Hello Steamgifts!

I am Scumbag Nozzle (i'm not really a scumbag though)

Lately i've been "playing" some visual novels and have come to like the very few i have played due to actually getting feelings, and becoming "tangled" in the story and the characters. But i do not know that many "playable" visual novels as there is so i'm asking you (yeah, you!) if you have any tips on any visual novels that is a "must-read".

My two current favourites are:
Analogue: A hate story
Katawa Shoujo

Google doc suggestion form if you're not too lazy

12 years ago*

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I asked almost the same question for one of my last giveaway here. You can check out the comments, quite a bunch of recommendations.

12 years ago
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I'll scourge through the comments when i have time! seems like there are some sweet stuff in there ^_^

12 years ago
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Well, usually consider visual novels as a subgenre of the adventure games genre, as sometimes the line between them is a little blurry, as there are many of them, with an increasing number, that add more interactivity into the mix.

12 years ago
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Ace Attorney series and 999 for NDS

12 years ago
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That's just what I was talking about. Those are adventure games. Way more text than regular adventure games, but still.
Anyway, if you want games such and these (and believe me, you do) there are tons of good ones on the DS.

12 years ago
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Yes, DS rules in this genre.

12 years ago
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Did I mention that I like yuri?

12 years ago
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Saya no Uta is a must play :3

12 years ago
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+1

12 years ago
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+9001

12 years ago
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Agreed. The only sad part is that it's really short.

12 years ago
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Can't stress this enough:
Ever 17 - The Out of Infinity

Not available most likely by any legal means since the company went bankrupt a good while ago, but get it however you can.

12 years ago
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That's sad to hear.

12 years ago
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There was a remake for XBLA, not sure if it was ever released in English, though.

12 years ago
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Sekien no Inganoc

12 years ago
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I can't simply stress that VNs are VNs and dating sims are dating sims, some dick actually mixed them up.

Anyway, I recommend Clannad for drama and Fate Stay/Night for the plot.

12 years ago
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Well, TBF, there are quite a few games that mix them up. As in, they are both.

12 years ago
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Those have a entirely new genre. The name of that genre is Vsim.

12 years ago
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Did you already play Digital: A love story?

12 years ago
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Nope, i plan to do it when i have some more free time though!

12 years ago
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12 years ago
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yep those will be the main ones the I recommend.

12 years ago
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Mmmm, Sengoku Rance & Maji de Watashi Koishinai...

Why I see no Togainu no Chi & Lamento!!

12 years ago
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I see that they have finished Majikoi translation (going by that jpg)
But I cant open the translators site >_<

edit: oh nvm, they changed hosts

12 years ago
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Yandere isn't done with Majikoi yet.

Speaking of Majikoi, anyone watched the anime to the end? I wanted to stab myself repeatedly in the head by the end. It was that bad.

12 years ago
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+1 for this

12 years ago
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Welcome to the Visual Novel world. There are different types of VN's for different types of people. I frequent this site mainly. If you want me to recommend you a several novels myself, these are the ones I can think of... that don't have any Eroge/Yaoi:

  • Gadget Trial (Some Ecchi, but I really like it)
  • ...

I'll fix up this list a bit when I get home. I have a notepad of the VN's I've finished so I'll be able to get more up.

12 years ago
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Higurashi no naku koro ni and Umineko no naku koro ni :)

12 years ago
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This. The anime does it great justice too, I watch it almost on a yearly basis now, even though I could easily count how many anime series I watch like, at all. And also Analogue's previous "episodes", Digital, a Love Story and "don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story".

12 years ago
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Only Higurashi anime is good. Umineko one is uggghhh ;/

12 years ago
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I didn't want to get involved with that one until they covered all arcs (first time I watched the whole thing in one sitting; it was fucking addictive). Guess I'll stick with the VNs then :D

12 years ago
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Yea I definitely didn't like the Umineko anime nearly as much as the Higurashi one. Still have yet to getting around to playing the Umineko VN, but I'll get around to it eventually!

12 years ago
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Form submitted :) But for anyone out there, I highly suggest School Days HQ.

12 years ago
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Ace Attorney series, Trace Memory, Hotel Dusk, Last Window, 999. All these are for the DS, but you can just download NO$GBA and play them. You can't go wrong with them.

12 years ago
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How could I forget about Kyle Hyde? :D

12 years ago
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Bad bear!

12 years ago
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Punish me :c

12 years ago
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12 years ago
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To the Moon is also a visual novel instead of a game. But it is highly recommended.

12 years ago
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12 years ago
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I know, but To the Moon is rather a visual novel than a game (It does not have many gaming elements, but it has an awesome storyline.). And I know it's on Steam. I bought the Collector's Edition right as it became available. It has a great soundtrack as well. :)

12 years ago
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I'd recommend you this games:

Higurashi

Ace Attorney

999

Steins Gate

Saya No Uta (18+)

School Days HQ (18+)

Ever 17

Fate/Stay Night (18+)

12 years ago
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Great ones. Saya no Uta was the last one I played, absolutely loved the atmosphere and story. I was trying to find something reminiscent of Higurashi to give me that scared feeling, and this pulled thru with flying colors. I was also going to play Tsukihime. I heard it's in the same universe as Fate/Stay Night. It any good, if you've played?

12 years ago
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I haven't played Tsukihimi but I've heard really good things about it. Also, Saya No Uta is absolutely terrifying at some points.

12 years ago
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Pacing is completely different than F/SN - you might like it or not. Yes, Tsukihime is in the same universe (Nasuverse) as Fate/stay night. There is also Fate/zero, which is prequel to Fate/stay night - it has to be played after finishing F/SN, so it won't spoil you one of the greatest stories out there (made by Urobuchi Gen, author of Saya no Uta, cooperation with Nasu) - it depicts 4th Grail War, previous one, where REAL magi were participating and trying to kill themselves in order to reach Grail.
Also there is Kara no Kyoukai novel, on which brilliant adaptation into anime was made(I recommend watching it after playing at least Tsukihime and Fate/stay night, in order to understand mechanics and know some character relations), which shows completely another aspects of Nasuverse.

12 years ago
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Ah ok I'll give those VNs a look. Also, I've seen the Kara no Kyoukai anime, a freakin' absolute masterpiece!

12 years ago
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Suggestion has been sent hope you enjoy them!

P.S. : Watch the anime after you finish the game :)

12 years ago
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ctrl+f "hatoful boyfriend"... phrase not found

come on steamgifts...

12 years ago
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Are you a pigeon romancer?

12 years ago
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No one has listed one of these two yet, so I'll throw them on the form and here. This assumes you want translated visual novels.

Sengoku Rance
This is actually one of the best games I've played period. It's a VN with very, very good turn-based strategy/rpg elements. The closest comparison to a western game is Heroes of Might and Magic or the new King's Bounty series, except with a more overworld look like Civilization. The turn based combat is one of the most addictive part of the game. It brought about a couple of really tense moments - like fighting Natori during my 2nd playthrough. After her Miko Storm, thought I was totally screwed, but still won with the battle bar literally less than a millimeter to the right.

Once you've unlocked a couple of things, you can even start a sandbox Japanese conquest mode.

Once again, this is not only one of the best Visual Novels I've played, but one of the best games I've played period.

Kara no Shoujo
Classic murder mystery. Heavy, oppressive atmosphere? Check. Grotesque murders? Check. Intriguing detective protagonist? Check. Awesome murderous storyling? Check. What more could you want out of a murder mystery?

Warning: very disturbing images. Play only if you're okay with pictures of dismembered school girls.

I doubt you can read Japanese/want to expend the effort to learn how and/or use machine translation, but I can also recommend some Japanese-only visual novels.

12 years ago
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OH GOD! Sengoku Rance!

This is the only game about which I truly can say has REAL non-linear story(so many crazy variables in its awesomeness)...

12 years ago
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http://vndb.org/

Really, just use that for ALL your needs.

As for the sengoku rance suggestion. One of the best games i ever played in the genre. But high sexual content, so yeah...have to be into that, and not so much a visual novel as a eroge-strategy-game.

12 years ago
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Gah, we're going in that that debate again. Fine, fine, I agree that most of the AliceSoft games are technically not visual novels...

12 years ago
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Uhm, i never knew there even WAS a debate...?

Hey, i like Alicesoft games, but just because somethings an eroge it's not automatically a visual novel :)
Even IF the site i listed is for visual novels and includes them.

It's just, there's plenty of subgenres, and it helps to differentiate so people know what to expect - Sengoku Rance is great, but if you look for Divi-Dead/Kira-Kira/X-change like games, you will not be happy with it. Neither with Knights of Xentar or another Hentai-"RPG".

Sorry if i rubbed you the wrong way-it was not meant as criticism.

And yeah, wether something includes sex or not probably will be a important factor, too :)

12 years ago
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Oh no, no, I'm not angry at all. I really don't care what category is what, but I do believe that most people in the west think that anything with storybook-like elements count as Visual Novels, so that's just the criterion I went by to recommend.

Here's a thread about this on vndb. There are more, but I don't particularly feel like digging.

12 years ago
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Is Analoge that good? I've been entering every single giveaway in here because I'm interested in it but still haven't been able to play it myself.

Other than that... every single novel I've played has been mentioned so derp.

12 years ago
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999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.

It's a DS game, but amazing. The story will blow your mind.

12 years ago
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I just finished it yesterday after playing it on and off for a couple of weeks. Man, what a crazy story.

12 years ago
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12 years ago
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I tried the demos of Bionic Heart and Vera Blanc, and I enjoyed the Vera Blanc one. Bionic Heart too to some extent, but it's a little too occupied with the relationship aspect for me. Other than this I have no experience with the genre. I will probably buy the bundle to play Vera Blanc.

12 years ago
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Does True Love count ?

12 years ago
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Closed 12 years ago by SkumbagNzl.