Mr Poltroon

'amnesia' refers to memory loss. It does not necessarily denote total memory loss. It could be as simple as forgetting who you are, for instance. I've seen anime about this very same stunt, where the only memories that remain relate to the common sense of the previous world. At any rate, the VN looked pretty funny when I looked at the screenshots.

Have at you: http://testyourvocab.com/result?user=9512146 I simply cannot recall if this is better or worse than last time I took this test.

Despite your claims, I have the feeling that Enzai may be one of the darkest translated BL title available. Or at least make for some stiff competition. Thought I'd mention it, since I didn't see it on your list. Also, I didn't play it. I imagine it's BL in some form, though.

I mainly dislike such lists due to how people's opinions differ so. For instance, 'My Girlfriend is the President' is one of the comedy VNs I prefer. And not just for the comedy. It has some genuinely sweet moments in the routes themselves. One of my favourite CGs altogether is from this VN. And one of the characters here is one I've kept thinking about for years. So... How am I supposed to know if others would like it or not? I'm not them. But I do think 'general' opinion is the way to go. Such a list should have a variety of titles: 'comedy', 'feel-good moe-blobs', 'chuuni', 'action', 'philosophical', 'mystery', other genres I can't name at the moment, etc. But yes. I vote for My Girlfriend is the President. Here's other stuff I also played that I also vote for: When They Cry Series (It's long, it's horror, and it changes genres later on) CLANNAD (It's emotional, it's long, and it has a fantastic true route that most should try. Its choice system is good for funzies, but terrible for getting into the routes you want) Cristine Love's games are all excellent in their own way, as interesting experiences and stories. Doki Doki Literature Club (This is sufficiently popular that I shouldn't need to elaborate. An experience) If My Heart Had Wings (Have some decency and remove the bias from the notes. Write something like: "All Ages only. Fan Restoration patch for missing and/or altered content available (SOON).") Wagahama High Spec (Haven't finished it, but I like what I've seen and seemingly there's some good sexy-times within as well) Lucid9 (Refer to my earlier comments) Kindred Spirits (One of the best Yuri titles I have ever played. And there's some stiff competition, such as Love Ribbon. The actual best is Highway Blossoms, though) Gakthun of the Golden Lightning (It's from a female perspective, it's poetic, and it invokes a lot of feelings. It also has a steampunk setting) Grisaia Series (Whether you're looking for Romance, Comedy, Dark Stories, or Action, Grisaia has it all) Science Adventure Series (I've only played Steins;Gate, though...) I'd actually vote against Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na. It's just about one of the few VNs I can say I didn't like. I'll come up with some recommendations of my own at some point.

This more or less details my experience as well. If I'm not too invested yet, I can read bad endings. But as I get more attached to the characters and the story it starts getting harder and harder to the point where I just don't feel it's worth it. If I feel I must, I'll usually skip through the text, occasionally reading a line or two to get the gist of it. Stories that aren't that serious are fine with their bad endings, of course.

I liked the ending, but I do not prefer it to a more... normal one. In terms of story, the first one remains my favourite.

Oh. I remember that. Hohoho. My preferred choices aligned with the good ones for that scene (for once).

Errmm... Whether the protagonist of Fate/Stay Night is an idiot or not is debatable... Well, by the end of the VN most people like him. It just takes a while to warm up to him. (Incidentally, I liked him since the start, but I am very much the sort of person that likes the useless protagonists of the normal VNs. Generally.)

I wouldn't recommend Kazuki from Grisaia, as she is unflappable, but not emotionless. If that's fine too, though, she's great (she isn't a heroine per say, sadly). Yumiko from Grisaia isn't emotionless. She's aggressive and dismissive to people that try to interact with her. If you're aware of the terms, she stands in the border between Kuudere and Tsundere. Admittedly, her route does a fantastic job at drawing out the dere, so the 'melting the ice queen' and the contrast is there. That said, emotionless is a hard thing to come by. For the following recommendations I am going to take 'emotionless' to mean individuals whose emotions aren't readily apparent on their face. Mio Nishizono from Little Busters! has an emotionless demeanour, but her words do often contain a lot of emotion. Just not in a way we'd easily 'get'. Ayamine Kei from Muv-Luv Series. She's harder to understand than she is emotionless. It's not that she doesn't have them, she is just purposefully unclear with them, and doesn't let them show on her face. Higuchi Haruka from Never7 can't easily express herself. It has been too long since I played this game, but I still hail her as my favourite 'emotionless' heroine. Kindred Spirits has a number of characters that qualify, depending on your interpretation: Characters that don't show their real emotions, characters that are 'cool' (protagonist), characters that aren't good at expressing themselves... Amamiya Natsume from Edelweiss could work. She is mysterious and not too emotional. I think she might not fit, though. The titular Aselia from Aselia the Eternal is not very expressive for a greater part of the title, but she is emotional. Kamidori Alchemy Meister... maybe? Due to the large number of characters, one is bound to fit. I have one in mind, though revealing her would technically be story spoilers. If you ever consider a gameplay heavy title like this one, know that some characters may satisfy you. Eyuu*Senki for the same motives. There are well over 50 characters you can interact with, and some would be enjoyable. Don't play this just for a character, though! For your own good. Both Okitsu Ai from Yumina the Ethereal fits... maybe? She is so nonsensical that it's impossible to get a grasp of her emotions. So... here's another gameplay title if you're interested. Morichita Michiru from Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate would be... shy? Doesn't reveal her true emotions easily. Ritusko from Princess Evangile is good at keeping her feelings out of her decisions. Because she is generally more detached from the main cast in this game, she seems more unapproachable and we know her less, compared to other characters. This all leads up to the main characters eventually knowing each other better and some good dere. As much as it pains me to recommend it, Koiken Otome's Kamishiro Touko. She is meant to be an emotionless character, but it's the worst attempt I have seen, ever. Satomura Akane in One ~To the radiant season~. But I don't even remember if I ever finished her route... With these characters, your mileage may vary. They should all fit in some way: either from generally neutral sprites and voice or from hiding their emotions.

Yeah. I hope you didn't go for a bad end or a route that spoils too much.

They're different. The direct sequel, Labyrinth, offers after stories to each route, which should be enjoyable in much the same manner. The main story in this sequel, however, focuses on Yuuji, and should be enjoyable if you like the 'grander plot', as you call it. The final game in the trilogy, Eden, changes in tone a bit, but it's a great action story, basically. Direct continuation to Yuuji's story. I found them all to be great in their own ways. There are a number of side stories which have their own ups and downs. I can elaborate about those if you want. The Fruit of Grisaia is far longer than either of the sequels. Something to note.

I would very much be interested, as I've never really had much of an opportunity to play such games with anyone else. Edit: Incidentally, my steam link to the left has been wrong for probably well over a year. I just fixed it, though.

I did. I felt it contributed a fair bit to my enjoyment of the story by selecting the generals and strategists. Gameplay in a story doesn't always have to be about the gameplay itself. I mean, even the OP presented Koihime as an example of gameplay he liked.

I very much like gameplay elements. One of my favourite aspects of stories may very well be the intermingling of gameplay with story, in that the story changes depending on how you perform, or that the story events affect the gameplay in some way. I do have a problem, though, and that is that I suck at games. So if the gameplay is difficult, I will inevitably end up cheating my way through, no matter how earnestly I begin. Most gameplay titles end up having gameplay that wastes a person's time in some way, so I try to cheat my way through those elements as much as possible. As for what I consider a Visual Novel...? To be quite honest, if it is anime style and it has long sections of text, it's a VN, why not. For instance, Mass Effect or Dragon Age may as well be VNs to me. They only aren't because they're Western, but if I relax that 'rule', then sure.

I do indeed find this to be better than the main theme... ---- When the hell does this play?! Well, I love it regardless.

I've played a couple of routes. This is a port to a console that was then backported into PC. On the transition to console new routes were added (which, therefore, never had any H-Scenes in them). This was then backported into PC, but it seems no version of the console release exists with H. That's how much they couldn't be bothered to write those scenes, I suppose. As for what I thought of what I did play? I'm not sure. I think this game would have been better with H-Scenes. Or maybe not. I unfortunately did not like it as much as I wanted to. That's why I never finished it. I felt the H had something to do with it, as I felt there was no way for the characters to show affection, but there were a bunch of such scenes (just not sexual), so I don't know why I didn't like it.

Sometimes you will not understand what characters are saying, mean, or are even talking about. This is tolerable (you will know if it's tolerable to you if you read it) most of the time, but stops being so for certain segments. In particular, most of Ageha's route is unintelligible (both due to terrible English and the changes they made to the script in the Western version). There's also mistranslation aplenty, sometimes harmful to the experience, other times not really. If you wish to play this game, you can, but I would recommend at least staying clear of Ageha's until the patch that retranslates it (and the entire game) is out. I'd say it's blown out of proportion because not the whole game is equally bad, but, as the bad parts as scattered throughout...

Spoilers for Labyrinth of Grisaia:

Mostly because we have yet to perish. Give it some time.

A great question. I do believe it does. They're simply absent at all times.

Incidentally, length is spelled length.

Killing your parents is a bad thing, no matter what. These endings may be slightly confusing as is, but they will make a bit more sense once you play other titles in the trilogy.