What you think about Visual Novels on steam?

You should add "VN can be on computer, but it would be nice if steam kept clear from shit like greenlight / early acess and VN that don't contain the full content of original ones."

I never read a VN in my life. I want to try one, but I'm not planning on spending money for it and I have no idea what's good. :P

Yeah, I liked all those I've played so far (The 39 Steps, Go! Go! Nippon - My First Trip to Japan, Analogue: A Hate Story and Hate Plus). I have like 20-30 more to play but I lack time.

I like them, but there seems to be an awful lot of half-assed VNs on steam though. People's first experiences with visual novels will end up being forever associated with those games. Can you imagine if their first encounter was in a game like "Spirited Heart"? Urgh. Blegh.

I was lucky, my first ever visual novel was Kana Little Sister. At first I was a little bored at the lack of choices (and lack of divergence in the story) but it grew on me, and then naturally, I ended up tearing up badly at the end. More than a little surprised at the inclusion of sex scenes. My second VN was Saya No Uta, and it absolutely blew me away despite the once again tacked-on sex scenes. I mean, some of the scenes made sense once you work things out later on, but some of them were literally just there for fetish material. It didn't break my suspension of disbelief for long, and wow. I'll never forget that. Puts the 'love' back into 'lovecraftian', haha.

It seems that the common problem with visual novels is that there are so many low-budget ones, and those with higher budgets tend to have sex scenes to appeal to a broader crowd, meaning they're not really candidates for steam release without a patch. Hell, didn't even Little Busters! even have sex scenes?

To me, VNs work best as interactive romance novels. Yes, literally like the lovey-dovey romance novels you'd expect a stay-at-home parent to get into. I don't mind admitting that. Even the melodrama can really enhance the story when done right. I haven't played Tsukihime in forever but if I hear that title tune, I get a punch of melancholy feels. That's how you know they're doing something right.

Though sometimes it would seem better to watch an anime version of a visual novel, they usually follow a 'safe for TV' route that ignores all but the lightest of fluffy, blushy romantic crushes, and often misportray vital story elements.

Urgh. Shit. Now I need to listen to the Tsukihime soundtrack again.

VN's that don't have excessive fan service and actually focus on the story are alright. Danganronpa and Corpse Party are two of my favorite VN's. There's some gameplay element it's true, but it's really story centric and it's great.

I don't mind them as a genre, it's just that I have yet to come across one that looks like it would actually be good.

Depends on how you describe Visual Novel. I enjoyed Long Live the Queen. I also loved To the Moon but I'm not sure if it counts as one since it's a point and click RPG but there's enough text to probably classify it as one.

it's a nice interesting thing though there are other games ahead on my list of games to get with money.

Visual novels are awesome but one thing I don't understand is WHY THE HELL ARE THEY ALL SO EXPENSIVE ON STEAM??? I guess my favourite so far would be Hyperdimension Neptunia but I don't have it on Steam but I have it on PS Vita

not my type of game either but i really liked Soul Glamber

VNs are nice, I don't have a favourite right now.

I have read a fair amount of VN, of course it's by illegal method as they don't have any official translation yet, and read some VNs on Steam, so here is my opnion:
I only really like the VNs from Japan and don't think highly of VNs from the West so my opinion maybe biased. And I assume that you want decent VN with actual story.
Out of the few VNs on Steam right now, I think the best one is Dengeki Striker. I haven't played it yet, because of the price tag. But from what I gather from my friend, it is a high quality, with full voice act, good art, decent plot.
I haven't played Princess Evangile too, so I can't say anything about it, but the response is somewhat good? I'm not sure about this.
The next best one is Planetarian. It's a classic VN from Key, one of Japan's biggest VN company. It is dramatic, maybe have similar plot to Wall-E, it can make you cry if you read it alone, and in proper mood. Its price is appropriate, but it's a bit short. I finished it in under 6 hours, and spend the next 90+ hours listen to its OST(no I'm serious, I have 100 hours recorded on Steam). This is my favorite pitch of it :D http://www.reddit.com/r/GameDealsMeta/comments/2ppdpw/discussion_steam_winter_sale_hidden_deals_thread/cmyz7tk
Narcissu is a good one, it's free, short too, and have good music. The story is touching. It has many similar points with Planetarian(the genre, not the plot), it can make you cry too. You should try this first if you want to get into some heart-touching VN.
World End Economica is decent too, a good read if you like economy stuffs
Nekopara is a decent moe game, if you like ecchi manga, then maybe you will like it? I'm not sure.
If my heart have wings had so much potential, but seem like the official translation censor a lot of things, that made the community raged(the even censor the dialogue, not only sexy scene). But there is a community patch to restore the censored contents, it made the game feel more complete.
Eden is good, story rich although a bit short, but very impact.
Ah yeah if someone recommend you Sakura Spirit and Sakura Angel, stay away from that shts.

These are the good VNs on Steam right now in my opinion, but maybe I missed some.
And later this year they will release Clannad on Steam(that's the plan, it could take longer), then it will become the King of VN on Steam for a long time, no doubt. But as of now, there aren't many great VNs on Steam.
Thank you if you read all this :D

I didn't like them, reading is only books and PC is gaming

I've always love the choose your own path books, but they never really existed for good long stories, VNs bring this great fun to light of larger scaled stories, where you can get attached to the characters even deeper than before, with the aid of visuals and audio! Clannad is definately my favourite, being an amazing love tragedy story.

There are only 3 VNs that I kind of enjoyed:

The 39 Steps: I must admit that this one was AMAZING. I wish all the VNs where like this one.
X-Note: It had a decent story and multiple endings. Good thing is that when you get an ending, the game gives you hints to get the other endings (so you don't have to try every single choice out there).
Go! Go! Nippon! My First Trip to Japan: You can learn some interesting facts about Japan, and that's pretty much it.

But in general, I don't like them. I'm planning to play Long Live the Queen soon, which I've heard it's pretty good (not your typical romance jap VN), but that's it.

Your options are flawed.
I love to read books, and i love to read stories on the computer. see "to the moon"...
but visual novels are not books. they are underbudgeted bad comics.
hell, make a comic of something good i'll buy it on steam:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_%28Vertigo%29
most amazing comic ever!

why shouldn't they on steam for I see no problem at all with this, more stuff steam has is better isn't it?

A repeat thread but... My opinion is pretty sensible, I think. A visual novel is a book that is visual and tends to have CYOA(Choose Your Own Adventure) elements to it. Woop-dee-doo. I like to read so I'm open to playing them. The ones I've played are pretty good other than Heileen but that just seems like an amateur's shot at it since the same developer made Loren: The Amazon Princess and that was pretty good. Some of the other games by Winter Wolves are apparently pretty good but I've yet to try them.

Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius is a really good free one with a great little turn-based strategy ship-to-ship (with giant robot ships too!) battle system that makes it all kinds of interesting. I'd have paid for that one if they were charging. Another free one that's enjoyable is Everlasting Summer. It's definitely got most the earmarkings of the genre, but with a crazy twist. It happens in a Young Pioneers (think co-ed Soviet Boy/Girl Scouts) camp during the 1980s. Both of the above are free on Steam. Other free VNs you can google for include Katawa Shoujo and "don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story."

I like them in theory but most of them are sadly pretty average.
I recommmend:
Cinders (amazing art, lots of branching, great writing)
Magical Diaryy (art is average, not a lot of branching but great setting and the writing is good)
Loren the Amazon Princess (Art is fine, I like the premise, not a lot of branching but they are really significant )

I dont mind them. I wasnt sure I was going to like them, but I found a free one (Narcissu) and I loved it. I recently bought Long Live the Queen and its pretty good so far too.

NO, thanks.
One of the main reasons I enjoy gaming over things like TV and film is the interactivity. I don't enjoy being a passive observer (or one with minimal "token" story steerage).
Please leave Steam for games I say. There are thousands and thousands of bookshops and libraries irl :)

I really love them, I like to read but, I need to say, the ones on steam are... well, not so good.
But I play them because I like it, visual novel have a lot of sub-categories, just the one I think is the most stupid dominated steam but well, what can I do? I enjoy them anyway but, I wish more creative ones come to steam.

So far I've tried The 39 Steps (I wasn't in the mood for it, I'm still at maybe at second chapter )
and Cinders. It looks lovely, much more than a silly game for girls with pseudo-choices, but I can't really get myself to like it :\ Maybe during playing it more.

I love visual novels, but I'd rather purchase them through other retailers. I enjoy having everything that the game originally came with. Also purchasing it directly from the publisher (like mangagamer's website) means that I directly support the developer/publisher. Best one that's on steam has to be Dengki Stryker though. I played through all routes and man is that one good. Didn't pay close to full price, but it's worth it at full price. When my internet died for like 3 days I played the shit out of the VN. It feels like an anime since it has some anime cutscenes which is great. Really wish they adapt it into one.