Games similar to 999 in theme (no slice of life BS, with insane ending twist etc.)

[Erikwithafro]

The amount of slice of life is decent but mostly boring. Overall F/SN has insane amounts of text (not only SoL but infodumps, a few repetitions, and the Nasu-style of writing in itself), so be prepared if you want to try it. It's still very good though. 

Oh, and the first route is the less good of the three.

It's rated #4 on vndb, so I imagine it has to be fairly good. Does it have a good ending?

[Down]

It's rated #4 on vndb, so I imagine it has to be fairly good. Does it have a good ending?

 

The last route reveals you the hidden facet of the story. It's not about mind blowing twists but there's still a fair amount of surprising revelations. Overall, the endings of the three routes are the best parts of them.

When looking at the score on vndb, you have to take into account the fact that's it's one of those VNs a lot people played as their first VN (e.g. me), but yeah, it's good.

[Albedo]

Ah that's weak, haha. Like I said, the way they do it in VRL is done much better.

 

Would Fate/Stay Night be something I'd enjoy? I've heard the beginning is lots of SoL, but after that things pick up and stay pretty interesting. Is that right?

 

Personally, I don't like F/SN that much. Characters are pretty good, 1 of the 3 routes is generic and kinda bad (Fate, the first one), and the other two are ok. Also, it might be LSAT prep doing this to me but I see logic holes everywhere. Also terrible, terrible sex scenes (they are funny, so it might be a positive!), and the worst main character that I've ever seen in any medium. Don't get me wrong, I had fun, but I saw it's score on vndb after playing MLA and other top ranked games so I was expecting something AWESOME TO TEH EXTREEEEEEEME, and I got a shonen romp with a pretty good concept instead.

[nohman]

and the worst main character that I've ever seen in any medium.

 

Aw, I wouldn't go that far.  He's annoying, maybe not even likeable, but he's a good character.

 

Shirou is meant as a deconstruction of the clichéd shounen hero. His idealism is supposed to come across as naive and annoying. Each of the routes challenges his motivations and affects it in different ways. It's interesting to see his character over the span of the story.

 

I think it's fair to say he's a good character (or atleast not the worst ever) because he's the driving force behind so many of the game's themes.  There's a lot worse just within the medium. Faceless protagonists with a blank personality are pretty common in VNs.

[Albedo]

Aw, I wouldn't go that far.  He's annoying, maybe not even likeable, but he's a good character.

 

Shirou is meant as a deconstruction of the clichéd shounen hero. His idealism is supposed to come across as naive and annoying. Each of the routes challenges his motivations and affects it in different ways. It's interesting to see his character over the span of the story.

 

I think it's fair to say he's a good character (or atleast not the worst ever) because he's the driving force behind so many of the game's themes.  There's a lot worse just within the medium. Faceless protagonists with a blank personality are pretty common in VNs.

 

I get that he's meant as a deconstruction of a certain character type. Problem is, when you have him acting on, winning impossible fights and getting out of situations where he should die in 5 seconds with WILLPOWER alone, well, that's not a really well made deconstruction, isn't it?

[Zakamutt]

To be honest, the reason he survives those situations is mostly not ZOMG WILLPOWER but

dem avalon pieces

Idk about shirou being that bad either, except lolfate I guess. Also, the deconstruction is more of the motivation than the power part I guesses~

[Erikwithafro]

So much controversy over this game haha! It's not super high on my to play(read?) list, but I'll evntually get to it. Does anyone know much about the Steins;Gate US release?

[Kaguya]

To be honest, the reason he survives those situations is mostly not ZOMG WILLPOWER but

dem avalon pieces

Idk about shirou being that bad either, except lolfate I guess. Also, the deconstruction is more of the motivation than the power part I guesses~

Yep, it's obviously a deconstruction on motivation, not power, as clearly stated on

his fight against Archer

in Unlimited Blade Works

[AceAttorney]

The "fluff" that you (and I) don't really enjoy is unfortunately going to be found on just about every fan translated VN. Honestly though, I feel like when you put more in to the characters and story, you end up getting more out of it.

 

As a huge fan of 999/VLR, here are some personal reccommendations:

Umineko no Naku Koro ni- Similar "trapped together" situation. It's essentially a deconstruction of the classic murder mystery genre and uses "magic" to add a new layer of depth that can't really be found in other mysteries. There are a lot of good twists near the end and some extremely engaging "edge-of-your-seat" moments.

 

Dangan Ronpa- This one is even more similar to 999. Various students of exceedingly high ability in their respective fields are trapped together in a high school and forced to kill each other if they ever want to escape. Murders are succeeded by Ace Attorney-style investigations and trial segments that are really quite fun. This one has a lot more interaction/gameplay than most. This one has some decent twists. The overarcing plot isn't quite up to par with 999 or VLR, but the individual murders are really good.

 

I'll post some more if I remember any. Also, regarding Steins;Gate, you do not have to have read Chaos;Head first, but I think you might enjoy Chaos if you like Steins.

[Erikwithafro]

The "fluff" that you (and I) don't really enjoy is unfortunately going to be found on just about every fan translated VN. Honestly though, I feel like when you put more in to the characters and story, you end up getting more out of it.

 

As a huge fan of 999/VLR, here are some personal reccommendations:

Umineko no Naku Koro ni- Similar "trapped together" situation. It's essentially a deconstruction of the classic murder mystery genre and uses "magic" to add a new layer of depth that can't really be found in other mysteries. There are a lot of good twists near the end and some extremely engaging "edge-of-your-seat" moments.

 

Dangan Ronpa- This one is even more similar to 999. Various students of exceedingly high ability in their respective fields are trapped together in a high school and forced to kill each other if they ever want to escape. Murders are succeeded by Ace Attorney-style investigations and trial segments that are really quite fun. This one has a lot more interaction/gameplay than most. This one has some decent twists. The overarcing plot isn't quite up to par with 999 or VLR, but the individual murders are really good.

 

I'll post some more if I remember any. Also, regarding Steins;Gate, you do not have to have read Chaos;Head first, but I think you might enjoy Chaos if you like Steins.

I definitely appreciate your input, thanks much! And it seems you're right that I won't be able to avoid fluff and SoL, which is a bummer. I'm going through G-senjou no Mauo right now, and the Slice of Life really isn't that bad in this one and there's plenty of plot build up to counter all of the fluff. It may also have to do with the fact that the game was translated superbly. Really enjoying it so far, I think I'm about 2/3 complete according to the walkthrough.

 

I'll add Dangan Ronpa to my list, thanks for the suggestion!