Weis13

i have the trilogy and have yet to touch it. i have things i need to read right now before getting to these but one day!

I always liked Sharin no Kuni... but Hitori Sensou is a big steaming pile of crap.

Pretty surprised by the hate for Sharin here, I honestly much preferred the twist out of nowhere there than the painfully obvious and dumb red herring in G-Sen. Then again it was ages since I read either, so I'm probably forgetting a lot.
Mahoyo is probably never getting done because the original "translation" was trash and because it isn't Fate. 

i dont think A Profile is a bad read

The first time I read G-Senjou, I was like "wow, this is a masterpiece, the best VN I've ever read. Definetely a 10/10". My second playthrough I was more like "oh, this VN really is good, but not as amazing as I first thought it was". The third time "well, why did I enjoy this VN so much before? I mean, I still enjoyed reading it again, but I would've prefered to waste my time reading another VN". And now, I'm planning to read it for the fourth time. Lol, what can I say? In the end, I'm a big fan of G-Senjou.
Sharin no Kuni is a rare case in which I really enjoyed from beggining to end and I really am a fan of the twist there. I didn't read it 3 times like I did with G-Senjou and I'm not planning on reading it again, but I enjoyed my two readings of it and its fandisk.
A Profile is an interesting case. I didn't enjoy it on my first reading. But at the end of the last year I decided to read it again and my opinion of it kind of changed. I still see some flaws in it and there're somethings that still bothers me, but this time, I had a fun time reading it. The routes weren't as bad as I first thought they were.
As for Boku no Hitori, I didn't read it. I had no plans to read it after reading some negative reviews about it, but after reading this one perhaps I'll give it a shot sometime.

Definitely an interesting topic, but from what I can see the one killing reputations of vns are mostly those half-baked story novels like the infamous "Sakura series" and the abundance of moege with no actual or substantial plot involved. I won't comment if it was a nukige, but as if its bad enough you can't enjoy the story you can't even fap to it for relieve purposes? Dang what else is it good for?

Honestly speaking even nukige's give you a bang for your buck for making stories so ridiculous that you can just laugh it off or say you paid for a good jerk off material.
I'd rather read To-Love-Ru Darkness manga, at least the art from Yabuki Kentaro gives off as a better strip tease and the story is just literally makes fun of themselves being plain ridiculous.

But I believe the VN community is quite strong, as many of us really enjoy VN as a good reading material to broaden our views or good entertainment. Through so many forums, you can see that most old timers are an eccentric bunch that really only likes specific flavors and have stayed that way in a niche community. Don't think we will change our ways anytime soon, and being so we will attract more people of our kind instead of just the trend followers.

Definitely an interesting topic, but from what I can see the one killing reputations of vns are mostly those half-baked story novels like the infamous "Sakura series" and the abundance of moege with no actual or substantial plot involved. I won't comment if it was a nukige, but as if its bad enough you can't enjoy the story you can't even fap to it for relieve purposes? Dang what else is it good for?

Honestly speaking even nukige's give you a bang for your buck for making stories so ridiculous that you can just laugh it off or say you paid for a good jerk off material.
I'd rather read To-Love-Ru Darkness manga, at least the art from Yabuki Kentaro gives off as a better strip tease and the story is just literally makes fun of themselves being plain ridiculous.

But I believe the VN community is quite strong, as many of us really enjoy VN as a good reading material to broaden our views or good entertainment. Through so many forums, you can see that most old timers are an eccentric bunch that really only likes specific flavors and have stayed that way in a niche community. Don't think we will change our ways anytime soon, and being so we will attract more people of our kind instead of just the trend followers.

Probably something like this.
 

Otomege... this is just my opinion based on the twenty or so Otomege I've tried.  However, in most Otomege the protagonist tends to have a terminal case of DID Syndrome (Damsel in Distress Syndrome).  I dunno why, but Otomege are in some ways even more sexist than charage/moege...

Lol, I think I have even bigger problems with moege. But I've just given up complaining about them. Also, I updated my post. I realize that there are good Otomege out there, so I've restructured my argument towards dating sims.

There's a number of strange ideas in the OP.  Let me point out the ones that caught my eye.
This is just your perspective.  Another perspective is that VNs are very much a genre of wish-fulfillment games for lonely men in their late teens and early 20's, focused on a cast of attractive female companions (inevitably high schoolers) to choose for the male protagonist to date and ultimately have sex with.  Both perspectives are valid.  Both perspectives oversimplify.
As I see it, the otome genre is just the converse of the much more common bishoujo genre: games focused on a cast of attractive males rather than attractive females, made for females rather than males.  They tend to be on mobile devices because that's where the female "gamers" are.  Young adult romantic fiction has been targeted at females for a long time now, so it's no real surprise that otome games would catch on.  The market was already there, waiting to be tapped.
Are we living in the same world?  Macs are generally more expensive for the equivalent hardware.  There's even a term for it: the Apple tax.  People pay more for the premium branding, which commands respect due to the ease of use and excellent service plans.
And why would you need expensive hardware to play 2D VNs anyway? 

Otome games are more popular than VNs?
Well, that's sad to hear...

There's a lot I disagree with on your perception of otomege, but all of that would take way too long to talk about and ultimately doesn't matter to the point I'll try to make, so I'll just not touch that. I also think not classifying them as VNs in the first place is almost ridiculous, but that also doesn't matter here and I'm just going on a tangent about my dissatisfaction with it.
The same way bishoujo moe games like Nekopara won't destroy the medium despite being overwhelmingly more popular than story-driven VNs, otome games won't. 
They're even marketed towards different audiences (unlike those bishoujo moe games, which plot and character driven games also appeal to the audience of) and on different platforms. 
Guys won't stop buying their games about cute girls with swords because there's suddenly an influx of games about being wooed by hot vampire guys. 
Guys who don't even buy games about cute girls with swords because they care about the story of those games certainly won't stop buying their hipster fata morgana or whatever else it is they buy. 
Ultimately, I believe otomege thriving or not simply doesn't matter for the health of the niche you're worried about.
Now, I know there's a point about otome games shaping the public perception of what a visual novel is that can be made here, but I don't think that'd ever be a problem (at least not more than what it already is), since the VN community has worked out pretty well with people already having very warped ideas about what VNs are anyway. 
In fact, I believe getting people more used to the VN style in general is already super likely to drag in fans (like those guys who started reading VNs because they played some Neptunia game,) so it's probably something worth celebrating.  

Played it before, enjoyed it very much ^^

Definitely one of those vn that makes you doubt your decisions, but if you stay true to your faith the ending is beautiful

The question I have is a bit more complex than the title I have, so allow me to give some context. From what I have seen just in my own personal life, otome games in the west have reached a popularity that visual novels are failing to achieve. And while otome games are a sub genre of VNs, their market is completely different from the market of story based VNs. In real life, I have met around 10 girls who I am decently acquainted with who play otome games. When I asked if they played other visual novels, they said no. From the information I gathered from them, they don't care about visual novels as an alternate medium, but only care about dating sims. They like otome games as dating sims. And Otome games are a genre that are growing on the western mobile market. Mystic Messenger has gained a lot of popularity these past couple of months, and with its success is very likely going to bring more otome games into the market. I initially thought this would be a good thing, since if otome games gain more popularity, then maybe those people will expend their interests into visual novels. But from what I have noticed, there is no evidence that suggests that the growth of the Otome game genre is going to benefit visual novels. In fact, I think it might even damage the potential for the visual novel market to expand in the west. 
By Otome games, I am mostly referring to the shitty dating sim ones that plague the mobile phone market. I know that there are some good story based ones out there, and sadly those seem to be just as unpopular as most story based visual novels. My real concern, is with how Dating sims are overall doing much better in the west than story based VNs. On the male side of things, shitty games like Sakura spirit and Nekopara I think are doing just as much harm to the reputation of Visual novels in the west. 
The popularity of dating sims is perpetuating the false understanding of visual novels as dating sims. VNs ≠ Dating sims! While I don't have anything wrong with dating sims existing as a genre, I do think it is very important to create a distinction between dating sims and VNs. Just like how it is important to create a distinction between Nukige and story-based visual novels. Just because they use similar formatting, does not mean that they are synonymous with each other. But the popularity that otome games are getting, are going to have more people associate VNs as dating sims, and this will make it hard for actual story based VNs to expand their market in the west.
Furthermore, Dating-sim oriented Otome games in particular are marketing themselves to a western audience much better than VNs are imo. Developers for these games realize that this genre thrives most on portable devices. And I think it is that realization that is helping them expand their market so well. VNs on the other hand are still mostly just pc games, especially if you only take the western audience into account (since few psp and vita ports ever make it to the west). Not only are VNs limited to computers, but they are limited to windows. They largely exclude mac users, which is a huge problem in the west considering how many people have macs. Few people will do what I did and buy a notably more expensive ultra-portable windows laptop to enjoy VNs on the go like I did. Most people settle for the cheaper mac-books. And for people who are non-gamers and who have not yet discovered visual novels, it is perfectly reasonable for them to do so.  
Maybe I am in the minority out there, but I genuinely see visual novels as a medium of story telling in the light that books and movies are. Visual Novels can tell many types of stories and can encompass any genre of fiction they want. Hell, there are even some amazing genres like denpa that I think are basically exclusive to VNs. In terms of depth and writing quality, there are visual novels out there that offer the same amount of intellectual depth and meaning that some books do. I fell in love with this medium because I like experiencing interesting stories with the accompaniment of music and art. To see a medium I love getting neglected for mere dating sims just really pisses me off. I would really love to hear what other people think. 
 
Edit: After discussing it out a bit, I realize that my problem is not with Otome games per se, but with Dating sims as a whole.

i liked a profile.

I haven't read it yet but I'm willing to bet it's at least better than Boku no Hitori Sensou, because Koiken Otome doesn't sound like a game that takes itself seriously, unlike this one.

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