How do you buy VNs?

[Eclipsed]

I don't buy them                 though if I did I'd want the physical copies because I like physical things (why are you playing LL:SIF then you big doof) but apparently Down says they are hard to get outside of the localized stuff so I guess our very own OriginalRen (lol at his retiring comment) would've been my choice on the 'How I buy VN'

[Sakimichi]

I buy on steam using debit card, and for hard copies I send my money to my overseas friend so it would be shipped to her home.I'll receive the soft copy (rip)  and she owns the hard copy.

I'm waiting for Grisaia, Ozmafia and Steins;Gate on steam.  

[ExtraMana]

I buy on Steam.

The only advantage other than of course supporting the industry is proper resolution scaling ie 1440p exists.

That and controller support, pretty major actually otherwise I use a bluetooth keyboard which is nowhere as comfy.

[suikashoujo]

I usually buy the ones that are available on Steam or Amazon, since I don't have a credit card. I actually got most of my Key games from there, and they were all limited editions (Little Busters, Rewrite Harvest Festa, and as of tonight, Clannad). the convenience aspect plays a large part in that, since I can go to my local convenience store and buy gift cards with any cash I get.

[kyrt]

I tend to buy from Jast USA, Mangagamer, J-list, rightstuf, Kickstarter, Steam, Denpasoft, Amiami, Ebay, Amazon, and hopefully in the near future OriginalRen's vn mail order service.

 

I've been buying visual novels since Ever17 that I discovered in a used a bookstore and I've always been a big proponent for buying and supporting the things that I love...I generally only buy games when they are on sale. I also almost always prefer buying hard copy/digital copy when available or will often buy hard copy over digital copy. Mangagamer titles in particular I usually wait til they release them as a physical copy before buying them...although this isn't always the case. I really hate double dipping when it comes to paying for visual novels (or anything really). 

 

I used Ebay right after buying Ever17 and happened to stumble across Jast USA who was selling on there at the time and it eventually led me to official places to buy vns...before that I had bought a ton of vns usually in packs of 4 but nearly all of these turned out to be bootlegs. Ebay can still be a decent place to find visual novels but pay attention to shipping fees and legitimacy. Recently there have been some pretty damn good deals for some japanese visual novels that pop up by people who imported and are trying to sell. Again though do the research before purchasing anything from ebay.

 

Amazon also has visual novels for sale if you know the title of a particular game you might be able to find one they have been known to have both licensed titles and japanese ones at times. Similar to ebay these are usually importers who are trying to sell their copy.

 

Kickstart and Indiegogo and sites like that are also good places to help support bringing specific games over although I personally dislike this method I have used it. 

 

Rightstuf and other websites like it often sell visual novels and often receive sales throughout the year. J-list and Mangagamer tend to have sales around holidays which often make their games worth picking up during these times and sometimes you can get decent deals at cons since they sometimes hand out coupons of buy 1 get one or throw in little extras. In the case of J-list they also have a promotion that anytime you buy 3 or more visual novels you get 15 percent so I tend to buy in 3s because this 15 percent stacks with any other sales they have.

 

Steam I've been supporting a bunch of the visual novels appearing on there and sometimes you even see steam vns appear on sale on greenmangaming or humblebundle which often have some sick deals. Again with these distributors unless you can't wait I recommend waiting for them to go on sale because they do usually a few times each year and you can save money by being patient.

 

So I usually buy visual novels that have been licensed but I have kept an eye on amiami which is not a horrible place to pick up games that are currently available for pre-order, alternatively you could also use OriginalRen's visual novel mail order service and pick up games not just on pre-order.

 

If a company decides to try and release outside of Japan I will do what I can to help support them (as long as they are selling something I am interested in and don't butcher the product).

[sarkasmus]

I bought a few VNs (Danganronpa 1+2 and Vitues last reward) on PSN and a few on Steam, but I had to pirate everything else because I can't buy anything on sites like Mangagamer or Jast (I don't have a credit card and I don't even know anyone in real life who has a credit card) importing is almost impossible for the same reason (the only way for me to import something is to go to the GamesMedia and ask if they can get that game but you need to be lucky because often the games are not avaiable there).