Dreamysyu

That's true. However, I do think that SOL can be pretty good for character development. I've seen plenty of good examples in anime, manga, and LNs. At the same time, honestly, I can't think of any good example of a VN that did something like that. Overall, most SOL parts in VNs are either comedy, which can range from very good to awful, or just useless filler.

It's interesting that I kind of agree with the premise of the video, but I pretty much disagree with all examples given that I personally played. Maybe except Muv Luv Extra.

I'd say, Cinderella Phenomenon deserves to be added. It's a cool otome EVN with a story based on Western fairy-tales. The story itself is rather well-developed. Quality-wise, it's not particularly worse than its Japanese counterparts.

Soma fantasy recommendations: Action-focused: Anything by Type-Moon is a must-play, but, unfortunately, nothing is on Steam. Rewrite Tokyo Babel is pretty interesting in what it does, but it's not for everybody. Drama-focused: The House in Fata Morgana is absolutely amazing Katahane, whenever the official version is finally released Fault series, though it's incomplete, unfortunately

I believe the OP was asking for translated VNs with Japanese voice acting.

That's very subjective, you know. Steins Gate seems to be top 1 on VNDB rating right now, but, having only watched the anime, I often wonder why people rate it so high. Are you looking for some genres in particular? There are tons of high-quality VNs out there. Recommendations for sci-fi: I definitely recommend the Muv Luv series, but it's better not to get into it as a total beginner. Baldr Sky seems to be pretty good, though I personally couldn't read it due to some anxiety problems. Ever17 would be a good choice, but it's not on Steam. Root Double might work as a replacement, though I haven't read it, so I'm not sure about its quality. There's also YuNo remake.

So, I guess I'm almost done with Bokuten common route. Well, that was something. Quite often, even in good VNs, common routes feel like a waste of time. I like SOL when it serves a purpose in the story, but I hate it when it's used as useless filler. However, the common route in Bokuten is nothing like that. Basically, every chapter tells its own finished story. And the choices it gives are often pretty difficult. Almost every option comes don't to whether you let a couple of lovers fall apart or let them come together despite all the complications it will bring them. I decided to follow a walkthrough since there seems to be a recommended route order, but now I wonder which route I'd end up at if I chose what I believed was right.

They might be a vocal minority, though. I'm not sure how much an average Steam VN player follows any VN community. They may not even distinguish between EVNs and JVNs that much.

That's a shame, really. But I wonder if it is a good opportunity for Western developers to rise. I'd say, a big problem with VNs right now is how limited they are with the plots they cover and how annoying some of the cliches are, but smaller companies are generally a lot more creative.

Well, I tried not to read them in too much detail since I didn't want to be spoiled. It's entirely possible that things will go in the wrong direction later, and it totally happens with VNs sometimes. Hapymaher, for example, had excellent first few chapters, but later things got very weird. However, so far the writing in Bokuten seems pretty good, and while it does feel a bit cheesy from time to time, I can kind of relate to the characters. And the MC seems pretty good, which is rare for VNs. I think some people may find him annoying, but I somewhat understand where he's coming from. And yeah, he's quite obviously severely depressed. So, I guess, I'll try not to have too big expectations, but I hope everything turns out well.

I've finished chapter one of the common route, and it seems pretty good for now! I'm actually surprised that the vndb rating is so low. After skimming over the reviews, it seems that people just complain about an utsuge being an utsuge.

I feel like it's been twelve thousand years since I posted in this thread. So, I started reading Bokuten, and I hope I finish it. Actually, it's stupid that the last full-length VN I finished was in 2020. I started quite a few since then but lacked the motivation to continue. So, does anyone know if there is some recommended route order in Bokuten? And should I use a walkthrough? I generally prefer to avoid using it, but there are some cases when necessary.

One of these? https://vndb.org/v?q=&ch=&f=022gru0280Rq80X4N&s=26w It doesn't seem like they fit, but who knows?

Yeah, everything seems to be okay now.

I noticed so far that the ideal length of a light novel seems to be between 5 and 10 volumes. The shorter ones often feel undeveloped, and the longer ones tend to forget what they were about. Actually, the only LN I've read that has more than 10 volumes and still hasn't lost its momentum is Honzuki. But in its case, the first 12 volumes are often considered more or less the extended prologue.

The problem still remains.

It's fixed on the main page but still the same for the rest of the forum.

I'm using Firefox

Most likely, adjustments. I noticed that the first VN has a lot of 10s and 9s from users who only voted once, and it hasn't changed. And the parameters of the system aren't supposed to depend on time.

The ratings for the first one are clearly rigged. It's definitely a bad sign that the ratings are affected so much by crap like that. Whoa, I checked it, and G-Senjou is not even in the top 100 anymore. I don't even like it that much, but it's pretty wild after it was #17 some years ago. And what is really insane is Saya no Uta being #301. Just what? Yeah, at this point I'm not sure that niche exposure is worth it. Vndb ratings used to be at least somewhat usable compared to most other websites exactly because they didn't show all the garbage with a small number of votes. You could still find all the niche stuff using tags.

It's a remake that came out recently, so it's understandable that most people who played it are already Type-Moon fans. I'd say, the rating is likely to fall in a few years. And, honestly, Fate is classic, but it has quite a few flaws, and the translation is terrible. I agree, but it makes it easier to find these niches. I guess, when I just started reading VNs, I mostly played either highly rated VNs, or the ones that had interesting reviews. I guess, this change would make my experience back then quite different.

https://vndb.org/t20453/1 Basically, the idea behind this change is to make newer VNs more represented in the rating. I'm not sure how I feel about this, honestly. On the one hand, it makes it easier to find some less known but interesting VNs. I noticed that a lot of VNs that suddenly appeared in the top-25 were already on my wishlist. On the other hand, I feel like the troll voters will downvote these less popular VNs into oblivion, and in the end, it will make ratings even less useful than they used to be.

Looks really cool, actually. Too bad it's console-only.

Huh. I see that the trend of Type-Moon refusing to translate their games into non-Japanese languages is finally broken.

You know, one of the reasons I like otome isekais is how many different types of stories they cover. Or, at least, used to be. There are cute shoujo romances, nice yuri, mysteries, adventures, country-managing stories, hilarious comedies of different kinds, dark coming-of-age stories, etc. And the list gets even bigger if you include Korean and original English stories of the same kind. I feel like it's not really true anymore, and most stories I pick up nowadays just repeat the ones I've already read. But it's still nice to see that these stories finally come to the anime format. Even if so far, somehow, none of the adaptations so far are based on novels I've actually read.