I haven't read that many Visual Novels, I'm new to this medium since I didn't think they were good to begin with. I played a few games that absolutely smashed me, and played on my heartstrings. I want a VN, fantasy type, fairy tale-type or even otherworldy. Honestly, just a great story is fine too, even in a modern setting. I like magic too, if there's something like that out there.
I like Kyonyuu Fantasy, amazing protagonist, heroines, lots of events of intrigue, overall plot and political points are just fantastics even the side stories are insanely emotional. Isis's emotional path is amazing isn't it.
Brilliant Shadows gripping, concise story. Mystery, amazing FeMC. Action.
I love House of Fata Morgana, just insanely well thought and written extremely to my taste. I cried a lot during it, from happiness and sadness. It was surreal for me.
Romance is nice between interesting characters, but I'd rather the game have a story otherwise if romance is the only aspect it gets boring. I've yet to finish a VN that had romance as the number 1 aspect of the VN, not that I tried many but what I tried just didn't appeal to me too much after an hour or so of reading. There are exceptions, like Kana Little Sister, which I feel focused a lot on its story. It broke my heart. There's also Yu-No, damn I loved the other world part of it, it was a fairy tale.
I like stories. I'm reading a VN right now, and it has Slice of Life elements, and I'm getting bored of those segments. I'm not that interested in SoL, but I'm sure somewhere they're done right to my taste.