New to visual novels - brought in by Song of Saya

[NathanielPrime]

Hello!

 

Until yesterday I've never read (?) any visual novels, and they mostly seemed silly to me. Then I heard about Song of Saya from Extra Credits on Youtube, and decided to at least try it out. And, woah. It was enthralling and touching and horrifying and heartwarming and disgusting and thought provoking and, just, wow. I couldn't stop thinking about it. If I loved Song of Saya, can you recommend others of a similar feel? I never thought a horror/romance would interest me, but it seem si was wrong!

[WinterfuryZX]

Chaos;Head (sort of...)

 

Higurashi no naku koro ni.

[Down]

Keep an eye out for SubaHibi when it comes out (soon hopefully). I won't say it's anything like Saya no Uta in terms of plot but it's also a very "visual novel" experience - something that brings out the strengths of the medium and the themes and "extreme" content you can hardly see elsewhere. And talk about being thought-provoking.

 

You can also check out Kikokugai, which is also written by Urobuchi (author of Saya). It's the same kind of format, although the themes are fairly different.

[firecat]

fate/stay night has the same idea (different story), its something you should like. another is "long live the queen", however effort is needed to get the best ending (or cheat either way). lastly if you want a challenging vn, play "Yggdra Union - We'll Never Fight Alone" but be worn it is one of the hardest gameboy games ever.

[WinterfuryZX]

Swan Song, also.

[havoc]

First welcome and enjoy your stay.

 

while i have yet to read song of saya, most people here have read quite a few vn's.

So here are some recommendations.

 

Fate/stay night is a must play. It is nothing like the anime thing that carries its name. (well we do now in the unlimited blade works adaption)

And we just have a new patch that has translated the realta nua version of the game. (wich is an all ages game so it does away with the H stuff and replaces it by something else)

http://vndb.org/v11

 

Tsukihime Another must play, and no this one does not have a anime adaption.

http://vndb.org/v7 (it is ancient, got no voice and no music. But it is so good)

 

Muv Luv series, now Muv Luv extra is not that good and Unlimited is merely good but alternative is definitly a must read and to understand it completely you need to have read these two first.

(I so hope muv luv alternative get's an anime adaption at some point)

http://vndb.org/v93 (extra/unlimited) yes they are packed into one game

http://vndb.org/v92 (alternative)

 

 

g senjou maou Is also a must read.

http://vndb.org/v211

 

clannad is also a must read and is together with fate/stay night one of the vn flagships, muv luv can possible also be considered a flagship.

http://vndb.org/v4

 

Other than that there is Grisaia no Kajitsu wich is also a must read. (By the way, no panty shots in this one, just sex jokes by amane instead)

http://vndb.org/v5154.

[Zakamutt]

Tsukihime - Another must play, and no this one does not have a anime adaption.

http://vndb.org/v7 (it is ancient, got no voice and no music. But it is so good)

It does have music (but indeed no voice), if it didn't for you then you probably patched it wrong lol.

 

---

 

Anyway, I would recommend Kikokugai and Swan Song for some other grim settings. As for the rest, I don't know how you deal with slice of life / comedy, which is a major part of most VNs - this will determine in part whether you like a lot of VNs.

 

Also props to EC for mentioning Saya, it's a p. cool pick by them.

[Scorp]

Saya no Uta is unique, there is no similar VN (at least I do not know anything like that).

 

Chaos;Head is indeed deal with delusions, but that's the only similarity thing between them, it is completely different in all other ways (also that creepy otaku as MC - so disgusting, even Fuminori looked much more likeable than Takumi).

 

Higurashi is also deal with violence and have romance story, but still not really similar, but decent to check (try the latest version from Mangagamer + PS3 images + voices).

 

Maybe you can try Phenomeno, but it is not exact match too.

 

Most of advices here were about decent VNs, not about really similar to Saya.

[sanahtlig]

Try Nitroplus's other VNs.

 

https://vndb.org/p42

 

All the ones with English flags are games that might be of interest to you.

 

Several of these games have gotten official releases.  These are available from J-List, neatly collected together in their own category.

[WinterfuryZX]

Chaos;Head is indeed deal with delusions, but that's the only similarity thing between them, it is completely different in all other ways (also that creepy otaku as MC - so disgusting, even Fuminori looked much more likeable than Takumi).

 

Lol he's light years above all the other adolescent protagonists, probably my all time favorite.

[NathanielPrime]

Awesome! Thank you for all those recommendations, that will certainly keep me busy for a good while!