Hmm.. not sure if its been mentioned yet. But.. I guess I will toss in a few.. ( Would mention some others but I know for sure they where already mentioned. Like fate/stay or Higurashi. Though Higurashi is not an interactive one. )
"G-senjou no Maou" is a fairly good one. Though, keep in mind it does have "H" scenes in them but you can disable those if I remember correctly. ( Been a while.. so I am not 100% sure ) In it the person that you are, is a son of a Yakuza boss. Saying more is a bit spoilerish. Just going to go ahead and copy/paste the description for this one from a database.. its still slightly spoilerish but meh..
G-senjou no Maou.
"You play the role of Azai Kyousuke, the son of a legendary gangster infamous in the underworld. You spend your time listening to Bach, playing God at school and covertly working for your stepfather, a ruthless financial heavyweight. This idyllic existence is broken when two individuals appear in the city - a beautiful girl named Usami Haru with hair you could get lost in for days, and a powerful international gangster known only as "Maou". Almost without delay, the two begin a deadly cat-and-mouse game, bringing you and your friends into the crossfire. Plotting, political intrigue and layer upon layer of interlocking traps are the weapons in this epic battle of wits."
Another one I would like to mention is from the same company that made Fate/Night Stay ( and of course, the other Fate games/anime stuff ). That being "Tsukihime". Though, once again. This has "H" scenes like Fate/Stay and G-senjou no Maou. Those of you who are familiar with "Kara no Kyōkai" will notice similarities since that was an early prototype for Tsukihime. ( Some chars also became prototypes for other stuff done by "Type-Moon", the company that created the ones I am mentioning. ( Not including G-senjou no Maou of course as that was created by "Akabei Soft2" )
Oops, deviated a little there sorry.. but anyways.. as far as Tsukihime goes. The character you are is a person who suffered some sort of trauma, and now sees these strange lines in everything.. people,furniture,plants,ect ect. Saying much more I feel would be a bit of a spoiler.. but what you will find out in the start is that, he can kill/destroy people and objects by cutting these lines ( even with a very small, and simple knife ). Though seeing these lines causes him to suffer pain that gets worse the longer he sees them.
EDIT
Dang.. Not sure how I missed that Tsukihme was already mentioned >< Though kind of shocked the other was not.
Oh and to clarify, when I mention "H" scenes.. that means it contains scenes that are NOT safe for work :P
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I left out G-senjou no Maou because I felt it has too much to do with japanese environment/culture to be included in an introduction to visual novels. Also too much sex that may not make alot of contribution to the story. I mean,just the english translation of the name makes one wonder whatever this is really a non-eroge vn. Also,since it has the tag "Non-blood-related Brother/Sister Incest" on vndb..that can be shocking to alot of people. So however good it may be,I don't feel it belongs in an intro to visual novels.
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Ahh.. yea I forgot about that part.. Its not considered the true ending.. but yea... he could end up with his sister if you wanted. ( not blood related.. bit of a spoiler but.. oh well. ) The first time I went through the vn oddly got the true ending. Due to me being a completionist with those things I eventually went through the "sister" route last.. but yea.. I can understand why you say that.
Guess you are right about it not being good about it being an intro one. Oddly it was my 3rd vn to ever go through :P
I honestly can not remember if you can turn off the H scenes in that one or not.. I know you could in Fate/Stay but for some reason can not remember for sure about that one.. For me I was not bothered by H scenes though. Despite the fact I do not like watching H anime at all, same with stuff done with real people. Go figure?
Well, it could be worse. Could have said Saya no uta should be on the list lol. No it really should not.. its a really messed up VN.
I admit I liked it due to how twisted it was, but its NOT good for those just getting into vns.. Though it was my 4th or 5th one to go through I think? Can not remember for sure.. but its really messed up.
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Saya no uta IS on the list. Did anybody actually read the whole post?
Anyways,the horror elements in says are much stronger than the shock/disgust elements. I wanted to put at least one vn in the horror category,so I figured with a warning it'd be a pretty good candidate.
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Hah.. I must have missed that one due to no link.. had to re-check and found it.. Sorry about that... I did read most of it but a few times I had to try to find my place due to distractions.
I can understand you wanting to put at least one horror themed vn, but that one.. Just seems a bit extreme for first timers I think due to what happens in it. If Higurashi was a normal VN and not a kinetic one I would suggest that one for a Horror themed one. ( Yes I know its been mentioned ) Though I probably would have left it at that one.. due to.. well.. what is in Saya no uta.. it has some fairly brutal scenes in it.
Not saying Higurashi does not have its share of brutality.. but I guess it just depends on your own perspective. I find Saya no uta to be more brutal due to what happens to someone.. what that person ends up going through is just.. really.. really messed up. Guess that is due to I have a bit of hatred towards people that do a specific thing.. Trying to avoid saying it, ( Partially due to spoilers ) but I think you know what it is.
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Eh.. no that's not the part I was talking about.. Guess I might as well just say it.. it involves the one Saya makes a "pet" out of..
As far as Higurashi.. I agree with you when it comes to the bit after the first 3 or 4 story arcs? Before that though, I would say its a bit horror themed. ( By story arcs I mean the first 3 or 4 "chapters"? Think only 3 of them are in the desura/steam versions. Might have 4 but I can not remember for sure... regardless it has a lot more story to it than just that. The ones who have watched the anime and have yet to go through the vn would know. )
I do admit.. there does seem to be a lack of decent horror themed vns though. Most of the ones are too bad and way too short to even mention. At least out of the ones I have seen so far.
Have to say it is kind of nice to talk about vns lol. I helped create a small group of people who talk about anime but only one of them has went through any vns.. and that was after me talking them into it.. >< Though that person seems hooked on them now..
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Higurashi is already greenlit,so you can check how many chapters it has when it gets released :> I've seen the anime too long ago so I can't tell you myself.
Hopefully this thread will make some people get into visual novels. Maybe there'll even be an official sg-vn group on steam one day! (I can dream,right?)
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About Higurashi, those who got it as part of the "groupees" bundle are also supposedly going to get keys for steam when it pops.. but that is not set in stone. But yea I am aware of the greenlight ( I was one of those who voted for it :P )
As far as an official sg-vn group.. yea that would be cool I think lol.
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Get MangaMeeya7,open a manga,Book List->start slideshow. You watch slideshows,right? horrible attempt at making an excuse
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I've played a bunch of VNs back when I still had some time. My personal favorites were Katawa no Shoujo, Fate Stay Night, G-Senjou no Maou, and Stein;Gate. I really want to play Fate Hollow Ataraxia, but the translation isn't complete yet T_T. By the way, Dangan Ronpa is gonna be remade for the Vita and released in the US eventually so I'm really looking forward to that.
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All of those(who aren't already listed) were already mentioned in previous comments,so you can have a look if you want to know why they ain't on the list. As for not having time,I'll copypaste my response to mew2: Try Phenomeno when you come back late at night but don't want to just sleep yet. It is very short,almost like a demo.
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Ballad of an evening Butterfly which was free anyway as part of a festival a few years back is pretty decent, as is Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, the other main series of novels from 7th Expansion, the Higurashi creators, though the novels aren't as good as the 1st (if u want to pirate that it's easy to find, harder to install, requiring movement of files beyond what the basic instructions on the patches tell u, at least it did for me)
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New visual novel (mixed with TRPG) on Steam Greenlight:
http://steamcommunity.com//sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=202638470
Looks awesome!
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EVE: Burst Error, an old murder mystery VN made back in the mid 90s that recently got an official English translation, part of a classic series of games http://www.desura.com/games/eve-burst-error. Uncensored version available at mangagamer I believe
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The vndb page suggests this has strong gameplay elements,so it won't go on the list. Personally,those graphics are something I have trouble handling,and I'm too young to consider it a classic; but regardless,thanks for your contribution to the thread.
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Dysfunctional Systems on sale!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/248800
Just bought it :)
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Christine Love is making a new vn..though I doubt it'll get on steam. Oh,and narcissu now has a progress page.
As for other vns,seeing as there isn't any hard,made-in-japan pure visual novel on steam yet,I doubt that even if a title will manage to get on steam anytime soon it be any good. On the other side,we're seeing a lot of new western sources for vns outside steam recently,so in the future steam might pick it up. Perhaps if narcissu manages to be a huge success steam will open up.
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Been wanting to play Katawa Shoujo. At first I didn't know what to think about it, but now I'm a lot more confident that it'll be good since I've heard that it handles disabilities very well. It's so difficult to find any form of entertainment that doesn't treat disabled folks with disrespect and pity, or just outright fetishize us. Or both.
Torrenting it now, and will hopefully play it later... if my Fibro doesn't flareup. lol
Hopefully I get a chance to check out a few of the others listed here.
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I wish more people would actually ask me when they're debating about whatever they should or should not play a specific game. I made this thread and I recommended those games,so it's but expected I'll be able to give some thoughts about them.
On katawa shoujo,I can assure you it handles that very well. It's more notable in some routes than the others,and the guy you play as might annoy you at the start,but for me,watching him understand how it feels from the disabled's POV was more than satisfying- it was a life lesson. Call me naive.but I used to think like him - that the disability defines the person and the best I can do is pity them. I remember how awkward it was when I first met one who was a friend of a friend. Now? We're friends ourselves. It's not the disability that defines the person,it's the person that chooses to let the disability define him. And if he doesn't care that he is disabled,then I have no reason to do so myself. He may not be able to run,but that doesn't make him any less human than I am. It changed what I think about people with disabilities,and I hope you enjoy it to the fullest.
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Very good to know. Thanks for sharing your opinion of it, xKomachi. And thank you for sharing your story.
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I read night of the forget me nots a while ago, it's not awful, very trial and error based short vn with lots of dead ends so that it can be over in a minute and you start again. Some nice spooky horror descriptions if you like horror, kinda 6/10 territory. As for interesting novels you could see if World End Economica which is SFW http://www.mangagamer.com/detail.php?goods_type=1&product_code=76, from the writer of Spice and Wolf is any good, and the purely insane sounding 'My Girlfriend is the President' http://www.jastusa.com/president/ are any good, had a look at them before but didn't want to take the plunge. I don't believe there's action sequences in these
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I'll make sure to put night of the forget me nots higher on my list then,thanks. I've heard of world end economica before but never really got into deciding whatever I should try it out. I probably will now,after I finish a lot of others. I'll admit the 'my girlfriend is the president' description got me too,but it's more of a generic dating sim with some touches here and there,so I'd say unless that's your thing stay away from that. I'll be glad to hear if you have any more recommendations.
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One VN I don't see in list and I think it should - Grisaia no Kajitsu (EGS Score: 85 out of 100 Popularity: ranked #25 with a score of 34.58 Bayesian rating: ranked #17 with a rating of 8.55). It's veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long (est. 80 hours!). I'm bad at writing reviews, so here's quick summary from fuwanovel:
Summary: Mihama Academy - on the surface, a closed learning environment established to nurture students who find themselves at odds with the world around them; in actuality, an orchard-cum-prison built to preserve fruit that has fallen too far from its tree.
Whatever the circumstances behind its establishment, Mihama Academy is at present home to five female students, all with their own reasons for "enrollment." For better or worse, each girl has established a routine obliging of her current situation; life moves at an idle, yet accommodating pace within the walls of Mihama.
Yet with the arrival of the institute's first male student, the nearly preposterously opaque Kazami Yuuji, the students at Mihama begin to fall out of step with their predetermined rhythms. Will Yuuji prove to be the element the girls around him needed to take hold of their lives once more, or will the weight of their pasts prove too steep a wall to overcome?
And in the first place, just who is Kazami Yuuji? While the true nature of the "job" he is wont to alight to at the most haphazard of moments remains shrouded in secrecy, one thing is for certain - his encroachment upon the quiet orchard known as Mihama Academy will prove itself momentous in one way or another. And of course, one cannot discount the possibility that perhaps Yuuji himself carries the weightiest past of any of the students...
Also (fanboy mode: on) Makina FTW!
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My descriptions ain't all that great either,but I didn't just slap vndb/fuwan's desciption because I feel like more often than not,they are misleading and unnecessarily long. Kind of like that cinematic trailer of that AAA title is really impressive,but the actual gameplay is not half as exciting? I hope you get what I mean by that. Nothing can replace your impression of the game, and as bad as you think it is, I want to read it.
That aside,although many people seem to think it is,this in fact is NOT a list of popular or good visual novels. This is a list of visual novels that are good at introducing people who never heard about the genre to visual novels. And the last thing I want those people to think is that visual novels are about sex. There's enough confusion already about it as-is. Feel free to tell me if I'm overdoing it,but a visual novel with those tags certainly does not give off a good vibe. The only exceptions I made are for Katawa Shoujo because it both demonstrates the core mechanics of a visual novel well and has a good plot that may actually teach you something,and for Saya no Uta because in the horror genre sex is hard to avoid anyways,and sometimes it even manages to enhance the story,which I think it did better than most (even if still far from perfect).
Sorry for taking so long to reply and if you think I am,then I also apologise for being too harsh; I know that only made your comment in hope of helping the thread,but as a thread creator that wants to give attention to all comments,it's really hard for me to decide whatever I should use the limited time I have to read your visual novel,one that someone else suggested,or something from my personal list,and your comment doesn't make this choice much easier. I hope that you decide to re-write your recommendation with those points in mind.
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Reuploaded. It's a simple screenshot of the sexual content tags with allowed spoilers and including all parts of the visual novel.
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War of the Human Tanks released on Steam!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/263400/
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Just a warning for newcomers: DON'T play anything from Type-Moon (F/SN, Tsukihime) until you've gotten the basics of the whole VN genre (as in "play two or three VNs before"). Otherwise it would be like learning to drive on a Buggati Veyron or a 40-ton crane, because of all that mindrape and complex decision trees.
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Basic requirement for listing a visual novel I'll consider: "Make sure they have an english translation,do not contain any strong gameplay elements,do not require any knowledge of japan/the japanese culture,and are generally suitable for beginners." Like I already said,contrary to what most people think,this is not a thread to simple suggest whatever visual novel you've ever encountered; This is a thread with the interest of making people who never heard about visual novels try them,and I wouldn't want someone who tries a visual novel to think 'Meh,it just was another rpg with more text to read'.
With that said,I do realise this is the biggest thread yet about visual novels and I encourage discussion about anything that falls into the broad category of visual novels here. I'm just saying that for now I will not personally review anything that I have no intention of putting on the list. That's why I suggested you to post your own review - a comment barely saying 'x is great' doesn't mean much.
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In Sekien no Inganock,the protagonist has a loli sidekick. In swan song there is a character that might also be considered. I don't remember anything else atm,but it's likely that if you ask and poke around you'll find something. It's actually quite uncommon to see good character development in kids - from what I've seen,they're mostly static,not actually kids,develop as psychopaths,get removed during the story,used to simply make someone do something,or to invoke emotion(Monster is eating child! courage++).
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Ahhh, looking back to when Kana was considered by many to be THE best English translated visual novel... Definitely must be easier to get people into VNs today, when the "best" recommendations aren't things that have sketchy subject matter like Kana.
I still have my rather large collection of G-Collections and Peach Princess VNs. Crescendo is my favorite from those. Not really as good objectively as some of the more recent VNs that I've read, but it'll always hold a special place in my mind. Heh, back in those days I read even the most screwed up sexfest kind of VNs, just because they were the only thing available. Some of 'em were truly awful.
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I can relate well to the part about reading awful vns. As for the other part,I'm afraid I'm too young to know about those. Despite visual novels becoming better over the years,it remains a fact that they are almost exclusive to japan and getting people from other places is not an easy task.
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Loren The Amazon Princess released on Steam!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/257970/
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"True love" is one of the best VNs i've ever played
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You are missing 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward in your list.Also you forgot to mention Ace Attorney : Phoenix Wright series.
Also you should add Hatoful to your list too because it just really weird.
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If thats the case.To The Moon should also be in there as it has very little gameplay elements and everything else is a VN but a linear one.Btw 999 , Zero Escape and Phoenix Wright series should get honorable mention somewhere in your post because they are VN games at base with puzzle gameplay added on top.
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I'll copy my response from a few comments earlier: 'This is not a thread to simply suggest whatever visual novel you've ever encountered; This is a thread with the interest of making people who never heard about visual novels try them,and I wouldn't want someone who tries a visual novel to think 'Meh,it just was another rpg/puzzle/point&click/whatever with more text to read'.
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This post is already very,very long as is. If I pick up your suggestion,I'm sure I could name at least 20 more visual novels who in my opinion at least equal the level of those,if not far suppress them. I honestly doubt one in 100 people who visited this thread read all of it. Adding more to it would just be pointless.
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TL;DR? Free game 1, Free game 2, read the thread if that got you interested.
Judging by the comments on my part in fotixcember,it looks like alot of people never hear of vns,or have a confused view about them. So,I decided to create a short thread about it. If you found this useful,give me a hug :)
Small wall of text incoming. Some spoilers included. I'm not a native english speaker so expect some errors here and there.
A visual novel,vn for short,is a type of game with a strong emphasis on plot. How strong varies by game,some include rpg elements like leveling up,some puzzle like,well,solving puzzles,and some games marketed as visual novels are in the purest form of plot - text. Classic visual novels,and the one I'll mainly talk about in this thread,usually feature spirit graphics with occasional cgs and video clips,and some soundtracks. If you haven't realised it by now,at core,a visual novel is essentially a book played on a pc(/ds/ps/whatever) with some additional elements. But why not just read a book?
Well,here we get to the most notable(imo) feature of visual novels: They're not just a book with a good plot. They are a book where you directly effect the plot. Remember when in fable you had to decide whatever you save your sister,or kill her and get the almighty big sword of epicness? Well,a visual novel is a story where you get to make choices like that,but instead of the only thing changing being some old dude's comment about you,your choices change the entire plot. Example: choosing how much of your character's free time goes to hanging out and how much to studying can later turn out to whatever your character gets developed as a lifeless nerd,a waiter at a local restaurant,or a drug-addict dropout. Choosing whatever you try to stop the bank rubbery can make you the hero of the day and give you some connections with the bank manager,or make your left hand nonfunctional.
If you read all that and you're still not sure whatever you like it or not,just give one a try - it can't hurt.
A small note - as most visual novels are made in japan,you can expect anime-like drawing style for the spirits. If the japanese voices annoy you,it's possible for most games to mute the voice acting(if exists) via the in-game menu. Sometimes there are sliders for individual voices,so you can make it so you'll only hear your character's voice or no one's. All games suggested here have a full,decent quality english translation.
Here's a list of my personal recommendations. I wrote the descriptions myself so sorry if they're a bit messy. Everything is playable on windows,and has a full english patch available. I tried to pick only those who can be fully played without knowing anything about japan or it's culture,and only those which play more-or-less like a traditional visual novel.
Free(links are to download page):
don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story - Popularity: ranked #200. Bayesian rating: ranked #2812 with a rating of 6.43. Length: 2 - 10 hours.
This vn is about how your first year as a teacher works out. Poke into your student's social life and build or destroy their relationships. ~40mb,win/mac/linux.
True rememberance - EGS Score: 75 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #48. Bayesian rating: ranked #65 with a rating of 7.95. Length: 2 - 10 hours.
Urban magical-realism setting. You're a doctor specializing in curing terminal cases of pandemic depression. You live in a closed city made only for doctors of your kind and patients of this specific disease. You'll get to know some interesting patients and learn a bit about yourself. This one has a very good plot,but has a fixed path(you make no choices). ~67mb,windows only.
Narcissu - EGS Score: 82 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #23 and #72. Bayesian rating: ranked #100 with a rating of 7.76 and #97 with a rating of 7.77. Length: 2 - 10 hours each.
I can't say much about this without spoiling. Downloading this comes with Narcissu 1 and Narcissu side 2nd. Narcissu 2nd is a prequel to the first,but it's recommended you read the first one before it. ~240mb,win/mac/linux. Fixed path(you get no choices). One of the best visual novels to be ever created imo. Greenlit in 31 days. For the first Narcissu,there are two version you can choose when playing: a voiced and an unvoiced version. There are 3 different english translations for the first narcissu and 2 for the second one.
Katawa Shoujo - EGS Score: 67 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #11. Bayesian rating: ranked #72 with a rating of 7.92. Length: 10 - 30 hours.
Officially translated as "disability girls". One of the newest additions to the best visual novels list,with a number of different routes to try. spoiles the first chapter-> You're the average boy till it's discovered your have a heart disease. You're sent to a school for disabled teens like you where medical assistance is always available. /spoiler Possibly NSFW,depending on what choices you make. There's also an option to disable sex scenes and it doesn't feel like something is missing..~420 mb,win/mac/linux.
Not free(links are to vndb):
Planetarian ~ Dream of Little Star EGS score: 80 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #14. Bayesian rating: ranked #46 with a rating of 8.11. Length: 2 - 10 hours.
Futuristic post-apocalyptic setting. A short vn about finding a robot from before the world turned to it's apocalyptic state. Buyable for ~44$ at amajon.jp, ~70$ at amazon.com, Installation guide, English patch.
Swan Song EGS Score: 86 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #42. Bayesian rating: ranked #85 with a rating of 7.83. Length: 10-30 hours. NSFW.
A deep story about a post-apocalyptic world with alot of different options to choose(sometimes the wrong decision is a game over,sometimes it affects the plot)and human interactions/emotions in it. Recommended to those who have time and want a complex story. Available as digital download from DLsite.com or Getchu.com for ~10$. The group who did the translation is still recovering from their previous site being offline so there is no official page linking to the translation,but I managed to find the translation file,uploaded by the group's programmer. Mediafire clicky
Saya no Uta - Saya's song. Popularity: ranked #3 with a score of 80.18. Bayesian rating: ranked #28 with a rating of 8.37. Length: 2 - 10 hours. NSFW.
Magical-realism setting. A horror vn about a man trying to live after an accident makes his brain see the world in a twisted way. NSFW,Features bits of gore,rape,violence. Buy it english-prepatched for 25$ at JAST USA,digital download available.
Sekien no Inganock - What a beautiful people. EGS Score: 82 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #39. Bayesian rating: ranked #67 with a rating of 7.93. Length: 10 - 30 hours. NSFW.
Supernatural-realism setting. You live in what was once supposed to be utopia. A city fully independent on anything else. Something went wrong,and now people walk around with wings on their back or a snake for their body. It's not exceptional in any regards but if you love fiction you're bound to be sucked into this story. Available from JLIST for 70$. Translation patch available here - you want the Sekien no Inganock -what a beautiful people- Fullvoice ReBORN Patch. Direct link.
Steins;gate EGS Score: 90 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #18. Bayesian rating: ranked #2 with a rating of 8.98. Length: 30 - 50 hours.
One of the most known titles in the visual novel world,spawned several adoptions. A young mad aspiring to be a mad scientist slapped some stuff into a microwave then discovered it can effect time. Choices in this game are not made in traditional form but rather as you progress(by responding or not responding to calls,messages,etc). Explores physics of time and possible theories. Available from [JBOX for 55$]. An english patch is only available for iOS,and has been only partially ported to the windows version. Fuwan has a working full windows pre-patched version but the sources are not clear. An english version should be released by the end of the 2013-2014 winter and can be preordered for [40$].(http://www.jbox.com/product/SG001). A limited edition is available for 60$,also from JBOX.
Done with the list and want more? Here are some vns I haven't read yet,but planning to when I have time:
Dangan ronpa - Popularity: ranked #66. Bayesian rating: ranked #37 with a rating of 8.23. Length: 10 - 30 hours.
A gameplay-enhanced visual novel. 15 students who excel at different things get thrown into a game where they must kill someone to get a chance at getting out alive. A trial will be held after each death - if they are found guilty they will be executed and the game goes on. If the murderer is found innocent,he will be free to go and everyone else will die. Has no official windows release,but the psp version can be bought from [Amazon.com for 30$] and a detailed guide for applying the english translation and running the game on psp/emulating on windows is available here. A pre-patched version including the JCPSP emulator is available from fuwan.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - Translates to "When Seagulls Cry"(parts 1-4) and "When Seagulls Cry: Breakdown"(parts 5-8). EGS Score: 80 out of 100 and 92 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #16 and #34. Bayesian rating: ranked #9 with a rating of 8.71 and ranked #19 with a rating of 8.50. Length: 50+ hours EACH.
Depending on your point of view,Supernatural-magical or realism setting. A series of murders is taking place in a mansion on a closed island. A women claims she did it through magic. You try to prove her wrong,solving a possible solution to those only with logic. I can't say more without spoiling it. It's a great game for all those who love mystery and believe in logic even when it seemed like reality just ignored physics. Parts 1-4 buyable for 25$ at Mangagame,and parts 5-8 for 31$. English patch for parts 1-4,English patch for parts 5-8. Also see Umineko Tweak,an extra patch to add voice acting and make the game much more pretty using ps3 graphics. Tweak for 1-4, Tweak for 5-8.
Fate/Stay Night - EGS Score: 90 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #1. Bayesian rating: ranked #4 with a rating of 8.86. Length: 50+ hours,the word count is more than the Lord of The Rings trilogy. (lightly)NSFW.
I've seen the anime adaption,and it was amazing. Didn't get around to reading this because I don't have enough time. Supernatural setting. A boy with a peace-at-any-price personality gets thrown into a mage's competition who want to win at any cost. Character development is a strong point in this one. English translation available here. Last copy can be bought from amazon for 4$,a little pricier copy can be bought here if you miss it. Are you laughing yet?
Extra titles(suggested by other people,I can't personally vouch for those - links to vndb,scores coming soon):
Clannad EGS Score: 90 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #7. Bayesian rating: ranked #3 with a rating of 8.88. Length: 50+ hours.
Buyable at JBOX for 75$. Translation patch - you want the full voice ddl. Direct link.
Never 7 the end of infinity EGS Score: 72 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #143. Bayesian rating: ranked #461 with a rating of 7.10. Length: 30 - 50 hours.
Grab the download edition for 10$ from gameliner.jp. Here's a translation of the buying process, and here is a guide for installing. English translation and some troubleshooting by tlwiki esp. note how to translate videos and how to re-add music to the game. Se fuwan troubleshooting if for extra help.
Remember 11 the age of infinity EGS Score: 80 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #63. Bayesian rating: ranked #73 with a rating of 7.90. Length: 30-50 hours.
Buy from gameliner.jp for 15$. English patch. Installation and purchase guide same as Never 7.
Ever 17 the out of infinity EGS Score: 90 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #4. Bayesian rating: ranked #5 with a rating of 8.82. Length: 30-50 hours.
Last copy,english translated,available at amazon for 1$. Here's a translation update.
Tsukihime EGS Score: 86 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #5. Bayesian rating: ranked #23 with a rating of 8.45. Length: 30-50 hours.
English patch,Buy it from amazon for 4$.
Cross Channel EGS Score: 90 out of 100 from 3407 votes. Popularity: ranked #13. Bayesian rating: ranked #51 with a rating of 8.06. Length: 10-30 hours.
Buyable at amazon.jp for 100$. There's a version at amazon.com for 70$,but there's no mentioning whatever it is the pc version. English patch.
Little Busters EGS Score: 85 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #9. Bayesian rating: ranked #8 with a rating of 8.75. Length: 50+ hours.
Buyable from JBOX for 115$. English patch avaiable here - you want the Little Busters! Version 6.0 Complete English Patch,and the Little Busters! EXperimental EXtra Version 1.0 patch afterwards to add voice acting to side characters and word wrap.
Rewrite - thanks to MrSteeel and TrickZter for making this appear here. EGS Score: 81 out of 100. Popularity: ranked #19. Bayesian rating: ranked #11 with a rating of 8.68. Length: 50+ hours.
Buyable at JBOX for 110$. English patch available here.
Titles on Steam(links are to steam):
Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos
Analogue: A Hate Story
Hate Plus
Narcissu
Cinders
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When the Cicadas Cry) on Steam Greenlight
Sites worth visiting:
Fuwanovel Is a new,growing site with the target of "making visual novels popular in the west". Browse the site to find new visual novels that might interest you or the homepage for news and just released/about-to-be-done translations. The [forums] are a great place to ask in english about anything related to visual novels. A visual novel's page contains a short description about each visual novel,a game walkthrough,troubleshooting help, as well as a link to a torrent for an english pre-patched or patch-ready game,which is useful if you're having problems making your legit game work in english,or if you want to pirate it(note: pirating visual novels is morally different from pirating your everyday game,at least according to me).
vndb is the largest database of visual novels. Search a title,and you can see a little summary,some technical details,and available translations in different languages/whatever someone is working on a translation. Sometimes a bit outdated - fuwan often has more updated info about english translations,but vndb covers alot more titles.
TL wiki Can help you find completed translations to games you downloaded in japanese,and sometimes offers a bit of troubleshooting or extra tweaks you can apply to the game.
VNTLS is where you go to see whatever anyone is working on translation and the translation's status. Updates every saturday.
F.A.Q (will expand as more questions are asked)
Bump! Every bump makes it so more people see this and helps this thread not fall into the abyss of forgotten posts.
Discuss! What's your favorite visual novel? Ever heard of them before? Surprised they are not all about seducing little half-naked girls? Make the thread active.
Suggest new visual novels that you think should be here. Make sure they have an english translation,do not contain any strong gameplay elements,do not require any knowledge of japan/the japanese culture,and are generally suitable for beginners.
Some genres don't get a good representation in this thread. Here are some visual novels that caught my eye - Forest and Chaos;Head as a mystery mindscrew, True Blood,AKA Togainu no Chi as a candidate for action,Night of the forget me nots,AKA Wasurenagusa no Yoru as horror. Need opinions about those - I'd be grateful if anyone can read them and tell me whatever they're appropriate to be put here.
Write descriptions for the visual novels on steam and the extra titles. I haven't read those myself and I want something shorter and more clear than the vndb descriptions.
Tag the visual novels - I'm not really good at classifying anything into genres,so perhaps anyone who is can help?
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Why are prices so high?
At time of writing you can substitute 100¥ for 1$. Prices for most visual novels are actually really cheap. Taxes and importing fees are horrible. For example,take Swan song - Price: ¥ 9,240 (tax ¥ 8,800) meaning from the 90$ that you pay 5$ actually makes it to the company. How much of that gets to the dev? Take fate/stay night for an extreme example. Digital download editions usually do not warrant tax thus are usually much,much cheaper.
My game freezes,crashes,doesn't start,black screen,etc.
See this page on fuwan. Also,if you downloaded it via a torrent that does not require installing - make sure your torrent client is not working,as it can make your saves disappear. I recommend copy-pasting it to another location and playing from there,as well as right clicking on the main folder and removing the read-only tag from everything possible. Solves 90% of all problems. If the problem persists,search fuwan for vn's page and known errors plus how to solve them will be at the bottom of the page.
It's too much just to get a game! Dead websites,broken links,and nothing in english. I'm used to steam doing everything.
I've done my best finding the links for shops and translations,in english whenever possible,and with buying and installation guides when not. but if you can't do it yourself, I'd recommend to download a patch-ready or pre-patched version from fuwan. I've added notes to games that are particularly messy to get working. Please consider voting for other vns that are in greenlight to make the future better in this aspect.
What's with all those scores?
Think of EGS as the user score from metacritic. Bayesian rating is a rating system allowing for more accurate score than a simple average. Popularity is how popular the vn is compared to others on vndb - this is not a definitive score so some visual novels share the same rating.
Why does the length vary so much?
It depends on your reading speed,as well as how many times you choose to replay the novel to discover new routes.
What should I read for a first pick?
I'd recommend Katawa Shoujo or Narcissu. If you prefer mystery/horror titles,go with Phenomeno. For a first purchase I'd recommend Swan Song because it offers great plot,length and is available for digital download for relatively cheap.
If you have anything good to add,just post it here,with a fuwan link if possible(vndb will do if you can't find it). I'll add it if it's awesome enough.
Oh,and for those of you who prefer their visual novels choices being whatever you fuck your little sister,your girlfriend,your girlfriend's little sister or all of them together,drink this. It makes your fapping up to 100% more efficient.
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