What makes these great?

[Wonderfullyevil]

I currently am wondering what VN I should read next, and am on the fence among these. I don't really want something like a poll with people telling me which one to read, so I'm more curious about what is it that makes the following, and possibly what breaks them.

 

I/O Revision II

I'm putting this on hold, and lost motivation for it. I just finished Route A, and I'm not sure why, but I just lost steam.

 

Cross Channel

 

F/SN

To be honest, I'm just putting this here because it's the most popular VN.

 

Phenomeno

 

Rose Guns Days

I liked the first chapters, but it's on hold because it feels really repetitive. Love everything else though.

 

Shikkoku no Sharnoth

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Edit: Oh, I'd highly appreciate it if you'd highlight the similarities between the above and those on my VNDB.

[havoc]

i would go for f/sn, but i need to correct that statedment.

F/SN is not the most popular vn it's muv luv alternative. (if you have not read the muv luv series yet, go read it)

 

F/SN is a great vn very well known as well is is a fun read if you ask me.

 

The fate route would be the most boring out of the three because it is mostly about world building and explaining mechanics.

The UBW route is in my opinion the best as it combines the best of the fate route with the best of the heavens feel route. (lots of saber from fate and the story telling of heavensfeel)

heavensfeel is probably the best written route but it is not my favorite as it has not enough saber for my tastes and is a bit on the dark side.

[solidbatman]

Subjective opinion makes them great

[julyan]

Subjective opinion makes them great

Lol

Anyway...

Cross Channel

A very twisty story, that is, of course, full of twists that will blow your mind away when things get... twisty? xD. But despite that, it has a weak ending imo.

FSN

Because Illya Battle royale, super powers, magical lore and shit. Nasu's (the writer) prose is also beautiful ^^ The downside is, the first route, which is Fate, is pretty boring compared to the rest of the game.

 

[Funyarinpa]

1) HOW THE HELL CAN YOU EVEN VOTE WITH DECIMALS

 

2) I/O is very similar to Remember11 in some respects

a la you won't be understanding SHIT near the ending

also the routes are confusing as fuck

I lost motivation in... Route D', I think.

[Wonderfullyevil]

i would go for f/sn, but i need to correct that statedment.

F/SN is not the most popular vn it's muv luv alternative. (if you have not read the muv luv series yet, go read it)

 

F/SN is a great vn very well known as well is is a fun read if you ask me.

 

The fate route would be the most boring out of the three because it is mostly about world building and explaining mechanics.

The UBW route is in my opinion the best as it combines the best of the fate route with the best of the heavens feel route. (lots of saber from fate and the story telling of heavensfeel)

heavensfeel is probably the best written route but it is not my favorite as it has not enough saber for my tastes and is a bit on the dark side.

Thanks, I love dark things, so it's nice to hear about HF.

I haven't read Muv-luv, because of the idea of extra. Maybe when I have more... stamina? Also, going by VNDB, F/SN is at 100 for popularity, while MLA is 61.65 so yeah.

Subjective opinion makes them great

You serious?

(Btw, love your sig. I love the Arland alchemists)

Lol

Anyway...

Cross Channel

A very twisty story, that is, of course, full of twists that will blow your mind away when things get... twisty? xD. But despite that, it has a weak ending imo.

FSN

Because Illya Battle royale, super powers, magical lore and shit. Nasu's (the writer) prose is also beautiful ^^ The downside is, the first route, which is Fate, is pretty boring compared to the rest of the game.

 

Regarding FSN, could I skip Fate route? I watched the anime for it, and Fate/Zero.

Regarding Cross Channel, could you elaborate on the atmosphere? It's what I'm most interested in stories, and CC's setting made me curious about its atmosphere.

 

1) HOW THE HELL CAN YOU EVEN VOTE WITH DECIMALS

 

2) I/O is very similar to Remember11 in some respects

a la you won't be understanding SHIT near the ending

also the routes are confusing as fuck

I lost motivation in... Route D', I think.

1)Vote with other

2)I loved Umineko and R11 partly because I found a little charm in the unanswered aspect so that's cool. In comparison to the Route A, how are the others? Mainly the characters, because I wasn't fond of Route A's cast.

[Funyarinpa]

 

1)Vote with other

2)I loved Umineko and R11 partly because I found a little charm in the unanswered aspect so that's cool. In comparison to the Route A, how are the others? Mainly the characters, because I wasn't fond of Route A's cast.

 

(Very minor I/O spoilers!)

Route B includes a shitton of new characters, while C, D and E practically provide none. They are also far shorter and weirder.

Post- Route B I/O is definitely something else, don't drop it until you get there.

[havoc]

Thanks, I love dark things, so it's nice to hear about HF.

I haven't read Muv-luv, because of the idea of extra. Maybe when I have more... stamina? Also, going by VNDB, F/SN is at 100 for popularity, while MLA is 61.65 so yeah.

You serious?

(Btw, love your sig. I love the Arland alchemists)

Regarding FSN, could I skip Fate route? I watched the anime for it, and Fate/Zero.

Regarding Cross Channel, could you elaborate on the atmosphere? It's what I'm most interested in stories, and CC's setting made me curious about its atmosphere.

 

1)Vote with other

2)I loved Umineko and R11 partly because I found a little charm in the unanswered aspect so that's cool. In comparison to the Route A, how are the others? Mainly the characters, because I wasn't fond of Route A's cast.

skipping the fate route, no that is not possible because the vn has a forced order wich is a good thing.

 

Also there is no anime adaptation of the fate route.

the origional 2005 anime only very very loosely followed the fate route and tried to mix and match all three routes into one 26 episode series which does not work.

 

aso for Muv Luv extra, your point is very valid.

My thoughts on that are to read that one in bits and pieces between other vn's.

[Wonderfullyevil]

(Very minor I/O spoilers!)

Route B includes a shitton of new characters, while C, D and E practically provide none. They are also far shorter and weirder.

Post- Route B I/O is definitely something else, don't drop it until you get there.

Cool, but tbh, this thread made me realize I'm not in the mood for sci-fi if anything, I/O is will be put later, but thanks for keeping up my interest towards it.

 

skipping the fate route, no that is not possible because the vn has a forced order wich is a good thing.

 

Also there is no anime adaptation of the fate route.

the origional 2005 anime only very very loosely followed the fate route and tried to mix and match all three routes into one 26 episode series which does not work.

 

aso for Muv Luv extra, your point is very valid.

My thoughts on that are to read that one in bits and pieces between other vn's.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the points.

[julyan]

 

Regarding Cross Channel, could you elaborate on the atmosphere? It's what I'm most interested in stories, and CC's setting made me curious about its atmosphere.

From the get-go, you'll feel that there's something wrong with the world and the people around you. I couldn't remember much of the game, but iirc, the game doesn't hide the fact that there's something strange going on. 
Then there will be times, several times rather, that certain segments gets repeated and repeated and repeated. Trust me, if those repetitions are removed, the game won't be as good as it is now.

[Nerathim]

 

Rose Guns Days

I liked the first chapters, but it's on hold because it feels really repetitive. Love everything else though.

 

Unique atmosphere and casting that you will not find in any other VN (translated that is, it's as far as I know).

Outstanding music.

In the first two seasons : chapter 5 in S1 and chapter 2 in S2 are what make RGD truly amazing even though witch hunt hasn't released yet a translation patch for S3 and S4.

Leo is one of the best protagonist out there.

Minigame is damn addictive.

Great chara-design.

Very interesting history wise, personally I find post-war Japan pretty "attractive" the way R07 puts it.

[Siveria]

Lol

Anyway...

Cross Channel

A very twisty story, that is, of course, full of twists that will blow your mind away when things get... twisty? xD. But despite that, it has a weak ending imo.

FSN

Because Illya Battle royale, super powers, magical lore and shit. Nasu's (the writer) prose is also beautiful ^^ The downside is, the first route, which is Fate, is pretty boring compared to the rest of the game.

 

 

I agree with cross channel, I didn't care for the ending much myself. Muv-luv is apparently great if you can get past the boring as fuck high school part in the first one (its mostly generic slice of life crap that pretty much every anime does to death), I haven't been able to do it yet due to it just being THAT boring. Heard it picks up, especally in alternative.

[julyan]

I agree with cross channel, I didn't care for the ending much myself. Muv-luv is apparently great if you can get past the boring as fuck high school part in the first one (its mostly generic slice of life crap that pretty much every anime does to death), I haven't been able to do it yet due to it just being THAT boring. Heard it picks up, especally in alternative.

You can actually skip those SOL shit but it'll cost you, but not that great, in the late parts of the trilogy.

[Deep Blue]

whatever you do don't read muv luv alt without reading extra/unlimited first, yes it's a pain in the ass and yes extra is really boring most of the time but you won't enjoy alternative the same way, many will tell you that you can read alt and it doesn't matter if you didn't read extra/unlimited first but that's wrong, it was meant to be played in that order for a reason: characters development (which is one if not the most important thing in any plot!)

extra=character development

unlimited= character development+plot related to alternative.

 

I'm reading f/sn and it's really really good so far.

[julyan]

I'm sorry if I didn't word it more properly.
What I meant was he can skip it. I didn't say he should or it's not necessary to read them. Alt would definitely not feel the same if you skipped the first 2, but my point is, you won't miss as much how some people says it is. Some people exaggerates it so much that it becomes too far from the truth. You'll still feel attached to the characters, cry and sympathize with them, and miss them when all things are over. You will even be fed information such as terms and character backgrounds that was told in the first 2 in case you skipped them. However, it's more rewarding if you read the first 2. Seeing people grow is different from being told how they grew. I really recommended reading those 2 boring titles~

Of course all of this is just my opinion so don't bite me ^^

[Deep Blue]

Yes you can but it wont be the same, muv luv it's great (leaving that shitty ending aside ) because of how slow paced is and how different extra/unlmited are from alternative there is a purpose on that it's not just a random thing, if you take that out you will still have a great vn but again it wont be the same.

 

this is just a tiny example: if you don't truly experience how shitty takeru is in the first place you can't really experience how much he changed in alternative and how hard it was for him to do so, the same thing applies to many other things.

[Wonderfullyevil]

Thanks everyone. I guess I will go through the entire Muv-Luv series, but not now. My priority changes depending on my mood, so it will eventually land there.

 

I've got enough info on everything except Phenomeno and Sharnoth, so before deciding, I'd appreciate if I got more on them specifically. 

[Turnip Sensei]

Phenomeno is simple psychological horror story. It's enjoyable, but it's nothing special. It does have a pretty creepy atmosphere and good sound design. It's also really short, you can finish it in an evening.

 

Sharnoth is pretty unique. It's really beautiful, in both story and design. The writing style is kind of flowery and it repeats itself a lot, with sometimes slight differences. It works with the style the VN is going for, but it can be annoying.

[Wonderfullyevil]

Phenomeno is simple psychological horror story. It's enjoyable, but it's nothing special. It does have a pretty creepy atmosphere and good sound design. It's also really short, you can finish it in an evening.

Might as well start with this then, lol.

 

Sharnoth is pretty unique. It's really beautiful, in both story and design. The writing style is kind of flowery and it repeats itself a lot, with sometimes slight differences. It works with the style the VN is going for, but it can be annoying.

This part of the writing style interests me a lot. Is it like reviewing one scene in multiple perspectives? Or is it like showing you the scene again to make you come up with a different interpretation after something happened? Or is it "one of those things you can only experience and not define"?

 

In terms of atmosphere, how is it? In a VN, it's one of the most important aspects to me in comparison to a novel due to how much more you can feel that world, so I like to know about it a lot.

[Turnip Sensei]

This part of the writing style interests me a lot. Is it like reviewing one scene in multiple perspectives? Or is it like showing you the scene again to make you come up with a different interpretation after something happened? Or is it "one of those things you can only experience and not define"?

 

It does all of those things. Some scenes are shown again after you understand the situation better, some are the just the same scene again with slightly different wording. And some scenes have same structure, but the meaning and contents are changed. Thematic lines and repetition of words are also used to create an atmosphere.  

 

 

In terms of atmosphere, how is it? In a VN, it's one of the most important aspects to me in comparison to a novel due to how much more you can feel that world, so I like to know about it a lot.

 

The VN creates a mysterious atmosphere, not quite understanding what's going on. The general tone is also slightly sorrowful. But mostly it's really tranquil, the writing works wonders for that.  

[Wonderfullyevil]

Thanks a lot to everyone who posted (even solidbatman if at least for the lulz or something).

I'll go through Phenomeno first because of the length, followed by Sharnoth because it intrigued me the most.

Edit: I heard that Sharnoth has a few h-scenes, but they're relatively important. What's a good way to make sure no one sees it?  (Wouldn't want my little brother to see it, and he's the suspicious type.)