Hijiri

My opinion is closely aligned to Funyarinpa in his earlier message. I don't know if anyone else has spoken from the opinion of an OELVN dev yet, so i'll act as if i am the first. 
Naturally, i fall into the category of those who had their VN virginity brutally torn by Katawa Shoujo, but even then, after reading subsequent Japanese novels like G-senjou no maou, i never actually compared the two. Why? Because they were both great. This may sound like i'm trying to defend OELVNs but it's the undisputed truth. It doesn't matter how, why, what or who made a VN. A good story is a good story no matter what it's 'ripping off'.
Some who've read this far might still disagree with my notion. Then let me explain a little further basing my opinion on facts and ideas. 
There are two popular VN forums sites for western otakus. There's our very own Fuwanovel and there's Lemmasoft. Fuwanovel strikes me as a Vn site that is mostly focused on Pure Japanese Vns as opposed to lemmasoft which tries to promote OELVNs. this is true because this forum has a sub-forum for OELVNs that sees even less action that most virgin NEETs. Neither of the sites are better than the other and neither of them are worse. But after browsing these two for a while, I've come to learn quite a few things about the differences between OELVNs and Jappy VNs.
1. Literature. OELVNs use a different style of literature as opposed to Jap Vns. To be precise, they are more focused on prose and the utilization of text heavy lines and powerfully fluid description. So it's almost like reading a paperback novel on screen with art. I myself dislike writing with prose, as i prefer utilizing Japanese literature and plot devices. An example would be the very well known Boke and tsukkomi routine (think Comyu). Most OELVNs are focused on delivering the story with excellent wording at the cost of visuals.
2. Art. Art is the main branching point and the OELVN's greatest weakness. i'll be blunt. Sometimes i see some projects on Lemmasoft and be awe-struck by the art used to depict characters... and not in a good way. It seems like OELVN devs are satisfied with utilizing low to medium-low quality for their projects to cut costs, as they are not companies who can shelve the heavy costs that comes with great art. Most of the freebies have low quality art, while the Commercial ones have medium low art. Like Funyarinpa stated, this community gathered because of Japanese art, music and style, so OELVNs with such art would have little to no impact on those used to the excellent qualities Jap Vns deliver. I'm an OELVN dev, yet I've never bothered to read a single OELVN except KS. (the ones I've edited and proofread don't count). This is because, before i am a writer, i am an Otaku. that means i love Japanese stuff. that means i want  Japanese stuff. But attempting to produce something on the level of the Japanese is apparently being termed as a 'ripoff'. It makes you wonder what exactly the consumers want. Do they want westernized art? No. Do they want Japanese art? Yes, but not from you. A difficult situation indeed.
3. Communication. Another bane of OELVN creation. From what I've read/heard most Japanese devs are mostly located in a single room/complex/building during most of the VN's creation. Most OELVN devs do most of their communication over the internet. Something like this doesn't sound like a pressing problem from the perspective of a non-dev, but trust me, communication is what has lead to the crumbling and breakdown of most OELVNs. For example, an artist is working on a CG. Now CGs unlike sprites or Character designs, have to be done right from the get-go otherwise you're going to lose a lot of time in correcting it. So they send WIPs and Lineart sketches. You'd have to pray and hope your description and their understanding matched well, otherwise you'd have to restart. Jap devs, however, just need to look over their shoulder and check out their comrade's WIP, or the artist may even explain a better idea for positioning and perspective as opposed to the writers description. Also some associates on the EVN sphere can remain offline for days or weeks and there's absolutely nothing you can do but wait patiently for their return. The internet is difficult like that.
4. Commitment. Apart from one or two exceptions, most associates in the EVN creation are not fully committed to what they're doing, especially in the case of Artists. It seen by the style of advertising on lemmasoft. "Pay half to my paypal, i'll send a sketch and you pay the other half". After that payment is done the association has ended. Whatever the art is used for is not their problem, since it has been compensated by a few bucks. I'm not saying artists should work for free, but rather take a controlling share in what they draw for. Unfortunately for EVN devs 95% of artists aren't interest in Sales commitment or as it's called, "Rev-share". Yes, i know that economical and financial security play a part etc but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a problem. Another point under this, is that EVN artists hardly actually read the story their drawing for. I mean they just read the summary and draw based on whatever you give them alone, instead of mixing it with the emotions, perceptions and ideas you derived from reading. It still works for business purposes, but it would never match up to Jap Vns with their enthusiastic and moving work.
Aside from these points, there are many other deep rooted and subtle difference that bar EVNs from making it big. I can't touch on everything since i don't have the energy for that, but i would spent a little more on talking about my 100% personal opinion. 
What the OP refers to as 'ripoffs' are those EVNs that utilize Japanese names for characters, Japanese locations and Japanese culture, while using western style literature, art etc and the writers themselves only have a second hand grasp of the Culture. 
Like Funyarinpa said, what the EVN community needs is that one (or two) project(s) that stands out from the rest with Art, Music and story that are original and compelling while delivering it in the style that Jap VN lovers want. Hopefully, with the increase of the EVN output, that one project may come sooner rather than later.
EVNs may not be the best examples of VNs, but like all things that are shot down by humanity, it's just a mentality... which i'm also criminal of. Being someone who understands this very intimately, i hope that whatever i throw out would be to the satisfaction of both sides of the market and wouldn't fall into the demeaning category of 'ripoff'.

Narcissu 1 for sure.

I'm sure MG is feeling pretty good about their decision to dump these guys right about now.

Because after the starter phase, most people become to pretentious to appreciate it. "I only read REAL japanese Visual Novels" and stuff like that.

@Vorathiel Your argument of "I can't make good choices, therefore these choices should be made for me" isn't very convincing.  Especially when your solution is to remove the choice for everyone.

Euphoria. The UI felt really smooth and there was a lot of control in terms of customising to fit your preferences, not to mention the panic button.

Final summary

I don't see any, maybe the page is bugged? 
Now, time to wait for MG panel, to get trolled again.
EDIT
Maybe creating new subsidiary for SP and calling it SP Indie or something would solve some issues with fans. I bet SP could be leading indie publisher!

It's a horror VN with some exploration gameplay. Much of the appeal of the games is discovering the many ways the characters can die (and there are quite a few.) as well as solve the mystery of the school. Although by now, I'm sure everyone already knows that
 
So if exploration and body horror ain't your thing, you can skip this game if you want. But, personally, I feel you'd be doing yourself a disservice.
 

It's a horror VN with some exploration gameplay. Much of the appeal of the games is discovering the many ways the characters can die (and there are quite a few.) as well as solve the mystery of the school. Although by now, I'm sure everyone already knows that
 
So if exploration and body horror ain't your thing, you can skip this game if you want. But, personally, I feel you'd be doing yourself a disservice.
 

It's a horror VN with some exploration gameplay. Much of the appeal of the games is discovering the many ways the characters can die (and there are quite a few.) as well as solve the mystery of the school. Although by now, I'm sure everyone already knows that
 
So if exploration and body horror ain't your thing, you can skip this game if you want. But, personally, I feel you'd be doing yourself a disservice.
 

It sounds like you need to spice things up!

Oh ffs 
(spoilers for the leak) 

You've made a few similar threads recently, and the best, all-encompassing, advice I can give you is: just make what you want to make, dude. An indie visual novel isn't going to make you a millionaire, probably not even a living, so just make something that you can love and be proud of. That's the best pay-off you're going to get from doing this. Once you've done that, making money is a bonus.
Also you're not going to win any friends by saying: "Look how different and better I am than other OELVNs". It's really dismissive of other people's hard work and, contrary to ignorant popular belief, OELVNs are most assuredly not just a bunch of copy paste high school games. The shovelware shite on steam ≠ the sole representative of the OELVN scene. 

But doesn't that also describe the Japanese market as well?

While most of the scenes haven't made me think too hard about what was going on, there's one that makes me wonder what the hell the writer and artist were thinking:
Like, seriously. What the hell.

VN of the year for me is tied between NTY!! and euphoria (Both from the same company, funny enough). Reasoning for both is that I simply expected smut from both (and jfc do these games have smut) and ended up getting far more than I bargained for, which made it all the more enjoyable.
As for Heroine of the Year? There's really only one choice for me:

Wasn't the goal 'to produce as much salt as possible'?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadomasochism

Nothing too extreme but still...I found it even funnier because the envelope said it was a music CD. I could only imagine the customs guy going "What sort of music did this weeb impo--Oh."

While most of the scenes haven't made me think too hard about what was going on, there's one that makes me wonder what the hell the writer and artist were thinking:
Like, seriously. What the hell.

-Who would skip such thoughtful dialogue like this?:

Jokes aside, the scenes give a bit of insight on the MC's twisted personality, and for some scenes it also shows a different side to the girls
-Not really, in a sense the game is about twisted "love".
-It's arguable.
Trust me, I'm not a fan of some of the content in this game yet even I've found myself enjoying it. Besides, if stuff like guro or scat disgust you, you can always turn that stuff off in the Options menu.

I will say with my utmost confidence: An H-Scene with voices.