Greetings to you

[Scars Unseen]

Hello everyone!  I'm an American living in Okinawa the past 7 years, and I've only recently gotten into VNs after finally getting around to playing Katawa Shoujo while waiting for internet to be installed at my current apartment.  I haven't played a lot of VNs yet, but I'm working on correcting that.

 

Played so far:

Katawa Shoujo (finished all routes)

Steins;Gate (finished Suzuha's and Kurisu's Route, but didn't get true ending yet)

Grisaia no Kajitsu (finished all routes)

School Days HQ(finished a few routes)

 

Partial Playthroughs:

Ever 17(so far don't like any of the characters that much)

Muv-Luv(trying to slog my way through Extra at the moment)

 

Of the ones I've played so far, I think I like Steins;Gate best because I love the sci-fi theme, and the dialogue has a good ratio of humor to seriousness.  On the other hand, I couldn't stand Okabe until late in the game when you find out why he acts the way he does, and the phone system's relation to changes in the story's flow is so opaque that I find this game impossible to play without a guide(I actually got Suzuha's ending before I realized that I had made any plot relevant choices at all).  I also love the art style.

 

Grisaia no Kajitsu comes as a close second just because the dialogue is amazingly written, making me literally laugh out loud fairly consistently throughout(until late game when things turn serious, of course).  On the other hand, the VN really could have used more choices.  

 

School Days is kind of weird for me.  On the one hand, I don't really like any of the characters, and there is no humor at all to be found.  On the other hand, the production values are pretty great, and the choices come just often enough and have just enough impact that I feel neither lost nor railroaded at any point in the game.  Structurally the best designed VN I've played, and I'll likely use this as something to play a quick route in between other VNs.

 

Katawa Shoujo is what it is:  a good entry point into the medium with mostly likable characters and decent if not amazing writing.  I probably wouldn't like it as much if it hadn't been my first, but it is by no means bad, and certain routes stand out as being particularly enjoyable(Hanako being the one I enjoyed the most).

 

So far I really am not liking Muv-Luv at all, but I'm trying to push through(off and on for the past week and a half now) because I hear that Alternate is amazing.  But seriously, playing through Extra reminds me of grinding levels in an MMO...  just nothing enjoyable about the experience at all.

 

One thing I'm finding about myself is that I dislike H-scenes.  Maybe the ones I've experienced so far are just poorly written, but I think that the utter lack of them may be one of the things that boosts Steins;Gate in my eyes,

 

Anyway, Good to meet the community.  See you around!

 

[Flutterz]

Welcome to the forums! Hope you enjoy your stay!

There's plenty of amazing VNs without any H content: Ever17(I think it's still worth it even if you don't particularly like the characters), Little Busters, Clannad, Rewrite, Symphonic Rain, Narcissu, True Remembrance, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Umineko no Naku Koro ni, take your pick.

Have a moe:

[Nosebleed]

Welcome to the forums. I recommend you play some Key stuff if you like well written stuff and no h-content. Little Busters and Clannad would be my recommendations. 

I hope you find many great VNs here. Enjoy your stay~

[Kaguya]

Welcome!

In case you want VN suggestions, check out my 50 VNs list. I hope you have fun here~

[Yukiru]

Welcome, solitude always blew and always blows my mind when i listen to it, it sounds so much like S;G.

In my opinion Makina's h-scenes were well done they kept being themselves even in the verge of... being killed by a swat team.

Anyhow do you have a favorite heroine from Grisaia?

[nohman]

It's good to have you. I hope to see you around.

[Scars Unseen]

@Flutterz and Nosebleed

Thanks for the suggestions!  I already had Little Busters and Clannad on my to-do list, though knowing that there aren't H-scenes may bump them up a bit.  Any suggestions on which of those I should try first?

 

@Kaguya

Saw that thread earlier, and hope to live long enough to get to them all.  Quick question for you:  If I wanted to use an untranslated VN as an aid in learning the language, would there be one you would recommend?  I have taken a couple of classes, but have only touched hiragana and katakana so far.

 

@Yukiru

It is really difficult for me to pin down a favorite character in that game.  Every last one of them is incredibly well written, and even the route that I thought I'd like the least (Michiru) turned out to stand out once I played it.  I guess if I had to base my choice on the thing that I liked best about the game(the humor), I'd have to say that Michiru inspired the most laughter from me.  Sachi probably had the best balance between comedy and drama, and Yumiko was oddly the most likable to me once an actual relationship was started.  

[Flutterz]

  On 1/20/2014 at 3:31 AM, Scars Unseen said:

@Flutterz and Nosebleed

Thanks for the suggestions!  I already had Little Busters and Clannad on my to-do list, though knowing that there aren't H-scenes may bump them up a bit.  Any suggestions on which of those I should try first?

I'd say do Clannad first, both because I like it more and because it came out before Little Busters did, not that the stories are in any way related. Although I think most other people would tell you to do Little Busters first.

[Kuky_nekoi]

There is also a Kanon non-h version.

Welcome to the forums~~

[shcboomer]

Welcome to the forums. I hope you'll enjoy your stay here.

[Katatsumuri]

Welcome to the forums...

[Sora]

Welcome to the forums!!

[cryofrzd]

Welcome to fuwanovel

 

I see you like VNs with many choices, I do to. School Days is about the VN with most choices I know of (including the choice to choice). However many of the new VNs lack number of choices and not obvious ones. I like to earn my good-endings.

 

Enough of me, enjoy your stay here!

[Izuru]

Welcome To Fuwanovel <3 Hope You Enjoy Your Stay ^^

[SieghartXx]

Welcome to the forums! I also recommend Little Busters!, Rewrite and Clannad, as they don't have H-Scenes. Enjoy your stay, and have fun! I hope you can tell us sometime about your experiences in Japan c:

[Scars Unseen]

Thanks for all the welcomes!  Experiences in Japan, huh?  Hmm...  Well I've lived in Okinawa for 7 years, and my wife of 5 years was from Nara.  I can't speak much Japanese, though now that I no longer have a live-in translator, I'm starting back up on that.

 

One thing to remember is that Okinawa isn't really Japan.  Well it is, but in the same way that Hawaii is the United States.  It's a place that Japanese people go to on vacation(traffic gets absolutely horrid here during Golden Week).  The culture is notably different from what you would find on the mainland.  In addition to the original Okinawan culture, the island technically belonged to the United States until 1972, and with the relatively high number of military bases on the island, there is a greater American influence in the areas surrounding those bases.  

 

Festivals occur here quite frequently since we get both Japanese and Okinawan occasions to do so(as well as a couple of western influenced ones like Oktoberfest...  I think the islanders just like festivals).  I used to go to them fairly often wearing a jinbei, but sort of stopped after my marriage got more contentious.  Now that I'm single again, I might start going more often.  

 

I have traveled to mainland Japan a couple of times to visit my then wife's family and do some site seeing.  Nara, my ex-wife's hometown, was the capitol of Japan during the 8th century(known as the Nara period), and is the site of Todai-ji, a temple that houses the largest bronze Buddha in the world.  surrounding that temple is a park where deer roam around free.  They have no fear of humans, and will come right up to you if you have food(stands along the park sell biscuits for 100 yen).  Some of the deer will bow to you for food, and some more aggressive ones will nip at you until you give them something.  Also, apparently my daughter is ridiculously cute or something because tourists kept wanting to take a picture of her.

 

Not too far away from Nara(about 40 minutes by train) is Osaka, the second largest city in Japan.  It's a port city, and the sushi there is delicious, with some rather generous serving sizes in a lot of places(I got served nigiri with the fish drooping all the way to the plate;  you couldn't see the rice at all).  Another common dish I love there is okinamiyaki, a sort of  fried pancake with cabbage, seafood and pork in it(there are different styles in other regions, but I love the Kansai style best).  I went shopping in Yodobashi Umeda and Nipponbashi(also known as Den Den Town, and similar to Tokyo's Akihabara, albeit on a smaller scale), though I didn't really end up buying anything.  While I was there, I visited Osaka-jo(one of the many castles in Japan) and Universal Studios Osaka(where I had the very odd experience of watching Hello Kitty sing and dance to a very upbeat rendition of the Marilyn Mason version of Beautiful People...  Japan is a weird place).

 

The last place I visited on the mainland was Kyoto, another former capitol, and the site of a ridiculous number of temples.  My ex and I rented kimonos while we were there, and I would like to go on record to say that I hate kimonos now and will never wear one again if I can help it.  I had to take tiny steps the entire day, and the weather was fairly cold(we went in November).  We visited a few different temples there, most memorably Tou-ji and Kiyomizu-dera(which has an amazing view) and then had dinner and some drinks with one of my ex's coworkers -who just happened to be visiting the city on the same day- at a British-style pub called the Pig & Whistle.  

 

Overall, I enjoy living in Okinawa, though I might try to transfer to one of the mainland bases in the future.  I would like to visit Tokyo at some point.

[SieghartXx]

  On 1/26/2014 at 8:19 AM, Scars Unseen said:

Thanks for all the welcomes!  Experiences in Japan, huh?  Hmm...  Well I've lived in Okinawa for 7 years, and my wife of 5 years was from Nara.  I can't speak much Japanese, though now that I no longer have a live-in translator, I'm starting back up on that.

 

One thing to remember is that Okinawa isn't really Japan.  Well it is, but in the same way that Hawaii is the United States.  It's a place that Japanese people go to on vacation(traffic gets absolutely horrid here during Golden Week).  The culture is notably different from what you would find on the mainland.  In addition to the original Okinawan culture, the island technically belonged to the United States until 1972, and with the relatively high number of military bases on the island, there is a greater American influence in the areas surrounding those bases.  

 

Festivals occur here quite frequently since we get both Japanese and Okinawan occasions to do so(as well as a couple of western influenced ones like Oktoberfest...  I think the islanders just like festivals).  I used to go to them fairly often wearing a jinbei, but sort of stopped after my marriage got more contentious.  Now that I'm single again, I might start going more often.  

 

I have traveled to mainland Japan a couple of times to visit my then wife's family and do some site seeing.  Nara, my ex-wife's hometown, was the capitol of Japan during the 8th century(known as the Nara period), and is the site of Todai-ji, a temple that houses the largest bronze Buddha in the world.  surrounding that temple is a park where deer roam around free.  They have no fear of humans, and will come right up to you if you have food(stands along the park sell biscuits for 100 yen).  Some of the deer will bow to you for food, and some more aggressive ones will nip at you until you give them something.  Also, apparently my daughter is ridiculously cute or something because tourists kept wanting to take a picture of her.

 

Not too far away from Nara(about 40 minutes by train) is Osaka, the second largest city in Japan.  It's a port city, and the sushi there is delicious, with some rather generous serving sizes in a lot of places(I got served nigiri with the fish drooping all the way to the plate;  you couldn't see the rice at all).  Another common dish I love there is okinamiyaki, a sort of  fried pancake with cabbage, seafood and pork in it(there are different styles in other regions, but I love the Kansai style best).  I went shopping in Yodobashi Umeda and Nipponbashi(also known as Den Den Town, and similar to Tokyo's Akihabara, albeit on a smaller scale), though I didn't really end up buying anything.  While I was there, I visited Osaka-jo(one of the many castles in Japan) and Universal Studios Osaka(where I had the very odd experience of watching Hello Kitty sing and dance to a very upbeat rendition of the Marilyn Mason version of Beautiful People...  Japan is a weird place).

 

The last place I visited on the mainland was Kyoto, another former capitol, and the site of a ridiculous number of temples.  My ex and I rented kimonos while we were there, and I would like to go on record to say that I hate kimonos now and will never wear one again if I can help it.  I had to take tiny steps the entire day, and the weather was fairly cold(we went in November).  We visited a few different temples there, most memorably Tou-ji and Kiyomizu-dera(which has an amazing view) and then had dinner and some drinks with one of my ex's coworkers -who just happened to be visiting the city on the same day- at a British-style pub called the Pig & Whistle.  

 

Overall, I enjoy living in Okinawa, though I might try to transfer to one of the mainland bases in the future.  I would like to visit Tokyo at some point.

Thanks for sharing some of your experience there! I've been wanting to go to Japan since forever, so I'm always interested in people's stories about their stay in Japan >o<!

[MellowMadman11]

Welcome, if you would like to talk to some cool people in IRC then PM me and i'll give you the details.