Spectrum

Thanks for the recommendations, all!

Thanks a lot for the replies, all. I am currently playing Roomie Romance. It is a borderline example of this: The heroine flirts a lot. The airheaded protagonist is too stupid to really understand it, but she still appreciates it. So if not mutual flirting it at least has "consensual" flirting.

The Language of Love has a mother heroine. I have not played it yet, though. Doesn't School Days have an ending where you boink a girl and her mom? I dunno; I haven't played that either.

Thanks for the review! What are the sex scenes like? My problem with Japanese eroge is that the sex scenes tend to get extremely similar because they all rely on the same sequence of mandatory cliches (nooo, don't look at me! It's embarrasing... but I want it... ow, it hurts so bad! But it feels so good! - insert mandatory hymen, etc.). In games with multiple girls I get sick of how identical the sex scenes are. The fact that the game is Western-produced gives me hope. Western eroge sometimes have less annoying sex scenes. What was your experience of those parts?

Hi! I am looking for a game that has a significant element of mutual flirting. I mean, in Japanese games flirting is almost always one-sided: Character X comes onto character Y, and character Y either (a) gets completely flustered, (b) doesn't pick up on it at all or (c) reacts with violence. I want something where both characters acknowledge and embrace the sexual connection WITHOUT it immediately turning into sex. Examples, or things that come close, include: * Fureraba has a little of it during the midgame where you try to get onto a girl's route. It's very tame, though. * Heart of the Woods has a little between the two leads, but mostly only just before they have sex. * Demonheart can have a bit of it, depending on the dialog options you choose. * HuniePop might actually be the best example of this that I can come up with. It is a very shallow game with a minimum of story, but it does have a nice sexy flirty vibe going on, which I like. Shorter games (less than 10 hours for one playthrough) are preferred. Can be 18+ or all-ages, straight or yuri. Can you think of any? Thanks in advance!

This one might qualify: Hikari! Love Potion https://noisypixel.net/hikari-love-potion-pc-release-date/

Thanks for all the replies! It's curious how most translated games in this kind of setting are either nukige or sex-free otome games. I COULD play VNs in Japanese with the help of a dictionary, but it would be at least 10 times slower than English, and a VN is a large time investment already, so at this stage it is just not worth it. Maybe in a few years.

Hi! I am looking for VNs with good romance set in a pre-modern setting - e.g. something resembling medieval Europe, or something resembling medieval Japan or China. Preferably with supernatural elements. Isekai is acceptable. If historical, as a bare minimum it should be pre-1900. All-ages and 18+ are both acceptable, but no nukige - I want something that focuses more on romance than porn. Must exist in English (because I can only just barely read manga in Japanese; I won't be playing VNs in Japanese any time soon). The only VN of this kind of I have played is Demonheart. Examples of non-VN fiction of this kind include An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride and The World Is Still Beautiful. Can anyone recommend some? Thanks in advance!

Loca-Love: My Cute Roommate can show both English and Japanese text at the same time.

Yes! Ano Fuji is great! I love her. At first I expected Yuna to end up with Fuji. It took me a long time that her destined partner was actually Hina. Did anyone else have that?

Thanks for the advice! I will follow your blog and NookGaming.

Hi, all! Can you recommend me some newsletters, blogs or the like which I can subscribe to in order to get news about English-language VNs? New translations, new original works, reviews, things like that. Email notifications are vital. For the purposes of this thread, I do not just want some website which I have to remember to visit regularly. Then I might as well just come here. Thanks a lot in advance!

Thanks for the advice. Does G-senjou no Maou have any supernatural elements? As far as I understood it is a fairly realistic setting.

For me it depends very much on what I come for. If I come seeking a dark and gruesome story, then I expect a dark ending. If I come seeking something cute, then I expect a happy ending. I have only recently gotten into VNs, and I have been on a "happy romance" binge for a year, so almost all the VNs I have played have been happy love stories. I haven't played anything darker than Doki Doki Literature Club... I mostly dislike bittersweet endings. They are just disappointing to me. There is enough disappointment in real life; I don't want that in my games as well. I prefer endings that are either super-happy or truly dark. Examples: If My Heart Had Wings Nurse Love Addiction

Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I have heard about Heart of the Woods. I should try that soonish. Himawari is this one? I have a friend who recommends me Dracu Riot. I will look closer at it. I will also look at some more of them. I have played Nurse Love Addiction (Hakuai). It is a solid game. (For me Itsuki is best girl by far.) I am not afraid of bad endings. Bad endings can be very cool. I just need the game to ALSO have good endings. Thanks!

Hi, all! I am looking for VNs that feature both a strong, emotional romance plot AND a compelling supernatural or science-fiction story that is about other things than the love story. 18+ is preferred but not mandatory. Romantic build-up and tenderness is much more important than explicit sex acts. A happy ending is absolutely essential (but it is fine if there are also bad endings). I especially love a heroine who is badass in action situations yet submissive in romantic/sexual situations. Not mandatory, though. English is preferred. I can only barely read manga in Japanese; any untranslated VNs will have to wait some years at least. I have not played a lot of VNs, so I cannot give really good examples, but the ones I have played that come close-ish are: Highway Blossoms has a wonderful love story and a moderately interesting plot about finding buried treasure. No speculative fiction elements, though. Everlasting Summer has a quite interesting supernatural mystery plot. The romance is not very strong, though. VNs which I have heard about and which might fit include the following, although I have not played any of them: Fate/stay Night (interested because it is famous; skeptical because other Type-Moon works disappointed me). 11eyes (the anime adaptation is flawed but did make me interested). Steins;Gate (don't know much about it, but I have heard it is good). Dies Irae: Amantes amentes. Examples from other media include: Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry). Dusk Maiden of Amnesia (Tasogare Otome x Amnesia) Darling in the Franxx. Can you recommend me anything? Thanks a lot!

Kickass! Thanks a lot!

Hi! I am playing If My Heart Had Wings from Steam plus the fan-made restoration patch. I have the problem that sprites sometimes linger on the screen after they were supposed to go away (e.g. Hat the duck overlapping the first sex scene in Kotori's route). According to this thread, a fix exists, but it is forbidden to post the link publicly. I would be very grateful if anyone could provide me with said fix. Thanks a lot in advance!

I am more interested in a variety of situations: What is the characters' emotional states? Are they rejoicing, calm, anxious, sad, angry? What do the characters feel for each other? Are they close and comfortable, or have they only recently met, or are they fighting? How long have the characters known each other? Do they have sex immediately after confessing, or did they wait several days or months before doing it? Or have they had sex many times before? What is going on around them? Are they safe and relaxed, or are they enjoying a brief respite from danger, or are they literally having sex in the middle of danger?

Hi! I recently completed Kindred Spirits on the Roof (Okujou no Yurirei-san) and I found it very sweet. It has some long boring stretches in the first half, but the second half more than makes up for it. Seeing all these cute girls end up together is adorable. My favourite couple is Youka/Aki. Youka's enthusiastic stupidity is somehow very endearing. (She is similar to the typicaly male "idiot hero" in shounen works whom I usually dislike, but Youka makes the trope cute.) Aki, meanwhile, is smart, and despite her gruff exterior she is very kind. I love how well she treats Youka - giving her tough love when she needs that and tender support when she needs that. And Aki is sexually assertive, and I love how she (internally) muses about how much she lusts after Youka sexually. My second favourite couples are Sasa/Umi and Kiri/Tsukuyo. Umi is delightfully bubbly, and I love the scene where she is privately freaked out after having sex. Kiri and Sasa are both lovable in their vulnerability. I also grew to love Hina in the end game - during her sex scene and bonus scenes. The only characters I don't like are Amishima Matsuri (who sexually harrasses Hina in the early bonus scenes) and Nagatani Megumi (who is an annoying brat). My main gripe with the game is the music, which IMO is not good enough to considering the length of the game (about 30 hours for me). I got really tired of some of the tracks. I like Youka's song "A-A-Ai", though. The sprites are nothing special, but they are serviceable. My favourite sprites are Tsukuyo and Kiri, followed by Hina and Ano Fuji. Who were your favourite characters in it?

Thanks a lot for the replies. I have added several of your recommendations to my list. (Some of them appear to be yet untranslated, so they will have to wait until my kanji skills are better.) Euphoria does not have a female protagonist, but it does look like a very interesting game, and the reviews are good. I will try it. (I think I watched bits and pieces of the anime adaptation once...) Mugen Renkan, among others, looks promising. Thanks!

Hi, all! This is my first post. Yoroshiku. I am looking for stories featuring BDSM and/or rape with the female protagonist as the submissive/victim, BUT with a decent story with some romance and/or drama in it, not pure porn. (The "romance" doesn't need to be sane or healthy. ) I mean, seeing the girl get dominated or raped is nice and all, but I want something that focuses on the buildup and her feelings. I love something where the girl gradually and hesitatingly submits, willingly or unwillingly. I prefer a norman human male as the dom or rapist, but girl-on-girl or monsters are also acceptable. I have not played a lot of VNs or eroge, so I cannot cite an example of what I seek. The closest thing I have played is Mirror from Sakura Games, which sucks (and also is not a VN). Thanks in advance!