Karin

I find that "2-3 hour" period quite nice, it kind of reminds me what I do with movies - if I don't like something 20-30 mins in, I just turn it off. Yes some VNs do take time to get going but if you don't like the atmosphere/feel of what you're reading then there's no point in continuing past a certain point. And there are times where the story is so good you don't want to stop reading but then a plot twist appears and everything turns different, in a bad way. I've had that happen lol. I might try Koichoco. People have suggested it to me before. Thanks. Yeah, opinion is very subjective, one man's trash is another man's treasure, so going with the hivemind can prove to be a bad thing, especially if you're not into the genre like OP said. Thank you for the tip on Koichoco. BTW OP, as someone whose first language isn't English either, I recommend you to keep reading, eventually you'll think in the language more and reading will become more comfortable, second nature. At least, that worked for me. I actually find reading in Portuguese (native) more exhausting because I use English all the time and literature in Portuguese can be very complex with a ton of words I don't understand. I find English easier somehow? It helps that in VNs the language is usually simpler and casual, you don't have to wrack your brain. And look for translations to German, that could help. Choosing shorter stories is better, too. You don't get burned out so easily. I haven't bought Grisaia yet because of this. They're all so long and it would take time.

I identify with a lot of you. I'm a VN semi-newbie, I've known them forever but haven't finished... or read many for too long. Picked up the hobby seriously last year. I wasn't motivated enough, and I have some problems that make me lose concentration/energy. Anyway, yeah, I hate dropping VNs too, but then, I don't want to force myself to continue, even though in my mind, I should, because people say X thing is amazing, and "OMG, you've got to experience all the endings!" I do that thing too where I keep trying new games because I get bored. The filler also gets annoying. I dropped Yume Miru Kusuri in 2014 because it was too repetitive, too much filler. I also got into a different route that I wanted, so I gave up. Giving YMK another try after all these years and I still have the same complaints. It's also a bit unrealistic. I don't actually like 100% completion, it takes too much time and in the case of VNs, I get attached to a certain hero(ine) and trying another one would be "cheating", in a relationship sense. It feels like I'm betraying the character, lmao. I try the routes that interest me, not all of them (unless there's no other choice). In some games there aren't even many differences between the routes anyways. The skip function is good but sometimes you have to hold the button for 10+ minutes lol. I haven't played Deardrops yet, however I am liking Kira Kira which is by the same developer. I'm kind of reading a ton of stuff at the same time though, so I'm progressing slowly. I am all for music themes since my main hobby is music, so yeah, if you don't enjoy the main themes, then you'll probably hate the whole thing, I guess. I try to avoid what I probably won't like, although I need to get out of my comfort zone. For example, I'm not into mecha but I will probably read Muv Luv at some point. Art should draw you in, not make you uninterested. Try what seems cool to you, don't trust the hype, if you do, you'll probably be let down. Expecting too much of something can prove to be a bad thing. I was terribly disappointed with SubaHibi and I gave up on it. P.S. I am considering Koichoco but I heard the characters can be mean, is that true? Fureraba seemed nice but I've seen complaints about the TL lol.

I'm a bit of a newbie as well, I know VNs since forever but only started reading them seriously last year. There isn't much else I would like to say that hasn't been said already. I definitely recommend a PC, even if it's a bad one - I have a terrible outdated machine and I can run like, almost all VNs, and you'd get 18+ scenes to boot. I don't really care about H but it seems like you'd miss that. And there are translations! A lot of console VNs and story-heavy RPGs are in Japanese. By all means, try the console exclusives if you want, but games are being ported these days too. Danganronpa is on Steam now, Ace Attorney runs on Android/iOS, etc..

Like others have said, Subarashiki Hibi is a niche of a niche. I know that it took me a while to be convinced that I should try it out, it seemed too complex and weird. And I am into strange stuff, but SubaHibi is "denpa" and I had never read anything like that (don't even understand the term). It's meant to have philosophical themes and some people say you need to read a bunch of stuff before comprehending the plot fully. It also doesn't help that it's meant to be disturbing. So I understand why people wouldn't pick it up. It's not for everyone, and visual novels aren't mainstream (despite the DDLC phenomenon), so that's probably why it didn't sell much. I believe most VN readers aren't into that kind of story - don't blame 'em. I finally started reading Subarashiki Hibi after some consideration and I was disappointed. Granted, I didn't finish it and I haven't read that many VNs to completion, but still... I shouldn't have listened to the hype. The only thing I got out of all these (wasted) hours is that the "kamige" title doesn't mean much. The first chapter was extremely boring and I never knew what was real and what wasn't. It was like a dream, but not a good one - I was confused and the characters annoyed me except for Yuki and Tsukasa, and I do identify with Zakuro - I have things in common with her. I heard you understand chapter 1 after reading the rest but unfortunately I never got to the end. Then, I don't remember much, but I believe I stopped midway in It's My Own Invention. Mamiya was fucked up, the rest of the classmates even more so, and I couldn't understand anything, a lot of the dialogue made no sense to me - probably because I didn't get the references. I was confused, and not getting much enjoyment. I wanted to go on, but I didn't want to waste more of my time either. There were a ton of things going on all at once. Usually, when I watch or read something, I want to identify with the characters and most importantly, like them in some way. And I didn't like any of the characters except Ayana (for her mysterious and odd nature) and Yuki (she's cool, and it's nice to have more female protags). SubaHibi along with Saya no Uta may have helped me tolerate more extreme stuff in VNs, because I finally gave in and tried Euphoria after reading these two. I actually enjoyed Saya no Uta though and for some reason Euphoria is interesting to me, and that's one thing I thought I'd never experience in my life. Haven't finished that one yet either... Again, I am into weird things. I didn't want to hate SubaHibi but I did. It seemed right up my alley. I might attempt to finish SubaHibi in the future, but I know it will take a while, especially with my backlog.

Hello, I'm new here too. Nice to meet you