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50 translated VNs you should read before you die


Kaguya

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4 hours ago, Okarin said:

Sorry, but I really think that to make a "top X", you have to have had read 30 or 40 VNs at least, and some long ones. And it takes years.

Then taste is also factored in, of course. But memorable VNs tend to stay memorable.

The outdated art is a poor argument, I feel, because trying old games (that probably were hits on their day) will give you a wider perspective of the history and evolution of VNs.

I did like 80 vn (not sure, it's 70-90). I didn't read only the vn on this list, lol. And some are really long (kara no shoujo 2, kamidori, root double ...) I'm just ranking the vn on this list, not every vn I read. I'm not like Kaguya who seems to have done every vn on this planet, but I think I have enough experience in vn to give a good enough point of view.

I agree about the outdated art, it was a troll of my own, like with fate stay/night and steins;gate. 

I tried to not let my personal taste ruin my ranking, except for action-oriented vn that I don't like. (Katawa shoujo would be tier 1 if I would stay subjective, lol) (but of course the ranking will be biaised, taste is factored in yeah)

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  • 7 months later...

Sorry for the post necromancy. I thought the original poster, if they're still around five years later, might be happy to hear that someone else found their list useful. 

"50 VNs to read before you die"

Well, guess what - I am literally dying and trying to read these 50 VNs before I do in the yearish time I have left. I just sort of stumbled upon this bucket list goal and I've already read a good 15 in a couple months (I have infinite free time atm and literally play all day).

No regrets from this course of action so far! It's an excellent usage of time given my circumstances and it makes me feel like I'm living multiple lives without having to leave home. So many ups and downs, so much catharsis. So much of it connects to the relationships and experiences I've had so far in life. I only wish I had discovered VNs earlier, but I do think I have just enough time to read all the good (translated) ones. 

I've picked up a few random games not on this list as my interests broaden (went through a Yandere phase for example) and I'm sure there's at least one or two games not on this list I would really love, but in the end I think it's most useful just to have any decent list and goal and go at it instead of wasting too much time researching and waffling. In that manner, this list was perfect for my needs. 

Waffling...waffle...wafu...wafter. That's right. If I'm going to have any regrets, I think it'll be only that games like Kud Wafter and Summer Pockets are almost certainly not gonna be translated in the time I have. Can't get enough Key.

 

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18 hours ago, Corrupted said:

Sorry for the post necromancy.

No need to apologize. The problem with thread revival is when it's for no good reason, like saying "I agree" and nothing else. What you wrote is likely the most touching post I have ever read on Fuwa. It takes guts to look death in the eyes and declare "I won't be ruled by fear". I'm thinking about some other things to say, but somehow it all ends up being insignificant compared to what you just wrote.

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  • 10 months later...

Oops. This is awkward. I actually got really, really, really lucky and survived. So, I felt obligated to say something/give closure.

I now have a new favorite hobby (reading VNs) that synergies great with the other things I enjoy (learning Japanese, watching anime).  VNs are the best thing I got out of the near death experience.  So, still, and again, thanks for the list.  You contributed to the creation of a new lifelong VN reader.  Thanks!  

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On 10/5/2013 at 7:04 AM, Kaguya said:

This list won't feature the VNs in order of "how good they are". Rating them would be way too much of a clusterfuck to me.

The VNs are not in their respective order. Meaning number 1 is not the best, and so on.

 

1_CHAOS; HEAD

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Takumi is a despicable otaku. He lives by himself, skipping school to play MMORPGs and obsess over anime all day long. He's never really lonely- his imaginary girlfirend, a magical girl named Seiru, keeps him company, telling him over and over that his lifestyle is the best for him. "Nobody understands you but me. You don't need anybody else." His only contact with his family and the outside world is his little sister, who seems concerned over her onii-chan's slippery grip on reality. As he immerses himself further into the 2D world, she's is losing hope that he will ever grow up.

But while surfing the Net, Takumi is sent a link from a stranger on the Internet. The link has pictures of a gruesome murder in an alley, with the stranger telling him this is part of recent chain of serial killings. Takumi doesn't believe the stranger, since no one on the Net or on TV has reported the killing. Takumi assumes the pictures are a practical joke... until he stumbles across a young school girl killing a man in a dark alley just as the photos pictured. He manages to escape, but now he's convinced that a conspiracy is out to get him. Pretty girls from school and elsewhere have started to take an interest in him... and one of them look exactly like the murderer.

 

2_Cross Channel

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Gunjo Gakuen (Deep Blue School) is a facility designed to gather and isolate those students who got a high score on an adaptation exam (Scoring high on this exam indicates that the student is less likely to be able to be adapted to the society) mandated by the government.

After a failed summer vacation with other members of the school's broadcasting club, Taichi Kurosu and some of the other club members return to the city, only to find that all living creatures within it except for the club members have completely vanished. In order to confirm the status of the outside world, Taichi decides to gather other club members to help Misato Miyasumi, the president of the broadcasting club, who is trying to set up a broadcasting antenna to contact any possible survivors.

 

3_G-Senjou no Maou

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You play the role of Azai Kyousuke, the son of a legendary gangster infamous in the underworld. You spend your time listening to Bach, playing God at school and covertly working for your stepfather, a ruthless financial heavyweight. This idyllic existence is broken when two individuals appear in the city - a beautiful girl named Usami Haru with hair you could get lost in for days, and a powerful international gangster known only as "Maou". Almost without delay, the two begin a deadly cat-and-mouse game, bringing you and your friends into the crossfire. Plotting, political intrigue and layer upon layer of interlocking traps are the weapons in this epic battle of wits.

 

4_Fate/Stay Night

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The one who obtains the Holy Grail will have any wish come true.

 


The Holy Grail War.
A great ritual that materializes the greatest holy artifact, the Holy Grail.
There are two conditions to participate in this ritual.
To be a magus, and to be a "Master" chosen by the Holy Grail.
(The experience as a magus is not questioned if one has the aptitude)

There are seven chosen Masters, and seven classes of Servants.

There is only one Holy Grail.
If you wish for a miracle.
Prove that you are the strongest with your powers.

 

5_Forest

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Here and there – in the space between buildings, in back alleys, perhaps even in the underground – the Forest bleeds into our world. The Forest is a forbidden place where the rules of our world do not apply.

 

Our heroes must struggle against the Forest, without so much as the hope of assistance or understanding from the outside world.

And should they know defeat in their battle against the Forest, they will face that which they fear most – expulsion from Shinjuku.

This Visual Novel is the easiest visual novel translated to get a bad ending without using a walkthrough- which just adds to the fun of it. It makes a massive amount of references to common literature, which makes it even better.

 

6_Katahane

It may seem like an ordinary moege- the atmosphere is light, the story is full of cuteness, which you can note by the character design and soundtrack. It gets really good in the middle, and you'll be dying to know what happens in the end. A game with multiple perspectives, it's definitely one of the most enjoyable Visual Novels I've ever read.

 

7 Majikoi

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Kawakami City is famous for its strong dedication to its samurai ancestors. A strong fighting spirit is always valued and it's even an important factor in succeeding in school there. Yamato, a second year student from Kawakami Highchool is always with his close friends (4 boys and 3 girls). They have known each other since they were young and have done loads of things together. They have many other friends, but this seven people is a close-knit group, they even have a secret base where they meet... With the new semester, they welcome two girls into their group and shortly after things start to change...

 

8_Little Busters!

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Riki was a child when his parents died, leaving him hopeless and depressed. What saved him was a group of four kids calling themselves the Little Busters. They took Riki out and played with him during his time of need. He really enjoyed being together with them, and his grief gradually faded away. Now in his second year of high school they still hang out, fight and live together, and enjoy their school life.

 


Little Busters! contains several mini-games, including a baseball practice game and a duel battle system.

 

9_Tsukihime

"You shouldn't tell lies that you can't even fool yourself with"

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The world is full of cracks. If you trace them, everything will fall down.

Any and all are fated to die from the moment they're born. If you can see the lines that show death, what will you do?

 

10_Swan Song

A post apocalyptic Visual Novel.

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It is a snowing Christmas Eve… Everything seems so peaceful when a huge earthquake occurs. The earthquake causes the city to be in ruin, and the surviving people need to find ways to stay alive. Some go crazy and rob others, some cling onto God, some gather to live together. The 6 main characters meet at a church while they were trying to find shelter from the snow. What will they see and experience in this extreme situation…?

 

11_Symphonic Rain

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At the Scuola Comunale di Musica Piova school of music, there is a longstanding rumor. According to that rumor, a couple performing at the graduation examination will be forever bound by fate.


In a city which never seems to fall short when it comes to rain, this tale tells the story of Chris, a Fortell player in his final year, and his childhood sweetheart Arietta, with whom he has kept up weekly correspondence for nearly three years. Chris still hasn’t found a partner for his performance… Will their love wane before this trial, or conversely, will their relationship deepen, stronger than ever?

 

It may seem like your ordinary moege. Trust me, it's not.

 

12_Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo (and sequel)

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In the near future.
In a not so distant place.
There exists a society where law is based upon deterrence and criminals are assigned “obligations” fitting for their crimes.
Within this society, a man named Morita Kenichi aspires to the position of Special High Class Individual, one who holds authority over said criminals.
For the purpose of fulfilling his ambition, Kenichi returns to the town he once called home. There he will encounter three girls bearing “obligations” and there he will encounter the past he left behind.
Won’t you join him in this story about how people relate to their society?
In this story about how a society relates to its people.
In this story about the girl amid the sunflowers growing in the country spinning like a wheel.

 

13_Sekien no Inganock

Steampunk. An atmosphere full of mysteries and references that will make your head blow up.

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Inganock, a city isolated from the outside, a city where everything is distorted, even the sun. It all started ten years ago, at a day called as ‘Revival’. Then residents of the city slowly changed into beings that are partially human and partially animal.

 

this day, only a few still look fully human on the outside. One of these is Gii, a former medical student, now an illegal doctor that walks the city and cures the poor for free. He changed too, but only in the inside and his change enabled him a mysterious ability that he uses to heal people that keep mutating further every day.

 

He has a few ‘friends’ if you can call them that. One of them is a black steel cat girl called Ati. Another one is an old friend from his medical school that he just met again after ten years, Salem. And the games story really begins when he encounters a little girl with pink eyes named Kia…

 

14_Steins; Gate

A visual novel that deals extensively with time travel and it's consequences.

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The story of Steins;Gate takes place in Akihabara and is about a group of friends who have customized their microwave into a device that can send text messages to the past. As they perform different experiments, an organization named SERN who has been doing their own research on time travel tracks them down and now the characters have to find a way to avoid being captured by them.

 

15_Utawarerumono

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Waking up injured, a man finds himself in a small village after being rescued by an apprentice physician. Having no memory of who he is and a mask he cannot take off, he decides to live with the other villagers peacefully. But peace is fragile, as a single event in their village plunges himself and his fellow villagers into a path of war.

 

16_Fault: Milestone (1 & 2)

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END OF PEACE. BEGINNING OF A JOURNEY. 

 
Launched as a throwback to the Science Fiction genre in the 80’s, fault - milestone one is a Science Fantasy Kinetic Novel which depicts the story of a princess named Selphine and her Royal Guard Ritona. While attempting to make an escape from a brutal assault that’s devastated their homeland of Rughzenhaide, the two mysteriously teleport to an unknown forest surrounded by vegetation not native to the surroundings of Rughzenhaide. The atmosphere is thick and heavy and no sign of life can be found, which is particularly unusual for such a lush forest. Sign of life isn't the only thing missing though. Something is odd about this land - something is amiss - but Selphine and Ritona are too startled to notice the obvious. 
 
Who were the assaulters and what was their goal? 
Where did Selphine and Ritona end up traversing to? 
Will the two make it home safely? 
And more importantly, what will they come home to once they do? 
 

Follow Selphine, a bubbly, happy-go-lucky Princess and her sharp-witted but slightly misanthropic Royal Guard Ritona, in their journey of a lifetime as they head back to their homeland of Rughzenhaide.

 

17_Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni 

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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place during June 1983, at a fictional rural village called Hinamizawa (based on the village of Shirakawa, Gifu, a World Heritage Site),which has a population of approximately 2,000.

The main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and befriends his new classmates Rena Ryuugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which consist mostly of card and board games (and punishment games for the loser, usually him.)

Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village to Keiichi. However, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the day of the Watanagashi Festival.

Keiichi himself soon becomes drawn into the strange events surrounding the Watanagashi Festival and Oyashiro. In each story arc, he or one of his friends become paranoid, and a crime is committed. Usually, the crime involves the murder of one of their own friends. While it seems impossible to tell their delusions apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, slowly the truth is revealed.

 

18_Kara no Shoujo

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The year is 1956; a series of bizarre murders rocks the city of Tokyo. Tokisaka Reiji, an ex-cop turned private eye, joins the investigation at the behest of his friend Uozumi Kyozo, a detective in the MPD.

At the same time, he takes on a missing persons’ case at a private all-girls high school, as well as a mysterious request from a girl named Toko to find her true self.

As Reiji frantically struggles to crack the case, he learns that the murders bear an uncanny resemblance to a case in which his own fiancé was murdered six years ago. But try as he might, the body count just keeps rising…

 

19_Umineko no Naku Koro ni 

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Umineko no Naku Koro ni takes place in the year 1986 during the time frame of October 4 and October 5 on a secluded island named Rokkenjima.

The head of a wealthy family named Kinzo Ushiromiya, who lives on and owns Rokkenjima, is near death, and eleven of his family members arrive on the island to discuss how Kinzo’s assets will be divided once he is dead.

Also on the island are five of Kinzo’s servants, and his personal physician. After the eleven family members arrive, a typhoon traps them on the island and shortly after people start to get mysteriously murdered.

 

20_Planetarian

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The unceasing Rain──
The 『sealed city』,
abandoned 30 years ago after a sudden biochemical warhead strike.
The uninhabited ruins,
ruled over only by autonomous battle drones.
The man came to this place,
finding shelter inside a tall building as he grew exhausted,
and there he came across
a planetarium,
a room that once filled the hearts of men
with the wonders of all the stars in all the sky.
And there, he met a young woman
whose name was 「Reverie」.
A member of the planetarium’s help staff
who had continued to wait for customers for over 30 years;
a broken robot──
Entreated by 「Reverie」,
he lost track of time as he repaired
the nonfunctional planetarium projector.
The continuous Rain.
Those quiet days spent with 「Reverie」.
A long-lost nostalgia that began to arise in the man’s heart.
What will he think about this sky of manmade stars?
And what is the fate of this 「Reverie」 of a little planet?

 

21_Ever 17

Another top 10.

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Ever 17 is the tale of seven individuals who come to be trapped within the underwater marine theme park, LeMU, 51 meters below the surface. During an apparently normal day at the park, an incident occurs, placing almost half of the facility underwater. The path to the surface and the communication lines are cut off. In addition, LeMU is under constant assault by severe water pressure, limiting time to find a means of escape to 119 hours. Escape is not the only concern, however; many questions arise as to the legitimacy of the accident and whether or not those trapped there were brought there for a purpose.


As the situation grows more desperate, the people trapped inside LeMU grow closer. They begin to uncover the answers to mysteries about themselves, LeMU, and the situation itself. As the end of LeMU grows nearer, so too do the mysteries and relationships forged by the situation grow deeper. Ultimately, it is up to the characters not only to survive, but to discover the truth behind LeMU and themselves as well.

 

22_Remember11

It lacks in the ending, but otherwise the story of this VN has enough to easily become one of my all-time favorites.

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Remember 11


Snowy Mountain Arc
Fuyukawa Kokoro, a third-year sociology major, boards a plane for Hokkaido to meet a study subject in the Specified Psychiatric Hospital for Isolation and Aegis, or SPHIA. For unknown reasons, her plane crashes into a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm. Out of the 31 passengers, only she, Yuni Kusuda, Seiji Yomogi, and Lin Mayuzumi are able to survive unharmed. Unable to establish communication with the outside world due to the fierce snowstorm, the four decide to take shelter in an abandoned cottage and wait until the storm passes.
As if the trauma, freezing temperature and hunger weren’t enough to endure, the survivors must deal with something even more frustrating. A newspaper is found in the cottage dated July 4, 2011 (which is the future to the survivors). The paper claims that the remaining survivors of the crash, except for Yuni, will die in an avalanche in seven days.

SPHIA Arc
Satoru Yukidoh, a graduate student in the field of quantum physics, falls off of the SPHIA clock tower for an unknown reason. He later awakens with some memory loss and the realization that someone is out to kill him. Unable to leave the SPHIA facility due to a snowstorm, Satoru’s only chance at living is to find that person among the three other residents (or perhaps the hidden culprit) of SPHIA.
Both Kokoro and Satoru soon realize that, their “consciousness” experience a kind of exchange which allows Kokoro’s mind takes control of Satoru’s body in SPHIA and Satoru’s mind takes control of Cocoro’s body in the cottage/emergency shelter in the mountains.
However, a boy named Yuni Kusuda appears at both locations. How is this possible?

 

23_Zanmataisei Demonbane

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Arkham city is a bustling hub of commerce and industry, however Arkham is also a center of eldrich lore: home to Miskatonic University, an institution of higher learning with one of the most complete libraries of arcane literature in the world. In the span of two generations the town was built up to the status of prestige it now commands, an expansion helmed by the Hadou Group, an industrial complex and family dynasty currently run by the young Hadou Ruri. She pursues the peace and prosperity of Arkham diligently, against the forces of darkness threatening to plunge the city, and the world, back into a second dark age. Among the most sinister threats to Arkham City is the evil Black Lodge syndicate. Led by the charismatic Master Therion, his nihilistic outlook shapes the group’s destructive goals: with a circle of powerful sorcerers at his command, the potential for sowing chaos in the city is unmatched.

Former Miskatonic University Magic Academy student Daijuuji Kurou knows little of grimoires, but what he does know terrifies him – enough that he left his university life behind, and now practices a failing detective business in the shelter of an orphanage in a quiet corner of Arkham. But just when he thought his Academy past was buried, it catches up with him and pulls him back into the dark shadows of the occult: Hadou Ruri herself appears at his door with an offer he can’t refuse. The only way to combat the Black Lodge’s growing magical power is to find, and retrieve, a grimoire with the power to activate the mightiest Machina of all: Demonbane. The quest to find this forbidden tome will change Kurou’s destiny… forever.

 

24_Rewrite

"Could it possibly be rewritten, this fate of hers?"

Another one that enters the top 10.

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Rewrite is set in the fictional city Kazamatsuri where treeplanting and afforestation have caused the city to become overgrown with trees and flowers in much the same way that other cities are filled by buildings. However, while most of the city appears to be rural, there are many traditional city elements as well.

While set in a modern setting, the city also gives off a strange sense of nostalgia. The basis of the story is set in a high school setting. The first half of Rewrite primarily consists of the characters interacting in many everyday, enjoyable scenes. The latter half, however, is more serious, emotional, and carries a sense of mystery to the plot.

 

25_Narcissu

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The anonymous protagonist is diagnosed with a terminal illness shortly after his twentieth birthday, and is admitted to a hospital in Mito, Ibaraki. There he meets Setsumi, a woman a few years older, who is also terminally ill. Finding that they both reject to die either in hospital or at home, they steal a car and run away together.

 

26_Grisaia no Kajitsu

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Mihama Academy – on the surface, a closed learning environment established to nurture students who find themselves at odds with the world around them; in actuality, an orchard-cum-prison built to preserve fruit that has fallen too far from its tree.


Whatever the circumstances behind its establishment, Mihama Academy is at present home to five female students, all with their own reasons for “enrollment.” For better or worse, each girl has established a routine obliging of her current situation; life moves at an idle, yet accommodating pace within the walls of Mihama.

Yet with the arrival of the institute’s first male student, the nearly preposterously opaque Kazami Yuuji, the students at Mihama begin to fall out of step with their predetermined rhythms. Will Yuuji prove to be the element the girls around him needed to take hold of their lives once more, or will the weight of their pasts prove too steep a wall to overcome?

And in the first place, just who is Kazami Yuuji? While the true nature of the “job” he is wont to alight to at the most haphazard of moments remains shrouded in secrecy, one thing is for certain – his encroachment upon the quiet orchard known as Mihama Academy will prove itself momentous in one way or another. And of course, one cannot discount the possibility that perhaps Yuuji himself carries the weightiest past of any of the students…

 

27_Saya no Uta

Only if you enjoy dark and messed up settings.

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Enter the world of Sakisaka Fuminori, a medical student who receives experimental brain surgery after a traumatic accident. He survives, but is left with warped senses that perceive the world around him as a place of terror. Into this world comes Saya, a girl who is the only thing that now seems pure. With a scenario that stands as one of the first defining works of Madoka Magica and Fate/Zero creator Urobuchi Gen, nothing is as it seems — can you find away to escape the nightmare that surrounds you? A seminal work of horror and occult fiction in the visual novel medium.

 

28_Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni

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Marie is trapped in a horrible situation. She’s being constantly tormented by her classmates and regularly molested by her teacher. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself asking for supernatural help from one of the seven demons of the seven mysteries of her school. All she desires is the death of her cruel classmates and teacher. How far will Marie be willing to go in order to achieve the murders that would free her from her living hell?

 

29_Eien no Aselia

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Yuuto has been taking care of his step-sister Kaori since the passing of both of their parents. Their life is hard, but they are happy together – at least until the day they are transported to a parallel world that they will later come to call Phantasmagoria…

In this world where he can’t even understand a single spoken word, his sister is taken prisoner and her captors, calling him an ‘Etranger’, force him to fight wielding a sword that tries to control his mind instead…

Although he first accepts this fate only to protect Kaori, with passing time Yuuto starts to care for the fate of the ‘spirits’, the girls that fight alongside him, and other inhabitants of this world as well…

 

30_Rose Guns Days (1 & 2)

There are small sections of gameplay on this one, but you can skip them by pressing the space bar, so this still qualifies.

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Taking place in Japan at the end of World War II. Devastated in the aftermath of defeat, the Japanese government complies with the Allies’ reconstruction plan. Japan begins to recover from the loss after a few years, but America and China intricately divide the nation on a municipal level. Eventually, China’s military districts become Chinatowns, and places controlled by the United States are Americanized. The many Chinese and American immigrants make Japanese people the minority in their own land. Some Japanese are unwilling to accept this fate and secretly gather their strength to challenge the new system.

A girl named Rose Haibara works at the club Primavera and lends money to Japanese people so that they can rebuild their lives. Meanwhile, Leo Shishigami is best known for his reputation among women. Everything begins to change when that legendary man meets Rose in the spring of 1947.

 

31_Sengoku Rance

I feel obliged to comment on this VN before suggesting it to anyone. It's an Alicesoft title, which speaks a lot for itself... If you don't know how it's going to be like, well.. Kind of tough to describe. Lots of sex, including comedy rape. Alicesoft tends to make the whole story a comedy until right near the end, where things actually do get serious. It's worth checking out, if you don't mind Rance's personality. 

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The story takes place during the 4th Sengoku (warring states) era of Japan, an area of the Rance World which parodies medieval real-world Japan.

Sengoku Rance picks up where Rance 6 left off. Rance, after saving the nation of Zeth from destruction, ran away so he won't have to marry the princess. He and Sill ended up in Japan for a hotspring trip, upsetting the power balance of Japan, and sets the unification of its provinces in motion. Meanwhile, an ancient evil power stirs from its slumber...

Meet the alternate reality versions of Oda Nobunaga, Uesugi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mori Motonari, One Eyed Masamune, Hojo Soun, Sakamoto Ryouma, Yamamoto Isoroku, Saint Francis Xavier, and many more famous Japanese historical figures in the world of Rance!

 

32_Phenomeno

Want a short VN that can captivate you for their whole duration? Here is it.

Visual novel adapted from the youth horror novel written by Hajime Ninomae and illustrated by yoshitoshi ABe.

 

33_Ef- A Fairy Tale of the Two

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Yuuko Amamiya, a mysterious girl dressed like a nun, and Yu Himura, a mysterious gentleman who is somehow attached to the church where Yuuko first appears, are having a reunion in a church during Christmas time. Despite her attire, Yuuko is not affiliated with the church. She always appears generally out of no where, and disappears just as quickly in various places throughout the story to talk with Hiro or other characters and give them advice.

 

34_Dysfunctional Systems

Another one great for those who want short Visual Novels.

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Dysfunctional Systems is an episodic visual novel chronicling the life of Winter Harrison. Having long become comfortable with her utopian society, Winter is surprised to learn that there are other worlds in other planes of existence. These worlds are quite different from hers, ranging from troubled, to dystopian, to futuristic or fantastical.

However, they are all riddled with problems that, if not resolved, may adversely affect her home world. She is chosen to become a “mediator”, charged with the maintenance of order in these chaotic planes, and so enters a vocational school for training. Episode 1 details her second shadowing of a seasoned mediator, only a few weeks into her first year. She and her mentor enter a world seemingly much like their own, except for this issue of “poverty” with which Winter has difficulty understanding…

 

35_Daibanchou

Another Alicesoft title. While Rouga is not near Rance's level when it comes to pissing off people, alicesoft's style is something which often doesn't please people. 

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In year 200X, a black hole that would later be called "hellhole" appeared in the center of Japan. Shortly thereafter all contact between Japanese archipelago and the rest of the world got lost.

Giant crystal onyxes named "Crystal B" appeared. Contact with them increased human bodies "B power" and paranormal potential, "special student body" is used to describe those powers young people gained by this change. Emergence of such powers caused panic in the masses and a dark age of violence began.

A few years later a powerful organization appeared, gathering those with the "special student body" to form the nationwide "Students Union" to bring out Japan out of the dark. But the battle was just starting...

36_Yume Miru Kusuri

The endings pack quite a punch.

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I am just an average student, living an average life. I study, I work my part-time job, and get through the day just like everyone else, trying not to be beaten down by the pressures of modern Japan. Then suddenly, the winds of change blow into my life, when I encounter three girls who reshape me forever. Three girls who are most definitely not living a normal life like everyone else in Japan, but who seem to float above society, strangely unaffected by it. Instinctively I know I should avoid getting involved with them, and yet before I know it, my destiny is bound with theirs. Where will it all lead?

With art from the accomplished pen of Haimura Kiyotaka and story by veteran scenario writer Tanaka Romeo, the bittersweet tale of three heroines unfolds. Will you choose to defend Aeka from becoming the victim of classroom aggression, help Mizuki with the burden of her work as student council president, or accompany the cat girl Nekoko on her quest for the mystical fairyland that only she can see? Their fate, and your own, lie in your hands.

 

37_Kikokugai- The Cyber Slayer

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A tale of revenge set in future Shanghai, where crime syndicates and cyber-warriors rule the city.

The schools of martial arts can be largely divided into two styles - Waijia, the external schools that concentrate solely on the development of speed, strength, and powerful forms and techniques - and Neijia, those that use control of breathing and blood flow to master the internal energy - qi - that flows through the body's meridians. Because of these methodological differences, the two styles have vied time and again for supremacy.

Although practitioners of Waijia were far greater in number, in the end not one of them could stand up to a warrior who had truly mastered the secrets of Neijia. For centuries, this was the unchallenged law of the martial arts world. However, the advent of cybernetics changed everything. Freed from the yoke of their physical limitations, Waijia schools discovered an entirely new world of possibility. The Neijia schools that had reigned over the martial world with their secret techniques, suddenly found themselves obsolete.

In this age where technology is changing the face of combat, heirs to the ancient martial traditions have developed anti-cyborg techniques for the sole purpose of defeating cyborgs with one's bare hands - at great cost to the wielder.

Kong Taoluo, one such master and former asssassin in the Qingyun Society, returns to Shanghai from a year in recovery after being betrayed by the syndicate and assumed dead. Discovering the horrible truth of what has happened to his sister during his absence; Taoluo swears an oath of vengeance and sets out to murder those responsible.

 

38_Eden 

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In the near future, an ominous red star suddenly appears in the sky. Its presence is about to bring about the extinction of all life on Earth. The unified government proposes an evacuation project to take all of mankind into space, but in order to make the seemingly impossible project a reality, 'felixes' are brought into the world. Engineered to be highly intelligent with perpetual youth and longevity, the genetically modified superhuman felixes stand as humanity's only hope for survival.

Sion, the most gifted of the felixes, has been kept in a research facility built on a solitary island for the past hundred years. Her sole purpose, saving all of humanity. Ryou Haruna, a soldier from the Earth's unified government is sent to watch over Sion, who desperately seeks freedom from the military that's imprisoning her. Earth's last love story is about to begin.

 

39_Hoshizora no Memoria

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The story begins with the protagonist, Kogasaka You, moving back to his hometown, which he left behind several years ago. Upon arriving, he stumbles into an abandoned, sealed observatory, whereupon he encounters a mysterious girl who looks exactly like his childhood friend did years ago. She introduces herself as Mare, a shinigami who reaps nightmares.

Meanwhile, back at school, You ends up joining the astronomy club, which is desperate need of new members. At night, he continues to visit Mare at the observatory, all the while trying to remember a certain someone’s name…

 

40_Katawa Shoujo

Yep, it's somewhat overrated. Still, the fact that it is substantially easier for those who are starting to play visual novels to read should not be discarded, and overall, the story was good.

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Hisao Nakai is a normal high school student, currently in his final year of high school. One day Hisao receives a letter from parties unknown in his locker and waits at the written place for the sender. The person who wrote the letter turns out to be his crush; while speaking to her, he suddenly collapses. He awakes in a hospital bed, and is told by the doctors that the reason he collapsed is due to arrhythmia, a rare heart condition that causes his heartbeat to sometimes become irregular. Due to this, his parents have enrolled him in Yamaku, a school for disabled students of all kinds.

 

41_World End Economica

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Roughly 16 years after the people who emigrated to the moon had settled themselves. An age where a great number of people are chasing their wild dreams within the great skyscraper at humanity's frontier. A young boy named Haru, born and raised on the moon, is one of those people chasing his wildest dream. His dream, is to stand where no man has before. In order to do so, he needed capital. A ludicrous amount of capital.

The boy named Haru was facing a place that gathered up people's desires. Sometimes it granted them, and sometimes it crushed them mercilessly. There are only two key rules that govern that land.

The first rule, is to never take a loss.
The second rule, is to never forget the first.
Only those who followed these rules were able to obtain enormous wealth. The stock market. A place that has gathered crowds of persistent men and women for centuries.

 

42_YU-NO

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Takuya Arima is a young student whose father, a historian who has conducted various researches, disappeared recently. During a summer vacation Takuya receives a peculiar package from his missing father, along with a letter containing information about the existence of various parallel worlds.

At first Takuya doesn't take it seriously, but soon he realizes that he possesses a device that allows him to travel to alternate dimensions. Is his father alive, after all? If so, where is he? Full name is: Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO

 

43_Shikkoku no Sharnoth

Yep, there is a minigame on this one. If you download a save data you can skip the minigame, though. So it still qualifies. Another VN that enters my top 10.

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The year is 1905 in the capital of the British Empire, the Engine City London, where the air is so thick with smoke that a mere glimpse of the blue sky is considered a miracle. The protagonist, Mary Clarissa Christie, is a girl living by herself while her mother works abroad. She attends university with her friends, Angelica Derleth and Charlotte Bronte, and lives a peaceful life.

However, through a chance encounter, she finds herself drawn into another side of London- spoken of only as rumors of "Metacreatures" who roam the night and attack people. She forms a contract with a strange man in a black suit, known as 'M', and begins to help him hunt these creatures...

 

44_Muv Luv Alternative

The first Muv Luv didn't have enough to enter this list. You should still read it, though~

MLA is definitely awesome.

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Muv-Luv Alternative takes place after the events of the original Muv-Luv. Alternative focuses on the life of Shirogane Takeru three years after Muv-Luv; Takeru wakes up believing that everything that had happened was just a dream. However, he notices something wrong: he has been sent back in time to the beginning of the events in Muv-Luv: Unlimited. But instead of letting a disaster strike again, he decides to help stop it before it even begins. The solution: helping to complete Alternative IV.

 

45_Dangan Ronpa

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Special high school students throughout Japan are transferred to Kibougamine Academy because they excel above all other students in a certain way. The protagonist, Naegi Makoto (excels in Luck) arrives on the first day of class only to fall unconscious after he steps through the gates. When he wakes up, he meets up with 14 other students who went through the same experience, and they find that all possible exits have been sealed shut.

The 15 are then informed by Monokuma, a black and white robot bear who appears to be behind the whole affair, that they are playing a game and the only way for them to leave the school is to "graduate". To do so, they must kill another student and get away with it. A trial will be held after a corpse is found, and if the culprit is found guilty, they will be executed and the game will continue. If they are found innocent, they will graduate and be able to leave, while the rest of the cast gets executed in their place...

 

46_Comyu - Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku

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We are the team. Yes, it's like a community...."

There is a legend of a mysterious girl called "Girl A" who appears in the city and sings all night. One night, Akihito meets four boys and girls as if led by the Girl A....

There is no friendship nor trust between them, but they can control a huge iron monster as they like by combining their power. Since the day they get the power, their extraordinary life starts....

Akihito later knows that they will need to pay a price for the power. When the monster dies, their community will also disappear....

They decide to head for another world called Communet with a help of Kagome, a black witch...

 

47_Hanachirasu

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A story of revenge.

Hanachirasu is set in a parallel timeline where nuclear weaponry was never developed. As such, Japan continued to fight through World War II, ending aggressions only when Hokkaido and Kyushu were occupied by Russia and America, respectively.

The game itself takes place in early 21st century Tokyo, which has been transformed into a haven for Japanese culture thanks to the nationalistic ideals of the charismatic Ishima Kaigen. Strict policies are in place in to enforce a ban upon firearms within the city limits. Thus, though terrorism and power struggles run rampant, swordplay, not gunfire, claims the lives of those not powerful to stake out their claims here.

Our protagonist is one Takeda Akane, a swordsman driven by a desire to face his one true rival, Igarasu Yoshia. What will stand in his path to his goal?

 

48_Ayakashibito

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In the end of WWII world, the demons in Japan are forced to make a decision in regards to the changes Japan is undergoing:

1) To remain as demons and watch over the land
2) To return to the netherworld or
3) To give up their power and status as demons and live amongst humans.

While there were some that chose otherwise, the majority of the demons decided it was best for everyone to go with option 3.
It was tough, but as time passed these demons were able to blend in with the human world and live peacefully amongst them. However, blood is thicker than water.
The offsprings of these demons displayed powerful abilities superior than man and was labeled by society as Jinyous. Of these Jinyous, most were sent to Kamizawa City: an isolated city to keep all the Jinyous together. Moreover, the ones that were deemed dangerous were sent to an uncharted island.

Takabe Ryouichi was one that was sent to said island at the age of 5. This is a story about him along with Suzu, his only friend on the island, escaping to Kamizawa city to live a normal life. What they didn't expect, was that Suzu carried a secret that attracted much unwanted attention

 

49_I/O

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April 26th, 2032 A.D. - Megalopolis Tokyo - 00:12 in the morning.

A total lunar eclipse occurs for the first time in 3 years. Even though it's supposed to be a simple astronomical phenomenon, it soon sets off a series of unexpected events. Unexplainable mysteries, terrorist incidents, and network crime surge as if in unison. The truth mixes with lies, as if the world is awake but still sleeping.

Something has begun. Somewhere no one can see. Something no one knows about.

This is a story of the chance meeting and tragic parting of the young men and women living in this world. Players get to play the game from 4 different points of view :

Route A - Hinata, a youth who has lost his sister and himself .
Route B - Ishtar, a freelance programmer and leader of a hacker team.
Route C - Ishtar, but seems a bit different from the Ishtar in Route B....
Route D - He, a man completely shrouded in mystery.

And thus...

"The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning"

 

50_Deardrops

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Shouichi was known as one of the ‘nobles’ of the violin world. Having started playing the violin when he was 3, he won the national violin competition when he was in middle school and went to Germany to play in orchestras. However, due to unknown reasons, he returned to Japan, gave up playing the violin and became a freeter. One day, he starts working at a live house and meets many other amateur musicians who are living their lives their own way. Together they will have to overcome obstacles in both their personal lives and as a band. To Shouichi, the live house is a new beginning in a new place… a new world which has opened to him when he thought that his future as a musician had closed.

 

LIST needs update can you add Hoshi Ori, and a few newer releases please

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If I may, there is also the first part of our visual novel beta : Rivelon :)

Embody the cynical Viscount ln Taliaan in the universe of Rivelon. Go in search of a mystical land or stay down, fall in love or multiply your conquests! All the choices are yours... at least, as long as the Curse leaves you in peace...

https://exorde.itch.io/rivelon

Thank you in advance for your feedback and see you soon!

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I gotta say, it has been like 8 years since I saved this as bookmark. Sadly, I am only through 18 visual novels. At some point in time I got hooked into webnovels, and convenience of reading anywhere on phone lead me to drift away from visual novels for last 4 or 5 years. Which going through my visual novel folder in my external harddisk after I saw someone share their visual novel folder size on discord, reignited my interest in visual novel, and thankfully this post is here. I feel so happy seeing the post which introduced me to so much impactful visual novels.

It is a nice journey of me starting with just Novels in school, then hooked into anime, which lead me to Manga(Naruto anime being ongoing at that time leading me to start reading manga), then I found Muv-Luv unlimited manga, which barely had any chapters, but the thirst for more lead me to world of visual novels!. Later only while reading manga or through animal I started with light novels as well, later on got into webnovels. As well as went with american comics from Marvel. Later on due to hearing discussions on TV series like The Flash,, which started me into Binging TV series as well. I really wish to just have ability like shadow clones so that I am able to enjoy everything together. Game stories are nice as well like Dragon age. 

I was curious about if this Topic is still active, it feels nice to see it still being read by people. leading me to make a account here just to post here. lol.

Edited by CaliasterX
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