Clephas Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 I'm doing this list on a direct request. Rather than just being a list of 'good' VNs from a particular genre, these are my favorites, in no particular order. Why? Because picking out 50 favorites is surprisingly hard when you are getting closer to five hundred played... Evolimit Nanairo Reincarnation Ikusa Megami Zero and Verita Ayakashibito Tokyo Babel Dies Irae Hapymaher Komorebi no Nostalgica Draculius Devils Devel Concept Hello, Lady Jingai Makyou Muramasa Grisaia Series Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no Bradyon Veda Otome ga Tsumugu, Koi no Canvas Konata yori Kanata Made Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu Tenshi no Hane wo Fumanaide Tsuisou no Augment Vermilion Bind of Blood Semiramis no Tenbin Yurikago yori Tenshi Made Bullet Butlers Abyss Homicide Club Izuna Zanshinken Harumade, Kururu Natsukumo Yururu Akatsuki no Goei series Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou (series) Eien no Aselia Baldr Skydive Baldr Sky Zero Tiny Dungeon series Tasogare no Sinsemilla Koiiro Soramoyou Sakura Iro Quartett (guilty pleasures, lol) Natsu no Owari no Nirvana Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake Houkago no Futekikakusha Mirai Nostalgia Satsukoi Ore no Tsure wa Hitodenashi Irotoridori no Sekai AstralAir no Shiroki Towa Eden* Phantom of Inferno Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru ~Futari no Elder~ Suzunone Seven Ok, a lot of people are going to ask me why their favorites aren't on here... For a few particular VNs, I'll give you some reasons. For the Type-Moon VNs, it is simply the fact that I found VNs that did the same things for me better later on. If the Tsukihime remake ever gets put out, I'll probably have to reconsider that, but until then... For the Steampunk VNs by Liarsoft... I absolutely loathe the combination of roundabout and repetitive prose in their VNs. One of the few cases where a VN is better off in English... For the Key VNs, similar to Type-Moon, I found other companies that did similar things better. Key just pumps more money into their VNs than others, lol. You may have noticed I have a thing for chuuni... well, it's no joke. I adore chuuni, fantasy, and sci-fi. I enjoy those genres the most, so they are overrepresented here. Why didn't I include Seinarukana along with Aselia? Because I hated the endings. Why isn't Yumina up there? For a lot of reasons, not the least because the game starts out way too slowly. Why isn't Hoshizora no Memoria up there? Simple. I liked Irotoridori and AstralAir more. As for the rest, the less obvious questions... feel free to ask them and I'll answer as best as I can. I will update the list as old VNs get toppled by new ones or I simply feel it necessary. Ayana and Tay 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 >No Muv-Luv Alternative What is this. Also, why the title? Why isn't Hoshizora no Memoria up there? Simple. I liked Irotoridori and AstralAir more. I don't think our local lolicons will disagree with you. Inb4 Steve comes in to tell you to play Hikari... I swear you keep pumping out those lists to tease us until we finally learn japanese... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 You will have to change it to 51 once you finally read hikari xD Just warning you~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Anyway, the reason for this is I was asked for just 'what are the top 50 VNs you love the most' and I made up a random topic name for the list, because I'm bored of informative names at the moment, due to the rum in my stomach. As for Muv-luv... having to slog through Unlimited and the original makes it a huge downer. Also, if I hadn't played the FD afterward, Alternative's ending would have traumatized me. I like utsuge now, but back then I was a bit more innocent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Have you not played any of the 07th expansion stuff? I noticed a little while ago you didn't have any of their games on your vndb list. They're probably the most popular (here) VNs you haven't read. Should be good if you like mystery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Jesus christ, almost five hundred? That's over 60 times the amount I read. Anyway, Ayakashibito is up there, list is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwd2 Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 lots of action fantasy, i think played roughly half of them. added some to my wishlist, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 I read Higurashi... but the anime was better. I hated the Umineko anime, so I didn't bother with the VN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Everyone agrees that the Umineko anime was way worse than the higurashi one and is just miserably shit compared to the VN. But most people also like the Higurashi VN better than its adaptation (although the adaptation still has some fans). Well, whatever, maybe they're not your cup of tea. Also, the umineko anime only covered the first half of the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 I wouldn't know, I got bored about nine episodes in, both with the characters and the story. Also, Higu was pretty much my limit with that crappy art style... It's one thing if it is a VN like Abyss (http://vndb.org/v2537) where the characters are proportionate... If they remake it with better art later, I'd consider playing it... but since I didn't like the characters in the first place and I don't really have a strong interest in mystical murder mysteries and horror for their own sake... Edit: Also, generally speaking, I absolutely hate Ryuukishi's writing style... English or Japanese. Edit2: Generally speaking, the problem is that after Higu I'd grasped the way Ryuukishi thought... so his stories became too predictable (this happens with all mystery authors for me, after one or two books). Even if he changes settings and even the basic plot idea, I automatically see where he is going with the plot... and ninety percent of the non-comedic fun of Higu was not knowing precisely where he was going with things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Very, very few people seem to correctly guess the true nature of things by the end of the four Umineko "question" arcs. Also they did remake it with better art, on the PS3 (and was backported by fans to the PC version in a patch), which I liked quite a bit. Unlike the rather bad new higu sprites MG is commissioning, the HD console art for Umineko didn't try to create some obnoxious cute moe style, and it fit really well with the game's atmosphere. Ryuukushi has a pretty weird writing style at time. He's a better storyteller than writer. Well, I won't belabor the point too much, I guess that's that and I should stop derailing the thread. The biggest surprise to me in your list is probably the Otoboku sequel. Really? That first game was so incredibly mediocre. And I hated the art. What makes the second one good? I'm pretty interested in hearing your thoughts on it since it's one of the few non-chuuni games on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 The sequel is about twenty times better than the original. While they both occur at the same school, the protagonist is significantly different (background setting makes more sense, he's more interesting), and the heroines are less 'true to the template'... not to mention that the overall writing is just better. It occurs a few years after the original, and the new protagonist is a distant relative of the protagonist of the original. I thought the original VN was awful as well... but the second turned out to be miraculously good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albedo Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Also, if I hadn't played the FD afterward, Alternative's ending would have traumatized me. I like utsuge now, but back then I was a bit more innocent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 lol... Phantom was good despite not going for consistency... if that makes sense. It was brutal, it was bloody, it was cruel to its characters, and it injected just enough realism into the killing to keep me from losing interest. Also, the localized version suffers from a number of technical problems that the original and the later versions don't (not to mention cut out text and scenes). To be blunt, brainwashing is possible, if not as simply as Scythe Master's methodology... and theoretically it is possible to create usable, if unstable, assassins utilizing brainwashing techniques and brutal training. The major inconsistency is the way he selected 'candidates'... in theory, it would have been better to gather a hundred or so teenagers off the streets, force them to undergo the same process, then make the training even more brutal, to the point where it kills off those who couldn't keep up. After that, just assign them a random target to see if they can do it, and the ones who come back are final candidates for Phantom, lol. Nonetheless, the fact that there were only a few candidates fits into the chuuni genre (the 'special' factor) and the fact that the actual VN didn't carry out the bullshit moralizing the anime did at the end or the idiotic mysticism that plagued it mid-series were also good points for it. Not to mention that the actual Japanese writing quality was high quality (better than the vampire VN Nitroplus made afterward, at least), which would have made it stand out in any case. The VN has been remade twice for a reason... Edit: Also, there is a reason Bond, Bourne, and bad spy/assassin films/books are so popular in general... Edit2: I should clarify... I like bloodshed in general. However, there are relatively few VNs that have enough bloodshed, murder, and general killing drama to satisfy me. Phantom is one of those rare ones, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookwormOtaku Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Some questions the first two regarding the Akatsuki Works games: 1) Which do you consider better: RuiTomo, Hello Lady!, or Izuna Zanshinken ? 2) Maybe it's because playing DDC has awakened some form of masochism for my brain, but I've found I'm getting more capable of working through a more advanced JP level VN if there's a good story at the core. Anyway, the question. How much like Comyu are RuiTomo and Hello Lady! seeing as they have the same writer? I can take a dark story, I can even take pretentious dialogue but the prospect of an equivalent of "red color" and "gentle kingdom" repeated dialogue is somehow scarier than any of the monsters I've seen in the horror flicks I've been Netflixing for this Halloween . 3) Which do you consider better: Bullet Butlers, Evolimit or Tokyo Babel? 4) Seeing as I've been hitting some pretty dramatic stuff lately (not just VNs), which of these listed would you recommend when I want something on the lighter side? I'm not saying no drama, just not too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 1- Just for raw quality, it would probably be Ruitomo. For violence, Izuna. For sheer fun factor (for chuuni lovers) it would be Hello, Lady. 2- Mmm... Comyu steals the sound effects from Ruitomo at times... and Ruitomo does have that sound that is made when things go all red. However, the fundamental concept and characters are different. Hello, Lady... is a bit hard to describe. I suggest just pulling out the trial version if you aren't sure about it, as it gets to the point where you can grasp the protagonist's persona fairly well. 3- Mmm... Bullet Butlers has the most on-screen killing in it, but has a really terrible first heroine (the elf girl). Evolimit has the most emotionally powerful and inspiring story, not to mention some of the most hilarious character dynamics. Tokyo Babel is great as pure chuuni... 4- Uruwashi no, Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas, or Suzunone Seven, though Uruwashi no might be a bit too emotional for your purposes. Edit: Bullet Butlers benefits from having some truly awesome antagonists, a protagonist who doesn't even hint at hesitation when the time comes to pull the trigger, and a main heroine who grows immensely during her path. Evolimit has the benefit of having a heroic but easy to empathize with protagonist and three great heroines (four if you count Aqua, for hers and Ritia's threesome ending). Tokyo Babel is non-ero and is full of Abrahamic faith apocrypha, has a protagonist full of despair and a strong death wish, and an angel, a demon, and an amnesiac for heroines. Hello, Lady's big plus side is one of the most awesome protagonists I've seen in years... he sort of resembles a supremely arrogant and vengeance-bent Yuuji, lol. Ruitomo is unique, so I generally don't bother trying to explain it. Izuna Zanshinken is just straightforward superviolent, with great assassinations, bloody scenes, and a protagonist who can be a smiling baby-face one moment and a brutal assassin the next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerathim Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I thought that Comyu would be in your top 50, you've praised it many times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 lol, I love Comyu and I love Kagome... but I like other VNs more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayana Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Wonderful list, Clephas. I shall be adding some of these to my 'wishlist' (which I don't use on vndb, but rather, in my mind :3). It's a bit of a habit that I hardly explore the fantasy genre (or rather, any genres other than the one I currently idealize) and I'd want to do so in order to broaden my horizons/expand my views on eroge out there. Being that you're really experienced in the eroge scene, seeing this list is extremely helpful, especially for motivational factors. ^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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