I think the main point here is that its just a matter of opinion ^^;
Iād personally argue the opposite. The common route was quite fun, but the character routes mostly brought it down.
^
To me Grisaia went from meh to meh. Regardless of opinion, the writing quality of the whole VN showed true in the common route.
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BALDR SKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
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A heads up for those interested. Tokyo Otaku Mode has a kickstarter for the Sharin no Kuni visual novel
I may be too late, but Iād like to offer a counterpoint to those who are saying Katawa Shoujo isnāt that great. First, I must confess I havenāt played nearly as many visual novels as the diehards who were downloading fan-translation patches for years before we started getting actual localizations, so my experience isnāt as broad.
Still, even my initial exposure to a handful of some of the most acclaimed professionally made VNs (Steins;Gate, Devil in G-String, CLANNAD, Fruit of Grisaia) hasnāt tarnished Katawa Shoujo in my eyes. Itās a low-key story about a guy coming to terms with his condition, and the relationships he can cultivate in that process. The plot isnāt the stuff of which thrillers are made, but itās not supposed to be.
It may just come down to taste. I like slice-of-life stuff and I loved the characters and solid writing, but I guess thatās just me. In any case, Iād definitely say one hour isnāt going to show you the best Katawa Shoujo has to offer. Iād at least play through one route before deciding itās not worth it.
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I just listened to some of the BGMās in āLucy - The eternity she wished forā, and read the sypnosis. Has anyone played it? Sypnosis sounds very Harmonia-like.
I have, Itās more Chobits than Harmonia, but itās pretty good. A lot of people I know really enjoyed it, and it definitely deserves the nakige tag.
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From Key I have read CLANNAD, my first VN, then Little Busters!, followed by Rewrite and last Planetarian.
From non-Key works I have got to read Symphonic Rain, a music themed VN shorter than Key words that revolves about a boy studying music, that must find a vocalist from the same school to team up for the next examā¦ of course, all the choices are cute girls, though thereās quite some drama. Also, thereās a fairy with him for apparently no reason.
And thenā¦ we have Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, masterpieces, I donāt enjoy terror too much (I get scared too easily, lol) but the stories were just too good, though I guess that Umineko should be said to be a romantic storyā¦ (Without love it cannot be seen)
I also have played several RenāPy short VNs, but nothing worth mentioning between them.
Umhā¦ right, I also played Amnesia, my first time at an Otome, which was a bit weirdā¦ to be honest, I didnāt like too much how the boys were drawn, but they werenāt bad characters and the story was not bad at all, but the best was the animeās opening (lol).
Alsoā¦ can I consider this VNs? Zero Escape series, I have played 999 and Virtueās Last Reward, planning to get Zero Escape 3 soon, sadly I donāt know if my PC can run the Steam version, so Iāll go towards the 3DS version once I save some money; theyāre some killing games styled, escape room based games, but half of it at least is pure Visual Novel and the choices there are what affects your ending, which there are many, and the story is awesome, with thematics of science and pseudo-science all around, oh, and maths. (I like maths, I know Iām weird)
Thereās also Ace Attorney, but I would say that the VN fragments there are less important, being the exploration and the trials more important, so I consider it just a videogame.
Alsoā¦ I started Katawa Shoujoā¦ but dropped it before I even finished a route, it felt too boring and uninteresting, I just remember trying to go after the burnt face girlā¦
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Katawa Shoujo has its moments believe it or not. Looking back, yeah it did feel a little bland. The presentation itself felt choppy as it felt forced transitioning from heroine to heroine and their introductions. Also some routes were not the greatest in my opinion out of just pure content and build up in some cases. But going through their routes provided another depth of complexity to the heroineās character given the circumstances of the disability aspect and all. As much as I can say a route was ābadā, the heroines themselves are not the culprit of an uninteresting story, just the presentation. (Sorry, but I just have to defend my best girl Emi haha)
Plus it did pretty well for a non Japanese-made visual novel. Great start to pioneering a new medium in the Western community.
I donāt mean it was bad, butā¦ it was bland, it didnāt manage to keep my interest enough so I would keep reading, and it is the only VN I have dropped.
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You have good taste, my friend. Many of the VNs youāve listed are some of my favorites 
(Symphonic Rain, Ace Attorney, Zero Escapeā¦ I guess even higurashi and umineko I liked).
You should go read Ever17 
Actually everyone should go read Ever17, geez. The amount of people on this forum who have not read it is surprisingly high and that needs to change ASAP
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I think I have heard about it, but I really canāt remember what was it about, Iāll go check what is it about later.
Zero Escape? Really? Pfft, for some reason I never canāt find anyone that has played it, such a pity.
I wouldnāt call myself an avid reader, the VNs I have read are very long, and once I start I give them a lot of the time they need, but on the other hand I rarely pick up any kind of novel to read, I do it quite rarely and Iām careful with what I pick because if it doesnāt really interest me 100% I end up getting bored and dropping it, soā¦ I donāt read much, butā¦ when I do, I give my all to the read, I guess? (I donāt consider myself someone who loves reading novels actually, or maybe itās a love-hate relationship, tsundere?)
Donāt worry, I already have Ever 17. I kind of have to finish Grisaia no Kajitsu and DR2 first.
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Well hereās an old thread!
I have just finished Steins;Gate 0 on PS4 after 51 hours of play taking my time, and while I was initially wary about the need for a follow up I can honestly say this is not just a cash in on the success of the original, but a thoroughly great VN in its own right. If anything the story is more convoluted, keeping you guessing and it really is the sequel no one thought theyād ever need.
That said though, you really canāt play this before the original as it spoils far too much - so anyone who hasnāt done so but feels like playing Zero must definitely play the original first.
Itās impossible to say much without spoilers - and as this is still a new game I donāt even want to put them in tags - the only reservations I have is a few minor glitches and some scenes that seem to go on just a bit too long to get the point across. New characters are well developed apart from one or two minor additions that donāt add very much and the pathway to the various routes is much easier than the very abstract and cryptic branching points of the original.
In order to follow the story completely I found it helpful to make notes which would be very useful to keep track of what happened (or will happen) to whom if you end up following the routes in a random order.
Art and music is very good though none of the new tunes really stuck in my mind.
I really want to go back and play the original again nowā¦
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I just finished it recently on PS Vita as well! It was alright, IMO. The ending was actually kinda disappointing for me :x I still think the original one is faaar better.
I expected the āTrue endingā to be a bit longer, to be fair. I agree the original is better in terms of the emotional impact, Iād just finished watched the anime and even without all the routes from the VN it has more āhits you in the pit of the stomachā moments. Still I like SG0 because we have the new element of AI science in the mix.
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That part of it was quite interesting to think about, yeah 
the whole āwhat constitutes a personā starts to blur, especially with Kagariās route and all that. At first I thought the whole AI gimmick would be used just to force development out of Rintaro, but they managed to use it in a very refined manner, which I liked
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āwhat constitutes a personā
Well there we can link back with Yumemi in Planetarian 
My next VN playthrough at some point will be Grisaia no Kajitsu unless Little Busters! makes an unexpectedly early release on Steamā¦
I also have from the winter sales Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc though that seems to be some kind of hybrid game.
