Visual Novel Companies

[Dizzyworld2]

Hello~ I would like to ask veteran vn readers what each vn company specialize in or their trademarks. I'm sorry for the awkwardly worded sentence but for an example, Key would be recognized as producers of nakige with a bit of magic/supernatural elements.

I have a gist of what Nitro+ and Type-Moon are like, although I would like a little bit more info about how the two companies' works differ (like does Type-Moon has more magic than Nitro+?) Some other companies I would like to know are Navel, Minori, Yuzu-soft, and August but if anyone can give comments about other companies, I would like to know as well.

[Snowtsuku]

So basically you are asking what we think of a certain visual novel brand.

For Key, I have read 3 Key visual novels, Clannad, LB and RW. What I noticed about key is that they add the visual novel gameplay, i.e. repeating the routes into their plots or to say, you are repeating the game as a part of the story. Usually they also add a comic relief buddy to the protag. Though Key produces great games, they are somehow overrated IMO.

For AB2, I have read 2 and will be reading one after finishing what I am reading now. AB2 usually brings out something like that dark part of the society in both VNs I read. I say that AB2 usually deals with seriously stuffs like society and politics. This is one of the reason why I love and hate AB2 at the same time.

For Feng, thay usually have a typical slice of life harem game but they do excel when it comes to art. It's sad the no translation group has picked up a Feng visual novel for translation.

Eushully produces more gameplay heavy games IIRC. I was only able to play one. It takes a lot of time but is definitely worth the time and effort to complete everything.

[Tay]

One of the biggest companies is Type-Moon, creator of the legendary Fate/Stay Night visual novel (and other Fate/_____ games), Tsukihime visual novel, and more. The translation group Mirror Moon has handled a lot of the translations, and they're all of a very high quality.

[Guest Cybersteel]

Nitroplus handles thing more psychologically. Examples like Saya no Uta and Phenomeno. They are also the Science side of Visual Novel rather than Magics. Stuff like Demonbane and Guilty Crown.

Don't forget their 5pb collaborations with the SCIENCE series Chaos;Head, Steins;Gates and Robotic;Notes.

[Dizzyworld2]

Thank you everyone for the replies! The only company I'm familiar with is key (I'm a huge key fan ahahaha//) and I wanted to know about the companies before reading the massive amount of vns I have in my backlog.

[Guest]

hey there's a lottt http://omochikaeri.wordpress.com/category/eroge/monthly-releases/

i think as more and more VNs get translated, more ppl will learn to recognize some of the brand names. probably still no1 knows yuzu-soft. but they are one of the bigger moege company. one of my favourite is Palette. Also August is a very big one. (also a moege company)

[Clephas]

Akatsuki Works specializes in games with a faintly cynical undertone despite their apparently warm surface and seriously dark VNs with a philosophical undertone.. As an example, Ruitomo (one of the biggest classic VNs) is on the surface a fairly warm and easygoing VN, but as you get deeper into the game, it gets progressively darker. As an example of the other side, Devils Devel Concept is an outright dark killfest with an amoral protagonist who spouts philosophy on occasion. Propeller produces games that have strong tsukkomi-boke manzai comedy as well as serious action and very well-written stories. Akabeisoft2 (incidentally, Akatsuki Works parent company) produces a varied array of games, one of which was Sharin no Kuni along with less serious, far lighter games. Will, while it itself doesn't produce much in the way of unique games anymore, has many incredibly good subsidiaries who who produce games all across the various VN genres. Minori produces games that are slightly outside normal genre bounds, though its writing patterns are pretty predictable once you've played a few of their games. Light and pre-Sumaga Nitroplus tend(ed) to produce dark, twisted games that tend to leave you feeling emotionally numb. Navel produces relatively high quality moege (games focused on characters and ichalove as well as moe elements). Key specializes in nakige (such as Clannad and Little Busters, though Rewrite is outside of that). Alcot tends to produce mostly comedy games, though they have a few serious ones like Kurenai no Tsuki. Caramel Box tends to produce games with light sci-fi or fantasy elements, and most of those games are somewhat easygoing or 'chicken soup for the soul' games. Pulltop produces varying types and levels of quality in moege. Clochette produces somewhat propagandist (but well-written and fun) games that tend to have fantasy or sci-fi elements. Purple Soft produces mediocre to decent moege. Skyfish produces fantasy games, some with gameplay, some not. Eushully produces varying types of rpg/vns with fantasy stories. SofthouseChara produces light comedy but incredibly involved (and difficult to play) rpg/strategy vns. Alice Soft produces ridiculous (both story and battle-system wise) rpgs and strategy vns. Rosenbleu produces fantasy moege and fantasy vns with moe elements (Tiny Dungeon is the latter and is just generally fun). MeroMero Cute produces games that tend to escape being moege through their weird settings and storylines. 3rdEye produces straight fantasy placed in the modern era and its protagonists are generally easy to like.