PiggiesGoMoo

Technically my first was "Let's Meow Meow" (cringe) first back in 2000s, but that was because I was a horny 13 yr old rather than a legitimate VN fan. I only really started reading in 2017, with Doki Doki as the first and Fata Morgana as the second. Doki Doki is very short so I just read it in one day, but I actually thought it was just decent but not great. But it was good enough to generate some VN interest in me to where I read Fata Morgana, which is my favorite VN so far.

Yea I think having at least one "false flag" is a good way to throw off the reader, without doing it ham-handed of course. If the reader gets something wrong due to their expectation of a trope, they're forced to use hints from the actual story to come to a conclusion rather than trying to "meta" it.

That twist is exactly what I meant in regards to Ever17. I don't actually believe there are enough hints to allow a person to come to that conclusion without some wildly lucky guesses, because it's just so extraordinary.

I've been thinking about this lately, and I think it's a pretty interesting topic. Here are some more specific questions: If you're able to predict the conclusion based on deductions, does it subtract from your experience? The "based on deductions" part is important, because I'm not asking about mysteries you're able to predict because you've read something similar before. On the other hand, if it is virtually impossible to predict the conclusion without having experienced a similar twist before (such as with Ever17), does that subtract from your experience? EDIT: And if you had to choose, which of the above two would you prefer, assuming that the quality of writing is the same? Does the mystery have to be solved, or are open endings acceptable? What do you think of "flags" (e.g. "death flags")? This is not necessarily the same thing as foreshadowing, since it also includes character progression tropes that you only know about because of past reading experience. If you're able to find these flags, does it subtract from the experience? I won't bother asking to compare single-route and multi-route, since that has been discussed at length very recently.

Half-way through Danganronpa. The story is pretty intriguing, but I have to say that some of the mini-games in the trials have annoyingly vague and misleading phrasing and answers. Maybe it's a translation issue, or maybe it's because I'm playing the hardest difficulty. Many times I would know the answer to a specific part in a trial, but it took me several tries to figure out how to "communicate" it to the game through it's vague-ass answers. Also, while I thought the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th trials were good (that's as far as I am), I thought the 1st trial was pretty crappy: Despite my complaints I am enjoying the game overall.

Fewer fight scenes!! I know I"m in the minority here, but I really think the VN format doesn't lend itself to these types of scenes very well. The static reused CGs make those scenes seem very repetitive compared to manga and anime. I will say that Majikoi tries to work around this limitation in an interesting way. Rather than using CGs, it just moves/flips character sprites around on screen. I think it can get away with this because there aren't any "magical powers" AFAIK, and the fights are short. I had a really hard time reading through the long fight scenes in Dies Irae and Sorcery Jokers, even though I enjoyed the latter overall (not the former, please don't kill me).

Pretty baffling that one of the redditors said "Yes" in response to your line about Harry Potter being discussed in classrooms, and why VNs are far fetched in comparison. Of course it got a million upvotes... implying Harry Potter is some kind of great literary work?! It's an entertaining series sure, but how does it really compare to some of the "kamige" out there? I guess there is more literary depth to Ron Weasley than any character in Subahibi

I love mystery VNs, but my top 2 were both single route (Higurashi, Fata Morgana). I really, really hate it when different routes have too many similarities. Ever17 annoyed me when I had to backtrack 4 times to finally get to Coco's route, and had to rewatch scenes that I had already seen 4 times. In some cases you only had to rewatch a scene twice, and were allowed to skip the other three times. But there were many other cases where you had to rewatch a scene 4-5 times because there were minor differences, and the "skip already read" feature would be disabled. Of course you could always "Force skip", but I greatly dislike doing that in a mystery novel where you ought to have some attention to detail.

As cheesy as this may sound, House in Fata Morgana gave me an appreciation for romance where I had none whatsoever before. It was my first real VN after DDLC. The way it played out was very "believable" to me, to where it changed my views fundamentally. My past relationships were very absent of romance, but I think in the future it will play out differently.

The OP's question limits discussion on this somewhat, because the cost of giving up VNs is obviously high to passionate VN fans. I think a more controversial/debatable question would be: would VN's as a whole be better off without h-scenes, ignoring financial and popularity factors?

I've heard that it has a good intriguing mystery and characters. I'm on the "wait for the trilogy to be translated" train, but maybe i'll give in and read the first. I should mention that I wasn't made aware of it due to the recent controversy... I found it by looking up mystery VNs.

I don't bash slow, slice-of-life scenes at the beginning of VNs anymore, because it seems like it's an effective "plot device" in many great VNs. Just from looking at VNDB, a substantial number of the top highly rated, most popular (in combination) VNs use these scenes at the beginning. Here are some examples (I haven't read all of these so correct me if I'm wrong): Umineko, Subahibi (I think?), Clannad, Higurashi, Ever17, Little Busters, Grisaia trilogy, Fate/Stay Night. Ever17 specifically fascinates me in this regard, because I see it as incredibly dated and slow due to multiple overlapping routes. Yet it still consistently gets good ratings globally and is greatly popular. You'll find yourself having to repeat the same sandwich-eating scenes 4-5 times from different route perspectives, and every time you see that scene, not being sure if you'll miss important plot by force-skipping it "this time". I found this greatly annoying to where it hampered my enjoyment of the novel.

I almost want to say that comedy and slice of life scenes benefit the most from VA. For example I almost didn't even notice that Fata Morgana had no VA, but I think something like Chrono Clock would be much worse without it.

The ones I have stalled are all visual novels with gameplay in them. Somehow the format doesn't sit well with me, I might just have to avoid them altogether. Monster Quest - This one I straight up dropped. I couldn't believe how shoddy some of the art looked in this, Alice being the main exception. I mean we're talking Newgrounds flash game art bad, and I'm not even referring to the vore scenes (I had them turned off). Not only that but the gameplay mechanics were rather pointless. It baffles me that a game like this could get as high of rating on VNDB as something like Kamidori Alchemist. The comparison between these games is actually quite apt because they both have elements of "racial struggle" (in the fantasy sense of race) between nations, based on conflicting lifestyles and biology. But Monster Quest just felt so cheap and shoddy in comparison, that I dropped it. Kamidori Alchemist - Despite what I said above, I have stalled on this game. While much better than Monster Quest, the gameplay feels very easy to exploit, and the intrigue in the story seems weak. Sengoku Rance - I haven't played enough to come up with any criticisms of this game, but the gameplay seemed very dull. I guess I have played many non-VN games in my life, and it's hard for me to put up with mechanics that I have seen done better in other non-VN games. Danganronpa - Stalled once I realized I would have to walk around in weird cheap-3D environments. However I may attempt it again soon because I hear so many good things about it.

If you're from Brazil, I'm guessing you speak Portuguese? All the more reason for you to try Fata Morgana, since the music lyrics are mostly in Portuguese. I definitely have to give it a 4th recommendation. It's not just a tragedy-fest either, since it has many moving scenes and amazing character/plot progressions. EDIT: I can't see your VNDB list, link is broken for me. Maybe you've already read HiFM.