Visual Novel Recommendations

G Senjou No Maou or Sharin No Kuni.

The latter's drawings look way too cute for me.

The former looks interesting.

If you like darker settings, I'd say Kara no Shoujo. I've been reading a LP of it for some time, and I must say it's got a pretty good writting. It's very gory, though.

It's not a cute story since it involves dystopia and trolling, but GSNM happens to be better anyway.

edited 11th Jan '13 5:40:44 PM by Arha

The whole dystopia thing isn't explored to it's maximum, though. And the ending was a downer, at least imo. The characters are interesting, at least.

GSNM is better, I have to agree.

The ending wasn't a downer. It just didn't involve Kenichi trying to fix the world except in the ending that should have been the canon one.

Personally I liked Sharin No Kuni better, but that's because I like alt-society slice of life. Although I think Sharin No Kuni had a stronger protagonist and ensemble cast (whereas G-Senjou No Maou had a stronger main heroine.)

I thought Princess Waltz did a very good job creating a solid, coherent story with conflict that wasn't too predictable, and did a great job distilling some really epic moments. But most people don't rate it as highly as I do, so I can't guarantee you'd get as much out of it.

Kamidori Alchemy Meister had the most fun gameplay of any of the hybrid V Ns I've played. The writing is solid in parts, but the romance and plotting range from half-assed, to 400% of your daily recommended value of ass. Eien No Aselia has more consistently decent writing, but has much worse gameplay and story integration.

I have recently finished Rewrite and while I did really enjoy it, the endings mostly sucked. So I'm looking for something good to move on to.

Can anyone recommend me a visual novel that does have a good ending? Execution being the key thing.

Consider me a fan of most Key Visual Novels, CLANNAD in particular and in general fairly upbeat stuff.

Consider me not a fan of excessive length.

Lastly, if you want an idea of my tastes, here's my anime list.

The only Viisual Novels I've read so far are: Fate/stay night, CLANNAD and Katawa Shojou.

edited 20th Feb '13 10:06:46 PM by UltimatelySubjective

Little Busters! is a Key visual novel and it's ending(True ending) is pretty good. It is excessively long though(Little Busters! EX is longer than Clannad).

I lost a lot of interest in Little Busters when I realized that none of the baseball training stuff that I'd put so much effort into (I did a whole lot of Save Scumming to get the best stat bonuses, and won the baseball game in my first scenario) carried over to the next playthrough. I mean, yeah, it's primarily a visual novel, not a baseball game or duel simulator or whatever, but I hate it when I realize I've spent my time working towards a payoff, even a minor one, which turns out to just not be there.

I'm required by law to recommend G Senjou No Maou and Sharin No Kuni, though the latter is a pain to install sometimes. Of course, two months have gone by, so I doubt you're looking for recommendations still.

edited 11th Apr '13 2:35:29 PM by Arha

I'd also ask for elaboration on the whole "good ending" thing. What qualifies as "good?" Is it okay if it's powerfully written even if it's seriously depressing?

I'm always happy to be recommended stuff, and it just so happens I'm still not reading anything at the moment.

Little Busters... Well I've gotten through the terrible heroine routes in the anime so I figure I'll stick with it to the part that's actually considered good.

Sharin No Kuni I may actually check out.

I know Arha says G Senjou No Maou is good and do I believe him, but I don't know if I'll like the main character. His personality sounds somewhat at odds with mine.

Depressing is bad. With the right execution I won't mind, but it would have to be excellently paced so I'm never wishing I wasn't continuing, watertight so I didn't call bull and fitting so I didn't hate what it did to characters I cared about. Those three points tie into my idea of a good ending anyway, though I'll acknowledge some bias.

Probably simpler to assume that kinda ending doesn't work for me.

edited 12th Apr '13 3:42:07 AM by UltimatelySubjective

Hmmm I consider Kyousuke in GSNM to be fundamentally good natured and trying to pretend that he's not. I've seen far worse protagonists out there. Why don't you check out Sharin no Kuni, which has a pretty nice (if trolly) protagonist and then decide if you want to read a VN by the same company? Kyousuke is not much worse than the SNK protagonist.

Anyway, if you don't like depressing I will antirecommend Cross Channel, Kara no Shoujo (actually I wouldn't recommend this to anyone) and, from what I hear, Saya no Uta. Hm, that's surprisingly few VNs ending in a particularly depressing manner from the ones I've read and heard about. Well, Umineko.

Desertopa: There are endings that I at least would consider good without them actually being happy. Are you asking in regards to Little Busters?

edited 12th Apr '13 8:29:39 AM by Arha

I was actually thinking of Kira☆Kira, which is one thing I recommend to pretty much anyone who enjoyed Katawa Shoujo. It may only be one out of the three heroines, but Kirari's normal ending is not exactly a pick-me-up.

I can't finish that one. I tried to pick it up again and dropped it almost immediately.

What did you not like about it?

I have a hard time understanding what criteria would get someone through a work like Hoshizora No Memoria, but not Kira☆Kira.

Well, first, I didn't like Kirari or Sarina or whatever their names were. I didn't like the main character either. I couldn't finish Deardrops apart from the one route, so I have a sneaking suspicion that I don't like these band VNs or maybe it's just the company I don't like. It wasn't funny and I didn't particularly like the writing style.

So basically it didn't do anything right. Everything was mediocre at best except the one girl I liked, the only girl whose route I finished. Sure, Hoshizora's Mio expy was obnoxious, yeah I didn't like the waitress girl and the main heroine's presentation was flawed, but at least it was funny and had Komomo, Kosame and Mare.

See, I had the opposite reaction. I didn't like any of the characters in Hoshizora no Memoria, or find any of it funny. The only point where the game ever made me laugh was, I think, the eleventh time Ka-Bou burned the main character, and the fact that they had reused a gag that wasn't even funny in the first place so many times wrapped back around into comedy.

Is A Certain Magical Index better as a LN or as an anime? I'm inclined to watching it, but I don't want to spend my time with an anime that lacks content, like the Fate Stay Night adaptation.

edited 26th Apr '13 5:24:11 PM by Rapier

An anime, but you're in the wrong thread. Visual novels and light novels are different things.

Sorry, I couldn't find a thread specifically for Light Novels so I thought I could ask on this one. Thanks anyway.

Light novels generally get lumped under anime.

To be more specific, the anime is faithful, and the Light Novels are probably worse because the poor writing shows not just through the plot, but in the prose. So I'd recommend the anime.

The A Certain Magical Index thread in the Anime and Manga section is probably the best place to ask for more elaborate details.

Can anyone recommend a good visual novel where the routes of the game aren't centered around a girl but a boy? Especialy one where romance isn't the only focus of the story like Fate/Stay Night or Higurashi.