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It was yet another pretentious game with a lot of crap. I cannot phantom people actually like this stuff.

I'd say Majikoi A-1 and A-2 qualify, even if they're fandiscs. I count them as fully independent releases, and they're pretty big. I'd also count Nekopara Vol. 2 for sure. That might actually tilt the vote a little, the nekopara fanbase is scary, lol. And if it was me, i'd throw in Koiken Otome just because it was a somewhat popular release, even if it wasn't particularly well received. edit: There's also... Bunny Black 2 if you're doing gameplay VNs Tomoyo After if you want to count a retranslated, enhanced release (and Muv Luv for just a retranslated release) Funbag Fantasy because it's a popular nukige Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na had a full translation release although theoretically an improved translation is still on the way (same with Dracu-Riot, tho less "theoretical") Nurse Love Addiction was a solid yuri release. Kiss for the Petals - New Generation as well, though it's not quite as highly rated as NLA. Not quite sure what kind of standards you're using here, but these are the other most notable releases of the year to me. I don't really think they stand much of a chance of actually winning it all but some of them may do better than some of the other games present.

I wonder if my brain blocks Yuzusoft or something, but I somehow managed to miss it everywhere, even in Decay's post. Looking at it now, damn... it should have been in my top 10 best rated list. I'm pretty sure I looked through that Fuwanovel's list and then used all the filters to see VN translations released in 2016 on vndb and still didn't see it. Anyway, in response to all of the recommendations in this thread I'm thinking to add two more groups: E) Bunny Black 2/Koiken Otome/Beat Blades Haruka/Majikoi A1-A2 F) Funbag Fantasy/Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro/Nurse Love Addiction/Dracu-Riot I reeeeally hope none of these games break something, especially Majikoi...... Maybe I'll make an extra round with Nekopara after all is over too.

You are 1.5 years late

Yes, since you've used VNDB for the top ten, it would have probably been best to stick to that rating for choosing the other titles. It just looks weird if you exclude some titles because of low VNDB ratings but leave oddities like Memory's Dogma in. Though the popularity of a title is not only measured by the height of the rating but also the vote count. I know for a fact that some people prefer to not vote for a title instead of just giving it a low rating. So having a high vote count is usually a plus. For example, you also didn't include Koiken Otome because it just got a rating of 7.03, but it got more than 600 votes. In comparison, the top rated VN Fata Morgana just got 371 votes. So technically, the fairest rating would probably the bayesian one from VNDB. But well, even that 's problematic because it penalizes titles released at the end of the year... Anyway, I'm aware that this is just a fun contest, so don't take my criticism too seriously.

Adding those two groups sounds like a great idea. Meanwhile at VNDB... Decay seems to fight for the splitting of the Majikoi A titles. lol

Yep... even more pretentious than chuunige, and the worst of all was that the charage-style portions were the best part of the game, for the most part. The last arc was annoying as hell.

Glare (use a walkthrough if you get stuck, instead of guessing) (http://akimasanari.sakura.ne.jp/) It's a really quality AI story. Also the herione is the only tsundere character that I've liked ever. I'd also sort of recommend the author's other work ayakashigami.

Ludesia (Zombies, giant spiders, futuristic goth). Carnival (Because of the protagonist alone is worth reading, more realistic themes). Sisters (It really is not what it seems).

Phenomeno. Takes about an hour to read it.

Don't you dare say that when you haven't even read Narcissu Seriously though, Read it. It's not particularly depressing (at least, not to me), and it'll make you think about death in ways you've probably never thought about death before.

I considered making a blog post on it, but never actually did it. Since I haven't played Flowers, I can't compare the two, but Nurse Love Addiction has a nice mixture of some slice of life moments, goofy humor/ romance, drama and interesting plot. The focus is actually on the plot a lot more than the romance towards the later parts of the game, and the mystery element is very interesting. The mystery spans over all the routes, so it's one of those games where reading all the routes is pretty important. (Except for Kaede's route. That one is rather self contained, unlike the other 3.) You won't be able to escape the unavoidable cute romance moments of course, but the game is completely different from your standard yuri titles. I recommend playing it for sure.

You're making me feel guilty for not including it now, lol. Maybe next year I'll have users nominate stuff for a few days before starting the thing.

False. Next person gets hit with jumper cables.

it was so cute and really enjoyable to read, I love homura so much aaaah

NSFW Yep, it's a thing. Actually, the latest update brought quite a widespread attention within the japanese community. I'm glad this translation has resurfaced, since the game really deserves it. And how! It's actually something, that could be best described along the lines of "seemingly normal characters getting wrapped up in completely unusual occurences". Denpa is where the line between what's real and what's not draws thin and crossing it often means no point of return. Shizuku started it all and along with Sayonara o Oshiete, Kizuato is another vn worth mentioning.

I don't think VA-11 Hall-A is a dangan Wright.

It's a shame you're only including translated titles, especially given you didn't put that in the name. VA-11 Hall-A was easily the second-best VN released in the last year that I played, behind S;G 0, and while I haven't played a whole lot of the ones in your tournament, I know it's a heck of a lot better than all of the other VNs I did play on those brackets.

Yeah, I sure miss the times when Kickstarter was only used for classy things, like potato salad and the Autoblow 2.

This brings back some seriously great memories... too bad I don't have a VCR anymore, since all my copies of this series are on tape, lol.

Indeed, but Also @Eris.Rafflesia

LOL, guys it's 2017. Believe me if you are going to Japan and contact the airline directly and ask if it's allowed they would permit it. you are not first one who did it and you will not be the last one. People know what to expect on a plane to Japan.

Translation from Reddit: "Yesterday, I heard from the personal that there were a lot of Umineko fans at the comiket booth... For seeing that much people cosplaying our characters even in the middle of the winter, I would like to thank you. The development for the next game from the "when they cry" series is scheduled to start in 2017. It is expected that this game will be completely different compared to "Higurashi" and "Umineko". I wish you a happy new year." This is real. This is happening. WTC5 is happening. Oh shit. Someone hold me. It has been years. Oh shit. O H S H I T. O H. S H I T. The hype is real.

Speaking for Umineko (haven't read the latter half of Higurashi since I'm waiting for the retranslation): It has one of the most varied (150+ tracks!) but consistently amazing soundtracks in the genre, its characters are wonderfully fleshed out, and the whole thing is one hell of a roller coaster (it makes you feel everything from peace to solitude to confusion to terror) overall, the story has layers upon layers of themes and possible interpretation, and you have some top-notch mysteries in it to boot. It just excels at everything it does. Pls Why? PLS Pls

I know many people have chimed in on the debate about what precisely VNs are to them... but the three main schools of thought pretty much come down to 'story-delivery system', 'pretty picture delivery system', and a mixture of both. To an extent, I can sympathize with all three... but I fall mostly with the 'mixture of both' school of thought with a leaning to the 'story-delivery system' end of things. Why? Because, when it comes down to it, all forms of otaku entertainment are story-delivery systems, when you get right down to it... even if that story is somewhat out there, disjointed, or so mixed in with pointless moe that it is hard to recognize. Of course, that is in the larger sense, so it is basically playing with sophistry on my part to think that way... *loves making it impossible for anyone else to win the argument* Nonetheless, it is a valid point. I love stories, in general. I live for fiction in all its forms, though the written word is my preferred way to receive it, preferably with narrative, not just dialogue. More than anything, my taste in VNs is shaped by this simple root cause... in the end, I'm a narrative junkie who needs his fix. Chuunige like Dies Irae give me that in the most obvious form, and every once in a while, a fantasy masterpiece like Ikusa Megami Zero comes along and revives my love of world-building and deep settings. Even more rarely, I hit gold with something like Konata yori Kanata made, which burns so deeply into my soul that it causes an epiphany. The last half-decade of my life has been pretty much shaped by my addict's pursuit of good VNs. As a result, outside of my work I'm pretty much the picture of the hikikomori erogamer (actually, since I work from home...). At the same time, I've more and more come to realize that almost no one across the water has any real idea of the potential of the medium in general for storytelling, despite having the best of all tools in all areas relatively easily at hand. If I walk through a section my local bookstore (any fiction section), I can pick out at least a dozen titles I've read and left their mark on my way of thinking and expanded my mind in general. Going through all the VNs I've played, I can name only about forty out of the five hundred that left their mark in a significant way on my mind and spirit... and that is seriously a small number, even proportionately speaking. Less than a tenth of all the VNs I've played have been something worthy of remaining for the future... and how sad is that? This is despite the sheer potential the medium has... When I think of it objectively, I'm sometimes driven to despair.