Xykros

I went and picked up an eroge after literal years of not playing one (I think it has at least been three years since I even opened one). I randomly picked a visual novel from my wishlist that was catching dust and only saw activity recently, and I ended up picking Yume Miru Kusuri.
... I screwed up. Not only was it too heavy for me currently, but it honestly felt a slog to play through. I'm not saying it's bad, but I'm disliking it a bit. Near the end of the final choice for one of the routes, I ended up holding the control button to see just how much longer will the route be, and holy sh*t it was still very, very long. I think I'll try to finish one of the routes later, and move to a shorter, more light-hearted VN.

Kuroinu 1 alone makes the bundle worth it. (Assuming you like somewhat dark games. It's hardly vanilla.) Sweet Sweat seems pretty cute, too. Several VNs for just $10 is pretty much a steal, so I don't see why not! I bought the bundle just for Eroge! and gave away the rest of the codes.

It's a big game and it has only one translator, so it takes time. It's worth the wait for sure though. Looking forward to reading it again myself. 

Wagamama High Spec
Summary
The story revolves around Narumi Kouki, a high school student who also draws a manga serialized in a weekly magazine. Because the manga he draws is a risqué romantic comedy, he keeps this fact a secret from everyone around him, with his younger sister Toa and his sister's best friend Mihiro being the only ones who know.

But one day, as the student council president Rokuonji Kaoruko is searching for male members for the student council, she finds out that Kouki is the manga's author. Kouki joins the student council in exchange for Kaoruko not revealing his secret. However, the vice president, Sakuragi R. Ashe, strongly opposes him joining, and in the midst of all this, various requests and troubles of students begin to pile up. 
 
Ending Guideline / Suggested Route Order
This VN has four heroines, Ashe, Kaoruko, Toa, and Mihiro. Since this is charage, there's no locked route there so feel free to play whatever the route that you want first.
 
Route Guideline

Rokuonji Kaoruko
 

Sakuragi Roofolet Ashe
 

Narumi Toa
 

Miyase Mihiro
 
Attribution
This walkthrough is based on the walkthrough at Otaku Lair with some adjustment made by myself.

True. I'm still waiting for Maggot Baits. It's been 2 years now and they still haven't released it.

NOBODY CARES! 
 
 
jk.  
 
congrats, xykros!  clock up is probably one of my favorite vn companies for how distinct their style for characters and story is. as for the ahegao, idk. i think it depends on the vn and with this i feel like it fits fine. dont need to fuck a womans brain out through her skull to trigger an ahegao face. 
 
a classic from their library for sure. mg needs to release more of their stuff.

Spoilers ahead. You've been warned. If you don't like spoilers and you haven't played the game before, I suggest turning back.
Generally, I'm just happy I managed to finish a game and put a check mark on my loooooong backlog. I know this is a pretty old game and has been around for quite some time, but then again I haven't been playing visual novels for quite some time.
I just wanna say this before I start giving my impressions - Clock Up makes some of the best ahegao faces. If you know any better ahegao faces than the ones from Clock Up games, do tell me.
Anyways, since I mentioned that, I might as well start with that. The ero scenes are very, for the lack of a better term, erotic (duh). However, I just felt like the way the game utilizes ahegao is a... bit of a stretch. I know, this is common in Clock Up games. I've played other Clock Up titles before and I know they LOVE their ahegao, even in sweet scenes, and this game is no exception. This is mainly more of a preference thing, but I think ahegao should mainly be used when a character is being mentally broken through sex. I would understand it if I were playing something like Euphoria, but in this case... I don't know. I just don't think that it suits cutesy and sweet scenes, but then again that's just my opinion. Overall the sex scenes were incredible, and I enjoyed them a lot (Needless to say, I also fapped a lot).
As for the characters, I just felt like they were a bit lacking? I don't know. In other games, once the characters were presented, I usually get this thought that "Ah, I want to play this girl's route first" or something like that. But in this game, no such thing came into my mind. In fact, when I had to choose which heroine to assists first, I had to make a long, hard look at the characters before deciding (I chose Iori who am I kidding of course I chose Nene first). I came to love the characters as I progressed through their routes, but they just didn't captivate me at first sight. In addition to that, it kinda felt that the reasons why they all came to love the MC in their respective routes are kinda vague? It's usually along the lines of "it just happened", especially in Iori's route. Now then, I'm not saying that it's unrealistic and such. It happens, yes, but c'mon I want more of a reason than that.
This is a bit unrelated to the text above, but I love Momoka the most. While it's true the she's annoying early on and made me wanna just drop the game and pretend I finished her route (I took her route last), the latter parts of her route were probably the sweetest of all the heroines.
Overall, I still think that it's a great game. I definitely don't regret this purchase.
(I'm so sorry for opening a topic for an eight year old game)

Panic! At The Disco: Say Amen
I'm sorry for being a pleb.

Note that Rance 04 introduce very important characters from IX.
I'm saying this because i played IX without playing 4/4.1/4.2 (waiting for the remake actually ^^). It's not mandatory, but you souhld know that it should be nice knowing those characters beforehand.
 
Also, i strongly disagree that 1-4 are irrevelant though. you should at least read 3 (which you already did so...).

She kind of reminds of Excel from Excel Saga actually. Both can be a bit too over the top. But a positive I can give is what you said, she can make one laugh from time to time

Exactly. Some gags that involve Chinami (the little sister) can be funny and hilarious and sometimes just feel over the top.

Key VNs have garbage romance because every damn route is romance. There is little consistency in quality and even if the romance is good, you are forced to get through 500 bad routes to get to them

I've read Hoshizora no Memoria before and I thought that it was pretty good. Now I'm reading it again and it kinda feels a bit lackluster. It's still a good read though, but I wouldn't go ahead and say that it's the best read for your needs. 

Considering that you just recently been active here and you made the introduction thread back at 2016, yeah it's been a while since you posted here. Anyway welcome back to Fuwanovel and I hope that once again you'll have fun here.
PS - I see that you follow my advice back then to made VNDB account, so good job there.

This list won't feature the VNs in order of "how good they are". Rating them would be way too much of a clusterfuck to me.
The VNs are not in their respective order. Meaning number 1 is not the best, and so on.
 
1_CHAOS; HEAD
 
2_Cross Channel
 
3_G-Senjou no Maou
 
4_Fate/Stay Night
 
5_Forest
This Visual Novel is the easiest visual novel translated to get a bad ending without using a walkthrough- which just adds to the fun of it. It makes a massive amount of references to common literature, which makes it even better.
 
6_Katahane
It may seem like an ordinary moege- the atmosphere is light, the story is full of cuteness, which you can note by the character design and soundtrack. It gets really good in the middle, and you'll be dying to know what happens in the end. A game with multiple perspectives, it's definitely one of the most enjoyable Visual Novels I've ever read.
 
7 Majikoi
 
8_Little Busters!
 
9_Tsukihime
"You shouldn't tell lies that you can't even fool yourself with"
 
10_Swan Song
A post apocalyptic Visual Novel.
 
11_Symphonic Rain
 
It may seem like your ordinary moege. Trust me, it's not.
 
12_Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo (and sequel)
 
13_Sekien no Inganock
Steampunk. An atmosphere full of mysteries and references that will make your head blow up.
 
14_Steins; Gate
A visual novel that deals extensively with time travel and it's consequences.
 
15_Utawarerumono
 
16_Fault: Milestone (1 & 2)
 
17_Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni 
 
18_Kara no Shoujo
 
19_Umineko no Naku Koro ni 
 
20_Planetarian
 
21_Ever 17
Another top 10.
 
22_Remember11
It lacks in the ending, but otherwise the story of this VN has enough to easily become one of my all-time favorites.
 
23_Zanmataisei Demonbane
 
24_Rewrite
"Could it possibly be rewritten, this fate of hers?"
Another one that enters the top 10.
 
25_Narcissu
 
26_Grisaia no Kajitsu
 
27_Saya no Uta
Only if you enjoy dark and messed up settings.
 
28_Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni
 
29_Eien no Aselia
 
30_Rose Guns Days (1 & 2)
There are small sections of gameplay on this one, but you can skip them by pressing the space bar, so this still qualifies.
 
31_Sengoku Rance
I feel obliged to comment on this VN before suggesting it to anyone. It's an Alicesoft title, which speaks a lot for itself... If you don't know how it's going to be like, well.. Kind of tough to describe. Lots of sex, including comedy rape. Alicesoft tends to make the whole story a comedy until right near the end, where things actually do get serious. It's worth checking out, if you don't mind Rance's personality. 
 
32_Phenomeno
Want a short VN that can captivate you for their whole duration? Here is it.
Visual novel adapted from the youth horror novel written by Hajime Ninomae and illustrated by yoshitoshi ABe.
 
33_Ef- A Fairy Tale of the Two
 
34_Dysfunctional Systems
Another one great for those who want short Visual Novels.
 
35_Daibanchou
Another Alicesoft title. While Rouga is not near Rance's level when it comes to pissing off people, alicesoft's style is something which often doesn't please people. 
36_Yume Miru Kusuri
The endings pack quite a punch.
 
37_Kikokugai- The Cyber Slayer
 
38_Eden 
 
39_Hoshizora no Memoria
 
40_Katawa Shoujo
Yep, it's somewhat overrated. Still, the fact that it is substantially easier for those who are starting to play visual novels to read should not be discarded, and overall, the story was good.
 
41_World End Economica
 
42_YU-NO
 
43_Shikkoku no Sharnoth
Yep, there is a minigame on this one. If you download a save data you can skip the minigame, though. So it still qualifies. Another VN that enters my top 10.
 
44_Muv Luv Alternative
The first Muv Luv didn't have enough to enter this list. You should still read it, though~
MLA is definitely awesome.
 
45_Dangan Ronpa
 
46_Comyu - Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku
 
47_Hanachirasu
 
48_Ayakashibito
 
49_I/O
 
50_Deardrops
 

I should have read this earlier. This game exhausted the f*ck out of me. I normally endure bad games since most of the time, I really just want to see the story unfold, no matter how shitty the story is. But this... this is just terribly bad. 

I bought this and I didn't really expect to the this entertained. Last time I had this much fun playing an eroge was while playing Kamidori Alchemy Meister.

Lol, I'll let you get caught up before throwing more in your face. There are dozens you should probably read. Grisaia is 2 games in itself and Majikoi is 4, plus I gave you 2 more recs. Post an update when you start nearing completion as no one likes having a huge backlog.

Nekopara and Sakura games are easily-accessible, visually flashy sources of porn and that created their broad appeal. DDLC was a viral sensation, but it won't happen again anytime soon and its influence on the popularization of VNs is unclear, also thanks to the elitist VN snobs that consider it an unholy spawn of Satan that should be eradicated along with everyone that enjoyed it. ;p
Seriously, though, I think VNs are getting slightly more mainstream over time (things like them entering GOG might be huge in the long run), but how I see it, especially when it goes to Japanese ones, the stigma connected to them and the actual cultural distance (like the approach to loli content)* might be simply not something easily crossable - maybe not in our lifetimes. At least as long as all ages games in the VN format are by default associated with eroge, they'll not break out of their cum-stained little corner, with few exceptions such as Steins;Gate being significant, but not really changing much for the rest of them. Things like JAST parading a pornstar as the face of their AnimeExpo event (or the fact that MangaGamer site is still one of the ugliest things on the Internet) don't help much either.
And I don't say that to attack anyone's fapping pleasures, I'm just slowly realizing how foreign most VNs are to Western sensibilities. The real way in which I see them expanding is through the broader distribution of the gateway drugs of quality all-ages releases and non-erotic or mildly erotic EVNs. Katawa Shoujo is such a great entry-level VN because it does a lot to make the player comfortable - it approaches its themes tastefully and with actual thought, makes ero content optional and does not ask you to invest large sums of money into something you're not sure is your thing. Promoting EVNs, making the scene that is more focused on storytelling aspects of the medium rather than smut more visible is the way to go. Fuwanovel once did quite a good job of covering the EVN market, back when nearly everything it produced was pure crap. Now, when there's actually stuff to see there, we're silent.
Maybe I'm wrong and there's much more room for VNs to expand simply as a particularly attractive source of porn. Still, investing countless hours into reading your fapping material is also not something I would expect to go mainstream in the West and I'm not sure anyone of this Forums would be happy with nukige being the main thing brought here.
The other problem I see and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, is the piss-poor marketing of Japanese VNs in the West, mostly directed towards the already-existing fanbase. Why is something as good as Dies Irae not a freakin' bestseller on Steam? Why most chuunige, with no questionable content and story elements and stylistic beloved by zillions of anime fans in the West, sell like absolute shit? There's little money and little conviction in how most VN companies treat their Western releases and I'm not sure if that will ever change.
And what we can do, as fans? I wonder. I'll tell you in three years whether my grassroots effort did anything, because promoting VNs is most of what I do lately. ;p
 
* Not to insult anyone's taste's, but if it was Maitetsu and not Analogue that introduced me to VNs, I would probably run for the hills and never come back.

This is actually irrelevant in terms of niche communities. Steam only raises sales in terms of games that are tailored towards Steam users, everything outside that circle won't see much of a difference in terms of sales numbers. Steam also has no control over those people, either. My best advice is that devs should finally learn on how to advertise and promote their games before the release, instead of relying on Steam storefront. Some of the wildly successful indie titles had major exposition years before the release. It also shows how important it is to blog about your game during it's development; you're building your potential customer base that way.

just when i wanted to state the exact same u already did. totally surprised there´s so much of a riot coming to said title´s delayed approval. and before someone´s starts the usual whitenightening of pioneers, nah, its devs are also totally no doing the oelvn scene any good by going the full weeb way of life, including a fuckfest full of jp tropes, casting jp va´s instead of native ones etc...

This is something I've posted on Reddit earlier, but I thought I might as well spread the awareness of Valve's BS here too. After a month of keeping the release build in review (SSS was made by Sunrider's developers, Love in Space and is published by Sekai), Valve said that it will not let the game on the platform (even though it seems to have a proper all-ages version and an adult patch, just like Maitetsu, released at the same time by the same publisher) until their new filtering tool, basically the way to make the waifu games invisible for those that are scared of them, are implemented. The problem is, they don't give even an approximate of when that might be. The tools might arrive next week, or next year and devs that put the work and marketing towards their releases this summer might get stuck in limbo for who-knows-how-long. I guess long, because the tools will most likely go live as beta feature and stay like that for a while before they're fully implemented. It seems that SolPress' Newrin is in the same situation, although that company didn't invest their last two year into this one project and can probably live with an indefinite delay.
All in all, Valve is a f***** shitty company as always, I at least hope they won't wait another year to implement those filtering tools and that they'll actually make them useful. Then they can go back to not caring what people what people upload on their storefront - that way they'll at least not actively screw over decent developers.

Ayakashibito
 

maju de watashi ni koi shinasai

Stein;s Gate