LemiusK

I did find FemShep from Mass Effect much more interesting than MaleShep - however, that is largely attributed to the badass voice acting by Jennifer Hale, something that just isn't possible with voiceless protagonists in VNs. A person's voice makes up at least 20% of their personality (and whether or not said personality is interesting is determined partially by that) IMO. For me at least. This isn't a problem with male protagonists if you're a male, because you're basically inserting your own voice (and for certain protagonists that are basically a "blank slate" tabula rasa character, your own personality too).
 
This part was definitely not necessary, and came off as a bit accusatory.  But I get your point. It's a sentiment that would inevitably come up in such a thread anyway. Incidentally, I'm not homophobic nor am I "disgusted" by playing a girl. Please, I'm not a kindergartener.

It's definitely out of the norm, where visual novel stories are considered. It's not impossible, since even something military-ish like Muv-Luv Alternative has its own share of mystery elements, but it's definitely uncommon. However, I'm not that surprised, since Umineko was a vastly different story in tone and genre from Higurashi. I'm glad to see he continues with such variety in writing (unlike Higanbana...).

I'm fine with happy endings as long as they don't break the rules of the universe the story takes place in and the necessary decisions/actions made by the characters seem like ones they might actually make. Also I tend to prefer endings on a silent note over grand finales (except for action stories). Most VN endings show some character, usually the protagonist, comeing to some kind of realization or finding his resolve for something. If the story conveys that well I don't need the protagonist to climb the stairwell of a 50 storey building with a broken leg to save the girl (the VN in question at least redeemed itself with a good epilogue).
Clannad popped up several times in these discussions. Take Kotomi's route for example which probably would have had my favourite ending if
 

Downright depressing ones aren't exactly my favorite, but aside from that I don't mind either one.
I need a bit variety between different games though, I'm not always in the mood for something happy and not always for something sad. And after a sad one I usually need to play a happy one  so I don't feel depressed the next 3-4 days.

I'll just rewrite what I said lol.
 
For me, it depends on the story I am reading. Something like Yume Miru Kusuri, where more bittersweet and realistic themes are prevalent, makes sense for the endings to be the same way. In VNs like Da Capo III where the true ending gives more explanation of the plot and isn't necessarily a happy or bad ending, it makes up for its own faults by having great writing.
Now I appreciate VNs that have a happy true end, because good feels. I also appreciate when a story doesn't throw its themes out the window in favor of an " And they all live happily ever after " where that ending wouldn't really make sense in context of the story. 

Truth be told, if the ending fits, I'm mostly fine with it.  I was even fine with the endings for Maggot Baits, which aren't exactly easy on the heart.
An ending has to satisfy to be good, and very few endings manage that... whether in VNs or books.  Heck, even if we get a satisfying ending, it is almost guaranteed that someone will come around latter and create a lame sequel to try to capitalize on the original, thus pissing off the people he is trying to leech off of. 
tbh, you have to take nakige endings for what they are. Unlike utsuge, where bittersweetness is part of the package, or a plotge, where any kind of ending might fit, by definition nakige have to have happy endings.
Your comments on true endings don't fit precisely... but when I look at what has been localized so far, I have to shrug.  Except for a few utsuge like Swan Song, true endings in the localized scene are almost universally of the type you complained about.  It almost makes me wonder if there is some kind of conspiracy...
I guess it is because I've read so many VNs over the years, but my opinion is that, while true endings are  more likely to satisfy than 'regular' endings, that ratio isn't 100%.  There have been any number of games I've played over the years where a side ending or the 'normal' ending felt more satisfying or interesting than the true ending.  I guess it is because, too often, true endings often ruin what was most fun or interesting about the setting.  I'm not particularly fond of getting rid of all the mystique of a setting solely to produce a true ending.

Well, yeah, particularly in modern times, with the likes of Dark Knight and Zack Snyder.
Balance is good. Just like how Superman reflects the light and optimism of humanity, Batman reflects the darkness in us all humble humans. Balance is important. Not too light, but not too dark.
...which is why you SHOULDN'T MAKE SUPERMAN MOPEY AND MOROSE! HE'S SUPERMAN!
SUPERMAN.

It really depends. I usually want a somewhat happy ending, even if the mid-story has lots of sad parts. But if it's really well done I'd love sad ends as well. I still maintain that Amane's bad end is Grisaia's best ending.

While I don't have anything against sad stories, please give me at least a little glimpse of hope at the ending. I doesn't have to be all super happy, but pure tragedy or depressing ending might be too much for me.
AIR is good example of this - while its true ending was very sad, it wasn't utterly depressing, at least for me
So while it is different from other famous KEY nakige - there wasn't happy ending like final run of AfterStory in Clannad or "that's not enough!" ending in Little Busters, it still OK for me and I rated AIR equally with those two, and considered it really great story.
But if the "True Ending" is Bad Ending, meaning there's no hope, everything goes wrong and everybody dies in vain - that's too much for me. It probably would make me more angry than sad - so no catharsis from crying either VNs for me are kind of escapism, so I don't look for them to repeat worst aspects of reality.

This is exactly why I think attaching routes of plot oriented VNs to heroes/heroines is a bad idea. Why do the MC have to simply forget about the main mystery just because he's not dating main X-chan or Y-kun? It's like they can't even help the main hero/heroine as a good friend...
Other thing that always bugs me when it come to True Routes are the way we enter them. The Butterfly Effect is sometimes way too strong. Like Comyu, for example. The choice to go for Kagome, the true heroine, and to drastically alter the events of the story is...
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but it always sounded stupid for you to enter "true" routes with such insignificant choices that also somehow locks you with a certain love interest because reasons.  

Heaven’s Feel is such trash. UBW was so much fun to read. Also, Fate/Hollow literally feels like a gag visual novel half the time. Hell even the creator said it’s like a dream, so don’t think to much.
 
Now back to the point.Yeah I am not a big fan of “One True End” because it kinda defeats the purpose of visual novels a bit. For example, Ever17 annoyed my ass off with that kinda thing. It just comes out of nowhere.
 
Having mutitple endings of equal merit is literally why I think visual novels excellent at. Can movies do that: nope. Can anime do that: nope. Can comics do that: nope. Can video games do that? Sure, however it’s very genre specific RPGs. You’re not going to get a Halo game with a multiple endings. Furthermore, multiple endings to the level that visual novels do them have only been seen in certain JRPGs like Neir Automata. 
 
It’s one thing to do a linear story, a kinetic novel, but honestly I don’t like the fact there’s a true end as if my choices were somehow wrong. Like skip your VN, my true end is with Waifu X or Husbando Y etc. This really sucks in romantic visual novels where characters are basically routes to several endings. I mean imagine having to fall in love with a certain character to only learn that their ending is not really the true ending because you have to go with a stupid character that you don’t like just so you can get to the true ending. 
 
Another point is that multiple equal endings allows for there to be debate. You know, discussion, over which ending is best. Ideally, when you create a VN or a some kind of artwork, you want to leave the reader, viewer, player etc. something to think about. Having multiple endings could lead to a grand mystery that will leave the audience guessing forever vs “here is the true end! You can stop the debate. You can go home now.” Everyone loves theorizing shit. Give them more fuel to theorize by having multiple endings so they can theorize all kinds of headcannons to satisfy their curiosity.

Seconding this. The bitter nature of Swan Song seems fitting for such a cold and harsh season like Winter. Experience the cruelty of reality that's Swan Song as you watch the snow falls on your precious yard, forcing you to shovel snow again and again, all in a futile effort. 

Reading this line of thought, it got me thinking that writing a story with a single "true" conclusion is actually easier, more practical, and not to mention more effective in writing a good story. In terms of narrative writing, unless your story has heavy involvement with a multiverse or maybe even time-travel, having "multiple significant endings" is like having unnecessary filler for your main story (provided you have a "main story," and not just multiple side stories like most dating sims). "Less is more," as they say when advising people about writing. A story with too much of such filler would be meandering, and therefore would lack a strong impact.
Therefore, it makes sense why many VNs have chosen to use a "True Route", since it's the most "normal" and practical way to write a story. Furthermore, when you take into consideration that "a story is only as good as its ending," the usage of a "True End" is even more important.
That being said... I still stand by my preferences. I just love VNs with multiple routes and endings too much for the reasons I described in my prior post. It's just too much fun. Not every VN has to have some overly serious story. 
Furthermore, visual novel is a special medium where you have the opportunity to utilize multiple routes (or parallel universes) into your story, so to not use them to tell a better story that no other medium like books or anime could seems like a waste of opportunity. That's why I greatly admire those VNs that manage to tell a great story while still having multiple endings of equal significance. That's truly not an easy feat, and makes it an exceptional creation above others.

The "True End" of a VN for me is whatever ending I liked the most. Simple as that.
Of course I like some sort of conclusion, but it needs to be satisfying and well written for me to acknowledge it as the Best/True End.

Seconding this. The bitter nature of Swan Song seems fitting for such a cold and harsh season like Winter. Experience the cruelty of reality that's Swan Song as you watch the snow falls on your precious yard, forcing you to shovel snow again and again, all in a futile effort. 

If you already decided it, then have fun with Subahibi there. Also keep in mind that the story itself could be quite disturbing at some points, especially in Invention and Insect. Also if you buy Steam version, the 18+ patch for that is VERY NECESSARY (Sorry for the shout here) because FW did only released 1st chapter at Steam while locked the rest in the patch.

i prefer multiple endings. one true ends are nice as theyre a good way to give the reader a sense of just "im done! no more!" but then you have something like majikoi where there are multiple endings, let me rephrase that multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple endings with majikoi and not just the first vn but its universe. there are the many fan disks but the very last one feels like the official, official ending to majikoi. so yeah, depends but i prefer multiples for hte most part.

I always preferred General Spareribs anyway. It's one of those cases where the villain is much more interesting than the hero, like The Joker and Batman.
Also... Tunaman is 
 

We've gotta talk.

Which walkthrough are you following? The steam walkthrough has a few missing choices so it's best if you proceed with caution. As for the SSS system, yeah it's irritating but don't let it get to you too much since the story's pretty good.

The kicker is that Root Double's actual writing and story is really good, but the SSS system is such a mess that it repeals people >>

Yeah, the SSS system is a mess. There are way too many options available to the player (why do they give like nine settings per character??) with no indication on what any of them actually imply at the various branch points in the story. I don't have too much of a problem with inadvertently hitting bad ends, but in Root Double, getting the good ends requires way too much trial and error. I resorted to a walkthrough after running into the same situation you posted about with Kazami.

Seconding this. The bitter nature of Swan Song seems fitting for such a cold and harsh season like Winter. Experience the cruelty of reality that's Swan Song as you watch the snow falls on your precious yard, forcing you to shovel snow again and again, all in a futile effort. 

Currently playing Wildlife Park 2. Initially avoided this game because of the mixed reviews on Steam, but my craving for animal management games won out (and there's only like one other video game of such kind, which is Zoo Tycoon, but I've already played this before).
WP2 definitely bears vibes of Zoo Tycoon, and it brings such fond memories. I remember the missions being quite fun in Zoo Tycoon. There's just a kind of satisfaction from taking care of animals, especially if you're an animal lover like myself. WP2's missions fare admirably so far, ranging in a variety of objectives to keep me entertained. But obviously, it's still not as polished as Zoo Tycoon. Can't complain though, since there aren't a lot of quality animal tycoon games out there that don't suck. Even the sequel, Wildlife Park 3, has received far worse reviews than WP2.
To this game's credit, it's already far more interesting than Jurassic World: Evolution. Oh, the irony...