Fred the Barber

IMO, you're the same old Zalor, just now in HD.

Symphonic Rain is a great recommendation - heavy on drama, light on comedy. Fits what you're asking for perfectly. Additionally, given what you're looking for, I think most games by Key would be a good fit, except that they typically have long common routes with a lot of comedy, which it sounds like you will find annoying (notable exception being Vorathiel's suggestion of Planetarian, which is very short). That long common route is part of their formula, giving you time to bond with the characters over silly antics and everyday events. The Key magic comes in after that common route sets the stage: the story will rip your heart to shreds, and then gently put it back together. So if that sounds like something you'd like, in spite of the initial, long, comedic common route, maybe give Little Busters! a try. I'm a huge fan of it. Although you might wait a bit on that one, since it is getting an official release later this year, with new content that hasn't ever been translated (even fan translated) before.

Agreed with mitch's recommendation of If My Heart Had Wings - it's a straightforward rom-com and drama, and makes a great VN for someone getting into the territory. It's on Steam, and on the cheaper side (relative to Clannad, especially). The only downside is that the translation is... well... really bad, a lot of the time, much worse than other professionally-translated works. But if you can deal with that, it's a great VN. There is a fan retranslation project in progress for it, but I wouldn't count on it being done until maybe around the end of this year. You probably can't go wrong with Clannad, though - it's a classic for a reason. The "After Story" section of the game is marvelous.

Naturally, right after my post above, I went and played Gahkthun and stumbled upon a grammar error (something like the phrase "what an amazing person" with the "an" dropped - very easy to overlook when reading quickly). Sigh. Well, nothing's perfect, but this game is at least damn good.

Gahkthun chapter 4 extra scene spoilers:

I'm in chapter 4 of Gahkthun, which is still excellent. It really hits on all cylinders - plot, characters, art, all are great. The music isn't my favorite all the time, but it definitely has its moments, and even the tracks I didn't especially like at first are growing on me with familiarity. I can see why people speak so highly of this translation. The diction of characters is both well-chosen and consistent, and nicely varied to showcase the big social gap between Tesla and, well, everybody else. A simple example that nicely illustrates: twice so far, when Neon does something that makes her look particularly dumb, Tesla uses a stock Japanese phrase including "baka" that would usually get translated as "you look like an idiot", while the translation reads "It makes you look like an imbecile". That word choice is perfect for Tesla. It would be out of place for anybody else in this VN, or in pretty much any other setting, but it fits his character like a glove. Overall, there's a clear, consistent hand behind the translation with a real flair for English. The language isn't obtuse or anything like that; it's just plain well-written. The copy editing quality is also top-notch. I don't think I've seen even a single spelling or grammar error so far, whereas in most professional translations, I'm used to seeing quite a few. Poor copy editing is my mortal enemy, since it pulls me out of the immersion, so Gahkthun has been quite a pleasant experience on all fronts.

This should be its own thread. I was Gahking the Thun. Was good. Also, Confession: my old computer with my pirated Comyu install died a while time back, but my legit copy arrived yesterday. I promptly installed and patched it on my tablet, and then judiciously held the Ctrl button long enough to reach the first H scene. For, uh... science.

I lost some valuable posts harassing TexasDice for dropping the greatest VN of all time, but Tay, if you could just harass him for me a bit, I'd call it square. In all seriousness: Shit happens, and the important thing is owning it and taking the right steps moving forward, which you're clearly currently doing. Thanks for all the hard work.

Congratulations!

Huh? No, it's not funded yet. They're at $100k with a target of $125k. I believe they'll get there in the remaining time, but they're definitely not there yet.

I just... didn't have the heart to correct him...

All the salt in this thread has been washed away.

I'm only worth 500 yen?! Ask her to perform.

SubaHibi is getting an officially-licensed translation: http://forums.fuwanovel.net/topic/12586-subahibi-is-getting-an-official-localization/. You'll have to wait a little while longer for it.

Happy New Year! This year, I will train hard at being a better sandbag so that I can break my flight distance record.

48 hours have passed, but the poll is tied... guess we'll just have to read them both!

Great list! I was going to chide you for not having Star Ocean 2 on there, but I looked it up and realized the remake was a PSP physical version, and it's not on PSN (though maybe that will change, since apparently there was recently a Japan-only release of it on PS4 and Vita)

Funya, I have bad news for you. This game is actually pretty good:

I managed to grow up in one of the not-terrible pockets of Cape May County. That would be the extreme southern end of the state. Newark sucks,, but it's got nothing on Camden. Mercifully, I never went to Camden during my four years in New Jersey.

Ok, given the VNDB (you've played a lot more than I have!), here's a few recommendations of things I've enjoyed which you haven't read yet: - It looks like you tend to like chuuni and haven't played it yet, so Comyu would be my first recommendation. - If you're up for a nakige, you can't go wrong with Symphonic Rain. It can be a bit of a slow start (especially Lise's route), but once you get past the initial routes, the unlocked routes are fantastic. - And lastly, if you're feeling like a moege, Kono Oozora Ni, Subasa Wo Hirogete is excellent. The English translation is a horrible butchery, but since you can read Japanese, you're all set - read the original. Also, FYI, there's a space on your profile for you to add your VNDB user ID, and then the link will be available automatically next to your posts. Very convenient.

Emeeya, with the amount of you've read, I think it'll be very helpful to people offering recommendations if you make a VNDB page. Have you read any of the Steampunk series? I found Sekien no Inganock very compelling, so I would recommend that, but Gahkthun is the new hotness people are talking about in that series, thanks to the English release last week.

I'm making my way through After Story now in Clannad. I think I was just burned out on the school setting, after being stuck in it for too long - there's just too many arcs you have to go through in the first part of the game, and even though I was skipping through the repeated scenes, everything started to feel boring and repetitive. So After Story now feels really fresh and different, even though I have seen the anime several times. Anyway, a little bit to say about the school arcs and a little bit about After Story so far: - Kappei's route, in the school arc, was pretty nice. Of all the things that were cut or heavily altered in the transition to the anime, this was definitely the most interesting, and the most surprising. A whole character materialized out of nowhere, even in the VN - I never so much as ran into the guy until I was actually following a guide to see his arc. Random, but a fun character, and it was nice to see another couple work out nicely. - After Story has been a great experience. I enjoyed the school arc much more in the anime than the VN, but conversely I'm enjoying After Story much more in the VN than the anime. The work-related stuff has so far been much more interesting. Admittedly I'm the kind of weird guy who finds all the nattering about random electrician details to be interesting, but that wasn't the whole of it. I think both the greater level of detail and the fact that we see more scenes playing out, and perhaps especially that we get to see Tomoya's inner monologue during them, helped me get more invested in how important his job is to him. - Sanae has an arc in After Story! And holy shit it was lovely! It was short, yes, but I was genuinely surprised and wholeheartedly delighted by how it wrapped up. This is the first time that the "orb of light" scene has really resonated with me. I won't spoil this one - if you haven't played it yet, look forward to it. So, bottom line is, thanks to After Story I'm finally feeling very positive about my decision to play the Clannad VN in spite of seeing the anime already. Keep them feels coming, Clannad!

New Jersey has its not-terrible pockets, but for the most part it sucks. Especially Newark.

This is the closest VN Reading Club poll I've ever seen. Doki doki.