Funnerific

A recent argument in another thread here got me thinking: which one is more important? I've asked around, and it appears that the plot is more important for most people, but I can't share that preference. I can enjoy even a low-plot or plotless VN with good writing much more than anything with bad writing. Can't say about other forms of media as that's a little out of my scope. It would take me forever to list the popular VNs which, in my opinion, had shit writing, but here's a few examples: Muv-Luv Alternative (see this for issues) Sakura, Sakimashita (intrusive repetetive generic comedy with overused boring running gags) - I'll concede, it's not really a popular VN. Funny thing though, I found their next game to have mostly excellent writing, and that one got bashed to shits by Japanese readers. Reconquista Hatsuyuki Sakura AstralAir no Shiroki Towa (yuki-yuki yuki-yuki yuki-yuki yuki-yuki yuki-yuki yuki-yuki ) Aiyoku no Eustia (see post) Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo The list goes on and on. For some examples of what I consider good writing, redardless of the plot: Rewrite (Terra), Symphonic Rain (if I remember correctly), Fureraba (sugar overdose), Haruka Kanata (at least some routes), Itsusora (for the common route). Of course, you will likely disagree with me on some or all of this, and that's perfectly fine. But the question here is: what will you enjoy more, a solid game with writing issues, or a low-plot/plotless title with the kind of writing that just clicks with you?

I don't like "good" stories that are ruined by shit writing. To each his own, eh?

I didn't find it that bad, it's just a failed attempt at a story that ended up being a plain moege/charage instead. Although the comedy and the plot are shit, the writing and the mood are mostly pretty nice and the H is hot, but I gather from your post that you don't care about those kinds of things. One of the things that seriously put me off in PxC was the weird H. Such as using a magic wand, on the heroine's first time no less. Also vibrators.

No, just no. If you're looking at Smee, go for Fureraba instead. That's where all the sweet writing is. Possibly Loverable too, haven't played it yet. Kujiragami no Tearstilla for almost plotless moege with an older osananajimi heroine. Full of osananajimi heroines (group of friends) and the comedy is golden, mostly plotless except the setting: Ren'ai Made Sentakushi Hitotsu. Just a little bit nakige (mostly moege, with 5 H per heroine and pretty short drama), again, group of childhood friends: Natsu no Iro no Nostalgia What fits the OP's criteria the most though is this thing: Osananajimi to Juu Nen, Natsu

That would be Circus. They do nothing but reuse old material and make shit comedy, releasing a shitton of fandisks, side stories and sequels, which are then milked in turn.

All or pretty much all of them are either about putting yourself (the protag) at lower or higher value than other characters, or putting some character at a low or high value. You can slide it a lot but there's effectively only 3 values: low, medium and high, as evidenced by the cheat you get after completing the route for the first time.

In route A it always alerts you about a wrong choice and lets you redo it before giving you the bad end (the first time it's yellow, the second time it's red - and red doesn't appear if your choices are ok). Pretty easy.

Soul Link's blind choices are pretty cool in that you get multiple opportunities to get the necessary items, some you can do without, but then some choices later down the line will give you a bad end while others won't either way. Your previous actions influence what options you have in the future a lot, and I think that's rad. Now, if we're talking language difficulty too, the most unnecessarily difficult VN I've read is Itsusora (Futami route )

All non-Eustia endings are insanely small packs of SoL and H intended to give the minimal possible conclusion. It's highly recommended you do them as you go along, because going back to it after seeing the true end WILL suck.

Verdict on Sakura no Mori † Dreamers: Worth it for the long, substantial and overall actually pretty good common route. The heroine routes are short, clearly made out of obligation, have shit writing and are effectively a bonus.

We lack information on an important subject in a game full of infodumps. This can probably only mean the writers couldn't come up with a plausible excuse for a tentacle rape scene.

But effort I'll keep my recommendations to plot-centric titles: Rewrite (supernatural, route quality varies greatly), G-senjou no Maou (crime, battle of wits), Aoishiro (mystery, Japanese mythology), Soul Link (suspense, action) The last two should be played without a walkthrough unless you're actually stuck.

Welcome to the hornet's nest! Make yourself at home. That's Japanese writing for you. The constant blaming yourself for everything. Then again, Takeru did come to this world from another one and he has a mission, so it kind of makes sense that he would feel like everything revolves around him. Majikoi is effectively a moege and Grisaia is still a completely different genre from MLA, so the comparison isn't really appropriate. Gotta reap that $$$ for inflated volume, bro. I agree, but the "Briefing" and "Rinsen Taisei" BGM smoothed the experience for me. Agree here too. The coup d'etat was my favourite part of the game. The feeling of realism is a lot stronger when your enemy is flesh and blood like yourself, and not something the writers can power up or down as much as they want. As with most utsuge, people have to die. In a character-focused game it will be the heroine and/or the protagonist, but in a more story-centric one like MLA it has to be most of the cast. This is one of the vices of the genre because you pretty much know what to expect after a while, the only question is "who dies". What's there to expect of a blatant harem that is basically all the same people as in Extra, walking around in futuristic suits with half-visible nipples - it's pretty ridiculous that there are so few differences in the cast, almost as if the Unlimited world branched from Extra a few years ago at most. Doesn't add up with the whole BETA thing though. Agreed. Nothing to add, lol. But he possibly made a difference in a world where almost everyone he cared about is dead, and there's a countless amount of worlds like that - let's go save another one! The one thing I liked about MLA is that it was undeniably atmospheric (this is enhanced by good BGM). It's definitely overrated though.

Natsu no Ame: visual novels were a mistake (important CG, NSFW) That aside, I expected something like Yosuga no Sora and the drama type was indeed similar, but it doesn't have as much atmosphere and lacks the voiced narration with perspective switch to heroines which was one of the best things about YnS.

An actual line

Unfortunately, this doesn't provide any meaningful context. I recommend just ignoring this part, as it appears to be mere comedy.

Could use some context here, such as who is Tora-san. Some actual tiger, some specific drunkard? 老師 by kanji is literally "old teacher" "Tora-san is also my life mentor"

Reading Sakura no Mori † Dreamers. Still in the common route, but I can already see where this is going, because

One of the uses of katakana is to accent a word. Very often there's no real meaning at all though, like if a character always uses ワタシ instead of 私.

it's basically きつい - something like "tough" in this case.

Actually I should apologize, there aren't really that many. There's more fourth wall breaking in the game, but if memory serves me right "acknowledging the readers' existence" only takes place 2-3 times.

Ikikoi has quite a few scenes with that (and it's pretty good). Several games by Asa Project are tagged with breaking the fourth wall, but I've yet to get around to playing any of them so I can't say if it's what you're looking for. I doubt there's a VN out there that ignores the fourth wall completely, but good luck in your search.