General Visual novel thread

Wasn't too sure what section to put this under, but figured it would get the most attention here. Not sure how many other Southperricans are avid VN readers (I know quite a few of you have tried at least a handful) but I happen to spend a lot of time on them. Making individual threads for each one will probably lead to dead conversations, but having a general thread may spark something.

Currently I'm reading Symphonic Rain, and I have to say that although the first 3 routes weren't anything too spectacular (aside from certain moments in the ends), the last routes were amazingly enjoyable to read through. It's certainly earned a spot on my list of favorites.



If anyone wants VN recommendations, I'd be happy to give out some as well. Though, some of my recommendations may be untranslated (if you can't read Japanese, you can learn some of the basics and use ATLAS to read em, though reading it this way usually doubles the amount of time you'd normally take to read through it).

Only VN i've read apparently: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/529708

Only VN i've read apparently: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/529708

When I saw the Newgrounds link I was actually expecting that Love Hina dating sim someone made years ago. Though, that was much more GRINDAN than story, if I remember correctly. I actually haven't heard of this one, but then again I haven't touched NG in years anyway. How long would you say it is? I may give it a try sometime tomorrow.

From skimming the comments, this has a pretty strange story to it?

When I saw the Newgrounds link I was actuaally expecting that Love Hina dating sim someone made years ago. Though, that was much more GRINDAN than story, if I remember correctly. I actually haven't heard of this one, but then again I haven't touched NG in years anyway. How long would you say it is? I may give it a try sometime tomorrow.

It's been on the front page for i guess a few days at most. Was on the front page when i checked today and played.

To actually get to an end takes like 5ish minutes. Apparently there's a lot of ways to get to those ends, though. It's more of a "deep meaning" kind of story. (just don't read the comments if you want to figure it out yourself ._.)

Yeah, I didn't fully read all the comments, just skimmed the first few and averted my eyes if it seemed like it would lead into something spoilery. Just tried it and got an ending. Hmm, this actually is okay despite being so short, I'll see what else I think about it after reading some more and getting the other two endings.

Which ending did you get first?

I've read
Chaos;Head
Katawa Shoujo Ch1
Wanko to Kurasou
Yume Miru Kusuri
Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo
Kana Imouto

Enjoyed Yume Miru Kusuri and Sharin no Kuni very much.

Currently reading Kira Kira at a very slow rate.

Rarely do I ever have or spend time reading since it's very time consuming. I am looking forward to when they finally release ef though.

-Requesting post deletion, got error'd when editing my above post and this ended up being posted-

 Air pressure

 You sure?

The main character is a heroin addict.

I did enjoy Yume Miru Kusuri as well. I'm actually somewhat in the middle of Kira Kira myself, but have it semi-paused because I've started other projects as well. Truthfully, I've never even finished every route in Tsukihime, or reached every end of fate/stay night. I'm the obsessive type that likes to read every string to text, and get every end. This is very bad for monsteriously long works such as Tsukihime and F/SN because there are so many different endings and so many combinations that I end up going crazy with saving and re-reading.

The only VNs on your list I've yet to read are Kana Imouto and Sharin no Kuni.

I didn't think much of Kana Imouto. Plot seems bland and the writing isn't very particularly great.

Sharin no Kuni had really entertaining dialogue, and vibrant colours. Art work was really great, and I found the story compelling.

 Spoiler

I can't say razors immediately came to mind, as it's a million times easier to strike a nerve/artery with a needle than a blade. Unless you literally shove it into your arm or something stupid, in which case he wouldn't be alive.

I think the pixelated effect on leigh represents the stress from not having used.

 Spoiler

Hmm, this is true. For me, the first thing that would come to mind when I hear "strike an artery" is cutting. After all, that's the reason cutters aim for the wrist, where it's easier to hit one. I can't say much for nerves, but I've never been too into biology to memorize this kinda stuff. I would imagine you'd have to dig pretty deep to hit one, but not sure how deep.

Remember, kids, it's up and down the road; not walk across the street!

Not a visual novel - but you may be interested in Yume Nikki. I wouldn't really call it a game, even though it runs on RPG maker. It's more of...I can't really explain. A form of interactive art? (Not to give it too much praise that I'd call it classical or anything)

Basically you explore around the subconscious of the main character, who you don't really know much about other than the fact that she refuses to leave her home. She keeps a diary of her dreams (the title is literally translated to "Dream Diary"), and that's pretty much all you actually get out of her. There's no actual text in the game, but it's very visual and trippy. You pretty much come to your own conclusion as to what's going on with her.

As you explore around the large areas of her mind, you'll find certain items that grant you "effects". Some are purely cosmetic, such as letting your hair loose. Others are useful, such as the lamp-head being used to illuminate dark areas, and the knife being used to...well, attack whatever you find in her dreams.


Since there's no actual story to it, you can take it down at your own pace. I wouldn't recommend using a guide unless you're really stuck on getting an effect, because it's much better to explore yourself. When you collect all the effects, you drop them in the lobby area of your dreams and get an ending when you wake up...kinda. It depends, some people don't think of it as an ending, and there are multiple interpretations on what actually happens. Won't spoil anything, but basically look around for anything suspicious when you wake from collecting everything. It'll be something obvious, so this isn't a spoiler, just something that would prevent you from referring to a guide unless absolutely necessary.

Im "reading" the ace attorney series, if they count

Im "reading" the ace attorney series, if they count

Acceptable, though what I don't like is when you pick an obviously bad choice and the game forces you to go with the opposite. You know it's a bad choice, but just want to see the outcome, but then you end up with Maya telling you how stupid it is or something and go through with the right choice.

In fact, there are many visual novels that do this, and I hate it. Why put the choices in if they lead to the same thing? It's not really a choice that way. It's like the writer thought "gee, it's been a while since I last gave the reader some choices, let me throw one in. But I'm too lazy to write an alternate route that would come from that choice, so let me just make the main character have an internal monologue and do the same thing regardless of what the reader picks."

He threatens to kill your family after raping your lover

• Kick his ASS!
  
• Run away and call for help
  

So you pick the second choice:

"Oh gee, I'm scared of this guy, I should run and get someone for help!....NO!, I'M SO ANGRY, IMMA GO KICK HIS ASS!"
Why give me the choice? THE MAIN CHARACTER KICKS HIS ASS ANYWAY, SO WHY GIVE ME AN OPTION!? Unless this leads to an event later, it's completely unnecessary.

Only VN i've read apparently: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/529708

Ah, my friend told me to try that a few days ago. I guess I'll get around to it later tonight...

I'm slowly playing through Clannad (I got After Story's bad end, so I only need to play certain points of AS twice to finish it), and Umineko. I own both of them + the rest of Key's games, but as far as I know Kanon is the only one that can be translated from the ME disk, so I'll probably play that after Clannad.

Ah, my friend told me to try that a few days ago. I guess I'll get around to it later tonight...

I'm slowly playing through Clannad (I got After Story's bad end, so I only need to play certain points of AS twice to finish it), and Umineko. I own both of them + the rest of Key's games, but as far as I know Kanon is the only one that can be translated from the ME disk, so I'll probably play that after Clannad.

You'd probably enjoy Symphonic Rain. It's not that long either.

I think Planetarian can be translated from the disk as well, if you're interested.