Okarin

Oh, that's easy! Hoshimemo is a really nice moege, top-tier. All the hate probably stems from: 1. People reading it after hundreds of moege, and thus getting tired; and 2. The first impressions found about it on the internet were either troll or uninformed. See how that guy, solidbatman, bashed Little Busters and so on, but Little Busters is really fine, if you consider the majority of VNs. Like you can bash Key as much as you want, but if you're a Key fan, criticising it for its peculiar humour and gimmicks is out of the question. If you're a fan, you have to like that or at least tolerate it. If not, of course you're gonna bash the thing! Then again there are genres suited and unsuited for each person, but hey, I won't rate a game shit if I acknowledge it's not my thing... unless it's moege, because that well is very dry by now. I rate moege that bring nothing new to the table as solid 5/10s, because you can read them and enjoy them but are ultimately insubstantial. The question is... shouldn't you read something more worthy of your time, instead...?

Why would you be interested in worst VN? I don't like to play bad games, so unless it's to keep away from them, I'm not finding much use to this discussion. That said, everyone should use VNDB to see if a VN suits them, and if you don't, just ask for recommendations!

I think that Noble Works is completely average and ordinary as a moege. It's also the Yuzusoft game I've least enjoyed. I played Sanoba Witch nearly to 100%, the majority of Dracu-riot, and was getting started with Amairo Islenauts -which looks like the most enjoyable, probably. But this? I could barely play two routes straight. So, Noble Works is a solid 5/10 work, I guess? Maybe even 4/10.

Well, I think that the origin of multiple routes was offering a girl archetype for different people... so as to cover more bases, and make the game sell better. For example, if at one point tsunderes are popular, put a tsundere character in there, but also put some more experimental character, and so on. Who really knows the inscrutable ways of moe? There are also completionists like me, who only consider a game done when I've finished all routes. If not I consider it "dropped" and it possibly tired me. People like that get the most of their games, playing them to the fullest. But this is not guaranteed, and there's a type of player who tends to do only one or a couple of routes, so they have to cover more bases. I WILL NOT get interested in a game that's the umpteenth attempt at generic moege, with meh art (in my eyes) and probably the old trite sex. For example, My Fair Princess, or Amatarasu Riddle Star. Sorry to all the people who love it, but this kind of game is a no-go in my book. I will have a lot more joy with some other type of game. The companies know this, and proceed accordingly depending on their target audience.

- Who cares about niche? What about roguelike RPGs? Aren't those niche too? If you really need validation to play something, just keep on with your Call of Duty. - That's not true. It's true that if you turn your story into a romance moege with 4-5 heroines and spicy sex scenes, you'll be more successful (since that's what we have come to expect). But you can do great stories with all-ages. Check out Shinimasu for example. - Yeah, fan TLs have it hard, but it's not all hardship; you can attract the attention of some publisher and get hired. And still, you do it because you want; not because of anything else. - I bet localisation companies proceed with their business without minding those things much. Not all fans are unhappy. Deadlines... well... what about regular videogames, don't those have delays too? - Yes, poor payment. Still, as with anything, there will always be people willing to do it. I wish that they were paid better. But to achieve that, the industry must improve. - Dunno, Ebi-hime seems to be doing alright, and there are some fans who consume EVNs regularly. - EOPs have a lot of games at their disposal now. I follow all localisation companies and I haven't got the time to play it all. There are some games I wouldn't play anyway but if you really like VNs chances are there are more TLed games out there than you can chew. - JOPs... again with validation. If you're happy with it, why do you need it to be popular? Some people do it precisely because it's obscure. If everyone was doing it, well... might as well do sports or something!

https://vndb.org/c4656 https://vndb.org/c26309 (These are more than your regular cuties.) https://vndb.org/c73711 (This is more like your regular cutie.)

Because people like the games themselves, not the medium in itself?? It offers some things very close to anime, but with eroge, you get more explicit scenes than in regular anime.

More like, for a time, they just repeated the same ideas over and over. At least that's the case with Kanon and Clannad. And they're VERY good; but the formula is just the same.

Also pretty much all the titles released this year, like Trinoline, aren't currently available to buy from their shop. They must be fiddling with their server, is what I think. Sadly this has made them lose some sales, most likely.

The same but more expensive, since you don't have as frequent sales as on Steam. What's not to like?

Depends, mostly on the story and themes of the novel. In Little Busters it makes all the sense Rin is the main, canon heroine, and the one who shares all of Riki's path. Other heroines are OK but in the end they're left aside. Likewise I haven't played Hatsuyuki Sakura, but I believe Sakura the heroine is "special" and is considered canon route. I agree there are novels where the canon status is more blurry, especially in moege.

The prize goes to you. :3

Wew, so many catgirls. Must be the response to Nekopara. Nothing regarding Maggot Baits this convention, right? I guess we'll know more in the next one (I forgot what it is). I think MB will get released by summer. They're now in beta.

So far most interesting route has been Makoto's and best girl is maybe DD.

Obviously Steins;Gate, but Subahibi is damn good too.