Release Date: 17/08/2015
Played On: Win
Available On: NS / PS4 / Win
Time Played: 32m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Neko Works
Publisher: Sekai Project
Up until now, I never thought I would be writing about visual novels unless I came across one that was particularly interesting. The reason being that there are only ever a few things going on in these games, most of which can only be appraised through a subjective analysis of taste. At the end of the day, a visual novel is only as good as its art and its writing, which can mean different things to different people. Perhaps there's something worth discussing though, so let's have a crack it for a change.
Although, I have to begin by saying that there really isn't anything special about Nekopara Vol. 0, which is the main subject of this post. Ultimately this is nothing more than a borderline furry kinetic novel that can be finished in half an hour and has nothing interesting or meaningful to say. What baffles me though, is the same thing that baffles me about so many visual novels; the ratio of qualitative dissonance between the art, and the writing.
If you're new to the whole visual novel thing, then you might be confused already. I mentioned that Nekopara Vol. 0 is a "kinetic" VN, which simply means that there are no branching paths or choices to be made in the entire game. The story is a linear narrative which requires little more than clicking to the next piece of dialogue or text, in order to advance the story. In fact, kinetic VNs are possibly the least interesting entries in the genre, as they often lack some of the creativity and depth of other, more complex visual novels.
Don't get me wrong though, I love a good visual novel, simply because I love art and storytelling, which are arguably all that's on offer in these games. It's a shame then that the story telling is more often than not the biggest weakness in a lot of VNs I've played. There are those that also have horrible art, but it's easier to find the ones with good art simply by looking at a couple of screenshots. Story and writing is a bit more elusive and perhaps even a bit more subjective, although it's easy to tell the difference between something on the level of bad fan fiction, and a literary classic. Sadly, most VNs fall into the fan fiction realm a little more than often than not.
Then again, I get the appeal of making a bad visual novel game, as it's a way to tell a story and make some art, but without the requirements of intense coding and all that annoying "development" stuff. There are free game engines out there that anyone can download and make their own visual novel in, so it's an accessible way for an artist or budding storyteller to get something out there. Except, availability doesn't automatically grant any talent, so while the number of visual novels continues to rise, the quality hasn't always followed suit.
Back to Nekopara Vol. 0 though, and this is one of those ones that has some excellent art (albeit in the style of anime cartoons), but a terrible story. It's essentially a day in the life of a young girl and her six cats, who are represented in the game as catgirls. This is where the furry bit comes in, because there's even a bit of sexuality thrown in, because of course there is. I don't know what it is about visual novels that attracts horny writers, but it seems like just about all of them have some kind of sexual content these days.
Not that I think that's a bad thing, as it's much more harmless than the gore and violence we're so used to seeing in other games and I'd prefer horny people over violent people any day. It just seems interesting that this is a genre that attracts so much "adult" content in their stories and games. Perhaps that's why I relate it back to fan fiction, which tends to always end up with the heroes getting down for some irrelevant reason or another. Like I said, I don't mind sex in my games, I just find it interesting that there's so much in one particular genre.
Even in a game about a girl and her cats, we still get treated to a few scenes of sexy catgirls, which seems comical at best, but about on par with the rest of this visual novel. With the story taking place over a single day, it's broken up into small chapters of sorts that constitute each hour as it passes by. For example, 1pm signifies lunch time, so they all go about having lunch and talking about whatever nonsense and hijinks happen to occur along the way. Later it's dinner time, so we get more hijinks and dialogue, but there really isn't anything else going on at all. Eventually it's bath time, where the sexy catgirl nudity comes into play and we're treated to naked anime girls bathing each other.
This also brings us to the furry content, which is another part of fan fiction culture that I don't really have a problem with, but ultimately have no association with. Nekopara Vol. 0 is about catgirls after all, so despite looking like a bunch of sexy girls (complete with boob jiggle effects), they have cat ears and cat tails. There's one scene in particular that made me laugh where we're presented with a nude shot of one cat showing off her butt, with a big fluffy tail poking out of the small of her back. Like I said, this isn't really a culture that I'm a part of so I don't understand any nuance that may be there, and it just ends up being a bit comical to a player like me.
There are more interesting visual novels out there, so I have to relegate Nekopara Vol. 0 to the trash pile for now. The story is just terrible as it's literally nothing more than what six cats and a girl do each hour of the day. There's no drama, or comedy, or narrative arc. It's simply feels like a thinly veiled excuse to draw some sexy catgirls and make their breasts jiggle about. To that end, I have to say that this is a pretty bad visual novel.
It pales in comparison to other more interesting games in the genre, even to other games with a lot of sexual content. It's rare to find a VN with good writing, but even then there are plenty around with branching paths and interesting twists and turns. Some visual novels even go completely mental and take you one an intense psychological journey (here's looking at you Everlasting Summer), so it's not like the genre is capable of doing creative and interesting things.
The main thing a game like Nekopara Vol. 0 has going for it is that it can be completed in well under an hour, which is not something I ever though would be the best feature of a game. Then again, sometimes I'm in the mood for killing thirty minutes or so, and a short visual novel is an easy way to be mildly entertained and occupied. Hence, I don't think even the most "kinetic" of visual novels should be written off as having no value.
I suppose that's what got me writing thing post after all, as I tend to avoid talking about visual novels because there's often very little to say. However, I think I might amend that policy from now on and make an effort to highlight and talk about some of the VNs that I end up playing, for better or worse. I mean, I'll still play Nekopara Vol. 2 and 3 eventually, not to mention some other short and sexy stories I have ready to go, so it might be worth trying to tease out a little bit of substance wherever possible.
Sure Nekopara Vol. 0 might not have a lot to offer and I don't recommend you rush out and play it, but perhaps it has value for getting me to think about the genre in general. Without a doubt, there are loads of bad visual novels out there, although there are also some decent ones that should get more attention than the rest. Thus, I recommend that you go and play Everlasting Summer instead of Nekopara Vol. 0, as it's free on Steam and offers a much more engaging story than this one ever does. That and make sure that you stick with it through to the end, as there's a big old twist that makes it a lot of fun somewhere after the half-way mark.