Oxygen

Well known among niche groups isn't really the same thing. Most people don't even know what a visual novel is, so a "well known" visual novel is a very different thing from a well known book.

Good to know. Higurashi does something similar, right? I get that the point is to mess with our expectations and build investment first, but it's not exactly compelling in massive dosages.

I'm nearly finished with the first chapter of Subarashiki and it's not really what I was expecting. Was what I was reading before unusual and this the norm? I don't hate watching characters lie in the same bed, or compete over who's the better maid, or bathe together naked, or talk about being late to school, but there's just... a lot of that. Swan Song had similar scenes, but they provided relief from the main narrative and not the other way around. Is most of Subarashiki like this? I'm a lot less likely to recommend this one to anybody I know in real life. If I had to summarize every event so far that felt important, I could probably do it in thirty seconds.

It's confusing that adventure games are grouped with erotic games. I guess there isn't that same proclivity for catergorizing and organizing things over there, maybe since it's a life style. From the outside looking in "visual novels" look like a natural evolution of books. It's a wonder that nobody has just taken the text from a book and digitized it with added pictures and music in the west.

Well, this is very informative. Thank you. I knew of some of these already and I was already familiar with ero famicom games. I spent a lot of time listening to pc-98 music too, so if you tell me about them I might recognize some names. What do you mean by "loli games" meaning something different now? Also, what are Visual Novels called in Japan? They don't have a general term for the medium? I really don't like the sequelitis many visual novels seem to have. Having so many things be a massive franchise is sort of offputting. Alternative, ultimate, zero, redux, etc. After reading Narcissus, I don't get why it needs anything else to tell its story.

Is it better than the anime? The characters seemed pretty flat in that. Didn't really like the excessive crying and inconsistent fantasy/sci-fi either.

You're right. A lot of the best known vns are probably translated, but that doesn't necessarily make them better. For future reference, which Japanese ones would you recommend? Right now I've decided on Subarashiki.

Have you heard of Solaris? My very loose criteria for classics is: timeless, innovative/evocative, genre transcending/defining and multi-layered. You can pick it up over and over again and still get something more out of it. It's not gimmicky and reliant on crutches or pandering. To me at least, Lord of The Rings is classic, Game of Thrones is not. Farenheit 451 is classic, Divergent is not.

Note: They don't have to be well-known. A lot of classic literature is barely known, but they're timeless and very well made.

I just started getting into visual novels and really enjoyed Swan Song, Saya no Uta and Narcissus. I don't think i'll have the time to really explore the medium in depth, so i'm interested in at least playing the "basic", well known, very good visual novels. Basically, if you had to select visual novels to put in a time capsule, which would you pick? On a personal note, I prefer as few choices as possible and non-school settings(I can tolerate them though). I'm also very into grotesque stuff. I think the more desentisized a person is, the freer their mind.