Visual Novel Recommendations

I beg to differ. Pretty much anything you can find out there has a better artwork then Tsukihime. Except for When The Cry, that is it. Naturally, this doesn't mean Tsukihime doesn't work it. A good story more then make up for the artwork.

Now I think on it, it is probably better to read Tsukihime before Fate Stay Night. F/SN art is quite good, so facing Tsukihime just after reading it is probably not a good idea. That was what turned Tsukihime off for me (then again, I played Umineko just after, which isn't better, art-wise).

PS: The music is really that bad? =/

edited 3rd Apr '11 12:22:41 AM by Heatth

The music itself is very low budget and simple and there are only about a dozen tracks for the entire game, and most of what you hear is one of only about three. It's not outright grating by itself, but after awhile it got on my nerves because I kept hearing the same tune played over and over and over.

As for bad art, clearly you've never played Key Visual Arts stuff. Tsukihime art is actually not bad at all when you consider their budget was made entirely of bottlecaps and coins dug out of old sofas.

Ugh. Low budge doesn't seem a good excuse after playing Higurashi. Every music there is a license free songs found on the Internet, and the game is called "sound novel" for a reason (the musics are not really that good, but really well placed). Ah, well, it is not like Tsukihime will get off my list of "must play" thanks to it.

I don't find Key Visual Art art that bad. It is generally better drawn and colored the Tsukihime, anyway. The face is very "off", though. There is something really wrong with their eyes. I got more annoyed which how big their characters are (covering half of the screen).

edited 3rd Apr '11 12:45:51 AM by Heatth

Shrug. Tsukihime is still awesome despite that. It also fits in well with other type moon stuff like FSN, Kagetsu Tohya, Kara No Kyoukai and whatnot.

So, yeah, after playing too many dating sim-like novels, I wanna try something different.

I'll eventually play all, but which one do I start with, Tsukihime, Higurashi or Chaos;Head?

Chaos Head is absolutely horrible, and not even horrible in a funny way like Muv Luv Extra was. Have you read Ever17?

edited 7th Apr '11 11:12:00 AM by Arha

No, first time I heard of it. No, lie, I heard it in passing but didn't mind it that much. Did a little research and it looks good. I mean, really really good.

Though, to be honest, if it's too good, it might turn into a Tough Act to Follow of sorts for this genre to me. I had a kind of problem after I finished Clannad because it was so goddamn good it made every visual novel of the sorts I played after it less impressive.

Of those three (Tsukihime, Higurashi and Ever17; I think I'll pass Chaos;Head), which is the weakest?

I haven't played Higurashi. Tsukihime is also quite good, but it suffers from being low budget and old.

Higurashi is also low budget (blurried photo backgrounds), and ugly, there is a patch somewhere that makes it at least decent-looking. (I haven't played Tsukihime)

edited 7th Apr '11 2:48:32 PM by EternalSeptember

Both Tsukihime and Higurashi are low budget, as it was mentioned. Higurashi art is hideous, worse then Tsukihime by far (although I like the backgrounds). The soundtrack of Higurashi, however, is pretty good, while Tsukihime's is said to be quite bad (haven't played yet).

This wiki has patch to fix most problems, not only the art (it use the Play Station graphics), but also the music (which was replaced in the localization) as well removing the ugly UI (buttons the localization added to the main screen). The patches are quite unstable, however. It rarely crash, but it always do in some specific instances (so you have to remove th patch temporally) and you also may have to remove a few sound files if they present conflicts.

PS: Looking for Tsukihime, I discovered there is some music patch. Which, I assume, fix the music problems I've heard?

edited 7th Apr '11 6:13:10 PM by Heatth

No, it puts the music into the game.

That sucks. However, the mirror moon readme mention a rearrangements of the musics, called 'Ever After'. Any information on it?

Not a clue.

Tsukihime music isn't bad, it's just that there's not many tracks so most of the tunes get old pretty fast.

Higurashi music I'm not sure about, but I'm almost certain that it has a great soundtrack since Umineko's is absolutely mindblowing.

I recommend Ever17 for sure. It's an amazing VN and it's a shame that it's impossible to adapt into anime.

That's a good thing.

Play to your medium's strengths and make a story that can only be told with it.

Guys, I want a good traditional dating-sim-like novel.

What do you recommend? (Seeing as I have already played Clannad, Kanon, Da Capo 1 and 2 and Shuffle)

edited 6th Aug '11 7:08:23 PM by RunoEddie

Are you a real stickler about it being good? Canvas 2 is okay. Little Busters is excellent but only about 95% translated and awaiting its final patch. Crescendo... might count though it's a bit darker than a standard dating sim. Edelweiss is okay. Anything apart from that is going to be getting more complicated and farther from a standard 'Boy hooks up with Girl A, B, C, D or E with no particular overarching theme or story' plot.

I'm not sure why this thread had to be moved here. It was used rarely enough even when it was on the original subforum.

edited 9th Aug '11 5:23:42 PM by Arha

Finished up Kanon. It was fun. Should I start with Tsukihime or Fate Stay Night next?

I'm not sure why we need a recommendation sub forum at all, actually.

edited 11th Aug '11 7:47:47 PM by Thenamelesssamurai

I can only recommend Fate/Stay Night since I haven't played Tsukihime. Yet.

The thing about Tsukihime though it's that it has no VA and the art is a little lacking.

I'm going to say Tsukihime because you're sure to get to FSN eventually and thus should play the one that's easier to skip.

Another noob here. My only previous experience with the genre is Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors (which I didn't complete, because Junpei and June are irritating.) Yes, I've read the spoilers about how June is secretly incredibly badass, or something like that. I still don't want to put up with her, and Junpei's actually worse, since he's the character I'm supposed to be controlling. Anyways, I'm curious if anyone can recommend a good visual novel that has a female protagonist and isn't romantic.

Female protagonists are rare. However, I"ll point you to Shikkoku no Sharnoth. Protagonist is Agatha Christie. In a manner of speaking.

Apart from that the only female protagonist works I can think of offhand would probably be the first half of Remember 11, which isn't very good and Sono Hanabira Ni Kuchizuke Wo. I've no idea how good it is, but it's a yuri VN and thus I expect it to have way too much porn in it.

Oh, and there's Katahane but it's absolutely awful.

Also seconding Shikkoku No Sharnoth. You won't find female protagonists that often, but if you want a VN with a great main heroine, play G Senjou No Maou.

Any good translated Yuri V Ns?

Magical Diary: Horse Hall

Look it up, apparently it's good.

Done Playing Little Busters. Already played Clannad, Kanon, Da Capo and Da Capo II. Any ideas of what I could play next?