Erikwithafro

I definitely appreciate your input, thanks much! And it seems you're right that I won't be able to avoid fluff and SoL, which is a bummer. I'm going through G-senjou no Mauo right now, and the Slice of Life really isn't that bad in this one and there's plenty of plot build up to counter all of the fluff. It may also have to do with the fact that the game was translated superbly. Really enjoying it so far, I think I'm about 2/3 complete according to the walkthrough. I'll add Dangan Ronpa to my list, thanks for the suggestion!

So much controversy over this game haha! It's not super high on my to play(read?) list, but I'll evntually get to it. Does anyone know much about the Steins;Gate US release?

It's rated #4 on vndb, so I imagine it has to be fairly good. Does it have a good ending?

Ah that's weak, haha. Like I said, the way they do it in VRL is done much better. Would Fate/Stay Night be something I'd enjoy? I've heard the beginning is lots of SoL, but after that things pick up and stay pretty interesting. Is that right?

I'm glad I saw Sora's route first as it was definitely the least interesting, and that left all the interesting routes afterwards. Also, if you want to finish it a bit faster, you can basically skip up to Day 4 on every route once you've seen it the first time. And once you reach the final route, giv yourself about 6-8 hours, that's about how long the ending takes. You won't be able to tear yourself away until you finish the game.

The way I went about it was Sora first, You second, Tsugumi third, and Sara fourth, with Coco being last since she has to be. But I'm glad I played it in this order, things felt like they were revealed at all the right times. But I don't think there's a real need to do it a specific way, the things you learn all lead up to the true reveal very well no matter how you do it.

Ahh, I truly believe I still would have enjoyed 999 more because it's atmosphere and theme were far more serious and dark, and that's more what I'm into. And yeah the VLR thing was definitely taken from Ever17, but I thought it was done far better and made much more sense in VLR. How did you even know about that without playing it haha. Twist means that something happens in the plot of the story that you had no idea was going to happen. Basically the entire ending route of Ever17 was a huge plot twist because so many things were revealed that the reader did not see coming. Does that make sense? And yes I'm currently on G-senjou, and so far it's really cool. The slice of life stuff in this one isn't all that bad either, and that may be due to the awesome translating job. Hmm, then I may play Chaos;Head first to get familiar with the game world. I've heard it's still a good game, but no where near the magic of Steins;Gate. Is that about right?

If you have a computer from the past 2 years, you should be able to run the DS emulator and 999 with no problems. And if you're a fast reader, there's a fast forward button to speed up the emulator and see the text a lot faster (in case you didn't already know).

No no, I don't hate Ever17 haha. I read everywhere that it was the greatest VN ever, made by the same guy that did 999, and had a way better ending. There were a few really cool plot twists and all, but it didn't make my jaw literally drop and keep me up into the wee hours of the morning contemplating what just happened to my brain like 999 or Virtue's Last Reward. I was just expecting something so out of this world from all the hype, and it didn't fully deliver. And the slice of life added nothing to the experience for me, the game could have been 20hrs shorter without all that nonsense. tl;dr Ever17 is a very good game, but way over rated, while 999 is a masterpiece in my eyes. Again, these are the only VN's I've played so I don't have a lot to compare to haha.

I've been wanting to check out Planetarian for a while now as I heard it was so depressing. If a game can make me feel that, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Ever seen Grave of the Fireflys? Probably one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Tears were shed.

Do I need to play Chaod;head before playing Steins;Gate? Thanks for the recommendations also!

I second 999, it's probably my favorite story driven game of all time.

Hey, I'm new as well and you should check out the post I made as well, people have been refering me to some great VN's so you might find something you're looking for there. And there's a member named Kaguya who has a list of the 50 VN's you should play before you die.

Well it looks like I'll have to check out Muvluv at some point. Probably won't be for a while. Just started G-Senjou, and so far it's pretty interesting. The translation is really well done, far better than Ever17 haha. And thanks for the other recommendations Albedo, I'll add them to the list! According to my specifications in the first post, would Narcissu, Planetarian, and Katawa Shouju be others I might enjoy?

Hmm, well I may look into it after finishing some of the other VN's mentioned previously. Is there much slice of life in Alternative? I'm not going to torture myself with the first one, and I feel like I can connect with characters well enough even without lots of backstory. Anyone know about the official Steins;Gate US release? Hope it releases later this year like they've said it should.