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I'm pretty sure my first one was Hakuoki on my 3ds. Then I found steam lol

I've only recently started, with Love at First Sight which I found to be a simple but charming story with no decisions, and so was probably what I expected from a visual novel. I then tried Katawa Shoujo and with more characters was maybe expecting more of an RPG with many dialog choices each of which would have little impact so was caught off guard by a few seemingly innocent choices that resulted in significant developments before the next opportunity to make a choice. As I became more engaged with the story line that I was inexpertly stumbling along I found the choices increasingly stressful as I didn't want to let down the characters and spoil their chances of happiness, to the point where I was going to give up play until I discovered Catzie's walkthrough. Probably my next move is to explore the remaining paths in KS to get a better understanding of how VN of this type work before deciding on my next VN to play.

Hatoful Boyfriend. I read about it in an article in 2012 and was so weirded out I just had to play it for laughs (doesn't help I love birds). But then I got sucked in by the story and the amazing characters. Eventually, you find yourself crying and having emotional turmoil over pigeons that look like they were cut out of Google images. It's one of my favorite games to date and I would recommend it to everyone on this site. The sequel, as well. Believe it or not, Hatoful Boyfriend has some amazing life lessons I carry in my heart to this day. XD

TLDR: Pigeons dragged me into otome hell.

Nusantara: Legend of the Winged Ones, by SweetChiel. I saw it online, downloaded it, and literally played it for a full 24 hours, basically just getting up to eat or drink or take a bathroom break. It made me fall in love with Visual Novels.

I would say Ace Attorney was my first experience with the VN genre. I believe I first played that series in junior high or high school. After that, I balanced playing Umineko, Higurashi, and Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two all around the same time while I was in college.

Can't remember if I replied in this post before, (sorry if I did, my memory is kind of poor ^^")
It was Shuffle! my friend recommended it to me haha

I'm not sure Ace Attorney or Narcissu was my first, but I started this genre with them. Aside from that, there were also VN+RPG hybrid such as Stella Glow which has a tactical battle system.

My first one would be the Phoenix Wright series back then when they first came out in the Nintendo DS. Call me a new guy, but I didn't know I was even playing a VN back then, and was hit by a surprise when I found out about the whole genre, because I usually thought what you'd call a VN was actually a Dating Sim or something. lol

I'm not totally sure what my first VN was, but I think it was Magical Diary: Horse Hall. It certainly was the game that got me interested in looking for other VNs. Or my first could have been Analogue: A Hate Story. It was definitely because of Steam that I got into VNs. Then I found free indie VNs and downloaded a bunch.

I think it's Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney if it counts. If not, then Narcissu.

In 2006 I ran into a game on deviantart. It was called Other Age and was made by Zeiva.
I ended up lurking on LSF for a long time after that, always in search of new visual novels. And when it occurred to me that I could make my own...I joined.
I also played Saya no Uta around that time. It was a bit traumatizing since I was young, haha.
I became a true visual novel fanatic when I played the Witch Hunt's translation of Umineko as it was released. It was really influential in my formative VN years.

Whoops wrong thread! I don't actually remember what the first VN I played was, it might have been "the Devil on G-String" which I really didn't like, don't really remember why. I think I liked VNs before I played that though, but I have no idea why

Hmmm, I think my first proper VN was Katawa Shoujo. At least, that was definitely my first proper dating sim.

I think my first proper VN was Hatoful Boyfriend, back when it was first translated, but I may have played Animamundi: Dark Alchemist before that.

Actually, now that I think about it I definitely played Animamundi first, because I remember running into the issue with an item needed to get any "good" end not showing up and having to delete my progress to patch, and I definitely hadn't played Hatoful yet or I would have been less tolerant of that nonsense.

e: Okay wait, I just read through the thread and Togainu no Chi (which never got an official translation) gets mentioned, but not Animamundi? Whaaaaat???

I mean, I know that "gay 1800s horror game with lots of gore" is a bit niche, but...

The first VN I played was "Lucy ~The eternity she wished for~" (Lucy - Geunyeoga Baladeon Geos -). Like many others in this thread, I did not have a clear idea of what Visual Novels were beforehand -- to be perfectly honest, I was quite prejudiced, thinking all of them were eroges with only the slightest amount of substance and depth, kind of erotic picture books that could not possibly interest anyone interested in REAL games or stories. Needless to say that Lucy blew my mind; it was more moving and thought-provoking experience than most "real" novels, games, or movies, and helped me understand the potential VNs as a medium have.