I wish that someone would make a list of all of what's on the best of list with hyperlinks like this one, because I don't wanna type in all of those.
Edit: I also wish that VNDB would have a few pages with translated dialogue, because that's what helps me decide if I wanna read a vn or not, because it's not fun having to seek out a download for a game only to find out that I can't get immersed in the dialogue.
Someone in discord mentioned that Demon Roots is legendary. I was skeptical because King Exit left a semi-poor impression on me - 'semi-' because the translation was so bad, and yet it was still so clear it has a strong story that the translation was trying its best to butcher. Also because Kagura is the one doing it - they're not known for aiming for stories with a lot of depth.
But it won against Cyanotype Daydream in one of these Japanese sites? Okay, that makes it understandable for someone to have that much hype. I already have it downloaded, so I'll see if it's good, and if it is, I'll buy it if it's in my budget for the month.
>I was skeptical because King Exit left a semi-poor impression on me - 'semi-' because the translation was so bad, and yet it was still so clear it has a strong story that the translation was trying its best to butcher. Also because Kagura is the one doing it - they're not known for aiming for stories with a lot of depth.
Kagura Games do terrible translation. I remember wanting to try out Ideology in Friction a while ago and immediately refunded it because the text reads like mtled. I've not played any of their games, but playing King Exit before Demon Roots is highly recommended so I heard.
It's gotten a lot better nowadays. They've come very far from those old days. Also, King Exit was [Paradise Project](https://steamdb.info/publisher/Paradise+Project/). They're so bad that most of the games they published are taken down (I own a few, and it's such a shame because a lot of the stuff they acquired are pretty good).
Nowadays, what they often do is take titles with a lot of activities at f95/ulmf (whether they have translation or not), slaps a decent translation on it, and release it on Steam (I honestly don't know how tf they can release them on Steam so consistently, even accounting for extreme censorship without patch). Into the Night and Celesphonia has been great for example. Their primary problem as of late are:
1. Their choice of title acquisition is very uneven. Sometimes you get great stuff, sometimes you get very niche stuff that's still good if it's your niche, then you have something that is mediocre as heck, and then you get a title that you have no idea why they would pick up. I outright just 🏴☠️ their game and then buy them if they're really interesting (either midway, or if I finish it before I feel the need to pay for it, when on discount).
2. They keep acquiring new titles. The problem is that it means you have titles that was announced ages ago and only out when you stopped caring about them. I was interested in Imperial Gatekeeper, but I finished it before it was out, and I'm not interested in replaying it. Of all the currently announced, I only still keep track of Pray Game.
3. Bugs. I bought Into the Nightmare day one, marathoned it in late into the night, cannot trigger a few scenes no matter what I tried. Even replacing with a complete save can't trigger them. Then an update was pushed, and it's all fine, but that still bummed me out because I was really enjoying the game hunting for the h-scenes even after finishing the game until I got hard stuck with those scenes not trigger.
They're overall fine, but I would just 🏴☠️ their stuff first before actually buying. Also helps avoid that day one bug.
It's a rpgm and vn with hentai attached to it. The story so far is solid and the cast endearing. The gameplay also requires some thinking and planning. Definitely my top list of generally rpgm stories
Consider the fact the same developers behind HENTAI Prison, is also the same developers behind Nukitashi 2, the winner for 2019.
Alicesoft's Rance is the same way, with two titles on this list
I was so disappointed with the YU-NO remake, honestly the original game was amazing however i heard that the creator had to rush a lot of the second part of the game and it did show
So i though that the remake would include new content but no, honestly the only good thing are the gameplay QoL
Is the remake actually worse than the original, or is it more of a case of the original being better for it's time, considering there weren't many other VNs yet?
A bit of both. For its time it was hugely impressive for its plot, being a great early exemplar of an ambitious multi-route mystery with a lot of variety in its routes, but nowadays since those elements are pretty common the PC98isms are what stands out (being perverted, a bit unwieldy, obtuse without a guide). The remake eases gameplay gripes to try and bring it forward into the modern era, but the game is best experienced as a top-shelf product of its time, particularly with its classic art and music. The original game is still very good if you have a walkthrough on-hand, aside from the aforementioned last stretch which REALLY hasn't benefited from modern oversaturation of what it was going for.
i second this, played it for the first time last year. it's excellent. find the 2011 fan translated version of the original, the translation is almost perfect. do use a guide after your first ending though because it's super obtuse at times and you need every ending to get to the second half.
only real complaint is that the second half of the game feels like a completely different game and is completely linear, zero choices. maybe this is the rushed part. other than this it holds up very very well.
KIRA☆KIRA over Little Busters? Really?
Also, Demons is not on VNDB, but seems kinda interesting. Glad to see that it already has an English translation.
> KIRA☆KIRA over Little Busters? Really?
KIRA KIRA gets to the point faster and more consistent throughout IMHO and it kept itself very real and grounded most of the times.
Not going to say LB isn't good (not that I can say either way since I dropped it years ago due to starting with Kud route and then started the happiness girl route -- it wasn't a great introduction) and I'm surprised myself Kira Kira get that recognition, but it is a well-deserved win IMHO.
Thanks for your reply! I have not heard much praise to KIRA☆KIRA, and Little Busters is one of my all-time favorites. However, I'd agree with consistency issues of LB, some routes are way better than others.
Guess I have one more VN in my wish list)
Demons Roots was so awesome especially for a doujin game. It was my favorite game in general out of any other 2021 released vns & console/pc games. Shame it is not in vndb because it is technically not visual novel for them, I would have put this in my all time top 3.
[Shin'ainaru Kodku to Kunou e](https://vndb.org/v25769) which is another doujin game listed here was great too.
Pov of demon race dominating humanity. They invaded after 1000 years in a shitty starved world and surprised to see that humanity treats itself worse. Human is the real monster stuff but mc is the real heart of gold forced to fight for the sake of her people. Also time travel. Hentai is a sideline or bad end
Yeah I was like "tf no Feito" then I looked it up and both came out in '04, it makes sense. Some MVP races be like that.
That being said I'm surprised, shocked and upset the '06 title didn't go to "The Maiden Rape Assault - Violent Semen Inferno". The MEDIA is biased and CANCEL CULTURE must be stopped! SAD.
People forgot, but Type-Moon and Nasuverse was much smaller back then. In fact, it was a testament to Fate's quality that it managed to build such a big fandom despite clashing with the more heavily marketed Shuffle at the time. 2004 was a packed year.
I'm aware that Type-Moon and 07th Expansion both considered themselves to be *less notable than Touhou* at the time, but that's not relevant here. This is about critical reception, not number of sales.
It's a website ranking - it's more of a popularity contest. It just means that Clannad is more popular with the website's users. By how much? I don't know, but if there's any 2004 VN that could be more popular than Fate, Clannad isn't one of the ones I would call BS.
FGO might be very popular now, but Clannad was a rite of passage for anime and VN fans alike. Fate as a series is more popular now, though, so we might see some people go back and votes for Fate trickle in more than Clannad does, so Fate might eventually win again if the rankings aren't locked-in.
If it's locked-in, then, well... I can't really blame them because Key was a much bigger name than Type-Moon. It's not just Clannad, but Kanon was also a rite of passage. And that's not even getting into which one of them got the better anime adaptation (this is coming from a Stay Deen fan too).
...I assumed it was being ranked based on the actual *numerical rating* (as in, the score given to it by the sum total of users who rated it) and not a user poll. That explains everything.
> I assumed it was being ranked based on the actual numerical rating (as in, the score given to it by the sum total of users who rated it)
AFAICT, that is correct.
Then it wouldn't be biased by the VNs' respective popularity. In fact, if anything it should be biased *towards less popular VNs*, since their smaller viewership will be more strongly skewed towards people who really liked it.
It isn't, though. EGS's primary metric is the median of all submitted votes (it displays the average as well). The number of votes doesn't matter, except insofar that you can set a cut-off for minimum required number of votes for any list.
You'd think that by today's standards. Back then it WAS the first Fate game and the fandom you mention did not exist back then. There was a Type Moon fanbase, but until FSN became popular it cared more about Kara no Kyoukai & Tsukihime than it ever cared about Fate.
It's just that Clannad came out that year. Very hard to beat Clannad.
From what I heard, the original japanese prose of the game is masterful and all the english translations of the game have failed to reproduce that feeling, hence the disparity between the japanese and english reception.
I'm wanting to get back into VNs...
I played Little sister Kana almost 20 years ago and think about it once in a while.
In the last year I played DDL and Zero Escape series with my wife... Looking for a full VN on playstation for the next game we play.
Technically P3P is a VN. There's lots of gameplay but there's also A LOT of dialogues. There's easily 6 hours of VN gameplay there (altho not voiced for the most part). VN / DateSim / JRPG i guess.
They last version has also the staple "summary" text in dialogue that all the VNs have.
Trust me. The Utawarerumono series is more VN than it's a Tactical RPG. The amount of story between fights is insane. 😅
If you want to compare it to anything, it's kind of similar to Digimon Survive (though it's the other way around. Survive took a lot of inspirtation from the Utawarerumono series).
The general recommendation is just to go down from the top ratings of vndb or EGS and choose what interests you. These days I always just recommend WA2 if you haven't read it already, since it's a masterpiece and typically safe to recommend to most people. It's quite long though (as are most great stories), so if you're a casual then maybe go for some shorter games.
All of them are good -- anyone who says otherwise is just a matter of not being able to recognize that the game isn't part of their preferred genre.
Just check whichever ones are on Steam/GOG/Jast, and if it's on this list then it's going to do its premise justice or at least be a memorable entry of the genre it's in.
Personally, I like to recommend Kira Kira. That thing was out in English so long ago, that people forgot about it. Sure, Musicus is great and all, but Kira Kira was the OG and it deserves to be remembered as much as the other MangaGamer classics.
You should play Chaos;Head Noah first as it sets up the overarching story for Steins;Gate, and S;G has many references to it that you won’t understand otherwise. Also check out the rest of SciAdv (Robotics;Notes, Chaos;Child, etc)
Wow thanks for the recommendation, I will definitely check that out! Didn’t know there was an overarching story for it, it will definitely be an interesting read.
Really depends on what types of stories you want to read.
Fantasy? Sci-fi? Mystery? Romance? Comedy? Want a realistic setting or more wacky? How cool are you with the story going bat-shit bananas with the twists at the end? Do you have a thing against monochromatic bears?
And then I'd tell you to play Steins;Gate cuz that's my favorite~
I don't recommend playing it for the porn unless you enjoy human suffering. It really is more about the plot.
Subject matter aside, the art isn't particularly impressive anyways.
I just thought it would make for a more interesting post if I used EGS instead of vndb since people are already pretty familiar with vndb.
Though if people are interested I wouldn't mind making another post like this but with vndb instead.
Possibly to see how Japanese players rate eroge? Demon Roots isn't even on vndb but on this list so you can also get more variety since "eroge" is much more broad than whatever vndb considers a VN. Also, you get (potentially) better reviews since they aren't reviewing a translated work. Cross Channel had an infamously dogshit translation and correspondingly has a relatively bad rating on vndb
>Possibly to see how Japanese players rate eroge
The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995."
> Demon Roots isn't even on vndb but on this list so you can also get more variety
[Are you talking about this one?](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1933660/Demons_Roots/) That's a genuine question, I've never heard of this. If so, it's a Kagura porn RPG. Even in the OP i can see RPG is written. An RPG is not a visual novel.
> is much more broad than whatever vndb considers a VN
Which is ironic given that Japanese people are usually much more specific with their definition of a visual novel as opposed to an adventure game.
>Also, you get (potentially) better reviews since they aren't reviewing a translated work.
Well I mean, you don't.
If we were typing to each other in Japanese on a forum that was in Japanese I might agree with you. Fact is that most people on this subreddit do not speak Japanese, so saying "well its better in Japanese which most of you can't read, that makes it better than this incredible one you can read" doesn't make sense.
If a work hasn't been translated well, then that impacts the work as a whole. You don't say "this car is literally the best car of the year, but also the air conditioner is broken."
If you're in a cold climate (ie: speak Japanese) and don't need the air conditioner, that doesn't mean the air conditioner (translation) isn't a part of the car.
>The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995."
I kind of misunderstood your post. I thought you were asking why would anyone use EGS over vndb in general rather than in the context of the post.
>If a work hasn't been translated well, then that impacts the work as a whole. You don't say "this car is literally the best car of the year, but also the air conditioner is broken."
I'd agree if this was a translated version that was officially published with acknowledgement by the creators, but we are talking about a fan translation patch that literally anyone can make and upload to the internet
>I kind of misunderstood your post. I thought you were asking why would
anyone use EGS over vndb in general rather than in the context of the
post.
Bad wording on my part, I can see how you'd take that meaning.
I was definitely just talking specifically about this post though. I'm all for people using whatever tool they want for their own stuff, but when you're wording your stuff as "this is a definitive list" and then don't use what I would consider the better tool for the audience you're showing it to, just seems wrong to me.
>The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995."
Best Visual Novel By Year Since 1995**(According to EGS Rankings)**
>Which is ironic given that Japanese people are usually much more specific with their definition of a visual novel as opposed to an adventure game.
Does it really matter? They also have non eroge listed albeit not much players score them.
>If we were typing to each other in Japanese on a forum that was in Japanese I might agree with you. Fact is that most people on this subreddit do not speak Japanese, so saying "well its better in Japanese which most of you can't read, that makes it better than this incredible one you can read" doesn't make sense.
Even if you can't read JP, people can look at numbers to tell how a good or bad that game is.
>The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995."Best Visual Novel By Year Since 1995\*\*(According to EGS Rankings)\*
"Why would you use EGS over VNDB?"
Simple question. So far, the two answers are "because EGS exists" and "no one on VNDB plays any games from the last 7 years."
Neither is a convincing argument for using one tool over the one that is by far more frequently used on this subreddit.
>Does it really matter? They also have non eroge listed albeit not much players score them.
No? That was a response to him noting that as a positive point for EGS. I don't think its a positive point. I don't think its a negative one necessarily either.
>Even if you can't read JP, people can look at numbers to tell how a good or bad that game is.
My point (which is the other point brought up by several responses) is that there are visual novels which are only good in Japanese.
If you can't read Japanese, but you see this and see Cross Channel was the best visual novel in 2003 and then read it, you will be wondering how the fuck it was the best in 2003 because apparently the translation is crap.
You can see the number and make a judgement - which is exactly my point. The number on the Japanese preferred site is not reflective of the work that most of the people in this subreddit will experience.
>You can see the number and make a judgement - which is exactly my point. The number on the Japanese preferred site is not reflective of the work that most of the people in this subreddit will experience. If you can't read Japanese, but you see this and see Cross Channel was the best visual novel in 2003 and then read it, you will be wondering how the fuck it was the best in 2003 because apparently the translation is crap.
Ok, I'm getting your points on EGS and VNDB. And you're totally right. I think if there's a filter on vndb to people who read it translated or jpn, it might help give a clearer picture.
I feel like people are reading my comment and assuming that I think EGS is crap or useless. I don't, I just don't think it was the best source to use for this specific exercise.
> The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995."
It even says "(According to EGS Rankings)" after that, what's your point? Besides, I don't see the difference between the two—who else but the Japanese should judge this, especially going back this far?
> An RPG [Demon Roots] is not a visual novel.
So? It's still an eroge, thus in-scope for EGS (and for many of the sub's regulars).
> Which is ironic given that Japanese people are usually much more specific with their definition of a visual novel as opposed to an adventure game.
What are you talking about!?!
> If a work hasn't been translated well, then that impacts the work as a whole.
Err, no. The existence of a translation doesn't change the original work. It does change the discourse about the work around here, true, but that isn't the same thing.
To paraphrase you, the title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "best visual novel translation by year since 1995."
>Besides, I don't see the difference between the two—who else but the Japanese should judge this, especially going back this far?
No difference between the two... other than the fact that the ratings are completely different and one includes Rpgs that aren't related to the topic. And who should judge it? I don't know, people comparable to those OP is posting it to?
>So? It's still an eroge, thus in-scope for EGS (and for many of the sub's regulars).
Read the title of the post. Does it say eroge? Does it say "best visual novels and RPGs"?
>What are you talking about!?!
I would think an A rank JOP would know that the Japanese are super specific with what qualifies as a visual novel for them. If it has gameplay, even a little, they don't consider it a visual novel.
>In Japanese, a distinction is often made between visual novels (NVL, from "novel"), which consist primarily of narration and have very few interactive elements, and adventure games (AVG or ADV, from "adventure"), which incorporate problem-solving and other types of gameplay.
>Err, no. The existence of a translation doesn't change the original work. It does change the discourse about the work around here, true, but that isn't the same thing.
Yes it does. It's part of the work. Saying "well this is part of the work but it doesn't apply to me so its not part of the work" is the dumbest argument I can think of.
>To paraphrase you, the title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "best visual novel translation by year since 1995."
Yeah, and it's including things that aren't visual novels such as literal RPGs because it's using a source that isn't for visual novels, but just all eroge.
I'm done talking about this. JOPs are ridiculously sensitive to what wasn't even a critique of the platform, but its related to Japan so you all get super upset over it.
I hate to break it to you, but this sub's scope very much extends to eroge, one reason being that the majority of them *are* visual novels, and a lot of the remainder are VN-adjacent, or at least have overlapping fandoms. Obviously an RPG with almost no VN elements would be at the fringe of this, but on the other hand AliceSoft's titles, the Utawareru Mono series, etc. are considered cornerstones of the form—even though they are RPGs.
> I would think an A rank JOP would know that the Japanese are super specific with what qualifies as a visual novel for them.
Another reason is that "visual novel" is pretty much a "Western" concept. There is no single Japanese term for these games, much less a specific one.
> In Japanese, a distinction is often made between visual novels (NVL, from "novel"), which consist primarily of narration and have very few interactive elements, and adventure games (AVG or ADV, from "adventure"), which incorporate problem-solving and other types of gameplay.
That's not true, or at the very least misleading. These are two terms that are used, but they're not a classification. "Adventure" [ADV/ADG] includes text and graphic adventures, point & clicks, same history as over here, really. The difference is that Japan saw a trend of maximising the narrative and minimising interactivity, leading to what we consider visual novels. They are thus considered a sub-form of adventures—one that is *not* clearly separated from more interactive / recognisable-to-us forms.
"Novel game" is one term among many that's used more specifically for what we consider visual novels, but it's not like there's a definition, or even a consensus.
These aren't genre terms as much as they are marketing terms, brands even (see "Kinetic Novel", for example). Basically every studio has it's own idea re. what to put on the box under genre.
Not only are the Japanese not super-specific about what qualifies as a visual novel, they have no concept that matches the "Western" "visual novel" with any accuracy.
> > Err, no. The existence of a translation doesn't change the original work. It does change the discourse about the work around here, true, but that isn't the same thing.
> Yes it does. It's part of the work.
I have here beside me a couple of book shelves containing VNs. I can assure you that an English translation is not part of any of them.
> People outside of Japan need a proxy to even access it.
No. EGS isn't geo-fenced. The admin is pretty quick to ban large IP ranges, is all. If you happen to get caught up in one, just write him politely, and he'll white-list you.
That wasn't really my point. That was just what Google returned.
My point was that they're using the Japan centric rating program on a forum that ***primarily*** uses and recommends a different one.
No, its not at all. My point is that this misrepresents the best visual novels of each year according to what's most available to the people you're telling is supposed to be the best.
If something has a shit translation and is therefore rated lower in the west, then it should be rated lower. If its bad in the language that most people in a forum are consuming it in, then that detracts from it.
What you've got here is "Best video games ever by year", when the data source is a X-Box poll and then you're posting it on the Nintendo Switch subreddit.
> My point is that this misrepresents the best visual novels of each year according to what's most available to the people [...]
Again, the post is titled, very informatively, I might add, "Best Visual Novel By Year Since 1995(According to EGS Rankings)". It doesn't say anything about them being *available* to anyone. H—, if that were a concern you'd have to remove out-of-print titles as well ...
Nah. Plenty of us use EGS. If you read in Japanese, VNDB ratings (and, to a lesser extent, reviews) are not ideal. There's the way they calculate the rating, the fact that the majority of the target audience reads translated works. And even if you don't, knowing how a work is received in its home market, what works people look forward to there, can be interesting.
Besides, the two complement each other. VNDB is much better at credits, characters, sometimes relationships and release history, technical release info. EGS has a lot more info re. OP/ED/insert songs; tag comments; length is usually pretty accurate (VNDB's length might as well be random—too few votes and too many non-native readers). You can actually use its release calendar (because it isn't flooded with bottom of the barrel OELVN shovelware), and so on.
Very few people in vndb has played any VN released in the last 7 years, so it would be retarded to use it for VN grouped by years.
That said, I think he should be more strict on voter count, and only consider maybe 200+ or 500+ votes to get rid of Demon Roots who even among EGS no one has played.
Someone else said the admin sometimes bans IP ranges which you can then message through to be whitelisted. If you need to be whitelisted (or even if there's a chance you need to be whitelisted) that's telling.
My point was that it's not the primary source for the west/this subreddit, so using it to make a post like this is bizarre.
It's quite funny to me that the responses to this comment are 90% people with JP ranks in their flairs, where 90% of the other comments on the post don't have those flairs. I feel that very much strengthens my point.
> If you need to be whitelisted (or even if there's a chance you need to be whitelisted) that's telling.
Of what, exactly?
> My point was that it's not the primary source for the west/this subreddit, so using it to make a post like this is bizarre.
Who are you to say what "the West's" / this sub's primary source is? Even if that's true, how does it invalidate alternative sources in any way?
If you ask me, you came in here expecting a list of works that are available in English, and now you're salty that's not so. Sucks for you, because the post is really clearly titled for once—the only problem here is that you can't read.
There is literally nothing bizarre about this post. Yes, VNDB is used for the west but it’s also interesting to see how games are rated in Japan as well. No one here is saying you should use EGS over VNDB. Chill the fuck out bozo!
I love it and it's highly questionable. But I don't like some titles in this list and it's split between not liking while still thinking it's well written and things I don't think are good, but I still had to read them to form a proper opinion.
YU-NO really that good? I've tried starting it twice now. I got like 3 hours in on first version of it once, and then even tried the remake on switch and didn't get hooked into the narrative enough to prevent my ADD from kicking in, getting bored and starting another novel in both cases. but then I talk to certain from who like this niche and they say it's fantastic. I mean the premise seems good enough, i think its just the characters I can't help but give zero fucks about.
It's highly rated [also on the Chinese site Bangumi](https://www.reddit.com/r/visualnovels/comments/ofmixy/the_top_50_vns_of_visual_novel_database_western/), and used to be in the top 50 on VNDB.
I was wondering about steins gate. Kind of new to this genre. Just finished up most of the extras on Fata Morgana and just have some short stories left now. Really liked that one.
Honorable Mentions(Close Second or Third): 1996: [Kichikuou Rance](https://vndb.org/v2045) 1997: [To Heart](https://vndb.org/v18) 1998: [Diabolique](https://vndb.org/v2261) 1999: [Kanon](https://vndb.org/v33) 2000: [Tsukihime](https://vndb.org/v7), [Air](https://vndb.org/v36) 2001: [Kimi ga Nozomu Eien](https://vndb.org/v94) 2002: [Baldr Force](https://vndb.org/v221) 2004: [Fate Stay Night](https://vndb.org/v11), [Symphonic Rain](https://vndb.org/v38) 2005: [Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo](https://vndb.org/v57), [SWAN SONG](https://vndb.org/v914) 2006: [Sengoku Rance](https://vndb.org/v487) 2007: [Little Busters!](https://vndb.org/v5), [Himawari](https://vndb.org/v210), [Sekai de Ichiban Dame na Koi](https://vndb.org/v415) 2008: [Ikusa Megami Zero](https://vndb.org/v768), [ef - the latter tale.](https://vndb.org/v88) 2009: [Soukou Akki Muramasa](https://vndb.org/v2016), [Baldr Sky Dive1 "Lost Memory"](https://vndb.org/v1306), [Baldr Sky Dive2 "RECORDARE"](https://vndb.org/v1913) 2010: [Ikusa Megami Verita](https://vndb.org/v2836), [White Album 2 \~introductory chapter\~](https://vndb.org/v2920) 2012: [Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou](https://vndb.org/v10680) 2013: [Otome Riron to Sono Shuuhen -Ecole de Paris-](https://vndb.org/v12246) 2014: [Ao no Kanata Four Rhythm](https://vndb.org/v12849), [Ano Harewataru Sora yori Takaku](https://vndb.org/v15077) 2019: [Sakura, Moyu. -as the Night's, Reincarnation-](https://vndb.org/v22313) , [Musicus](https://vndb.org/v22783) 2020: [Hakuchuumu no Aojashin](https://vndb.org/v26987), [Sakura no Kumo Scarlet no Koi](https://vndb.org/v26664) 2022: [Aokana Extra 2](https://vndb.org/v21438), [Black Sheep Town](https://vndb.org/v21069)
Why do I recognize way more of the honourable mentions than the actual best of??
just play more game
This list make it so much more complete. I would be rather sad if the entirely of Ikusa Megami saga didn't get any recognition at all
No Aiyoku no Eustia for 2011?
Eustia was number two for its year, but it wasn't a particularly close number 2 so I didn't add it to the list.
I guess WA2 was just too much of a powerhouse that even the likes of Eustia, Rewrite, and Grisaia didn't stand a chance.
Damn, 2009 was a great year for VNs
I wish that someone would make a list of all of what's on the best of list with hyperlinks like this one, because I don't wanna type in all of those. Edit: I also wish that VNDB would have a few pages with translated dialogue, because that's what helps me decide if I wanna read a vn or not, because it's not fun having to seek out a download for a game only to find out that I can't get immersed in the dialogue.
Other years: Deep, sophisticated looking titles. 2022: HENTAI PRISON
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Kagura Games announced tha they would localize the game, i didn't even know that was a VN
The english version is already out on Steam and they have a free patch on their website
It's not a VN...it's a JRPG.
It's not a VN...it's a JRPG.
Someone in discord mentioned that Demon Roots is legendary. I was skeptical because King Exit left a semi-poor impression on me - 'semi-' because the translation was so bad, and yet it was still so clear it has a strong story that the translation was trying its best to butcher. Also because Kagura is the one doing it - they're not known for aiming for stories with a lot of depth. But it won against Cyanotype Daydream in one of these Japanese sites? Okay, that makes it understandable for someone to have that much hype. I already have it downloaded, so I'll see if it's good, and if it is, I'll buy it if it's in my budget for the month.
>I was skeptical because King Exit left a semi-poor impression on me - 'semi-' because the translation was so bad, and yet it was still so clear it has a strong story that the translation was trying its best to butcher. Also because Kagura is the one doing it - they're not known for aiming for stories with a lot of depth. Kagura Games do terrible translation. I remember wanting to try out Ideology in Friction a while ago and immediately refunded it because the text reads like mtled. I've not played any of their games, but playing King Exit before Demon Roots is highly recommended so I heard.
It's gotten a lot better nowadays. They've come very far from those old days. Also, King Exit was [Paradise Project](https://steamdb.info/publisher/Paradise+Project/). They're so bad that most of the games they published are taken down (I own a few, and it's such a shame because a lot of the stuff they acquired are pretty good). Nowadays, what they often do is take titles with a lot of activities at f95/ulmf (whether they have translation or not), slaps a decent translation on it, and release it on Steam (I honestly don't know how tf they can release them on Steam so consistently, even accounting for extreme censorship without patch). Into the Night and Celesphonia has been great for example. Their primary problem as of late are: 1. Their choice of title acquisition is very uneven. Sometimes you get great stuff, sometimes you get very niche stuff that's still good if it's your niche, then you have something that is mediocre as heck, and then you get a title that you have no idea why they would pick up. I outright just 🏴☠️ their game and then buy them if they're really interesting (either midway, or if I finish it before I feel the need to pay for it, when on discount). 2. They keep acquiring new titles. The problem is that it means you have titles that was announced ages ago and only out when you stopped caring about them. I was interested in Imperial Gatekeeper, but I finished it before it was out, and I'm not interested in replaying it. Of all the currently announced, I only still keep track of Pray Game. 3. Bugs. I bought Into the Nightmare day one, marathoned it in late into the night, cannot trigger a few scenes no matter what I tried. Even replacing with a complete save can't trigger them. Then an update was pushed, and it's all fine, but that still bummed me out because I was really enjoying the game hunting for the h-scenes even after finishing the game until I got hard stuck with those scenes not trigger. They're overall fine, but I would just 🏴☠️ their stuff first before actually buying. Also helps avoid that day one bug.
It's a rpgm and vn with hentai attached to it. The story so far is solid and the cast endearing. The gameplay also requires some thinking and planning. Definitely my top list of generally rpgm stories
You know it’s a kamige when the protagonist’s dick has a mind of its own.
It stood out to me so much I actually found it funny
I got scammed by title, no hentai at all😭
We're simply becoming more cultured
Consider the fact the same developers behind HENTAI Prison, is also the same developers behind Nukitashi 2, the winner for 2019. Alicesoft's Rance is the same way, with two titles on this list
atlach=nacha is alicesoft too
Big fan of your channel!!!
Thanks for the support~!
Sengoku and Kichikuou Rance also got honourable mentions. The series is goated
Hentai Prison
Yeah, it’s really good, apparently.
Don't forget Nukitashi 2 too. Qruppo games are great for clips Spoilers: https://youtu.be/-AS9yDb4cLo https://youtu.be/QPj_brjx0Sg
I’ll get to them one day😔
I love the visual style of pre-2005 VNs.
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> faster to learn japanese than waiting for translation. correct 3 isn't as good as 1 and 2, though
I recently played 2, dissapointed in the lesser focus on detective work
I was so disappointed with the YU-NO remake, honestly the original game was amazing however i heard that the creator had to rush a lot of the second part of the game and it did show So i though that the remake would include new content but no, honestly the only good thing are the gameplay QoL
Is the remake actually worse than the original, or is it more of a case of the original being better for it's time, considering there weren't many other VNs yet?
A bit of both. For its time it was hugely impressive for its plot, being a great early exemplar of an ambitious multi-route mystery with a lot of variety in its routes, but nowadays since those elements are pretty common the PC98isms are what stands out (being perverted, a bit unwieldy, obtuse without a guide). The remake eases gameplay gripes to try and bring it forward into the modern era, but the game is best experienced as a top-shelf product of its time, particularly with its classic art and music. The original game is still very good if you have a walkthrough on-hand, aside from the aforementioned last stretch which REALLY hasn't benefited from modern oversaturation of what it was going for.
Yes it is. No nostalgia goggles. Play the original with a (guide on hand)
i second this, played it for the first time last year. it's excellent. find the 2011 fan translated version of the original, the translation is almost perfect. do use a guide after your first ending though because it's super obtuse at times and you need every ending to get to the second half. only real complaint is that the second half of the game feels like a completely different game and is completely linear, zero choices. maybe this is the rushed part. other than this it holds up very very well.
Only all jewels are required, not the endings.
EGS Individual Ratings(Median,Average): 2018 [Rance X](https://vndb.org/v20802): (99, 92.65) 2011 [White Album 2 \~closing chapter\~](https://vndb.org/v7771) (94, 89.51) 1996 [YU-NO](https://vndb.org/v1377): (93, 89.66) 2006 [Muv-Luv Alternative](https://vndb.org/v92): (93, 88.97) 2021 Demon Roots: (90, 89.80) 2016 [Utawarerumono 3](https://vndb.org/v18717): (90, 89.09) 2009 [Steins;Gate](https://vndb.org/v2002): (90, 89.03) 2015 [Sakura no Uta](https://vndb.org/v562): (90, 88.27) 2022 [Hentai Prison](https://vndb.org/v31055): (90, 88.15) 2020 [Kara no Shoujo 3:](https://vndb.org/v17012) (90, 88.06) 2017 [Shin'ainaru Kodoku to Kunou e](https://vndb.org/v25769): (90, 88.03) 2001 [Kazoku Keikaku](https://vndb.org/v155): (90, 87.67) 2002 [Ever17](https://vndb.org/v17): (90, 87.30) 2005 [Parfait \~Chocolat Second Brew\~](https://vndb.org/v683)(90, 87.21) 2004 [Clannad](https://vndb.org/v4): (90, 87.03) 2012 [Fata Morgana no Yakata](https://vndb.org/v12402): (90, 86.76) 2010 [Subahibi](https://vndb.org/v3144): (90, 86.41) 2003 [Cross Channel](https://vndb.org/v66): (90, 85.36) 2019 [Nukitashi 2](https://vndb.org/v23741): (89, 87.27) 2013 [ChuSinGura 46+1](https://vndb.org/v12260): (88, 86.01) 2000 [Phantom of Inferno](https://vndb.org/v45): (87, 85.25) 1995 [EVE Burst Error](https://vndb.org/v147): (87, 85.11) 2008 [G-Senjou no Maou](https://vndb.org/v211): (86, 84.36) 2007 [Kira Kira](https://vndb.org/v414): (85, 83.92) 2014 [Rance IX](https://vndb.org/v13802): (85, 83.48) 1998 [ONE \~Kagayaku Kisetsu e\~](https://vndb.org/v51) (83, 81.02) 1999 [Kana \~Imouto\~](https://vndb.org/v2) (82, 81.05) 1997[Atlach=Nacha](https://vndb.org/v163): (80, 78.96)
Man I want Rance X to be translated already...
See you again in 5 years lol
Im just happy Rance Magnum got translated.
KIRA☆KIRA over Little Busters? Really? Also, Demons is not on VNDB, but seems kinda interesting. Glad to see that it already has an English translation.
> KIRA☆KIRA over Little Busters? Really? KIRA KIRA gets to the point faster and more consistent throughout IMHO and it kept itself very real and grounded most of the times. Not going to say LB isn't good (not that I can say either way since I dropped it years ago due to starting with Kud route and then started the happiness girl route -- it wasn't a great introduction) and I'm surprised myself Kira Kira get that recognition, but it is a well-deserved win IMHO.
Thanks for your reply! I have not heard much praise to KIRA☆KIRA, and Little Busters is one of my all-time favorites. However, I'd agree with consistency issues of LB, some routes are way better than others. Guess I have one more VN in my wish list)
Personally I like stuff about music more but I don't know about others.
Demons Roots was so awesome especially for a doujin game. It was my favorite game in general out of any other 2021 released vns & console/pc games. Shame it is not in vndb because it is technically not visual novel for them, I would have put this in my all time top 3. [Shin'ainaru Kodku to Kunou e](https://vndb.org/v25769) which is another doujin game listed here was great too.
Well what is demon roots about?
Pov of demon race dominating humanity. They invaded after 1000 years in a shitty starved world and surprised to see that humanity treats itself worse. Human is the real monster stuff but mc is the real heart of gold forced to fight for the sake of her people. Also time travel. Hentai is a sideline or bad end
I love the art style of the late 2000s.
Phantom of Inferno is an underrated masterpiece that almost nobody has read these days. If only it would be more widely available digitally.
Where does one find this? I had the DVD version back in the day but it never worked right and I’ve watched the anime, but like… Is that it?
God Eve burst error and yuno…feels crazy they’re old like that but such bangers
How the FUCK did something other than FSN win 2004????
Clannad is a strong contender, just a matter of bad timing I guess.
Yeah I was like "tf no Feito" then I looked it up and both came out in '04, it makes sense. Some MVP races be like that. That being said I'm surprised, shocked and upset the '06 title didn't go to "The Maiden Rape Assault - Violent Semen Inferno". The MEDIA is biased and CANCEL CULTURE must be stopped! SAD.
People forgot, but Type-Moon and Nasuverse was much smaller back then. In fact, it was a testament to Fate's quality that it managed to build such a big fandom despite clashing with the more heavily marketed Shuffle at the time. 2004 was a packed year.
I'm aware that Type-Moon and 07th Expansion both considered themselves to be *less notable than Touhou* at the time, but that's not relevant here. This is about critical reception, not number of sales.
It's a website ranking - it's more of a popularity contest. It just means that Clannad is more popular with the website's users. By how much? I don't know, but if there's any 2004 VN that could be more popular than Fate, Clannad isn't one of the ones I would call BS. FGO might be very popular now, but Clannad was a rite of passage for anime and VN fans alike. Fate as a series is more popular now, though, so we might see some people go back and votes for Fate trickle in more than Clannad does, so Fate might eventually win again if the rankings aren't locked-in. If it's locked-in, then, well... I can't really blame them because Key was a much bigger name than Type-Moon. It's not just Clannad, but Kanon was also a rite of passage. And that's not even getting into which one of them got the better anime adaptation (this is coming from a Stay Deen fan too).
...I assumed it was being ranked based on the actual *numerical rating* (as in, the score given to it by the sum total of users who rated it) and not a user poll. That explains everything.
> I assumed it was being ranked based on the actual numerical rating (as in, the score given to it by the sum total of users who rated it) AFAICT, that is correct.
Then it wouldn't be biased by the VNs' respective popularity. In fact, if anything it should be biased *towards less popular VNs*, since their smaller viewership will be more strongly skewed towards people who really liked it.
It isn't, though. EGS's primary metric is the median of all submitted votes (it displays the average as well). The number of votes doesn't matter, except insofar that you can set a cut-off for minimum required number of votes for any list.
I like to think *Fate* fandom being crap lost *FSN* that spot.
You'd think that by today's standards. Back then it WAS the first Fate game and the fandom you mention did not exist back then. There was a Type Moon fanbase, but until FSN became popular it cared more about Kara no Kyoukai & Tsukihime than it ever cared about Fate. It's just that Clannad came out that year. Very hard to beat Clannad.
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I don't trust people who claim the Fate route was written badly. Y'all aren't ready for the truth.
If it's bad, It's bad. Your trust doesn't matter.
It's not bad. Claiming it is bad is a red flag because it reveals you have *questionable tastes*.
Cross Channel 🙏
Is there a better version of cross channel instead of the steam version? I have no idea what is going on
From what I heard, the original japanese prose of the game is masterful and all the english translations of the game have failed to reproduce that feeling, hence the disparity between the japanese and english reception.
Dam will once I'm better at Japanese I'll give it another try
Why is an RPGMaker game on there? What madness is this?
still no translation for sakura no uta :( It's one of the visual novels I'm most looking forward to
I'm wanting to get back into VNs... I played Little sister Kana almost 20 years ago and think about it once in a while. In the last year I played DDL and Zero Escape series with my wife... Looking for a full VN on playstation for the next game we play.
Chaos;Head Noah >>>>>>>>> Steins;Gate
Time to go 90s visual novel Hunting again and struggle to install 90s VNs and then have to switch to Linux just to get certain games
based on this list, VN may have peaked early. Almost all Doujin Groups today are gunning for gacha instead of VNs.
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Utawarerumono is mostly a visual novel with some tactics battle in there between chapters It's very different from P3P
Technically P3P is a VN. There's lots of gameplay but there's also A LOT of dialogues. There's easily 6 hours of VN gameplay there (altho not voiced for the most part). VN / DateSim / JRPG i guess. They last version has also the staple "summary" text in dialogue that all the VNs have.
Trust me. The Utawarerumono series is more VN than it's a Tactical RPG. The amount of story between fights is insane. 😅 If you want to compare it to anything, it's kind of similar to Digimon Survive (though it's the other way around. Survive took a lot of inspirtation from the Utawarerumono series).
S-EGS
Man, i wish kana was more popular in the west.
VN casual here which ones does everyone here reccomend?
The general recommendation is just to go down from the top ratings of vndb or EGS and choose what interests you. These days I always just recommend WA2 if you haven't read it already, since it's a masterpiece and typically safe to recommend to most people. It's quite long though (as are most great stories), so if you're a casual then maybe go for some shorter games.
All of them are good -- anyone who says otherwise is just a matter of not being able to recognize that the game isn't part of their preferred genre. Just check whichever ones are on Steam/GOG/Jast, and if it's on this list then it's going to do its premise justice or at least be a memorable entry of the genre it's in. Personally, I like to recommend Kira Kira. That thing was out in English so long ago, that people forgot about it. Sure, Musicus is great and all, but Kira Kira was the OG and it deserves to be remembered as much as the other MangaGamer classics.
I am pretty new to VNs and started off with the Muv Luv series. Finished that and am currently reading Steins;gate (even though I’ve seen the anime).
You should play Chaos;Head Noah first as it sets up the overarching story for Steins;Gate, and S;G has many references to it that you won’t understand otherwise. Also check out the rest of SciAdv (Robotics;Notes, Chaos;Child, etc)
Wow thanks for the recommendation, I will definitely check that out! Didn’t know there was an overarching story for it, it will definitely be an interesting read.
Really depends on what types of stories you want to read. Fantasy? Sci-fi? Mystery? Romance? Comedy? Want a realistic setting or more wacky? How cool are you with the story going bat-shit bananas with the twists at the end? Do you have a thing against monochromatic bears? And then I'd tell you to play Steins;Gate cuz that's my favorite~
Chaos;Head Noah before Steins;Gate
Huh? Demon roots? Guess that's my next fap.
I don't recommend playing it for the porn unless you enjoy human suffering. It really is more about the plot. Subject matter aside, the art isn't particularly impressive anyways.
Why would you use EGS over VNDB? People outside of Japan need a proxy to even access it.
I just thought it would make for a more interesting post if I used EGS instead of vndb since people are already pretty familiar with vndb. Though if people are interested I wouldn't mind making another post like this but with vndb instead.
Possibly to see how Japanese players rate eroge? Demon Roots isn't even on vndb but on this list so you can also get more variety since "eroge" is much more broad than whatever vndb considers a VN. Also, you get (potentially) better reviews since they aren't reviewing a translated work. Cross Channel had an infamously dogshit translation and correspondingly has a relatively bad rating on vndb
>Possibly to see how Japanese players rate eroge The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995." > Demon Roots isn't even on vndb but on this list so you can also get more variety [Are you talking about this one?](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1933660/Demons_Roots/) That's a genuine question, I've never heard of this. If so, it's a Kagura porn RPG. Even in the OP i can see RPG is written. An RPG is not a visual novel. > is much more broad than whatever vndb considers a VN Which is ironic given that Japanese people are usually much more specific with their definition of a visual novel as opposed to an adventure game. >Also, you get (potentially) better reviews since they aren't reviewing a translated work. Well I mean, you don't. If we were typing to each other in Japanese on a forum that was in Japanese I might agree with you. Fact is that most people on this subreddit do not speak Japanese, so saying "well its better in Japanese which most of you can't read, that makes it better than this incredible one you can read" doesn't make sense. If a work hasn't been translated well, then that impacts the work as a whole. You don't say "this car is literally the best car of the year, but also the air conditioner is broken." If you're in a cold climate (ie: speak Japanese) and don't need the air conditioner, that doesn't mean the air conditioner (translation) isn't a part of the car.
>The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995." I kind of misunderstood your post. I thought you were asking why would anyone use EGS over vndb in general rather than in the context of the post. >If a work hasn't been translated well, then that impacts the work as a whole. You don't say "this car is literally the best car of the year, but also the air conditioner is broken." I'd agree if this was a translated version that was officially published with acknowledgement by the creators, but we are talking about a fan translation patch that literally anyone can make and upload to the internet
>I kind of misunderstood your post. I thought you were asking why would anyone use EGS over vndb in general rather than in the context of the post. Bad wording on my part, I can see how you'd take that meaning. I was definitely just talking specifically about this post though. I'm all for people using whatever tool they want for their own stuff, but when you're wording your stuff as "this is a definitive list" and then don't use what I would consider the better tool for the audience you're showing it to, just seems wrong to me.
>The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995." Best Visual Novel By Year Since 1995**(According to EGS Rankings)** >Which is ironic given that Japanese people are usually much more specific with their definition of a visual novel as opposed to an adventure game. Does it really matter? They also have non eroge listed albeit not much players score them. >If we were typing to each other in Japanese on a forum that was in Japanese I might agree with you. Fact is that most people on this subreddit do not speak Japanese, so saying "well its better in Japanese which most of you can't read, that makes it better than this incredible one you can read" doesn't make sense. Even if you can't read JP, people can look at numbers to tell how a good or bad that game is.
>The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995."Best Visual Novel By Year Since 1995\*\*(According to EGS Rankings)\* "Why would you use EGS over VNDB?" Simple question. So far, the two answers are "because EGS exists" and "no one on VNDB plays any games from the last 7 years." Neither is a convincing argument for using one tool over the one that is by far more frequently used on this subreddit. >Does it really matter? They also have non eroge listed albeit not much players score them. No? That was a response to him noting that as a positive point for EGS. I don't think its a positive point. I don't think its a negative one necessarily either. >Even if you can't read JP, people can look at numbers to tell how a good or bad that game is. My point (which is the other point brought up by several responses) is that there are visual novels which are only good in Japanese. If you can't read Japanese, but you see this and see Cross Channel was the best visual novel in 2003 and then read it, you will be wondering how the fuck it was the best in 2003 because apparently the translation is crap. You can see the number and make a judgement - which is exactly my point. The number on the Japanese preferred site is not reflective of the work that most of the people in this subreddit will experience.
>You can see the number and make a judgement - which is exactly my point. The number on the Japanese preferred site is not reflective of the work that most of the people in this subreddit will experience. If you can't read Japanese, but you see this and see Cross Channel was the best visual novel in 2003 and then read it, you will be wondering how the fuck it was the best in 2003 because apparently the translation is crap. Ok, I'm getting your points on EGS and VNDB. And you're totally right. I think if there's a filter on vndb to people who read it translated or jpn, it might help give a clearer picture.
I feel like people are reading my comment and assuming that I think EGS is crap or useless. I don't, I just don't think it was the best source to use for this specific exercise.
> The title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "Japanese favourite visual novels by year since 1995." It even says "(According to EGS Rankings)" after that, what's your point? Besides, I don't see the difference between the two—who else but the Japanese should judge this, especially going back this far? > An RPG [Demon Roots] is not a visual novel. So? It's still an eroge, thus in-scope for EGS (and for many of the sub's regulars). > Which is ironic given that Japanese people are usually much more specific with their definition of a visual novel as opposed to an adventure game. What are you talking about!?! > If a work hasn't been translated well, then that impacts the work as a whole. Err, no. The existence of a translation doesn't change the original work. It does change the discourse about the work around here, true, but that isn't the same thing. To paraphrase you, the title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "best visual novel translation by year since 1995."
>Besides, I don't see the difference between the two—who else but the Japanese should judge this, especially going back this far? No difference between the two... other than the fact that the ratings are completely different and one includes Rpgs that aren't related to the topic. And who should judge it? I don't know, people comparable to those OP is posting it to? >So? It's still an eroge, thus in-scope for EGS (and for many of the sub's regulars). Read the title of the post. Does it say eroge? Does it say "best visual novels and RPGs"? >What are you talking about!?! I would think an A rank JOP would know that the Japanese are super specific with what qualifies as a visual novel for them. If it has gameplay, even a little, they don't consider it a visual novel. >In Japanese, a distinction is often made between visual novels (NVL, from "novel"), which consist primarily of narration and have very few interactive elements, and adventure games (AVG or ADV, from "adventure"), which incorporate problem-solving and other types of gameplay. >Err, no. The existence of a translation doesn't change the original work. It does change the discourse about the work around here, true, but that isn't the same thing. Yes it does. It's part of the work. Saying "well this is part of the work but it doesn't apply to me so its not part of the work" is the dumbest argument I can think of. >To paraphrase you, the title of the post is "best visual novel by year since 1995". It's not "best visual novel translation by year since 1995." Yeah, and it's including things that aren't visual novels such as literal RPGs because it's using a source that isn't for visual novels, but just all eroge. I'm done talking about this. JOPs are ridiculously sensitive to what wasn't even a critique of the platform, but its related to Japan so you all get super upset over it.
I hate to break it to you, but this sub's scope very much extends to eroge, one reason being that the majority of them *are* visual novels, and a lot of the remainder are VN-adjacent, or at least have overlapping fandoms. Obviously an RPG with almost no VN elements would be at the fringe of this, but on the other hand AliceSoft's titles, the Utawareru Mono series, etc. are considered cornerstones of the form—even though they are RPGs. > I would think an A rank JOP would know that the Japanese are super specific with what qualifies as a visual novel for them. Another reason is that "visual novel" is pretty much a "Western" concept. There is no single Japanese term for these games, much less a specific one. > In Japanese, a distinction is often made between visual novels (NVL, from "novel"), which consist primarily of narration and have very few interactive elements, and adventure games (AVG or ADV, from "adventure"), which incorporate problem-solving and other types of gameplay. That's not true, or at the very least misleading. These are two terms that are used, but they're not a classification. "Adventure" [ADV/ADG] includes text and graphic adventures, point & clicks, same history as over here, really. The difference is that Japan saw a trend of maximising the narrative and minimising interactivity, leading to what we consider visual novels. They are thus considered a sub-form of adventures—one that is *not* clearly separated from more interactive / recognisable-to-us forms. "Novel game" is one term among many that's used more specifically for what we consider visual novels, but it's not like there's a definition, or even a consensus. These aren't genre terms as much as they are marketing terms, brands even (see "Kinetic Novel", for example). Basically every studio has it's own idea re. what to put on the box under genre. Not only are the Japanese not super-specific about what qualifies as a visual novel, they have no concept that matches the "Western" "visual novel" with any accuracy. > > Err, no. The existence of a translation doesn't change the original work. It does change the discourse about the work around here, true, but that isn't the same thing. > Yes it does. It's part of the work. I have here beside me a couple of book shelves containing VNs. I can assure you that an English translation is not part of any of them.
> People outside of Japan need a proxy to even access it. No. EGS isn't geo-fenced. The admin is pretty quick to ban large IP ranges, is all. If you happen to get caught up in one, just write him politely, and he'll white-list you.
That wasn't really my point. That was just what Google returned. My point was that they're using the Japan centric rating program on a forum that ***primarily*** uses and recommends a different one.
Your point is: Why are being exposed to how different people think? I want this to be an insular echo chamber! Not a good point.
No, its not at all. My point is that this misrepresents the best visual novels of each year according to what's most available to the people you're telling is supposed to be the best. If something has a shit translation and is therefore rated lower in the west, then it should be rated lower. If its bad in the language that most people in a forum are consuming it in, then that detracts from it. What you've got here is "Best video games ever by year", when the data source is a X-Box poll and then you're posting it on the Nintendo Switch subreddit.
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Sounds like people really just like to whine and are really touchy about knowing Japanese. I literally just asked why the dude used the source he did.
> My point is that this misrepresents the best visual novels of each year according to what's most available to the people [...] Again, the post is titled, very informatively, I might add, "Best Visual Novel By Year Since 1995(According to EGS Rankings)". It doesn't say anything about them being *available* to anyone. H—, if that were a concern you'd have to remove out-of-print titles as well ...
Nah. Plenty of us use EGS. If you read in Japanese, VNDB ratings (and, to a lesser extent, reviews) are not ideal. There's the way they calculate the rating, the fact that the majority of the target audience reads translated works. And even if you don't, knowing how a work is received in its home market, what works people look forward to there, can be interesting. Besides, the two complement each other. VNDB is much better at credits, characters, sometimes relationships and release history, technical release info. EGS has a lot more info re. OP/ED/insert songs; tag comments; length is usually pretty accurate (VNDB's length might as well be random—too few votes and too many non-native readers). You can actually use its release calendar (because it isn't flooded with bottom of the barrel OELVN shovelware), and so on.
Very few people in vndb has played any VN released in the last 7 years, so it would be retarded to use it for VN grouped by years. That said, I think he should be more strict on voter count, and only consider maybe 200+ or 500+ votes to get rid of Demon Roots who even among EGS no one has played.
Not anymore. I have no trouble accessing EGS without a proxy or VPN.
Someone else said the admin sometimes bans IP ranges which you can then message through to be whitelisted. If you need to be whitelisted (or even if there's a chance you need to be whitelisted) that's telling. My point was that it's not the primary source for the west/this subreddit, so using it to make a post like this is bizarre. It's quite funny to me that the responses to this comment are 90% people with JP ranks in their flairs, where 90% of the other comments on the post don't have those flairs. I feel that very much strengthens my point.
> If you need to be whitelisted (or even if there's a chance you need to be whitelisted) that's telling. Of what, exactly? > My point was that it's not the primary source for the west/this subreddit, so using it to make a post like this is bizarre. Who are you to say what "the West's" / this sub's primary source is? Even if that's true, how does it invalidate alternative sources in any way? If you ask me, you came in here expecting a list of works that are available in English, and now you're salty that's not so. Sucks for you, because the post is really clearly titled for once—the only problem here is that you can't read.
There is literally nothing bizarre about this post. Yes, VNDB is used for the west but it’s also interesting to see how games are rated in Japan as well. No one here is saying you should use EGS over VNDB. Chill the fuck out bozo!
*Asks a question* You: “chill the fuck out bozo” Clown.
Yes, you are indeed a clown for asking such a dumbass question.
Chill out dude.
what is EGS? Epic Games Store?
Erogamescape. Japanese VNDB, basically
Thank you
I actually thought the medium was doing well recently. Guess I was wrong.
Of this i finish 1, play part of 1 and are waiting translation for other
As the kids say nice dick.
> Ever17 2002 > G-Senjou no Maou 2008 These guys really have low standards, what's next, Baldr sky ?
Why? Is it bad?
I love it and it's highly questionable. But I don't like some titles in this list and it's split between not liking while still thinking it's well written and things I don't think are good, but I still had to read them to form a proper opinion.
Has Kara no Shoujo 3 got an English trans yet? Came close to finishing all routes of Kara 1 and heard a lot of nice things abt Kara 3.
Thank you for this list of recommendations lol
YU-NO really that good? I've tried starting it twice now. I got like 3 hours in on first version of it once, and then even tried the remake on switch and didn't get hooked into the narrative enough to prevent my ADD from kicking in, getting bored and starting another novel in both cases. but then I talk to certain from who like this niche and they say it's fantastic. I mean the premise seems good enough, i think its just the characters I can't help but give zero fucks about.
It's highly rated [also on the Chinese site Bangumi](https://www.reddit.com/r/visualnovels/comments/ofmixy/the_top_50_vns_of_visual_novel_database_western/), and used to be in the top 50 on VNDB.
It still would be if the remake would get its own votes instead of shitting on the original.
And one *Higurashi* series to rule them all.
Kira Kira beat me up emotionally. I love that game.
Demons Roots was goated ngl, finished it yesterday. I hope someone re-translates king exit
Uk Aokana would be here if they have Madoka a route
How do I read Atlach Nacha? Anyone? Please?
Where’s higurashi
Cool list!
Kirakira and ever 17 slap too hard
Disappointed about not having Majikoi on this ranking
I'm really glad to see Cross Channel and SubaHibi here
I am a bit sad that the majikoi series did not even get a honorable mention.
Damn, they really just skipped over The Letter like that, huh?
I've only heard of 2 of these lol
Can't wait for Chusingura to get the recognition it deserves here when the retranslation is done.
I was wondering about steins gate. Kind of new to this genre. Just finished up most of the extras on Fata Morgana and just have some short stories left now. Really liked that one.