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This kind of thread pops up every two years or so... but the basic rule of thumb is the existence of extensive narration and the use of a text box in the ADV or NVL style (though there are exceptions). VNs must always try to tell a story, even if it is nothing more than excuse for sex scenes. While I mention narration above, someone is eventually going to point out Lamunation, which has almost no narration and the story is told almost entirely through dialogue. There are hardline parts of the community that don't even want to accept Eushully-type games as VNs because of the existence of gameplay. there are also more liberal parts of the community that want to consider most jrpgs that even hint at VN elements as VNs. However, the fact is, you have to draw the line somewhere. A few comments. Persona generally gets excluded because the VN elements are actually far closer to dating sim elements than visual novel ones. Dating sims, while they retain some similarities to a VN on the surface, rarely tell a story and are focused on simulation of a romance, often using social stats such as are seen in the Persona games. Personally, I find the inclusion of Ar Tonelico to be almost equally questionable, because the Cosmosphere is not so much telling a story as exploring the psyches of the heroines... though it does effect the story greatly at times. Understand, if you play any Eushully game, then play a normal jrpg afterward, you will immediately see the differences... even if that other jrpg is Persona. Simply put, Persona games' story is dependent on its gameplay, whereas a true VN hybrid's gameplay is an appendage to the story. The differences are obvious when taken subjectively, but objectively, they are hard to describe.

I finished YMK. Whoa, that was a ride. But then, @Stormwolf was right It was better than I expected, and didn't disturb me as much as I feared. I started with Nekoko's route. In the beginning that route was like one big WTF - but that's understandable considering Nekoko's circumstances and her route's main theme. But the ending made up for it (not just epilogue, but generally last 3rd of this route). Also, the plot twist really surprised me I also liked the 4th wall breaking - or VN's self-consciousness - in this route, with Nekoko giving "affection points" to Kouhei, and his frequent talks with Tsubaki about eroge - route systems, character's behaviour etc. (This comes up in other routes too, but in Nekoko's it was most pronounced). Next was Mizuki. That route was pretty crazy too - when I think about it, Mizuki had something in common with Nekoko - she also tried doing various crazy things as an escape. Sometimes I almost couldn't catch up with her But Mizuki's ending was maybe the best in whole game. At last I read Aeka's route. It was definitely the heaviest of them all, but very good. It does really good job at making player want to protect Aeka, and then fall for her along with Kouhei. Don't know what to say, as almost anything will be spoiler for this route. Also, while maybe slightly exaggerated, the whole bullying theme and mechanisms of it were presented almost disturbingly realistically. Final sequence got me by surprise, it was very strong too. It was difficult to go for Nekoko's route first, as the game surely made me feel like trash for abandoning Aeka - to not get on her route you have to completely ignore her, and that's really painful. (on the second playthrough, when aiming for Mizuki, auto-skip eased that pain ). Also, antagonist in that route... Another strong point of the whole VN is Kouhei's family - that's right, here we have eroge protagonist living with full family (well, adoptive, but still) - now that's something you don't find often. And on top of that, they're great people, really caring for him. Now about H-scenes - yes, there were a lot, but authors made the effort to justify them within a story. Well, in Nekoko's route they were a bit random to me - except the last one - but then again, everything she did was random, so it fits I guess. I think in that route the reality was bent the most to allow for h-scenes, but still, somehow it worked. In Mizuki's and especially in Aeka's route sex scenes fit well into the story. There were also some really important and moving dialogues during Aeka's scenes - I like that. So - except maybe a little for Nekoko's route - no complaints about h-content from me Well, maybe HCGs could use a bit more variation, because often they don't align with the text (like, characters being in completely different pose). Translation is OK - there were some rough lines and typos, but it read well. All in all - I'm glad that I gave it a chance and read it. 8/10

Chuunige is one of the visual novel genres that are barely present in OELVN scene, at least to any “serious” capacity – among the more popular and high-quality releases there’s very few that would even loosely fit the “fighting VN” formula, or especially effectively replicate the unique feel of this particular current in Japanese fiction. Recently, however, a fledgeling studio under the name of Epic Works decided to remedy this sorry state of affairs by creating a content-rich, Fate-inspired EVN called Episicava. The first volume, of what was apparently planned to become a longer series, was released on Steam in April 2018, in a slightly disastrous state – full of graphical bugs and various technical issues, the game made a rather poor first impression. However, since those problems were mostly fixed with patches in the months after launch, it’s a good moment to look at Episicava and ask the most important question – did it manage, in its improved state, to capture some of the magic of Fate/Stay Night or Dies Irae in a downscaled, low-budget form of an EVN? Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

Disappointed to learn that Swan Song only has two Bad Ends, a Normal End, followed by an unlocked True End. That means there will probably be very few choices. Now I remember why I dropped this in the first place back then. There were only two VNs I've completed that had either very few choices or no choices at all: Umineko no Naku Koro ni and Grisaia no Kajitsu, and I only read both of them due to their reputation as amazing stories (not just "good" or "great," but so amazing that they received enough acclaim to push into an anime adaptation). Swan Song has no such reputation. And that's really beside the point. I have a policy where, no matter how good a story is, if it has little to no choices, it gets pushed back in my priority list, or dropped entirely. Grisaia was a very special exception that I made a long time ago, and I only bothered to read its sequel, "Grisaia no Meikyuu", because I've read the first one and got attached to its characters. Umineko has an even greater reputation than Grisaia, so of course, I couldn't ignore it because I'm someone who desires to experience the best of the best, be it anime, manga, or visual novel. Same deal with the highly acclaimed Muv-Luv Alternative, which I only gave a 9 in spite of its reputation. Why this policy, you ask? There's no overly complicated reason, really. It's just... more boring to read through a kinetic novel, that's all. No interaction. No engagement. Just reading. And clicking. There's no false sense of illusion that you're part of the story. You're just a passive bystander watching events unfold far away. Doesn't help that I've never been much of a reader to begin with. Visual novels have pictures, after all, so they're more accessible than books. I'm about an hour and a half into the story. Not a bad story so far. Has a very tragic and almost nihilistic start. It's not bad, but... there is the anxiety that I might get bored soon and drop it for greener pastures. I am juggling with six VNs right now, after all, not to mention Fate/hollow ataraxia, which I haven't even began yet (plan to read that one after I'm done with Ever17). With the amount of backlog I have after visiting that kamige thread on Fuwa, chances of dropping are increasing. I don't like to be bored, no matter the circumstances. Boredom invites... idle thoughts. But that's another topic for another day. Having said all that, I do feel incredibly bad for Aroe. I asked myself what I would do under the protagonist's circumstances. Her sister (or mother?)'s words rung true; people are cruel, and I caught myself thinking that I would kill her more than once, put her out of her misery. That just shows the human nature side of me, taking the easy way out. I just looked at her, and wondered if this was a real person, would I be kind enough to take care of her for 10 years? 20 years? I might sympathize her because she's some cute girl right now, but when she gets older and becomes haggard, would I get tired of her and maybe become angry or frustrated at her? Most likely yes. I'm not someone of great tolerance, evidently. Not sure why I still haven't warmed up to kinetic novels, or VNs with few choices. Guess there's always this... anxiety that comes with trying new things. I'm someone who's more comfortable with the old and familiar. Call me spoiled but, that's just the way I am. I don't like wasting my time experimenting with new stuff that I might come to dislike later on. It's a narrow-minded view, but... I've grown accustomed with such a lifestyle. But if I really think about why I dislike kinetic novels, I think it's because of the emptiness they bring. There's just such a fundamental difference in reading a VN where you pick the choices and a KN that lets you passively experience a story by the side. The former gives you an experience that's more... personal. The latter feels more alienated. And honestly, this difference was not noticeable before I read VNs. TV shows and movies are the same, as in they let you, the passive viewer, experience the story by the side, and yet I loved them all the same. But when it comes to the more static KNs with its static imagery, I guess the lack of animation, combined with the knowledge the VNs offer something deeper, is the reason I shy away from KNs and VNs with few choices. Because they feel emptier, now that I know what VNs with choices feel like. Even something like Telltale's The Walking Dead, where there's only a single ending, feels more personal because I got to make many decisions throughout. Superficial decisions, yes; meaningless, arbitrary decisions, yes; but the illusion is there. The illusion of putting you in the driver's seat is far deeper and more effective because of said decisions. This was especially so in season 2 of TWD, where you get to control Clementine. It almost felt like I'm shaping her character, shaping this little girl into the adult she'll become - even if that isn't true in the long run. It's all about the illusion and the experience. Anyway, it's probably too soon to judge anything, since I've barely started Swan Song. Just wanted to put all my thoughts out here, as well as have an excuse to write a new blog entry. Let's just hope this VN doesn't disappoint me. My expectations of its story quality have grown higher, now that I know it's lacking in the "choices" department I've always liked.

As you can imagine, I got a lot of requests for a similar list over the years, but the thing is, I don't play VNs in English that didn't start out in English. As such, my recommendations are based entirely on my experience of the Japanese versions of these VNs, rather than the localization. As such, don't hold me responsible for your personal experiences, lol. I'm going to split these by genre so I don't have to answer questions along those lines. For the purposes of fairness, I won't include anything with a machine translation (which means no Chuushingura). Chuunige I/O (yes, I did indeed play this, and it was good despite being dated horribly) FSN (you saw that coming, right?) Tsukihime (again, you saw that coming, right?) Comyu (fantasy) Ayakashibito (fantasy) Tokyo Babel (fantasy) Dies Irae (fantasy) Demonbane (fantasy) Sorcery Jokers (fantasy) Hello, Lady (upcoming fantasy) Hatsuru Koto naki Mirai Yori (upcoming eventually, fantasy) Baldr Sky (whenever it comes out (*crosses fingers for your sake* sci-fi) Phantom of Inferno (despite all the problems with the localized version it is a great read) Muv-Luv Alternative (this one is borderline, because it makes you read two mediocre games prior just to understand it) Charage/Moege Noble Works Majikoi (classified this way as long as you don't include the true/last route) Da Capo (the original only, and only because it is wrong not to have the archetypical moege experience at least one time in your VN lifespan) Shuffle (truth be told, I'm basing this assessment off of the expanded version, not the version originally released over here) Sanoba Witch (Yuzu-soft and thus predictably overdone with the ichaicha since this is one of their less plotge-style ones) Dracu-riot (Wait until an official release comes out. The patch currently floating around is a nonentity in comparison) Senren Banka (Sadly not out yet, but something to look forward to) Chrono Clock (I listed it in this one rather than plotge because the 'plot' was a bit too thin) Akatsuki no Goei (the original falls, barely, into this category, despite some seriously disturbing shit involving Kaito's origin story that was dropped here and there and the dystopian nature of the setting. Fan patch will probably be released next year) Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road (yes, I put this here) Note: For those who wonder why my list is sparse on a lot of names beloved by those who play localized games obsessively... you do realize that a lot of the charage that get released over here are from the bottom of the pile, right? Nakige Hapymaher (probably my biggest recommendation for this genre) Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no (for the distant future, something to look forward to) AstralAir no Shiroki Towa (whenever it releases) Hoshizora no Memoria (yes, I recommend it, lol) Irotoridori no Sekai (Eventually. And again, more Favorite... despite the fact that its staff idolize mysterious lolis) Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura doki (I was insanely surprised that this got localized at the time, considering the normal sluggishness of localization at the time) Plotge Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate (partial with two routes done. Definitely worth reading, if only to get an idea of what AXL is like) Cross Channel (weirdly, I've always had a fondness for this game and its clinically insane protagonist) Yume Miru Kusuri (yes, I played it. Yes, I liked it) Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake (no idea when this will come out... but definitely a recommendation, for all the screwy shit that happens in it) Nanairo Reincarnation (upcoming soon hopefully for you, since that would mean two kamige releases in two years, lol) Hello,Goodbye (this was a possible for chuunige, but I put it here. This will supposedly release before the end of the year, but I'm guessing March) Gameplay Hybrid Eien no Aselia Seinarukana Ar Tonelico Ar Tonelico 2 (this and the one above can only be considered to be borderline VNs in an odd way, because they are mostly jrpgs with a few VN elements) Note: I don't include anything Eushully, because none of the good ones have a translation that isn't a machine one.

Source: https://j-addicts.de/kokuhaku/ (shameless self-promotion xD ) Source: https://j-addicts.de/kokuhaku/ (shameless self-promotion xD ) Kokuhaku or “confession” is a short VN developed by a company called Song Wing which mainly work in sound design, casting actors etc basically all related to sound and music and this is their only work as game developers. The plot, uuggghh. The plot in this VN is nonexistent and plain bland. The main character is your typical super popular guy and all the girls are in love with him. Why? Who cares, they just are! The game is more like a kinetic VN but lets you choose which girl you want to pick at the end. Throughout the painfully 1-2 hours of reading, each one of the bland and boring heroines will confess their love to the main character without much explanation and out of the blue. These girls are the cliché of the cliché, Childhood friend? ☑. Sister? ☑. Shy girl? ☑. Tsundere? ☑. Interesting and well-developed heroine?☒. Once all the girls confessed their love you will reach the end, there you recall all the confession at once and that’s when you get to pick which of those confessions you take, thus picking a certain girl and confess your love back to her. Then a crappy CG shows up and it’s the end. Luckily there is no harem ending. And no I didn't omit anything, you read 10 min and a girl confess her love without warning then the other and so on and that's it... (She confessed her love out of the blue in the middle of a class O.o) If you want to put it bluntly, there are 4 cockroaches and you are a stinky piece of meat and for no reason at all the cockroaches want that putrid meat no matter what. If you think this analogy is in bad taste, GOOD! Then you understand how playing this VN feels. It’s also an all ages so you won't see any type of eroge or sexual innuendo at all. (Pick your ending) Music and Art. The music while not outstanding it does the job same as the art, it’s a bit on the unique side but nothing that will make it stand out. The redeeming factor. So you are probably wondering why the hell is this review for then? Well, as I said earlier the company that made this VN works in the sound industry and here is the catch and what makes this VN partially redeemable. You can choose the voice acting of each heroine from 4 voice actresses when you start the game, which are (IMO) some of the best in the industry itself. (The screen to select the voice acting Noto Mamiko https://vndb.org/s468 , Tsuji Ayumi https://vndb.org/s271 , Horie Yui https://vndb.org/s46 , Hirano Aya https://vndb.org/s1500 ) But that’s not the most impressive thing, the best part is that you can choose only 1 heroine to do the voice acting of the 4 heroines. Basically this game was more like a technical concept to show how an actress can interpret several roles at the same time, it’s more like a demonstration project rather than a game but it was sold as a proper game... the question is why they didn't bother to write a decent plot rather than this bland abomination if they were doing it anyway... Also, the writer is not a nobody without recognition in the industry so it’s really mind boggling why they approached this project in this particular way... Regarding the voice acting itself it’s actually pretty good and the concept itself works amazingly well. Playing the game with the same actress doing all the voices is interesting, to say the least. So as a concept this is really interesting at least on a technical level. Having 4 heroines and 4 actresses letting you mixing up whatever you want, theoretically there are countless and countless of hours for you to enjoy by playing with all the variations (You do the math)... but in reality after 1 time you will want to throw this game in the garbage bin and let it rot forever there where it belongs. Final score. Now, saying how much of a technical accomplishment something is where you can only tell by listening it would be unfair so I recorded a demonstration so everyone can judge for themselves. Here it is, rejoice (I recommend watching it in full-screen): If you want to read more reviews like this one check out: https://j-addicts.de/

I understand your preference for these type of works (VNs with plenty of choices), as this medium distinguises itself by how much agency is given to the player through forking paths and alternate endings, and it is surely one of the main draws of the medium. However, I believe that agency can be given in different ways other than choices. For example, Umineko is engaging because the many different elements come together to draw you into the atmosphere and it gives you a mystery to solve, while Swan Song forces you to think by yourself by presenting you with the idea of how people and society as a whole would change if they were thrust into catastrophe. How would your own life change if the rules and guidelines that keep society together had no one to uphold them? In fact, I dislike VNs with too many choices. They can often be meaningless and obscure your path towards reaching your desired ending. I'm not talking about games like Canvas 2 where you're presented, with dozens, hundreds of choices, but perhaps games like Clannad and Kara no Shoujo that leave you wondering how a seemingly meaningless choice you made many hours ago happened to lead to a Bad End. Thus, perhaps I'd say I'd rather have no choices than bad choices if that's the alternative. In conclusion, I think a balance is necessary, and choices should exist if they make sense in the story, not just for the sake of being there. Either way, hope you enjoy Swan Song, it's one of my favorites.

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imo, if i read more than play more, its a VN, otherwise it isnt

What I can say is that the sales is quite good, although if I speak from my personal opinion here I'm not the one who like to hunt the sales, so I'm still not reckless enough to do impulse buying so much that I need to sell my kidney lol. That said, if I may recommend something to buy perhaps Fata Morgana fandisc should be the one that you buy along with Fureraba bundle as well, and the latter here is should be good if you're un mood for some light read.

Hello all, After many many years of rust, I've recently revived my Japanese studies and I'm looking to tutor/guide someone to help me refresh my basics. Reason being I'll be going to Japan for the first time next year. Specifically looking for someone ranging from fresh beginners (we're going to gloss over basic grammar mostly) or intermediate (going to go over jlpt N2 grammar patterns). I will try to teach these and in the process help me de-rust. As they say, teaching is the best way of learning. We can hold voice/text sessions on discord, where I'm most active. I am by no means a great educator but I can show you the steps of how I approached learning Japanese. This is going to be reading-focus, as my speaking skills are bad atm, so it's good if you eventually want to read a VN. PM me to exchange discord/contact infos and scheduling.

I plan to grab Sakura Sakura during december sale

Boi, I've been waiting for this! Finally got my hands on Clannad, Fruit of Grisaia, Nurse Love Addiction, Miniature Garden and the last three Higurashi chapters that I've been missing ^^ I'm eyeing some other stuff too, but I have to keep some spare change for food... So I guess I'll try again next month ;v; I should have enough material to last me til then, tho XD

I used this sale to snatch Root Double - its regular price was bit too much for me, but after 65% off it became much more accessible

I enjoyed this, thank you. Quality review right here :thumbs_up:

Perhaps it's possible to enjoy this if you listen to all the heroines with Horie Yui's voice. Too bad that she didn't get anything decent to voice, huh. Also, amazing video. Everyone, please be sure to check it till the end...

To be clear about this: Piracy is not an advantage or great in any way. And I can see the thought process of "well great, 200.000 people just STOLE our product". I get it, it sucks. However, you can't make the mistake of seeing these, lets say, 200.000 downloads as "lost sales". Because they are not lost sales. They aren't lost because nothing was ever sold. They are nothing. If you sold, lets say 500.000 copies of your product and 200.000 also pirated your shit, getting rid of piracy would still mean you only sold 500.000. The only way to actually turn the pirate numbers into customer numbers, is to make pirating more of a hassle than purchasing. And no, that is not accomplished by 23,7 different accounts and 4 spy programs connected to the software, like game developers seem to think. Put it on steam for 10, 20, what have you, bucks. Slap a discount on during release week. Don't break their balls, tickle them. (which also why the "make VNs more expensive" idea is up there with the dumbest plans I've ever read).