Is katawa Shoujo the gateway drug of visual novels?

[Wren]

Been reading VN's since High School, too many to count. But when I got my new machine here with Ubuntu on it I started to look for VN's that would be compatible with it.

Stumbled upon http://www.renai.us/special/linux and downloaded several games, and found KS act1v2, from then on, I was hooked to KS .

[Wokka]

I consider KS to be my first, since it was the first one I finished. Years ago I read through 1 path of a porn without plot eroge (no idea which one, all I can remember is 1 girl had silver hair and turned into a fairy at the end). I thought it was horrible so didn't bother to read others.

Last Fall someone on another forum mentioned KS, I read the TV tropes page and thought it was interesting enough to try. I enjoyed it so I started looking for other VNs. Started with Kana Little Sister, moved on to Crescendo, Clannad, Ever17, F/SN, Da Capo, ef, and a couple dozen others. I'm really not sure how many. Currently reading Kira Kira and Snow Sakura.

I found out about other VNs that sounded interesting but were never translated, so I started watching the anime versions. Once I finished those I started watching other animes and reading manga 8-10 hours a day. Japanese comes out of my TV more often than English. Now I'm learning Japanese and buying food at the international grocer just because I'd read/heard about it.

KS turned me into a otaku.

Wokka

[Member22]

Ever 17 makes you wanna cry.

Yeah, ever17 has its special place... especially Tsugumi's end and the true end. Not to mention that it was initially as confusing as hell, but the vn redeemed itself when it explained reasons for everything in the last path... down to the reason for Tsugumi's costume and what pipi really was.

Currently reading Kira Kira and Snow Sakura

Snow sakura was a nice VN too, hope you enjoy it as well!

Japanese comes out of my TV more often than English. Now I'm learning Japanese and buying food at the international grocer just because I'd read/heard about it.

I kind of agree that KS, in addition to the other vn's I have played, have triggered my interest in learning more far eastern cultures, specifically the japanese culture i.e a mild version of otaku syndrome. I have to say, so far, curiosity has the best of me, but I haven't gotten to the language part as it seems a little too complicated (but I'll give it a try sometime).

In terms of their food... I think its one of the reasons they tend to have such a long life expectancy, most of their food is really healthy and its in small portions, lol it was actually my gym instructor suggested I try out far eastern foods as they help in maintaining diet lol. Btw... oolong tea is definitely FTW

[Nightdragon]

KS was my first VN. Since then I've played YMK, and I'm thinking about trying out some other ones whenever I get enough time (probably download them before my next deployment to keep me busy). I loved CYOA books when I was a kid and VN's are like the adult version of those, so I really enjoy them now.

[a3d]

My first VN was, Bible Black I think. What a great place to start too.

KS was my first VN that wasn't made in Japan. hurr durr.

[Silentcook]

Snow Sakura

Prepare to be rather severely disappointed.

[Scarlet Fox]

I hated Misha at first

What

Her laugh, even in text form, almost gave me a mild headache. Then I warmed up to it.


I can't eat their foods. Though I'm from eastern Asian descent, I can't really stomach down most of the foods I try, though European food and American food I can eat easily. I'm getting better, though, went to a Japanese restaurant the other day and tried out one of everything we had. Was able to eat most of it except for sushi (strangely, even though people love it, I have never been able to eat even half of a piece of one) and some weird green shit that was covered in meat.

Anyway, since it's the summer, and I have nothing to do, what do you people think the best VN is story-wise? I wanna try it out.

[Xuan]

I've already mentioned it at the previous page, you can go check it out.

[Sajomir]

My first VN was Ever 17 - a friend at college had an actual copy of the game, so he tossed it my way saying it was good. I knew about eroge, but since Ever 17 was "clean" I tried it out. It still took me a long time to actually get around to playing through the routes, but the final route completely lived up to the praise this friend kept giving it. (the moment the guy looks in the mirror, anyone?)

This same friend got me to watch the anime of Tsukihime and F/SN, and later told me about Mirror Moon's translations. I tried Tsukihime, played Ciel's route, and got embarassed at the h-scenes. Never did finish the rest... come to think of it I'll have to do that sometime. Plus, the voice acting and visuals of Ever 17 spoiled me a bit so Tsukihime didn't appeal quite as much to me at the time.

Later after having seen F/SN and realizing I had never played it, I did so. This time I didn't care about the h-scenes and just played through a great game.

Heard about KS through that Kotaku article. It caught my interest, simply because it sounded like an interesting story, something more than just like fetish cripple porn.

Most recently I went through Umineko no naku koro ni. Loved every bit that's released so far. My brother's actually gone and bought Higurashi, so I'll have to try that one later. (didn't care for Higurashi anime, Umineko anime after playing the VN was pretty decent, but I wouldn't have liked it if I watched it first)

Also at Anime Central this year I managed to pick up cheap legit copies of Realta Nua and Ever 17 for myself. On top of that, I got Umineko imported for my birthday, so yay~

I keep hearing about Clannad, so I'd like to try that one out someday. Maybe Little Sister as well.

[Xybaro]

Anyway, since it's the summer, and I have nothing to do, what do you people think the best VN is story-wise? I wanna try it out.

Fate/Stay Night.

if you haven't already played it, that is.

But, it does have three paths, so if you only played one..

[Smoku]

But, it does have three paths, so if you only played one..

So if you only played one, you only played 1/3 of the game. Two paths are like totally different in just about everything.
(On the 3rd path Sakura isn't actually a furniture character, wow >.>)

[Leotrak]

Most recently I went through Umineko no naku koro ni. Loved every bit that's released so far. My brother's actually gone and bought Higurashi, so I'll have to try that one later. (didn't care for Higurashi anime, Umineko anime after playing the VN was pretty decent, but I wouldn't have liked it if I watched it first)

Man, I thought the Higurashi anime was awesome >_> And I would never have heard of it if it wasn't recommended to me by someone I know...

Anyway... How many of the mentioned VNs here are downloadable somewhere, preferably in English since I can't read Japanese? ">_>

[Csihar]

Anyway... How many of the mentioned VNs here are downloadable somewhere, preferably in English since I can't read Japanese? ">_>

Narcissu (bundled with its prequel Side 2nd which is just as good) is available here, but unfortunately it seems like most other decent VNs are commercial (and severely overpriced for anyone outside of Japan). You can get pretty much any of them for free if you don't mind pirating, so while I can't really provide any links, remember that Google is your friend. Most of the more popular ones also have an English patch if they haven't been officially translated, but not all of them.

[Xybaro]

Anyway... How many of the mentioned VNs here are downloadable somewhere, preferably in English since I can't read Japanese? ">_>

True Remembrance, fantastic and free, also in English:

http://trueremembrance.insani.org/get.html

I highly recommend this one, if you haven't already.

That's also a link for anyone else who wants to check it out, the translation's official page for it's download.

And yeah, regarding commercial VNs mentioned here, like Fate/Stay Night, you'll have to get those on your own.

[Sajomir]

Most recently I went through Umineko no naku koro ni. Loved every bit that's released so far. My brother's actually gone and bought Higurashi, so I'll have to try that one later. (didn't care for Higurashi anime, Umineko anime after playing the VN was pretty decent, but I wouldn't have liked it if I watched it first)

Man, I thought the Higurashi anime was awesome >_> And I would never have heard of it if it wasn't recommended to me by someone I know...

Anyway... How many of the mentioned VNs here are downloadable somewhere, preferably in English since I can't read Japanese? ">_>

Ever17 and Higurashi were both liscenced/translated officially. Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, Umineko, and many others have fan-made translations if you can get ahold of the game.

As far as the Higurashi anime goes, it was waaaaay too confusing and lots of torturing kids, which I really didn't care for when I couldn't understand half of what was going on. If I was already a fan of the game and could have appreciated the story better, I think I would have enjoyed the show much more. Just like I enjoyed the Umineko anime because I had already played the VN. Had I not played its VN I wouldn't have enjoyed the anime nearly as much.
My friends loved the Higurashi anime, though. It's not like you're weird for liking it