Recommend Me A VN!

[Eurobeatz]

Hello Fuwanovelers!

 

I haven't really been able to get into any VNs recently, so I've decided to see if anyone here knows of any games I would like. My requirements are:

 

1. It must not be a moege.

2. It must not focus on friendship or romance as a main theme, but it should have some romance.

3. It must have focus on mystery, or have a story that makes you think.

 

For example, here are my four favorite VNs, all of which meet these standards: Saya no Uta, Kara no Shoujo, G-senjou no Maou, Kikokugai -The Cyber Slayer-. 

[Bolverk]

I guess a title from Liar-soft might fit you then. Either Forest or Sekien no Inganock.

Sekien no Inganock is prbly the most fitting one for you.

[WinkBlinkel]

Have you ever played Ever17? It fits your criteria pretty well. It's fairly lighthearted for a story about a group of people trapped in a life-or-death situation, but it's a great mystery/suspense ride, especially in the last act. It's got some romance, but they don't beat you over the head with it. If you want something that has some interesting plot twists, I highly recommend it. Just know you're in for the long haul; the really interesting stuff happens late into the game, and getting to the true ending will take a while.

[Eurobeatz]

I guess a title from Liar-soft might fit you then. Either Forest or Sekien no Inganock.

Sekien no Inganock is prbly the most fitting one for you.

 

I checked out Seiken and it looks pretty interesting. Does it have any gameplay elements though? I don't really like gameplay in VNs.

 

Have you ever played Ever17? It fits your criteria pretty well. It's fairly lighthearted for a story about a group of people trapped in a life-or-death situation, but it's a great mystery/suspense ride, especially in the last act. It's got some romance, but they don't beat you over the head with it. If you want something that has some interesting plot twists, I highly recommend it. Just know you're in for the long haul; the really interesting stuff happens late into the game, and getting to the true ending will take a while.

 

I've heard great things about that one, but I forgot about it until now. I really don't like lightheartedness, but if the story is really good I don't mind.

[Bolverk]

There is no gameplay in either Seiken or Forest.

 

Also Ever17 is a great vn. It's somewhat lighthearted, not something I'd fuss over anyway.

[dretchlord]

Steins; Gate has a bit of romance element in it. and the game play has mystery.

[Beato]

Well there is a mini-game in Inganock but I wouldn't call it gameplay. In it you click on characters in various orders to listen to their inner thoughts. If you click on them in the wrong order you might not be able to listen to all of them and if you don't get all of them you may get a bad ending later.

There is a great walkthrough included so you know which order to click on the characters. There is also an option to skip the minigame but I don't recommend it because understanding he story becomes pretty much impossible without it.

 

There is a pretty big chance that you may not like it though since its a pretty divisive VN. Most of the chapters have the same general structure and there are large amounts of repeated text. Since the game was originally written (partly) in verse I like to think of the similar chapters as verses and the repeated text as refrains.

 

You should definitely check out Rewrite too sometime. The common route is light-hearted (but really funny) the individual routes are not and they don't have a romance focus and some of them are very good (Akane's route especially which is super depressing) and the true route is fantastic and definitely makes you think. I don't normally like Key Games that much but Rewrite was great.

 

You should also read Muv-Luv Alternative since I see that you have finished Muv-Luv.

 

You might also like Fate/Stay Night (but maybe not the first route since much of the philosophical stuff in it doesn't appear until the second and third route but both of those 2 are fantastic).

 

Ef is also pretty nice although it is a romance story and the first part is pretty light-hearted. The second part, The Latter Tale is not so though and can be really depressing at times and definitely makes you think. That said it is a romance VN so take this recommendation with a grain of salt.

[Izuru]

Hoshizora No Memoria

[Albedo]

Ever 17 is pretty good, and I think it fits all of your criteria. It starts lighthearted but it gets less so as the story progresses. Never 7, the first game in the infinity series (Never 7/Ever 17/Remember 11) is also good, though it focuses more on the romance angle than the other games in the series and is kinda lighthearted, at least at first. Umineko would be good too, it's basically a closed circle murder mystery that has romance as a central element. Drawback is that it's very, very long. If you are willing to compromise on romance, Remember 11 and 999, those two are not lighthearted at all, no slice of life or moe stuff in them. 999 is for the DS, but at this point any pc should be capable of running an emulator. Finally, I see that you haven't played Muv Luv Alternative yet, so that's also a good choice (it can make you think.) It's way better than MLE/MLU, so even if you didn't like them that much (I HATED Extra) you should give it a try.

[Guest hairybumslapper]

- Grisaia no Kajitsu

- Tsukihime