Underrated Visual Novels

[crunchytaco]

Muv Luv Alternative

 

9.29 score is hard for me to believe when everything else is practically a 7+ on VNDB 

[Clephas]

Translated VNs generally get better ratings than they deserve, because of the principle that hunger is the best spice. 

[Boon]

School Days, probably. While its story leaves much to yearn for, its high-budget game mechanics and wonderful choice-system are something I'd love to see in many visual novels, but sadly never really do. As much as people's criticisms of the story are justified, I feel that many people would simply dismiss the VN based on the troll-anime alone, and not acknowledging the technical qualities it brings to the VN medium.

[Life]

Muv Luv Alternative

 

9.29 score is hard for me to believe when everything else is practically a 7+ on VNDB 

If 9.29 is underrated what would you give it then? o.0 

 

I think Majikoi is underrated becasue the anime didn't really do it any justice.

[Funyarinpa]

Not a particular VN, but Ever17's Sora route is vastly underrated in my opinion.

[Narcosis]

Planetarian remains a very underrated visual novel. It's unusual how few people actually know about it's existence, more over when a lot of them remain fans of Key's works. I felt Planetarian left a lot bigger impact on me than whole Clannad, or Kanon; it's one of those very few stories that truly pass what they were meant to tell.

[crunchytaco]

If 9.29 is underrated what would you give it then? o.0 

 

I think Majikoi is underrated becasue the anime didn't really do it any justice.

 

Lol obviously more.

 

YU-NO.

Oh dear god, YU-NO. Why that is not talked about more is absurd.

 

I think people are turned off because of how dated it is and never give it a try.

 

The voice acting is one of the best I've heard. Even more so when you turn off the music and can hear every nuance and tonality in their voices. Amazing.

[Funnerific]

Planetarian remains a very underrated visual novel. It's unusual how few people actually know about it's existence, more over when a lot of them remain fans of Key's works. I felt Planetarian left a lot bigger impact on me than whole Clannad, or Kanon; it's one of those very few stories that truly pass what they were meant to tell.

That is because Planetarian and other Key works are nothing alike. The atmosphere is very different and personally I found Planetarian rather overrated and boring.

[Boon]

I think people are turned off because of how dated it is and never give it a try.

Actually, I was turned off because of a review on the shoddy writing. Heh... But if you guys insist that it's a good story (I actually wanted to give this game a spin due to its high amount of non-linearity), I'll add it to my wishlist again.

[Down]

 

If 9.29 is underrated what would you give it then? o.0

Approximatively Muv-Luv Alternative/10.

[Clephas]

Planetarian isn't underrated... it just gets forgotten a lot.  To be blunt, it's atmosphere and theme is so different from most of Key's works that saying 'Key's fans should play it' is a bit ridiculous.  It's an utsuge, for god's sake.  The difference between an utsuge and a nakige is so huge that it isn't even funny. 

 

Edit:  Also, Muv-Luv Alternative definitely had flaws enough that a 9 or a 9.29 is appropriate.  It was a great game, but that doesn't make it flawless.

[Narcosis]

Planetarian isn't underrated... it just gets forgotten a lot.  To be blunt, it's atmosphere and theme is so different from most of Key's works that saying 'Key's fans should play it' is a bit ridiculous.  It's an utsuge, for god's sake.  The difference between an utsuge and a nakige is so huge that it isn't even funny.

Yeah, actually you're right. It might be true Planetarian doesn't get as much attention as other Key games, because becomes forgotten preety easily, even though it remains superior to most of them; being widely different from the rest might just make it a black sheep amongst Key's works.

I wouldn't look at VNDB's scoring in general, when it comes to judge whether a particular visual novel remains overrated or underrated; most of games on VNDB, especially the popular ones tend to get horrendously overrated. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to discuss games which are good and should be known to a wider audience, while they remain obscure in reality.

[Vokoca]

I would say Chaos;Head, but it might just be a guilty pleasure of mine.

[crunchytaco]

Planetarian isn't underrated... it just gets forgotten a lot.  To be blunt, it's atmosphere and theme is so different from most of Key's works that saying 'Key's fans should play it' is a bit ridiculous.  It's an utsuge, for god's sake.  The difference between an utsuge and a nakige is so huge that it isn't even funny. 

 

Edit:  Also, Muv-Luv Alternative definitely had flaws enough that a 9 or a 9.29 is appropriate.  It was a great game, but that doesn't make it flawless.

 

*glare*

 

 

I would say Chaos;Head, but it might just be a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

I'm still figuring out if the English patch exists for the Android. 

[Boon]

*glare*

lol I've gotta check out Muv-Luv Alt someday if it's the super-awesomelicious VN everyone's hyping it up for. This better be much better than F/SN, Clannad, and Ever17 combined!

[Mephisto]

I would say Chaos;Head, but it might just be a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

Chaos;Head started out great but the later half till the ending was..... not so well handled. 

 

More people should play the rance series games, they're actually a lot of fun. 

[crunchytaco]

lol I've gotta check out Muv-Luv Alt someday if it's the super-awesomelicious VN everyone's hyping it up for. This better be much better than F/SN, Clannad, and Ever17 combined!

 

You'll cry just as many tears as all three combined too. 

[Okami]

Amaranto, Have no idea why people don't like it that much it's a great VN.

 

As for Anime list, would be too long.

[Sieg]

lol I've gotta check out Muv-Luv Alt someday if it's the super-awesomelicious VN everyone's hyping it up for. This better be much better than F/SN, Clannad, and Ever17 combined!

 

If I had to sum it up, it'd be something like Watch Dogs. Good, but waaay overhyped. MLA wasn't better than F/SN for me, for example, but you have to take in account whether you're a bigger fantasy or mecha fan, for example. I'm not saying this is better than that (way to many factors involved to make such a claim), but the only sure thing about it is that MLA is well deserving of it's score, but some fans try to argue it's the best VN ever.

[Vokoca]

MLA is great, but it falls flat in the last act, imho. The 9 is well deserved.

[crunchytaco]

If I had to sum it up, it'd be something like Watch Dogs. Good, but waaay overhyped. MLA wasn't better than F/SN for me, for example, but you have to take in account whether you're a bigger fantasy or mecha fan, for example. I'm not saying this is better than that (way to many factors involved to make such a claim), but the only sure thing about it is that MLA is well deserving of it's score, but some fans try to argue it's the best VN ever.

That's silly. No one would argue that the sky is blue . 

[Chronopolis]

.

[Darklord Rooke]

Anything by Cheritz, which is a South Korean company dedicated to producing games for female gamers.

 

EDIT: Anime - Aria

You're Under Arrest

Azumanga Daioh

 

Manga - Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko

Blood Alone

Bartender

[Scars Unseen]

MLA is great, but it falls flat in the last act, imho. The 9 is well deserved.

I'm not sure I'd say it falls flat(I found it's execution quite satisfying), but it certainly is predictable if you'd been paying any attention to the VN. Unless of course you're talking about the ending. I didn't really expect that, but while it wasn't the ending I hoped for, it did get me interested in Altered Fable, which I didn't think I would be.

[Clephas]

tbh, Alt Fable is basically a sop to people who hated the ending for MLA.  It was the only thing that kept me sane after I played MLA, because I seriously wanted to break something.