Top favorite Vn developers? Name yours!

[Vorathiel]

Winged Cloud - I love how they can convey in their rather simples stories, so many emotions and character development.

Age - I'm a muvluv eater, so yeah. Also Kiminozo seems to be pretty awesome and I can't wait for that.

Innocent Grey - Although Cartagra was a massive failure story wise, it have a great, great art, graphics and music, and overall atmospheric vibe. Also - Kara2 is my probably favourite standalone title right now. (favourite series as a whole is muvluv).

[12kami]

eushully

sprite

yuzusoft

[TexasDice]

1rd: - Key

As everyone knows, I'm the biggest Key fan on Fuwa and utterly love everything they do, did and will do in the future. Key is fucking amazing. I love Key so much.

2st: - NEKO WORKs

Neko works's products are like sex, just without the germs and high sustenance cost of a girlfriend and/or hooker.

3nd: - MangaGamer

Because they make a lot of visual novels, all of which heavily varying in production value, art style, genre and length. And all of that translated in english, very impressive!!!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

4 hours ago, Huguito748 said:

• OVERDRIVE:  Deardrops & Kira-Kira | I liked deardrops a lot because it's kind of my genre, I like music so... yeah makes sense. Those guitar solos and violin solos were awesome, The only thing I hated in DEARDROPS was Kanade (not her voice but rather her personality.) Kira-Kira on the other hand had a better plot, maybe? Both VN felt similar but, I think it'd be unfair to compare them so I'm gonna stop here, both of them are great

3 hours ago, Ariurotl said:

DEARDROPS and Kirakira are similar in the same way that thrash metal and jazz are similar, because they're both music, right? Comparisons between the two are something of a pet peeve of mine, cause if you're doing exactly that, you're pretty much admitting that you didn't "get" at least one of them (usually it's Kirakira). They seem alike, but the essence and the message couldn't be more different.

I formulated it like this over and over again:

On 10/12/2015 at 7:48 PM, TexasDice said:

Deardrops is a story about music with characters in it. The band experience is the main point of VN and the characters are here to move it into the goal. Granted, most characters like Shouichi, Eiji or even Kanade have very deep personal stories; But at the core, they all relate to music. 

The reverse is true for the other game. Kira☆Kira is a story about characters, which also has music in it. The band thing is "just" here to make these characters move along the script. Kira☆Kira could've been a VN about soccer, astronomy, cooking or even giving stray dogs weird haircuts; It's just framework to hang these characters and the drama onto.

 

[LiquidShu]

1. Minato Soft - Maijkoi is like top three VN's for me, I adore it. Minato Soft made Majikoi, so yeah. 

2. Nitroplus - While I'm less familiar with their VN's, Guilty Crown Lost Christmas, Steins;Gate, and Chaos;Head are the bread winners for me. 

3. Three is a toss up between Akebei Soft2, Frontwing, Moonstone, Yuzusoft, and Pulltop. All of these publishers have one or two games I liked but can't say one is better than the other for sure.

 

[Ariurotl]

15 minutes ago, TexasDice said:

Deardrops is a story about music with characters in it. The band experience is the main point of VN and the characters are here to move it into the goal. Granted, most characters like Shouichi, Eiji or even Kanade have very deep personal stories; But at the core, they all relate to music. 

The reverse is true for the other game. Kira☆Kira is a story about characters, which also has music in it. The band thing is "just" here to make these characters move along the script. Kira☆Kira could've been a VN about soccer, astronomy, cooking or even giving stray dogs weird haircuts; It's just framework to hang these characters and the drama onto.

Precisely. Kirakira's underlying theme is the struggle associated with growing up, learning responsibility and entering adult society. I liked how d2b vs. DEARDROPS made a seemingly intentional effort to drive that point home by illustrating the starkly different nature of troubles and worries facing the members of two bands.

[marcus-beta]

1. Key
2. Eushully
3. @binaryfail <3 kkkkk allways help

[Satsuki]

Lump of Sugar

 Yuzusoft

ALcot (only main company)

Because moege for life!

[Xavier12]

How about only ones that haven't been named yet

Hamham Soft

Shiritsu Sakuranbo Shougakkou

Ivory (Nostalgia, actually expected to see this a few times)

 

 

[Arcadeotic]

Never really thought about it that much

• Favorite
• Liar-Soft
• 5pb
• Alcot
• Sprite

In order of the top being my favorite (pun intended), and going downwards from there

[DarkZedge]

14 minutes ago, Arcadeotic said:

my favorite

Nice one Arky 

[Satsuki]

2 hours ago, Xavier12 said:

How about only ones that haven't been named yet

Hamham Soft

Shiritsu Sakuranbo Shougakkou

Ivory (Nostalgia, actually expected to see this a few times)

I was expecting Iris. No? 

[Funnerific]

I don't really have a favourite developer despite having read 100+ VNs. Used to like minori (for ef) until I tried one of their more recent games (sex, boobs, sex, did I mention boobs?). Used to like Key until my tastes changed (still love Rewrite though). I can't really judge a developer (assuming they even have some sort of a policy in place and don't leave everything to the writer) without having played a good amount of their major titles and I'm still somewhat new to the world of untranslated VNs, but I do have some candidates:

- Moonstone. For Princess Evangile and Natsu no Iro no Nostalgia. While I didn't enjoy these games all that much (prefer plot titles over moege), I liked the writing, especially the way Kure makes protagonists. Will be more sure about these guys once I read Doko e Iku no, Ano Hi and the upcoming big title.

- SORAHANE. For Haruka Kanata alone. It's a game that left a very long-lasting impression on me and I'm excited for whatever it is that's coming up. I also played their first game, Aqua, it had its good points but I didn't really like it for a bunch of reasons.

- Makura. Because of H2O -Footprints in the sand-. The plot is different from the anime, there is less of it, but having looked at the anime synopsis I can say I prefer the VN version. The fandisk/side story as well as Supreme Candy disappointed me greatly, nonetheless I definitely want to play Himanatsu and Sakuuta before I make my judgement on this developer.

- Lump of Sugar. Reeeeeally not sure about this one. There's things I like and things I hate here. I loved two routes in Hello, good-bye as well as Uzuki route in Gaku Ou (though the rest of the game is utter boredom). Placing all of my bets on the big one. There could be a surprise coming with Tayutama 2 since apparently the writer is a new guy no one knows anything about, but I'm not holding my breath.

- Nanawind. Again, a good impression from their first game, Yuyukana, even if it was mostly the same plot in every route. Loved the art style, liked the music and the absence of loli. I'll have to play Alia's Carnival to know for sure.

 

On 24.05.2016 at 2:59 AM, Narcosis said:

This whole topic gave me cancer.

 

[Mr Poltroon]

In order to include them as a favourite developer, I must have necessarily played more than one game by the particular developer.

1. Yuzusoft - Their brand of fake drama, protagonists, settings and romance are everything I could ever ask from a VN. Fluffiness and loveliness ahoy.
2. Key - In light of having played 4 VN's by this developer and having liked them all lands them a spot high on this list.
3. Minatosoft - Huge casts, great comedy, romance and a fantastic protagonist (when he doesn't have his head in the gutter) make their Majikoi series one of my favourites.
4. Akabei Soft and derivatives - Both of the two games I played from them proved to be incredibly enjoyable in a different manner from my usual tastes, making them the only company not on this list for the romantic elements in their VN's.
5. Overdrive - Having played Edelweiss, Deardrops and Kira☆Kira I guess it could be said I rather like their games, except not always. My favourite was Edelweiss, and Kira☆Kira had some good moments in its earlier parts, but unfortunately it didn't develop its romance, the main reason I play VN's, with my favourite heroine, and had a tonal shift, or at least it was more drastic than in other routes, in one of them, and I absolutely hated it. I hate those curveballs. Deardrops also seemed to be failing to meet my expectations in the romance department, leading me to having never finished thus far.

• 07th Expansion - Umineko and Higurashi make for some of the greatest (both in size and in enjoyment) experiences I had with VN's, except I've never fully read either (Not the first 4 episodes in Umineko and not a single full episode of Higurashi), disqualifying 07th from the list.

[Eclipsed]

Yuzu Yuzu: for Dracu riot and Noble works

Spikey Chun: for DR, ZE

Keyster: for Rewrite

- Nitrogen x 10bp: for S;G

Guilty Grey: for KnS

 

[wyldstrykr]

7 hours ago, Funnerific said:

- Makura. Because of H2O -Footprints in the sand-. The plot is different from the anime, there is less of it, but having looked at the anime synopsis I can say I prefer the VN version. The fandisk/side story as well as Supreme Candy disappointed me greatly, nonetheless I definitely want to play Himanatsu and Sakuuta before I make my judgement on this developer.

THIS ^ and im suprise no one mention that!

ill go with the first vn ive ever read without knowing it was a vn: kasugasoft

[Niyari]

Sage Planets: as long as their core staff remains i will continue to buy anything they spew out. even without Niijima i still very much enjoy their games.

Sprite: Aokana is the most fun VN i've played. not the best, just the most fun.

Favorite: i like their story-centric, true route games. fantastic soundtracks as well.

Marmalade: the one good thing about Marmalade is that their protagonists are always capable and popular. they've carved out a good niche of making games that are borderline nukige.

3rdEye: i'm a chuuni fag lol

in that order. kind of allover the place, i know. 

[Xavier12]

On 25.5.2016 at 0:44 PM, Satsuki said:

I was expecting Iris. No? 

they only have like two games

you shouldn't make companies with less than 5 games your favorite, imo

 

I like their games, though. Really like their games.

[Uhhhhhh]

1. type moon - fsn and fate hollow ataraxia nuffsaid

2. clock up- euphoria facken great story

3. waffle1999- kyonyou fantasy and its sequels awesome world building makes me wanna skip the h scene for the story XD

honorable mention front wing for grisaia trilogy

Edited March 26, 2021 by Uhhhhhh

[Uhhhhhh]

1. type moon - fsn and fate hollow ataraxia nuffsaid

2. clock up- euphoria facken great story

3. waffle1999- kyonyou fantasy and its sequels awesome world building makes me wanna skip the h scene for the story XD

honorable mention front wing for grisaia trilogy

[adamstan]

Well, my top-rated VNs are from KEY

Other than KEY - I think I don't have any favorite brand. It depends more on writer than developer/publisher. Maybe I could say Pulltop, but I actually should say Konno Asta - and that includes titles he wrote/co-wrote for other publishers.

I like art in Palette's VNs (Mashiroiro Symphony (which was great in other aspects as well), SakuSaku, Sakura Strasse).

Sprite did only two VNs - Koichoco and Aokana. Both are great, but I think that's not enough to label them my favorite dev . 

The now defunct D.O. also had some nice titles years ago - I really enjoyed Crescendo, Kazoku Keikaku and Yukizakura (and its lovely fandisc). I also have Uminomichi and Hoshizora Planet in my backlog.

Three Yuzusoft's VN I've read (Natsuzora Kanata, Noble Works and Sanoba Witch) were also good, but I don't think I'd label myself as Yuzusoft's fan - I don't feel pressing urge to read their recent VNs, especially since I've heard that they tend to be very similar.

So to sum it up - I might be more likely to check out VN from publisher whose other games I enjoyed, but that's all.

 

(Shit, I haven't noticed that this thread is so old...)

Edited March 26, 2021 by adamstan

[VernonZirconKitsune]

Nitro+Chiral has a special place on my heart since DRAMAtical Murder was one of the first VNs I really got into. 

[Freestyle80]

AkabeiSoft- They started the trend of moving away from dumb passive MCs for me atleast, most of their titles had pretty unique settings and twists. Wish we get Akatsuki no Goei trilogy translated one day

Yuzusoft- Have to mention them since a lot of their stuff comes here and they are mostly fun little reads, their moege writing just works and they dont try to overcomplicate it.

and third hard to say, Akatsuki Works deserve a shout but i've only got Comyu which is one of the best of its genre i've read from them since Hello Lady seems to be in an infinite state of delay, I wanna say Frontwing because Grisaia is one of my fav ever reads but thats all they've released thats good. Purple Software always does very interesting settings, Hapymaher still ranks in my top 5, Chrono Clock not far behind either and i've heard good things on their other titles as well but no one seems to be picking their games up (Nekonyan picked up one now though, thats exciting maybe we'll get Amatsutsumi later. If they are as good as the other 2 they'r def up here.)

 

 

We need more than Nekonyan releasing stuff though lol, wtf are Sekai Mangagamer and JAST doing 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Freestyle80

[ciel_yuri]

Minori  I really think if their games were made available years ago on Steam that things may have turned out differently. It's such a shame as nothing else feels like what they would create. It would be nice if all of their games were available in English eventually at least, but I guess that's just more reason to study Japanese.