My top five visual novels for 2018 that I read.

[Happiness+ 89]

So, forgive me for making a post like this: But I have the sudden urge to tell everyone how much otaku shit I’ve done in 2018.

Without further ado, let’s get started with this.

I’ve only read six visual novels this whole year. Which is a lot for me. DDLC kinda rivitalized my interest in VNs again. It’s what led to me making a that reddit post. The controversy that led me to here on Fuwanovel to begin with.

So, here are my top five visual novels for 2018 that I read.

1. Subahibi 

Why? It’s pretty damn obviously why this takes the top spot. I was skeptical about it being a God Teir Visual Novel, but it magically exceeded my expectations and changed me a bit. Before reading it, I was on a anti philosophy binge. Because I felt as though, that science ended philosophical thought. That was when I kept reading the words of Wittgenstein over and over again. I am no means a logical positivist, yet just like how Evangelion got me into learning about philosophy eight summers ago, I found appreciation in learning about how to live happily. I can go on and on. Yet, everyone here knows why this VN is a masterpiece.

2. Kara No Shoujo 1

This VN feels kinda underrated to me, because I hear a lot about Subahibi and Saya No Uta as wonderful medium defining visual novels. However, KnS1 is actually scary a little bit. The mystery was really fun. I really enjoyed binge reading this VN and losing my mind trying to solve it. 

3. Saya No Uta

This VN is not scary. Disturbing, not scary. Hell, even the disturbing stuff was meh to me. After seeing blood and guts plastered everywhere for about an hour, you get used to it. However, what I love about this VN is that it’s a lovecraftian love story. It’s not really that long either. I can recommend to some of my friends and family who don’t mind this kind of disturbing stuff. You can finish all of it in five hours which is super lovely. The reason why it does not top because competition is fierce up there, plus it’s not that scary which is why I started reading it in the first place. It’s hard to be scared of Saya when you keep finding her so kawaii. 

4. Phenomeno

Damn. Everything about this VN is spot on. The music. The sounds. The effects. So damn atmospheric. I read this with a friend and they were spooked because they actually are afraid of ghosts. LOL. I don’t usually like NVL but this VN made me enjoy it. It uses the power of the VN to tell such a hauntingly good narrative. I am sad that it’s only the prologue to the actual book series. This is a great VN to read with a friend because it’s really short. Like less than 2 hours long. And it uses that length to it’s advantage quality over quantity. DAAAAMMMNNN this was so good. I would pay AAA game money for a sequel even if I like finish it in like a few hours. 

 

5. Kara No Shoujo 2

Personally. This VN is more comedic and light hearted than KnS 1. Why? Well, it’s hard to discuss without getting into details. The first VN felt depressing with it’s themes of obsession and lost. It made me feel horrible for a lot of things. Meanwhile in KnS2, I was laughing my ass off for a decent portion of it. Plus the murderer was so obvious to figure out. Like, by the second victim I knew who it was thanks to the flashback you get in the prologue of the VN. Plus the religious organization did not get that much explanation. Plus, the main girl Yukiko, cannot replace the main girl from the previous VN, Toko. Yukiko is so boring. She’s shy. But when she opens up. We don’t get that much into her character. Every time she would be on screen, I would be like, “okay, she’s going to say something cool or do something interesting.” And then I would be disappointed. The main girl from the Previous game can easily steal a scene. She basically made KnS. Her humor, wit, and charm is replaced with some mopey indecisive teenage girl. Like, we don’t get into her backstory. Who’s her biological parents? Why she’s so important to the religious organization. It’s really weird.

 

2019. I will read a yuri. Thanks for reading my post. 

[r0xm2n 171]

Top 5 that I read (in no particular order).

 

* Fureraba. It's plot is simple, but the various skits and comedy made this a fun read! I got so into it I was even voice acting the protag out loud (which is a habit I've seemingly kept).

* Muv-Luv & Muv-Luv Alternative. Is it cheating to include both of them in the same spot? I certainly loved the characters in Muv-Luv, and listening to it's music makes me nostalgic. Alternative ...... was a ride and a half (and "certain" scenes certainly shocked me big time).

* ef - a fairy tale of the two. Good grief did the latter tale do a serious number on me emotionally!! Some of it's themes were even darker then Grisaia (which is saying a LOT).

* Sorcery Jokers. Another action packed ride.

* Princess Evangile. Again, I liked the cast. It also has some of the best hentai CG's I've seen (especially when it's Ayaka!).

 

2019, looking forward to Aokana and Lumunation. I'll read the Princess Evangile fandisk at some point too.

[kokoro 63]

No Sanoba?

Bad list.

[Larxe1 15]

Actually just started reading japanese visual novels this year and coincidentally had a lot of free time so I read a ton. 

(No particular order)

White Album 2 - A heart-wrenching experience. Nothing beats this game in my eyes (as far as I played). I finished it in a week playing it in every free time I had. Setsuna > Kazusa

Making Lovers - Sometimes you want a light-hearted read and this is pretty much it. It does what it tries to do perfectly and knows what it is. Cute, funny and attractive heroines make up the game.

Kimi no Nagori wa Shizuka ni Yurete - This is actually a spin-off from Flyable Heart the main game which I didn't play. I know it's weird but the game can be standalone and understandable. Aside from the bumpy start, once it starts going it really starts going. Probably one of the most fucked up families I read.

Sanoba Witch - I actually liked Meguru at the start but considering Nene had most of the focus I went for her route aaaand I couldn't play Meguru knowing I'm abandoning Nene which I loved after playing her route.

Onigokko - I won't praise the story since it's pretty basic but the characters specifically Akari which is probably the only heroine I cared for was one of the most memorable characters for me since she fit the bill as a perfect heroine for me. 

Confused whether to put ChuSinGura here since I haven't finished it yet but have been playing it since December and it doesn't disappoint. Would probably put it in my top 5 if I have finished it.

Edited January 2 by Larxe1

[NowItsAngeTime 246]

The only 5 Visual Novels in 2018 I read

• Dies Irae - Honestly I found it kinda overrated. It had some cool/interesting characters and setting and powers. But I hated the long winded-ness of the 'prose'. These villains dont need to speak dramatic metaphorical essays for me to understand the point. Also the romance (outside Kei's route) sucked, Ren was a meh protag, and it kinda suffered from the too many characters not getting enough development. Honestly Shirou might have been my favorite character just because he didn't give a crap about the plot and just did what he wanted and looked badass doing it.
• Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road - I've seen mixed reception of this VN but I personally consider it a solid spiritual sequel to MajiKoi. Pretty funny comedy and I liked the fun delinquet girl setting. Routes were a bit inconsistent. Ai was clearly the 'canon' heroineand her relationship and personality was overall the best but Hiroshi became a little too forceful of what he wanted his GF to be without any balance on his side for my liking. Maki was alright but a little too forceful and kinda forcing Hiroshi to do what she wanted while also guilt tripping you for not picking Ai. Renna in theory was the best since it was the most about accepting the actual delinquet side but I liked her the least of the main 3 personality-wise. Also Ayumi is best girl she needs a route
• Root Double - Pretty good. A nice spiritual sequel to the Infinity series (I don't like I/O very much). Had cool plot twists and interesting developed characters like any Infinity series VN. It was missing something t make it really stand out as a favorite (E17 and R11 are in my top favs) maybe it was none of the characters stuck out too much or the plot twists im comparing too much to Infinity seires but I overall still like it
• Fureraba - I actually expected to think this Vn was meh but it was pretty decent. Very moege but it got to teh point very quickly, the main protag was actually kinda funny in how dumb he acted. Every heroine turned out fairly likable (though I thought Himari was a little meh/disappointing/boring which is odd since I usually like childhood friends winning). I think it got a little too formulaic where the progression of routes was almost exactly the same in each but the interaction was likable enough that I didnt mind much
• Dracu-Riot - This had all the makings of a great VN for me. Great comedy (sometimes), interesting setting and plot, some fairly likable characters (Elina is bae), and decent enough character development and pacing. Some things I REALLY didnt like bring it down. Mostly some of the humor later on (The MC got bashed on by the girls WAY too much when he didnt deserve and I hated the doctor character from the beginning) to the point where it killed some actually pretty good romantic development for me, especially in Miu's route who I thought was a decent character up to that point. If it weren't for that (and maybe some little things like the 'secret' route being kinda dumb but thankfully short) I would have given this at least a 8. Sadly I only gave it a 6 and am scared to try out other Yuzusoft VNs now since this was apparently the most liked one before Sanoba came out.

[Canicheslayer 150]

My top 5 (read or/and finished in 2018) :

5 - Himawari -The Sunflower- : If you ignore the plot holes problem, you have a fantactic Sci-Fi/mystery VN (in my opinion, much better than Island) with endearing characters (except the protagonist, maybe).

4 - Will: A Wonderful World : A Surprising (chinese) epistolary Visual Novel. Mature, smart and, sometimes, disturbing.

3 - Grisaia no Meikyuu : Just because the part about Yuuji's Past is absolutely awesome 

2 - Little Busters: English Edition : The Secret of the World And Kyousuke is so cool and charismatic !

1 - 428 Shibuya Scramble : Mesmerising Flowchart, unforgettable characters (quality and quantity), good story (suspense, absurd/silly humor and a drop of love ), interesting Post-game content...Yes, you have my VN of the year.

[VirginSmasher 936]

Here are my top 5 VNs I read this year. It's a mix of English and JP releases because I started reading in JP starting in August.

1. Dies Irae - possibly the best chuunige I'll ever read (until maybe Muramasa or KKK). Epic battles that manage to be over-the-top and investing as hell at the same time, a great cast of characters, beautiful writing, and have I mentioned the battles yet, because they're amazing. Overall the best game I've read this year.

2. Chaos;Child - easily one of the most gripping reads I've experienced in a long time. An intriguing mystery filled with so many mind-boggling twists and turns, a good cast, entertaining humour, and a weird, but interesting route setup.

3. Kusarihime Euthanasia - a fantastic mystery VN from Liarsoft and easily their best title I've read so far. Simple, but brilliant writing, a good cast of characters (especially Kurame), a setting that has an oppressive atmosphere to it, great twists, and ridiculously engaging final chapters that'll confuse and entertain at the same time.

4. Himawari Aqua After - the fandisc to my favourite VN of all time and it continues the original story brilliantly. The cast is as funny and play off each other just as well as the original, the themes it explores are relatable and provide for very emotional moments, and the ending...well, it made me cry for the first time in a VN since the original Himawari. Would be higher if the first part were more developed, but it was still quite good.

5. Hotel - a really good Sol-drama set in a Hotel throughout its entire runtime. The second best new cast of characters I came across this year, all with relatable issues and interesting backstories, great drama that had me at the edge of my seat, a ladder structure that works with the pacing of the VN, an emotional ending. Definitely the best underrated VN I read this year.
 

Honorable mentions

• Fata Morgana FD
• Sorcery Jokers
• Grisaia no Rakuen
• Soundless
• UmiKara
• I/O
• Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana

[MaggieROBOT 800]

somehow I read 33 VNs in 2018  nevermind that most of them were really short

As for my five favorite, in no particular order:

• Kikokugai -The Cyber Slayer- (read in February): Currently sitting as my second favorite VN, I would never guess I would like this one this much. Regardless of weird martial arts shenanigans, Taoluo's journey of revenge had me glued to my computer until the very end. What a good MC he was. And protecc little robot Ruili.
• Rinjin -Neighbor- (read in November): I wanted to read this for halloween but oh well. I love the whole haunted house type of plot, but Phenomeno was really underwhelming and forgetable. This one have a way more likable cast and it have an old game aesthetic (monochromatic, no sprites, little screen shakes for the spooky parts) that made me really love it overall, even if it's not particularly innovative.
• Soundless (read in May): A lot of people were recommending this one and boy I'm glad I read it. What a ride. A must for denpa fans. And yes, the art grows on you.
• Tsukihime (finished in December): Maaan, it's already 4 years since I read Fate so I really wanted more Nasu. Of course, since Tsukihime is older is a lot more unpolished than Fate, but it was a cool read regardless. I really liked Akiha's route, but Hisui is my best girl.
• Nie no Machi (only read 2 out of 4 routes as of today): 85% of japanese BL VNs are plot oriented rather than character oriented. Which is fine, since I really prefer plot driven stories anyway. Or that was what I thought. This game's interactions between the characters are really good and the cast is so charismatic and cool, I really wish to find more BL character oriented VNs. There's also a bit of plot and romance in here as well and everything blends really well. Surely hoping the other half is also good www

[KaveAhangar 1]

2018 was my year first reading in Japanese, so this is all going to be untranslated stuff.

 

1. Baldr Sky: One of the best cyberpunk stories I’ve seen in any medium. The gameplay was amazing as well.

2. Evolimit: Top-tier sci-fi Chuunige with some very interesting world building, nice action and a great cast of characters.

3. Chusingura 46+1: Our protagonist gets isekaid into the Edo-Era and joins the genderbent 47 Ronin. Despite the somewhat ridiculous sounding premise, this was actually a really enjoyable and highly emotional game.

4. Vermilion Bind of Blood: Vampire Chuunige by Light with a great protagonist and cast overall.

5. Aiyoku no Eustia: Solid dark fantasy VN with a nice setting and a another pretty cool protagonist.

 

Honorable mentions:

Miburo (Chusingura sequel about the Shinsengumi)

Dies Irae: Interview with Kaziklu Bey (Fandisc to the original Dies Irae, focusing on Wilhelm)

[Kenshin_sama 1,219]

I haven't finished any of the VNs I started this year.

I am a good ways into Symphonic Rain though, and I would say it's definitely at the top my list. From what I've read so far, this VN is surprisingly depressing for a nakige. It definitely distinguishes itself from standard-fare nakige in terms of character direction, but it ultimately delivers the tear-jerking experience I cherish so much in this genre. Oh and this is just from finishing one route. I haven't even gotten to Al Fine, which seems to be the most popular.

[Dreamysyu 815]

I played about 15 VNs this year and finished 9, which is actually quite a lot for me. At the same time, none of the VNs I finished this year are that long. Overall, this year I regained some of my original interest for VNs, which I was slowly losing ever since I finished MLA in 2015.

Though they probably deserve to be somewhere in this list, I'm omitting Dies Irae and Seabed since I didn't get that far into these VNs, and there's a good chance that my impression will change later on.

1. Fata Morgana - Requiem for Innocence. Even being a fandisk, this one clearly became my number one, without any real competition. It's not only a nice addition to the original story, but also a very good story in itself that will work perfectly well on its own.

2. Aselia the Eternal. I'm reading this right now, and I've only finished one route so far, but this game is pretty linear, so I think the other parts of the game will be the same. Well, I didn't really expect much from the game when I just started it, but overall this was a nice surprise. Well, I know that this game isn't perfect. There are a lot of very noticeable plot holes, and they definitely could structure the story a lot better. At the same time, the combination of interesting characters, nice ideas, and engaging gameplay makes the experience worth it.

2.5. I guess, Seabed should be here.

3. Chuusotsu. A cute short story that tries to touch some really important themes about an individual's place in society.

4. The Labirinth of Grisaia. The after stories are mostly forgettable, but Yuuji's backstory makes a pretty nice read.

5. Cinderella Phenomenon. Not the best story I've ever read, but still pretty nice.

As for the biggest disappointments this year, this title will go to Phenomeno and Grisaia no Rakuen.

[alpacaman 47]

2018 was the year I really started reading VNs on a regular basis, and it also happened to be a year where I had a lot of time to kill, so I finished about 18 of them (including several long titles), and started a few without finishing them. So my list obviously contains well known ones since so far I mostly read those.

 

1. Umineko. I don't even know where to begin with this one. Both parts are only sitting at a 9.5 on my vndb list because each one suffers from some minor flaws, but as a whole it's closer to a 10.5. Also gave us Goat-kun and Erika wearing a pirate hat.

2. Steins;Gate. Great in every aspect. It's a shame they had to cut 4°C for the anime adaptation.

3. Muv Luv Alternative. Has the highest quantity of "holy sh*t"-moments ever. And Meiya.

4. Clannad. I love Clannad despite thinking it isn't that good. Has several mediocre routes and heavy pacing issues, but it still got me on a personal level in a way I didn't expect, mostly because I just love 90% of the characters.

5. The House In Fata Morgana. Soo much pain and suffering.

 

As for honourable mentions, I'd pick VA-11 HALL-A and fault Milestone 2 (side: above).

[littleshogun 1,159]

On 1/1/2019 at 9:28 AM, Happiness+ said:

5. Kara No Shoujo 2

Personally. This VN is more comedic and light hearted than KnS 1. Why? Well, it’s hard to discuss without getting into details. The first VN felt depressing with it’s themes of obsession and lost. It made me feel horrible for a lot of things. Meanwhile in KnS2, I was laughing my ass off for a decent portion of it. Plus the murderer was so obvious to figure out. Like, by the second victim I knew who it was thanks to the flashback you get in the prologue of the VN. Plus the religious organization did not get that much explanation. Plus, the main girl Yukiko, cannot replace the main girl from the previous VN, Toko. Yukiko is so boring. She’s shy. But when she opens up. We don’t get that much into her character. Every time she would be on screen, I would be like, “okay, she’s going to say something cool or do something interesting.” And then I would be disappointed. The main girl from the Previous game can easily steal a scene. She basically made KnS. Her humor, wit, and charm is replaced with some mopey indecisive teenage girl. Like, we don’t get into her backstory. Who’s her biological parents? Why she’s so important to the religious organization. It’s really weird.

While I understand that you'd disappointed by this, I'd find that it's quite tasteless if you said that you laugh at Kara no Shoujo 2 there as if you would say that the VN is so god awful that we better laugh at it instead of took it seriously (I'm sorry if you didn't think like that, but that's what I got from your wording here). While I understand that you find it quite lacking, perhaps we can say that it's because Innocent Grey here was intent to finished all of those hanging plot thread in the last part of the trilogy (Not a wise move admittely to make Kara no Shoujo as trilogy considering that the first part was already resolved the fate of main girl, but the company need to sell the game). Also as for Yukiko, I would say that she's more likely just the decoy main girl there, and as for the main girl of the Kara no Shoujo 2 it should be Satsuki for a lot of reason that I can't say here (Just watch the second opening and you should know why) although if you still dislike Satsuki as the main girl then it's okay.

As for the topic, well I only finished six VNs and did try a lot of other VNs. So let me chose which five VNs that I finished below in no particular order.

1. Hatsukoi Sankaime - The first Indonesian language VN that I'd read, and both of Himeka and Misaki endings were satisfying enough to me. Although I did admit that there's some down though, namely that the best friend character were kind of bland and Sui's route didn't quite interesting to me.

2. Subahibi - I'm quite satisfied with the ending here, although admittedly there's some confusing things were happened behind the story. Also while I can follow the story well, I didn't like of how the writer resort to some questionable plot device in order to move the story. Oh and don't forget the mismatching time setting there, in which while it looks minor it could mean that there's some messed up coordination (Which may be the case if we took what one of the character did say as the author did express his situation).

3. Seabed - While the first half is quite slow, the second half is quite going fast. Also it's interestimg to see that we have 28 yo woman as the MC, and that the story did show some different PoV. As for the content, there's a lot of psychology talk so it should be interesting if you like that.

4. Sono Hanabira 11 - Other than Mai did have least development, I did like the crossover of Sono Hanabira here. I'm satisfied with all of the girls development here, and that the OG couple (Risa x Miya) is well developed enough with some conflict and drama. Also I did find Rena here is quite helpful as the teacher, where my first impression here is that she'll be a playgirl one lol.

5. Fureraba - I did like the opening, and that Yuzuyu here is very cute at her route. Himahima is quite different though compared to other childhood friend character, and it's quite a waste that we can't see of how surprised Tomomi would be when she find out that Himahima is Kyousuke's (The MC) childhood friend. Also good job for Nekonyan there as this is their first release.

I guess that's all for the VN that I'd read back at 2018, and here's hoping for more interesting VN at 2019.

Edited January 10 by littleshogun

[Plk_Lesiak 1,374]

Damn, I'm late to this party, but I think I'll participate anyways for my own amusement (I'll also cheat and make a 6-position list, because I didn't want to exclude any of these after I've checked my VNDB). This was a funny year, because it actually ended up being way more EVN-centric than I've ever expected, partially because I was just too immersed and busy with playing with the blog to do much stuff that wasn't directly related to it. The only Japanese VNs I've read were probably Hatoful Boyfriend, euphoria and the all-ages version of The Bell Chimes for Gold. I've even didn't get to reading the second episode of Flowers, which would quite likely be the number one on the list if I got to it

1. Cupid - one of the most unusual VNs I've read to date, both them it goes to aesthetic and story. The choice system in it was especially unique, with the player being a voice in protagonist's head rather than controlling her directly. It's dark and gritty from the very beginning, but doesn't overdo gore or sex, or use them without purpose. It's pretty much as good as it gets when it goes to (genuine) horror VNs, maybe even beyonfd just the EVN niche.
2. Sable's grimoire - so, you can use monster girls for something other than porn? Sable's Grimoire even frustrated me a bit with how much it avoided proper romance, but offered an awesome modern-fantasy setting, wildly different routes centred around non-human heroines and just tons of creativity and charm. It's also very unusual in how little it caters to reader's expectations, really trying to tell it's own story, no matter how niche and commercially unviable it will end up being. Huge respect for Zetsubou for making it like this.
3. SoulSet - a mystery plot with permanent progression system, rewarding you for exploring both good and bad endings. A strong, morally ambiguous female lead. An interesting set of male and female love interests, with choice of both romantic and frienship endings for all of them. Those are some of the ingredients of what might be the most satisfying multi-route mystery VN I've read to date. The small budget makes itself visible from time to time, but overall, this game is a well-put-together, unique and extremely fun experience.
4. Highway Blossoms - a list of mine could not go without a straigh-up yuri romance, although strangely enough, I haven't read one that would truly charm me last year. Highway Blossoms came close enough to make it on the list though, with its design, awesome setting and really likeable characters. It is an all-around excellent game and the additions of the Remastered version only make it better. It still, for me, lacked that spark of genius to make it something one-of-a-kind, but is simply way too good as what it does to not be included here.
5. Hatoful Boyfriend & HB: Holiday Star - many people are fed up with this kind of parody/"meme" VNs, but Hatoful Boyfriend is simply a masterclass in this category. The way it was able to create a completely absurd setting, and attack to it a story that make you gradually forget about the obvious nonesense of it all is just amazing... It's funny and memorable in dozens of ways and the fandisk only continue on this trend. Also featuring the best otome protragonist who's a hunter-gatherer living in a cave.
6. Lynne - a very short, but incredibly effective psychological horror by ebi-hime. I'm not sure if I was ever this disturbed by a story without supernatural elements. It might've been partially because I've seen slight parallels between protagonist's story and my own childhood, but above all, Lynne excels at building up the asphyxiating atmosphere, which only gets more and more unbearable while the stress meter goes up. Minimalistic production makes it possibly even better, with every image and sound used having that much more impact - quite an awesome experience.

Maybe I will be able to include a few more Japanese titles in my reading schedule this year, especially some short classics such as Eden* or Planetarian. Although my absolute priority still goes for Flowers: Ete, it's just not a game I would want to approach witohut proper mood and proper amounts of free time...

Edited January 6 by Plk_Lesiak

[EntireInternet 6]

1. Steins;Gate - Easily my favorite and most gripping visual novel I've read. It's got problems with pacing early and sort of breaks down into a sort of psuedo-dating each waifu part in the second half, but as a narrative ignoring the alternative endings this is hands down my favorite. I read this every year, this year I did it with my best friend each of us voicing different characters to each other.

Everything else isn't really in any particular order.

2. Steins;Gate 0 - This is next just because my top is Steins;Gate. It vastly improves on the original due to the fact time travel isn't as prevalent early on, allowing for more detailed character growth and development. Further I think it made a step in the right direction narrative taking away the narrative reigns from Okabe to see other characters perspectives first hand. Also the alternative endings were not simply waifu endings but served actual character development and stand alone narratives. In a lot of ways I like this better than the original, but the original is the original so I gotta <3. Also there's like 95% less Kurisu in this. I reread this one with the anime that came out, though the anime was disappointing.

3. Maji de Watashi ni Koi - Honestly, as dumb as this visual novel felt to read it was really dumb fun. It's like a guilty pleasure visual novel for me but not entirely, because it had good points that I think make liking it more justifiable than liking some other things. Though I didn't reread all the routes its still always there for me.

4. Clannad - What can be said that hasn't already been? I didn't really read every character's route but Misae's backstory and the After Story both gripped me all the way through. Having lost my mother when I was too young to remember her (not right at birth) I could really relate with the struggle of the end of the story. Fortunately my Dad didn't become a deadbeat and raised me well I think. I reread the main story line this year, skipped all the side routes.

5. White Album 2 Introductory Chapter - I know this gets shit on a lot for the poor translation, but when I read it, it honestly was completely fine in my mind. The story and the characters and their relationships were all great, I think this is the perfect example for how to make a well grounded story that is also very emotional. I often find some deaths in visual novels are there just to force feelings rather than to help characters grow and develop, so I wish more would take an example from this and cut cheap deaths and just naturally get the feels out of the reader. I reread this one every winter now.

Edited January 6 by EntireInternet
Addition

[adamstan 204]

Actually most of my reading was done in 2018 so far, but I cannot pick top 5 Too hard to decide, and scores don't reflect everything...

[Canicheslayer 150]

On 01/01/2019 at 11:40 AM, Canicheslayer said:

My top 5 (read or/and finished in 2018) :

5 - Himawari -The Sunflower- : If you ignore the plot holes problem, you have a fantactic Sci-Fi/mystery VN (in my opinion, much better than Island) with endearing characters (except the protagonist, maybe).

4 - Will: A Wonderful World : A Surprising (chinese) epistolary Visual Novel. Mature, smart and, sometimes, disturbing.

3 - Grisaia no Meikyuu : Just because the part about Yuuji's Past is absolutely awesome 

2 - Little Busters: English Edition : The Secret of the World And Kyousuke is so cool and charismatic !

1 - 428 Shibuya Scramble : Mesmerising Flowchart, unforgettable characters (quality and quantity), good story (suspense, absurd/silly humor and a drop of love ), interesting Post-game content...Yes, you have my VN of the year.

* I forgot my stats...

Finished VNs : 31 (many of these Visual Novels were very short)

All-Ages : 14 - Questionable : 3 - Adult : 14

J-VN  : 29 - Chinese VN : 1 - Korean VN : 1 - OEVLN : 0

* ...and my honorable mentions (ratings = or > 8/10).

Grisaia no Rakuen ; Grisaia: Phantom Trigger vol.3 ; Fureraba ~Friend to Lover~ ; Chuusotsu! 1st graduation ; Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road ; Mystic Messenger ; Cho Dengeki Stryker ; fault - milestone two side:above

 

[Happiness+ 89]

On 1/5/2019 at 4:55 AM, littleshogun said:

While I understand that you'd disappointed by this, I'd find that it's quite tasteless if you said that you laugh at Kara no Shoujo 2 there as if you would say that the VN is so god awful that we better laugh at it instead of took it seriously (I'm sorry if you didn't think like that, but that's what I got from your wording here). While I understand that you find it quite lacking, perhaps we can say that it's because Innocent Grey here was intent to finished all of those hanging plot thread in the last part of the trilogy (Not a wise move admittely to make Kara no Shoujo as trilogy considering that the first part was already resolved the fate of main girl, but the company need to sell the game). Also as for Yukiko, I would say that she's more likely just the decoy main girl there, and as for the main girl of the Kara no Shoujo 2 it should be Satsuki for a lot of reason that I can't say here (Just watch the second opening and you should know why) although if you still dislike Satsuki as the main girl then it's okay.

I am actually glad someone talked about this: I actually enjoy the comedic parts. That wasn’t a diss against it. My main gripes with it were...

 

Spoiler

 

A. The heroine: Ehhh... Satsuki isn’t even compelling either. Look she was locked up in her room like a literal damsel in distress and when she finally got out. She ended up fucking old dude. Who was the main source of the comedy of the VN for being such a “dolt”. Even her relationship with her twin sister wasn’t explored even further. Saya was a more fun character given the fact, she’s creepy AF......and sexy. I will give you this Yukari is now waifu material. Also, Fuyumi was the second funniest character in the VN. She’s always talking shit about MC, saying he’s a gigolo. Her expressions really made the VN more enjoyable. It felt like watching a marvel movie. Because, there were some self-aware moments in the VN that created a bunch of character humor. Such as, when one of the village girls comes by to pick Ayato and everyone sighs. Aoki sighed. MC sighed, and Yaginuma Ryouichi sighed as well. That was the moment when I was almost in tears laughing out loud. Damn. The first VN had me on the edge my seat for a moment. Now, I am literally laughing out loud. To return back to my point, there’s no good heroine protagonist in this VN. Satsuki, Satuki, Yukiko, etc they cannot replace Toko. Toko was so damn important to KnS1. Innocent Grey did not just give her not 1 sex scene, 2 sex scenes, but THREE detailed sex scenes. Hell most of the CG gallery was of Toko 😂 I remember halfway through the VN, I was so intrigued by Yukiko. What happened at her orphanage? Do she have some PTSD? Could she be related to Toko somehow like a distant family member? Her flashback senses were well done. It’s just that, long after getting most of the endings I expected to learn some deep ass truth about Yukiko. But nothing..... all that buildup for nothing. At least I know what happened to Toko, but that wasn’t the concern of the VN until the very last few scenes...

B. The religious organization: Yeah. I see your point, maybe they are alluding to the end of the trilogy but that’s the problem. If they are going to be part of the story of The tetralogy. (Remember, Cartagara is technically the first of these visual novels with Shugo is the MC.) Then, the organization shouldn’t have played such a huge role. Only for it to not really amount to anything. 

C. It kinda felt like Highurashi. They literally have the village curse just like Higurashi and the curse is responsible for all of the killings around the festival. I kept getting Watagashi flashbacks when they kept talking about the Miko. On top of that, the person who is killing all the people has an oni-Chan thing going on. How is this scary? What made it scary in Higurashi was the fact that we really didn’t know what the hell was going on until like the massacre arc when we recieve the greatest damn infodump in visual novel history lolz. 

 

 

By the way, put all of these VNs in context. SeaBed is not on the list, FWIW. 

[littleshogun 1,159]

I see, and in that case I'm sorry for the misunderstanding here. As for the reason of why I did say tasteless, let's just say that it did remind me of some incident in the past and I'll try to take the responsibility for it. 

As for your point, let me say it in the spoiler box.

Spoiler

A. I see. Now that you mention about it, I guess we can say that Ayato is quite dense when it came to love although I can say that he only have eye on Satsuki though. What I can say is that apparently Innocent Grey did attempt to make a new series of Kara no Shoujo, only to have remember that they set up Touko as the important girl, so they did make Kara no Shoujo 2 as the sequel rather than standalone VN, and also they did made their original idea portion as much as possible (It's just my guess though).

B. Well the religious organization didn't appear in the first Kara no Shoujo (Or didn't play a big part in it), so we can say that the tetralogy there is very loosely designed unlike Flowers. For comparison in Flowers we have Myth Arc namely that we'll going to see what's happening with our Suoh, and while the 2nd and 3rd part MCs weren't Suoh we still can see her development throughout the tetralogy. Although unfortunately the third part was still in translation (By JAST to make it more unfortunate) and that there's no known part to localize the final part, so it's quite unfortunate that we wouldn't be able to fully enjoy Flowers tetralogy yet.

C. Since you mention Higurashi, let me point out that Hitogata village design is also based on Shirakawa village so at least you did have a choice what kind of curse that you want to receive lol. Well Higurashi did have seven arcs to build up the reveal so at least there's a lot buildup there, while Kara no Shoujo 2 only have one game so obviously they must built all of the story in one game so it's understandable if you find it rushed and lack of scare.

As for my VNs list, well if you want I can try to write it more later.

Edited January 10 by littleshogun

[Ranzo 879]

My favorite ones that I've played this year are 

 

1. Flowers Vol.2 

It was a sequel that managed to be better than it's predecessor in every way, thanks in part than having one of the best and most interesting protags I've seen.

I really felt a deep connection with Erika and she stole the show, just like I thought she would. I should probably write a review for it just so I can gush on it some more. 

2. Fatal 12

It is pretty rare that a vn comes along that really surprises me and Fatal 12 really accomplished that and it did so consistently. I loved how varied and intriguing the characters were, I loved how wonderful the protag was. I also just really loved the story.

3. Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People-

Few visual novels try and even attempt to do any world building at all. It's just one forsaken high school after another until the end of time. Inganock pulls this off splendidly and that's it's greatest strength. It also has a splendid cast including Atti, who's just the best.

4. Aioshiro

Despite having some drawbacks, which includes a few extremely long discussions about food and long tirades about Japanese folklore, it still manages to be very enjoyable thanks in part to it's unique and varied cast and it's great protagonist. Shouko is one of the best I've seen and she is steadfast and strong without being overpowered. 

5. Shadows of Pygmalion

I really enjoyed this vn thanks to the intriguing plot and solid characters. I especially liked the last route and how strong it turned out to be. The protag was also really enjoyable and I enjoyed the explanation behind her character. More proof that yuri's produce some of the best protags around.