Your first VN experience

[Yeah Way]

One of my favourite Youtubers played through "Katawa Shoujo" (For some reason). Downloaded it and the rest is FEELS history.

[Hatsune Miku]

Well, my first VN was Kamidori Alchemy meister, but it's really more gameplay than story. Now im enjoying If my heart had wings thanks to the restoration patch

[OtonashiP]

My hatsutaiken was..... Fate/Stay Night

[Chibimothfan]

the first one I tried was Clannad, because when I checked the anime's details on wikipedia after finishing after story, it said that it was just an adaptation, so I decided to fully experience the real thing. It was so great, I read Kanon next. Then I just typed in visual novel recommendations in google and eventually found vndb. That was 2 years ago and Clannad is still on my laptop. Since then I've read all of Key's vns (that are available in english) and a lot of other great pieces.

[Shikitohno]

The first VN I read was Tsukihime and that was because I read the manga. then after that I was fate/Stay night, and from the I became addicted though there was a huge gap between reading Tsukihime and Fate/Stay night of a least three years.

[goldenguy43]

the only visual novel i played was kawata shoujo but i got bored with it and i only touched a visual novel this year when i saw dangan ronpa on this site,so i copied the game to my psp and had a blast with it,i freaking love the story,the characters and the soundtrack was really great.

ps:i cant wait for sweet fuse:at your side.

[Zael><EXE]

My first visual novel was Hoshizora no Memoria, I had been looking around YouTube and somehow found it, I only recently downloaded and completed it.

A few reasons I played it are: the art for the game looked amazing, there are about 7 routes which means lots of fun, and there was a specific route that I wanted to go onto, the "Mystery Girl'.

I loved the VN, unfortunately, I had completed the game in about a week, and I wasn't very happy when after I had completed all the routes, I hadn't unlocked anything (Other than that scene maker thing).

Currently, I am looking around for suggestions to which VN I should try next. If anyone has any ideas, please send me a message.

[Gavisi]

I watched the Clannad anime after hearing a bunch of recommendations, and really liked the After Story half. That made me want to see more Key stuff, so I got a couple episodes into Kanon, and it was only around that time that I learned these shows were based off VNs. So I said hey, I should try reading Kanon before I finish watching it. I think I struggled through the common route, reading for like 5 minutes and then saying meh and putting it aside, but once I got into Ayu's route, man was I hooked. And am still hooked - only on my third VN but I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

[Xell]

I think my first game I could call distinctly a VN would be Analogue A Hate Story. It was mostly just an accident too, searching around steam during the sales and the setting seemed interesting so I figured "Why not?". But after playing it, I realized I already liked the dialogue and story focus from other games I had played in the past, like Persona series and Thousand Arms way back on the playstation 1.

For me, Analogue has felt like some sort of gateway drug for VN's. I enjoyed the story and characters enough, but it was very short and left me feeling like I needed more, which is what lead to me joining the forums here ^^ I'm still not sure if I would consider Analogue or Thousand Arms my first VN, but I do know I loved the character focus and getting to know the ones you traveled with in-game was what made ones like Thousand Arms and Persona stand out in my mind. Exploring further into VN's seemed like the next logical step ^^

[Kitouski]

I believe my first visual novel was Tsukihime. I really wanted to play one of the many quirky Japanese fighters I heard of at the time and Melty Blood was one I was looking at. It wasn't translated at the time and the project I believe was on hiatus at MirrorMoon but the translation site just came out with a full patch of Tsukihime at the time, which at the time I only knew was related to Melty Blood. Got it, played it, loved it, been playing visual novels like crazy since.

[BookwormOtaku]

My first visual novel...that's actually a tricky question to answer. The first game I played that introduced me to the concept would be Vanguard Bandits (Epica Stella in Japan) with it having routes for three of the heroines, though technically it's more of a strategy RPG than a VN. Perhaps a closer game to consider my first would be Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars, Growlanser 2 and 3, or Inuyasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask (I can't remember which of those I played first), even though those are hybrid VNs as well. As for my first pure VN, that would be Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

All in all I'd say those games got me into the genre because of their character focus and because I liked the idea of seeing more than one story or ending to a game.

[nohman]

That's a little difficult to pinpoint. I had dabbled here and there, but the first one that I consciously identified as being a “visual novel” and got me hungry for the medium as a whole was G-senjou no Maou. I was hooked from the get-go the moment i heard Air on G. So much so that after I completed it, I just had to immediately start Sharin no Kuni.

[Silvachief]

My first was Aselia the Eternal, though at the time I though it was just a normal video game. My flatmate had been playing it and gave me a copy. The degree to which the story predominated won me over and made me start looking for more games that were similar.

 

The first title that I played that I actually recognized as a Visual Novel was Kira Kira. It had its faults but I loved the experience and listening to the BGM a year later still evokes the same feelings that it did in the original VN.

 

I've been devouring Visual Novels ever since

[Silvachief]

That's a little difficult to pinpoint. I had dabbled here and there, but the first one that I consciously identified as being a “visual novel” and got me hungry for the medium as a whole was G-senjou no Maou. I was hooked from the get-go the moment i heard Air on G. So much so that after I completed it, I just had to immediately start Sharin no Kuni.

 

Those are both two of my favorite VNs. If I wasn't hooked before playing them, I certainly was afterwards

[Albedo]

Technically it was Radical Dreamers, quite a while ago, but I had no idea what it was. Lost Odyssey's short stories may also count too. My first "real" experience was playing Ever 17 because it was recommended on a CRPG forum (people said it was a mindfuck... they were right), loved it, then I finished the rest of the infinity series and 999, chaos head, steins:gate and then I was hooked.

 

I think I was lucky, Ever 17 is a great jump-on point for the medium. I would have probably quit altogether if I had started with Fate/Stay Night or Muv Luv Extra.

[Blackbird]

In the past I didn't really enjoy much visual novel game, but my first game I actually enjoy were Little Busters!

My impression of visual novel were really weak.

I stop playing visual novel for a while and start doing something else and all of sudden I become stuck again and become addict to it.

I didn't feel reading a visual novel without voicing it like Katawa Shoujo since I haven't finish it yet.

I remember I tried a bit on trial version but haven't pick much on it on the full version.

 

So far my experience is pretty good, my favorite visual novel is If my heart had wings, Rewrite, Grisaia & now Yumina become so far.

[Cali]

Think i played 2 vn's before i knew what it was!   "don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story" and "Analogue: A Hate Story"  i didnt like em very much and tought nothing of it until a friend of mine gave me a link to katawa shoujo!

 

Aw man... started on it last thursday i think, had to stop playing after 21 hours non stop it was just sooo good i couldnt stop haha!

 

Few days later tought i owed the genre a lookie, didnt expect to find that many vn's to pick from im still stunned a bit!

 

To be honest i think KS made me realise a few things about myself 

[Novel21]

My first VN was Princess Waltz a very good VN with good gameplay, and the VN was very intressing and i really loved the game very much

[Stanleys]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure that my first VN was Katawa Shoujo, But it is possible that I have had a run-in with them before that but I just don't remember.

[Naraku93]

Kana:Imouto has taken my virginity, I was looking for a game containing incest and I found that title, I've been a bit disappointed but overall it wasn't a bad game.

[Arturia]

Hmm my first Experience I guess was Yuki Sakura.

I found it one day while I was wondering what a Visual Novel was like. I remembered hearing about them and seeing them on Anime but was too curious.

After that I couldn't stop myself and got more starting with Kira Kira.

[Zhiroo]

Like many it was Katawa Shoujo even though I knew about VNs longer from watching animes. I saw a topic about in a forum and that it's free, I read it liked and wanted more so I read Yume Miru after (only done one route actually so far) and the rest is history.

[cryofrzd]

The first vn I read was Crescendo for about 5 years ago. I don't remember how I got the idea of downloading it, but I remember I was surprised with the story quality. That made me go for some other translated vns such as Kana imouto, Yume miru kusuri and a bunch of others that didn't leave enough impression for me to remember them today.

 

Then the big catalyser came with Kanon (this was before air or little busters were translated, or rewrite even released), after that I discovered vndb and lensed it of translated vns that seemed interesting.  One day I read the then newly translated trial for Flyable Heart and felt forced to read the continuation, which was the first vn I read in Japanese, with vndb + translator aggregator.

 

I found out about Micchi's monthly reviews of new vns started reading new vns untranslated with the glorious graphics of newer vns, and I come here after I heard of the restoration patch for Kono oozora.

[Flutterz]

For the longest time the closest thing I've ever played to a VN was Persona 3 Portable, and I really liked the social part of it, even though I had no idea anything like VNs existed. Then about a year and a half ago I randomly found Katawa Shoujo on the internet, played it and loved it, but still didn't bother looking into VNs. A few months later, I couldn't get to sleep, so I started looking for things to do on the interwebs (I only had my netbook), and eventually stumbled upon VNs, namely Cross Channel, and from that point on I was hooked.

[Crysis99]

Well for me, it started with me liking Persona 3, and I actively searched for game like that, and accidentally stumbled upon a bunch of onscripter games for the PSP. I just happen to play Says no Uta first, let's just say I never touched VNs for a long time. About three years later, I decided to give it another try, and played Tsukihime and loved it, it felt like the old Make-Your-Own-Adventure books that I loved as a child, I lost many hours of sleep to that, though I still avoided other VNs

 

None of the other onscripter games lived up to Tsukihime, then I found Clannad. I remember crying on Fuuko's route, and really changed my viewpoint on VNs and anime in general. Ever since then I tried all sorts of VN, and eventually learnt how to appreciate them, up to the point of making one myself. It really has changed my view on life.