Most of us here should be fans of Ryukishi07’s visual novels, but what about other titles from other genres? What do you think of the Visual Novel medium? What are some of your favourites? What are you reading right now?
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Key are my big go-to Visual Novel developer, I love just about everything they’ve produced. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly an expert on Visual Novels, but I’ve played a few. I recently finished Zero Time Dilemma and loved it, and went on to read Danganronpa 2 (if you consider that a VN). Dammit Danganronpa 2, why did you have such a shitty ending?? The rest of the game was fantastic though.
Soon I’ll be reading Tomoyo After for the first time as part of Kazamatsuri’s Bookclub, but next time I’m free I really want to try giving Muv-Luv a go, I’ve heard so many good things.
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I don’t have enough constructive to say about visual novels at the moment, but my favorites include some of Key’s works (AIR, Little Busters, Planetarian) as well as Sega’s real flagship franchise in Japan (Sakura Wars 2 & V). I’m currently reading Umineko (of course), and CLANNAD Side Stories. I’m looking forward to reading Tomoyo After, as well as the rest of the Higurashi chapters as they come out.
Also, when are you making the next Sakura Wars game, Sega? More Valkyria Chronicles doesn’t count! ;;
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I love Visual Novels, but I’m going to have to honestly admit that I’ve been disapointed by most of them. It’s weird to say Ryukishi’s doujin games with their filtered backgrounds and their ancient engine deliver more than big budget Frontwing and Type-Moon games, but it’s been the case for most of the games I’ve played. (That said, Zero Escape hasn’t let me down yet, although I still haven’t finished ZTD.)
I recently finished Gahkthun, which I thought was a nice little game, although the over-arching plot was lackluster and the sex scenes weren’t my cup of tea.
I also finished Root Double, which was very good, and I wanted to love it much more than I did, but it’s True Route had some incredible pacing issues.
Other than that I’ve read the Fault games, World End Economica, The Fruit of Grisaia, Danganronpa 1, Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, Steins;Gate, and Chaos;Head.
Believe it or not, but… I’ve never played a Key game! I own Clannad, but I haven’t really gotten around to reading it yet. I want to read it, but I still haven’t finished Zero Time Dilemma, and I also haven’t started The House in Fata Morgana, which I’ve been looking forward to.
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What do I even say about visual novels…
They are very possibly my favorite medium of entertainment. On the surface, combining music with the pacing and intricacy of the prose of a novel… Im at a loss for words for how to describe how and why I love both of those, but adding music to anything makes it better in my opinion.
But on a much deeper level, the very mechanics of a VN, allowing for multiple stories and one story to exist at the same time… it allows for narratives that cannot be so fully explored by any other medium.
As for favorites, Im a huge Key fan: CLANNAD is what got me interested in VNs, and Little Busters! cemented my eternal love for them; the latter is probably what I would call my “all-time favorite.” I also love Fate/stay night and every single Fate related thing. And the way both Higurashi and Umineko have started off, I could easily see both of those finding theyre way to the top of my list as well.
Right now Im playing Grisaia no Kajitsu (still trying to drag myself through the monster of a common route), and also Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi.
Im finding the former pretty funny, or rather, Im finding Sachi pretty funny.
As for the latter, I continue to repeatedly be pleasantly surprised. I started SukiZaku knowing absolutely nothing about it, picking it up purely because the TL project needed an editor and I was willing to help with pretty much anything.
On the surface it looks like a very standard romance eroge, with such a fantastical twist that I almost couldnt take it seriously. But as I continued, I realized just how much more there was to the story and the setting than meets the eye. That, and Im in love with its soundtrack. And any VN with a good OST has an immediate +1 in my book. I mean, come on, it has freaking [Hanatan singing the OP] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFWUFEzxovs) and ED for crying out loud, how did they even get that.
Anyways, its really great so far. I definitely recommend you give it a try when the TL patch is finished.
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I got stuck in a VN limbo after finishing Umineko few weeks ago. I tried Zero Time Dilemma but didn’t like the new style. I felt like there was less story and exposition because they went with the cinematic approach, although I only played few hours.
Then I started Fata Morgana but I just couldn’t get immersed at all. Once again there was very little exposition and I’m not convinced by the atmosphere and art style at all.
Then I picked Euphoria (lol) it seemed promising but now that I’m almost done with my second route I’m more disappointed than interested. I also tried getting into Kara no Shojo but I couldn’t even finish Cartagra which is apparently too important to be skipped… I regret wasting time on that one.
And now I’m losing interest in Muv Luv Extra although I really need to force myself through if I’m ever going to read Alternative. Sigh. I just don’t care about any of the characters and the humor isn’t funny. Mikoto is probably the only exception but he keeps getting pushed aside. I’m very close to hating Sumika although I’ve always thought hating fictional characters is usually just lack of understanding the story.
As a cherry on top, Steins Gate Zero will apparently be released in september. I totally have an anxiety complex related to that VN. I love S;G to death but there are so many aspects about it I can’t stand. I want to read Zero and be hyped about it but I’m almost certain I’ll be hugely disappointed by it.
Haha sorry about the rant 
Anyway, VNs are great!
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I found the wonder of visual novels through planetarian, while searching through Key’s works. In case any of you don’t know, I’m a huge Key fan, and I’m quite active over on Kazamatsuri.
Despite that, I’m still quite new to visual novels as whole. Outside of planetarian, I’ve read Rewrite, Little Busters!, and roughly half of Kanon and Clannad, which I started and plan on finishing after a couple other VNs. (I’ve watched their respective anime series, however)
I plan on diving much deeper into the world of VNs, as I wholeheartedly believe it is the most detailed and quite possibly the best way to tell a story. I’m starting with Umineko. Although, I actually own quite a few visual novels, (Thanks to Steam/PSN sales and lucky eBay finds) so I have a decent backlist already.
In any case, I look forward to experiencing more amazing works of fiction through the VN medium!
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Oooooh, VNs! (If anybody is a YT video editor and wants to edit with VNs, hit me up and I’ll link you to a VN studio my friend is running!)
What can I say that hasn’t been said besides that I like a lot of the ones I’ve played? I’m working on finishing DR: Another Episode, but I was working on Steins;Gate for a while (still in Chapter 5 or 6). For Steins;Gate, I love how the characters are archetypes at first but are so much more than that (and they’re all JoJo-loving nerds, too). I’ve played Saya no Uta, and it’s an Urobuchi story, so lots of suffering and humans being terrible, but it’s really captivating! Lots of gore, though. Hatoful Boyfriend is the quintessential deconstruction of otome games, which are very hit or miss, and it’s so much more than a bird dating sim where you care about the characters (and Shuu’s route is a definite deconstruction of the usual VN belief that you can reform a clearly evil character with love and it knows it). It’s silly and heart-breaking and great. The Dangan series is a real good one all around, and I love the SDR2 cast so much (more than the creators do, RIP). It’s a good commentary on Japanese society with so many dark jokes, and it doesn’t let up that commentary in AE, where it doesn’t bother covering up the evil and horrible things that happened to the children whose only goals in life now are to kill adults (though to be honest they coulda done without the Syo stripping characters things). I’m gonna play Amnesia after I finish Hatoful’s Holiday Star, and I hope with this boom in VNs, more VNs get licensed! I’d like to play the Fate series someday.
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Before playing Umineko or Higurashi, Narcissu was the first visual novel I played, about 10-11 years ago. I remember finding it weird, but I think I would appreciate it more today. Maybe it’s because of Ryu’s liniar works, but I’m not a big fan of VNs where you have to make choices (even though most are known for those). I love VNs as a medium, because they are the perfect blend of books and films.
Some others I’ve played include Rose Guns Days, Ame no Marginal (loved that one so much), Hatoful Boyfriend (which surprised me when it suddenly turned into a mystery), Dangan Ronpa 1 (although I wasn’t a big fan of it), World End Economica (technically, still haven’t finished it) and a bunch of other small ones.
Maybe I should try more mystery VNs, since I am a big fan of mystery!
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I have only really been playing visual novels for about a year and half now, and I only really have CLANNAD, Kanon, Steins;Gate and Higurashi Chapter 1 under my belt. I have done the Strawberry Panic VN PS2 game and Nanatsuiro Drops Pure Akihime route as well I guess - those were in Japanese while I was in college. I had a Mac and did not feel up to dealing with either getting a Windows PC/dual booting and translation patches to play one kind of game. Since JAST did Steins;Gate though it felt like the English VNs suddenly became accessible, so I have started working through some.
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The scene has exploded in the last two years, it’s pretty incredible to watch.
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Next month’s gonna be a great one for PS Vita VN fans! We’re scheduled to get Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness, Steins;Gate 0, and Root Letter!
I’m really excited for all of these! I can’t wait to get my hands on them. I think I’m definitely gonna play Psycho-Pass first, gotta support NIS America. Definitely gonna play Steins;Gate 0 too, there’s been so much hype built up for it, and I want to support the Science Adventure series. Root Letter sounds really interesting too!
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Here’s hoping they end up coming to Steam 
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I have Steins;Gate 0 and Root Letter preordered. I love NISA but I know nothing about Psycho Pass except that it is an Urobuchi series I have not gotten around to yet and people keep producing replicas of the gun from it.
People keep telling me it is a long shot, but I really hope PCube releases Chaos;Head someday. With the success of Steins;Gate I would hope there would be interest in other games from the ; series.
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I hope to get Steins;Gate Zero, and the Amadeus preorder looks so beautiful but paying $110 total for it is not in my price range, so I’ll have to forgo the cute Fairy Upa and go for the standard. I expect the story will be great! (Though UPA!!)
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I’ll be forever waiting for the PC release of Steins;Gate 0 since I don’t have a Vita sobs. I’m glad that the original is coming to Steam at least. 
Anyways, man I need to get back into the VN scene. I started Root Double, but derping on continuing it. Also have Planetarian and Clannad sitting in my room waiting to be installed. Oops.
I loove the Infinity Series though so I’ll continue Root Double sometime, I backed the kickstarter after all. (Where are my physical copies tho???) I was so happy to get Ever17 signed by Uchikoshi at AX this year. I wish I could have given him a better present than a small sketch sobs. I didn’t think I would be ever to get an autograph ticket though with that long line.
I started my visual novel journey with the demo of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni in 2008, followed by the demo of Ever 17 -the out of infinity-. Just looking at how much VNs are being sold now is sooo great! It was hard years ago to even talk to them with others, but now it’s much better with VNs being on Steam and all.
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I have a few visual novels I purchased through Steam that I have yet to start.
I really try to look for kinetic visual novels, since I’m not a fan of romance/choice vns, but I’m sure I ended up buying a few non-kinetic ones anyway.
I’ve actually…not started any of the ones I’ve purchased through Steam yet, with the exception of Umineko, and even that one was just a minute or two… I’m trying to finish up the original version of Umineko before moving on. I’ll probably read the Steam release of Umineko next, if not Higurashi.
I’d really like to try Ever17, as well as Fate/Stay Night and many others.
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Besides anything by 07th expansion, I’m a big fan of Fate/Stay Night and Nitro+. I’ll read anything that has a premise that immediately grabs me, (when I’m looking for new ones to play) or just go off of a friend’s suggestion.
I’m a fan of Gen Urobuchi’s work, no matter how deprived and disgusting it is. Song of Saya, Kikokugai: Cyber Slayer and Phantom of Inferno all being some great VN’s.
I have a huge back log that I need to get started on, mainly from all the ones I bought on Steam… but I’m working away at it.
Right now I’m playing through Shikkoku no Sharnoth which I enjoy very much. It has a very Lovecraftian feel to it, which I love to death. VA-11 Hall-A is a short game I’m replaying, I highly recommend it.
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I just finished The House in Fata Morgana, a game I went into with no prior expectations or spoilers. I played it basically just because I loved the gothic art style.
It touched me. Like, I don’t know what I was expecting from it, but I didn’t go into it expecting it to be such a profoundly emotional story. I really, highly recommend it. (I wrote a more in-depth review on my review blog, but I think this is a story where you actually benefit from knowing as little about it as you can, or at the very least not knowing what it becomes.)
It also has a truly breath-taking soundtrack. (It might as well have been a Sound Novel!) By far my favorite track is the warm and beautiful Giselle. (Which happens to also be the name of my newest favorite Visual Novel heroine!)
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I’m reading that one right now~ I’ve heard so much good about it I just had to read it ASAP. So far it’s been really damn good, and I have no idea how much there’s still left.