Do you remember your first VN?

[VerdeICe]

You guys remember your first visual novel. Was it a great disappointment or something completely different?

I don't know. I back then, I always thought they were garbage, self-fulfillment, waste of time and money games. I had not intention of playing one. If I wanted a dating sim I roll out some harvest moon and get farming. If I wanted Pr0ns I would just serf the internetz. If I wanted a book, I would go to the my local public library. If I wanted anime..... well you guys get the point.

But hey, I got into them some how right? I actually grew to enjoy them. Especially if you don't use a walk-though. Those choices always bite me in the a** when I don't use a walk through. I mean my first Visual Novel (which I was forced to play at the time by some random dick friend) was X-note. And you want to know what happened? I f***ing died. You want to know what killed me? I think I chose to eat toast instead of a bagel.. That didn't make since.... but hey? I'm not the author. Toast can be deadly... I guess.

Anyway I found putting your whole thought into the choices you make is really fun. And so I gave others a try. Some were fabulous disappointments, some were mindless and focused only on getting in some ones pants (god I hate those), and some had wonderful plots that drew you into the story. And recently I ran into a hilarious one, "The Fucking Question".

So, tell me of your adventures with Visual Novels. I am curious... were they a great disappointment or something completely different?

[Mad Bat]

Of all the visual novels I've played, only two were disappointing: Kuro no Tsuki and Saya no Uta.
The former I played for no other reason than that it's one of the few translated BL/yaoi titles. I was so disinterested, in fact, that I didn't finish a single route.

Saya no Uta on the other hand came highly recommended AND it's of the horror genre -- one of my favorites. Couldn't go wrong, right? Well, I'm apparently one of the very few who found it not to be amazing beyond belief. I suppose the concept is interesting enough, but not enough information was given to satisfy my suspension of disbelief. I also didn't particularly like the main character, which I've recently come to the conclusion is often a big turnoff for me.

All in all, since I generally pick and choose my visual novels based off of a combination of recommendations and intriguing storylines, I've had many more successes than failures.

[Cidz]

Hmm...actually, now that I think of it yearrssss ago I actually played a few H visual novels. But I didn't know that's what they were at the time. I remembered I liked playing them and I liked the stories, but I don't think I got the good endings in any of them lol. And I was dissapointed that the stories ended that way (not knowing that hey, there's multi ones!)

When I actually did find out what visual novels are, hmm...I'm not sure which one was my first. I know my first dating sims was TMGS. I think maybe it was alistair or planetes. I enjoyed both, they were pretty fun to play.

[specialtantei]

My first visual novel was also Enzai, let's just say I found it in a period where my fujoshi levels were beyond the extreme. I downloaded it for the boys, and kept it for the plot, story, development and tears it brought to my eyes. I became a big fan of Langmaor since then.
My first RenPy visual novel was Lost Threads. It was short and simple, but I found it enjoyable and asked myself 'Hey, why can't I do something similar?' So I got more into RenPy and the wonderful novels written with it.
Now I'm part of the minor VN fanbase in Spain. It's really wierd to find someone who reads them too. The biggest reason for this is the lack of English skills spaniards have.

[Blane Doyle]

It's been a while since I found out about VNs. I do know that the first one I ever played was True Remembrance and that I enjoyed it enough to look for more.

I THINK the first OELVN I tried out was Re:Alistair. And I know I enjoyed that. But I can't really remember the game all that well. I think I need to replay them, my memory has never been stellar and since it's been a few years...

[Anarchy]

My first "proper" VN was YoJinBo. Found it utterly boring. Then I played Animamundi and fell completely and utterly in love with it. But the Katawa Shoujo demo was how I found out about OEVLNs and Ren'py. Even though I deeply respect the KS dev team for putting so much effort and passion and commitment into their project, the ultimate product was... underwhelming, even though I played through it and mostly liked it. Rin is still my waifu though <3

Oh, and how can I forget that horrible flash Galaxy Angel dating sim? Played it before I even knew was visual novels were. I still find it hilarious, even after all these years.

[Mirage]

I mean my first Visual Novel (which I was forced to play at the time by some random dick friend) was X-note. And you want to know what happened? I f***ing died. You want to know what killed me? I think I chose to eat toast instead of a bagel.. That didn't make since.... but hey? I'm not the author. Toast can be deadly... I guess.

The author here, and I don't remember X-note ever having that option (eating toast or bagel). You sure you are talking about X-note? lol
And no, you don't die after choosing a meal in my game.

[otakuxela]

I gotta say that the first visual novel I ever played was Clannad

[Taleweaver]

I gotta say that the first visual novel I ever played was Clannad

And how did you like it?

My first visual novel was Kana Imouto, though I stumbled upon True Love a little before that, and though that one is more dating sim than VN, the amount of story in it made me look for more games "like that", which is how I found Kana Imouto,

Well, what can I say... I sat before the screen weeping in the end and decided that this was the sort of stuff I wanted to do myself. The rest is history.

[VerdeICe]

So it wasn't the food choice thing? Whoops, sorry about that. It was years ago, I may have mixed it up with something else. My bad.

[Mirage]

So it wasn't the food choice thing? Whoops, sorry about that. It was years ago, I may have mixed it up with something else. My bad.

Nope, none of the food related events affect the endings. The endings actually highly depends on the stats you build in game, and some of the major choices.

[gekiganwing]

After reading some reviews on Animetric (still somewhat active, and partly NSFW), I bought an inexpensive copy of Three Sisters Story. It had a few interesting moments, but it had a frustrating UI, and was too dark/obscene for my tastes. I might have given up on VNs if I had not found a few better choices, including Kana Little Sister.

I stumbled into the WVN and fan translation scenes at the right time. The now-defunct group Insani had just released translated versions of freeware VNs (with no harem content, and usually no adult content). I think my first WVN was Tales of Lemma, and the one that made me a fan was Black Pencil.

...I always thought they were garbage, self-fulfillment, waste of time and money games. I had not intention of playing one. If I wanted a dating sim I roll out some harvest moon and get farming. If I wanted Pr0ns I would just serf the internetz. If I wanted a book, I would go to the my local public library. If I wanted anime..... well you guys get the point.

I've always thought that J-List and related companies were never quite sure 1) what audience they wanted, and 2) how to appeal to fans. A few reasons why...

* It's still common to see a visual novel with no simulation gameplay, and no characters actively involved in relationships, advertised as if it were a dating sim.
* I bought a few NSFW games, but I'm more interested in story and gameplay. I've ignored almost all "Plot? What plot?" VNs for this reason.
* It's taken years and years to get more than a handful of genuine worksafe games licensed. I purchased some of Hirameki's VNs when the company still existed, but I was hesitant to buy a product which I knew was censored.
* As for the selection of VNs that have been licensed... I suppose the companies were working with a low budget, but what I wanted was content with name recognition like Comic Party and Air, but what I usually got was no-name porn VNs.
* You don't have to look too far back to find inconsistent and incoherent translations.

It's easy to be cynical about games about fictional relationships. The way I figure it, most people are afraid of rejection by their peers. They're already wary of problems such as video game addiction and pornography addiction. I believe that very few people want to add the alleged risk of becoming obsessed with a fictional character. I think that individuals have to be convinced of the merits of a specific game or VN before they'll give it a chance.

[nyaatrap]

One
I met the one of the earliest best VN which made the current market, and it deeply affects on my life (I hate to say it's when... my life is syncing to the eroge history T_T)

[Greeny]

Does Phoenix Wright count as a Visual Novel?

I honestly don't even remember. I don't think I've ever even played any real commercial Visual Novels.

[TrickWithAKnife]

I'm not going to say the name because the creators are here, and really nice, talented people, but the first VN I played didn't make sense to me.
It was screen after screen of internal dialogue, then choices like
* Talk to the pretty girl in front of you
* Talk to the pretty girl next to you
* Pick your nose
Even if it's for fun, I instantly lost all respect, and decided to avoid VNs most of the time.

I guess I'm unusual in that I'm not generally a VN player (yet), and found Ren'Py before playing any VNs.