| Lately I've been feeling kind of bored and wanting to try something new other than watch anime and read manga. Should I try playing visual novels? The only visual novel I've ever played is Doki Doku Literature Club and it was fun but the creepiness gave me a bad impression of visual novels up until now. Making me not feel like playing them. Should I try playing visual novels? If so, could you please recommend me good ones that are free to play or are available on Steam? |
| Yes If you like mystery/crime stuff I definitely recommend the Ace Attorney series https://store.steampowered.com/app/787480/Phoenix_Wright_Ace_Attorney_Trilogy__123/ I would get this Steam edition myself but I already have the 3DS version lol |
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| Visual Novels may be kinda hard to get into at first specially cuz they are very different from both anime and games. For Steam ones I would recommend: Narcissu - For a more classical approach (Romance - Tragic) Cuz most VNs are Romance That's why Doki Doki starts as a romance cuz its a parody and makes fun of the tropes used in VNs. Also You can never go wrong with the Classics. Danganronpa STEINS;GATE For a less Read-Heavy experience you can check out Blazblue (The story mode It's a VN) and Its Spin off XBlaze |
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| I'm a huge fan of them and have played nearly a hundred titles, but not gonna lie they're far less accessible than anime or games. Many of them tend to have similar issues like padding or repetition. There's also the problem of excessive erotic scenes, though that's actually a plus point for me lmao. I find that the mystery/detective genre is the best starting point for newcomers to the medium since these games are so easy to get into. You definitely want to check out the Ace Attorney and Danganronpa games, so I agree with the posters above. The recently released AI: Somnium Files is also a good choice since the 3D visuals and extensive features give it the semblance of a regular video game. Finally, there's Root Double, which is one of my most favorite visual novels to date. I'll be honest, though, I wouldn't recommend any of the free visual novels on Steam. Stuff like Narcissu or the KFC visual novel might intrigue you at first, but after reading a dozen or so visual novels, you will start to realize they fall far behind in terms of quality. |
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| I always wanted to give them a try but that moment just never seems to arrive... |
  “The most shameless thing in the world is political power that can be inherited regardless of ability or talent!” |
| I played Higurashi, Doki Doki and Ace Attorney. Danganronpa has been on my radar for a while now, Umineko as well. Yeah, I think they are good and worth playing. I can't think of any free ones that are good from the top of my head. |
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| Besides Danganronpa there's another VN I really like. It's called House in Fata Morgana. |
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| Didn't even know what Visual Novels were until I started voice acting (since the majority of online videogame work is for Visual Novels). Frankly I'm really not a fan generally, but you do every once in a while get a great game like Steins;Gate that tells a genuinely fantastic story (although if those Visual Novels are great enough to become anime might as well just watch the anime unless they really screw up the adaptation). For what it's worth though I have found moderate enjoyment in a few of the ones I voiced in (XOXO Droplets was probably the best of them since it mixed in other genres and also focused on comedy more than usual). I also played Doki Doki Literature Club which was interesting. But generally Visual Novels are lame except for the rare one or two a year that cleverly mix in another genre or focus entirely on telling a good original story. |
| Clannad and the Grisaia series are worth doing. I am on Grisaia no Meikyuu right now. I am also doing Clannad, the Ichinose Kotomi route. |
| Thank you everyone. Appreciated your recommendations. I will try them. |
| You have to remember that visual novels as a whole are more like novels than games, you spend most of your time reading. If you are okay with that, then visual novels can be a very rewarding experience, I prefer them even to anime nowadays. I recommend starting with Grisaia, Little Busters! or G-senjou no Maou as those were my first ones to introduce me to the medium. After reading those you will probably be hooked. |
| I REALLY want to get into the visual novel genre too but it's a little daunting. I've played hybrid VNs like Neptunia and I LOVE danganronpa, but I haven't played a "pure" vn like FS/N yet. Muv-Luv looks pretty cool too |
    "Ehehehe.....I did my best!" - Pururut |
| Visual novels are the best! You should play Summer Pockets when English version comes out sometime in the future. It was best visual novel games I ever played and I even bought switch version for it so I can play it on the go. (I know mobile version exists, but it's not really the same, with only 50 save slots) Second best for me was Sakura no Uta but I'm not sure if they'll ever translate that. I can't wait till sequel Sakura no Toki to come out, hopefully sometime next year. |
| NekoPara, NekoPara ftw If My Heart Had Wings is also very nice. |
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| Yeah, definitely, Steins;Gate, Clannad, Air and Kanon are all very good, if you want something different, then Corpse Party: Sweet Sachiko's Hysteric Birthday Bash is a rather interesting horror/comedy blend. Under One Wing is a rather fun romance visual novel, the Steam Edition is all ages, but can get the restoration version (which has all the content in the original game) through Denpasoft. |
Fleeting_DreamNov 16, 2019 8:28 AM
    Summertime days, passing gentlySunlight, leading to an encounter; Dreams that don't want to end Continue onwards toward the next day While she waits in the air. |
| I like visual novels a lot, although if you're only looking for free ones, you probably won't find the best. Paid suggestions that I liked: Higurashi (These are quite cheap, like less than £5 per chapter and they're 10-20hours each), Umineko, Worldend Syndrome, Fault: Milestone One, Narcissu (All of them), Planetarian, Wish: Tale of the sixteenth night of the lunar month (Another cheap one, costs like £5.50 on Steam), Memory's Dogma. Doki Doki Literature Club is the only decent free one that I can think of unfortunately, I tend to avoid free ones although I will watch this thread for suggestions if anyone has any. |
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| Here you go in 2 categories: Accessible
Ambitious
@Timeless- That's what I get for speculating blindly... |
Auron_Nov 16, 2019 3:10 PM
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| I'll add Utawarerunomono if you want a visual novel with some gameplay mechanic to it. A few of em NISA released on ps4, though that's definatly not the norm for vns. There's always 07's when they cry(Umineko,higurashi,Ciconia ) for the murder mystery shenanigans, called sound novel rather than visual as they generally are focused on atmosphere rather than art. |
| I still don't really get why Danganronpa and Phoenix Wright are considered VNs tbh, they're more just text heavy adventure games. Anyway, yeah read 07th Expansion novels and Grisaia. |
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| I will be honest with you. Muv Luv Alternative and Song of Saya both have etched themselves into my very being. After reading them you will not be the same. Something something hyperbole @16-Bit-MegaDrive Digital a love story was made in Renpy so I think that counts. Really good freeware. |
  ♡ Harder Daddy ♡ |
| Does anyone here has an easy to use or read site that list eroge and visual novel? I'm not gonna claim that I'll be playing them left and right but I'd check it out :p |
hazecloud said: Does anyone here has an easy to use or read site that list eroge and visual novel? I'm not gonna claim that I'll be playing them left and right but I'd check it out :p VNDB has always been the best place for that. Here's a list of all the visual novels in terms of score. You can also check out my list on my profile. Totally not advertising btw. |
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| @hazecloud I don't know about listing ones you've done, vndb might have a function like that. As for listing all VNs, vndb is exactly that. I'd also look at Fuwanovel because they have quite a few good ones listed and some reviews without the overload that you get looking at hundreds of entries. As for recs for people checking out VNs, naturally Katawa Shoujo is a good starting place. There are a few other Ren'Py gems out there free to play as well but I never looked too hard at Ren'Py stuff. Commercial releases, I'd recommend Rewrite and Muv-Luv. Grisaia is also great imo. Muv-Luv Alternative is a masterpiece but not for everyone. |
| Nico nico ni~eed a siggy like the all the cool kids Really wish we had a rep system so I could farm it and spam rep+ |
| @Skittles Alright looks like I'm redirected to that site again haha. Looks like it's the real deal after all. Hmm I may need a headset to play, I mean read. @ItsaNico Alright, Katawa Shoujo this would do too. I try to find stuff that I'm interested but at the same time not giving me too much spoiler. Thanks guys. |
| I haven't played that many, but I prefer them over regular novels because I'm a sucker for pretty art and some form of interaction. They're nice if I want to just relax. |
| I like most of the ones I've read. It's been a few years since I've played one but I've been wanting to check out House in Fata Morgana. As for VNs on Steam, I'd rec Danganronpa and The Fruit of Grisaia. |
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