Visual Novels

[The Boston Crab]

I'm really tempted to get AI: The Somnium Files or something else for my upcoming hols.



I have a real hankering for a visual novel for some reason and this is meant to be one of the best on the Switch.


The only one I've ever played is some J.B. Harold detective visual novel which is a port from some 90s PC thing. It was a bit shit but I really enjoyed it. I've always been tempted by a similar experience along the way but never been too sure because they mostly seem very anime high schooly which I can't really get on with. 40 quid (on some foreign eShop) seems a bit of a gamble, though. I played Hotel Dusk for a few hours, enjoyed it. Also Phoenix Wright which I really like, amazing music, funny characters, tiny bit pervy.


Should I try AI or go for something else?


I heard that Planetarian is a good one and it's less than a tenner. Unfortunately, the protagonist looks like a anime high school robot so I'm very dubious, even though it's meant to be great.


Stein; Gate is meant to be the first season of the anime but with a CYOA spin, which sound great but it's fifty quid and I could just watch the anime.


Clannad is meant to be very good but it's set in a high school and the faces look fucked up.


Any recs?

[Sin Agog]

I could see you getting into the Corpse Party games.

[Consignia]

I used to love Visual Novels, but haven't had the time or energy for years.

Stein; Gate is meant to be the first season of the anime but with a CYOA spin, which sound great but it's fifty quid and I could just watch the anime.

To be fair, there's no real CYOA aspect to Steins;Gate, apart from a couple of the better endings. It's very linear, ironically for it's subject matter. The anime is also a pretty much perfect adaptation, so much so they used at is as basis to remake the visual novel with animated sequences.

Clannad is meant to be very good but it's set in a high school and the faces look fucked up.

Another to be fair, the whole thing isn't set in high school. Although it's very very long. I liked it back in the day, but I've not done more 5 of the 13 routes and I could never imagine even attempting it now. As such I really could not recommend it.

Any recs?

The KFC one where you seduce Colonel Sanders?

[madhair60]

Puhuhuhu...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJeZPMhdUk

[The Boston Crab]

Cheers, Consignia. I thought this stuff might be up your street. Very useful info, especially about S;G.

Corpse Party is a joke suggestion, I assume.

Mads, I don't think that's on Switch but I'll keep an eye out.

I'll check out some AI reviews to see whether it's worth my.

[Space ghost]

The house in fata morgana, not on the switch but it's on the ds and you can play it on any tablet. Tablet your best bet really for the vn's

bible black do not read bible black.

[madhair60]

Phoenix Wright Trilogy

Edit: If you haven't played it, the first one alone is worth the price of the set. Defo on Switch too

[The Boston Crab]

Cheers, I've got that. Never got past the second game though, so I should probably just play that to the end. Loved it back in the day on the DS and just as good now on Switch.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Not on Switch but I must once again mention the game 428 Shibuya Scramble which is the only visual novel I've been properly gripped by.

[The Boston Crab]

Cheers, all.

I bought Steins;Gate: Elite last night when pissed. 50% off so good timing. 24 quid on the Swedish eShop. Glad I never bought Ai now but might do in future in a sale.

[The Boston Crab]

Steins; Gate, then:

In hindsight, I don't know what I expected by the 'visual novel' genre. It's essentially - get this - a story that you read but there are also pictures. This goes a little further with clips from the anime of the original visual novel. If you don't fancy pressing A every ten seconds, you can press Auto and it scrolls through by itself! It's like watching a TV show slowly, but you possibly pay more attention because you're processing the words of the dialogue and you can pause for thought. This is a slow starter, to be frank, but I heard that it would be. I wouldn't say it's especially elevated beyond 'good anime' but as an evening read by the pool as the sun goes down, it's a really cosy experience. Not sure whether I'll be similarly arsed to read it in bed at home but possibly if we get the log fire going with a nice little bourbon.

I'm glad I got it on sale but even at twenty quid, I'm not sure whether I'll finish it or pursue the genre much further. I definitely prefer something on the level of Phoenix Wright where it's very much about the stories and characters but there's a good chunk of gameplay and interaction.

[brat-sampson]

Somnium definitely has more gameplay than Stein's Gate, which is very much a Pure visual novel. It's still mostly reading/listening to dialogue, to be sure, but there are...puzzle-like elements and you have choices as to which branches of the story to explore next. Also, despite having more branches, overall it's more linear than Steins Gate, which will eventually turn you down a path towards one ending and then to get back you have to go back to before you turned down that path. Also getting the True/Best ending in SG (which you absolutely should) requires following some weirdly specific instructions and should be left until after you've seen some of the other endings (Kirisu especially) then look up how to get it online. It's definitely a slow start, and there's a lot to get through, but when The Thing happens, things really start to accelerate.

[Sin Agog]

I mean look it up, read a few reviews and shit to see if it's your scene, but Platinum Games' Infinite Space is pretty much a visual novel with some inneresting gameplay mechanics and upgrades, and it's easily the most ambitious game on the DS, which was thee best platform for this sort of thing.  It's basically a handheld Mass Effect.  I think the devs used to make sci-fi hentai before they worked on this.  The lack of a mission log can be fucking infuriating, though.

[Consignia]

Steins; Gate, then:

...

Yeah, I'd be shocked if you get round to finishing it. Even the best take up a huge volume of time, which would be better presented as an actual novel. I tried Steins;Gate 0 last year, and barely got further than the first thrusts of the story, it was just taking up so much time clicking advance as auto's too slow. As I said upthread, don't have the patience for these anymore.

[The Boston Crab]

Well, after a couple of hours of Steins; Gate, and having fallen asleep and restarted a handful of times, I've bought Planetarian. It's very very stripped down in comparison, barely any animation and just the one location so far but it's a rather lovely atmosphere, albeit with bittersweet and sometimes sad sci-fi. It's very moe but also undercuts that a lot. It's about a robot girl working alone in a planetarium years after some apocalyptic event. You're the first customer in forever, a scavenging thug trying to live off the scraps you find. I don't know where it's going yet but I'm intrigued. I also heard it's pretty short so it may whet my appetite for more Steins if I enjoy it.

[bgmnts]

DOKI DOKI

[Space ghost]

DOKI DOKI

Katawa shoujo

[C_Larence]

Just bought 248 Shibuya Scramble in the PSN christmas sale based on seeing a thread about it here a while ago.
Phoenix Wright 3 (trials and tribulations) is one of my favourite games of all time, and i loved the 999 series, so if it's anywhere near the same level as those i'll be happy

[Misspent Boners]

I genuinely enjoyed Doki doki literature club and even got a bit sucked in by the budding romances I'm ashamed to say. And I like the fact that even months after I've last played it my character is on an eternal date with a psychopathic monster

I've bought Phoenix Wright on Steam and as fun as it is, I find the logic applied in some of the cross examining bits a bit too contrived to be fun; it just ends up being a case of presenting a random item on a random statement in the hope it matches. Sometimes I've been like "how the hell would I ever have assumed that would work with that"...I've just done the third case and at it's best it is very gripping though and I enjoy the twists and turns. Do you get more attuned to the logic of evidence as the it goes on ?

[Misspent Boners]

P.s sorry I tried to use what I assumed was the spoiler button but its emphasized the text if anything, so apologies about that

[Consignia]

Do you get more attuned to the logic of evidence as the it goes on ?

Some cases are better than others. It comes back to the old adventure game cliche of rubbing your entire inventory against everything else and seeing what mad logic the developers came up with to try and lengthen the game. Quite a lot of the time I've found it the game does a decent job prompting you with what to present, and the consequences of failure are so low, it's not a problem to just throw everything until some shit sticks.

I wouldn't worry about the Doki Doki spoiler by the way, as nearly anyone with a modicum of interest already has an idea of what unfurls and it's suitably generic enough. I haven't played it, nor have any interest to, but I've come across nearly every twist and turn through it's leaking into adjacent discussions.

[imitationleather]

That one about the lesbian nurses on the Switch store looks pretty engrossing.

[Chriddof]

I genuinely enjoyed Doki doki literature club and even got a bit sucked in by the budding romances I'm ashamed to say. And I like the fact that even months after I've last played it my character is on an eternal date with a psychopathic monster

You may already know this, but that's not the end of the game. There's something else that you do which ends the "date" and the game permanently.

[Misspent Boners]

You may already know this, but that's not the end of the game. There's something else that you do which ends the "date" and the game permanently.

Yeah I am aware; an it's very clever, but I prefer my character to be trapped in eternal limbo with a maniac personally.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I'm playing AI: The Somnium Files at the moment and I think it's good. I've only done two of the puzzle sections so far and they weren't really up to much, but I'm only 7 hours in so I expect they'll ramp up. Enjoying the story though, not too much faffing before it gets going

[H-O-W-L]

Does Life is Strange and its prequel Before the Storm count as a visual novel since all you do is dodder around and character-interact? Or is it a more adventure game class?

[Consignia]

Personally, I'd count them as visual novels. The amount of puzzle solving in them as opposed to story telling is a big tell.

I guess since there's no strict definitions, it's always up to the beholder. I guess many people would be far stricter and only going games with limited character sprites and text boxes. Some would only count Japanese ones.

From the most helpful perspective, though I think if you like some of the titles mentioned upthread, then you'll be likely to enjoy things like Life is strange or The Walking Dead.

[Dewt]

My girlfriend has a full-sized body pillow of Komaeda

She calls it her husbando

It was in the bed I slept in last night

I'm okay.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I'm a bit further through AI now. The story is great - I played a genuinely moving bit last night. The puzzle sections aren't much cop though. They all take place in a weird dreamworld where nothing really makes sense. You just sort of stumble around trying things until you run out of time, then wind back and go again. I suppose there's a bit more to it than that, but not much. I don't mind as I'm enjoying the story and the characters but proper puzzles would have been nice.

Loads of pervy sex jokes as well.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Nearly finished AI. Decided the puzzle sections are pure shite. For the last couple I just went to walkthroughs. Can't be bothered trying stuff, restarting, trying other stuff, blah blah blah BORING. The story is really, really good. Great twists and a clever conceit to do with the branching timelines.