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I would like a recommendation


visualnovelfan

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So, I noticed that I find it hard to get interested in some visual novels because they don't grab my attention from the start.

I am not completely against slice of life but I find the story much more important. So, if at the beginning there is no story and it takes very long for the story to start, it probably won't grab my attention.

I like visual novels with great stories. I prefer if they are serious but I don't mind some slice of life or comedy. The story should have an external problem (I don't mind if there are also other types of problems)

I can't read visual novels in Japanese. I don't like if the gameplay is hard and it can't be skipped. I am not familiar with strategic and tactical games.

Here are some visual novels I liked:

G - Senjou no Maou (My favorite visual novel)

Ever17

Sharin no Kuni

Grisaia no Kajitsu (The story doesn't really have much of an external problem until you choose the heroine though I guess there is some story from the beginning that keeps your attention)

Symphonic Rain (I guess there is a lot of slice of life but there was story from the beginning and a very clear external problem)

Comyu

Toushin Toshi 2

9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors

Danganronpa and Danganronpa 2

Phoenix Wright

Fate Stay Night

Persona 4 Golden

I tried Rewrite, Eien no Aselia and Ayakashibito and they did not grab my attention. I also tried some other slice of life visual novels but they did not grab my attention.

You don't have to recommend the sequels, Umineko or Muv Luv Alternative.

Edited by visualnovelfan
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Rose Guns Days for a big one. Story starts off right from the first line, never slows down too much.

Also all of nitroplus' short stories. Saya no Uta, Kikokugai, Hanachirasu, Phenomeno. Those are even better, though they're a lot shorter (all of them can be completed in 1 to 5 hours) 

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I second Kara no Shoujo and Cartagra.  I'd start with KnS, then do Cartagra, and then don't bother with KnS2, it's a landmine.  You should also try Persona 3 if you haven't.  Hotel Dusk is pretty good.  Koihime Musou has a great story.  Steins;Gate is amazing.  Can't believe nobody's recommended Demonbane yet (I second the other NitroPlus recommendations).  Root Double has some struggles with pacing issues, but is really good anyway.  I haven't gotten very far in it, but Gahkthun definitely sounds like it fits the bill.  And I know you said not to mention sequels, but you might not know these count: Persona 4 Arena, P4A Ultimax, and P4: Dancing All Night are all VN hybrids, believe it or not.

And now my iffier recommendations.  This one's really old, meaning the translation is going to be sketchy; but I liked it a lot anyway: Eve Burst Error.  And you might want to check out Funbag Fantasy, it actually has a real plot.  I'm also going to give a qualified recommendation to Critical Point.  The story (meaning whodunit) actually changes based on what choices you make.  The true route is quite interesting, the others ... vary.  Soul Link has a terrible prologue, a kickass first half, and an okay second half - but it definitely fits your criteria.  Only problem is it's out of print.

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2 hours ago, Nandemonai said:

I second Kara no Shoujo and Cartagra.  I'd start with KnS, then do Cartagra, and then don't bother with KnS2, it's a landmine.  You should also try Persona 3 if you haven't.  Hotel Dusk is pretty good.  Koihime Musou has a great story.  Steins;Gate is amazing.  Can't believe nobody's recommended Demonbane yet (I second the other NitroPlus recommendations).  Root Double has some struggles with pacing issues, but is really good anyway.  I haven't gotten very far in it, but Gahkthun definitely sounds like it fits the bill.  And I know you said not to mention sequels, but you might not know these count: Persona 4 Arena, P4A Ultimax, and P4: Dancing All Night are all VN hybrids, believe it or not.

And now my iffier recommendations.  This one's really old, meaning the translation is going to be sketchy; but I liked it a lot anyway: Eve Burst Error.  And you might want to check out Funbag Fantasy, it actually has a real plot.  I'm also going to give a qualified recommendation to Critical Point.  The story (meaning whodunit) actually changes based on what choices you make.  The true route is quite interesting, the others ... vary.  Soul Link has a terrible prologue, a kickass first half, and an okay second half - but it definitely fits your criteria.  Only problem is it's out of print.

I also tried Persona 3. Persona 3 also had a very interesting start. It grabs your attention early in the game.

Of course, when I say it has to grab my attention, I don't mean the story has to start immediately. I am willing to give it some time but not hours and hours of absolutely nothing story related.

I didn't know that those Persona 4 Spinoffs were visual novels as well. Are they really worthy when compared to Persona 4 Golden, though?

Root Double seems interesting. I really liked Ever17, so I would probably like it.

I heard a lot about Gakthun but I don't really understand what it is about. What visual novel would you compare it to?

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On 1/21/2017 at 7:04 PM, visualnovelfan said:

So, I noticed that I find it hard to get interested in some visual novels because they don't grab my attention from the start.

I am not completely against slice of life but I find the story much more important. So, if at the beginning there is no story and it takes very long for the story to start, it probably won't grab my attention.

I like visual novels with great stories. I prefer if they are serious but I don't mind some slice of life or comedy. The story should have an external problem (I don't mind if there are also other types of problems)

I can't read visual novels in Japanese. I don't like if the gameplay is hard and it can't be skipped. I am not familiar with strategic and tactical games.

Here are some visual novels I liked:

G - Senjou no Maou (My favorite visual novel)

Ever17

Sharin no Kuni

Grisaia no Kajitsu (The story doesn't really have much of an external problem until you choose the heroine though I guess there is some story from the beginning that keeps your attention)

Symphonic Rain (I guess there is a lot of slice of life but there was story from the beginning and a very clear external problem)

Comyu

Toushin Toshi 2

9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors

Danganronpa and Danganronpa 2

Phoenix Wright

Fate Stay Night

Persona 4 Golden

I tried Rewrite, Eien no Aselia and Ayakashibito and they did not grab my attention. I also tried some other slice of life visual novels but they did not grab my attention.

You don't have to recommend the sequels, Umineko or Muv Luv Alternative.

Tsukihime, my recommendation every time some one asks, no matter if they say they don't want something of that genre. :illya:

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5 hours ago, visualnovelfan said:

I also tried Persona 3. Persona 3 also had a very interesting start. It grabs your attention early in the game.

Of course, when I say it has to grab my attention, I don't mean the story has to start immediately. I am willing to give it some time but not hours and hours of absolutely nothing story related.

I didn't know that those Persona 4 Spinoffs were visual novels as well. Are they really worthy when compared to Persona 4 Golden, though?

Root Double seems interesting. I really liked Ever17, so I would probably like it.

I heard a lot about Gakthun but I don't really understand what it is about. What visual novel would you compare it to?

I haven't really played anything I would compare Gahkthun to.  Closest thing I can think of would be a much more serious Demonbane.  Part of it is that I'm not very far at all.  (But it's such a good game that I don't need to be very far to recommend it.)

As for the Persona 4 spinoffs ... Persona 4 Arena I really liked, the sequel Ultimax I liked but it was not as good for me, and Dancing All Night was also good but not great.  (P4A and P4AU also feature characters from Persona 3, by the way.)  Basically, think of these like fandisks.  If you like these characters, these games are basically the only thing you're likely to ever see starring them again.  They won't come back as main characters again, I don't think.  The story in P4A is actually pretty good; each character has their own Story Mode, and even though the main plot is repeated in most of them, I still really enjoyed it because it really focuses in on that character, and they did a good job of writing them all.  Ultimax resolves the cliffhanger of P4A; its main story isn't as good, but it does add some closure for the extra Persona 3 characters that weren't in P4A.  Dancing All Night is basically the last hurrah for the P4 cast, they get the band back together for one last gig.

I like the casts of P3 and P4.  They're very young when they get wrapped up in the earth-shattering chaos of their respective games, and so it's really interesting to see the direction their lives move in.  Do they want to just be normal?  Do they get sucked into dealing with things like this, as one of very few people on Earth qualified to take the job?  To me, P4A/P4AU and DAN are most interesting when they are dealing with this.

Because you aren't going to see that in any mainline Persona game.  You can't.  Any previous game cast members that show up, have to be minor characters.  A new Persona game has to involve a new crisis, and new characters.  These newbies pretty much have to be high school students (with the exception of Persona 2: EP, the casts have all been students).  If previous games' casts take an active role, then by virtue of being older and much more experienced, they'll overshadow everybody new.

Note that I call these games visual novels; and they are.  But P4A/P4AU are also fighting games, and DAN is a rythym game.  The VN portions are the story modes.  They feature long VN sections, only briefly interrupted by gameplay sections that have obviously been set to "ultimate fucking pussy mode" difficulty.  (I mean, seriously, in P4A you can win most story mode fights by mashing the auto-combo button.  Then you go try Arcade mode, and all of a sudden the computer can actually fight ...)

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On 2017/1/21 at 6:04 PM, visualnovelfan said:

So, I noticed that I find it hard to get interested in some visual novels because they don't grab my attention from the start.

I am not completely against slice of life but I find the story much more important. So, if at the beginning there is no story and it takes very long for the story to start, it probably won't grab my attention.

I like visual novels with great stories. I prefer if they are serious but I don't mind some slice of life or comedy. The story should have an external problem (I don't mind if there are also other types of problems)

I can't read visual novels in Japanese. I don't like if the gameplay is hard and it can't be skipped. I am not familiar with strategic and tactical games.

Here are some visual novels I liked:

G - Senjou no Maou (My favorite visual novel)

Ever17

Sharin no Kuni

Grisaia no Kajitsu (The story doesn't really have much of an external problem until you choose the heroine though I guess there is some story from the beginning that keeps your attention)

Symphonic Rain (I guess there is a lot of slice of life but there was story from the beginning and a very clear external problem)

Comyu

Toushin Toshi 2

9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors

Danganronpa and Danganronpa 2

Phoenix Wright

Fate Stay Night

Persona 4 Golden

I tried Rewrite, Eien no Aselia and Ayakashibito and they did not grab my attention. I also tried some other slice of life visual novels but they did not grab my attention.

You don't have to recommend the sequels, Umineko or Muv Luv Alternative.

Tokyo Babel

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