Any visual novels with actual drama in the relationship?

[Jackletter98]

It doesn't have to be on the same level as White Album 2 or Sekai de Ichiban Dame na Koi but at least some drama in the relationship. 

It is so boring when most VNs just have the couple in their route do nothing. There is no conflict. Nothing happens. 

Could you guys recommend some VNs with actual drama in there. 

[LostPomegranate]

I'm kind of assuming you mean drama in the relationship itself not some "outside force caused the drama and the couple is still united against it" sort of thing?

 

Hatsukoi 1/1 - although some of the drama is teens being dumb, but it's definitely there, but not in every route.

Yosuga no Sora - at least in one route, although this may be a bit borderline if it's relationship drama or just pure drama.

 

Those are the only two that came to mind off the top of my head, a lot of the others coming to mind are clearly drama surrounding the relationships but not necessarily in the relationship.

 

[Jackletter98]

40 minutes ago, LostPomegranate said:

I'm kind of assuming you mean drama in the relationship itself not some "outside force caused the drama and the couple is still united against it" sort of thing?

 

Hatsukoi 1/1 - although some of the drama is teens being dumb, but it's definitely there, but not in every route.

Yosuga no Sora - at least in one route, although this may be a bit borderline if it's relationship drama or just pure drama.

 

Those are the only two that came to mind off the top of my head, a lot of the others coming to mind are clearly drama surrounding the relationships but not necessarily in the relationship.

 

Unfortunately, I have already read both. I did not like Hatsukoi but did like Yosuga no Sora. I even read the fandisk and was still good. 

Thanks, for the recommendations anyway

[Clephas]

2 hours ago, Jackletter98 said:

It doesn't have to be on the same level as White Album 2 or Sekai de Ichiban Dame na Koi but at least some drama in the relationship. 

It is so boring when most VNs just have the couple in their route do nothing. There is no conflict. Nothing happens. 

Could you guys recommend some VNs with actual drama in there. 

Assuming you don't want action-focused games, though some of those have some of the best drama.  Keep in mind that the death of drama in SOL games started fairly early, with Da Capo.  Finding mostly SOL games with actual drama in them is pretty hard.

Semiramis no Tenbin- Adversarial relationship between the protagonist and Ami for much of their relationship.  While he tends to be more supportive with the other heroines, there is still a lot of personal drama in each route with the exception of Sunao's, which is essentially a bad ending.

Akagoei (series)- Most of the paths in Akagoei have the protagonist at odds with the heroine to some degree, though it varies from main heroine to main heroine.  

Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa- Basically Eiri's path is what you want, no to the others.

Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba- Nakige but the drama in the heroine paths is pretty intense at times, somewhat dated visuals though.

Mirai Nostalgia, Chrono Clock, Hapymaher- Purple Soft games.  

Konata yori Kanata Made- Might be too dated for you, utsuge.  However, massive unavoidable drama in all paths.

Ruitomo- Varying levels of personal drama in each path.

Non-Fantasy/Sci-fi Minori games- Most of them have what you want, but I hate Minori, so I'm not going to go into details.

Ojousama wa Gokigen Naname- Butler protagonist, psychotic older-sister type antagonist, old rich family, chaos, greed, and general financial mayhem and plotting.  Might be too much drama for you.

Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru- I honestly recommend this one for a number of reasons, not the least of which because all the heroines and the protagonist are pretty mentally scarred and thus drama is unavoidable.

Oni ga Kuru- Drama, incest, perversion, etc... the relationships are pretty messed up in this one.

Oni Uta- Same scenario designer (though not writer) as above, similarly messed up.

Kanojo-tachi no Ryuugi- Messed up drama mixed with vampire siblings almost from the beginning.  Same scenario designer as above.

Love Destination- Similarly messy story, different team.  Guy reaches the end of his lifespan alone and gets dropped back in his distant past when he was a student, whereupon he tries to create connections.  The drama can be pretty extreme, depending on the heroine/s.  

[LostPomegranate]

Thought about this a bit more and came up with a few more than I think would fit.

 

Roughly in descending order of how I'd recommend them based on how well they fit:

UsoNatsu - I personally loved this, it's all SoL drama in interpersonal relationships, but not necessarily the romantic relationships - but it is yuri and the only H is off-screen.

Love, Elections, and Chocolate / Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - can't believe I forgot this one in my previous post I think it fits well.

Crescendo

Princess Evangile

Canvas 2

Kimihime / My Fair Princess - be forewarned people either like this or hate it it seems, and its true route comes out of nowhere.

Edited March 1 by LostPomegranate

[Jackletter98]

4 hours ago, LostPomegranate said:

Thought about this a bit more and came up with a few more than I think would fit.

 

Roughly in descending order of how I'd recommend them based on how well they fit:

UsoNatsu - I personally loved this, it's all SoL drama in interpersonal relationships, but not necessarily the romantic relationships - but it is yuri and the only H is off-screen.

Love, Elections, and Chocolate / Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - can't believe I forgot this one in my previous post I think it fits well.

Crescendo

Princess Evangile

Canvas 2

Kimihime / My Fair Princess - be forewarned people either like this or hate it it seems, and its true route comes out of nowhere.

Thanks again for the recommendations.

I actually had princess Evangile on my backlog and wasn't sure if I wanted to read it. Will check it out. Will also check out Crescendo. Like the art style a lot. From the images I can see.

I did read Koi to Senkyo and liked it alot. 

 

[Kirashi]

Myself;Yourself has one of the more complicated relationship drama building I ever saw (between Sana and his childhood friend Nanaka). The best possible comparison would be like getting a bad end with a stubborn Yukino from Oregairu and trying to repair your relationship afterward. That was a real mess, to the point that despite having the longest route, the game only focused on repairing their relationship and didn't develop their romance at all. Their romance start early in the sequel (until some more drama happen yet again). This route was the only exception in the game, all the others routes has proper endings (goods and bads).

Not sure I ever saw a VN where you need 2 games to start a route though.

Edited March 3 by Kirashi

[littleshogun]

Late to the party here. For the recommendations, I remember Saku Saku has drama in some of its routes. Other than that, well ironically speaking White Album 1 may be good, and for the info WA1 and WA2 have different writers. Lastly, there's also Tsujidou with the MC in some sort of relationship with the titular heroine before the route split. I hope that my recommendations here will be helpful to you if you still didn't play those yet.

Edited March 24 by littleshogun

[Jackletter98]

On 3/11/2025 at 7:53 AM, littleshogun said:

Late to the party here. For the recommendations, I remember Saku Saku has drama in some of its routes. Other than that, well ironically speaking White Album 1 may be good, and for the info WA1 and WA2 have different writers. Lastly, there's also Tsujdou with the MC in some sort of relationship with the titular heroine before the route split. I hope that my recommendations here will be helpful to you if you still didn't play those yet.

Thanks for the rec.

 

Unfortunately, I have already read both Tsujidou and Saku Saku. Loved Tsujidou.