Your once in a lifetime VN

[Prideful]

I know this is very depends on your personal taste, but what is your once in a lifetime VN? This feeling when you know this is your first and last time has something like this. I personally haven't found it yet, but i wanna see your. 

[Akshay]

subahibi

[Dreamysyu]

Umineko

[Larxe1]

Nothing beats white album 2

[Renka]

Tsukihime

[Inorin]

Muv Luv Alternative

[mitchhamilton]

if my heart had wings.

[Fiddle]

John Cena's Sexy High School Adventure!!! 2

[Dergonu]

ChuSinGura, without a doubt. 

[Freestyle80]

Uhm, Grisaia Trilogy I guess

Esp the first installment was a breath of fresh air at the time i read it, gave an MC thats actually proactive and reliable for once 

[Kenshin_sama]

Little Busters

[Silvz]

Yandere (just once was enough for hating it forever)

[Canicheslayer]

G-senjou no maou

[Seraphim]

Grisaia no Kajitsu, without a doubt. I had actually read a few visual novels before, like Danganronpa and Phoenix Wright, but I didn't think of them as such at the time because I had no real knowledge about the medium. I actually experienced my first visual novel, which I have now forgotten the name of, sometime in the late 90's, but I didn't even realize it until recently because at the time I just thought of it as some random porn game.

Gaming has always meant a lot to me, but over the years as I've grown older and had to take on more responsibilities in life, I've become less and less inclined to waste time (I don't really like that term, but whatever) on gameplay-heavy games. I now prefer games that prioritize the story, and I've even started playing almost everything on Easy difficulty just to be able to experience that story without any hassle. That, in turn, made me take a real interest in visual novels, since they are so focused on that story element I'm seeking.

That spark ignited, I started picking up on people mentioning this visual novel called Grisaia no Kajitsu, or The Fruit of Grisaia, time and time again on some of the gaming websites and forums I frequent, and that made me more and more curious. Said and done, in early March 2018, I picked up Grisaia no Kajitsu and was hooked more or less immidiately. It was both fun, exciting and sad, and the story connected with me on a deeper level than anything I had ever experienced in a game or movie before.
Despite having read/played those other visual novels I mentioned earlier, I consider Grisaia no Kajitsu to be my first, because it was the first time I looked at something as such, and it opened my eyes to the medium and made me fall in love with it.

I've read a ton of visual novels since then and might even consider a few of them better than Grisaia no Kajitsu, but I think it will always hold a special place in my heart for taking my life in this direction.

[WinterfuryZX]

MUV LUV Alternative

[Dizzy]

Eden*

[Frullo NDE]

The one that gets closer to "once in a lifetime" to me is probably Umineko

Edited January 4, 2019 by Frullo NDE

[LoganW]

If My Heart Had Wings. It was my first and will always be my favorite... Even with the shitty translation, I loved every second of it! Thinking about reading it again with the new translation mostly for nostalgia sake, but I know it'll never be as good as the first time around.

Edited January 5, 2019 by LoganW

[EntireInternet]

Well honestly I don't feel like there's just one, every visual novel that I really enjoyed I can never get the same experience of reading it for the first time again. If I like it, it always feels like it was once in a lifetime. Every experience below I list is something I can't have again, not the same one in my mind. Maybe there will be some similar to it in the future, but they're all special to me and even if I play them again I cannot recapture the magic I felt reading them.

 

Spoiler

Steins;Gate jumps to mind as my favorite, something where the twists and story can never take me on the same thrill ride of not knowing what'll happen again. By extension I feel the same about Steins;Gate 0, which was every bit as enjoyable because of it's further development of other characters without them being constantly reset by time travel, having the narrative leave Okabe pretty often.

The first Maji Koi is special to me, at least most of the routes are. It was the first sorta waifu select simulator game where I played everyone's routes through to completion and then the final route as well. Of the routes I really enjoyed most I'll never be able to recapture the excitement of the characters clashing and Yamato's relationships with the girls.

Clannad jumps out even though I skipped through some of the routes because there were other routes that touched me and are really special. Obviously the After Story is one of those, but also Misae (more so her backstory with Katsuki) and Tomoyo's routes as well.

Little Busters as a story between friends and of course it's ending is always gonna be a special story for me. Riki was just so lovable along with everyone else, I really liked his growth even if it was Key magic to save everyone in the end.

Kamidori is memorable to me for it's gameplay elements, and even though the writing was pretty poor I quite enjoyed the characters and there were lots of cute moments as they all came together.

White Album 2 Introductory is honestly one of my favorite stories, I like all the characters and I like the deceit, betrayals, love shared between the cast, and the ending is so bitter that I only want more. It's really painful not being able to continue reading this through. 

Sakura Sakura which I just finished is far from a great visual novel, or even good one in many regards, but it's style and characters were memorable. The thing that really sets it out as a once in a lifetime experience for me though was Nanako's route and Tohru's development through it as their love and relationship grew. Really warmed my heart and I wish there was more.

Katawa Shoujo was my very first visual novel, as it is for many English speakers who got into the medium around it's release I'm sure. I did not go through every route, only Hanako's as it was the one I was most interested in. Her story is heart breaking for me, especially as someone who lost one parent young, I can only partially relate but I completely understand how terrible her struggle and her situation was. Also, I read this before I became involved with Japanese media as a whole really, having watched very few animes besides the shounen on Toonami and even though she's not actually written by a Japanese author and I would never use the term at the time, she was my first "waifu". So not so much just the visual novel here but the pretense to reading it.

There are a lot of others, but I figured I would just share some. Everything I read that I really enjoyed is once in a lifetime and has a strong impact on me, maybe I'm just a soft person but... Yeah. Maybe I should keep a list of them all so that if I lose my memory I can experience them all for the first time again. Really I for all of them I just wish there was more or I could experience them for the first time again, they're all once in a life time. 

 

 

[adamstan]

4 hours ago, LoganW said:

If My Heart Had Wings. It was my first and will always be my favorite... Even with the shitty translation, I loved every second of it! Thinking about reading it again with the new translation mostly for nostalgia sake, but I know it'll never be as good as the first time around.

I read only Kotori's route twice (because I stopped reading original translation after this), and it still was good And yes, while maybe not on the "once in a lifetime" level, IMHHW was pretty special to me too.

[LoganW]

34 minutes ago, adamstan said:

I read only Kotori's route twice (because I stopped reading original translation after this), and it still was good And yes, while maybe not on the "once in a lifetime" level, IMHHW was pretty special to me too.

It was so long ago when I read it, but I believe I went down all of the routes! I always recommend it when I get the chance!

[Mobotium]

Chaos;Child. The moment when you start thinking about what you've read, connecting all the dots and discovering hidden plots behind what you were show stands out and is a amazing experience, rivaled only by Umineko and Subahibi in regards to what I have read. Combined with all it's other qualities it surpasses anything else I've read.

[nihilloligasan]

subahibi without a doubt. it's unlike anything i've ever experienced.

[Acrylic7]

For me, it was Muv Luv (extra, unlimited, and alternative). 

[Sparteh]

On 12/31/2018 at 9:32 AM, Dreamysyu said:

Umineko

 

On 1/4/2019 at 2:43 PM, Frullo NDE said:

The one that gets closer to "once in a lifetime" to me is probably Umineko

+1