Lemma Soft Forums

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2017 8:24 pm**

I always like to hear people's favorites, so I thought I'd ask here. What your favorite original english language visual novel and why? Was it the art? Did the story feel extra meaningful to you? Could you relate to the characters? Feel free to post a link to the VN as well as list others if you can't decide.

I haven't read too many EVNs to completion, mainly just demos, but one of the few I have completely read and loved was Doki Doki Literature Club! by Team Salvato. I doubt I even need to link it, considering how popular it's become as of late. I was waiting on the VN for months, but when it finally came out and I was slightly spoiled on the premise, I was afraid it would be gimmicky like

Im Scared or Undertale

. However, a few hours later, I couldn't stop staring at Monika and loving the story. I won't remain my favorite EVN forever, but for now I'm very happy to have played it.

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:35 pm**

Probably Papillon's Long Live the Queen, if that counts.

It's short enough that I didn't feel like it was consuming my whole life, but the lore and political intrigue was interesting as you got it in bits and pieces across multiple playthroughs of the game. That's the other thing I like about it - lots of replayability. Sort of Groundhog Day meets being a princess. It took me FOREVER to live to see coronation, but I enjoyed it all and got lots of dark comedy out of all the ways Princess Elode died - over and over again! It was easy to play in spurts, put down, and come back to later.

As to what I don't like in regards to visual novels (and it feels like a betrayal of my younger self to say this) I HATE when games advertise 'dozens' or 'hundreds' of hours of game play. If I can't get some kind of ending in one weekend of game play (generally about 12 hours), I start getting annoyed. Now, I LOVE depth, but not length. If I love the game and it has good replayability, I can go back to it some other weekend for a replay, but if I can't get back to it for weeks, that's okay too, because I've already got a sense of closure. I just don't have a lot of free time these days (but lots of disposable income). So I'm not entirely thrilled when I see a visual novel and it's all "I've the word equivalent of TWO WHOLE NOVELS". I just start imagining that being spooned up to me one sentence at a time for dozens of hours and grow pale.

So I liked Long Live the Queen's brevity that offered up new information and depth with repeated trips through the game.

Posted: **Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:31 pm**

It's Good Girl Gone Bad for me. I love the art and the branching story lines make your decisions feel genuinely impactful. A lot of VNs promise that your decisions will matter, and then renege on it almost immediately so it's nice to see that the choices you make lead to genuinely different paths. I enjoy her writing style too and the way she chooses to portray the character's thought processes and detail how her actions make her feel and all that. Just a generally enjoyable game in my opinion.

Posted: **Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:25 pm**

LateWhiteRabbit wrote: ↑
Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:35 pm
Probably Papillon's Long Live the Queen, if that counts.

It's short enough that I didn't feel like it was consuming my whole life, but the lore and political intrigue was interesting as you got it in bits and pieces across multiple playthroughs of the game. That's the other thing I like about it - lots of replayability. Sort of Groundhog Day meets being a princess. It took me FOREVER to live to see coronation, but I enjoyed it all and got lots of dark comedy out of all the ways Princess Elode died - over and over again! It was easy to play in spurts, put down, and come back to later.

As to what I don't like in regards to visual novels (and it feels like a betrayal of my younger self to say this) I HATE when games advertise 'dozens' or 'hundreds' of hours of game play. If I can't get some kind of ending in one weekend of game play (generally about 12 hours), I start getting annoyed. Now, I LOVE depth, but not length. If I love the game and it has good replayability, I can go back to it some other weekend for a replay, but if I can't get back to it for weeks, that's okay too, because I've already got a sense of closure. I just don't have a lot of free time these days (but lots of disposable income). So I'm not entirely thrilled when I see a visual novel and it's all "I've the word equivalent of TWO WHOLE NOVELS". I just start imagining that being spooned up to me one sentence at a time for dozens of hours and grow pale.

So I liked Long Live the Queen's brevity that offered up new information and depth with repeated trips through the game.

Ah, I really liked Long Live the Queen too! I would play it for a few hours at a time but after a while I would get frustrated and stop for a bit (I'm not good at strategy games). I only got a few of her deaths, but it's one of the games I wish I could play more (but like you said, I don't have a lot of free time either). I really liked the art and concept of it

Posted: **Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:28 pm**

I may be a bit biased but I think mine is "That Cheap and Sacred Thing" by carosene.

Posted: **Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:43 am**

Hmmh probably Lucid9, I was happily surprised, as I don't normally go for murder mystery, but it was such a good VN

Posted: **Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:13 pm**

My favourite would be Asphyxia or Doki Doki Literature Club as both have characters I can identify with pretty well ~~yes I'm messed up~~ and they more or less deal with poetry.
But if I had to decide on one I'd go with Asphyxia as I like its art style better.

Posted: **Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:31 pm**

Whilst I adore Doki Doki for what it did, it's not my favourite. That spot is still owned by Katawa Shoujo. In terms of premise it's really not anything special, but I found the execution in it to be consistently great. The art in it is beautiful and given how many people were working on it, surprisingly consistent. Same with the writing, and I think that truly speaks to what a brilliant VN it is.

Plus, my opinion of DDLC isn't helped by the fact I still remain salty over Sayori. I played it on launch day and she will forever be a sore spot for me.

Posted: **Thu Dec 28, 2017 4:37 am**

Butterfly Soup takes the cake for me. Even though the art is relatively simple and there's not a lot of plot (it's a slice of life) I really love the characters and their interactions.

I also really like Anime: The Visual Novel for the meta humor and the art. Childhood friend looks absolutely amazing.

I enjoyed Doki Doki LIterature Club, but my main problem is that I have to keep installing it when I want to replay it. And I'm still not over Sayori's death.

Posted: **Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:57 am**

I'd have to say that with all the VNs I've played in the last ~20 years, I still can't quite see anything that was more enjoyable than Steins;Gate. I didn't much enjoy the sequel, or rather, it was not as good as the first and ultimately annoyed me with how long i was to the point that I quit (temporarily which turned into almost permanently) at about 54%
I still have one whole route and three endings to go but can't be bothered.

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2018 10:08 pm**

A lot of the really early ones that I played hold that spot, partially for the legit quality and partially for the pure nostalsia. Katawa Shoujo, Cute Demon Crashers!, The Knife of the Traitor, and Taarradhin are the first ones to come to mind.

Posted: **Mon Feb 12, 2018 7:46 pm**

Interesting to see a thread like this revived so suddenly, but it's cool to see everyone's opinion on the matter!
(~~I liked Undertale but personally wouldn't consider it a Visual Novel~~)

In terms of original English releases my favorite game would be Analogue: A Hate Story(https://vndb.org/v9680). It just had such a unique premise of storytelling, and despite being quite heavy at times it left me feeling good by the time the experience had ended. I have yet to play the sequel but I've always been meaning to pick it up whenever I have a lighter schedule/more money to afford steam games.

In my experience there has been a void of proper original English VN's, so when projects like Doki Doki Literature Club and even Katawa Shoujo come around it's a great breath of fresh air to see a popularized expansion of the "Western VN".

Posted: **Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:10 pm**

Notice Me, Lily!))

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