Vokoca

I hope it on't, else I'd have to read it.

I'll second that list. Definitely try out Akatsuki no Goei if you feel up to something a little bit complicated than the easiest ones, it is a great read, and it has the most badass MC in anything ever.

Those people are too good for this poll.

Nah, I think you just haven't read the better parts of Clannad yet. I for one wasn't impressed by Angel Beats! at all, but I loved Clannad as a whole, Refrain from Little Busters and Rewrite. I've also read Kanon, but that, outside of one outastnding route (Mai's), didn't really get me either.

Making steady progress in Kanae's route. Liking it so far, though not sure what to expect from the new people/twists they're building up - seems like the story won't go how I thought it would, again. Well, that's what makes it fun and keeps it from being repetitive. Also, all those battle choices! Loved that part. Only... if that opponent was who I think it was.... damn. :S Haha, I can imagine - I got traumatized by Senshinkan's prologue, and I imagine this is no better.

I just keep the default one, got used to the colour scheme.

Kageaki is probably the most interesting MC I've came across so far. And the rest of the characters don't really get the short end of the stick either, as long as they're important enough. Despite how it looks, Saya no Uta is a touching story rather than a gorefest; or maybe there's just something wrong with me. As for the second spoiler:

Got my first ending in Muramasa. A game over, that is. I suck lol Chapter four was amazing, I've never seen a situation go from bad to worse so many times in a row. And chapter 5... damn, that was some heavy stuff... loved it. I only hope the VN keeps up this amazing pace. Anyway, time to figure out what I did wrong and get on a route..

Really? That's very interesting, considering the more recent Nitro+ titles had not just great music, but nice emphasis on sound effects as well. The production overall was above a lot of the other VNs I've read... some companies do change a lot, I suppose.

I've already decided to buy this at launch when I'm in Japan, but this only makes me more hyped. I'm really curious about the gameplay - it seems like they went for a completely detailed 3D art-style this time, instead of the 'stuck somewhere between 3D and pixelart' Corpse Party 2 that ended up not working at all. Hopefully we'll also get scarier things than weird blocky black monsters (that was so bad), and wonky combat mechanics against zombies.... yeah, I'm starting to see why no more chapters of Corpse Party 2 are coming out, now that I think back on it.

Oh no, the VN had a great OST. They just knew when and how to use it. Though I agree, you can definitely achieve more variety with music than you can do with SFX - that shouldn't be a reason for companies to neglect it, though.

Strangely enough, the skipping works well in the common route (it always stopped for me when a new scene related to the true route appeared), but as for the routes themselves, yeah - doesn't work at all.

That's not necessarily true. As I mentioned in my first post, in Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, there are a lot of moments where the atmosphere is achieved only by the sounds of ambience. It conjured up a mellow, and somewhat empty feeling, that I think wouldn't be possible with a musical piece instead.

Oh, seeing how many people are in the 5th episode already, I'll be dropping out. The format with 3 guests felt like good balance.

I know I've already posted here, but I can't help myself when it comes to OSTs. To keep this thread going, here are my favourite tracks from the recent VNs I've read:

Thank you for the awesome replies! I strongly agree that not only the music, but its placement is very important for the atmosphere as well. I actually have a thing to add to that - the transitions between the music tracks/silence are very important as well. I didn't even think about this until I've played Akatsuki no Goei: Trinity, which went about this in a very clumsy way - say there was an emotional scene with BGM playing, but they used to suddenly cut into a different scene with pretty much no transition at all. No fade-outs, the music just got cut, and the story got forced along, it really hurt the experience in a very unfortunate way. As for whether the quality of music is declining nowadays... I don't know, I wouldn't jump to that conclusion so fast. Granted, I haven't read nowhere near as many VNs as Clephas did, so I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but I was under the impression that even back in the day, all the OSTs weren't great. We get a great, fitting OST from time to time - I'd say it mostly depends on the people who make it, not really on the passage of time. Take Hachimyoujin, for example - I've only read the prologue, but that music blew me away instantly; and that VN came out in the late 2013. Great OST should be more of an exception than a rule--but please do correct me if I'm wrong.

Enjoy Grisaia's common route while it lasts, it's amazing. Still resisting the urges to dive into Meikyuu, having other VNs started suddenly feels inconvenient. I'm making steady progress in Muramasa, still in chapter 4 though. Kageaki just went full on hypocrite - luckily I like it when MCs are flawed, so while it might be almost hilarious, it definitely doesn't mean it would make me like the character less. Kanae is doing a pretty good job at starting to get kind of uncomfortable to the point of dislike, kind of tempted to go for her route, if you know what I mean. Also read some more of Reminiscence. Who I thought was a came wasn't a cameo, I'm dumb. The story is kind of interesting, though I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the economical themes. The MC is interesting, his sister is annoying, and the true heroine is nowhere to be seen. The food subplot is pretty cool, though.

For me, I just look at whether the VN is marked as long or short, not the specific hours/sub-categories. It doesn't really mean that much to me since I don't read that fast, especially when it comes to the more complicated Japanese VNs. I'm honestly surprised someone took the hour estimates seriously, given how they look just like very rough category estimates. What are those mysterious things you speak of? I've never heard of anyone reading such amazing things!

I'll tell you if it's worth it when I get it, it's just a mere month away either way.

I've enjoyed BloodCovered very much, and so did my friend who doesn't even read VNs. Book of Shadows felt pointless and had some really bad parts, but it still retained some of the enjoyable aspects. Corpse Party 2..was interesting, but not scary (read atmospheric) anymore. Hard to judge with just one chapter out - did they cancel the rest? Looking forward to BloodDrive, buying at launch.

Amazing, informative post. I'll have to check Cotton Soft out - any other companies producing horror /mystery that come to mind?

I'm going to try the trial, for shaking boobs-- err, I mean, nice animations. EDIT: Just started reading the demo and... I'm melting! I'm melting! How can this be so cute? Here's a small vid. Bad recording quality, but it should give you an idea.

It scares me that I was once in a fandom where things like this were actually a thing... This might not be so bad though, if its all ages. I suppose people can at least get their fill of weirdness without it going too far. Edit: I knew of this too... there's something seriously wrong with how I spend time on the internet. D: Well, actually, I know of this because of my university, which i hilarious in and of itself.

Welcome to Fuwanovel! I'm most likely the other Czech person Steve mentioned, so yeah, you already got the answer from him. While anime is getting pretty popular here, that's about the only thing people associate with the word 'otaku' here. That, and they usually only know of the most popular (and usually not that good) stuff, too. It's mostly because of the language barrier, yeah... I have two friends who read/know what galgames are, but both of them can speak Japanese, so that probably doesn't even count.

Welcome! And I hope you enjoy Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, loved that VN myself!