dilbert

I will say if you don't want forced stuff, stay away from Secret Sorrow and Hypno-Training. The first, especially, is one of the few games I've put down because the main character's actions and rationale disgusted me, and I played Euphoria to full completion.

I wouldn't hold out hope of any solution to the adv problem, Jango. I just requested a refund from Steam for this, since Frontwing's response when people brought the issue to their attention was "we couldn't replicate it, so therefore it doesn't exist."

I can't answer that, but having just crushed Eiyuu Senki, I'm definitely hoping that Gold gets a full 18+ translation, and soon.

Corpse Party. Normal. Corpse Party. Anyway, that's a tremendous list, if way, way too long. Welcome, newbie! I only post in here once in a while, but I hang around this site a lot, and you've chosen wisely. This is a great community, and I suspect you'll enjoy it. My current obsession fits right up your alley: Princess Evangile. Do yourself a huge favor and read it. There are very few choices that matter in the story; basically, it's closer to what you might call a kinetic novel than anything else. Just choose one girl every time, and you'll get a great, in-depth story. Ultimecea also mentioned my favorite VN of all time, Princess Waltz. I honestly don't know why I love this so much, but it really struck a chord with me. It's not as strongly tied to the school setting after the first little while, but the characters are very bold and distinct, the aesthetic is great, and if you like a little (very little) gameplay to earn your happy ending, there's a simple card game involved. The third game I'd highlight, also off ulti's list, is Grisaia no Kaijitsu. It's the first game in a trilogy, all of which have been picked up by Sekai Project to be translated into English. I tore through this game like it was my job, because again, the characters really sucked me in. I'm a sucker for a protagonist who vacillates between hypercompetent and socially inept, apparently (both Kazami Yuuji from this game and Okonogi Masaya from Princess Evangile fit this demographic), the girls all have great interactions, and they managed to play out a few tropes that usually annoy the hell out of me in a way that went over quite well, so I can't help but consider this some of the deftest writing I've seen. One last one that you may or may not have interest in comes from the bunghole of the internet, oddly enough. For all that 4chan has a horrible reputation, they managed to put together a rather touching story (with, in typical 4chan fashion, a horribly offensive name) in Katawa Shoujo. The main thing that differentiates this game from the average entry on this list is that all of the characters have some form of physical disability; the protagonist has Unspecified Heart Disorder (I think it was originally intended to be something specific, but they kind of sublimated that), and the five girls are blind, deaf, legless, armless, and severely burned, respectively. I went into this game with severe reservations, given the involvement of /b/, but much to my surprise, the subject matter was treated with a very high level of respect, the characters weren't defined by their impairments as I had feared, and there were some really touching stories involved. I would recommend this if it seems like something you'd like, but if you end up uncomfortable with it, no harm and no foul to set it aside, IMO. I'd recommend Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Hollow Ataraxia here as well, but those two games have a very tenuous connection to school, even more tenuous than in Princess Waltz, IMO. I'd say to read them if you're looking to expand your horizons beyond high school slice of life VNs, but if you have a set thing that works for you and want to stick with that, more power to you. If you find yourself looking for more suggestions, or want to explore games with some different themes, come on by again! Heaven knows we have more than our fair share of suggestions.

Fate/hollow ataraxia.

Depends on the game. If I really like it, I have to complete everything. If not, I'll generally fall away in the middle. That's a lot more likely to happen with nukige, for me; a good story like F/SN or Katawa Shoujo will keep me invested all the way through. Some nonsense like Boob Wars, though, I'll usually find something else to catch my attention.

DAMN. Not only all of my yes, I'm actually going to borrow some other people's yes to give to this. I have not been happier to see VN news in... ever, probably?

Shu Takumi.

While that's true, there are nukige that try, and nukige that don't. Hoped for the former, got the latter. C'est la vie.

Well, that was certainly a VN that happened. Saw Touma Kojirou's Detective File sitting there, thought "Hey, I like musicals, and this involves Phantom of the Opera! Sounds like fun," DLed it, and... I so wish I could write eroge, so I could fix this one. There was so much promise here if they tried to make a proper mystery out of it, but alas. It had its enjoyable moments, but it felt less like a story and more like a contest to see how little plot they could cram in between scenes. It did kind of reset my clock, though, so I feel a bit better equipped to tackle a properly story-heavy VN now. I find my momentum slows pretty badly if I go from one deep VN to another without a quick palate cleanser, so this did end up fitting the bill in that regard, at least.

Grisaia, hands down.

In my case, it definitely wouldn't be my favorite one, since I know it's not an exemplar of the genre (Princess Waltz, ftr.) It would definitely be one of my favorites, though, and what I'd say depends on who I was showing it to. If I knew them, or knew anything about their tastes, that'd influence my recommendation. If I didn't know, I'd ask first. If they had any interest in fantasy, it'd probably be Fate/stay night. If they were more the spy genre type, I'd give them Grisaia. Deus Machina Demonbane, if they were into sci-fi, giant mech anime, or Lovecraft. People who preferred slice of life stuff, I'd probably also go with Katawa Shoujo.

Feels kind of weird coming in here having just finished Grisaia, enjoying Yumiko's route as much as I did, and finding myself in so small a minority, but such is life. Maybe had something to do with me taking the routes in flag order, and having had a break between the first and the remainder, but Makina's left much less of an impression on me than the others did. She kind of drove me nuts through the common route, and it made it harder for me to get engrossed in the storyline, though I did find the good ending satisfying enough. I think it also helped that I expected to like Amane and Yumiko's routes the most going into it (though I was certainly not expecting the wham episode I got with Amane.) I wasn't expecting to warm to Michiru as much as I did, though. The feels came out of freaking nowhere with her. Grisaia's one of my favorite VNs, now, somewhere in the top 10 though I'm not entirely sure where it'd land if push came to shove, and the wait for Meikyuu and Rakuen is going to drive me nuts. I also finished Eroge just prior to Grisaia (mood whiplash, much?), and it's one of the better characterized nukige I've seen. Not too many of those end up on my "good eroge" list, but that one did. Mainly because while I'm sure it has nothing to do with the actual experience of working for such a company, it was fun to see a highly stylized version of the process, and the characters appealed, even if several of the scenes did not. Debating whether to go back to Yumina the Ethereal, now, or to save that for later and pick up something completely new. (Or, for that matter, to finish MGQ2 and 3.)

Plowing through Grisaia right now. Finished Makina, Amane, and Sachi, working on Michiru, then wrapping up with Yumiko. Then the agonizing wait for Meikyuu...

Waiting might be faster, by a tiny bit. Bright side of learning Japanese, though, is you'll never have to wait again. Now if only I had any capacity to learn languages... damn you, underdeveloped language centers! *Forever English-only*