Visual novels are basically like books in videogame format, with images, music, and sometimes voice acting. It’s common for them to have choices that put you on different routes to different endings, but not all do. There’s a certain amount of light gameplay some have but it’s mostly about the reading. More commonly they have no gameplay at all, just reading and maybe decisions. The Famicom Detective Club VN I’m reading requires more player input than average but it’s mostly just choosing what to ask about, when to look at things in the environment, and stuff like that. If you’re familiar with Ace Attorney or Danganronpa, those are considered VNs but break it up with actual puzzles to solve.
Traditionally PC, and you’re benefited there because there are tools that exist (called texthookers) that often let you access the script as it’s playing so you can get easy automatic lookups through Yomitan and the like. If easier lookups is less of a concern, the Switch does seem to have a lot of VNs these days, too.
Visual Novel thread on a forum that’s not completely dead? Yay! Finally!
Fuwanovel seems to be mostly dead and I cannot bring myself to use reddit or discord
FWIW, sometimes it’s also possible to text-hook emulated games, including Switch, but it’s more convoluted than with native PC titles.
And as for the topic - I’m currently near the end of https://vndb.org/v7507. (I’m playing Switch version emulated on PC)
Pretty nice high school romance title. Nothing outstanding, but has likeable characters and the writing is not too difficult language-wise, so that makes it a relaxing read
Earlier this year I also read https://vndb.org/v38430 (PC) and https://vndb.org/v8158 (Switch) - I totally loved both of these
Between them I also read https://vndb.org/v6260 - it’s ancient (1999) and while I enjoyed it, it has many technical and mechanical shortcomings that might make playing it a chore
I wrote quite long-ass https://vndb.org/w11032 (I really don’t know why )
About looking up and comprehending sentences, backlog / rewind to previous lines could help. Many narrative games can’t go back to previous lines, not to mention that if there is voice acting, the text may just auto-forward and not waiting for slow readers.
That the text pause line-by-line by default, and backlog, I can look up and read old lines if I don’t really understand something. It’s also a test of eyeing the most important words and looking up the most necessary ones. (Which is my states of affairs with Chinese right now.)
A while ago I played うたわれるもの which also incorporates turn-based strategy, strong narration, but no branching story line.
How do you play the Switch version on PC? I should look into that…
In Everlasting Flowers you could press one button to get the English translation. I find that I get very lazy when I have easy access to the English translation - my brain doesn’t want to work as hard to understand the Japanese.
For now I mostly play games that don’t have easy access to English to force my brain to think in Japanese. Really looking forward to when my Japanese is good enough that I can read Japanese as effortlessly as I can read English! Maybe in a few years…
I’m using Ryuujinx emulator. Unfortunately recently it got shut down / discontinued due to the pressure from Nintendo, because they claim that emulation==piracy*
As of 2024, Ryujinx had reached a state of maturity where it could run the majority of Switch games with excellent compatibility and performance. However, on October 1, 2024, development ceased after gdkchan was approached by Nintendo with a legal agreement. This agreement required gdkchan to stop development and remove all related assets, including the project’s GitHub repositories and official downloads. The sudden end of Ryujinx development followed a pattern of Nintendo’s aggressive legal actions against emulation projects, much like its earlier actions against Yuzu.
The last version can still be downloaded on the archive page:
*It’s true that to play console game in emulator you’ll have to either download pirated version or make your own copy. I consider it OK as long as you own the original game, but Nintendo has different stance on that topic
So yeah, it isn’t all that nice and easy, but possible nevertheless.
The easiest console VNs to play on PC without sailing the stormy seas are PS2 titles, since PCSX2 emulator can boot them directly from original discs, if only your PC has a disc drive of course
I find it quite amusing that such release even exists, considering what kind of game the original School Days was (disclaimer: based on tags on vndb and numerous online reviews - I haven’t played it myself)
I mean - VN ports for Playstation and Nintendo systems by default have their erotic content removed* - and AFAIK School Days was quite (in)famous for its H-stuff among other things. But I might be wrong about this particular game (see disclaimer in my previous post) - it’s entirely possible that it’s a good story that works well without ero. My post was based on SD’s online fame so to speak.
*people scream “censorship!” but that’s what steered me towards those editions, after seeing one too many poorly written sex scene completely ruining the mood and the flow of the story Too often those scenes feel like the characters are replaced with their stunt doubles acting out a porn scenario (all cliches included). Like the devs applied Rule34 to their own game
On the flipside, after such change it becomes painfully obvious when the story itself is weak, and H-content was the only selling point for the original game
Hmm, I wasn’t aware school days was any more known for its H stuff than any other eroge. I thought the story and gameplay mechanics were awesome so long as you’re into stories going off the rails. Full voicing, a ton of endings, great music (that I’m listening to rn actually), the choice to remain silent at any dialogue option, and it basically feels like watching an anime. Not to mention I loved the mechanic where there wasn’t routes tied to one of the girls and you could change your actions at any time.
Interesting. Maybe I just think about it a lot less, but I can’t say I’ve ever had this experience.
Have any of you read Aokana - Four Rhythms Across the Blue? Did you like it?
After finishing Island, which took many months, I felt like reading shorter VNs for a while. Now I’m considering starting another long VN. Aokana looks interesting, but I would love some input before I jump into it.
What other long VNs do you like and recommend? I’m half way through Clannad and started the Grisaia on my Switch, so I’m looking for something a little different. No blood and gore and horror!
I read Aokana and I loved it
As for long titles I’ve read recently, I loved 星降りユメミライ. And I strongly recommend console edition, because story extensions it has instead of original’s erotic content are great. I don’t remember if it has Switch release, but there are PS4 and PSV versions.
I wouldn’t say “longer” - rather “wider” ;-) or “a bit more detailed”. The story itself remains the same, but there are additional “normal” scenes during the routes and I really liked those - IMO they were much better than the h-scenes they replaced.
AFAIK later those scenes were also somehow incorporated into “Perfect Edition”.
I want to update, because today I finished ファミコン探偵俱楽部：笑み男 (Famicom Detective Club - Emio: The Smiling Man)
Very highly recommend the VN, 10/10. The Switch-only availability will be a problem for a lot of people no doubt, but it’s a fantastic read. You can sort of tell from the premise involving a serial killer that it’ll be dark, and yeah, warning that especially near the end for the epilogue it’s pretty upsetting. Interesting contrast because most of the investigation itself is cozy. But the story being told here is really impactful and satisfying imo, and the way the VN puts a lot of emphasis on the aftermath of these crimes, ripple effects on everyone around, makes it really interesting. Plus it’s just beautiful, high budget for a VN with constant new characters and environments every few minutes.
As Japanese learning it’s nice too, obviously can’t texthook but I found the writing easy enough to get by with little trouble. Every single line is voiced, even the MC and their thoughts, so that helps. There’s a log to replay the voices from to make lookups easy, etc. The only problem is there’s an extended cutscene segment (sans subtitles) in the epilogue, but the dialog in it isn’t too difficult and you’ve probably come across everything they say in it by then more or less, as it’s basically putting the pieces together. You already know the broad context and the type of words appropriate for each part so it’s really not hard.
Thanks for the review and info. I have added it to my Wishlist.
On Nintendo US eShop, Only Emio, I think, has the multiple language, including Japanese. The ohter two, The mIssing heir and the other one (I forgot) only has English language.
I really hope you like Emio if you get around to trying it!
Yes, I can confirm this is correct. After making this post I picked up the two games that came before Emio since I loved it this much. I hear they are a little more rough because they are remakes of, well, famicom games, while Emio was newly made this year, but we’ll see!
Anyway yeah, Emio will automatically match your console’s language setting, but for the previous 2 games you have to go through the effort of making a Japanese eshop account, and probably paying via Japanese eshop cards (from play asia or wherever) if you don’t have a Japanese credit card.
Yes, indeed. Need Japanese eshop account, then need to get the Japanese eshop cards which usually much more expensive than the value if I bought like in playasia.com, but some of the games there are sometimes still cheaper than the price in the US shop even after converting the cost of the more expensive online eshop cards.
In relation to Japanese Nintendo switch eshop cards, do they sell it in Japan, like in the konbini there or somewhere? If yes, I might want to buy them while I’m otw to visit Nagano this coming April.
-wawan-
You’re reading Aokana? Awesome!
I hope you like it It was my first VN and have the best memories with it. I discovered it thanks to a YouTube music video thumbnail haha… anime girls make the best music promotions.
How’s Textractor working?
I always had to remove like 30 useless hooks that slowed down the game dramatically.
and I cannot bring myself to use reddit or discord 
(disclaimer: based on tags on vndb and numerous online reviews - I haven’t played it myself)
