0 voters
Goin’ around reviving some of the old polls with my trusty Raise spell.
To paraphrase @Karifean in his original poll topic, we presumably all love Key visual novels, but would we put a Key work at the top of our list of visual novels read? And by top I mean the best subjectively. If yes, how come, and if not, what does your favorite visual novel do that pushes it above the rest?
I’m afraid to say that I haven’t actually read too many VNs. The only proper VN that I’ve read other than key VNs was Katawa Shoujo, which I found amazing at the time but looking back and revisiting it was quite “eh”.
Once I’ve got through the Key stuff I’ll blast through some of the best rated ones.
I’m interested to see if @Aspirety will still vote no.
I’d say Tomoyo After… but it just doesn’t feel like an all-time favorite.
No VN has me going back to the ost years later, or tells me to reread it every few months (apart from Kanon which doesn’t count for some reason.)
The closest I have to it is Kara no Shoujo, which I rated 9/10 on vndb.
Damn Karifean, you made this topic to push me into a corner didn’t you!
I voted no. As much as I adore Key visual novels, and as much as Little Busters changed my life and continues to guide me to this day, and with how Key is such a huge part of my life right now… I still have to say no.
Umineko will still be my number 1. Over time, I’ve come to realise many of the faults that exist in Key’s storytelling. Faults that I am able to forgive and still love them regardless, but at least with Umineko, the integrity of the story is TOO DAMN STRONG. I carry those characters and those stories with me everywhere, and continue to think about them every day. I mean, I can say the exact same thing about Little Busters and mean it, but Umineko JUST manages to beat it by a hair’s width. If I were to rate them, LB would be a 9.5 and Umineko would be a 10.
I’ve often considered making an Umineko fansite, but it just wouldn’t be as sustainable as a Key fansite. There’s so much going on in Key right now and into the future, so much to talk about! Umineko is just one game, one that ended quite a while ago. And I’m just not as into Ryukishi’s other titles like Higanbana and RGD to make an 07th Expansion fansite.
Maybe, maybe a When They Cry community might be something to consider in the future, when something else cries. But for the moment, I’m happy immersing myself in my next most favourite thing in the world.
Well, I actually dont really have read any VNs besides Key ones, if you dont count eroge.
But even if we do count eroge, Little Busters is still a bit up before Snow Sakura, which was the first one I read and not to mention a really good one, but let’s not get to deep into that.
Little Busters is just too good and I found it at the right time. I dont think anything would ever be able to top it.
Rewrite is really close to #1. But I have to give the title to Mahoyo. The highs of Rewrite were definitely some of my favorite scenes of all VNs I’ve read, but there were a lot of lows to bring the overall average down. On the other hand, Mahoyo was…maybe not the best thing, objectively, aside from its off the charts production values. What makes it my favorite is I actually just really liked everything about it: art, music, characters, comedy, action, etc. I pretty much could reread any scene and enjoy it. Or just reread the entirety.
I admit it has an advantage in being fairly short (~8ish hours) so longer ones will naturally not be able to have every scene enjoyable, even if the overall story is easily superior, but this is all subjective opinions right? So, sorry longer VNs, you won’t be my favorite, although that does speak volumes about how much I liked Rewrite.
Key, for me, is one of 3 developers for which I will buy ANY new game/VN that comes from them, without even having to look at what it’s about. It’s also the only VN developer that I’ve played every single VN to ever come out of, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Not to mention, I’ve enjoyed the crap out of basically every Key VN and they have 2 out of the only 3 10s I’ve ever given on VNDB.
Despite all that though, I voted no. I don’t even have a particular all time favorite that I can think of, but I know I have other VNs that I’ve enjoyed more than any Key VN.
The awkward feeling when your favorite VN is from Key and you’re a minority in a Key fan forum ^^’
Little Busters is my absolutely favorite Visual Novel. I loved every single route and almost every single character. It gave me the most intense feels and it is, to this day, the only work of fiction to actually break through my defence and make me cry. It took up the title of my all-time favorite GAME, swiping the seat that my ex-favorite one had held for 5 years.
It was the 3rd VN I read and it’s still my favorite after completing 21 of them.
Overall, Key VNs hold 4 seats among my top 6 VNs. I value feels more than anything else and that is exactly what Key is so good at. A work of fiction, a non-real thing, eliciting strong emotions from the reader is just that incredible. Admittedly, my #2, Rewrite, didn’t land the spot due to feels but rather thanks to its philosophical and intellectual value which have struck me personally in a different way.
We are pretty much opposite on this. I disliked almost every single route and almost every single character. I only had a significant emotional reaction twice, one at the end of Rin2 (frustration) and one during that one bit in Refrain. Nowhere near being one of my top games, and it was like… the 60th or 70th VN I read I think.
“Feels” are what draw me to favorite something the most, but Litbus, and most of Key’s works, don’t have enough. It’s what Key are known for most, and yet none of the VNs post-Clannad have really affected me. Something simple like Crisis Core blows Litbus out of the park for me.
Yes. Little Busters is my all time favorite visual novel.
I did like Umineko a lot and would consider it to be my second favorite visual novel, but Little Busters is… well, I fell completely in love with the characters. I think it might be the first time I ever cared so deeply over fictional characters. It might sound dumb, but I just really care about them, ok?
Rereading the common route is always a delight to me. I enjoy immersing myself in the fun antics and reliving the joy all over again. I really enjoy spending time with the Little Busters, especially the childhood friends. I care about the original 5 most of all.
Little Busters earned a special place in my heart, so, yes, it’s my all time favorite.
My favorite visual novel is created by Key because planetarian is pretty based. That said, if I ever get around to finishing MLA and it lives up to the hype surrounding it, planetarian may be unseated.
Although I haven’t read terribly many visual novels so my pool to choose from is pretty limited.
I’m really, really fond of Rewrite. I thought it was just a ton of fun and I enjoyed most of the characters quite a bit. Despite its flaws in terms of an overall story, it was a total blast. Even if I think I enjoyed it more than planetarian overall, planetarian is still my favorite if that makes any sense. It just flowed better and made great use of its time. Plus it’s a great game for speedrunning.
I’m not really going to touch on Little Busters. My thoughts mirror those of @Takafumi in his post above.
And I’ve read a small handful of other stuff but, uh, those are the important things I think.
You can actually finish that thing!? What have I been doing all these months??
Ahaha… ha… ha… seriously? Someone agrees with me? Someone actually really AGREES WITH ME?? YES! WOOOH! I DID IT MOM!! YEAAAAAAH!
As much as I LOVE Rewrite, I still voted no.
My #1 is/will probably forever be Fortissimo//EXS: Akkord nächsten Phase (including the original AND Kadenz fermata // Akkord Fortissimo [which I still have to get my hands on] )
I can’t really describe how and describing it might be a bit difficult for me since they’re so different.
I don’t really know, may be because it makes you start to like the main characters just to kill them off later in the story, in a way worse than Key novels. Sure, Key gets pretty dark from time to time too, but…eh, it’s just a different kind of dark.
I also think the character mix is balanced perfectly, and they even work without certain characters, while Key novels basically concentrate on harmonizing the group.
It’s just generally very different from most Key novels, I think in the end it just comes down to personal preference.
I don’t know anything about the visual novel you’re talking about, but you might want to spoiler tag some of that. Namely the 4th paragraph.
well thats an unusual opinion. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone putting a Fortissimo game in their top slot. I personally didn’t think they looked too interesting, but I might have to try them out now.
I haven’t read much but yeah- Little Busters!
No, Umineko is my favorite.
I haven’t read much VNs. Outside Key, I only know of Utawarerumono, Nocturnal Illusion (very old) and Three Maids Story (Not really a VN per se, but more of a maid training simulator with H)
Still, It could be hard to top Little Busters!
Also, production values aside, I still root for AIR ;v;
Definitely yes, Rewrite is just a masterpiece for me and I love every single thing in it.
I havent read that much VNs but compared to those I have read so far.
Rewrite made a place in my heart and filled it with something other VNs couldnt manage to.
Interesting to see the amount of love for Umineko for the members on here. I wonder if there’s something similar in the appeal~
Anyway, my personal favorite is not from Key, but it is very key-like. It is Symphonic Rain and I love it to bits~ Might be biased because it’s part music game or because it is one of Ritsuko Okazaki’s final works, but I will (for now) always consider it my favorite. I think one reason why I love it so much is despite it having fantastical elements, the characters are so real. What I mean to say is that they have both positive and negative character traits (like selfishness and hatred). Key characters, while having negative traits, are also very innocent about it.
“But Pepe, why isn’t your favorite VN a Key VN?” Well the answer to that is the same as my answer to why I can’t choose in the Favorite Key Series topic. Simply because I don’t have a favorite Key VN. It’s just so hard to choose especially between Clannad, Little Busters and Rewrite. They all rank really highly, believe me, just that none of them stand out too strongly for me.
Despite that, I see Key as consistently good, and I will enjoy pretty much any of their stories 
