Beichuuka

I think there was a long discussion regarding that incident over at the Majikoi A translation thread.

Speaking of which, I don't remember seeing a single cockroach during the year I interned in Japan. Weird.

First cursh? Errr, Nozomi from Shoujo Shounen, maybe....? My most recent crush is probably Iroha from Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa.

A few from Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa

ひこうき雲の向こう側 Either of Eiri's endings could fit, though what you're looking for is probably a mix of the two.

Finished Classroom of Elites. Some actions/settings are questionable, but otherwise liked it. I was fully expecting the tsundere heroine to warm up to classmates only to have the MC cut them off, but meh. Do have to wonder what the MC's motivation was in the first arc.

On the note of To Heart, personally I actually like it, but it'll be pretty annoying to play if you're used to modern VNs. All of the Kiss series from Giga probably fall under your criteria Sakaagari Hurricane, also from Giga, though I guess it does have a bit of drama? None of these are, of course, translated.

Amane from IMHHW If you can read Japanese: Misa from Natsu no Ame Kaname, maybe Momoko (librarian) and Sumire (engineer?), from Suzunone Seven! ~Sweet Lover's Concerto~ (fandisk) Akemi (kinda sorta) from Akatsuki no Goei ~ Tsumibukaki Shuumatsuron ~ There seems to be a tag for this on vndb.

Not reading stuff before 2010 seems a bit extreme. I feel like stuff since the turn of the century are similar enough that most people would be ok with them. Stuff from before 2000, however, I myself have a hard time finding the desire to try. To Heart is probably the only pre-2000 game I've played.

Oh? Is Merlin getting picked up again?

Did you try looking through the Recommendations - READ BEFORE ASKING thread? There's a romance-with-happy-ending thread in there that seems to fit your needs.

Finished WorldEnd. Seemed fairly trite but liked the way it ended nonetheless. Watching Apocrypha/Ballroom/Knights&Magic but none of them are all that good. Ballroom in particular was much better as manga.

Natsu no Ame Fits, kind of? (They are blood-related tho)

Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashino

Eiri from Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa fits.

A bit off, but https://vndb.org/v470 is a good one.

You should try curry sometime. Nan they make in Japan is amazing. What I loved most about Japan of course was that they have Book Off everywhere, and you could buy a lot of novels/manga for 100 yen. There was also a store near my place called Dorama that occasionally sold them at 50 yen a piece. Stop by after work every night and just kinda stand around looking through them 2~3 hours. It was great.

KKK automatically wins since it's the only (unread) VN I've read this year. I found it a lot easier to get into than Dies, so I'd recommend it even for those people who weren't too happy with Dies.

Oh, I missed that. And seems I'm the one who misunderstood the main point of the redditors. Still, as you mention, the sentences themselves need a lot of work, and I daresay there must have been better words to choose from than, say, liquidation and aberration (which can be fine coming from a high schooler, but they just doesn't seem to fit given the sentence).

I don't believe any of those redditors said that the translation is awkwardly flowery. They seem fully aware that the text is in fact supposed to be flowery, but as characterized by the lines throwawaydiesirae, those lines aren't even awkwardly flowery; they are just... awkward.

Please use a spoiler. The OP is making this thread unnecessarily long and awkward to navigate. I haven't played the Eng. version myself, but I remember seeing some preliminary work on Dies by Conjourer/Gare and thinking it was really good prose and that I couldn't hold a candle to their ability, so it really makes me wonder what could have caused them to come up with those obviously clumsy lines.

Manga: Pumpkin Scissors, Black Lagoon, Usagi Drop, Moyashimon, Hoshino Me wo Tsubutte, Nami yo Kiitekure, Shut Hell, Umehara Fighting Gamers, Spirit Circle, QED, CMB, Hitsugikatsugi no Kuro, Haru to Bonkura Anime: Atom the Beginning