Good Recommendations for Visual Novels

Hi all,

First, I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful, happy Christmas to those who celebrate it. It's been a great day here so far. ^^

Next, I wanted to post a new topic, as it has been quite a while since there have been fresh new topics. XD So as those who know me pretty well, I totally love visual novel games. I guess it's because they're like reading books but in game format and I can get immersed in the story, assuming that the game is good and all. (I do like other kinds of games as well but visual novels are one of my favorite kinds.)

I'm trying to expand my options on what visual novels to play/buy so yeah, I'm looking into commercial VNs and in particular, VN developers. I do tend to have a certain preference so once I mention which developers I like, there might be a good idea as to what my tastes are. XD

Well, I absolutely love the games by Hanako Games. This developer totally got me hooked on VNs when I first bought and played Cute Knight. I guess Cute Knight isn't really a VN but the developer has created some fantastic VNs and I really love them. Also, they've created a few life simulation games and I love them as well. ^^

Also, I like a couple of the games by Zeiva. I'll admit that I'm only a fan of the otome ones at the moment. I guess I like otome quite a lot, now that I think about it. But the stories from those games are engaging and the artwork is absolutely beautiful.

Recently, I've started looking into games by Sakevisual. This developer made Re: Alistair++, which I made another thread in the Games section here. And they've also made a few mystery VNs that I'm thinking of purchasing. I do like a good mystery (big fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) so this developer definitely has my interest. XD

I've been looking into games by Winter Wolves, too, although I'm a bit on the fence about them. I wasn't sure why until I recently read this post that kind of compared the games to the Twilight series and that did make me a little wary. I've actually bought one game from them-Summer Session-but since Hanako helped to develop it, it turned out quite good so I liked it and ended up buying it. It didn't hurt, either, that the price was good. XD But although I heard that Winter Wolves' games have been getting better, I'm still on the fence. If anyone can make a good argument for or against these games, I'd love to hear it. ^^

And I'm looking into other VN developers, too, so if anyone has some good recommendations on that front, I'd be happy to take a look into them. Thanks. XD

Nice topic, phoenix. ^^ I know some of the developers you mentioned already but this was my first time to hear about Zeiva. I took a look at their site and wow, the games' artwork definitely looks quite beautiful not to mention that the games themselves sound very interesting. ^^ I'll try to have a look at some of their games sometime soon. ^^

And the games by Sakevisual look nice, too. ^^ I tried Alistair++ and although it was quite short, I loved the storyline and its artwork. I'd love to try more of their games sometime. XD

And ahh, about Winter Wolves. I am not sure why you don't feel so good about them but I actually liked their games quite a lot. ^^ I don't see any similarity to Twillight series though, although there might be something I've missed? I tried Summer Session too, Winter in Fairbrook and Summer in Fairbrook in addition and I especially liked the last two. ^^ But if there's something I've missed, could you please point out? ^^

Nice topic overall. I wish I had any recommendations to make here but this is really all I know about visual novels, too. XD Of course, not to mention Lucky Rabbit Reflex! which is just a great game.

Let's see. If you liked Re: Alistair++, then you should definitely check out Backstage Pass. It's currently in development but it's the semi-sequel to the game. Sakevisual is currently doing pre-orders for the game. I've checked out the in-progress development thread for it and it looks promising. ^^

Ahh on Winter Wolves. Well, I think I mentioned about Nicole, their newest game. I kind of have issues with it for a few reasons so I'm surprised that people like it. The main reason, though, is that unless the developer intended for the game to be some sort of parody (and if that's the case, it isn't obvious), I don't like that the main character is a female who's trying to get out of the dumb blonde stereotype but then ends up acting like that said-stereotype at times. That's my personal opinion on that. And I checked out a thread on another one of their games-Always Remember Me. One of the posters commented that the writing style-not content-seemed to be on par with the Twilight series. I can find the link if you want to check out that particular post but yeah, it did make me think twice. But if you can recommend a good number of games by Winter Wolves, I'm willing to give the developer another try. I want to be open and all. ^^

And yup, I love Lucky Rabbit Reflex, too. I didn't mention it since the developer has only that game out at the moment. There's also Cinders by MoaCube which looks to be quite good but since the developer has only one VN currently available, I didn't mention it in my previous post. XD

Ahh I see. I remember you telling me about Nicole now although I didn't remember the name. XD I can't really judge since I haven't tried either of the games so I can't voice for a certain opinion. ^^ But like I said, I've tried Summer and Winter in Fairbrook and both were really beautiful games with nice artwork and beautiful characters. ^^ The guys in Winter in Fairbrook are especially cute.

And I'll look out for the couple of other games you mentioned. They sound interesting too. Thanks a lot, phoenix. ^^

It's been a while (almost a month lol) since I last commented on this thread. I probably wouldn't have commented further but since my last post, I thought I'd try to give the game demos on Winter Wolves another try. I love VNs and I want to be as open-minded as possible when it comes to various developers and such. Now this is only my opinion on the developer's VNs and dating life sims and all that. I haven't played the RPGs there so I may have a different opinion on them.

However, after I played quite a few different demos, I'm not entirely persuaded that the games there are as good as those from other developers. I was trying to figure out why I felt that way and I think a lot of it has to do with the writing. The art is very good and the gameplay mechanics and all that have been getting better so I have no problems on that point. However, for me at least, story is very important when it comes to determining whether a VN is good or not and honestly, I feel that a lot of the games there have storylines that are cliched (which just irks me) or have a main playable character whom I can't stand. Now that's not to say that when I play as a main character, I have to completely like him/her but I don't want it to get to a point where I can't stand playing as said main character, either.

It might be possible that the games aren't targeted for players like myself. I kind of get the feeling that they're targeted towards a younger audience? (If anyone feels differently about this, please feel free to give an opinion on this.) Also, I'd read from a few threads that unlike other developers, Winter Wolves hires writers so the developer doesn't do a whole lot of writing himself and if that's the case, I guess I have an issue with the writers' writing styles. :/ I know that this sounds harsh and I don't claim that I could write a better VN although if I ever was hired as a VN writer, I would do my best to come up with a story that was fresh and original and far from cliche (assuming that I was given a wide latitude of freedom to do so). (Actually, if Winter Wolves were to create a VN where the female main character has a strong but not pushy character-I guess an assertive personality-and the storyline wasn't cliche, I'd give it a look.)

Anyway, if anyone disagrees with my opinion, please feel free to say so. I actually want to be proven wrong on this but I haven't been able to see a flaw in my reasoning so far.

Hmm I can see where you're coming from, phoenix. Hmm now that I look back at the games and read your reasoning, I do see you're right. XD But I suppose I was more fascinated with the graphics and game dynamics that I overlooked the story. I agree with you on the stories being cliche or repeated since on the couple of games I played at least, I couldn't find something really attractive with the story but as I said, perhaps it's the graphics or the dynamics that got me more than the stories. =)