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Thread: Karifean's Top 10 Visual Novels

  1. #31
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    Not got too much to say about either of those, since I know nothing about them. But they do sound pretty cool, and if I can ever fit VNs into my schedule of video games, then I will get them played.

  2. #32
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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    Default #3 - CLANNAD

    Maybe this one isn't as unknown.


    #3
    CLANNAD (Series)

    Developer: Key
    Availability: Localization in progress (Steam Release: Q4 2015)
    Adult Content: None (CLANNAD), Yes (Tomoyo After)
    Length: Very Long (~90 Hours)


    Do you like this town? I really really love it. But nothing can stay the same forever. Fun things, happy things... they'll all eventually go away. Even so, can you keep loving this place?

    CLANNAD holds a special place in my heart. It was my number one for quite some time, for two main reasons: It's the best romance story I've ever read, and it's also the most excruciatingly sad story I've ever read.



    The protagonist of CLANNAD is Tomoya Okazaki, a highschool youth whose everyday life couldn't be more shallow. Endlessly repeating days of boredom and nothing ever happening... all excitement and love of life long forgotten.



    One day upon walking to school he happens to notice a girl around his age on the way, lost in thought, talking to herself (see quote atop the post). On a whim, Tomoya decides to speak to her... and starting with that one interaction he slowly begins to once again take notice of the things around him.

    CLANNAD doesn't have much of an initial plot as much as it has a setting from which a story starts building up depending on which path you take. The main theme that runs through most of CLANNAD is "family", and many of the story routes are at least partly focused on family, be it through parents, siblings or the trials and tribulations of building a family yourself. But naturally it's also a very romance-heavy story, as almost all the paths involve a romantic relationship with one of the many heroines. The routes are all-round pretty solid and you easily get invested in them. Most of the routes also involve a lot of drama, which coupled with the emotional investment that is so easily built up makes for one hell of a successful formula.



    You might be able to guess looking at the estimated length, but CLANNAD is freaking huge. It starts off having 9 story arcs that all take between 5-10 hours to read through (and that's assuming you can get through them without getting sidetracked by any bad ends), and once you complete ALL of them you unlock After Story, the final arc, which is maybe as long as two school arcs. So if you want to complete CLANNAD in its entirety, you're looking at quite a time investment.



    However, After Story is easily the best part of the CLANNAD visual novel. It's an extension of Nagisa's storyline path, and shows them spending their lives together, building up independence, even starting a family. Quite a few arcs end before the romance even really got started, so seeing this was very satisfying. But believe me, you'll want to have a box of tissues next to you reading it. You will be needing them.



    By this point in the countdown it goes without saying, but CLANNAD has a wonderful cast of characters, and not only that, but the relationships between them are just as great. Tomoya and Sunohara have such a great friendship it makes you envious. Nagisa's parents Sanae and Akio are both totally awesome characters. Tomoya and his father are on poor terms, but their reconciliation in After Story is such a beautiful scene. And Kappei x Ryou is seriously one of the cutest couples in the whole visual novel.



    But, if you're like me and think the best romantic couple in CLANNAD was not Tomoya x Nagisa at all, but rather Tomoya x Tomoyo, you may be happy to hear that CLANNAD got a spinoff; it's called "Tomoyo After ~It's a Wonderful Life~" and is basically an After Story for Tomoyo's arc. And although it's rated 18+, just about all the H scenes are gathered right before the game's intro movie, so once you're past that it's *almost* all-ages rateable.



    In Tomoyo After, Tomoya and Tomoyo take in a young child by the name of Tomo who turns out to be Tomoyo's illegitimate half-sister who was left in their care by her mother because she has a terminal illness and wishes for her daughter to be spared a painful farewell. Ah Key, you just love making your readers cry, don't you?

    I loved Tomoyo After just as much if not more than CLANNAD, partly because Tomoya x Tomoyo really is my single favorite romance in any visual novel, and also because it has an absolutely incredible ending in the form of its final arc "Tomoyo After After". It's just... I can't even. So many tears. So many emotions. It still frustrates me to no end that the ending was changed in the all-ages rereleases.



    Both CLANNAD and Tomoyo After have a very good soundtrack. There was a time when I'd have called it the best soundtrack of any VN, and while those feelings have subsided I still hold the OST in high regard. The one thing it does incredibly well is bringing up memories and emotions of reading CLANNAD when listening to them outside of context. Many tracks still get me misty-eyed to this day. Some examples of such tracks: Country Train, Roaring Tides, Snowfield (I cry every time), and from Tomoyo After, Dear Old Home (Piano) and Old Summer Days.



    CLANNAD is Key's most well-known work, and was my introduction to them; through the anime adaptation. The CLANNAD anime is honestly a very good adaptation, combining the stories of most story arcs into one without feeling awkward. Well sure, they had to cut out the romance from all but Nagisa's arc, but still it's a really good anime on its own and a lot better paced and less time-consuming to go through than the visual novel. The one thing they did kinda smurf up on is the ending, but I guess it can't be perfect. It's still my favorite anime, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.



    CLANNAD is the main reason I read visual novels today. When I finished the anime, I simply wanted more, more of the characters, their interactions, their backstories. And so I came upon the visual novel, and it just fascinated me. While Ace Attorney may have been my first VN, reading CLANNAD was what made me love the genre.

    Following a quite successful Kickstarter a few months ago a western release for CLANNAD is just a matter of time. Whether or not Tomoyo After will follow is anyone's guess but if CLANNAD does well enough I'll consider it likely. Either way, if you like romantic visual novels, I definitely encourage you to check this one out.

  3. #33
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    Man, with it being so time intensive, I think I'll just anime it up and look thoughtfully at the VN, particularly if it does get an English release.

  4. #34
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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    Default #2 - Little Busters!

    Can't really blame you. It is absurdly long and the main reason I got through it is precisely because I was so motivated to get to know all there is to CLANNAD after being enticed by the anime.

    Time for the final two. As far as I'm concerned they're both full 10/10s.


    #2
    Little Busters!

    Developer: Key
    Availability: Japan Only
    Adult Content: None (normally), Yes ("Ecstasy" version)
    Length: Long (~50 Hours)


    The Little Busters are eternal...

    Oh god... Little Busters. In my eyes the perfect execution of Key's signature formula. Everything CLANNAD started, Little Busters perfected.



    Little Busters takes place in a highschool setting (how original). The protagonists are the titular Little Busters, a group of five friends who have been together for as long as they can (or rather, want to) remember. But as their leader, Kyousuke Natsume, is starting his final year of school, Riki Naoe, the main protagonist, reflects on the time they spent together and wonders... will it all come to an end? Will they part ways after so many years?

    Kyousuke, the upbeat and charismatic leader, decides for all of them to do something they can only do now: start a baseball team.



    Of course five people aren't enough to form a baseball team, so they start recruiting new members. In true galge fashion they all happen to be girls, naturally. And so as they spend their daily lives, the original group of five keeps expanding, all the while playing baseball and spending time together.



    I dare you to find a more heartful tale of friendship in a video game.

    I'll be upfront, Little Busters has the most lovable cast of characters I've ever seen. Never before or since have I cared so much for a group of fictional people. I love the characters of this visual novel so much that whenever drama struck I was mercilessly pulled in. Between the lively-as-hell Haruka, the endlessly optimistic Komari, the incredibly adorable Kud, the quiet but philosophical Mio and the eternally teasing Kurugaya, to me all of the add-ons to the original five Little Busters were great characters.



    And what about the original five? All of them are some of my absolute favorite characters. Kengo and Masato are the broest of all bros and their interactions are the best. Riki and Rin are both overly dependent on the group at first, but both undergo some wonderful character growth. And Kyousuke... Kyousuke is my #1 favorite fictional character. He's every bit as awesome as Riki makes him out to be, always coming up with endlessly fun ideas, over-the-top yet respectable to no end, and I just love his voice *swoon*. Midorikawa for best voice actor.



    So dreamy~

    What about the story? Well if CLANNAD's main theme was "family", Little Busters' main theme is "friendship". Many of the arcs, or at least Riki's motivation in them, revolves around all he received and learned through being with the Little Busters, and hoping to pass that love of life onto others. Pretty much everyone in the group suffers from some sort of trauma, and it's all thanks to the Little Busters that Riki was able to conquer his.



    The common route of Little Busters is heartwarming like no other and always manages to find new ways to be interesting even on multiple playthroughs. It even has several minigames which are, true to the Little Busters' attitude, pointless but simply fun.

    There's the baseball practice, which is so beautifully calming and therapeutic - with Day Game playing in the background - and adds so much character to the game. You can try to hit the ball towards anyone currently on your team, which leads to some hilarious lines... and I simply love watching these guys interact.



    There's also the battles which unlike the baseball practice have basically no interactivity, but are still fun as hell. Both fighters have completely random weapons that can range from a bag of balloons, sticky tape or soap all the way over to a freaking katana. The loser of a match is given a disgraceful title that is jotted down and tracked in the Status screen. There's even a ranking system and a hidden sidequest if you manage to get to the top. It's all pretty pointless, but just so delightfully pointless. Plus, Heroic Battle is totally awesome.





    Now for the more serious part. At first there are six major story arcs, each corresponding to one female character - as per usual for galge - then you can move on to Rin2, an extension of Rin's arc, and then you unlock the final arc, "Refrain", which concludes the main plot. The individual story arcs are overall pretty damn good. While Komari's and Kud's arcs were good-but-not-great, Haruka's and Mio's arcs were just amazing. I also love the romance in Kurugaya's arc. The Rin1 arc is perfect for setting up the story, and Rin2 is when the emotional involvement starts hitting very hard, with some truly unforgettable scenes.



    *sob*

    And then there's Refrain. It may not have made me outright cry as much as After Story did, but the writing is in a completely different league altogether. Never before or since have I felt my feelings being toyed with as much as with Refrain, and on the whole it's my absolute favorite single plot arc in anything ever. It's just that good.



    The soundtrack is very good. Both the atmospheric tracks that just set up scenes as well as the character themes... they're wonderful and I listen to them on a regular basis. Special mention goes to the vocal songs; Little Busters has bar none the best. It has five in total, Little Busters! (the opening song), Alicemagic (Komari/Haruka ending song), Clear Weather After The Rain (Kud/Mio ending song), Song For Friends (Kurugaya ending song) and Faraway (Refrain insert song). Little Bsuters is easily my favorite visual novel opening song, Alicemagic and Clear Weather are so satisfying to listen to after just getting done with the respective routes, and Song For Friends and Faraway are both very emotional. Song For Friends in particular is my overall favorite vocal song from any VN OST (although there's not that much competition in that category).



    I also REALLY have to give special mention to the storytelling of Little Busters. It utilizes the capabilities of the visual novel medium to its utmost potential, and simply could not work as well in another format. Firstly, the bad ends in all the routes are worthy of note; they are some of the most excruciating bad ends I've ever seen. Especially Kud's and Haruka's, just oh my god. And precisely BECAUSE you reach these bad ends on your own by making certain choices is why they hit so hard. Secondly, as already mentioned the minigames add tons of character and make the dynamic of the group feel that much more genuine. Thirdly, the common route expands and gets additional scenes with every character route you complete, which takes you right back to the fun even if you just skip right through the rest of the common route (like I usually did). And finally, there is some very subtle storytelling that comes through thanks to the very structure of Little Busters, which I'm not even gonna spoil.



    And on that note I should probably mention the anime adaptation. I have mixed feelings about it. It was my introduction to Little Busters and it sure as hell managed to get me attached to the cast, but in terms of storytelling it simply doesn't come close to living up to the visual novel. A lot of charm and good writing is lost in the transition and Refrain ended up being pretty confusing and not making much sense. Plus it tried to connect all the routes together to one big route, which worked well for CLANNAD, but really didn't work for Little Busters. So yeah, this is an instance where I most definitely recommend the novel over the series.



    But you know what the real kicker is? I haven't even read all of Little Busters yet! Yes, I'm serious, and here's why: When Little Busters was rereleased in the Ecstasy/Memorial/Perfect Editions, Key added three completely new story arcs that were not in the original. As of writing this, there is no translation patch available for these extra routes, as the current translation project is stuck at I think 98% completion and just won't finish. And I heard one arc in particular is supposedly as good as Refrain! THE FRUSTRATION IS REAL.



    To me, Little Busters is an unforgettable story. The characters and their turmoils stuck with me more than anything I'd ever read up to that point, and not even CLANNAD can keep up. Going back and reading through the fun-fun common route again makes me genuinely happy from the bottom of my heart. That's more than enough for me to give it the number two spot. If you're looking for a story and characters you can really get emotionally invested in, look no further. Key's got you covered.

    So in the end, Little Busters has my favorite plotline, my favorite character and my favorite song in visual novels, and is also unparalleled in emotional payoff. What could possibly top that?
    Last edited by Karifean; 04-09-2015 at 10:49 AM. Reason: 40 Hours is a bit overly optimistic...

  5. #35
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    dat best girl kurugaya

  6. #36
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shauna View Post
    dat best girl kurugaya
    That's a funny way of spelling Haruka.

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    Default #1 - Umineko no Naku Koro ni

    Well, time to wrap this up.


    #1
    Umineko no Naku Koro ni

    Developer: 07th Expansion
    Availability: Localized by MangaGamer (translated by TheWitchHunt)
    Adult Content: None
    Length: Longer than the Bible (100+ Hours)


    The food the victims were given had small bombs in it, which exploded from inside their stomachs!

    Nothing else could be number one. As much as I love Little Busters to bits, my appreciation for Umineko is on a whole new level. A spiritual successor to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, but a fundamentally very different story.

    Umineko OST - Fishy Aroma


    At first glance, Umineko is a simple mystery story. 18 people gather on a remote island. A typhoon comes and traps them all on the island for three days. People start dying. It's very reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but Umineko is so, so much more than that...



    For starters, it's not as simple as people being murdered. It's people being murdered in impossible scenarios. People dying inside closed rooms with no possible way for a murderer to escape the scene after committing the crime. People dying even though everyone else has an airtight alibi. And all the while, eerie occultic drawings and mocking letters appear that claim the murders to be the work of the legendary golden witch 'Beatrice' using magic to kill the victims.



    One of my favorite parts of Umineko is its absolutely stellar storytelling. The first episode is rather reminiscent of its spiritual predecessor, Higurashi, what with the increasingly unsettling atmosphere and urge to find out what's really going on, but when the "Episode 1 Post-Presentation Tea Party" (think all-staff gatherings from Higurashi) rolls around, things change. The protagonist, Battler Ushiromiya, refuses to accept that his family was killed by a 'witch' using 'magic', because, well, magic doesn't exist and the very notion that a witch was the one killing people is absurd!



    So many questions start filling your mind. Is 'Beatrice' human or a supernatural being? Are there really only 18 people on the island? If Beatrice is indeed one of the 18, then who could it be? Couldn't there be more than five master keys? What if there was an unknown 19th or even 20th person X that uses spare master keys to create closed rooms?



    You might be thinking that because you can never be sure about the true answer to these questions that reasoning in Umineko is pointless. Well my friend, that's where Umineko becomes ~glorious~ and introduces the "red truth". Simply put, any words written in red are the absolute truth, and there is most certainly no need to doubt that! Such a simple addition, yet it changes everything. Now all of a sudden, if you get a red truth stating there are no more than five master keys on the island you can be 100% sure that this is the truth, not just a lie perpetuated by someone, and thus you may discard any theories involving more than five master keys.

    But... if you ever find yourself completely out of theories... or you just don't want to suspect any of the character you've come to love... you may just have to accept that magic does exist, and the murders were indeed committed by a witch...



    "OBJECTION!" ...uh I mean "REPEAT IT!"

    Of course Umineko isn't just a puzzle. It's certainly much of the initial setup, and trying to reason out the truth is a lot of fun, but if that were all it wouldn't be sitting at the #1 spot. The main happenings of 1986 Rokkenjima are only the tip of the iceberg. Below the tip is recursive layer upon recursive layer of storytelling. When you're reading a story that's an imitation of message bottles telling the same story in a different way, which in turn is being read to you by a character in the game, and you get to see all that by spectating a higher plane of existence from an even higher plane of existence... it's amazing. And naturally all those layers have their own stories and characters, and it gets to the point where I'm simply in awe at the fact that someone actually wrote this. Someone actually thought up this entire complex multi-layered story, and wrote it in such a skilled way that it's, surprisingly enough, almost easy to follow.



    Umineko can be enjoyed in many different ways, hell you could probably just ignore the mystery entirely and just try to enjoy the plot, but if you don't at least occasionally stop to think, gather your ideas, draw conclusions, Umineko is going to leave you in the dust. It very much expects its readers to engage in its plot, it's not a mindless kind of story you can just quickly read through without caring much... if you do that I believe you'll miss out on a lot of what makes Umineko as great as it is.

    Oh, and for the record, it's not connected to Higurashi beyond one common character (who didn't even have a sprite in Higurashi) and numerous references. Plot-wise they're completely separate, so there's no need to worry about missing out on anything if you jump straight to Umineko instead of reading Higurashi first.



    Battler-actually-killed-his-family-to-take-revenge-for-his-stupid-name-Theory.png

    Wow I got so hung up on the storytelling I haven't even mentioned the characters yet! The main characters of Umineko are the members of the Ushiromiya family - the old family head, the seven adults and the four cousins - with the adolescent Battler being the main protagonist. There are also five servants on the island at the time of the incident, as well as the family head's physician, making 18 characters initially. But Umineko's cast grows to almost ridiculous numbers. Every single episode introduces new characters.



    The TIPS menu helps you keep track.

    This seems strange to say after gushing about how much I love the characters of Little Busters... but Umineko has definitely the best cast of characters I've ever seen. What sets them apart from Little Busters is that there are no saints or devils in Umineko. Umineko makes sure you understand that even your favorite characters have their faults, and even your most hated characters have their good sides. Wishing for everyone to be perfect is just... fantasy.

    Pretty much every single one of the about 40 characters is complex and well-written, especially the adult family members and the one particular character first introduced in the Episode 1 Tea Party - BEST FEMALE CHARACTER EVER. There are very few characters I don't care for at all, mainly the useless rabbits. Everyone else, protagonists and antagonists alike... well let's just say a Top List of favorite characters would become monotone and predictable reeeally quickly if I didn't limit myself to one-per-novel.



    Just like Higurashi, Umineko is considered a 'sound novel', so it doesn't have any branching story paths or anything like that, and overall focuses on using its plot and sound to create an atmosphere, rather than through its imagery. Does it succeed? OH YES IT DOES.

    Saying this on a Final Fantasy forum feels dangerous... but Umineko has bar none my favorite soundtrack of all time. It's a collaborative effort with entries from many different Japanese composers and it. is. glorious. The main three composers are dai, Luck Ganriki and zts. My favorite of those three would have to be zts, for composing totally awesome and hype tracks for every episode, like Worldend Dominator, Mirage Coordinator, Golden Slaughterer or Dreamenddischarger, and also some beautiful tracks like Far, or really atmospheric tracks such as Dead Angle. Dai is responsible for many feelsy tracks, for example Hope or Soul of Soul, but also wonderful tracks like Life or Final Answer. Special mention to ~45, who composed several gripping tone-setting tracks such as Solitary Deep Sea Fish, Prison Strip and Patchwork Chimera. Yeah, I really like the Umineko OST.



    As for the graphics, it's a significant step up from Higurashi, no doubt, but the drawings are still somewhat crude. However, I have to give it to Ryukishi07, they have some of the most expressive faces I've ever seen, and I do feel there's a certain kind of charm to the sprites. There is once again a graphical upgrade patch if you still don't want them, and it also adds voice acting to the game, but I feel both versions have their advantages.



    Here for example I feel the two variants give off quite a different vibe. I prefer the former.

    But what ultimately cements Umineko at #1 is the effect it had on me. Umineko changed the way I look at the world, and the people in it. I feel it widened my perspectives, that I can now understand and see things I couldn't have before. The struggles and teachings of Umineko deeply resonated with me and even though it's only been a little more than a year since I first read it, I couldn't imagine what I'd be like never having read it.



    One of the most fun parts about reading Umineko was going back and reading through all 100 hours all over again just to find myself in awe at how beautifully and intricately it's constructed. I used to far prefer Episode 3 over the other episodes of the first half, but now I like Episode 1 and 2 just as much, and Episode 2 and 4 don't feel nearly as badly-paced as they used to. My absolute favorite scenes in the story are the endings of each and every single episode, especially Episode 5, 6 and 7. Just thinking back to that "Sorry but... Even if you do join us..." scene takes me right back to how much it blew my mind the first time I read it.

    About the anime, I have not watched it myself but I have heard soooo many negative opinions on it that I still honestly discourage watching it. I could not imagine the story of Umineko being nearly as impressive if it wasn't told as well as in the visual novel, and that seems to be where the anime fails. Which leaves naught but a confusing mess with way too many characters than could possibly be developed well in a condension of 50 hours of reading time into 24 anime episodes. Not to mention Chiru - Umineko Episodes 5-8 - never even got an adaptation so you're stuck with an incomplete story! Yeah, don't watch the anime. Just don't.

    But if you're more of a manga person, I have heard many very good things about it - even supposedly clearing up some all-too-cryptic parts of the novel - so that might be worth checking out. If you can stand the lack of that amazing soundtrack, that is.



    Maria <3

    I do not hesitate to call Umineko a masterpiece, and the overall best work of literature I have ever read. It's not perfect by any means, and has many flaws I could point out, but that's only natural and its good sides far, far outweigh the bad. Ryukishi07 is a truly amazing writer, and I hope that one day the When They Cry series will be continued. Not as a continuation of Umineko of course, it's a complete story and fine as it is, but as an all-new installment.



    And to everyone who doesn't think nearly as highly of Umineko as I do, I only have one thing to say...


    Well there you go, my Top 10 Visual Novels. I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe even found something you'd like to read. I still have a lot to read myself, so this list - except maybe the Top 4 - may be outdated soon enough. But as it stands, these are my favorites.

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    Nice.

    Still gonna watch Umineko because ain't nobody got time for that. xD

    Thanks very much for putting your time into this! It has given me things to think upon. :3

  9. #39
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    Whew, read the entire list in one go. Very well written top 10 list, and you expressed your thoughts on each VN very well. Awesome job! =D

    Quote Originally Posted by Karifean View Post

    When it comes to visual novels about people wielding mystical powers in a highschool drama setting, most people would probably immediatly think of Fate/Stay Night. Understandable with how much of a classic it is, but alas it's not on this list

    "Owned."


    Quote Originally Posted by Karifean View Post
    As of writing this, there is no translation patch available for these extra routes, as the current translation project is stuck at I think 98% completion and just won't finish. And I heard one arc in particular is supposedly as good as Refrain! THE FRUSTRATION IS REAL.
    There are few things more frustrating than this. And it's been pretty much the same for Mahou no Yoro since like a year back, and it's killing me. D=

    --------------------------------



    ...Aaand, I agree 100% on the top spot. ;D

    Quote Originally Posted by Karifean View Post
    This seems strange to say after gushing about how much I love the characters of Little Busters... but Umineko has definitely the best cast of characters I've ever seen. What sets them apart from Little Busters is that there are no saints or devils in Umineko. Umineko makes sure you understand that even your favorite characters have their faults, and even your most hated characters have their good sides. Wishing for everyone to be perfect is just... fantasy.

    Pretty much every single one of the about 40 characters is complex and well-written, especially the adult family members and the one particular character first introduced in the Episode 1 Tea Party - BEST FEMALE CHARACTER EVER. There are very few characters I don't care for at all, mainly the useless rabbits. Everyone else, protagonists and antagonists alike... well let's just say a Top List of favorite characters would become monotone and predictable reeeally quickly if I didn't limit myself to one-per-novel.
    Couldn't agree more. I've never ever before read anything that even comes anywhere close to Umineko's level of making absolutely everyone in a massive, massive cast so interesting, well-written and likeable.



    Quote Originally Posted by Shauna View Post
    Still gonna watch Umineko because ain't nobody got time for that. xD
    Having read the VN AND watched the anime, I have to say... don't do it. At the very least read the manga instead, because the anime... well, not only is it an incomplete and poorly executed bad adaption, but it's also just a mess. There are so many important things that are just being skipped over completely and it's pretty much impossible to get the whole picture. The manga is still far from being as great as the VN, but it's way, way better than the anime still.
    Last edited by Ultima Shadow; 04-08-2015 at 09:55 PM.

  10. #40
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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    Glad to see you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to write, too.

    I actually watched the last episode of the Umineko anime once, just to have a side-by-side comparison since I had heard it left out a lot. That was an understatement O.o They cut out nearly everything you need to make sense of what's going on, plus most of the red truth statements are just gone. If this is what the rest of the series is, I don't even want to think about it. It's a shame too because theoretically I think Umineko could do just fine as an anime, if done VERY well.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ultima Shadow View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Karifean View Post
    When it comes to visual novels about people wielding mystical powers in a highschool drama setting, most people would probably immediatly think of Fate/Stay Night. Understandable with how much of a classic it is, but alas it's not on this list

    "Owned."
    Nice one.

  11. #41
    Feel the Bern Administrator Del Murder's Avatar
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    If a visual novel is all voice over and no text, is it still considered a novel? I like this genre, but I prefer to 'read' my games on the go. Is there a way to get all these PC masterpieces in portable form?

    Anyway, I'm really interested in hearing what you would think about 999 and Virtue's Last Reward.

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    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Del Murder View Post
    If a visual novel is all voice over and no text, is it still considered a novel?
    Good question. You mean like a movie but with branching paths? I personally wouldn't call it a novel without text.

    I like this genre, but I prefer to 'read' my games on the go. Is there a way to get all these PC masterpieces in portable form?
    Most of them do have releases on the PSP/PSVita but you'll rarely ever find a translation patch for a portable version, meaning you're stuck with a Japanese version. Ace Attorney is the only officially released portable version and it seems Steins;Gate has a PSVita (and PS3) release scheduled for next month.

    I do know there is, in fact, a translation patch for the PSP Version of Little Busters! (Converted Edition), but as far as I know that's the only one of those on this list. Although I do believe an emulator of the RealLive engine (which both CLANNAD and Little Busters use) exists for mobile phones.

    Anyway, I'm really interested in hearing what you would think about 999 and Virtue's Last Reward.
    I'm very interested in reading them! Since I happen to have a 3DS available right now, I'll try to get my hands on them ASAP.

  13. #43
    Crazy Scot. Cid's Knight Shauna's Avatar
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    999 and VLR are super fun. :}

    I look forward to hearing your thoughts on those too!

  14. #44
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    I'd be interested in seeing what you thought of Danganronpa if you ever get the chance to play it as well. 999 and VLR are games I own that I really need to get around to playing too.

  15. #45
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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    Placed an order, Virtue's Last Reward scheduled to come sometime next week, 999 sometime in 3-5 weeks. Figures. I might end up getting too impatient to wait that long...

    I'd love to play Danganronpa too but I don't really have the means to at the moment.

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