Albedo

Funny, FFXII was the Final Fantasy game that took the most risks with its story, and despite the forced inclusion of Vaan and Penelo, it shows; its plot is so far removed from the typical jrpg formula that it isn't funny. If it has any faults, I'd say its awful pacing and that perhaps it was expecting too much from its audience. Oh, and Mass Effect is mediocre (except for 2, which was a pretty fun action movie on its own, even if its irrelevant to the larger plot) and Planescape:Torment is the shit. For me, VNs are simply a form of entertainement where I can get kinds of stories that I can't get anywhere else. Sure, having graphics and sound is a plus, but most of the time the graphical aspect of VNs is underused, and they tend to fall back on description... which sorta defeats the point of a graphic medium, as anyone reading a 1970s Marvel Comic could tell you. Also, lots of times they do need editors to cut back on redundancy/purpleness or to fix glaring logic holes or pacing, but they don't have them because they'd rather spend the money on a cg of a loli eating a cake with her onii-chan. But still, I'd say that having unique stories make up for all of that.

Didn't like Chaos;Head quite that much (except the delusions, they were great) but loved Steins;Gate, so this seems pretty good. Hopefully this time they'll release it for PC and maybe, maybe JAST will bring it here before 2038.

If you want novels with multiple routes and not *that* long, Steins;Gate would be a good option. Ever 17 and Rewrite are also pretty good, but Rewrite has 2 routes (out of 7) that are way worse than the others... and are mandatory to play if you want to get the true end. Or, like Wahfuu said, you could play Muv Luv. I hated Extra (first half of Muv Luv) but Unlimited was pretty entertaining, and Alternative is fucking awesome, even though it only has one route.

Started playing The 39 steps. So far, it's pretty unique.

Same here. I didn't like it that much when I played it the first time, mainly because the top-down camera was awful. Substinence fixed that, however, and it was awesome.

You're right, it is pretty fucking expensive. But a lot of those costs seem bloated, comically so even (800 bucks for ONE image?) not to mention there was no mention of the average production time of a VN nor of the cost of voice acting.

I wonder how expensive are VNs to make, really. Sure, voice acting must cost a lot, but lots of VNs do not have that much variety in graphics.

That article sounds interesting, do you have the link or could you post it here?

There's lots of moments I love from videogames, but off the top of my head I'd say exploring the Dead Sea in Chrono Cross, playing with a Necromancer with just summons in Diablo 2 for the lulz (30+ skeletons!), the last boss battle in Planescape:Torment and anything with Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising (he's HILARIOUS)

Steins;Gate branches like G Senjou or Shanin no Kuni, so that would be a good option. Also, the other two games in the infinity series... although Remember 11 is incomplete.

YU-NO, Eien no Aselia, the Infinity Series (Never 7/ Ever 17/ Remember 11), Dysfunctional Systems and the Galaxy Angel series if you want something lighthearted.

Isn't that, and the lolbad endings the only reason to read it?

That might be true, but personally, I don't have much of a problem with it unless the characters are boring/uninteresting, and there are some of those in the Fate series. Not like they couldn't include fictional "heroes" anyway, the fate series does play very loose with its own (clusterfuck of) rules. I do kinda agree with the pseudo-intelectual bullshit criticism though, you only watched the first season but in the second one there's a slippery-slope argument that is just cringeworthy.

In Urobuchi's defense, gotta say that were not his fault. Hell, Fate/Extra does something even more lulzworthy with Red Saber... but Red Saber is hilarious. Rider is a true bro, though. Best character is best.

Finishing Assassin's Creed IV, much better than the third one, even if it's not as good as II or Brotherhood.

It is really funny, but expect to see lots of stuff like that.

That's only if you sell them as games.

Playing Rose Guns Days, so far it's pretty different from Ryukishi's other stuff. The only thing that's a bit jarring are the backgrounds; a lot of them are obviously out of place, with modern cars, buildings and other stuff.

I'm curious, how many hours did you play before you dropped it? I have a lot of issues with Grisaia (Forced drama, "Ichigaya" being run by a bunch of morons that would make 24's CTU look competent, a common route that is effectively plotless and goes nowhere for about 20-25 hours, among other things), but I think it was fun enough, and Angelic Howl was definitely the highlight of the game. You should at least give that part a chance.

1- Altered Fable is basically extra but with some changes in the setting carried from Alternative. It's a fandisk so it's not really part of the story, and it's way, waaaaay lighter in tone than MLA. MLA Chronicles contains the day after, which is a series that follows the ending of Unlimited and assorted short stories from the Muv Luv Alternative universe. Sadly, not even one chapter has been translated yet. 2- Yes. You cannot change the ending at all, but you can change some small events here and there.

You must read at least Muv Luv Unlimited (second half of Muv Luv) before reading Muv Luv Alternative. I wouldn't say there's that much romance in MLA however...

I have no problem whatsoever with them removing the H-scenes; the games look interesting enough and I'd rather have them translated with some compromises than not have them at all. Hell, in some cases it's better to not have porn scenes at all (looking at you Aselia). Also, pretty understandable if their real names can be somewhat traced back from their translations, no one wants to have HR going after you.

Finished Hanachirasu, Akane is probably the best protagonist I've seen in a vn so far. Also,

This, except that horribly excesive violence can work great in some circumstances.

Sounds like a great idea, I'd like to help. Also, I'd say that genre should be the main criterion, but not the only one (say, Higurashi and Umineko should be linked, even though in the end they are pretty different).