So, we have a thread for adventure games, indie RPG's and horror but I don't think there's a separate thread for visual novels and similar games, right? If not - there is now!
I'll come back and do something proper with this first post later...in the meantime I just wanted to create this to highlight Black Closet, below...
Also, I'll go ahead and mention Datenighto which is offering some very interesting sounding indie Visual Novels including "We Know The Devil" (as recommended by Hypatia in another thread) which I've not plucked up the courage to try myself yet but it sounds good.
I haven't really played any games in this genre (unless Persona 4 Arena story mode counts), but for some reason I'm really happy this thread exists. Favoriting!
Immediately I thought of Angelique which I always ALWAYS wanted to play and never got to because it seemed like every English translated file I found was incomplete or corrupted for my NES simulators.
Secondarily, and related, I wanted to play Harukanaru Toki no Naka de, because it looked beautiful but again no translation. Maybe I could have button mashed my way through it. I got the feeling it was not as good of a game as Angelique.
I've eyed a few visual novels/dating sims on Steam but I haven't pulled the trigger on any of them so if people have recommendations I'll be checking this thread out again for more detail.
I freaking LOVED "choose-your-own-adventure" and even more complex gamebooks as a child, so, I always thought I should love visual novels... but for some reason I never quite got into them. It could be my lack of a decent PC; it could be sterotypically gendered interests. (Although I'll happily play a female Commander Shepard, I'm still spending more time fighting than romancing.) I've been looking at Hatoful Boyfriend and Steins;Gate as ways to break into the genre. Would those be outside the scope of what is usually considered "visual novels"?
For those who enjoyed Long Live the Queen, Hanako Games latest Visual Novel / Simulation game came out on Steam a few days ago and it's super intriguing!
Did not know! Wishlisted! Thanks!
!!!!
pyxistyx wrote:For those who enjoyed Long Live the Queen, Hanako Games latest Visual Novel / Simulation game came out on Steam a few days ago and it's super intriguing!
Did not know! Wishlisted! Thanks!
Spoiler:!!!!
I did not know this either. I like the concept for LLTQ but got put off by the One true Path.
Something more open like this is very intriguing.
pyxistyx wrote:For those who enjoyed Long Live the Queen, Hanako Games latest Visual Novel / Simulation game came out on Steam a few days ago and it's super intriguing!
Did not know! Wishlisted! Thanks!
Spoiler:!!!!
I did not know this either. I like the concept for LLTQ but got put off by the One true Path.
Something more open like this is very intriguing.
Finally! I'll be sure to keep tabs on this and ramp up my VN game playing. Tally ho!
First of all... holy visual novel database, Batman! (Nice to have an index. Less nice when you look at things like "tags" and see stuff you really wish was not tagged. So warnings for that.)
Recently I just finished getting all the endings to Seduce Me the Otome, and a lot of the endings to Cinders.
Cinders was particularly nice because there are a lot of choices where you don't have to be romantic at all, and I appreciated just experiencing the story.
The other one was appealing because it was free (?!) on Steam and the voice acting was rather good, I thought. If you aren't sure you want to play a visual novel/otome then this was short and sweet and gives you a solid idea of the simple sort of gameplay. Also, there were a few non-romantic options so you can experience the story without it.
Waiting for some other visual novels to get a deeper discount before I give them a shot. I had a friend who was crazy into otome games, and I'm finding that there's so many endings to these things I'm getting wound up by my completion compulsion. (Said compulsion is why I had to stop playing Final Fantasy games.) Getting endings I don't care for merely to see what they contain might end up breaking me.
Umm my last foray into the genre was the Kickstarter Sunrider (free on Steam!! Go get it), a mecha/space conflict romance VN.
Other notable play in the past was one of the Rance games (was it Sengoku, can't remember right now) which played more like a FF game.
ARISE THREAD! YOU ARE NEEDED!
Oh good, a thread for this does exist! I've recently been playing Panzermadels: Tank Dating Simulator as kind of a joke thing to stream via Twitch with a few friends. While the game is really bad (we did have a good time pulling a MST3K on the game, though) I actually found myself kind of intrigued by it. I have Hatoful Boyfriend purchased but never really played it, but I was wondering if any of you had some VN's that you could recommend that are more realistic in terms of the characters involved.
I guess I'm just looking for something that maybe takes itself a little more seriously? I suppose I could take a look at some of the games already listed here, but I was just wondering if there are maybe some "classic" visual novels/dating sims that I should be taking a look at?
I fail at forums.
triple post
ARISE THREAD! YOU ARE NEEDED!
Oh good, a thread for this does exist! I've recently been playing Panzermadels: Tank Dating Simulator as kind of a joke thing to stream via Twitch with a few friends. While the game is really bad (we did have a good time pulling a MST3K on the game, though) I actually found myself kind of intrigued by it. I have Hatoful Boyfriend purchased but never really played it, but I was wondering if any of you had some VN's that you could recommend that are more realistic in terms of the characters involved.
I guess I'm just looking for something that maybe takes itself a little more seriously? I suppose I could take a look at some of the games already listed here, but I was just wondering if there are maybe some "classic" visual novels/dating sims that I should be taking a look at?
Danganronpa is on Steam now, and this is definitely recommended, despite some wooly tacked-on gameplay sections.
Steins;Gate I'd definitely recommend as a great sci-fi VN on time travel and the 'butterfly effect'. PG-13, some implied violence, one 'oops I peeked by accident' scene that shows nothing, that's about all. (There's also a Steins;Gate anime which is the same plot condensed and follows the 'true end Makise Kurisu ending').
Hmm. Might not be quite what you're looking for, but the MuvLuv series could fit this bill... I'll say straight off that the first MuvLuv is godawful - it's just a plain old high-school romance novel with a 'who will I pick, girl A or girl B' at the end (although there's others but their ends are apparently even more bare-bones) but once you finish it it unlocks MuvLuv Unlimited which is same characters, alternate universe, where aliens have invaded - can get pretty heavy and is much more entertaining. If you like that one, then MuvLuv alternative redoes Unlimited with even more heavy sh*t. (This series was kickstarted for a proper official translation last year sometime and is due on Steam fairly soon). Warning, NSFW parts you might want to skip if you don't like that stuff.
Fate/StayNight is also pretty decent - is about a guy who unwittingly becomes involved in a war with wizards in 'modern day' japan. Same highschool shtick though. Also has NSFW parts you might want to skip. (This was made into an anime which is really good. Also Fate/Zero is the prequel to this story and is also a good series) I believe there are console versions of this VN that have the NSFW parts removed.
If I think of more I'll amend the post but this might be enough to get you started.
Triple post, argh.
I recently picked up Long Live the Queen and now I really, really want to play more games like it. I plan to pick up the publisher's other games soon-ish.
In the meantime I've been going through Steam's search results for "visual novel" and wishlisting things that look interesting but I do not understand the lingo at all. For instance what's a kinetic novel? Is it just a novel with pictures/sounds and no choices? E.g. vndb has Over the Hills and Far Away tagged as a kinetic novel.
Not really a romance-all (I think?), but VA11-Hall-A is a cyberpunk bartending visual novel that's coming out later this month which has been on my radar for the last year:
(Source)
Oh, nice. I don't recognize any of the actors' names but the clips seem top notch.
Anyone picked up VA-11 yet? I enjoyed the demo quite a bit.
Speaking of Cyberpunk... ROM is getting swish voice acting for the PS4/Vita version (I assume it'll get patched into the PC version as well).
Oh nice, there was some concern that team was going to run out of cash after they did a ridiculous price drop after their first week, so it's good to see they're still going
Anyone picked up VA-11 yet? I enjoyed the demo quite a bit.
I had it on pre-order but haven't had a chance to play it yet
It's my turn! Rise once more thread, as we revel in the great free VN that is The Senpai. There's a brief bit about it on Kotaku, but basically, it's a free Seinfeld mash up VN. I've only played a bit, but it's pretty hilarious. You should probably at least kind of enjoy Seinfeld to play it though.
How did I not see this thread earlier?!?!?
I see Cinders and Seduce Me the Otome have already been mentioned and those definitely get my vote. I Kickstarted the sequel to Seduce Me but it definitely wasn't as strong (Seduce Me 2). I've a couple others in the Pile (Solstice comes to mind), but I haven't gotten around to it.
Ooo, I like the look of this one. Putting it on the radar
Don't mind me. Just popping a pin in.
Necrobarista. Looks interesting
Dang, that presentation is slick.
Hope it comes to Steam.
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