The visual novel thread

[purplemo]

Well, given all the visual novel talk I've done in this section, why not have a real thread just for them like the Touhou thread? So, here we go.

First off, what the heck is a visual novel? Well, it is a text "game" basically. You read, and you pick what to say next or do next a la text trees or "choose your own adventure novels." Some famous examples are Fate Stay Night and Clannad. Or some are just, well, visual novels, with no options. Think of a novel with pictures and some voices. Probably the most famous example of this is Higurashi. And then there are those that have extensive "side-games" that are full games in their own. The most famous examples I can think of are the fighting games Melty Blood and the Savior series.

Now most people know visual novels as eroge (Kanon) or dating sims (Angelique). While it is undeniable that most of them are and even the more famous ones have hentai scenes in them (Tsukihime, Kanon, Air, Fate Stay Night, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, etc) many of them have a rather deep story, as you can tell from the titles I've listed. Many of them do not focus on the sex but on character and story. And that is what makes many of them great. There is a reason why a greater and greater number of anime are based off of visual novels (that the great majority of these are dating h-games though like Akane Iro, Chaos Head, Shuffle . . .). Many of these truly qualify as full novel and novel series in their own right. Tsukihime, for example, has a text count larger than the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Many of these are interesting reads and are vast universes that are much more interesting than their anime counterparts (as anyone who has seen my rants about FSN know by now). So without further ado, my long list of good visual novels.

Planetarian - I have no qualms about pimping Planetarian and I have lead many people here to read it, Fireaxe being the most recent. And I've never heard anyone say anything other than praise for this other than marmar who wants more lolis and sex . . . A rather short read (3.5 hours for the last non-native English reader I've met to read this), but an excellent little tale about a dystopic future. Yumemi is my favorite Key girl too. I don't finish many VNs, but this is one I had no trouble with. A truly engrossing story. And to finish off, here's a cute little pic of Yumemi. If you get nothing else out of this thread but to take a look at Planetarian, that makes all this worth it.

Higurashi no Naku Koroni/Umineko no Naku Koroni - One of the better examples of how much better the VN is than the anime, I've already ranted about how they left out Ciel/Chie-sensei and FREDERICKA BERNKASTEL from the anime. The story overall is much better in the VN, especially Matsuribayashi. You also learn so so so SO much more backstory and motives behind everyone. Ever wonder why Rena's walking through a school with broken glass? Read on. Umineko aka Higurashi III is another must read, if for no other reason than Shannon, Kannon, Maria and BERNKASTEL.

ef - the first tale/ef - the latter tale - Yes Chihiro and Mizuki's stories sucked. But Hiro's and Yuko's more than make up for it. One of the few VNs out there with a equal male/female ratio, this is minori's best work. And to spice things up, Makoto Shinkai (yes that guy everyone drools over) has been doing h-games for minori forever, and this is the guy's best work yet.
ef - the first tale OP
ef - the latter tale OP

moon. - The other Key work that is pretty good, moon. is unlike many of Key's works in that it stars a girl and is quite a bit darker. I enjoyed it quite a bit I remember.
Moon. OP

Bittersweet Fools - I put this one on because of its pedigree. Both Yu Aida (Gunslinger Girl) and Makoto Shinkai worked on this one. Set in Florence and looking at the character design and the OP's similarity to Shinkai's Egao, it's no surprise.
Bittersweet Fools OP

Pianissimo - Dark and pretty is what best describes this VN. To be honest I'm not very far in, but it's captivated me.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6392485Ys8xrXya

Duel Savior/Otome Crisis - A fighting series that plays out like a VN, these games are just plain fun. Of note, KOTOKO of j-pop and anime music fame earned her spurs doing songs for h-games such as these.
Duel Savior OP
Otome Crisis OP

Fate Hollow Ataraxia - Caren. Bazett. Avenger. Sakura. Dark Sakura. Dark Saber. Kaleido-Ruby. So many more. And SO much better than FSN.
Fate Hollow Ataraxia OP2

Tomoyo After - The MUCH MUCH MUCH better half to Clannad. This one's a much better story about Tomoyo, Tomoya, and their new family situation.
Tomoyo After OP

Melty Blood - The Tsukihime fighting game and sequel. This "VN" is a full fledged fighting game in its own right. Amazingly fun while expanding on the canon.

And just a bone to the type of stuff marmar likes, Pure Moe Angel. Here's a pic of everyone's favorite Kumi-chan.

The infamous foot fetish boy returns!

So, anyone have any VNs they liked and/or what to talk about? And I'll list others, but this post is already getting too long . . .

[Fireaxe]

Yeah, I had a feeling that this kind of thread would barely be used, that's why I was reticent to make one, but I'm glad you did (saves me the trouble ^^).

I had this talk with Purplemo (which eventually lead to the making of this thread) on how much I liked Planetarian. He's been trying to get me to read it for quite a while now, and seriously... I don't know why I waited so long. Like he said, it really is a quick read, so to anyone unfamiliar with VNs, this is probably THE title to start with. Quick, beautiful, and sex-free :P

If anyone's interested in testing their French-reading skills, take a look at my latest article: NihonQC Blog Archive Planetarian

The other VNs I've read so far are Tsukihime and half of Melty Blood (a surprisingly long read for a fighter game...).
Next on my list is... well, finishing up Melty Blood... and then move on to Kagetsu Tohya (some sort of sequel to Tsukihime).

Oh and I suggest that we use this specific thread to talk about the latest VN we've read, and what we thought about it. Instead of having one thread per title.

[Zakiel]

I would play the Suikoden visual novels if they were embedded in the game instead of in external documents. I may still eventually play, who knows.

Aside from that, I've played Utawarerumono. It's a SRPG and I wanted to see how the story differed. I've played some others as well, years ago.

[ForgottenSon]

Originally Posted by Fireaxe

I had this talk with Purplemo (which eventually lead to the making of this thread) on how much I liked Planetarian. He's been trying to get me to read it for quite a while now, and seriously... I don't know why I waited so long. Like he said, it really is a quick read, so to anyone unfamiliar with VNs, this is probably THE title to start with. Quick, beautiful, and sex-free :P

Orly? I've been grappling with it for quite some time.

[purplemo]

Originally Posted by Fireaxe

Oh and I suggest that we use this specific thread to talk about the latest VN we've read, and what we thought about it. Instead of having one thread per title.

Yeah that was what I thought. I figured that I might as well put an intro to it though like the Touhou thread just so people know what it is to begin with. Plus it's a more interesting first post than

"What did you think of the last VN you read?"

Originally Posted by ForgottenSon

Orly? I've been grappling with it for quite some time.

Why not go ahead? You can be the next "victim" I've roped into Planetarian . . . ;p

[ForgottenSon]

Originally Posted by purplemo

Why not go ahead? You can be the next "victim" I've roped into Planetarian . . . ;p

I will, I will. I just need to dedicate some time to it, eliminate all distractions.

[Hyperbole1729]

I've recently finished Melty Blood (with all the endings)

The G storyline was such a pain! I had to set the difficulty to one to get through G-Akiha. And after you have to go through it again to unlock a secret ending; I wanted to cry. But that storyline was really funny.

I started Tsukihime a while ago. Still haven't gotten through even one ending yet, but it's awesome. After that, I have Kagetsu Tohya waiting ^^

Maybe I'll go take a look at Planetarian. It looks good.

[Fireaxe]

I wonder how you happened to read MB first though.... even if you've watched the anime first, there's still a TON of infos that were left out. But still, it's a kickass fighter game :P

[Hyperbole1729]

Originally Posted by Fireaxe

I wonder how you happened to read MB first though.... even if you've watched the anime first, there's still a TON of infos that were left out. But still, it's a kickass fighter game :P

A friend of mine had Act Cadenza. I fell in love with the game the moment I played it. But since there's no patch for Act Cadenza it kind of annoyed me to not know the story behind of it all and who were the new characters that weren't in Tsukihime (I had already seen the anime). So when I found the english patch for the original Melty Blood...

(By the way Fireaxe... I love your signature's background! Hitomi and Nana are such a cute couple ^^)

[Fireaxe]

Hahaha thanks, most people here on A-P wouldn't know who they are. If only they had an anime, I'd totally vote for them in the other thread ( 11/16/08 - 5 anime with the best couples ) !

But that being said, yeah Act Cadenza is also a great game. I don't know which version you played (I played AC-B), but I must be missing something because I have absolutely no clue who that Miyako is... Now I need to start working on the other endings for Melty Blood so I can open that spoiler tag :P