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Pretty new to VNs. Drag me down deeper into the abyss.


mavsynchroid

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So, here are the VNs I've played so far.

Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate 0

Root Double

If My Heart Had Wings

Katawa Shoujo

Never 7

Rewrite (currently playing)

Zero Escape Series (kind of a VN)

Danganronpa (Kind of a VN)

 

However, I HAVE seen these anime, so I currently don't want to play the VNs for them, even if they differ a little or a lot..

All the KEY ones (Clannad, Air, Kanon, Rewrite, Little Busters, etc)

Fate/Stay (I know there are like three different games, but let's just leave them out for now)

Damn... I'm blanking on any others right now, but I'll make sure to point it out if they come up.

 

I might be missing one or two, but I'm pretty sure that's most of them. The best thing about being new to form of entertainment is that I have yet to play all the masterpieces and classics. Could you guys throw a bunch my way? Oh also, english only please. Long games are absolutely fine, as are complex ones. I don't have anything against romance based games, but I'd like some that are more focused on interesting things..

By that for example, I mean stories like Steins;Gate, Root Double, Zero escape, etc., where while there is romance in it, and even different routes for different girls, it isn't the main focus, if you get my drift.

 

EDIT: English patched games are fine too of course.

Edited by mavsynchroid
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Everything by nitro+ (saya no uta, kikokugai, hanachirasu, demonbane, maybe drakoi too)

G senjou no maou

Sharin no kuni

Swan song (highly recommended)

Muv luv series (you have to bear with extra, unlimited ˆˆ)

Majikoi (for comedy mostly)

Remember11

Eden

Ayakashibito

Dengeki sriker

 

That should make you busy for a while :ren:

Edited by Tweek91330
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- The Muv Luv trilogy is a must, power through all the routes of extra I promise it will be worth it once you get to Unlimited. 

- The Innocent Grey Crime Thriller series ( Starting with Cartagra then Kara no Shoujo 1 and 2) is superb. 

- Majikoi is heavily waifu based, but it has some great comedy and a couple of the routes have decent stories. 

- The translated Rance games (mainly 6 and 7) have surprisingly good stories and some genuinely great game play, I would even consider Sengoku Rance among my personal favorite strategy games. (Be warned that there is quite allot of rape....... quite). 

- Ayakashibito is the gold standard in storytelling when it comes to Chunny, but it has quite a few awkward sex scenes. 

- Grisaia no Kajitsu is also a must, I personally love it for its' strong characters. Some of the routes tend to go off the rails, but by that time you are soo invested in the characters that you kinda just go along with it. 

- The Fault Milestone series is a lesser known fantasy series, but another personal favorite of mine (my avatar is a character from the series). The series is still ongoing, so you might want to wait until the rest of the volumes come out. 

- Tsukihime is a very old visual novel and may be too dated for some tastes, but none the less it is my personal standard for visual novels. With a plethora of routes and a ton of choices, it is mechanically what I look for in a visual novel. It also helps that the story is great. 

- Higurashi/Umineko great mystery thrillers, but you better strap yourself in for these.... they are quite long. 

Edited by Soulless Watcher
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A starter pack of sorts, huh. I'd probably go with Forest (highly stylish mindfuckery), Symphonic Rain (surprisingly dense romance drama masquerading as something else), Hanachirasu (sword otaku lovefest in a dark world with a short revenge story), Rose Guns Days (highly emotional japanese sentimentalism in a mafia world) and I/O (science!) 

I don't think these are exactly the best titles out there necessarily (though I certainly don't think any of them are bad either), but over many years in the community I've more or less settled into recommending one of these when someone relatively new to the medium wants to find a style they can get really into or try something new.

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The recommendations above are universally solid, but nobody's mentioned the Steampunk series, so I'll throw that one out there.

I recommend Sekien no Inganock in particular. It's kind of the opposite of what Kaguya said about Symphonic Rain: lots of complexity and mystery and magic, but that all is hiding something that is, at its core, a very beautiful, simple, human story. Hold out your hand and give it a try.

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Okay, let's see what recommendations that I could came up with other than those above (Just like Fred said those were quite good). By the way, I'd already indirectly recommended both of Higurashi and Umineko in earlier thread (You could use new graphic patch if you dislike the old graphic).

11eyes - The routes were almost the same, so it's more in like with linear VN. It had actions and quite dark story in line with Fate and Persona 3

Kichikuou Rance - Old graphic, but the gameplay was interesting (Outdated compare to Sengoku Rance though, but still easy to grasp). And it had Rance as well just in case you interested with Rance VI and Sengoke Rance from Soulless Watcher recommendation

YU-NO - Same graphic problem as Kichikuou (Outdated), but it was praised for deliver some interesting story in regard of dimension travel ahead of the release time (1995). The high average VNDB score should make you interested enough to try.

Chaos Head - The MC maybe not your taste, but actually this VN was from same series as Steins Gate ie sci-fi. Also had some mind screw story and murder mystery

Tokyo Babel - The setting was at the purgatory, which of course was quite dark in the first place. Had many actions as well

Eien no Aselia and Seinarukana - Both was had other world story, and the former was quite dark compared to the latter. Also had some gameplay as well

The Shadows of Pygmalion - If you okay with some shoujo ai ie girl on girl romance, then it'll be good for you. Had less action compared to Tokyo Babel, but it was had some disturbing moment

That's all that I could think for now, and hope those recommendations will help you.

Edited by littleshogun
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If you got here then you're already pretty far into the abyss :meguface: seeing how everyone already gave you a lot of recommendations I'll just stick to my usual murder/mystery series, instead of repeating what others said above.

- Cartagra

- Kara no Shoujo

- Kara no Shoujo Ep 2

I hope you enjoy them if you do end up reading them.

 

Best of luck to you :sachi:

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Starter pack, hmmm? I like death game stuff and sci-fi for the most part, keep that in mind. Also omitting nukige (porn).

-The House In Fata Morgana: Fantasy, historic fiction. Absolutely incredible story. 30 hours long. Don't want to tell you much about it, but you wake up in a desolate mansion unaware of your identity and a Maid, who calls you Master, shows you around the rooms and slowly unravels the mansion's past. Best OST ever (my profile picture is from the game's soundtrack CD).

-Ever17, Remember11: These two VNs are continuations to Never7 (not directly) and they're both fan-fucking-tastic. They double down on the sci-fi, especially R11. By Zero Escape's writer, Uchikoshi.

-Umineko no Naku Koro Ni: Your go-to VN for a complex story, or a mystery, or any sort of drama or tragedy. Second best OST in the industry. Absolutely incredible in every way. Incredibly long (like, 150+ hours long.)

-YU-NO: This one's... unique. It's point-and-click mixed with the VN format, and the graphics might be weird but they are incredibly beautiful in my opinion. Was a PC-98 game. Time-travely stuff. Pervert protagonist, great characters, beautiful music.

Those are the first that come to mind and I'm missing many.

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11 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

The recommendations above are universally solid, but nobody's mentioned the Steampunk series, so I'll throw that one out there.

I recommend Sekien no Inganock in particular. It's kind of the opposite of what Kaguya said about Symphonic Rain: lots of complexity and mystery and magic, but that all is hiding something that is, at its core, a very beautiful, simple, human story. Hold out your hand and give it a try.

I second this ^ Inganock is pretty good! Saya no Uta is another popular and it's a must. Umineko seems nice too, but I never read it myself.

Now, if you want to try new things... I would like to recommend a otome, but you don't seem to like those kinda things (one I read had other things beside romance and was pretty funny, but the fights are far from epic, so nvm. I wanted so much to drag someone else in the otome hell where I stand). So, for my obscure recommendation, if you don't have anything against RPG Maker games that are as VN as Danganronpa (where you read things more than walk around), try 1bitHeart (it's pretty cute and have a vibe like the Social Links of Persona 3/4).

Edited by MaggieROBOT
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20 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

The recommendations above are universally solid, but nobody's mentioned the Steampunk series, so I'll throw that one out there.

I recommend Sekien no Inganock in particular. It's kind of the opposite of what Kaguya said about Symphonic Rain: lots of complexity and mystery and magic, but that all is hiding something that is, at its core, a very beautiful, simple, human story. Hold out your hand and give it a try.

You said the steampunk series. Is this Skien no Inganock a game in a series? Like are there prequels or sequels and what not, or is it a shared universe? I ask because when I dive into a game and if I end up enjoying it, I like to devour all content related to it.

 

Based on all these recommendations, I've been building a pretty big library tonight. Thank you all again very much. Already have 9 of these on my PC in a library, waiting for me to get to them.

 

Please by all means though, keep them coming if you think of any great ones you may have missed! The more the better!

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8 hours ago, MaggieROBOT said:

I second this ^ Inganock is pretty good! Saya no Uta is another popular and it's a must. Umineko seems nice too, but I never read it myself.

Now, if you want to try new things... I would like to recommend a otome, but you don't seem to like those kinda things (one I read had other things beside romance and was pretty funny, but the fights are far from epic, so nvm. I wanted so much to drag someone else in the otome hell where I stand). So, for my obscure recommendation, if you don't have anything against RPG Maker games that are as VN as Danganronpa (where you read things more than walk around), try 1bitHeart (it's pretty cute and have a vibe like the Social Links of Persona 3/4).

Mmmm while I appreciatee the suggestions, I took a peek at 1bitHeart, and it doesn't really seem like my cup of tea. I think I was into Danganronpa not so much for the  getting to know people and making friends, but the mystery and of course the classroom trials....

..

.....

......

........ *stares off into the distance, looking at a fully translated Danganronpa v3 that isn't there*

 

...... One day..

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18 minutes ago, mavsynchroid said:

You said the steampunk series. Is this Skien no Inganock a game in a series? Like are there prequels or sequels and what not, or is it a shared universe? I ask because when I dive into a game and if I end up enjoying it, I like to devour all content related to it.

Just a shared universe. Two of the games are translated: Inganock has a fan translation (and very clearly so if you're a picky reader...), but Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning has an official translation, and is available both on MangaGamer's site and on Steam (same, uncut version in both places). Gahkthun is pretty good, too, but not as great as Inganock.

Edit: Also, MangaGamer has licensed Sona-Nyl, supposedly the best game of the series, but that won't be out for a long time, since it seems they haven't actually started working on it yet.

Edited by Fred the Barber
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Just now, UnlimitedMoeWorks said:

Sorry if I'm very late to this thread. If you can, I recommend reading Chrono Clock. It's a very well-written romantic comedy with some dramatic curve balls at occasions, if you're into this kind of stuff.

Though a little heads up, one of the heroines is the main protagonist's sister. Yeah... You've been warned.

Heh heh, already have it in the library, good sir. :D

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