dfbreezy

I have a heart too, you know.

Uhhh...what?  It pretty frequently uses very odd, unnatural English, mostly because it's an overly literal translation.  It's not bad enough to the point where you have no idea what's going on, but it's definitely noticeable if you're looking for it.
That said, it's not worth skipping because Ameratsu did the TL.  It's a great read if you like chuuni, and while a lot of people tend to hate Akihito, the protagonist, he's at least not the standard bland good guy protag that plagues so many VNs.

Focus on the great things you heard about Comyu rather than the complaining. People complain about everything mate. Honestly i don't know about the Comyu complains since i usually just ignore stuff like that and decide for myself once I've tried it.
Comyu's great, its one of the first few Vns i read. I don't even remember the translation being bad, I think its because the story was really good haha. From what i remember it was a fun ride, the translation was fine and i didn't have a hard time reading it at all.
Have fun reading it if you choose to do so!
Kagome's made of fire and ice and everything spice. She's one badass woman that's for sure, one of my favourite heroines in a Vn.

We are now live on kickstarter! Help us reach our goal of making an awesome action visual novel! 
Link.
 

You'll have to wait in line, I've infiltrated the fuwa mod team years ago in order to execute my plan to start a Revolution and make Fuwa a marxist state.

Just think of a fast food menu or some other greasy food.
Is it food? Yes. Is it nourishing? It is. Does it kill you? No, as long as you don't do it every day.
But, every once in a while, you want one of these. People are like that.
People generally aren't "gourmets", not in the things they eat, not in the entertainment they consume.

It seems to me to be a mistake to approach a new storytelling medium by asking yourself what you want from it, rather than what it has to deliver and how it delivers it.  Visual Novels are not Novels, Short stories, poetry, film, TV or Opera and none of these things offer the same thing as each other and neither have they claim to.  The way that Visual Novels are designed, written and created is not the same and not trying to be the same as Shakespeare, or Citizen Kane or Hemingway.  It’s a different time, culture, form, experience –  as has been mentioned already, choosing 3 VNs from now and deciding if you like the form based on that is as relevant as picking, say, 3 hollywood blockbusters and declaring film a terrible form because it doesn’t do provocative and thoughtful.  It does, you’re just not appreciating either the intent or the constraints or the purpose of the particular cinema you just watched.  Now, I happen to love Hollywood cinema, especially when it’s Star Wars or marvel superheroes … but it’s not literary in the Orson Welles sense.  I’m ok with that because I like the things that are done well and I appreciate to some extent how they are done well.
But the thing I keep reading is criticisms of how the text is “not-literary” and I guess this is frequently put alongside, say good prose of literary novelists or whatever and seen wanting.  Now, as a big fan of Opera (as well as well written Victorian doorstep novels) I think I have a little  sense in how different types of language can be used in different contexts and different forms.  I think people too often go into VNs expecting them to be “Novelistic” (except for the people who expect choose-your-own-adventure books) and are maybe disappointed, instead of considering that VNs are a marriage of words, image and music as coincidentally is Opera.  Now the two forms don’t share much in common culturally or in content or style but I want to point out that in Opera language is, whilst not subservient, it’s different and, on the surface, not as directly important as the music.  You can happily put on an Opera CD and enjoy arias or incidental music etc but few people read Opera librettos without the music, for fun.  Why?  Because the language is tooled in such a way that it works in that musical context and only that context.  Sometimes the symbolism can be heavy, such as in Wagner or Strauss, but even then the symbolism is expressed more directly through musical themes than by what the characters are saying, and in other great operas I find the dialogue to be quite trite at times even when a librettist is highly regarded.  Except for where the composer is the librettist, the librettist rarely gets billed as anyone other than “that guy the composer collaborated with”.  Mozart is well remembered as a name, his great librettist Da Ponte is not.
My drawn out point is – neither the form or the culture surrounding VNs expects or demands dense and elaborate prose in order to tell the types of stories currently being told through the medium.  That doesn’t mean it is not good writing, it means that the writing is being used to push the story content in a clear, direct and accessible way.  It’s like schools of thought on how quick edits should be in movies – an artistic movie director may favour long takes, more establishing mood shots etc.whereas a Hollywood blockbuster will favour quick edits, more crosscutting and pithier dialogue.  Neither is wrong or bad per se(except, y’know, Quantum of Solace), it’s just what is appropriate and correct for the story being told and the audience is designed for.  One can and ought to debate  greatness within the boundaries of what something is trying to achieve, but to call it out for not being something else entirely seems very wrong to me.  I haven’t read many VNs yet, I’m still a noob, but I did read Planetarian and felt it a masterpiece – and what struck me about it was precisely the way that the simple prose and the simple images actually formed together to create a very large sense of the world and a strong connection to two characters.  It was non-fussy and that’s partly where it draws its power as a story from.  I think the VN form is powerful – as one previous poster hinted – because it takes a lot longer for connections to be formed with characters through smaller incidents it enables for smaller plot points to be imbued with heightened drama and meaning.  I don’t think it’s the case that these stories can’t be told any other way, but I imagine that the experience of watching the Planetarian anime is markedly different from reading the VN.  Hopefully, still good but the different mediums will bring out different qualities in the story, I’m sure.

What the fuck is with the weird prominence on the Japanese voice acting? Like is this campaign here to solely fund that aspect of the vn? I'm sorry, but I haven't fallen down that specific fucking weaboo hole. If I'm helping bankroll the development of a visual novel I want extra story content or art assets, voice acting (especially foreign voice acting) is not even on my list of priorities. 
No your not getting a dime outa me, I'll be glad to purchase this visual novel after I see some positive reviews.

It's a superficial delving into the problems, but you're not wrong (there are exceptions.) People often don't read English translated VNs for the quality of writing though, and if they do they may need to read more widely. VNs are one of my guilty pleasures, similar to some self-published novels I devour I know what I'm reading often isn't technically good, but VNs tends to push buttons normal books don't.

I'm gonna on a different tangent and say H-SCENES. Yes there is a thing called H-Anime, yes there are things called doujins, yes there are just random lewd pics you can find.
However, the great thing about H-scenes especially in non-nukige is if you specifically want H-content with a character/waifu you've grown attached to through story/development congratulations! You usually get at least 1-2 H scenes for the average non-nukige. H-scenes in VNs are lot more varied, in H anime you're limited by the 20 minute episode limit and sex within the eps is maybe 3 minutes on average, 5 minutes tops. Some H-scenes like in MajiKoi are ridiculously long so if you're proud of your endurance you dont have to worry about being disappointed by 20 page doujins (where sex is sometimes like 5-7 pages long) or 20 minute animes with gaps between sex.
Also while more common in nukige you have cool things like fap counters by line. If you like to control your releases this is a great way to pace yourself instead of the more unpredictable nature of other porn stuff.
And H-scenes usually have MUCH better CG art than most 2D hentai stuff at best.

It's simple, to read stories that I couldn't normally read in other mediums (say, books or comics) because they're either 1) way, waaaay out there (MYTH, Saya no Uta or Euphoria, for example) or 2) because they use storytelling devices that are not available in other media (Ever 17, 999 and Remember 11 are the first examples that come to mind.)
Basically I read VNs for mindfucks and weird shit, and VNs are pretty good at it.

Late to say this, but happy birthday to @dfbreezy and hope you had good year ahead. Also good luck with your project there.

For me, it's simple. 
VNs are easier to read and more attractive. Not just superficially. Like everyone has said, Vns are a different medium altogether, so by making comparisons to other forms of media, you shot yourself in the cock. 
The mistake majority make, is not even understanding the execution or scope of VNs. How? 
When judging a VN, most categorize by Art ( Sprite CG), Music (BGM) and writing (prose). It's sad when people judge/appraise an item by 50% of it's quality. Vns are not based on those few criteria i mentioned, but alot more. Consider the Visual Effects used (if any), consider the SFX, the GUI, the directing (post-programming). Once you base your judgement on all of these, your review becomes more complete. Excessive? Unnecessary? If you feel appraising with all these is too much and not worth it, then don't appraise at all. Half-baked appraisals hurt other people's drive (creators).
The moment you said you dropped the Vns, you moved the gun to your backside and shot yourself there as well. I in particular ( and my general view) feel that someone who is unable to completely consume a product, has no right to appraise it. The saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" didn't pop up because someone was trying to sound cool. In the same sense, your current representation to me, based on what you said, is "I dropped it because i didn't like it, so it is shit", as opposed to the more appropriate mentality "I dropped it because i didn't like it, so it's not my thing". in the latter quote, the consumer understands and respects the fact that his personal tastes do not judge the product as a whole, as there are hundreds of other opinions to the contrary.
TL;DR: I am not pointing out pros and cons of VNs. I am showing you how to "Open-mindedly" assess the pros and cons of VNs. 
I think you should pick up some of the recommendations in this thread and keep the points i mentioned above in mind. You must always remember, that your opinion is one out of many and unless the majority share your opinion, it's only singular. Like my shitty opinion i just explained. 

For me, it's simple. 
VNs are easier to read and more attractive. Not just superficially. Like everyone has said, Vns are a different medium altogether, so by making comparisons to other forms of media, you shot yourself in the cock. 
The mistake majority make, is not even understanding the execution or scope of VNs. How? 
When judging a VN, most categorize by Art ( Sprite CG), Music (BGM) and writing (prose). It's sad when people judge/appraise an item by 50% of it's quality. Vns are not based on those few criteria i mentioned, but alot more. Consider the Visual Effects used (if any), consider the SFX, the GUI, the directing (post-programming). Once you base your judgement on all of these, your review becomes more complete. Excessive? Unnecessary? If you feel appraising with all these is too much and not worth it, then don't appraise at all. Half-baked appraisals hurt other people's drive (creators).
The moment you said you dropped the Vns, you moved the gun to your backside and shot yourself there as well. I in particular ( and my general view) feel that someone who is unable to completely consume a product, has no right to appraise it. The saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" didn't pop up because someone was trying to sound cool. In the same sense, your current representation to me, based on what you said, is "I dropped it because i didn't like it, so it is shit", as opposed to the more appropriate mentality "I dropped it because i didn't like it, so it's not my thing". in the latter quote, the consumer understands and respects the fact that his personal tastes do not judge the product as a whole, as there are hundreds of other opinions to the contrary.
TL;DR: I am not pointing out pros and cons of VNs. I am showing you how to "Open-mindedly" assess the pros and cons of VNs. 
I think you should pick up some of the recommendations in this thread and keep the points i mentioned above in mind. You must always remember, that your opinion is one out of many and unless the majority share your opinion, it's only singular. Like my shitty opinion i just explained. 

For me, it's simple. 
VNs are easier to read and more attractive. Not just superficially. Like everyone has said, Vns are a different medium altogether, so by making comparisons to other forms of media, you shot yourself in the cock. 
The mistake majority make, is not even understanding the execution or scope of VNs. How? 
When judging a VN, most categorize by Art ( Sprite CG), Music (BGM) and writing (prose). It's sad when people judge/appraise an item by 50% of it's quality. Vns are not based on those few criteria i mentioned, but alot more. Consider the Visual Effects used (if any), consider the SFX, the GUI, the directing (post-programming). Once you base your judgement on all of these, your review becomes more complete. Excessive? Unnecessary? If you feel appraising with all these is too much and not worth it, then don't appraise at all. Half-baked appraisals hurt other people's drive (creators).
The moment you said you dropped the Vns, you moved the gun to your backside and shot yourself there as well. I in particular ( and my general view) feel that someone who is unable to completely consume a product, has no right to appraise it. The saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" didn't pop up because someone was trying to sound cool. In the same sense, your current representation to me, based on what you said, is "I dropped it because i didn't like it, so it is shit", as opposed to the more appropriate mentality "I dropped it because i didn't like it, so it's not my thing". in the latter quote, the consumer understands and respects the fact that his personal tastes do not judge the product as a whole, as there are hundreds of other opinions to the contrary.
TL;DR: I am not pointing out pros and cons of VNs. I am showing you how to "Open-mindedly" assess the pros and cons of VNs. 
I think you should pick up some of the recommendations in this thread and keep the points i mentioned above in mind. You must always remember, that your opinion is one out of many and unless the majority share your opinion, it's only singular. Like my shitty opinion i just explained. 

It's a medium.... you saying it's bad is like saying movies are bad or TV is bad.... makes 0 logical sense

VNs with some amount of literary merit exist, but they're the very rare exception, and they are by and large not very popular, especially in the west (when we even get translations of them...). Visual Novels are an entertainment medium, first and foremost, and it shows. That's neither a bad nor a good thing; it doesn't make sense to knock entertainment media for doing its thing. I like reading literary stuff every now and then, but in most of my leisure time I'm just looking for some good entertainment, and VNs often deliver that for me. But like Ariurotl said, they're not even at the top of the entertainment game for the most part: when the newest Brandon Sanderson book or Brent Weeks book comes out, I have a lot more fun reading top-notch genre fiction than I do reading VNs.
Judging by the two I've read, as ChaosRaven pointed out, even games from the steampunk series, often acclaimed as some of the more thoughtfully-written VNs, have a bare minimum of really blatant symbolism, basically no subtext, and, when the dust settles and the rationale behind everything becomes clear, they have extremely straightforward plots. I love them dearly anyway, in large part because of the juxtaposition of the ultimate simplicity of the underlying motivation behind the entire plot and the vast resulting impact the events have on the world. But the fact remains: large, complex worlds; simple texts.
The more I read it, the more I realize Majo Koi Nikki has a surprising amount of subtext and symbolism woven throughout certain sections of it. But I won't kid myself: that makes up maybe 3% of the writing, at most. There's probably as much time spent on sex scenes as there is on developing and building the underlying themes and messages, and this puts it in the far high end of literary focus I've detected in VNs I've read (though I'm quite sure a lot of this is simply a result of the sheer amount of time I've spent re-reading Majo Koi Nikki).
Since they aren't subject to the same market conditions and thus don't suffer the innovator's dilemma to nearly such an extent as the entrenched Japanese VN makers, non-Japanese VNs may perhaps have a better chance at breaking the mold and telling at least somewhat different stories. VA-11 HALL-A is, in some ways, a more interestingly-told story than any other VN I've ever read, because it makes the unusual choice of putting the point-of-view character on the fringes of conflict, only relating snippets of the lives of the characters closer to the core by means of their conversation with the bartender narrator. I can't imagine any Japanese VN doing this; they're too stuck pandering to an audience requiring self-insert characters who are the most important person in the story.
That said, if anything, non-Japanese VNs almost universally do an even worse job of it than Japanese VNs, since they try too hard to emulate a formula, and often even emulate the setting along with it. Every time I see another OELVN project about a bunch of people with Japanese names, I roll my eyes, and I'm worried I'm about to go cross-eyed over here.
Anyway, maybe time to summarize: there's stuff out there that's more like what it seems you're looking for, but not a lot of it, and even then it's not a primary focus, because your expectations are probably a bit out of whack.

Maybe G-Senjou no Maou could fit among those. Dispite having teenage characters, the plot and the situations in which you see the important characters interactions is not the the same as typical VNs.
You also missed Kara no shoujo's predecesor so to speak.
 

i meandid you finish those 3 before judging it amateurish
 
 
because if you at least finish FSN, i dont think you can call that "lackluster visual and audio to accompany lacklustre writing". Or amateurish, for that matter.
and pacing problem sounds more like you were expecting novel level pacing. VN pacing is very different because its not meant to be read lika a book, piece meal each volume. Its a long, long journey, and a good VN can essentially create a world from that journey, by means of choice, that create other paths and journeys., which can reference each other Books cant do that.
Add the fact that you pick 3 longass 30 hours and over gameplay VN and it will of course kick you in the rear if you expect book level pacing.
 
IMO its less VNs sucks and more "very different from what i expected" thingy for you.
Just my 2 cents

Visual Novels are terrible. Regardless, they are what I prefer over Manga, Light Novels or Anime. Or books.
I read Visual Novels because I like 'bloat text'. I like when things are long. Your pacing problems are a boon to me. Sure, all of your titles could have been much shorter, but all that bloat that's in the middle, characters messing about, talking about nothing in particular, having stupid misunderstandings are some of the things I crave the most, in conjunction with the rest. Anime and Manga suffer from being over too soon. I need a really long time until I get tired of the characters and can finish the product feeling "That was a long and enjoyable ride, but it's finally over". Feeling "I want more" is torture.
It may also have something to do with the fact that I tend to spend most of my time laughing at all these long common routes.
I also read Visual Novels because they are the only form of medium which regularly implement routes. Romance is the main reason why I read anything, and therefore, I want to be able to romance all the nice characters on the story. Both anime and manga are generally constricted to one character, which is problematic. When they aren't, they're harems, which I dislike.
As my favourite segments in a romance are all the moments after the confession, Visual Novels also have the upper hand here, as they tend to include these moments much more often than anime.
Then I have a problem with books and light novels, in that my imagination is terrible. Reading books is tiresome to me, whereas Visual Novels aren't. The only Light Novels I've read, the Spice and Wolf ones, were an enjoyable experience, but I'm still traumatized from how much that experience tired me out, or how difficult, comparatively speaking, it is for me to read them.
I disagree with this perspective, for instance. It's not that I have anything against it per say, and some pretty cool stuff can be done with it like in Symphonic Rain and Gahkthun, but I'm stupid, and I'd rather things just be simple. I want to be able to read and comprehend.
I also don't know what 'good writing' or 'bad writing' are supposed to be. To me, the most important thing is to understand what I'm reading.
 
Of course, not all Visual Novels adhere to pacing 'problems' or include routes and choices. You may want to try some of those to widen your perspective.
Planetarian and some Western Visual Novels come to mind. You may also want to look for titles on the shorter side, they should resolve your pacing issues.
 
Note that whilst I prefer Visual Novels, I have read more manga and watched more anime than Visual Novels.
Most of the books I've ever read were aimed at younger audiences. It could be said I haven't given books a proper chance, but I kind of have.

I presume it's mostly because the writing WILL differ between vn's and standard books. VN's have often more common with screen plays, rather than typical prose writing. There's a lot of dialogue, especially within ADV-centered games and descriptive writing often falls onto second plan. On the other hand, this is reversed with NVL games, which focus mainly on descriptive writing and prose, rather than character interactions; they are still there, but look and work in a way, which is a lot more "accessible" to someone, who's used to reading books.
I'd say, the OP should give a try a few more mature titles, which often make use of NVL-styled writing, instead of adventure game-esque presentation. Games like Hanachirasu, Saya no Uta, Cartagra, Narcissu, Planetarian, True Remembrance. There's a lot more, of course; one of the fun things about vn's is that you are 100% sure to stumble upon something that will suit your fancy. You only need to keep diggin'.

Do you really think the average VN has the budget of a hollywood movie much less a TV series? Of course the presentation isn't as good. They didn't have as much money to dump into licensing music or spending 1000's of man hours making sure they never recycled a background. It seems your expectations are set pretty high.
I will agree that the writing quality is highly variable. But you also have to consider this is an industry laden with tropes for the sake of it. Which is also true of anime so it really shouldn't be much of a surprise.
To each their own though. The last few book series I've read have had their share of predictable plots and forgettable characters. Fiction writers have been recycling ideas for a long time (no matter the medium).

I have flashbacks