Visual Novels

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Trying Doki Doki Literature Club Plus. I already know about the twist but hopefully it's still interesting.

Edit: Actually, it wasn't the "Plus" version, oops. I just finished it, and I'm glad it was short because this idea wouldn't stay fresh long. I can tell DDLC could have been genuinely good if I didn't know what was coming. Still, the game pusses out and warns you about its own fucking twist so even somehow going in blind wouldn't preserve it.

Anybody know if playing the Plus version next is worth it?

 

[The Fair Lady]

Anyone else been playing the AI: Somnium Files sequel, Nirvana Initiative? I'm enjoying it, completed my first route today. They brought back some nice gags and the somniums (so far) aren't nearly as frustrating to solve. Apparently it's longer than the first one.

 

[GenociderSyo]

Anyone else been playing the AI: Somnium Files sequel, Nirvana Initiative? I'm enjoying it, completed my first route today. They brought back some nice gags and the somniums (so far) aren't nearly as frustrating to solve. Apparently it's longer than the first one.

Bought to start that one heard its quite good.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

-OPUS: Echo of Starsong (Half VN Half Adventure game, have to mention it because it's one of the best games I've played these last years)

On the recommendation I bought it and it is really good. It's has a simple story and a lot of exploration that elevates its message compared to other, more complex stories in VN that end up being too complicated for their own good.

Damn that ending got me teared up. At least the game telegraphs to you it's going to end in a bittersweet note.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Finished Ai Somnium File: Nirvana Initiative, overall kind of meh, I find pretty much every aspect of it to be worse than the original game.
The plot line is a mystery but it's bloated with characters from the previous game that have very little to do with the plot and could not possibly be the whodunit, so I never felt any reason to try to understand what happens, I just went with the flow until the game showed his hands. Meanwhile the previous game had me actually guess what happened before the game said it by giving enough clues.
The Somnia dives feel pointless, almost none of them are memorable (unlike the previous game) and are zero thought linear events that might as well be cutscenes.
The action scenes are just boring. The previous game ramped things up so by the end the sheer insanity made them awesome, while here you already start with it being ridiculous and it just starts to bore by the end, when the main characters might as well be fantasy anime characters.
The tone is also wasted, the previous game was dark with some disturbing bad ends. Here only the first half of the game has any tension, and the second part has no tension or real stakes. Also there are no bad endings this time around.
Finally the pacing is bad, you have two main characters with a six year gap between their events, but instead of doing the logical thing of going between the characters every few chapters, the player play a single character to the end and only then switch to the next one. So by the end of the game you forget everything about the first character since you have barely seen him for couple of hours.

Finally there is a pretty big twist that's very bad, don't read if you plan to play the game:

Spoiler: WHAT A TWIST!

The two characters plotlines are actually not linear chronological, with each day going back and forth 6 years, explaining how some of the victims die in the space of 6 years (it was only the original victim death happening 6 years apart) as AKTUALLY the corpses are found in the range of few hours between each other. This is possible by one of the protagonists, whose entire plotline in the first game is based around being unwanted child by her parents, being literally the clone of another character, who 6 years ago dressed the exact same way as her, has the same name and multiple characters knew of her identity and never commented on it. Another character ends up being an ubermensch who never ages, and nearly no one has visibly changed. Basically the entire plot bends backwards and changes the original for the worse in order to facilitate a twist that's only a twist for the player, not the characters in the story. While the twist is foreshadowed and adds a bit of replay value, it doesn't feel earned as it hinges of everyone playing along and saying things very specifically for it to not break immediately.

The final villain himself ends up not being a factor and whodunit is just generic boring doomsday cult.

If you played some VNs you probably seen that kind of twist, but in this case it's overly convoluted and hinges on retcons and basically science magic that's never elaborated on, as well as some revelations not being disclosed like the heroine not knowing two of her close friends are brother and sister.

Edit: Forgot to mention two things:
1. I played it on Switch and there were multiple crashes, including one part that's time limited and will crash after a set time. Also very bad performance with taking like ten seconds to open menus. Not game breaking but annoying.
2. Few moments of LGBT bullshit, one of them especially bad in the end, I kind of doubt it's in the original game considering how much they stick out

 

[blood in coom]

Played Katawa Shoujo, had a good time with it.
Played DDLC, had a good time with it.
Played Tsukihime, even with one of the routes just being MC going insane in his room, I still had a good time with it.
Friend tells me of the time he shed a tear watching the ending of the Clannad anime, see that Clannad started as a VN that is on steam. Was on a hotstreak with VNs and I had money to burn.
And boy did I burn it.
After 3 hours of reading MCs interaction with a autistic girl obsessed with carving starfishes I google how much more I need to sit through.
See that I have locked myself into the worst route for my first playthrough, not only that but find out that I need to complete all routes to unlock the proper ending, this can take upwards of 20 hours.
Fuck that,
Has anyone here played Clannad? Is it worth going back too?

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Has anyone here played Clannad? Is it worth going back too?

Clannad is schmaltzy and if it's that your thing then you'd enjoy it. Some of the routes are better in that regard and ironically the route you're now playing is the "most VN" of them all (in having an actual cast).

I like the main character for actually living up the "I'm a loner high school kid who can't socialize and have fucked up (but actually plausible) upbringing", when most of the times it will be a person with massive social circle. You don't have a base cast and instead it's primarily just you and the girl.
You can try to play the brown haired girl route (since it's pretty much the main route) or the white haired girl route (who I remember as being more serious).

 

[Namesarehardtocomeupwith]

I still considered Clannad and After Story one of the greatest story VN ever told, a tearjerker that is good because it does not deliberately go for tragedy bait. It's a rare story that focused on family and sometime even friendship as a central theme instead of telling the same old boy meet girl romance, though the romance is still there. Kotomi and Kyou's route are a personal favorite of mine. But in the end, there is an obvious main heroine for the story the game wanted to tell.

If you only wanted to know the "true" story and doesn't care about other heroines, I'd actually suggest watching the anime which did a good enough job trimming down the more tedious part of the game while faithfully telling the story. There are elements from other routes sprinkled in as best as they can but two routes that greatly deviated from the storyline was cut. If you want to see the whole picture of the story to see where the critical acclaim came from, play the game. It's long but extremely rewarding in my opinion.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Finished playing WILL: A Wonderful World and highly recommend it, plot is that you are a "god" that receives people's letters for help and then rearranges them in order to warp the original event so the letter would have never been sent. The gameplay starts with just arranging parts of the letters to get the best ending, but as the game progresses you can choose specific endings to get different results in other letters. The writing is excellent, and music is solid, the event CGs aren't bad and the core "gameplay" is entertaining (though the puzzle aspect usually doesn't come into play since nearly all of the letters can either be brute forced or need some nonsensical reasoning to get the ending, plus a lot of the bad/normal letter endings are interesting or have revelations about the main plot).

The only bad things I can say about the game is that the game could have had a lot more interesting cases of ending manipulations and side paths, but that's just being greedy. It's about 10 hours long and well worth the price.

 

[Poop A Loop]

I just finished the Muv-Luv Trilogy and hooooleeeee shit was that a ride.

And CHOMP. Fucking CHOMP. I'd heard warnings about this moment but had totally forgot about them until it happened and gave me nightmares that night. Genuinely unsettling and upsetting. If you haven't played the series don't spoil yourself on it because the surprise is more than just "not being spoiled", it sets the tone for the rest of the game and why everything is deadly serious now.

Spoiler: Review

The first two games are so full of anime and haremshit that I genuinely felt embarrassed during the first game a couple of times (and I have no problem with Rean The Chad from Trails of Cold Steel...). Totally worth it because those first two games have everything to do with the third one and it really makes you feel connection to what happens throughout what might be the most traumatizing media I've experienced outside of The Road. People fucking dying everywhere, you never win anything, everything's hopeless, the MC gets PTSD so bad that he runs about as far away as you can get from your problems before they find him again and punch him right in the balls to remind him that there's no running from alien rape monsters.

It's a really good experience. The ending is good and is a nice conclusion to everything that happened, but I wish they could have tweaked some stuff to make some of the character's sacrifices mean more.

Spoiler: ending opinion

The ending would be better if they didn't fall back into the haremshit so hard given that you learn Sumika is for all intents and purposes the canon love interest and was the reason all this stuff happening in the first place. I'd have been happier if it was implied the MC knew his memories of Sumika before Alternative happened and was determined to give her the happy ending they both wanted and that he fought so hard for. It could have been way worse so I'm not all that heartbroken about it. Just knowing his "soul" or whatever from Alternative was happy to see everyone safe again and that Kasumi scene was more than enough. I'm just happy it wasn't a massive wet fart like the ME3 ending.

I've got a couple of VNs to choose from next:
- Baldr Sky
- Fullmetal Demon Murumasa
- Steins;Gate
- Chaos;Head duology

I'm thinking about moving to Baldr's Sky next so that I at least finish it before whatever black magic that allow it to work on modern systems doesn't go away and I'm stuck with a dud that doesn't work on any OS after Win 7.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I'm intrigued about Chronicles of Tal’Dun: The Remainder but I already got burned by Steam recommendations and it promoting itself on having lots of words rubs me the wrong way.

I've got a couple of VNs to choose from next:
- Baldr Sky
- Fullmetal Demon Murumasa
- Steins;Gate
- Chaos;Head duology

I'm thinking about moving to Baldr's Sky next so that I at least finish it before whatever black magic that allow it to work on modern systems doesn't go away and I'm stuck with a dud that doesn't work on any OS after Win 7.

Baldr Sky is pretty good but it's probably better to go with Stein's Gate for a change of tone.

 

[Nobody In Particular]

Played Katawa Shoujo, had a good time with it.
Played DDLC, had a good time with it.
Played Tsukihime, even with one of the routes just being MC going insane in his room, I still had a good time with it.
Friend tells me of the time he shed a tear watching the ending of the Clannad anime, see that Clannad started as a VN that is on steam. Was on a hotstreak with VNs and I had money to burn.
And boy did I burn it.
After 3 hours of reading MCs interaction with a autistic girl obsessed with carving starfishes I google how much more I need to sit through.
See that I have locked myself into the worst route for my first playthrough, not only that but find out that I need to complete all routes to unlock the proper ending, this can take upwards of 20 hours.
Fuck that,
Has anyone here played Clannad? Is it worth going back too?

I figure if you're interested in Clannad, the anime is a better experience for most people. It's not a perfect solution, and you will miss out on a few good character interactions. But, the anime cuts out a ton of filler dialogue, and makes for a good watch. Come back to the VN later if you want to see more.

Also, yes. It is absolutely worth going back to.

 

[Smug]

If you want to try a visual novel but don't want any weeb shit, then The House in Fata Morgana is pretty much the best you're gonna get. There's a point (about midway through?) where it seems like the writing might go to shit, but fortunately the issue in question is dealt with tactfully and ends up not ruining the story whatsoever. The way it gradually unpacks more and more of what's going on repeatedly gives you that satisfaction of revealing the truth behind a mystery, while all the while you find yourself caring more about the characters involved. Good shit.

Trying Doki Doki Literature Club Plus. I already know about the twist but hopefully it's still interesting.

Edit: Actually, it wasn't the "Plus" version, oops. I just finished it, and I'm glad it was short because this idea wouldn't stay fresh long. I can tell DDLC could have been genuinely good if I didn't know what was coming. Still, the game pusses out and warns you about its own fucking twist so even somehow going in blind wouldn't preserve it.

Anybody know if playing the Plus version next is worth it?

Way too late but I'll answer it just in case someone else has the same question.
It isn't worth it. The base game is 99.9% identical (with some of the tiny visual changes making the game less scary if anything). All it adds are a series of alternate-universe/prequel short stories. Each runs for maybe half an hour, and they're all fluff. The only reasons to buy DDLC+ are if you either simply must have it on a portable device, or as a way of giving the creator money because you liked the original so much.

 

[ShitLurker]

Just finished Robotics;Notes Elite. For context, I've played Steins;Gate, Steins;Gate 0, Chaos;Head (base game with fan translation) and now Robotics;Notes elite, so for the most part I'm up to speed with the Science Adventure plot.

Right of the bat, I knew I was going into lots of slice of life, this isn't usually a bad thing for me since I managed to do the whole of Clannad and I do enjoy slice of life stories in general, but Jesus fuck does the game meander till it gets to the point and things shift into gear. And leaving aside the meandering, the characters just... didn't grab me in the same way as the Steins;Gate crew did. I ended up warming up to Kai, though it took way longer than with Okabe and the supporting cast was fineish (only Furugori stood out to me) but the main heroine, Jesus Christ...

For most of the game I despised Akiho and how bloody annoying she was, every time she went on one of her autistic tirades about mecha anime I cringed instead of having the whimsical smile I imagine the creators were aiming for and I ended up quick reading her dialog since most times she added nothing of value anyway. She does have some good moments of vulnerability, but I find it hard to stick by her when the next scene she is all JAKIIIN again all over the place.

The cast of Chaos;Head is probably worse since Taku is a disgusting neet that should be hanged and the supporting cast really does a lot of supporting, but since the plot kicks up pretty early, you can work around the meh cast and focus on the plot, but Robotics cast wasn't strong enough for that.

Other pet peeve is that there are no splits, it's a game you MUST play with a guide since from chapter 3 onward, depending on what you do on your little chat app, you will go from chapter 4 to either chapter 5-6-7 or 8, so god forbid you happen to go in blind, do the right set up triggers to go straight to chapter 8 and have NO FUCKING idea what is even happening. I like going into a VN blind and seeing where I end up, Steins;Gate barely had any choices and they were obvious as fuck, but the divergence was significant at least.

Finally, the climax I was expecting some gigalomaniac horseshit to real boot a proper Gunvarrel for the final fight, but from what I understand they save that for DAsH, yet I'm supposed to believe the paper mache doll which should barely be able to use a pile bunker twice without breaking down can pull off all this shit because Slo Mo is OP even when having fantastic reaction times means fucking nothing when your tool is slow and clunky as sin. Yadda yadda dramatic flair, but my god, they could have at least made Sumeragi and Kaminage more clunkers so that I could believe this wasn't asspull after asspull, I did enjoy the pilebunker missile finish though.. Also, the game has no epilogue, I hate it when a story just ends and doesn't give you a bit of "where are they now". Supposedly if I play DAsH I get that, but I have heard is absolute shit and to skip it.

It does advance the Science Adventure storyline, and knowing Chaos;Head was particularly useful to know some of the fuckier bits, but where with Steins;Gate I was convinced going the VN route instead of the anime was the good call, I'm not so sure about R;N.

Open to recommendations for what to tackle next. I have on my queue Chaos;Child, though may let the science adventure rest for a while and a part of me dreads it being R;N again and even C;H didn't super wow me either. Only Steins;Gate was a real home run with me.

I also have my eyes on the Utawaremono series, Doki Doki plus (already played the base game, worth looking into anyway?), AI Somnium 2, though reading some posts here sounds I should pass and Opus Echo of Starsong that from what wtfNeedSignUp said sounds like it could be very much worth a look.

Also, open to any obscure shit, I'm kind of in the mood for something more grotesque, I "enjoyed" my time with Saya No Uta and I kind of want to go through something fucked up, but that just isn't rapefiesta or torture porn, I know this is a hard ask though.

 

[Namesarehardtocomeupwith]

I also have my eyes on the Utawaremono series, Doki Doki plus (already played the base game, worth looking into anyway?), AI Somnium 2, though reading some posts here sounds I should pass and Opus Echo of Starsong that from what wtfNeedSignUp said sounds like it could be very much worth a look.

Also, open to any obscure shit, I'm kind of in the mood for something more grotesque, I "enjoyed" my time with Saya No Uta and I kind of want to go through something fucked up, but that just isn't rapefiesta or torture porn, I know this is a hard ask though.

Utawarerumono used to be good. Then they removed the porn and it's a 0/10.

For something more fucked up, check out Gore Screaming Show. 2006 game that got an english release recently. Don't let the name put you off. There's a bit of body horror sexual violence but it's lean more on psychological horror side. It's one of the better horror visual novel that inspired a lot of modern title, though you might find some twist outdated by this time.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

I started Muv-Luv Extra and almost fell asleep. This shit is slow, cringe, and cliche. I heard it changes dramatically and ramps up deeper in, but just how much of this do I need to suffer through?

It was literally almost 20 minutes of these two autistic anime stereotypes beating the shit out of each other and talking about the girl's tits as they went about chores, and pet a dog, and had a flashback of school.

I don't think I can do this but it's supposed to be really good, so...

 

[ShitLurker]

Utawarerumono used to be good. Then they removed the porn and it's a 0/10. For something more fucked up, check out Gore Screaming Show. 2006 game that got an english release recently. Don't let the name put you off. There's a bit of body horror sexual violence but it's lean more on psychological horror side. It's one of the better horror visual novel that inspired a lot of modern title, though you might find some twist outdated by this time.

Added it to the wishlist. Is the steam version neutered or is it fine to go from the outset?

As for Utawaremono, seems like only the first one was an Eroge and the sequels removed that aspect, then the remake removed the eroge from the original. Did it neuter the experience or are you just being a coomer about it? Don't get me wrong, I played Tomoyo After hunting down the original version, but if I have to play detective hunting down older versions and their patches I hope that it's worth the time.

Also, remembered that I had Aokana Four Rythms Accross the Blue in my list since it seem well rated, anybody given that one a go?

 

[Poop A Loop]

Added it to the wishlist. Is the steam version neutered or is it fine to go from the outset?

As for Utawaremono, seems like only the first one was an Eroge and the sequels removed that aspect, then the remake removed the eroge from the original. Did it neuter the experience or are you just being a coomer about it? Don't get me wrong, I played Tomoyo After hunting down the original version, but if I have to play detective hunting down older versions and their patches I hope that it's worth the time.

Also, remembered that I had Aokana Four Rythms Accross the Blue in my list since it seem well rated, anybody given that one a go?

The whole Uta trilogy is fantastic. Only the first game had nudity and it added nothing to the plot or characters so you're not missing anything by playing the new version. There's one character in the last two titles who's the daughter of the MC of the first game, and seeing the actual sex scene between the mother and MC makes the connection more obvious than if you'd seen a fade to black but to be honest they more than explain things in the latter two games.

Top 10 games of all time for me though. They all work with the steam deck too so it's a perfect comfy curl up on the couch game for this time of year.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Just finished Robotics;Notes Elite. For context, I've played Steins;Gate, Steins;Gate 0, Chaos;Head (base game with fan translation) and now Robotics;Notes elite, so for the most part I'm up to speed with the Science Adventure plot.

Right of the bat, I knew I was going into lots of slice of life, this isn't usually a bad thing for me since I managed to do the whole of Clannad and I do enjoy slice of life stories in general, but Jesus fuck does the game meander till it gets to the point and things shift into gear. And leaving aside the meandering, the characters just... didn't grab me in the same way as the Steins;Gate crew did. I ended up warming up to Kai, though it took way longer than with Okabe and the supporting cast was fineish (only Furugori stood out to me) but the main heroine, Jesus Christ...

For most of the game I despised Akiho and how bloody annoying she was, every time she went on one of her autistic tirades about mecha anime I cringed instead of having the whimsical smile I imagine the creators were aiming for and I ended up quick reading her dialog since most times she added nothing of value anyway. She does have some good moments of vulnerability, but I find it hard to stick by her when the next scene she is all JAKIIIN again all over the place.

The cast of Chaos;Head is probably worse since Taku is a disgusting neet that should be hanged and the supporting cast really does a lot of supporting, but since the plot kicks up pretty early, you can work around the meh cast and focus on the plot, but Robotics cast wasn't strong enough for that.

Other pet peeve is that there are no splits, it's a game you MUST play with a guide since from chapter 3 onward, depending on what you do on your little chat app, you will go from chapter 4 to either chapter 5-6-7 or 8, so god forbid you happen to go in blind, do the right set up triggers to go straight to chapter 8 and have NO FUCKING idea what is even happening. I like going into a VN blind and seeing where I end up, Steins;Gate barely had any choices and they were obvious as fuck, but the divergence was significant at least.

Finally, the climax I was expecting some gigalomaniac horseshit to real boot a proper Gunvarrel for the final fight, but from what I understand they save that for DAsH, yet I'm supposed to believe the paper mache doll which should barely be able to use a pile bunker twice without breaking down can pull off all this shit because Slo Mo is OP even when having fantastic reaction times means fucking nothing when your tool is slow and clunky as sin. Yadda yadda dramatic flair, but my god, they could have at least made Sumeragi and Kaminage more clunkers so that I could believe this wasn't asspull after asspull, I did enjoy the pilebunker missile finish though.. Also, the game has no epilogue, I hate it when a story just ends and doesn't give you a bit of "where are they now". Supposedly if I play DAsH I get that, but I have heard is absolute shit and to skip it.

It does advance the Science Adventure storyline, and knowing Chaos;Head was particularly useful to know some of the fuckier bits, but where with Steins;Gate I was convinced going the VN route instead of the anime was the good call, I'm not so sure about R;N.

Open to recommendations for what to tackle next. I have on my queue Chaos;Child, though may let the science adventure rest for a while and a part of me dreads it being R;N again and even C;H didn't super wow me either. Only Steins;Gate was a real home run with me.

I also have my eyes on the Utawaremono series, Doki Doki plus (already played the base game, worth looking into anyway?), AI Somnium 2, though reading some posts here sounds I should pass and Opus Echo of Starsong that from what wtfNeedSignUp said sounds like it could be very much worth a look.

Also, open to any obscure shit, I'm kind of in the mood for something more grotesque, I "enjoyed" my time with Saya No Uta and I kind of want to go through something fucked up, but that just isn't rapefiesta or torture porn, I know this is a hard ask though.

I recommend The Devil on G-String for rather obscure and relatively dark (though not supernaturally) story, or Liar Soft's Forest (which is more twisted fairy tale, also short). Wonderful Everyday is also delightfully grotesque for most of its runtime.

I wish I hadn't watched the S;G sequel anime because it's torture playing a VN when you know what's going and the adaptions usually remove a lot of the depth. I'd say that Chaos Head is good, the hero is the embodiment of unapologetically terrible neet but it is sort of justified.

 

[ShitLurker]

The whole Uta trilogy is fantastic. Only the first game had nudity and it added nothing to the plot or characters so you're not missing anything by playing the new version. There's one character in the last two titles who's the daughter of the MC of the first game, and seeing the actual sex scene between the mother and MC makes the connection more obvious than if you'd seen a fade to black but to be honest they more than explain things in the latter two games.

Top 10 games of all time for me though. They all work with the steam deck too so it's a perfect comfy curl up on the couch game for this time of year.

Really nudging me hard to go into Uta there on a heavy discount on Steam right now, so might just go for it in the coming days. How long is it?, though before I bite...

I recommend The Devil on G-String for rather obscure and relatively dark (though not supernaturally) story, or Liar Soft's Forest (which is more twisted fairy tale, also short). Wonderful Everyday is also delightfully grotesque for most of its runtime.

I wish I hadn't watched the S;G sequel anime because it's torture playing a VN when you know what's going and the adaptions usually remove a lot of the depth. I'd say that Chaos Head is good, the hero is the embodiment of unapologetically terrible neet but it is sort of justified.

Added Devil and Wonderful Everyday (It's the Down the Rabbit-Hole listed one on Steam, right?), Liar Soft I don't see on Steam so I gather I have to hunt for that one? Also, Opus, Echo of Starsong, before your other recommendations or possibly after?

I think I might be more in the mood for one that gets to the meat quick instead of a slow burn, which of the recommendations would fall into that?

On the topic of Chaos;Head, it is justified and thankfully the PLOT is mostly front and center, but I did hate Taku for the grand majority of the game and considered muting his character voice with how grating is constant stuttering ended up becoming. But I would file the whole thing as a good experience, but Steins Gate is still the best in my eyes.

Zero I enjoyed (though it would have had so much more impact if the Steins;Gate true ending hadn't shown how everything ended panning out), but if you are playing it knowing everything it must be absolutely dreadful to wait for the hammer to actually drop.