the other way just feels weird, there has to be a "training" of some sort.
- Voice: Similar to the comments for the art. Difficult to get into unvoiced games. NTR'ing guy(s) also being voiced is a definite plus.
It was the case for me before, but now I think I can better appreciate unvoiced stories lately. Of course a good seiyuu is always better. Not a fan of the voiced mc though...
Yes, I love the clever/strong type of heroine who enjoys more and more ntring the mc as the story goes on :), even playing with him without him knowing about anything, that makes in general great stories.
no offence, but makes me wonder is it really true in reality that jap people are generalized like that due to the influence of the eroge/film/games/etc that described them like that?
It's the other way around: a lot of Japanese are quite passives, so the industry responded to that with the "passive guy archetype". In fact instead of passives I should call them reserved, which is not actually that bad of a thing, when you get used to it.
Of course I'm not talking about the extreme sheep we see in game or manga :).
Actually i met a few japanase people when i was taking jap class at the embassy (didn´t finish the project was cancelled)and not everyone is like that but yeah many of them had a really passive personality and share some of the things that we see in many MC
Yes, it's a cultural thing...