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Help me choose my next VN!


Thyndd

What should I play next?  

32 members have voted

  1. 1. What should I play next?

    • Umineko no naku koro ni
    • Subahibi
    • Dies Irae
    • Fate/Stay Night
    • Rewrite
    • Kara no Shoujo
    • None of them. You should read THIS, you noob (specify)


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Hey guys, you think you could lend me a hand here? I'm trying to find my next choice to read and you see, I'm willingly trying to push myself out of my confort zone little by little. I started in the medium with the drama and romance genre and pretty much all the key titles out there (except from Rewrite!) and I can confidently say that it's my favorite, but you know, it's always good to try new things and you never know what you might end up liking.

So with that said, what do you think would be a good candidate for me to try next? From that list, or if you have any suggestions of your own I'm all ears! 

I'll leave here my (kinda, somewhat, not really) updated vndb here. The scores are rather incidental. Since I haven't read a whole lot for the time being I get to be picky with what I choose :yumiko: So there's not really much point to me scoring anything, as pretty much everything I've read so far I ended up liking.

 

 

Edited by Thyndd
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I've read 4 of these, and... all of them are pretty great, so I can't really recommend any of them over the others, to be honest. I guess, just read whatever VN you are more interested in at the moment. I'll lay down my basic impression of them.

Umineko - starts as a relatively enjoyable mystery at first and turns into massive (but amazing) mindfuck later on. Basically, a postmodern reconstruction of the mystery genre. My personal most favorite VN of all time, but it's definitely not for everyone.

Subahibi - even more massive midfuck, but with h-scenes. One philosophical VN actually done right.

Fate - simply a nice action story with amazing characters. Probably, one VN that should actually be read by everyone, but you don't really have anything similar in your list, so I'm not sure if you're going to like it.

Rewrite - very nonuniform VN. It's basically a nakige, an utsuge and a chuunige in one VN, but, actually, most parts are done pretty well, so it's not a flaw. Plus, I'm a big fan of its true routes.

Dies - I've only read the prologue, but it has a great start. Another action-oriented VN.

Edit. I guess, I'll vote for Fate.

Edited by Dreamysyu
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7 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Umineko - starts as a relatively enjoyable mystery at first and turns into massive (but amazing) mindfuck later on. Basically, a postmodern reconstruction of the mystery genre. My personal most favorite VN of all time, but it's definitely not for everyone.

Subahibi - even more massive midfuck, but with h-scenes. One philosophical VN actually done right.

I'm all in for mindfucks so long as they got a message and not an empty shell. For example in anime, I hated the mindfuck in Evangelion but loved the mindfuck in Shinsekai Yori. So it really depends on which type of mindfuck we're dealing with. But yeah, that's the reason I included them on the list.

11 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Fate - simply a nice action story with amazing characters. Probably, one VN that should actually be read by everyone, but you don't really have anything similar in your list, so I'm not sure if you're going to like it.

Dies - I've only read the prologue, but it has a great start. Another action-oriented VN.

The two action choices. I've never really been a fan of action in literature so that's the reason I never got into it in VNs either. But as a matter of fact I quite enjoyed the action scenes in MuvLuv Alternative. So there's that :vanilla:

14 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Rewrite - very nonuniform VN. It's basically a nakige, an utsuge and a chuunige in one VN, but, actually, most parts are done pretty well, so it's not a flaw. Plus, I'm a big fan of its true routes.

I've heard that it's pretty different from all the other Key VNs (?) What I like the most about Key is their leitmotivs, why with dreams, memories, and a touch of slight metaphorical mindfuck... it makes for a great oniric experience. How do you see Rewrite in terms of that? 

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I voted for FSN, since as Dreamysyu said you don't have anything similar in your list, it'll do just fine if you want to try different things! ^.^

Rewrite seems good for you too, looking at your list. Subahibi seems like a way too drastic change of what you usually read, so I would vote against that unless you're prepared to go waaaaaaaay out of your confort zone.

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2 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

I'm all in for mindfucks so long as they got a message and not an empty shell. For example in anime, I hated the mindfuck in Evangelion but loved the mindfuck in Shinsekai Yori. So it really depends on which type of mindfuck we're dealing with. But yeah, that's the reason I included them on the list.

Well, I love Shinsekai Yori and I'm not a big fan of Evangelion, and I like both of these, so there's that. But, on the other hand, Subahibi is pretty similar to Evangelion, so it'll probably be safer to avoid it. As for Umineko, it's just its own thing. I can't really compare it to any other anime or VN I've read/watched.

6 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

The two action choices. I've never really been a fan of action in literature so that's the reason I never got into it in VNs either. But as a matter of fact I quite enjoyed the action scenes in MuvLuv Alternative. So there's that :vanilla:

I wouldn't use MLA as a reference, the way it handles action is very different. I don't thing it's possible to see if you are going to like this type of the VN before you try them.

9 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

I've heard that it's pretty different from all the other Key VNs (?) What I like the most about Key is their leitmotivs, why with dreams, memories, and a touch of slight metaphorical mindfuck... it makes for a great oniric experience. How do you see Rewrite in terms of that? 

Oh, yeah, it's very different from the other Key VNs. I wouldn't recommend even comparing it to them, because it's just different. It has a comedic common route which is pretty standard for Key VNs, but then goes a completely different way. For example, one route is a standard chuunige-like action, and another is more of the mystery-horror type of the story, and the third route is more about "politics". One great thing about this VN is its worldbuilding, but it also has quite a lot of plot-holes.

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26 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

I've heard that it's pretty different from all the other Key VNs

Very different from their other VNs like what Dreamysyu. The setting is a fantasy/supernatural one for starters. Also, the storyline is convoluted and a bit disjointed; the final 2 chapters leave you withmore questions than it answers (I also did not like the solution presented in 'terra' to the central problem in the VN)

Couple of other things you should take note of of Rewrite:

1) It is VERY long, especially the Terra arc. You should take note of this if you don't like reading wall of text

2) This is my personal peeve with the VN; There's an route with an unfinished ending (which is resolved in it's FD). I hated this kind of thing in VNs though and thought I should mention it in case you feel the same

 

Perhaps try something like Subahibi if you want something totally different than what you usually read. Seems to be a thought-provoking title like like Yume Miru Kusuri.

Personally, I voted for F/SN. Great chuunige title that every VN fan should read at least once8)

Edited by phantomJS
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I've only read Fate/Stay Night of the choices you linked, but really liked it. It's a very good VN (the music is a standout) and it'll be something you will be reading for quite a while. The nice thing too is the story is (IMO at least) pretty special in that it's the kind that makes you think and perhaps question yourself. Don't really want to say too much and venture into spoilers, but it kind of starts off slow and (for me at least) a bit confusing, but if you stick with it, it rewards that with a story that's hard to find (or replicate) elsewhere. You also mentioned having some reservations about the action, and I'd say the action is pretty well done in the VN. It doesn't feel slow or forced, and IMO it's done well enough to make it easy to visualize what's going on and be immersed in it. 

That's the other benefit - once you have read it, you can (assuming you enjoy it) go back and watch the adaptations done by Ufotable which are (quite frankly) gorgeous and quite well done (considering how they adapt the source material). I'm assuming you haven't read anything in the Fate universe, but finishing FS/N also opens up quite a lot of decent/good/really good anime seasons / light novels that you can dig into. It's kind of hard to talk about it without saying too much or giving things away, but IMO the story was definitely worth a read, and I'd say it's worth a recommendation to anyone who hasn't read it yet. 

I don't know enough to comment on any of the other choices, but it seems like you can't go wrong with any of them. Instead, I'll leave it at that - if you decide to read one of the others instead, then at some point do give FS/N a try. 

Edited by snowbell55
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Snow Sakura. I think people tend to recommend the same VNs over and over. Now I will recommend something, which I have not seen being recommended at all. I feel it's a bit lost to history, which is a shame because it's actually a good one.

The VN is about a guy whose parents goes overseas and he is sent to live with his uncle and his daughter (the cousin heroine). They live in a closed onsen hotel, meaning they have their own private onsen in the backyard. This naturally makes it a natural place to gather with all the friends (mixed gender). He is from a big city (Tokyo?) and the story takes place in rural Hokkaido.

It's a slice of life comedy about the city boy who end up living in the countryside and the locals behave weirdly, yet are very friendly. The comedy is good, appears often, yet it changes often and as such will never repeat itself and get old. The routes contain growing romance with the heroine of choice and then stuff happens and it turns into drama as well. The comedy is also present in all routes, though drama takes priority and comedy and drama will not mix, which would otherwise have killed the drama mood.

 

A bit of background info, which is not really explained in the VN:

Hokkaido is the middle of nowhere by Japanese standards and it's lightly populated, not just by Japanese standard, but in general. All countries in EU have higher population density. It's also in the bottom half when compared to US state population densities. In other words it is extremely rural in an otherwise densely populated country like Japan.

It makes a big fuss out of pointing out they commute to school by train and that it is a really weird train because it runs on diesel. This seems odd as most of the world is familiar with diesel trains. However early electric trains were used in mountains because they were much better than steam at hill climbing and they didn't smoke in the tunnels. Japan being all mountain switched to electric extremely early and since diesels had problems climbing hills early on as well, electric got a more than 50 year head start and absolutely dominated when diesel finally arrived. As a result diesel has never been anything but extremely niche in Japan and most Japanese have never even seen a diesel train. Hokkaido however never electrified and is the only place in Japan with diesel on main lines.

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4 hours ago, Thyndd said:

The two action choices. I've never really been a fan of action in literature so that's the reason I never got into it in VNs either. But as a matter of fact I quite enjoyed the action scenes in MuvLuv Alternative. So there's that :vanilla:

Fate is worth it just for the Tiger Dojo! If you hop onto Beasts Lair (no links so hope I'll get away with this) Jacktheinfinate101 and co have made the ultimate FSN package putting the new Real Nua stuff into the original and using Resolve/Mirror Moons TL. I've not read this version myself but it looks to be quite epic! Do it for Tohsaka, she is justice! :wahaha:

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Well, so it seems Fate/Stay night won :sachi: So be it. I'll eventually read all of them anyway, so it's just a matter of what to pick as gateway to a new, unfamiliar genre for me.

Thank you all for your suggestions, I really appreciate them and will keep them in mind for the future.

 

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19 hours ago, wei123 said:

You haven't read FSN? What have you been doing with your life; go read it now! :reeee:

Edit: You should probably read Dies Irae after FSN since they are both quite similar.

I've been reading the Muv Luv trilogy. That took a while :makina:

13 hours ago, -soraa said:

Sakura is waiting for you! You have to read Fate/stay night. 

Yep yep, I'm already a few hours in. I completed the prologue and now I should be in what I guess is the fate route, according to the walkthrough?

It's getting really interesting already, but god Shirou is so freaking annoying. And people complain about Takeru from MLA? This is infinitely worse!

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22 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

Yep yep, I'm already a few hours in. I completed the prologue and now I should be in what I guess is the fate route, according to the walkthrough?

It's getting really interesting already, but god Shirou is so freaking annoying. And people complain about Takeru from MLA? This is infinitely worse!

Don't worry; Shirou becomes much better in Heavens Feel. I initially hated Shirou too (like how I did for pre-CHOMP Takeru) but he soon became one of most favourite vn protagonists by the end of Heaven's Feel. The character development for Shirou is somewhat similar to that of Takeru, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it :) (but not before raging over stupid decisions that Shirou makes).

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4 hours ago, wei123 said:

Don't worry; Shirou becomes much better in Heavens Feel. I initially hated Shirou too (like how I did for pre-CHOMP Takeru) but he soon became one of most favourite vn protagonists by the end of Heaven's Feel. The character development for Shirou is somewhat similar to that of Takeru, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it :) (but not before raging over stupid decisions that Shirou makes).

Well, to be honest I never really hated Takeru. He took many wrong decisions along the way and behaved in an annoying fashion as a consequence of his naivity and overall inexperience, but that was just to be expected from a good writing. I actually felt rather sorry for him most of the times. I always try to make the effort to be as sympathetic as I can toward the characters, trying to understand their situation. But Shirou is really getting on my nerves with his plainly dumb personality and sexism to top it off. Well, I'll take your word that there's solid character development incoming :sachi:

Edited by Thyndd
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On 22/4/2018 at 5:32 AM, Thyndd said:

Well, so it seems Fate/Stay night won :sachi: So be it. I'll eventually read all of them anyway, so it's just a matter of what to pick as gateway to a new, unfamiliar genre for me.

Does this include everything on your list or everything mentioned in this thread. In other words did my description of Snow Sakura actually manage to get you interested in a 14 year old VN?

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2 hours ago, tymmur said:

Does this include everything on your list or everything mentioned in this thread. In other words did my description of Snow Sakura actually manage to get you interested in a 14 year old VN?

I did note it down. I can't say I'm particularly interested reading the sinopsis, but if that were my only criteria for deciding whether I read or not a VN I would've missed a lot of true gems. I learnt that the hard way. I will check it out, make no mistake, and thank you very much for the recomendation.

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16 hours ago, Thyndd said:

But Shirou is really getting on my nerves with his plainly dumb personality and sexism to top it off. Well, I'll take your word that there's solid character development incoming :sachi:

I'd say, give him a chance. The reason why he acts this way becomes way more apparent in the later routes, and he does get developed later on. Well, to be frank, I can't really say I ever became a big fan of his character, but nevertheless it didn't stop me from enjoying the game.

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4 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

I'd say, give him a chance. The reason why he acts this way becomes way more apparent in the later routes, and he does get developed later on. Well, to be frank, I can't really say I ever became a big fan of his character, but nevertheless it didn't stop me from enjoying the game.

Spoiler

866ca4d2a071991a2d15f51da3949173.png

I try so hard man, but he's freaking me out :notlikemiya:

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