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Your first VN experience


Wolfscythe

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I can't really remember the EXACT first VN I played- it was some old JAST title, I think though. Largely you just had to roam around until you'd triggered all the h-scenes and then there was one ending with the gal I liked the least out of the cast.

Not a very rosy start.

Was it a dungeon crawler? Was it Lightning Warrior Raidy?

No, it was older than Raidy- maybe it wasn't even a JAST title... I just kind of assumed it was them because they were the only ones I could remember releasing translated h-games back then.

I can't remember the name of it at all- it was something where the protagonist's uncle owned an apartment complex and was letting the protagonist run the place and of COURSE all the tenants were pretty ladies? It was kind of silly and I think the main 'heroine' was the protagonist's cousin or something.

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My 1st was Kana ~Imouto~ back when I was in high school a good 10 years ago. I really enjoyed it cried like baby when I read it my 1st time. I didn't read another VN after it though for some years. I eventually read G-senjou no Maou and Muv Luv Alternative. It was these 2 VNs that really got me into VNs and since them I've read VNs fairly commonly. Unfortunately I still haven't read anything I would consider to be better than them,

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My 1st was Kana ~Imouto~ back when I was in high school a good 10 years ago. I really enjoyed it cried like baby when I read it my 1st time. I didn't read another VN after it though for some years. I eventually read G-senjou no Maou and Muv Luv Alternative. It was these 2 VNs that really got me into VNs and since them I've read VNs fairly commonly. Unfortunately I still haven't read anything I would consider to be better than them,

G Senjou No Maou is pretty awesome. It's my favorite VN and Usami Haru is one of the best heroines I've come across. Still have to read the entirety of Muv Luv.

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I started Katawa Shoujo and a few other all-ages VNs, because the concept of a visual novel looked very interesting, and liked those for the most part, though I wouldn't call them amazing.. When I heard about Umineko, I decided to pick it up because I loved the Higurashi anime, and from that point on I was hooked.

Same here, i started with KS after a long time of doubting around and even longer to get to it but once i started i never stopped, the vn world caught me and kidnapped me and i'm it's happy hostage :wafuu: (just realized this sounds wrong, eh XD)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hmmm. My first VN that I read would be Katawa Shoujo, back in early 2013. I remember I was sailing the pirate seas that time, and saw "Katawa Shoujo."

I was like, "Wut, Japanese titled game with English trans? Meh, guess I'll try it."

Finished the game in a day or two, only stopping for lunch and dinner. Sadly, even though it was my first VN, it didn't strike me as much as my next VN, which was Yume Miru Kusuri.

Damn, now that VN left a really deep impression on me. 

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On 28/12/2015 at 10:21 AM, Canicheslayer said:

My first VN was True love. It was a long time ago. I was just a stupid horny teenager and I thought it was some kind of Porn RPG :ph34r:I really liked it, finished all the routes and restarted it multiple times.

Same. True Love 95 I played 20 years ago and while it's pretty modest by today's VN standards, it still had a magic, since it was a true dating sim, not just a VN, that today's VN's often don't quite match. After playing it I fell for the genre and haven't been able to stop playing VNs since.

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My first major VN was Katawa Shoujo. I've always been a fan of books and reading. But I guess you can consider my first ever VN was I think Invisible Apartment or Depression Quest. I loved the experience of every VN I ever played, I love how one can immerse themselves in the environment of the character and learning about life and decision making, cause and effects much more all without having to leave the comfort of your seat. Every since then, I'd been really picky with the VNs I play, I enjoy a more mature story (you know what I mean hehe) at the same time with a slice of life. Every click, every sentence, every sound, every second I played VNs was a sublime experience for me.

 

I'd say VNs helped shape my life in more ways than one. I've become even more mature in life, especially when you have to make choices. It's just something--in my opinion--that most or other games cannot copy, something which what makes VNs very unique in the spectacle and library of gaming/reading.

 

I got into VNs because....I've always been a bookworm since I was a kid. I never had lots of friends or went out of the house, the people that were constantly with me...or rather, the 'things' that were constantly with me where books, drawing pads, and stationary. Being an introvert also made me what I am today, I don't dislike the concept of having to party or whatever, but I'd rather be at home spending the day with one or two friends just talking about life and such. I HATE small talk, I'd rather have you talk to me about sex, love, life, the universe, etc.

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That's tough, the first I can remember clearly was one of the sono hanabira's. It wasn't bad after I finished, but I now see it as lacking in a lot of places. It is an Eroge after all though, so that's kinda to be expected. I still read that series due to the extreme lack of pure yuri VN's translated out there.

The first non-eroge VN was most likely Fate/Stay Night. I finished the fate route and started UBW, but started reading something else. So it wasn't the first I finished but first I started. My only issue with Fate/Stay is that Shiro's actions are always motivated by "what's right", "Make me surviving the fire worth it to the dead", and "wanting to finish his father's dream". Think for yourself for once and let Saber fight without you interfering!!!

Comyu is my favorite VN btw.

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My first ever VN is If My Heart Had Wings. I wanted to test how it feels to play VN by playing it first at my android phone, and it felt great. It drives me to play more VNs.

2nd VN is Muv-Luv trilogy, which I played in wrong order (MLA first instead of MLE), and that was the first time ever that a mere game made me feel so sad.

 

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I guess I'm the old guy on the forum with my first VN being Paradise Heights, back in the days of that being new and topical in the western otaku community.

What, never of heard of Paradise Heights?  Come on, it was all the rage back in the 56k dial up days!

https://vndb.org/v1012

Sadly, to make the game downloadable for the...ahem...community...the voices were removed, and those 56k piracy-friendly versions remain the only versions of the game available.  I've been wanting to buy the games of that era just to have them on the shelf in my library if for no other reason, with no luck.  I've always wanted to play the real versions of those games.  (T_T)

Season of the Sakura, Time Stripper Mako, Ring Out Les-Ring...it takes me back.  To say True Love blew my mind would be an understatement.

https://vndb.org/v241

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My, my. I didn't really think that my post would really get this many replies :illya:.

Anyways, looks like most of the Fuwans here started off their VN habits by playing Katawa Shoujo. So now, tell me. Is Katawa Shoujo really that great, despite it being an OELVN?

 

About the other VNs, I already knew about them so you guys don't have to tell me about it.

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My first VN (that I'm still currently reading) is If My Heart Had Wings, and boy let me tell you, Hana... What a first VN to start, it's so interesting!

It genuinely got me very interested in reading even the technical explanations on what a glider is and how it works with the aerodynamics etc.

All the characters were interesting and the story was a nice light-hearted slice of life romance.

It's definitely made me a fan of reading VN's and I only wish they were more widely available in the West. Which is another reason why I really love this community.

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If my memory serves right. My first visual novel would be Long Live The Queen, found it charming with a dark twist. A very good place to start read for newbies in the VN genre... Soon I got interest with reading more VNs and went reading through some Winterwolves title games like Flower Shop and Loren The Amazon Princess. Although not that great, they're pretty decent enough to read to pass the time. After for quite a while has fast, I realized that what I read before were all Western Visual Novels made by people in the west to popularize the Visual Novel Genre which has its roots in Japan. When I found out Visual Novels are of Japanese Origins, I first tried the Fan Translation of Fate Stay Night, then I went on with JAST USA official English translation of Steins Gate. Ever since I enjoy reading VNs, though as of now I wasn't really able to complete most of my playthrough due to lack of time and commitment... 

Hope I'll have some more extra time to read them this new year around and to be able to fully appreciate on what they have to offer 

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i think i got curious about vns from listening to dodger get repeatedly shut up trying to talk about them on the co-optional podcast

so i went to her channel and started watching the reject demon toko, because it had a cool artstyle and some boobs, and i thought it was kind of nice.

i think the reason why i love vns so much is that to me, they are a perfect compromise between books and films. they have the controllable pace of books (very important to me, because of my concentration disorder) but they also have music and visuals to enhance the experience, like a film. there is something wonderful about reading text while listening to music that was made for it, while also being able to pause at will to think a sentence over again

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm pretty sure my first Vn was Ks (Katawa Shoujo) and it was amazing..at the time it got me completely hooked and got me into the world of Vn's so im deeply indebted to it and will always hold a place in my kokoro :kosame:

Unlike most people i played shizune's route first and actually liked her :sachi:

Ps: i think i already had posted here but it was a response i think :wafuu:

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My first Visual Novel was Grisaia at first it was great I was really into the game ended up spending 4 or 5 hours the first day. Same thing happened the next day and next thing I knew I was dragged into the visual novel completely. 

I got into vn's through watching some guy stream a game being live translated on stream and thought these games looked interesting so I ended up looking around and found Grisaia.

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I'm working my way through Grisaia no kaijutsu, it's my first visual novel.

I fell in love with Steinz;Gate and Fate.Zero when watching them as Anime and I wanted more!

  • I researched them both, discovering they were both originally Visual Novels, but that, disastrously... neither was on Steam! (very sad times). I flicked through the other VN's available on Steam and decided to purchase Grisaia, G-Senjou, Fault 1 & 2, Sound of Drop, Eden* and Planetarian. - Do people believe these will be good choices for a beginner? What should I go with after I finish Grisaia?
  • I'm a ways now into what I think is still the common route in Grisaia (I just met JB outside the school) and I'm finding it absolutely fantastic. Coming from a bit of a Fansub group background, What surprised me greatly was the quality of the translation, and how the jokes were just so damn funny. This is some of the funniest stuff I've heard in my life. Let alone read! I can't believe it was written in JP!
  • So far I'm finding all of the characters interesting, but when it comes time to choose I have been advised on going through them like this: Irisu > Amane > Sachi > Michiru > Yumiko. Thoughts on that order? Any advice on how to do it differently and why? I like Amane (sexy! confident! hilarious!) and Michiru (best. character. idea. ever.) the most. Sachi and Yumiko seem pretty great too. Though I'm finding the romance angle with Irisu to be a bit ... dodgey. I understand that's probably cultural. I've never been a lolicon.
  • I never really believed you could have such complex, compelling characters outside of a very well written novel. I've certainly never seen them in any other medium. Whether that be a critically acclaimed show like The Wire, or a great game like Bauldurs Gate. Even when characters are on that level, they never get enough screen time to make an impact, or their story is simply too spread out, to drip fed for the reader to keep it all together. Maybe they come across amazing on a Wiki article, but not in practice. It seems to me that Grisaia is striking just the right balance. And whether it's Sachi tracking your eye movements to pre-empt your needs (hinting at a dangerously subservient upbringing) or Amane feeling all too comfortable with using her body as a 'resource'. The idea that you get to pick the one your most interested in and learn more about them, seems pretty revelatory to me. Even books don't have that!
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Welcome to visual novels and to the forums, Jim!

You definitely picked up some good ones there; the only one you listed that I haven't at least heard great things about is Sound of Drop (and I've actually not heard of it at all before, to tell the truth...), and I can personally recommend G-Senjou, Eden*, and Planetarian. The latter two are on the short side and are "kinetic novels" (meaning they have no choices and only one route), whereas G-Senjou is another long VN with several major routes, each with both good and bad ends. Eden* and Planetarian are also going to be thematically pretty similar - both are considered "nakige", or "crying games", and both have a post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting. The place where the two diverge a lot is going to be the characters and the execution. On the other hand, G-Senjou is... kind of its own thing. It's got your typical overused modern, Japanese high school setting, but the setting quickly fades in the face of an amazing plot. Anyway, you probably can't go wrong with any of the ones you have (except possibly Sound of Drop).

Aside from Steam, you should know that there are a couple of other places to buy officially-licensed English-translated visual novels:

- MangaGamer (who was actually the licensor for Eden*, and releases their 18+ games through their own website) probably has the largest catalog. That catalog is unfortunately largely "nukige" (read: porn, usually without much of a plot), but there are a number of gems in there, such as: "ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two", a longer and darker game by minori, the company that made Eden*; the "Cartagra" / "Kara no Shoujo" series; "Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning"; and a number of others that I'm probably unfairly leaving out.

- JAST USA, which most notably has Steins;Gate (and, like MangaGamer, unfortunately also a ton of nukige...).

Sekai Project is the other reasonably-sized licensor, but all their All Ages releases (like Grisaia, Clannad, and G-Senjou) are using Steam for distribution. If it's of interest to you, there are also often uncensored 18+ releases of their games (including Grisaia) through their sister company Denpasoft.

And aside from that, you can always go with the (admittedly somewhat legally gray...) import + apply fan translation option; for Fate/Stay Night, which you mentioned, that'd be the only option. If you're interested in more details there (it's a longer story), probably best to start another thread or just PM me to avoid hijacking this thread further...

Lastly, it can be a bit overwhelming at first, but try poking around vndb.org a bit - a quick way to find whether you're on to something interesting is to look up a game you're considering there and check out its ratings, themes, etc. But the Recommendations forum on Fuwanovel is pretty responsive, and of course experienced people are usually a better resource than mere votes; don't hesitate to ask.

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4 hours ago, FeralJim said:

 

  • So far I'm finding all of the characters interesting, but when it comes time to choose I have been advised on going through them like this: Irisu > Amane > Sachi > Michiru > Yumiko. Thoughts on that order? Any advice on how to do it differently and why? I like Amane (sexy! confident! hilarious!) and Michiru (best. character. idea. ever.) the most. Sachi and Yumiko seem pretty great too. Though I'm finding the romance angle with Irisu to be a bit ... dodgey. I understand that's probably cultural. I've never been a lolicon.

what are you talking about, Makina is older than Michiru :makina:.

Spoiler

1b8M4y0.jpg

 

 

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