First visual novel you played + when did you read it + how you went about reading it

[Inorin 197]

My first visual novel was Gyakuten Saiban and started playing it in 2015. I got to know it simply because I was bored with constantly playing Pokemon on my Nintendo DS so I decided to try my hands on a new DS game. Initially, it was supposed to be a one-off thing but it escalated to me playing the sequels to it. Afterwards I played Danganronpa before moving on to Zero Escape and I've not looked back since.

Edited March 26, 2018 by wei123

[PiggiesGoMoo 24]

Technically my first was "Let's Meow Meow" (cringe) first back in 2000s, but that was because I was a horny 13 yr old rather than a legitimate VN fan.  I only really started reading in 2017, with Doki Doki as the first and Fata Morgana as the second.  Doki Doki is very short so I just read it in one day, but I actually thought it was just decent but not great.  But it was good enough to generate some VN interest in me to where I read Fata Morgana, which is my favorite VN so far.

Edited March 26, 2018 by PiggiesGoMoo

[MaggieROBOT 926]

F/SN in 2014. As for how I went for it, I explained it in this thread: 

 

[Plk_Lesiak 2319]

+ this topic:

I've binged most short games I've played back then in one or two sittings, the same happened to Analogue and RPG Shooter: Starwish. One exception is Sunrider, which I dropped shortly before finishing it after one mission frustrated me to no end.

[bakauchuujin 451]

My first VN was Nisekoi: Yomeiri!? , which is where my profile photo is from. I started getting into VNs because I figured that it would be a great way to improve my japanese and there were VNs based on anime that I liked. I do occationally read VNs in japanese though the ones based on anime are the only ones I have played so far. I also tried to read some nukige in japanese though my slow reading speed ruined the scenes so I will return to them once I have goten better. Most of what I have read and is currently reading is official english releases and while I plan on learning japanese I really like that so many VNs are getting official releases, since it makes it easier for me to get them (I like physical copies) as well as removal of mosaic censorship.

[Dreamysyu 1212]

Well, I already answered that question in the two threads mentioned above. My first "real" VN was Rewrite in 2013. I was a massive keyfag back then, and when I ran out of their anime to watch, I decided to read the VNs that didn't have adaptations back then. Though I entered this as my answer, technically it was only a second VN I read. The real first VN for me was very short, and it doesn't even have a vndb page.

[Kenshin_sama 1357]

Technically it was BlazBlue, but I didn't read the story at all on my initial play-through, and it wasn't until 2016 that I approached it as a VN. It was Summer 2012 that I experienced my first proper VN with Little Busters. What sparked my initial interest in the game was the news post on MAL announcing the anime adaption of the VN. As I was a bit of a Key fan at the time, the post had sparked my interest in the source material, and I decided to give the medium a try for the first time.

[VirginSmasher 985]

My first VN was Grisaia no Kajitsu in January of 2014, but I didn't get to any routes during my read. My first completed VN was Air in June of 2014.

[Ranzo 1026]

Like I said before, my first Visual Novel was Galaxy Angel which I played way back in 2009.

I wrote a review of it by the way (shameless self promotion)

 

[Suzu Fanatic 376]

Tokemi Check-in, waaaay back around '01 - '02. Was pretty good for what it was, in hindsight.

[borisjoker 6]

Majikoi, somewhere between 2014 and 2015. Was a very great experience

[ThornheartCat 2]

I got the first and third Ace Attorney games (JFA was sold out at my local GameStop, apparently) for Christmas 2007 and never looked back.

[Funyarinpa 1305]

Played 999, pirated, on a DS emulator on my laptop back in '15. 

Haven't been a normal person since  

[1P1A 163]

Likely Kara no Shoujo, 2011/2012. Played the MangaGamer trial.

[Clephas 3797]

I began with the original Tsukihime in 2008. 

[Sonicboom2.0 46]

My first Visual Novel I ever read was Little Busters! done by Key and Visual Arts, which was in 2012, To me it had a rich story with memorable characters. In my experience with LB!, I laughed and I cried when the VN came to a complete end. It was one of those VNs that made me wish it could go one forever. I'm currently replaying it on the Steam Version.

[Clephas 3797]

About the time I entered, you'll find that most people either started with Type-Moon or Key VNs... because those were the best translated ones at the time (in some ways, they still are).

[Benji Price 75]

Grisaia no kajitsu, which i found very entertaining. Back then i only consumed few anime series and manga and was always fond to reading books. So VNs gave me a format in which i could enjoy of a story with a level of detail similar to the books, with the aditional features of anime characters and humor.

 

[r0xm2n 231]

Started with Grisaia no Kajitsu around April/May last year. Half came for the hentai, but stayed for the awesome cast (especially ChiruChiru), the music, and the serious feels.

Have pretty much just binged VN's ever since....

[Orakana Newbie 39]

CLANNAD is my first Visual Novel. The reason I started play Visual Novel this Two years Because of that. I really enjoy it,  " wow,  besides Nagisa, I can get ending with different heroine ! " that's what I thinking at  the first time (LoL how innocent I am that days ) .

I love Original Works than adaptation in general. so I starting play Visual novel has same reason why I more prefer for read Manga and Light Novel. 

[wyldstrykr 68]

i wonder what year Others (Please specify) was made???

joking aside, EOSD of busy people without knowing it was a VN. good times

too laZy to know what year it is

Edited March 27, 2018 by wyldstrykr

[solidbatman 2110]

Was Ever17 i think. I read it with my eyes. 

[Trickay 35]

Well like PiggiesGoMoo I'm going to openly admit I entered the world of VNs via Gibo in 2004/05 when I went to University. I went through my fair share of 'dodgey' VNs always returning to Gibo amendment that I would make the right choices to have both the step sister and step mother, but alas I never did. I'm not so much ashamed but wish I hadn't spent quite so much time on Hongfire being corrupted all those years ago...

I would say I legitimately got back into VNs with Fate Stay Night after watching FSN Zero around 2012, the release of this series reignited the bashing of the old FSN Deen adaptation on ANIDB so I gave the VN a go, and I'm so glad I did! 

But my constant reading only really took of in 2016 when I finally got myself a Windows Tablet. Nothing better than reading on a sofa! 

[onorub 188]

2 hours ago, Clephas said:

About the time I entered, you'll find that most people either started with Type-Moon or Key VNs... because those were the best translated ones at the time (in some ways, they still are).

I remember that when i first glimpsed at the english VN community in 2008, the only popular stuff outside of those two companies was Kana Little Sister, Yumi Miru Kusuri and Ever17.

Edited March 27, 2018 by onorub

[chaironiichan 11]

Technically the first visual novels I've ever read were the Ace Attorney series (started with the third one cause I was a big baller), but I didn't know what visual novels were at the time.

My first "dating sim" would be some Naruto flash game where you play as Sakura. No idea it had H-scenes either.

And the real first "visual novel" would be, surprise surprise, Katawa Shoujo. Read it completely blind.