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Seconding this. The bitter nature of Swan Song seems fitting for such a cold and harsh season like Winter. Experience the cruelty of reality that's Swan Song as you watch the snow falls on your precious yard, forcing you to shovel snow again and again, all in a futile effort.

The "True End" of a VN for me is whatever ending I liked the most. Simple as that. Of course I like some sort of conclusion, but it needs to be satisfying and well written for me to acknowledge it as the Best/True End.

1.This isn't always the case. Tsukihime's true endings were pretty sad to the point where he had to make an alternate good ending to make people feel better. Rather than to force you into a certain ending, a lot of the times a true ending tries to show you an alternate perspective on events you have already seen. It requires information, which is shown in other routes, rather than just infodumping it in the true route. For example, in multiple route mysteries it acts as an "answer" kind of route, where everything you have learnt comes into perspective for the final twist. This doesn't make other possibilities (routes) untrue, rather they are part of the journey. They set your expectations and build up the ending. I wouldn't have enjoyed Cartagras endings so much without going over all the other ends first. 2. All of fates routes are true and cannon including the bad ends and fandiscs. There is an entire set of magic called the kaleidoscope (second true magic) that explains this.

I like good endings or ones that fit the overall story There are many times when I liked the ending of one particular heroine over the designated true end of a vn (Like Kyou's and Tomoyo's end in Clannad) And there are times when I enjoy the true end more than all the others (G Senj)

We've gotta talk.

To stay on a sad note, I propose Steins;Gate 0 (a good part of the game seems to be in December) OR (to return to something more joyful) maybe...Snow Sakura.

Remember 11? Turn your heater off and play by candlelight for best immersion. Edit: Actually don't play that. It's kinda despair inducing.

Mmm, Amakano, Kanon, Gin'iro Haruka, Hatsuyuki haruka. (Something like that?)

We're going to be running a poll on http://fuwanovel.se/ next week on the best VNs to read on a cold winter day, much like the one we did on Halloween VNs. Anything with a cold setting and a heartwarming storyline. If you have any VN suggestions to add to the list please let me know! Not every VN will make it onto the poll, but we'll also have a curated list of community suggestions listed with the poll results.

Apologies for making this thread in the "Introduce Yourself" section, but I see nowhere else to put it. Anyway, after taking the time to regather my thoughts considering my recent mental state, I've officially decided that I will be leaving Fuwanovel. This isn't out of personal malice, but considering everything I have directly and indirectly caused on both this forum and on the discord, my stress level is at an all-time high, and I could not take the pressure anymore. You guys were good people, and it was fun to hang out with you while it lasted. That being said, I was never into VNs to begin with. For this whole time, I felt like I was forcing myself to read a medium I do not particularly enjoy in order to fit in with the community, and it just felt unnatural. Don't forget that I never joined this community for VNs alone, but that I just wanted to mingle with people, and that's about it really. Obviously, this backfired on me as I had no idea what you guys were talking about 90% of the time, and I only made myself known talking about non-VN related stuff. I'm more of an anime and video game type of guy, and VNs are just not for me. I'm very sorry. The only VN I'll continue to read after this is Fate/stay night because, you know, it's Fate, but that'll be my last VN ever. Take care guys. I'll still remember you for a long time to come.

This is exactly why I think attaching routes of plot oriented VNs to heroes/heroines is a bad idea. Why do the MC have to simply forget about the main mystery just because he's not dating main X-chan or Y-kun? It's like they can't even help the main hero/heroine as a good friend... Other thing that always bugs me when it come to True Routes are the way we enter them. The Butterfly Effect is sometimes way too strong. Like Comyu, for example. The choice to go for Kagome, the true heroine, and to drastically alter the events of the story is... Maybe I'm overthinking this, but it always sounded stupid for you to enter "true" routes with such insignificant choices that also somehow locks you with a certain love interest because reasons.

Heaven’s Feel is such trash. UBW was so much fun to read. Also, Fate/Hollow literally feels like a gag visual novel half the time. Hell even the creator said it’s like a dream, so don’t think to much. Now back to the point.Yeah I am not a big fan of “One True End” because it kinda defeats the purpose of visual novels a bit. For example, Ever17 annoyed my ass off with that kinda thing. It just comes out of nowhere. Having mutitple endings of equal merit is literally why I think visual novels excellent at. Can movies do that: nope. Can anime do that: nope. Can comics do that: nope. Can video games do that? Sure, however it’s very genre specific RPGs. You’re not going to get a Halo game with a multiple endings. Furthermore, multiple endings to the level that visual novels do them have only been seen in certain JRPGs like Neir Automata. It’s one thing to do a linear story, a kinetic novel, but honestly I don’t like the fact there’s a true end as if my choices were somehow wrong. Like skip your VN, my true end is with Waifu X or Husbando Y etc. This really sucks in romantic visual novels where characters are basically routes to several endings. I mean imagine having to fall in love with a certain character to only learn that their ending is not really the true ending because you have to go with a stupid character that you don’t like just so you can get to the true ending. Another point is that multiple equal endings allows for there to be debate. You know, discussion, over which ending is best. Ideally, when you create a VN or a some kind of artwork, you want to leave the reader, viewer, player etc. something to think about. Having multiple endings could lead to a grand mystery that will leave the audience guessing forever vs “here is the true end! You can stop the debate. You can go home now.” Everyone loves theorizing shit. Give them more fuel to theorize by having multiple endings so they can theorize all kinds of headcannons to satisfy their curiosity.

gotta recommend flowers

Yeah, I was talking about references in other parts - which is still a major step forward compared to ridiculous amount of bleaching applied to Konosora. ("big eyes" ). I think my next read will be PE all-ages edition - I'm curious how Moonstone handled this issue.

While they might have left some general refrences in the TL, I glanced at the script thanks to @Infernoplex and saw some fairly big changes in scenes leading up to/ coming after H-scenes which removed refrences to sex. (It also has a fair share of translation errors.) ASFOS was absolutely a major step in the right direction TL wise, but still lacked in quality compared to other professional TLs. (The TL errors should really not be there, for instance.) Adding some extra content to the places where H was removed is basically the norm in console/ all-ages versions, so it's a shame they aren't sticking with that approach.

I have the feeling that this question is equivalent to asking whether it is better to write with right or left hand. It depends on the language (some language start from the right) and personal preference hence differ on a person to person basis. Theoretically so long the story is complete I don't mind. Practically even some of the best VNs have terrible side routes. Writers are not so patient as many would think and frequently their work would be judged by the best route, not the average performance.

If I could get several conclusive endings each of which could stand on their own and be comparable in quality to the true routes of other VNs, sure, who wouldn't want that? However most of the times whenever there is a true route or ending it's either because the other routes don't have that much relevance to the main story that it's being told (G-senjou, for instance), or because it's necessary to tie all the other routes together and make the story feel complete as a whole. I don't think there are many, if any VNs out there with several endings that have the same weight for the heck of it. If someone wants to told a story, they will tell you THAT one story, and not 3 or 4 that could stand by their own. They are more likely to make sequels in that case, if they want to keep using that same setting. Dating sims and moeges in general are an exception, of course. But it's not like they are the pinnacle of story telling anyways.

Haha yeah, Swan Song was the first I thought of with the winter theme. Just thinking about that VN makes me cold. We thought it'd be more interesting to narrow down the category a little bit for the poll though. Six Days of Snow is a little borderline on the heartwarming element yeah, but there is a strong theme of understanding others so it definitely seems like a contender. Oh I should have specified that we're mostly after translated VNs, as the site is primarily for recommending VNs to English speakers, but Kanon is a good pick and I'll keep the others noted down for if we include an untranslated section in the curated list with the results. Thanks! Added to the list~ Yeah the only heartwarming element is the rage over wanting to smack Yuni to get him to tell us what he knows! Ah thanks for the suggestions. Snow Sakura should definitely make it, but S;G 0 might be a bit of a maybe depending upon what else is on our list. I'll also add the other 3 suggestions you added later.

I don't really care if one ending is considered more "canon" than the others (I honestly don't know why people care about canons that much). At the same time, even if it's not a "true" ending, I prefer VNs that have one ending that's supposed to be played last and gives some kind of the closure to the VN as a whole. Otherwise it sometimes starts to feel like a collection of loosely connected stories rather than one uniform work. A good example is Fate which does not have a real true ending, but the true ending to Heaven's Feel feels like a nice place to finish it. I vote for OTO for that reason, but it's not like I care that much. The first Grisaia, for example, works absolutely fine even without a true ending, and Rakuen imo only makes it worse.

Reading this line of thought, it got me thinking that writing a story with a single "true" conclusion is actually easier, more practical, and not to mention more effective in writing a good story. In terms of narrative writing, unless your story has heavy involvement with a multiverse or maybe even time-travel, having "multiple significant endings" is like having unnecessary filler for your main story (provided you have a "main story," and not just multiple side stories like most dating sims). "Less is more," as they say when advising people about writing. A story with too much of such filler would be meandering, and therefore would lack a strong impact. Therefore, it makes sense why many VNs have chosen to use a "True Route", since it's the most "normal" and practical way to write a story. Furthermore, when you take into consideration that "a story is only as good as its ending," the usage of a "True End" is even more important. That being said... I still stand by my preferences. I just love VNs with multiple routes and endings too much for the reasons I described in my prior post. It's just too much fun. Not every VN has to have some overly serious story. Furthermore, visual novel is a special medium where you have the opportunity to utilize multiple routes (or parallel universes) into your story, so to not use them to tell a better story that no other medium like books or anime could seems like a waste of opportunity. That's why I greatly admire those VNs that manage to tell a great story while still having multiple endings of equal significance. That's truly not an easy feat, and makes it an exceptional creation above others.

Don't recall even finishing a VN without some sort of true or special ending. They're more or less needed for a proper conclusion IMO. Maybe I'd consider the latter option if the genre went beyond "you date X different girls so there are X equivalent endings yay!" in terms of having equally significant endings. Saya no Uta might count perhaps, in which case it'd be a great example in favor. Though I think one of its endings can be taken as true.

If you already decided it, then have fun with Subahibi there. Also keep in mind that the story itself could be quite disturbing at some points, especially in Invention and Insect. Also if you buy Steam version, the 18+ patch for that is VERY NECESSARY (Sorry for the shout here) because FW did only released 1st chapter at Steam while locked the rest in the patch.

I'm the same. Both are good when used right. It's also okay with me if there's some "main heroine", who's given some more attention, even when there's no "True End". Like, in abovementioned Princess Evangile all routes stand on their own, but at the same time we could say that Rise was made somewhat "special" due to her backstory and the fact that she's the one who starts the whole thing. It's also interesting when there's some attempt to tie route system itself into the story - like in Little Busters or YU-NO.

For me it depends on the VN. For instance Eroge sex and games makes sexy games and Princess Evangile works best as multi ending, for both of them I feel like it is important that each heroine's route manages to stand on its own as a true possibility rather than one route being much more important than the others. However some like euphoria or Date A Live Rinne Utopia works best as VNs with a true route. In their cases they manage to use the previous routes to build up the story towards the true end in a satisfying way. So for me it is not so much what I prefere as it is what I think fits the VN in question.

i prefer multiple endings. one true ends are nice as theyre a good way to give the reader a sense of just "im done! no more!" but then you have something like majikoi where there are multiple endings, let me rephrase that multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple endings with majikoi and not just the first vn but its universe. there are the many fan disks but the very last one feels like the official, official ending to majikoi. so yeah, depends but i prefer multiples for hte most part.

I always preferred General Spareribs anyway. It's one of those cases where the villain is much more interesting than the hero, like The Joker and Batman. Also... Tunaman is

For VNs with romance, I prefer to choose my own true end (my waifu(s)). Definitely, with a few exceptions (G-senjou no Maou), I am often disappointed when it is imposed (Kira☆Kira, Clannad, Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road, Da Capo 3, Ayakashibito...).

Saki's route was cool For the rest of the VN, it was not bad or uninteresting...but it was not great either (apart from saki, the heroines were not very endearing or memorable). Edit : I forgot this, this and that.

Which walkthrough are you following? The steam walkthrough has a few missing choices so it's best if you proceed with caution. As for the SSS system, yeah it's irritating but don't let it get to you too much since the story's pretty good.

I mean yeah I would say Kanon for sure Also Galaxy Angel because it takes place in space and who knows, it could very well be winter on some planet somewhere.

The kicker is that Root Double's actual writing and story is really good, but the SSS system is such a mess that it repeals people >>

Oh, I completely forgot that Sepia Tears is also very much a winter-themed VN. Also free and heartwarming.

Yeah, the SSS system is a mess. There are way too many options available to the player (why do they give like nine settings per character??) with no indication on what any of them actually imply at the various branch points in the story. I don't have too much of a problem with inadvertently hitting bad ends, but in Root Double, getting the good ends requires way too much trial and error. I resorted to a walkthrough after running into the same situation you posted about with Kazami.

The "heartwarming storyline" requirement makes it quite hard. I'd love to just drop Swan Song in there if i could.

It's very much not.

This is a bit of a follow-up to my "Sundays suck" post, as one of my primary "workarounds" for being too tired to do anything is watching anime so dumb that it requires no intellectual effort to follow. So I've binged nearly the whole season of Sakura Trick. And it's... Well, just as bad as I've expected it to be and I like it as much as I hoped I would. Its story and writing are pretty much trash-tier, being neither compelling nor really funny or witty. It's pretty much just a neverending stream of yuri fanservice, but also not just any kind of fanservice. It's both bold with how it inserts kisses and making-out sessions into literally every episode, but also does not go overboard with creepy shots and nudity. It's definitely ecchi, but a particularly cute variant of it, which really fits with the overall theme and stylistic. I actually thought that after a few episodes the kissing scenes and awkward interactions would get boring but... Not really. Obviously, it would be virtually unwatchable for someone who isn't into yuri, but the only things it does right, it does quite right. Just a shame there's so little substance in the SoL and comedy sections. It could've been quite a good show even without toning the fanservice much. And, well, now that I'm nearly finished with it, I guess it should be easier to start on the better yuri shows after it. My plan is to climb the quality ladder going: Sakura Trick —> Aoi Hana —> Strawberry Panic —> Maria-sama Ga Miteru. Should be fun. :3

Currently playing Wildlife Park 2. Initially avoided this game because of the mixed reviews on Steam, but my craving for animal management games won out (and there's only like one other video game of such kind, which is Zoo Tycoon, but I've already played this before). WP2 definitely bears vibes of Zoo Tycoon, and it brings such fond memories. I remember the missions being quite fun in Zoo Tycoon. There's just a kind of satisfaction from taking care of animals, especially if you're an animal lover like myself. WP2's missions fare admirably so far, ranging in a variety of objectives to keep me entertained. But obviously, it's still not as polished as Zoo Tycoon. Can't complain though, since there aren't a lot of quality animal tycoon games out there that don't suck. Even the sequel, Wildlife Park 3, has received far worse reviews than WP2. To this game's credit, it's already far more interesting than Jurassic World: Evolution. Oh, the irony...

#animewasamistake