Overlord87

I'll second Grisaia no Kajitsu as a great title for newcomers.

Before everything is over, you'll love Sumika. Ok, probably not. Still, for me she delivered the most devastating blow of the whole story, and I could not help change my mind on her. I also don't really agree on Sumika being the main heroine of Alternative.

If you can go dark, Gore Screaming Show has a very good route with an older woman character.

Japanese has a relatively simple grammar (compared to other languages) and also the structure of the phrase is very clear thanks to particles. If you learn the meaning of the various particles and a few grammar forms (we're talking about a couple of weeks of studying, more or less) you can then use software to translate the single words, rather than the phrases. You'll then use the particles to assemble the phrases together. As time goes on, you'll recognize words without using the translator (or just by hearing characters speak) and the process will speed up. Granted, it's still much slower than reading a translated VN, but it worked for me. In less than a couple of months from starting to self-study Japanese, I was reading a long and story-focused VN like Gore Screaming Show with no problems, and more importantly, complete understanding of the text. I could not have done it without translation software.

Not sure about Alternative as a standalone title, probably not, but if you consider also Extra and Unlimited, definitely yes.

G-Senjou's true ending. A few moments in Sharin no Kuni. And Muv-Luv Alternative. Definitely Muv-Luv Alternative, but you must be willing to invest 70+ hours on the whole trilogy.

Well, this is an interesting news. Curious to see how the kickstarter will turn out.

Majikoi and Hoshizora no Memoria (not sure about the quality of the translation for this one).

Strctly answering to the "unique" point, if you consider it a visual novel, then Doki Doki Literature Club. Other visual novels had a greater impact on me, by far, but as the question is on being "unique", then it really can't be any other title.

Definitely Eiyuu Senki. Nice gameplay, lots of great comedy.

Read a few years ago, nice little yuri game. More nukige than not in my opinion, but enough non-sex stuff to make it a worthwhile purchase for all yuri lovers.

I loved the Question Arc, I think the whole idea of presenting a murder mistery as a fantasy is brilliant, the whole red truth vs blue truth, all the mindfucks, simply great. A unique experience. But I didn't like how the mistery was solved in the answer arc. I don't want to spoiler, but there's a big reveal that allows you to explain everything, and it simply didn't click for me. Plus, while I liked the overall theme and the characters, in the end the second half fell a bit short for me (it had its moments though). Higurashi was the contrary for me. Started slow and sped up to a satisfying conclusions in the last two chapters.

I've rated 10 only three visual novels: MuvLuv Alternative, because it hit me in ways I would not have believed possible. Hoshizora no Memoria, because it just clicked with me. Loved every moment of it. To this point I have not loved any visual novel more than this one. Cross Channel, because it was a story with a message to convey, and managed ti do so with incredible clarity of purpose. Everything just added up together in the end, and the funny thing is, I don't even agree with the author philosophically, but it was just so brilliantly done, so pure and straightforward, I thought anything less than a 10 would not have been fitting for it. Mostly subjective ratings, all in all. But after all, it's my VNDB page. Should I have written reviews for a blog, I would have rated differently. Only Alternative would still be a 10. On the range from 8 to 10 are the great titles with minor flaws. Any title with a rating above 8 I would strongly suggest reading to anyone. Nukiges are capped at 8 by the way. I don't play them anymore these days, but I enjoyed them for a while, and the best among them I rated an 8. Like Bible Black back in the day, because it also had a relatively decent plot (safe to say in the early 2000s it was probably among the best translated VNs period). Anything between 7 and 8 is good, but nothing to write home about. Between 6 and 7 are decent, but mostly titles one could play as time sink. Between 4 and 6 are bad titles I would not recommend. Below 4 is utter shit. I'll add that there are titles I dropped but still rated with decent votes. That's the case of titles I could not really get into, but recognized objectively being decent/good, and rating them badly would have been unfair (like Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo Yori mo,).

Thanks everyone In the end I'll probably go with Chrono Clock or Kindred Spirits, I think.

I dislike any enforced reading order, but I don't think I'd drop a VN just for that. Sometimes it really is baffling though (like KoiChoco).