Visual Novel Recommendations

Well that's a shame.

Up to now, I only played freeware visual novels. But as now I got a job, I suppose I can pay for one (not much, though). The problem is: which one?

It's absurdly hard to buy Video Games in Brazil, and this goes Up To Eleven when it comes to visual novels. I also don't like the idea of using pay pal or a credit card. Bank payment slip on a trusteable shop would be the best choice. And of course, this shop must ship to Brazil (lol, obviously).

I only speak English and Portuguese, so the VN would have to be in English.

I played Shira Oka's demo and liked it, but people are saying it wasn't all that nice. There's Heileen, but I don't have enough money to buy all games. Thus, no Ever17 either.

Since it's the first large VN I play EVAR, EVAR, EVAR and considering how much I earn, possibly the only I'll ever buy, I would like something with tons of replay value.

I would like an emotional VN, or a light hearted one. I'm a bit of a prude (okay, I'm a big prude), so no sex in it. Other than that, anything goes: fantasy, sci-fi, school-life, yaoi, yuri, I could care less.

Please and thanks!

edited 13th Feb '11 4:55:30 PM by risingdreams

Emotional: Clannad. Ever17 is good but it's a mystery so there won't be much reread value after you're done with it.

Hum... I don't think Clannad was translated to English. If it was, where could I buy it?

Hmm, apparantly, it's only been fantranslated if I'm not mistaken. It's not too hard to obtain it if you don't mind using the 'free' method.

You can buy the games, I think there's a link to show you how somewhere on this website. You'll still have to download the translation patch online somewhere.

I think I'd recommend Ever17 before Clannad. They're both really good, but... how should I put this? Ever17 has a more classic plot whereas Clannad is more of a dating sim approach. I don't know if you'd like that sort of thing if you've never played one before. But either one would be fine.

As for being a prude... most VNs are going to contain at least a little adult content. However, usually it's a very, very small amount. Clannad or Ever17 are both safe on that front however.

edited 13th Feb '11 5:11:41 PM by Arha

Well, I actually checked the site erogedownloads, but I feel a bit uneasy downloading things from there, because... I dunno. Is it okay to do that?

As for ever17, I'll look for it? Also, is Yojimbo any good? I like Otome.

I haven't played it. And it's okay to download them, nobody really cares or has the ability to do anything about you doing so. If the makers were inclined to do so they would go after the website, not you. I've started buying official translations recently because I want to support that industry, but I don't see much reason to support a company that's not meeting me partway.

Going to download Clannad, then.

http://erogedownload.com/downloads/

Hum... Would you recomend me any of these? I'm already downloading all Otomes. I would like me some yaoi, but... I dunno.

From that list, Clannad, Cross Channel, Da Capo II, Ef Fairy Tale, Ever17, Fate Stay Night, G Senjou No Maou, Higurashi (or so I'm told, I've never played it myself) Kanon, Sengoku Rance (but that one's definitely not for you if you describe yourself as prudish) Tsukihime and Utawarerumono as really good. After that you get to some that are pretty good but not amazingly so like Da Capo, Family Project, Kira Kira, Suika and Yume Miru Kusuri. After that is just average stuff like Canvas2, and after that is crap like Wind A Breath Of Heart and after that is blatant porn. After that is Chaos Head and Muvluv. To be fair to Muvluv, only the first of the three games in that series is really terrible.

But um... only Clannad, Ever17, Higurashi and Kanon (depending on the patch you use) are really completely clean. The sexual content is really quite low for the non blatant porn stuff.

I'm such a nerd.

Also, hey look, Osadai has a patch listed there! Awesome, I'm going to check that out and see if it really works.

edited 13th Feb '11 5:52:59 PM by Arha

If you go for completely clean though, it's just that there's so much you're missing out on. Ef has an option to disable sex scenes (though there's still a bit of nudity) and is a beautiful VN. G-Senjou, you can't, but likewise it's a great VN. You can just fast forward past the scenes if you want to.

...I watched the Kanon anime (the 2006 series). Should I go for the game, anyway?

Probably. The art is worse, but there's more humor and you get to see more stuff that didn't make it into the anime.

Out of curiosity,why is Chaos Head bad? It interested me a bit.

To be fair, it's not necessarily that it's bad, but it's got something of a strong love it or hate it reaction among the people who've played it. I personally despise the game and do think it's terrible, but others quite liked it.

The problem I have with it is that it has a really cool possible setting that it doesn't utilize at all and the most annoying protagonist I've ever seen. And nothing ever seems to happen until roughly 98% of the way into the story (Not exaggerating, the game is almost entirely over by this point) some cool stuff happens but by then it's too late.

edited 13th Feb '11 8:32:38 PM by Arha

...It has nothing to do with MM Os, as I thought, right? I imagined something like: ZOMG MMORPG IS NOW REALITY.

Downloaded Yo Jin Bo because I'm into Otome, download Da Capo and then I might play either Shuffle or Kanon.

edited 13th Feb '11 8:43:31 PM by risingdreams

No. The main character plays an MMO, though. Takes it way too seriously since he's basically a non comedic hikikomori.

It's about how certain people have reality warperish powers because they're kinda crazy, basically. They make delusions real. Sounds cool right? The story doesn't focus on that at all.

^ Da Capo is pretty good. People tend to overlook it since it's somewhat generic, but it's pretty good. Da Capo II is a lot better as well.

edited 13th Feb '11 8:45:33 PM by Arha

Awwwwwwww... Shit.

Downloaded Yo Jin Bo so because I like Otome (and so I won't get suicidaly depressed from playing Utsuges). Also, Da Capo and Kanon.

HEY, THERE'S A YURI GAME! Awesome. And also Shuffle,which is kind of legendary.

edited 13th Feb '11 8:48:57 PM by risingdreams

I couldn't stand Da Capo honestly. It's like the most generic VN you could have. Da Capo II is going a lot better so far.

Shuffle is awesome.

edited 13th Feb '11 9:11:42 PM by neobowman

I'm willing to give Da Capo quite a bit of leeway on that since it's fairly old.. DCII definitely outshines it though just by using the situation and setup in a superior manner, especially when considering the differences between, say, Anzu and Kotori's problems. I still recommend playing Da Capo before DCII though since you pick up some interesting continuity nods and stuff.

^ Honestly, I'm not sure how you can say Da Capo is painfully generic and have such support for Shuffle. They're both pretty generic.

edited 13th Feb '11 9:14:48 PM by Arha

I've seen the anime which is decent other than animation.

I found Da Capo to be boring. Shuffle is actually generic but it's so hilarious that I don't mind.

edited 13th Feb '11 10:29:22 PM by neobowman

I kind of went with generic on purpose. I mean, it's the first long VN I play.

edited 13th Feb '11 9:28:16 PM by risingdreams

...I watched the Kanon anime (the 2006 series). Should I go for the game, anyway?

I personally always find that V Ns that's anime I already watched are boring.

Even if the VN is objectively better, they are quite long, and if I already know everything about all the basic plotlines, the minor extra scenes and dialogues are not enough to keep me going, it just fels like a rewatch, but longer.

I dunno. I felt reading Clannad after watching it was a great experience. I don't think I need to say anything Umineko either.

So... does anyone have a working torrent to a cracked Da Capo II?

And is there any way to play the original To Heart at all? I've given up on TH 2...

Umineko is a must-play for anyone who was piqued by the anime that horribly butchered the fourth arc.  ^*

edited 14th Feb '11 8:21:57 AM by MiyaKousaka