Worst routes you've ever read in a VN and why

[Decay]

Not to mention how incredibly boring her lengthy flashback sequence was. Her issues felt so trivial compared to everyone else and yet somehow she ended up with the most severe personality.

 

edit: Well, I take that back, Sachi's personality was more severe. 

[Dokken]

Almost all the routes in Hoshizora no memoria. First Isuzu

 

A person who tells you to go die everytime of the day, but the MC still persists, I know this is a kind of code in VN, but this is really overproportioned here.

[InvictusCobra]

On HoshiMemo, Asuho is basically:

"If the lookout girl has it, then I must have it! If I don't, I am no longer good enough for you!"

[Mikimir]

Tsubame's route frim Majikoi S

God I reaaally hated her route.

She basically manipulated Yamato and later on she begs him to date her and if he declines she cries and the weak hearted Yamato can't decline her. Guess what, her crying was just a way for her to manipulate him again.

[atorq]

What's the problem with the ending? Aside from the wedding scene, it was the only good moment of the route.

[InvictusCobra]

I don't remember something like this ever happening. Could someone precise?

[Clephas]

Kotori's route from Rewrite.  It reminded me of the anime movie X from the nineties combined with slice-of-life and an idiot protagonist who only understood what was going on at the end.

[Nosebleed]

Shizune's route in Katawa Shoujo.

Now, it could be considered a praise to Katawa Shoujo that I loathe one of its routes so much and it's still my favourite VN ever. But seriously, there's a lot happening but nothing ever hits you. So Shizune has problems with her father, but this never reaches a resolve. You don't even get to talk to her properly about it. Hisao doesn't do anything, ever.

Then there's the only choice in the route - cheating or not cheating. I mean, seriously? It's not even related to anything else in the route. Misha's character development is better than Shizune's precisely because this choice is there.

Finally there's wasted potential. I suppose they didn't want to revolve the routes around the girls' disabilities, and it's indeed the whole point, but that they made communication between Hisao and Shizune a non-issue (just have him learn sign language and it'll be OK) wasted the potential of exploring what's troublesome when learning ANY new language: wanting to say something but not knowing how.

[starlessn1ght]

Kotori's route from Rewrite.  It reminded me of the anime movie X from the nineties combined with slice-of-life and an idiot protagonist who only understood what was going on at the end.

[Clephas]

It is more that I hated Kotarou in the heroine routes and he was at his worst in that route.  Overall, the heroine routes in Rewrite were all sub-par by chuunige standards, but Kotori's was by far the worst.  Some companies should never try to write a chuunige...

[starlessn1ght]

Overall, the heroine routes in Rewrite were all sub-par by chuunige standards

[Tesla]

In recent memory the only route(s) I truly hated were the ones in A Profile. It's the only VN I ever dropped. 

[Chuee]

Mare's route was more of an alternate ending of sorts. They then realized how popular she was and gave her a proper route in the fandisk. 

[hsmsful]

every route in yandere.

[InvictusCobra]

every route in yandere.

[suikashoujo]

The Sakino route in Mashiro Summer was pretty unbearable compared to the rest of the game. Whereas all the other girls had some supernatural issue that wasn't necessarily easily resolved, Amagi's only problem was" I was rich, now I have no money- until my parents randomly come back after hours of boring SOL and tell me I have to move away from the protag, who I've been living with for maybe a couple of weeks. All because I wished for my family to be closer!"

It took me over a month to suck it up and finish her route because it was so tedious, and there wasn't even a payoff. At least the true route came straight after that and saved the game.

[Eclipsed]

Rewrite - Terra

If you go into it expecting a grand revelation with connections being made left and right regarding everything you've read up to that point prior, you're in for a disappointment of the ages.

Other than that it's a decent standalone story. Maybe.

[Deep Blue]

Oh god this one.

I even cheated on her on purpose the first time just because I couldn't care for her character as much as I cared for Misha.

Seirously Four Leaf Studios, Misha route where?

I'm glad they didn't, she was sure about what she wanted the whole time and for her it was

shizune not hisao, not even one second, so why add a route just for her? She even wants to suicide after you have sex with her(or at least she thinks about it)

[TexasDice]

Shizune's route in Katawa Shoujo.

Now, it could be considered a praise to Katawa Shoujo that I loathe one of its routes so much and it's still my favourite VN ever. But seriously, there's a lot happening but nothing ever hits you. So Shizune has problems with her father, but this never reaches a resolve. You don't even get to talk to her properly about it. Hisao doesn't do anything, ever.

Then there's the only choice in the route - cheating or not cheating. I mean, seriously? It's not even related to anything else in the route. Misha's character development is better than Shizune's precisely because this choice is there.

Finally there's wasted potential. I suppose they didn't want to revolve the routes around the girls' disabilities, and it's indeed the whole point, but that they made communication between Hisao and Shizune a non-issue (just have him learn sign language and it'll be OK) wasted the potential of exploring what's troublesome when learning ANY new language: wanting to say something but not knowing how.

While I don't agree with it being one of the "worst routes you've ever read in a VN", your arguments are sound and on point. Good post.

[Kaguya]

Terra was the best part of rewrite. Not like that says much, though...

 

Lesse... If I really were to go into worst routes, I'd just list a bunch of crappy games. There is one crappy route in the most amazing game I've read so far, though...

 And it's Kasumi's route in Dies Irae. Why is that even there? Seriously. 

Just an osananajimi route where basically nothing really happens. Compared to the rest of the game, it's just plain bad. 

 

To enter the comyu discussion that happened above, I actually had my share of fun with Ayaya's route, but there was one who just pissed me off. Benio! It's even more aggravating because you're forced to read her route first. 

She's such an awful heroine that she ruins what would be the saving grace of her route in the end. Then there's the BS with Gasai "changing" that's briefly mentioned so that you can feel her route had some sort of meaning. I'd much rather it didn't and that he stayed in-character, though.

[hsmsful]

I'm glad they didn't, she was sure about what she wanted the whole time and for her it was

shizune not hisao, not even one second, so why add a route just for her? She even wants to suicide after you have sex with her(or at least she thinks about it)

Who wouldn't want a route for Misha where she is Hisao's not Shizune's?

[OriginalRen]

I wouldn't, and I say that having Misha as my favourite character ever.

 

The drills are real friend.

[Nimbus]

Mare from Hoshizora.

 

The reason why this is my worst is actually more to do with how I came into this route. I had finished every other route in the game about six months prior and I loved this vn. I put off doing Mare's route because I knew that when I finished it I would be done with the vn for good, so I stalled for as long as I could. and what did I get?

 

I had to reply half of Yume's route, before entering Mare's, which I finished in ONE SITTING!?

 

Seriously, it was the biggest "fuck you" I've ever had since I started reading visual novels, bigger than the one I got when playing Ageha in If My Heart Had Wings

[Funyarinpa]

Mind spoiling me how bad her route goes down? I can't stomach playing muv-luv other than finishing Sumika's and Meiya's route just for the setup of unlimited and alternative.

I am probably one of the most prominent haters of MLE on this forum (yes I have played Alternative and Unlimited) and I went out of my way to get Marimo's ending. There is no romance whatsoever, it is just a joke H ending, but since I found Marimo to be the most beautiful character, I had no problem with that at all.

I also went through Meiya's (downloaded an Unlimited save file after Sumika crashed halfway through after finishing Meiya route) route, and I liked Marimo's route.

If you like MLE and/or are attracted to Marimo, it is worth a play. Otherwise, it is not worth the 20 minutes (including getting to the route from the beginning with skip)

[Rabbit]

Hard to say which one is the worst, but when it comes to a route i didn't really like that i can remember from the top of my head is the Rewrite Shizuru route, that may be mainly because off the dissapointment i felt, i had built up quite the expectation cause i absolutely loved Shizuru as a character, and the bits and pieces i got from the video we get and see etc just built up my expectations, but when i played the route i felt mostly only dissapointment, not a horrible route, but it did somewhat dissapoint me.