Visual Novel Recommendations

Basic guide on using virtual drives like Daemon Tools.

Torrenting is much better than direct download... Well, if you have an ultimately sucky internet connection, that is.

So, how much horror is there in Saya no Uta, compared to Fate/Stay Night? Will I, someone who was slightly creeped by the grail scenes of FSN able to handle it?

FSN had horrifying scenes, but Saya No Uta's main genre is horror and guro. There are monsters jumping out from the dark, visual depictions of limbs torn off, rotting corpses, etc.

I have decided. Suginami in a visual novel makes everything better.

His voice was so weird in DCII after playing the original.

Well that voice feels so much more right for me since I started with the animes first.

Crescendo. Should I even bother?Thoughts, plz?

It was okay. Not great, not terrible. The overall tone is a little... I don't know, worn out? Tired? I don't want to use a negative word like bland since I suspect it was intentional. Very down to earth.

I found some of the characters and relationships pretty interesting as well. Felt like real people.

Overall positive. Good but not great.

edited 9th Mar '11 7:28:01 PM by Arha

Should I install it?

Sure, go ahead. There are worse out there you could check out. That being said, there are also better out there you could check out.

Something about it is kind of appealing and realistic in ways I normally don't see much in V Ns, even the good ones.

edited 9th Mar '11 7:29:43 PM by Arha

What's a good starting point for someone whose never played one of these before?

Also,I'm kind of short on time at the moment and if there's one I could play without requiring too much of my time invested that would be nice.

These two questions aren't mutally exclusive, but aren't inclusive either.

Um, FSN is generally not for beginners, Clannad is really good but is really lengthy... Why don't you go with Kanon? Pretty standard dating sim with an amusing protagonist. Art is bad, but otherwise it's pretty good. The other things I can think of off the top of my head are either a pain to install, more along the lines of rpgs/turn based strategy or stuff I would recommend you get to later.

Apart from Kanon, Da Capo is also decent if a little generic. Shuffle is also okay.

Downhill Nights is too bad? I'm curious about this one.

Downhill nights is terrible.

I guess I'll try Kanon then and give the others a try.

Why is FSN not for beginners? Is it in the gameplay or is it something else?

I don't mind Rpgs/Strategy stuff so if you got any you would recommend, I'm down with that. Also, I've heard a little bit about Tsukihime, other than the fact that there is no anime. That worth looking into?

I disagree that FSN is not for beginners, it was my first VN, and it's great. Unfortunatelly, it's also very long.

The gameplay is normal, it just involves some unpredictable Bad End paths, so you must always use a walkthrough, but that's it.

Though, it's also very long.

I would personally recommend Kira Kira or Ef, they are both great stories with great art, music, funny, and drama.

edited 2nd Apr '11 3:27:27 PM by EternalSeptember

FSN is very long and the first route is generally the least popular. Tsukihime would be better to start with, and yes, it's good. I used an Arcueid avatar for months because she's one of the best heroines I've ever seen. Art is kind of... old more than bad. Music comes separately and it's not voice acted. It's supposedly being remade at the moment but who knows when it'll be out again.

As for the more game like stuff... I'd still play some normal V Ns first but uh if you can tolerate rape as comedy Sengoku Rance is really good. Big Bang Age is made by the same group and I think it has more fun gameplay, but a weaker story. Utawarerumono was also rather fun, but it's very different in tone than almost anything else I can think of.

And I'm obligated to mention Eien No Aselia since I'm the one that launched the article for it, but the previous three are all better.

Really, go with a normal VN first.

edited 2nd Apr '11 3:45:27 PM by Arha

Fate Stay Night was also my first VN and I found great. In fact, I would recommend that first rather then latter. It is quite awesome, so you can be sure your first experience won't be a flop. I suppose Tsukihime is just as good, but the graphics are shit. Another advantage of Fate Stay Nigh is its linearity. If you save every choice, it is almost impossible to lose, so you wo't get frustrated. Other VN have a more complex choice tree, so it is not as easy to follow the story.

But, yeah, FSN is quite long. It is also not your standard VN either. When you think on VN you are usually thinking on Dating Sims. If you want to check a 'standard' VN, it is better go for something else.

edited 2nd Apr '11 3:50:05 PM by Heatth

Sigh, this is what I get for arguing a position I don't really believe. I think FSN was my first VN but everyone kept telling me that it's not something you should recommend to beginners.

I still don't recommend it to you first, though, since you said you're limited on time. FSN takes days. And almost none of it is repeated stuff so you can't really skip half of it like you could with, say, Clannad.

Oh, yeah, if you want something short FSN is not for you. Clannad is not for you either, btw. Each route is not that long, but every character has one. And you need to see most to unlock more, which include the epilogue of the "true" heroine. Also, even if you can skip stuff in Clannad, you have to do it manually (FSN is nice enough to let you to jump around).

Tsukihime is good. It's what I usually recommend to people.

Unfortunately it's rather long, though not nearly as long as Clannad, Higurashi or Fate/Stay Night.

edited 2nd Apr '11 4:33:07 PM by Five_X

Honestly, I think most of the time, we are overthinking what would be an optimal first experience.(in all other media as well)

It's not like a newbie can't comprehend certain gameplay mechanics, art styles, or plot forms: as long as they are attracted to the style, they can get used to it, and there is no way to tell whether or not they are actually attracted to it, so the best we can do, is to recommend things that are generally considered good, and fit their specific criteria. (in this case, not being long).

So, yeah, in this situation, the recommendations for a basic visual novel are: Kanon, Da Capo Shuffle, Kira Kira, and Ef A Fairy Tale Of The Two Though these are still medium length, (20-40 hour long, basically an average book's size,) but that's how the medium works by default, under that, there are only unusually short, weird, Visual novellas.

edited 2nd Apr '11 4:44:17 PM by EternalSeptember

Playing Ef first will make you expect every VN to have mind-blowing art.

FSN has a million different ways to get killed. It was one of my first V Ns but I used a walkthrough.

Tsukihime is old and pacing is bad in some places. Wouldn't recommend it to you as a first.

Shuffle would be a good one to start with imo. Funny, and generally standard stuff. Plus, it has Asa.

Bah, just because a VN is old means it's bad. Tsukihime has perfectly fine artwork, and perfectly fine music.

I personally did qualify the Tsukihime art as being old rather than bad. The style has changed since then.

But you're wrong about the music and that's all there is to it.