Visual Novels

Have recently jumped into these. Only have a few under my belt, but the few that I have played have absolutely sucked me in and violently spat me out. Have only played through Steins;Gate and Clannad, but both were incredible.

My question to all you fine people is, do you enjoy VN's? Also do you have any recommendations? I'm about to play Lucy: The Eternity She Wished For.

Yep I love VN's...

My avatar is from a VN actually XD

Anyway, I find VN's are a bit daunting for some people to full get into (Most VN's are weird, convoluted, has adult content or all of the above.) Some of these don't even have an English release.

Some of my all time favorites are:

The Maji de watashi ni koi shinasai series: an Eroge about friendship, family, and never giving up. The routes may be a bit generic, but there's unquestionably a lot of heart on its characters and writing. (18+)



Fate/Stay Night: Convoluted, epic, violent If you've seen the anime only skimmed on the worlds lore, as the series is chock-full of it. The characters are also undeniably likable and timeless XD (18+)



Zero Escape: - Series: Brilliant story with an equally brilliant premise; a collection of people are kidnapped and forced to play games to ensure their survival. The game is part VN part Puzzle game - with your character forced to solve elaborate puzzles, or face death.



Danganronpa - Series: For all intense and purposes this is very similar to Zero Escape, just as well write and set on a creepy school.



Ace Attorney - Series: You play as an attorney and use evidence to protect your clients in the courtroom. Fun Characters, gripping plot, and clever story hooks.



Love plus: A straight up dating sim, but one that took everyone by storm. The three heroines are great and the post game content is even more so.



Amagami & Kimi Kiss: Another dating sim, really not that mind boggling but the each character story arcs are so enjoyable you won't really care. Each story is sweet and able to pluck at your heartstrings.

Yesssss it's home to so many off-the-beaten-path games partially because they're comparatively far easier and less time-consuming to make than games of other genres. My refined palate recommends the following:

Katawa Shoujo - If you're in the business of dating girls, then behold 4chan's masterpiece! If Love Plus took everyone by storm, then Katawa Shoujo is the veritable hurricane. It features people living with various disabilities, and--surprisingly enough, given its origins--handles its subject material well. Full of heart despite being an eroge.


Hatoful Boyfriend - YES IT'S A GAME ABOUT DATING BOY-PIGEONS BUT HEAR ME OUT ON THIS this game is thoughtful, hilarious, and insane. It doesn't take itself seriously, and yet the writing is real solid and some of the paths will definitely hit you out of left field. Can't do this absurd masterpiece justice in one paragraph.


Muv-Luv series - Haven't gotten around to this one yet, but everyone I know who has played it has raved about it. Apparently it reels you in with a cute little dating sim premise and then vomits mechas and aliens in your lovestruck little face.


Solstice - Visually the best VN I've ever laid my hands on, Solstice is a pretty obscure title because it's an OELVN and thus doesn't garner much interest from the manganime crowd. It's got a great mystery-driven plot, a well thought out cast of characters, and great art out the wazoo. Doesn't offer much by way of romance, though.


Dream Daddy - This one's fresh out the oven, released on Steam some four days ago, I think? Anyway, it's a game where you play as a single dad trying to get into the pants of other (mostly single) dads in your area. Heh. I bought it for the memes and dad jokes, and while it certainly delivered on that front, it's got a surprising amount of heart and effort put into it for such a ridiculous premise.

Parivir said:

Muv-Luv series - Haven't gotten around to this one yet, but everyone I know who has played it has raved about it. Apparently it reels you in with a cute little dating sim premise and then vomits mechas and aliens in your lovestruck little face.

Spoiler:

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Can't believe I forgot to put this on my list XD

When it comes to visual novels, I really don't play much of them. Course I have played a couple of them. The two that I have played are Lucid 9 and Angels with Scaly Wings. Lucid 9 is a murder mystery type visual novel. Where as I find Angels with Scaly Wings to be very interesting. When it comes to Angels with Scaly Wings, most of the characters in it are dragons so the title is a little misleading. Of all the characters in it, my favorite character happens to be the wyvern looking dragon, Adine.

I really like visual novels. Really my kinda game, especially if there's an actual game combined with it as well (action, puzzle, mystery). VNs I have played are the Ace Attorney series, 999 (will play the rest someday), Katawa Shoujo, Dangan Ronpa series (I have watched LPs of this so not sure if it counts) and Fate/Stay Night. I've been playing FSN at the incredibly slow pace of a few years now and I've yet to finish just one route. Someday...

So I like Puzzle/Mystery VNs over dating sims. Especially fond of 999, but I don't think anything get close as to where Ace Attorney is for me. If you've seen me around more often here, you might know I am really looking forward to 428: Shibuya Scramble. For anyone else interested in Puzzle/Mystery VNs, I highly recommend this one once it comes out next year.

If anyone knows some games I might like, do share. :)

the only visual novel i've played is dream daddy. i desperately want to play clannad though and katawa shoujo sounds interesting! can i find either of those on steam?

hoshiko said:

the only visual novel i've played is dream daddy. i desperately want to play clannad though and katawa shoujo sounds interesting! can i find either of those on steam?

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Katawa Shoujo is free to download from the VN's site. Not sure if they ever re-released it on Steam (I would've heard about it).

Muv-Luv is definitely at the top of my wish list. Two things holding me back.... isn't it still incomplete? As far as translation goes? Also, I'm mostly into the romantic side of VN's. While I do like action, the thought of abandoning that aspect of the story to dive right into all-out action seems like too much. Guess I should play it before i knock it. xD

I JUUUUST started up Lucy - The Eternity She Wished For. About humans living with androids. Recluse boy discovers an old model thrown away, decides to take it home on a whim, gets it fixed up, and it starts living with him. I haven't seen or read a lot of VN's/anime/manga, but the visuals are some of my absolute favorite.

Ace Attorney is one of my favorite game series of all time - I've played all of the main series up to Dual Destinies, and Ace Attorney Investigations. Aside from that, I don't think I've really played any other VNs myself, but I watched a bit of Danganronpa gameplay and am kind of interested in that series too.

Never played any, want to play lots :p

visualnovel games are my favorite games an i really like ta develop visualnovels wich is why i'm stoked for vnmaker ta come out soon this november. i play all kinds a visualnovels but i really like those with deep plots or some romance to.. ... that bein said if anyone wants ta play an review tha parts a my visualnovel i'm working on first just note me.

rite now i'm currently playing some kinetic novels i've got as a gift from a friend on steam. she bout me THREE visualnovels an i'm allmost thru tha first one. pretty decent for tha price she payed.

Nekopara is pretty much the best visial novel about. In the current midweek sale on Steam at the moment. Bargain.

Y'know you could have got Nekopara Volumes 0, 1, and 2 as well as a ton of other VNs you probably never heard of in that Humble Bundle a while back for about... $12. It was fun.

I would have already owned them though. Oh well.

Think the only one i got at full price was 3. Not bothered though because 6 quid is VALUE for a game based around Maple.

Nekopara is good, but it is quite sad in places. For a more (mostly) uplifting series, Nekonin exHeart is good.

Then there is Army Gals (despite the...errr...graphics, it's a pretty grim story). Ironically the reason for Raen and Maple's hyper-sexuality is more or less the same - unfortunately for the former, it also causes a fatality (of which it is only one of (possibly) many).

Battle Girls is a good, is somewhat sombre. The premise is a bit daft though.

Stay! Stay! is very funny most of the time, but can be unsettling at times

And then there is Tokyo Dark, a cross between point-and-click and VN. One of the few games where there is no really happy ending, no matter which route you take... It's rated 18 for the subject matter.