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If you look at any list that recommends the "best" then the same titles will naturally appear there, because they're the more popular ones, the ones more people like. If you are looking to find visual novels you do not know about, you will need to venture into recommendation threads with veterans asking about them, or, better still, make one yourself, because I assure you there are people who will know of Visual Novels you may not. You just need to show what you've played or what you like. Discussion itself mostly takes place about either the big famous titles or the bigger recently released things, so you won't find obscure VNs by reading the discussions that are had, most of the time. So in that sense I can agree (though if you start threads about obscure titles it is likely that people who've played it before will at least browse it). Do you know about Symphonic Rain? Play that without looking it up any further if it looks like it might interest you (and you haven't already).