Greatest Visual Novels of All Time

[vladlazlo]

59 minutes ago, Vorathiel said:

My only vote will be for mighty
Steins;Gate
nothing else was near as flawless. And even though I love MubLub or Saya, I will not vote for it.

I can't agree more... Steins;gate is the absolute best when it comes to VNs...

Steins;gate 0 may actually be better, but I haven't had a chance to play it..

[Kanbe]

Eustia

Iroseka

Rewrite

Grisaia

Mashifoni - yeah i said that

[Stormwolf]

30 minutes ago, vladlazlo said:

I can't agree more... Steins;gate is the absolute best when it comes to VNs...

Steins;gate 0 may actually be better, but I haven't had a chance to play it..

It's a damn shame 0 follows an alternative timeline. Lots of interest lost because of that, but that's just me.

[Okarin]

1 hour ago, Stormwolf said:

It's a damn shame 0 follows an alternative timeline. Lots of interest lost because of that, but that's just me.

Could they possibly improve original novel's plot with a followup?

[Stormwolf]

Didn't it end a bit on a "and then what?" note? 

[Dergonu]

4 hours ago, Arcadeotic said:

1. Hoshizora no Memoria

2. Ourai no Gahkthun

3. Dracu-Riot

4. Irotoridori no Sekai

5. Grisaia no Kajitsu

 

And I know, I'm weird

Hey, its your subjective opinion that matters. If it wasn't, this list would be "the top 5 VNs fo all time according to the parts of fuwanovel that chose the right VN."

[Okarin]

Well...

Spoiler

Okabe managed to undo all his wrongs with the D-mails WHILE still winning Kurisu over. They cut the game where they should, with a climactic ending. If there is one flaw about Steins;Gate, it's that it still mixes very serious events with adolescent love. Much a la Never 7. All in all, they loved each other and reunited again. Besides, after going through all that (remember that, for some reason, everybody recalls different timelines) two people would be strongly attached to one another.

 

[hitoribocchi]

4 hours ago, Amuzie said:

5,  Nekopara... Just makes me feel good. _{In a lot of ways.}

You, I like you.

[VirginSmasher]

10 hours ago, Clephas said:

Change the title to the best translated ones and it might work... most people here have only limited knowledge of the untranslated (mostly stuff a few veterans and I introduced).

Personal preferences set aside...

Translated: Grisaia no Kajitsu  To be honest, if I were to go with my hungers, I probably would have gone for Ayakashibito or FSN... but Grisaia is easily the best - speaking as objectively as possible - that I've seen. 

Untranslated: This is a lot harder... because I've played so many. Personally, I'd love to recommend Evolimit as the best of all time, but if I were to try to be objective, it would be Dies Irae, Soukou Akki Muramasa, Ikusa Megami Zero, or Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no (not really possible to narrow it any further, as they are all masterworks in their individual styles and areas). 

I have to have unTLed VNs or else it wouldn't be a true list.

Anyways, I have updated the list to where it is at now.

[edwd2]

some of my favs

120円

yuno

bsd

素晴

真剣

[onorub]

This comes from my weird "greatest = most recognizable" definition:

Fate Stay Night: Became huge in the visual novel community, just became huge in the anime community and is a little recognizable in the gaming community because of Fate Unlimited Codes and Fate Extra;

Clannad: Huge in both visual novel and anime communities, barely recognizable in gaming community;

Higurashi: Same as Clannad, really;

Steins Gate: Almost the same as Clannad, with a little more recognition from the gaming community.

On a footnote: With the love Tsukihime got from the visual novel community and the decent sucess of the Melty Blood series, i believe it would be considered the GOAT if it had a sucessful anime.

 

[Funyarinpa]

1- Virtue's Last Reward

2-999

3-Danganronpa 2

4- Danganronpa 1

5- Remember11

[ChaosRaven]

G-Senjou no Maou (Best combination of great story, great characters and high production values)

Fate/Stay Night (The classic, even if it starts to look really dated)

Kara no Shoujo (Best mind-screw VN with thrilling atmosphere)

Eden (Most emotional powerful VN I've read so far)

Koihime Musou (Best ero-moege I've read so far. SKM would probably beat it, but I haven't read that yet.)

[Okarin]

31 minutes ago, Funyarinpa said:

1- Virtue's Last Reward

2-999

3-Danganronpa 2

4- Danganronpa 1

5- Remember11

I approve of this list.

[Ashadow700]

In no particular order:

Rewrite

Planetarian

G senjou no Maou

Fate/Stay Night

Sharin no Kuni

(Still have not read Steins;Gate and Muv Luv Alternative though...)

[VirginSmasher]

Just now, Ashadow700 said:

In no particular order:

Rewrite

Planetarian

G senjou no Maou

Fate/Stay Night

Sharin no Kuni

(Still have not read Steins;Gate and Muv Luv Alternative though...)

It's fine. I haven't read SG or MLA either.

[Soulless Watcher]

- Muv Luv Trillogy (It's hard to separate the individual games as they are all part of the greater whole, not to mention they were only separated due to budget constraints): As a big science fiction fan, Muv Luv seemed to be tailor made for my interests.

- Sengoku Rance: Proof that your porn can't only be "fun" in that sense, but in the other sense too. A genuinely fun strategy game that I still haven't beaten without hacks.

- Cartagra: Currently my favorite of the localized works of Innocent Grey (due to a lack of Touko). I just absolutely love the art-style and the time period.

- Grisaia no Kajitsu: In every other visual novel I can say within a split second who my favorite heroine is, but with Grisaia.... I cannot. The only visual novel in which I absolutely adore the entire female cast. 

- Tsukihime: Sure it is dated and the music gets on my nerves, but Tsukihime is still a must play. Plenty of decisions to make, an interesting world to learn about ( I wish typemoon would expand upon instead of spending time of crappy fate spin-offs), and plenty of different routes to play through.

[VirginSmasher]

11 minutes ago, Soulless Watcher said:

- Muv Luv Trillogy (It's hard to separate the individual games as they are all part of the greater whole, not to mention they were only separated due to budget constraints): As a big science fiction fan, Muv Luv seemed to be tailor made for my interests.

- Sengoku Rance: Proof that your porn can't only be "fun" in that sense, but in the other sense too. A genuinely fun strategy game that I still haven't beaten without hacks.

- Cartagra: Currently my favorite of the localized works of Innocent Grey (due to a lack of Touko). I just absolutely love the art-style and the time period.

- Grisaia no Kajitsu: In every other visual novel I can say within a split second who my favorite heroine is, but with Grisaia.... I cannot. The only visual novel in which I absolutely adore the entire female cast. 

- Tsukihime: Sure it is dated and the music gets on my nerves, but Tsukihime is still a must play. Plenty of decisions to make, an interesting world to learn about ( I wish typemoon would expand upon instead of spending time of crappy fate spin-offs), and plenty of different routes to play through.

Maybe they can get on making that remake of Tsukihime because I really don't like the art style. I'll still end up playing it because of Type Moon, but I'd like that remake as well.

[iamnoob]

Rewrite. It does the transition of  

 everyday life ----> SHIT JUST GOT REAL HOLY F***  

so damn well

[CeruleanGamer]

I wouldn't exactly call all of these the greatest in my book (maybe within the top 15 though), but considering how everyone's list is similar and kept naming the same VNs over and over, I thought I should be different so I can give other games some exposure, get them on that list and people can play them too!

Eiyuu Senki - You are a protagonist sent into another world where all the famous figures in history have been genderbended to girls! Your mission is to conquer the entire world and defeat the Illuminati (awesome!) The game has strategy RPG gameplay and all girls have side quests/events so you power them up! After playing this game, this immediately took the #1 spot for me as the best VN with gameplay when Sengoku Rance held it for so long.

Hyperdimension Neptunia series - If you are new to this series, feel free to get the Re;Birth series from Steam instead. There are 3 games in the series. The story revolves around "console" wars with CPUs (the waifus!) representing each gaming platform (Sega Neptune/Pluto/Gamegear - Sega, Xbox - Microsoft, Wii - Nintendo, Playstation - Sony). They work together when there is something threatening Gamindustri (their world). They also are accompanied by many other waifus named after very famous Japanese gaming companies like 5pb, Falcom, CyberConnect2, NISA, Cave, MarvelousAQL, etc. As the previously mentioned game, it is very heavy on gameplay while it has Visual Novel elements in it.

Bunny Black series - With the 2nd game being fully English translated just 2 days ago, my interest for this game is now on the rise again. Notice the trend here: I am recommending VNs with gameplay!  SofthouseChara (the developer) is well-known for its VNs with gameplay genre but their Bunny Black series is the one that captivated me. So as the Overlord of the demon world, Darx fights all the intruders, both human and angelic in nature to maintain peace in the demon world so he can enjoy the company of all his wives including the previous Overlord herself and his daughters!  

Seinarukana ~The Spirit of Eternity Sword 2~ - While I had fun with Aselia, Seinarukana is really the one that captivated my heart to the series. And SEQUELS RARELY DO THAT! While the game has a new set of characters, you will notice a lot of similarities and there's one super spoilerish character in this PSP box cover if you look hard enough.  The gameplay however is very fluid and the special effects and environments look sharper than the previous game. Now JAST just needs to HURRY THE FUCK UP and release this game already so I can actually own a physical copy. Also, one last message: Nozomi is my waifu, not yours, THE END!

Ace Attorney series - While the other games have been more recently released or translated, I thought I should save the best for last. I had great memories with Phoenix Wright and his OBJECTION! signature move. I even main him in Marvel vs Capcom 3! Anyways, if you thought Umineko, Kara no Shoujo or Higurashi were the best murder mystery visual novels ever, then you are absolutely wrong. Ace Attorney gets into the science of all of it down to forensic evidence and even the courtroom presentation!

Now when Mangagamer releases Beat Blades Haruka, I might add it on this list too.

[FinalChaos]

Mine current list is -
(Note that where I was confused on what to choose I went with lesser-known one)

1. Majikoi

2. Chaos;Head

3. Steins;Gate

4. Hanachirasu

5. Monster Girl Quest     

 

[VirginSmasher]

My lazy ass finally updated the list for everybody. I'm gonna add a little something. Each person who has already voted can add 2 more VNs, but not VNs that you added a vote to already. This is just to keep this list updated. 

[Arcadeotic]

Second round, go!

 

1. Princess Evangile

2. Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o

 

[Deep Blue]

On 26/1/2016 at 4:33 PM, edwd2 said:

some of my favs

120円

yuno

bsd

素晴

真剣

why exactly 120 yen?  from all the vns that i read that one is the weakest that Kataoka wrote imo (to be fair it wasnt even a game itself at the beginning)

[Dergonu]

2 hours ago, Arcadeotic said:

Second round, go!

 

1. Princess Evangile

2. Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o

 

Are we allowed to do this? ...