Christfall

They were not kidding when they say this is their biggest game yet... and it shows, despite having the least amount of routes compared to their past games. No doubt, the story definitely surpassed Iroseka (the first game at least - where its basically one single route that makes it stand out), though you raise some good points about Urushibara, sometimes I really hoped he would improve his writing on SOL and icharabu to achieve a good balance, instead of trying to camouflage his weakness at that department with overwhelmingly long (and in some cases, intentionally pro-longed and unnecessary) drama. In fact, the lack of character interactions where they aren't suffering / struggling against something serious is my only complaint about this game. Nevertheless, I would have loved to see an FD someday (which with Favorite's track record is very likely), hopefully to resolve the remaining plot threads and not screwing Kuro all over again for the sake of additional drama.

The whole premise is interesting and a nice read overall but unfortunately characters lack some depth IMO and things get predictable so some points are lost there. I enjoyed reading the whole thing but I can't give this kamige title either, although they are deserved of praise for such good quality as a first game. Overall, this is like an inferior version of Steins:Gate without the emotional impact.

Length importance cannot be determined until you get to know the scale and what the story wants to represent. There is no correct "length" in a VN, only good/bad pacing and flow in said length that determines whether or not the length justifies the quality.

Ever17 (my first VN), Root Double. Naturally both are written and directed by the same person.

IMO, learning Japanese is no different than learning any other language. People who knows Asian language will have easier time to learn Japanese, just like how people who knows Western Language will have easier time learning other language that use English alphabets. However it still boils down to how people is willing to put in the time, and more importantly, the EFFORT to learn. Naturally, the ones who are truly passionate in reading VNs will voluntarily learn and get down to business and not sitting to wait for translations only.

Remembered marathoning through this one the day it is out. Overall the story is pretty decent (especially Luna's) but with one flaw, "wasted potential for the setting". I also liked the fact it avoids common tropes (*cough* "male best friend" *cough*) you see in a school setting (although it is still fairly light-hearted for the most part) and it gets pretty intense and brutal in key events. While to me there's no way this can rank above Hello Lady it is still a decent read. Definitely recommended.

Ok I regret for not heeding your warning earlier. Phi's writing is so ridiculously bad that I'm not even sure what I am reading now. I'll add a few points to it, the protag is just stupid (on this case, you have to make him look stupid with your choices, and not in a good way) and there isn't barely development with the "heroines" before you are hit with H scenes one after another. Not to mention the pacing is absolutely horrible, probably the very first VN that made me ragequit because of the writing. I will give a 1/10, for providing me with cutesy heroines at first glance. They shall be remembered. Congratulations suckers.

I would say the all the games from Squaresoft from the 1990s are my favorites. Eg, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X. Basically any music composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Other than that, I also liked Valkyrie Profile's music a lot. For the more modern games, Rosenkreuzstilette's (and its sequel;s) music is one of the best you will hear in a doujin game originally consist of 2 (now 1) people, it is one of my current favorites for non-VN games.

Baldr Zero 2 alone took me over 3 weeks and you finished both in one week?! Guess you are in a totally different league. Marelle's route is probably the longest route in a VN that I have ever played, they sure aren't holding back there. The silly interactions of the characters in Squall (and later on, Kou) is what made the non-serious parts really interesting most of the time, and every character is really interesting in their own way, the protagonist himself included. One of the rare cases where the protagonist isn't disturbed nor seriously bothered by having amnesia and shrugs it off like nobody's business. The aspects of the SAS society is rather hard to endure but that's what dark futuristic settings are meant to be. And for the CGs...if you include those mecha-CGs used in the story not included in the gallery, these 2 games will have the most CGs ever used in a VN. The only thing I preffered Dive games over this is the battle system, I don't even feel like finishing the mission modes anymore.

Can't really say without spoiling too much, but you will need some basic knowledge on everything related to military stuff (guns, bombs, etc) and technology to understand its more difficult parts, otherwise normal level Japanese (able to understand character interactions and conversations) would be sufficient.

Ever17 has a lot of choices, it lacks in the amounts of ending department however, if you don't mind. All ages and translated, the best game for beginners. My best recommendation that fits what your need : If you can read Japanese, will be Root Double: Before Crime, After Days by the writer of Ever17. It has massive amounts of choices, 30+ endings. Oh, it is all ages as well. It uses a very unique choice system not seen in any other VN. Even if you can't I recommend you do it anyway with translation tools, it is just that good.

Modified the poll abit. As I would have guessed time constraints are what prevented most people from learning Japanese. But it is certainly doable, but its a long and tedious road after all. The good thing is, you don't need to be actually very good at the Japanese (native level) to understand majority of the VNs. Anyone has to start somewhere, myself included. Anyways, nice to know there are more people willing to walk down the road of learning Japanese.

As per topic, I would just like to do a quick survey to see how people's habits are when picking a VN to play. We all love good VNs with a passion after all, and I would like to see more people willing to tackle untranslated stuff so there will eventually be a wider discussion topic (in my wild dreams) as well as for me to refrain from mention too much stuff about untranslated stuff when no one cares. Feel free to share your views and points. B)

If people is willing to learn Japanese (with effort and passion) they can finish Rakuen before even Meikyuu comes out, it depends on whether or not they are willing to take the first step. You will be doing yourself a favor of not needing to endure the cliffhanger on Meikyuu and wait god-only-knows how many years.

+1. Visual's not everything, that are tons of VN with great art by crappy stories but they sell better than some with poor art. People can vote for "Only story matters" because they have the luxury to choose which to play "second-hand" and not actually have to "pay" for anything. Genuine JP players that actually spend at least 8,000 yen on a newly released game mostly pay for the art only. Most of the people who don't care about art are picking up titles based on reviews and recommendations where they know it can't go bad. Players that play them first-hand don't have that option.