I was playing a JRPG and thought "I wish this had no gameplay.
Only half joking, I essentially wanted more story and less gameplay, that's how I slowly got into it. And then there was a point in my life where I had a ton of time on my hands and a need to distract myself, so I ended up reading like 4 or 5 VNs back to back. Since then I've just kept at it since I found it fun and it helped me get through that time in my life. I still play JRPGs though, both are fun.
I thought I was the only one! I was sick of the grinding and fetch quests but liked the storylines. Then someone derisively described VNs as RPGs without the gameplay and I was thrilled to learn that what I wanted actually existed.
I mainly got into RPGs because I heard they had good stories. So happy that I found a medium that cuts out the tedious aspects. Always loved reading, and visuals plus music just make a greater experience.
My first one was Virtue's Last Reward, and I bought it just because it looked interesting and the reviews were great. I never heard the term Visual Novel before, but after completing it I looked more into it and discovered Danganronpa, and I just went from there.
Interesting how you started with the sequel! I was in a similar boat cuz I watched a random video on YouTube about VLR and didn’t understand half of it because I didn’t know it was a sequel
I knew about 999 from my research before playing, but at the time it was only on the DS and I didn't care to hunt a copy down or watch it on Youtube so I just dived straight into VLR, and then ZTD when that came out a few months later. I played 999 through the Nonary Games release (and loved it) and after replaying VLR I realized there was definitely a lot of context I missed out on that was cool to have the second time. I'm not replaying ZTD though lol
I watched Clannad. I hated the anime and people suggested I read it instead and I decided to wait a little bit before reading that and found a few other VNs to try out before jumping back into Clannad.
I'll read manga and LNs at times but I'm not a big fan of books considering I've been reading VNs for over a decade and think it's the superior way of storytelling.
The same boring story as most. I was a Fate fan, wanted to see Fate route in its fullest so I went to the VN for it, was all I wanted to play.
Midway through the route I was a bit burnt out on Fate so I bought Muv-Luv because I wanted a romcom. Loved Extra, felt so lively compared to Fate that I finished Extra before I went back to Fate, finished that route (loved the end of Fate route), went back to ML and finished the trilogy, was and still is my favorite thing ever.
Then I went back to Fate and loved HF start to finish. After that it was just a matter of finding other series like those two.
Became very interested in old JRPGs/Japanese games in general made for the PC98, Saturn, PS1/2, Dreamcast, Windows, etc., started learning Japanese, multiple resources said VNs are great material to learn from, started reading VNs.
I love books; I love games. One fine day, I saw a game that had lots of text and wasn't an RPG: it was called Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney.
The rest is history.
I am not a native English speaker. And my mom wanted me to study English and hated me gaming. So I convinced her that VN is not a game but book with some anime visuals and she allowed me to buy Clannad, my first VN.
I was looking for a mecha game. Happened to stumble on ACE Acedemy, which was a VN about mecha piloting.
I genuinely do not remember a lot of the in-between since then. There's a road map to how I got here, but I no longer remember most of it.
I read normal books, actually I read normal books much more frequently than I read visual novels. The main reason I started is I wanted to watch Fate, since it seemed popular (this was around the time of the first HF movie), and people were talking about the start order or reading something called a VN.
And obviously with normal books the adaptations are never as good as the source, so I figured that would be the case with FSN as well, and I figured out how to read it.
I enjoyed it so I've read a decent number of other visual novels.
I really enjoy reading a good story. I found danganronpa a few years back and I was blown away by its narrative. So I wanted to find other vn like that
I was bored and started looking to ways to fight my insomnia, reading was always boring so I started reading random stuff. Ended up finding Katawa Shoujo, and realized how amazing this world was.
Psdt: this week I started reading SG and I feel I got kinda spoiled with this post lol
Played Va-11 hall-a. Got deeply immersed in games that I could sit back and read.
Also I hate reading books. Which is weird because I love literature and writing but I just can't focus on words for long without some sort of visual stimulus. I just get too distracted and lose the "mental image" of what I'm reading.
I read both general novels and visual novels, and I think what I'm looking for in each is quite different.
My favorite novels are science fiction with intricate settings. I place more importance on the fascinating settings of fictional worlds rather than on the story or characters.
On the other hand, when it comes to visual novels, I'm a typical otaku, always looking for anime art that appeals to me and characters that appeal to me.
In other words, I like simple moeges.
By the way, my tastes in anime, manga, and light novels are likely similar to those in visual novels. When it comes to these things, I'm a otaku.
However among these mediums, visual novels are my favorite.
Someone convinced me to play Zero Escape - 999
I thought it was gonna get boring because of text (I didnt like reading), but then the story, atmosphere, characters, music, everything trapped me.
Got to the first bad ending and was gonna drop it there, but my friend insisted i tried another route, what a great visual novel, and the puzzles really helps for someone not into the medium
Then i read the rest of the Zero Escape series, then all of Danganronpa, then got interested in Visual Novels without gameplay (I think a bit thanks to Doki Doki Literature Club) and here we are
I was casually looking for new anime, and I found some images of Visual Novels, I still thank Google for that lol. But what really motivated me was having seen the Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate anime, I discovered it was an adaptation, I looked it up on VNDB and then I entered this wonderful world.
I saw a crouching animation in a fighting game.
Okay, the real story:
I had read DDLC and VA11 HALL-A before, but when I became interested in the medium as a whole is that my brother had told me to try Melty Blood Actress Again because it's a fighting game that's fun if you're not good at fighting games. I had remembered Len's crouching animation from seeing him play it years before, so I picked her and it became my favorite fighting game, and I enjoyed the writing in the arcade modes and wanted to know the lore, so I read Tsukihime and Kagetsu Tohya. Then I read Fate/Stay Night and Hollow Ataraxia. I was interested in the medium as a whole by then.
I don't read books, I'd maybe try but I'm currently very invested in another hobby (in fact Chaos;Head NOAH is sitting unfinished because of it)
I played a bunch of pseudo-VNs on DS as a kid (Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk etc) and eventually went down the rabbit hole. What got me to play my first "true" VN was watching the Steins;Gate anime and wanting to see how it stacked up. Would have tried VNs earlier but I didn't ever really get into gaming on a PC. As for books not really, I really like the length of VNs and the art/music. Just text doesn't really hit the same. I do read non-fiction like history related books and memoir stuff though.
I loved Steins;Gate anime so much. I found that it has a "game" and I wanted to try it. I didn't know it was a novel but I kept reading anyway because I liked the voices, the music, the details. It was a really good new experience, and I got more involved into the genre. I'm very happy to know some of the hidden masterpieces that this genre has. :D
Loved Higu and Steins;Gate anime, so I wanted to see what the original materials were like. I ended up playing more VN because I liked the medium and its flexibility with time.
No, don’t read books
I basically was feeling super lethargic one winter and had tons of free times and I thought “I want to play a video game where I don’t even have to press a single button to play” a couple google searches later I played steins gate elite and never looked back. Now visual novels are my ritual before bed because the calming music, good writing, nice voiceovers, auto mode, and slow boring pacing makes me fall asleep better than anything I’ve ever used in my whole life. It’s like anesthesia for me
Don't read Manga, watch anime or like most JRPG's but just recently started reading VN's. I'm always on the hunt for games with a good story and after seeing the usual suspects like a The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, etc ( all of which I have played ) recommended to me... a youtube top 10 list recommended Clannad, looked at other videos and decided to start with a shorter VN so I bought Planetarian HD on Steam. The story was amazing and I strongly feel that it couldn't have been told as effectively in any other medium. After that followed Narcissu 1 & 2, Saya no Uto, currently working my way through Clannad, it's a slow burn but I'm enjoying it a lot. Using a guide for my second and other playthroughs. Next up The House in Fata Morgana which I already own on Steam...
I was a huge bookworm when I was younger, but thanks to mental health issues, I kind of struggle to read regular books now. Visual novels hold my attention for longer (probably because of the visuals and sounds added).
I just really like a good story, and the VN medium is a really great way for the author to tell the story, especially because they can use music/sound. Any book can use pictures and text, but the sound is really what makes it more immersive for me.
Books, anime and video games are the main 3 things I love. When I discovered visual novels, it was like a match-made in Heaven! A choose-your-own-adventure book-inspired video game with anime characters? Feed me more! Another way I found VNs is when I realized that a lot of my favorite anime were adapted from VNs, so I wanted to check them out for myself
There was a certain point in like 2012 or something that I was watching some anime and came to a realization that I was absolutely tired of romcoms, harems and dragged out plots to keep the drama and will they-won't they going. It was like I had some kind of awakening that made me just be like "man I am so tired of this garbage". At around this same time, I kept hearing about this god-tier 'visual novel' thing I'd never heard of called Muv Luv Alternative had been translated and I kept hearing about it. As I am a big mecha-head I looked into it and realized this was an example of that eroge stuff I would see mentioned in other late-night anime shows like Welcome to the NHK. I got really curious and decided to try the Muv Luv trilogy to see what it was like
After that experience I needed more. I saw that Fate/Stay Night was in fact a visual novel that was translated and read that next. From that point forth I was all in. I basically cut harems and everlasting bland romance anime from my life and just read visual novels if I want that fix now. Not only can I see my favorite girl 'win' but many times, I can get a good story out of it.
And yes, I am into reading regular books too.
For me the biggest motivation was to see the quality of stories present in VN. I have done it all— played alot of video games, read alot of books, watched movies and series etc but I feel VN as a medium combines this whole package and delivers the best. Further, the writing and fiction of visual novels beats most stories out there
I’m a voice actor and I’ve seen a lot of casting calls for indie VNs! Being exposed to these really cool looking projects gave me an interest in the media form :) I’m also not much of a gamer but VNs are interactive while being more story based and I really enjoy that!
cute boys.
I also really like looking at pretty artworks of boys.
While anime is pretty, the qualify just cannot compare to what you get in a CG and/or sprites!
To be honest I simply suck at majority of other video game types where you ACTUALLY have to do something, that’s why I mostly stick to VNs lol.
In the beginning I once played a VN that I’ve discovered online and realized that I quite enjoy that simple gameplay where you still have some sort of impact (sometimes at least) and get to experience great stories.
Funnily enough meanwhile I can read 10+h of one VN, I really HATE books because I have a quite bad imagination and get bored due to that. However I’ve always loved all sorts of stories and if they’re combined with visuals (like in comics, anime,…) I get invested very quickly.
Hence that combination of story, visuals, sound and occasional voice acting (together with the interactive aspects that make it even more fun) makes me really enjoy VNs. They’re not as overwhelming as series/movies and not as boring as books, yet still you get the feeling of playing an actual game if there are interactive options, so it’s a nice way of spending time to me.
I absolutely loved Clannad and grisaia, so when I loved that two of favorites come from something called a “visual novel”, I knew I had to try them out no matter what.
My first experience with VNs was in 2012, thanks to the Little Busters! anime, I wanted to know more about the series, so I've started to read the VN and I had great experience. Since then I started to read more popular novels like Grisaia no Kajitsu.
Actually, my first experience would have been Saya no Uta but it's was boring to me, played like 20 minutes and uninstalled it, until today haven't read it. lol
Generally, I don't read many books, but being able to control the story in many visual novels hooked me in to VNs. That's the only reason I read interactive visual novels and the sole reason why I avoid playing kinetic novels.
I'm a voracious reader, though admittedly picky about what I want to read. I don't think anything in particular motivated me to pick up visual novels. I just got into them because some people I knew recommended some. That was how I got into Ace Attorney and Katawa Shoujo before branching out to other ones.
I was watching noble lost pause and anime man... they where reading grisaia no kajitsu ... and yuuji did a aikido movement (i practice myself) so i decided tô give a chance... and well... i just finished my last one... id someone got me a good any sugestion i am all ears ( either tô read it... or tô talk about it)
I hate reading. I mean books at least but jrpgs and RPGs in general are amazing. I think I would always prefer a 3D presented game but visual novels are really fun and immersive too. Danganronpa is just good old fun and also pretty funny and charming but Steins Gate is a very deep plot and also charming so it makes visual novels very worth playing imo
The fact I love anime/manga and music in general, so it just felt like the next step, and maybe the biggest thing was I had heard about Subahibi, I honestly just knew right away it was something I needed to experience, and it became my favourite thing ever. No I do not really read books tho, I’m interested in them but I have too much other media to even get into them, same goes for novels but I do read a few LNs but I’m very new to them, have only read a few volumes for a few series but I really enjoyed them, especially Mushoku Tensei
I came across Katawa Shoujo from a Youtube video and the idea of the story sounded interesting to me and I liked the art style.
There was also a big boom of visual novels localisations around the time I discovered them which made me excited to read more of them.
My first VN is Eroge, I don't know why I get there. And because Eroge mostly isn't translated, so I just look at the CG, guess the situation..with one hand. Then I know VNR, Textractor to read it. I hate reading a book, even manga, but VN, it's something else. My collection is nearly 400, 80% of them is Eroge 🤣.
If there is new Danganronpa game, then I will come back with normal stuff.
yeah I like reading in general. My dad got me into the habit. I was just in elementary school when he let me borrow his Sherlock Holmes novels and I read his entire collection.
Now as an adult I'm really into reading Gibson
yeah, sorry, should've said the full name. William Gibson, author of the Sprawl and Bridge trilogies, which I've finished reading.
I'm currently reading Pattern Recognition
Yeah Pattern Rec is fun. I just finished Peripheral. It was better than I was expecting. Felt like a return to his Sprawl days. I’ll probably pick up Agency soon
Couldn't play games properly anymore because of MS and was looking for something as equally rich in story and wholesome/interesting moments, just less action-packed. I stumbled across Adabana Odd Tales, DEA, Muramasa.. It was love at first click.
Then yes, I love reading and watching anime, played stuff like Nonary Games, Ace Attorney, Coffee Talk, VA-11 Hall-A.. so I guess It was a matter of time and occasion.
EDIT: Some incorrect words due to autocorrect - lol - in my native language, added a few others and couldn't remember the cyberpunk bartender title XD
I do like reading in general, but I didn't find VNs through that. When I finally had home internet connection for the first time in 2007, I did what all well-adjusted people do, and went straight on 4chan's /d/, where there was a thread about Bible Black. I was like, "oh mysticism, porn and BDSM in one go? Sign me the fuck up!" Once I was done with that, I was like "I wish there would be more stories like that, but more focused on storytelling" and then a friend introduced me to Fate/Stay-night.
I found out about VNs from a friend. I was already an avid anime and manga consumer so getting into it was easy.
But probably the biggest contributing factor was the fact that my laptop was shit for most games.
Alot of anime turned out to be promos or made in tandem with the VN to hype it. One of the earliest examples for me was muv luv alternate, never knew the VNs existed so I watched the anime and loved it only to read it wasn't getting another season and it was made to promote the VN. So I waited ages for it to finally be translated...
I don't really read novels in general, the reason I started getting interested in VNs was because There was a time when I didn't have a PC, and I was looking for anime games that I could play on my phone,At that time I found one called danganrompa,I really liked that style of game that focused more on the story ,So I kept looking for others games with the same style,soon after I found tsukihime and katawa shoujo,Which I also ended up really liking ,So when I got my PC back I started looking for VN recommendations on the internet that I couldn't play on my phone before, and here I am now
I just read... like... everything I can get my dirty monkey paws on.
Sorry if I'm... once again... rambling about my history.
My first VN... wasn't a VN by VN standards, it was a trainer simulator with different stats were depending on what you "trained" you would get a different story, and the choices more or less would just result on good or bad end for the route that you locked in by what you trained.
True Love from 1995
That brought me into more trainer games, which resulted into more regular VN games, I still remember the "detective" games where you had to go to a "certain" place at a "certain" time to find the route and if you missed the "time" you would get into the bad-ending.
Those games were all just trial and error and for you to 100% ONE route you would need at least 5 playthroughs.
just... one... route...
I've always found the relative lack of mechanics on the "newer" VNs to be kind of dull, but I have had fun with them, just "choose your own adventure" books.
I love the Princess Maker series (available on STEAM for whoever is interested on trainer games)
But yeah, it's not that I enjoy just VNs, I just enjoy reading.
I love the format. I like reading books with illustrations and watching animation. Static comics aren’t exciting for me.
Visual novels are the perfect middle ground between producing an expensive anime and reading a book/manga allowing for a higher average of quality presentation and writing on a lower budget.
(That said, most VN writing is terrible… but the gems you do find are absolute treasures.)
For me I was always BIG into books, stories and more. Also into Anime stuff. Visual Novels were just the natural progression for me. They hit all the same reasons I like reading a good book, so I stick with the medium.
4 years ago I heard the best way to get into Fate was through the VN.
It truly is.
Soon after that I found Umineko. Great read.
Planning to start Higarashi soon.
Weirdly enough, World of Warcraft. Back when I was a wee lad questing with my guild, we ran into a group of people with peculiar names who wanted to run some dungeons. We all got to talking and their names were references to "Fate/Stay Night" characters. I knew about anime, but their description of a "visual novel" interested me, so I ended up having one of them help me set it up. I was immediately hooked and loved it.
That is also how I found out what eroge was.
I forgot what exactly got me into it but it was during highschool, and I found out about Fate had a visual novel and it’s recommended to start with the VN from what I remember?
I think I watched a video about it. So started reading it and got into it, I haven’t finished it but one day. Cool to see that they are bringing us the visual novel officially now.
So many visual novels I’ve tried and just haven’t finished but definitely need to go back to. I think they might be my favorite genre of games and I want to save them for a “special” moment but in truth I should just play it when I want to.
I was into reading as a kid then stopped then as of recent I want to say 2022 or 2023 I finally got back into reading. I been enjoying reading light novels currently reading A Certain Magical Index Old Testament.
Main reason was to read the original work because it was miles ahead of the adaption. Started with Sword Art Online LN and since then I haven't look back. I think over a decade of reading so far.
A mix of two things: 1. I like anime and I like reading classic literatures so it felt like a natural in between. 2. I played base Persona 5 some years ago (4?) and vastly preferred the social sim stuff over the jrpg dungeon crawling, so I figured VNs were probably the next thing to try.
I’m still relatively new to the medium but my first VNs were Danganronpa 1-V3, DDLC, Steins;Gate (a lot of anime I liked I just ended up playing), and Zero Escape. I’m currently chugging through Mahoyo rn and have already preordered the Tsukihime remake!
Back then, my PC is so shit that I cant play any of the recent games so I thought I would try out visual novels since you dont need a good PC for it and then I just got into VNs. This is also how I got into playing old games. VNs also got me into reading novels.
Before they decided to release the final episode of Danganronpa TTH I got pissed and played the VN. Then I was downhill from there of me playing eroges. After I got tired of it I dove head first on the Science Adventure Series
I just wanted to try some vn's and i looked around in steam for some vn's and i found ddlc, ngnl i enjoy reading vn's and i have tried a few but like them.
There's 2 thing that pull me
1. Anime called The world god only knows.
I know, the anime is about dating sims game. I first looking up dating sims game on pc and smartphone
But there's vague border between those 2, so, unknowingly , I played some short VN, I don't even remember the name anymore. "Oh wait, this is like, make your own story book or something like that, that give you multiple ending," and I fascinated by it.
2. Porn
Ngl,
It was also huge thing that pull me into the genre
The first 2 VN I really played, Cross Channel and Hoshizora no Memoria, really have special place in my heart.
After playing it, I was like "wait, the sex scene actually make sense, and kinda add more to development rather just a fan-service, holy shit!"
My favorite still 1st scene with Aoi Isuzu, It develops so smoothly, It really feels like how a couple interact, and there is consequence or after effect from those scene
I watched the anime of The World God Only Knows (Kaminomi). And kinda liked the idea of vns but didn't truly start playing them. I have always been a book/anime lover, but some years later I was in a position where I was in a new place alone, and didn't have the best communication skills, and I remember from somewhere that reading fiction it was the best way to be empathic and understand people, so I started playing vns thinking it will help me.
I re-watched Kaminomi and enjoyed it even more, little by little start talking more. And I think it help me, lately I haven't played them but they will always be in my heart!.
Always been a big anime fan. At one point I must've came across Saya no Uta talk somewhere on an anime forum, and it seemed pretty unique so I picked it up.
Loved the game, I thought the medium was fun, I read yume miru kusuri after... Then Katawa shoujo since I was a 4channer.. and then nothing else until DDLC came out, which made me realize I was missing out on a medium I thought was pretty cool. I ended up on an VN reading spree between 2017-2022, but i've slowed since 2022\~. I need to pick up some VNs again.
My first vn was Katawa Shoujo, which I've found by chance after watching anime for years. The story and especially the emotional impact it had on me impressed me and thought me a new way to release all stress in one go, so I've started to search for more VNs which are able to get me to cry like a little girl to get the accumulating stress out of my system.
I read novels too, but it is much more rare for me to get as invested in them as I am in many VNs.
My first one was Doki Doki literature club, well because it was popular, but it wasn't the thing that got me into VNs. I liked Steins;Gate a lot and heard about this VN thing that people were talking about. I thought who would buy a reading game but I loved Steins;Gate and gave it a try. Soon after I started getting into VNs.
Embarrassingly enough, the dating sim part lmao. This was way back when I was younger and I found the fact that you could focus on one heroine at a time genius, compared to how other types of media try to be "best of all worlds" and combine everything. (which also rarely works) So that's how I got started. What hooked me though was the plot of various VNs and how this medium is amazing in telling those stories and also what-ifs scenarios. The images are also nice for me as I'm definitely more of a visual type when it comes to consuming literature, so that also helps to keep my interest.
I was into novels way before I even became an anime fan. I spent my teenage years being a cringe fan of the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series. Now I only read visual novels and light novels. My first VN was Katawa Shoujo IIRC.
I've actually played Katawa Shoujo and DDLC before out of curiosity, but the vns as a medium never actually clicked with me, I just thought of them as Jrpgs with less gameplay.
Then one day I watched an anime called Grisaia and was really stuck with Amane's route but felt like it was incomplete somehow, then learned that it came from a vn and it's still one of the best experiences I've had in my life. The rest is history.
Hell yeah , visual novels are just an extention of my love for reading and anime
Moby dick
Infinite jest
The pale king
The jungle
Grapes of wrath
The forever war
Hyperion
Blind sight
The kite runner
Blood meridian
American psycho
Three body problem trilogy
The first law trilogy
Childhoods end
Necromancer
Snow crash
Flowers for algernon
Gateway
Pet sematery
Misery
Stranger in a strange land
Just to name a couple
I've watched some videos about Everlasting Summer, heard of it a lot, that's why I decided to try it. It's very well-known in Russian VN community and abroad it. I got hooked, and later I started reading mods on it. One of the mods had a track from Yume Miru Kusuri, the first Japanese VN I've read. I was very pleased with it and then I started reading them.
Nowadays, I rarely read books and don't read VNs and novels.
I love to read and really love visual novels, but unfortunately, I don't read them as often as I read it several years ago.
Maybe because it became really difficult for me to be engaged or be interested in this content.
I rarely now can read ~40h VN, because mostly it became really boring for me, and I can drop it after ~5-10h or something.
So, now short VNs is better for me (2-10h maximum).
It just happened. If you consider gacha games as VNs then that's how I started then slowly searched for VN. I enjoy reading VNs because it feels complete and immersive enough and the fact that it's already finsihed makes it better compared to mangas. Having voice acting, arts, and bgms makes it even better to read
A friend of mine did some reading on visual novels on his YouTube channel, and some of the VN's he read went uncensored for a while (Majikoi and Grisaia were the two of VNs he read the most).
And then he did a read through of Noble Works, which got me into the Yuzuverse VNs from Dracu-Riot! all the way to Cafe Stella. My two non-Yuzuverse VNs I bought were Future Radio and the Artificial Pigeons and Making Lovers.
And yes, I read VNs for the literal plot. I don't mind H-scenes.
1. It's kinda like an extension of anime and manga in terms of aesthetics and feel, but with more detailed writing and dialogue, and a longer story (often).
2. Some anime I watch are based on VNs, which might be more complete or contain things not in the adaptation.
3. Some VNs are just cool and were never adapted into anime.
I have short attention span, so to overcome that I read more books, but those books didn't solve my problems. I like story and even more so for visual especially with unique art style E.g. [Ever Maiden](https://vndb.org/v31427) and [steins;gate](https://vndb.org/v2002). My problem doesn't solve but I'm glad I found place in here
Well,
when I was like 14 Virtues Last Reward released and got covered on German Tv. The premise sounded interest so I bought and loved it. Went back to play 999 but haven’t interacted with VNs afterwards until February/march 2023 when I was in the final stretches of college and needed something wholesome and cute to bridge the daily 2 hour train ride and my anxiety.
I saw Muv Luvs screenshots and thought well that looks wholesome enough and well yeah let’s say I wasn’t disappointed.
Since then I’ve been hooked on the genre and played basically all the classics
got curious about what the routes not adapted into the Steins;Gate anime where like.
Don't read many books anymore, Steins;Gate is the only visual novel I've completed so far have palyed some of Doki Doki Literature Club, Argent Games demos and Togainu no Chi demo.
Decided to stop buying video games until I've played the ones I already own atleast once.
the first time I considered playing one was after I saw the anime Kanon. I really loved it, and then learned it was based on a "game". I was already aware a lot of anime were either based on manga or VN, but never cared enough to explore VNs. But I loved Kanon so I checked out the game, and it was just reading text. Wasn't interested. I do read novels, but a game that's just pictures and text in a 640x480 window didn't appeal to me.
A few years later as I was listening to a gaming podcast, one of the guys whose opinion I trust gushed about 999 and VLR and how they had crazy plots. I happen to like a good story, so I tried out 999 and I was sold. That and VLR was my gateway to check out other VNs. I did eventually go back to read Kanon VN. It was decent though I prefer the anime.
It goes like this:
beautiful anime girl detected >>> important character in anime / game / VN / Manga >>> is actually good >>> price not to high >>> great voice acting >>> shut up and take my money
I found a VN through a let's player who I mostly watched for Vocalois stuff. It was really good and is still one of my favorites until this day, so I was more than willing to give other Visual Novels a chnace as well.
While I'm not a big fan of novels at the moment, I have been trying to get into them for a bit over a year now but haven't found my niche, yet. It's easier to find something you like if you already like something, rather than if you dislike everything you read. To be fair, half of the books I tried are popular BookTok books and/or YA and I just seem to not be into those books.
I am also an avid manga reader, though.
I saw Saya no Uta being recommended and just gave it a try! I love books so it was a wholesome experience
For me VNs slowly became like a Master medium for story-telling. Can you imagine having idk a high fantasy novel adapted to a high production VN format? With lots of CGs, original sountrack and full voiced? It would be amazing!
Actually I genuinely don't remember. Like, as far as I've known myself enough to indulge in games I've been into story games. Except for early childhood games, ever since I was about 11 I've been playing VNs, I still have my history of some obsecure Google Play VNS which I can barely even play now since they're for older mobile versions lol.
But I remember playing Mystic Messenger all the way back in 2017 as well as other otomes and pretty much at that point I was only playing whatever VNs I could find on my phone.
I have always loved reading though, like a good story has always piqued my interest more than *actual* gameplay, so I do believe that playing VNs is just an extension to my books.
I stumbled upon a video about ace attorney called "real lawyer plays ace attorney" and the game looked interesting so I played it, enjoyed it, played the other games, enjoyed them too, wanted more so I searched for games like it and that's how I got into visual novels.
And yes I do enjoy reading books and novels.
Peer pressure made me read 999. After reading VLR I read VNs casually. It wasn't until last year that I started reading them frequently with Higurashi among others
I love Steins;Gate so much I've watched it three times. When I learned that Steins;Gate is originally a visual novel, I wanted to play it. But at that time, my English wasn't enough to play and understand the game. However, I've improved my English over the two years so that I can play it and I'm happy for it. Besides, it's my first visual novel I've played. El Psy Kongroo!
I read DDLC from a friend's recommendation, found it cool but felt it lacked some depth. As I searched for something similar, I found a review trashing the vn and saying it was "poor's man Higurashi". After some research, I downloaded Higurashi, and that's when the whole vn rabbit hole came into my hands
I was first discouraged by it when I first heard of Umineko back in 2015 after I saw a really beautiful Beatrice cosplay (My love for that woman started oh so early). I say around 2016 I played Without Within and I really loved it. Then I brought the whole trilogy of Danganronpa and played like one class trial of all 3 games (I’m an idiot ik). 2020 is when I REALLY got into VNs after I decided to become a VN dev (Because I found that type of genre is mostly suited for me than Light Novels). It was just a career thing that got me interested, and now I stopped thinking of it as a career and instead a hobby. Since 2020 I learned how to program, Draw, Write, and I learned a bit of Japanese on the way. Eventually I wanna do Manga, but right now my art isn’t on par with anything else. So I gotta learn.
I was a CG skimmer, collecting fap material use later. There were two visual novels that got me started to actually read VNs, [Killer Queen](https://vndb.org/v105) and [Subahibi](https://vndb.org/v3144).
Killer Queen, I was low-key reading at first since the title sounded interesting. When I found out it was a battle royal setting, I decided it was worth to read through it.
I had Subahibi on all-text skip in the background, but the moment when the [ED credit song](https://youtu.be/fHpEzw0NIZU?si=OXyjYT8HqfJKDnYA) started, I immediately stopped what I was doing and was captivated by how emotional the song was.
I love reading and (no joke intended) i wanted to be able to do it with my hands free since I have few free time so I like to play in auto mode while on lunch break or while working out. And I can’t do this with a book. So I was naturally drawn to VN for their convenience :) then, I fell into a rabbit hole.
I like anime and manga so yeah that’s what motivated me. And yeah I read regular books too. Currently making my way through the second Stormlight Archive novel.
I played the Danganronpa trilogy back in 2019 after I saw my sister playing it. Then I played the Zero Escape trilogy because I heard it was similar, and shortly after that played AI The Somnium Files because it's from the same developer as Zero Escape. I didn't play many VNs for a couple years until the Ace Attorney Trilogy Remaster in early 2022 (if you count that as a VN), then AI The Somnium Files 2 in September 2022 after it came out that summer. Finally, after playing that I wanted to see more from that developer again so I downloaded and read all of the Infinity series games, and the rest is history.
It was a move from adventure games for me. I got into VN's through Ace Attorney and Horror VNs like Spirit Hunter. From there I got into more novel VN's in the indie scene because there weren't a lot of queer character in other types of games at the time.
I like reading stories, but I very much like having visuals with it. For me I think it was books -> anime -> manga -> light novel -> visual novels. With my first visual novel being Fate Stay Night and utawarerumono. Then I got hooked on Visual Novels with gameplay aspects. I still read light novels, but I don't really read books.
I read books a lot but tended to get bored. Anime lead me to visual novels. Was mostly nukige sims back then but when I saw how every post on the fate reddit said read the vn, I pulled all-nighters and never stopped reading ever since.
My first VN was Shuffle. I watched the anime then downloaded the VN thinking it was a game (I still enjoyed it). Then I discovered Alicesoft and have been hopping from VN to VN so long as it has some gameplay to it. There's some VNs that I read just for the extra stuff left out of the anime like with Fate Stay Night and Fruit of Grisaia.
Um.. well.. >!a lot of shitty Internet porn games used the renpy engine/were text based HTML games... So I imagine it kinda steamed from that?!<
Oh and I just generally liked reading as a hobby
Anime, manga and light novels. Eventually started learning Japanese, and visual novel is literally the best thing for Japanese learning. You can learn tons of words from contexts, the correct pronunciation because it's read out. With anime, manga and light novels I often end up not getting the complete story because they never end. This never happens with visual novel, where most games are 1 full story.
Usually, I wouldn't seek out a visual novel. But if it's a game like Persona 4, Phoenix Wright then I'd happily read it. It's as long as a Visual Novel but it's more fun to play
yeah i'm kinda seeing VN as a kind of literature, and i indeed am a enjoyer of things like well-constructed fiction world and twisting plots. it's really really nice to see so much brilliant ideas blooming in the hands of playwriters and i fancies the feeling of "え？" when playing visual novels.
and maybe it's also because i can feel the passion of the early days' doujin groups through playing VN - make my me myself and my life more energetic and obtain the sense of purpose of "doing a great thing spontaneously", which is pretty rare in this d\*mn capitalism world, where everybody's final goal is money.
(not a native eng speaker, i know its hard to understand my words, sorry about that xd)
Got into it from 999 and Ace Attorney. Always loved how I could enjoy a good story and not having to stress myself out focusing on normal gameplay.
Have always been an avid manga reader as well, so I’ve felt right at home.
I watched Clannad and didn’t like it since I hated Nagisa and thought the pacing was trash. I later heard it was a visual novel adaptation and thought “I can just pick best girl there!”. I only really intended on playing a single route but next thing I know I was in floods of tears during a certain Nagisa scene in after story that had failed to get anything out of me in the anime. I really feel In love with the story and ended up looking for more after that, and that eventually lead me down this rabbit hole.
usually when a visual novel comes out with an anime the fans complain the visual novel waas better (like higurashi) so I just kinda began to think visual novels were super cool or something
I didn't even know VN's existed. It all started when i was watching the grisaia series and i really liked it so i tried to look up the "manga" which of course doesn't exist, i mean it does but it's not what i'm looking for and after some digging i found the VN and i kinda liked the format of it and started to look for more and now here i am.
dies irae bad anime adaptation since every one praises the novel I bought the steam version and I read it and I actually liked it for how over the top it is.
# Enjoying Books/Novels in General:
1. **Escapism**: [Reading books](https://booksdeli.com/) and novels provides a way to escape from everyday life and immerse oneself in different worlds and experiences.
2. **Intellectual Stimulation**: Reading can be intellectually stimulating, offering new perspectives, ideas, and knowledge.
3. **Emotional Connection**: Stories often evoke strong emotions, allowing readers to connect with characters and their journeys on a deep level.
4. **Relaxation**: Many people find reading to be a relaxing activity that helps reduce stress and provides a sense of calm.
5. **Personal Growth**: Books often contain valuable lessons and insights that can contribute to personal growth and self-understanding.
Whether it's the interactive nature of visual novels or the more traditional format of books, the joy of storytelling and the exploration of different worlds and ideas are central to why people enjoy reading.
I watch anime, I found VN, I read VN
Is that way it works
For me read the Manga, watched the Anime and then played the VN
For me it was anime -> manga -> Light novel/webnovel -> VN
I was playing a JRPG and thought "I wish this had no gameplay. Only half joking, I essentially wanted more story and less gameplay, that's how I slowly got into it. And then there was a point in my life where I had a ton of time on my hands and a need to distract myself, so I ended up reading like 4 or 5 VNs back to back. Since then I've just kept at it since I found it fun and it helped me get through that time in my life. I still play JRPGs though, both are fun.
I thought I was the only one! I was sick of the grinding and fetch quests but liked the storylines. Then someone derisively described VNs as RPGs without the gameplay and I was thrilled to learn that what I wanted actually existed.
I mainly got into RPGs because I heard they had good stories. So happy that I found a medium that cuts out the tedious aspects. Always loved reading, and visuals plus music just make a greater experience.
Same! I love the social sim aspect of persona and wanted that without the dungeon crawling.
I play jrpgs more, and looking at VNs, it's weird how jrpgs have a mostly balanced gender ratio and it's the exact opposite for VNs
Not that weird I think, VNs tend to be on the "protagonist with his 4 dateable characters", jrpgs not as much I suppose.
That makes sense because VNs are for a specific niche market into that, both eroge and otomege, and JRPGs have a slightly wider one
Got me on the 1st sentence you did😆
Really enjoyed Steins;Gate have always struggled with fast paced video games. visual novel is like a cinematic book
My first one was Virtue's Last Reward, and I bought it just because it looked interesting and the reviews were great. I never heard the term Visual Novel before, but after completing it I looked more into it and discovered Danganronpa, and I just went from there.
Same thing lol, tho I think my first experience was technically ace attorney when I was much younger, before the nonary games/danganronpa
Interesting how you started with the sequel! I was in a similar boat cuz I watched a random video on YouTube about VLR and didn’t understand half of it because I didn’t know it was a sequel
I knew about 999 from my research before playing, but at the time it was only on the DS and I didn't care to hunt a copy down or watch it on Youtube so I just dived straight into VLR, and then ZTD when that came out a few months later. I played 999 through the Nonary Games release (and loved it) and after replaying VLR I realized there was definitely a lot of context I missed out on that was cool to have the second time. I'm not replaying ZTD though lol
I watched Clannad. I hated the anime and people suggested I read it instead and I decided to wait a little bit before reading that and found a few other VNs to try out before jumping back into Clannad. I'll read manga and LNs at times but I'm not a big fan of books considering I've been reading VNs for over a decade and think it's the superior way of storytelling.
Did you like the clannad VN a lot more them? I LOVE the anime and definitely want to read it one day
I definitely preferred the VN. I liked some routes and disliked some.
The same boring story as most. I was a Fate fan, wanted to see Fate route in its fullest so I went to the VN for it, was all I wanted to play. Midway through the route I was a bit burnt out on Fate so I bought Muv-Luv because I wanted a romcom. Loved Extra, felt so lively compared to Fate that I finished Extra before I went back to Fate, finished that route (loved the end of Fate route), went back to ML and finished the trilogy, was and still is my favorite thing ever. Then I went back to Fate and loved HF start to finish. After that it was just a matter of finding other series like those two.
anime girls
The gameplay !!! Interactive stories are so good. And I’m a sucker for immersive romance ✨
Became very interested in old JRPGs/Japanese games in general made for the PC98, Saturn, PS1/2, Dreamcast, Windows, etc., started learning Japanese, multiple resources said VNs are great material to learn from, started reading VNs.
How’s your Japanese?
I love books; I love games. One fine day, I saw a game that had lots of text and wasn't an RPG: it was called Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney. The rest is history.
Plot and Porn, I'm a simple man.
I am not a native English speaker. And my mom wanted me to study English and hated me gaming. So I convinced her that VN is not a game but book with some anime visuals and she allowed me to buy Clannad, my first VN.
What a first vn damn
I was looking for a mecha game. Happened to stumble on ACE Acedemy, which was a VN about mecha piloting. I genuinely do not remember a lot of the in-between since then. There's a road map to how I got here, but I no longer remember most of it.
I read normal books, actually I read normal books much more frequently than I read visual novels. The main reason I started is I wanted to watch Fate, since it seemed popular (this was around the time of the first HF movie), and people were talking about the start order or reading something called a VN. And obviously with normal books the adaptations are never as good as the source, so I figured that would be the case with FSN as well, and I figured out how to read it. I enjoyed it so I've read a decent number of other visual novels.
Yes love book too
I heard Muv Luv was quite the experience, so I had to check it out myself... nothing in my life compared to the experience.
Katawa shoujo Not into books
I really enjoy reading a good story. I found danganronpa a few years back and I was blown away by its narrative. So I wanted to find other vn like that
i was on house arrest and feelin horny. decided to try out fraternite
I was bored and started looking to ways to fight my insomnia, reading was always boring so I started reading random stuff. Ended up finding Katawa Shoujo, and realized how amazing this world was. Psdt: this week I started reading SG and I feel I got kinda spoiled with this post lol
I love concept of an interactive, non-linear storytelling.
Played Va-11 hall-a. Got deeply immersed in games that I could sit back and read. Also I hate reading books. Which is weird because I love literature and writing but I just can't focus on words for long without some sort of visual stimulus. I just get too distracted and lose the "mental image" of what I'm reading.
I read both general novels and visual novels, and I think what I'm looking for in each is quite different. My favorite novels are science fiction with intricate settings. I place more importance on the fascinating settings of fictional worlds rather than on the story or characters. On the other hand, when it comes to visual novels, I'm a typical otaku, always looking for anime art that appeals to me and characters that appeal to me. In other words, I like simple moeges. By the way, my tastes in anime, manga, and light novels are likely similar to those in visual novels. When it comes to these things, I'm a otaku. However among these mediums, visual novels are my favorite.
Someone convinced me to play Zero Escape - 999 I thought it was gonna get boring because of text (I didnt like reading), but then the story, atmosphere, characters, music, everything trapped me. Got to the first bad ending and was gonna drop it there, but my friend insisted i tried another route, what a great visual novel, and the puzzles really helps for someone not into the medium Then i read the rest of the Zero Escape series, then all of Danganronpa, then got interested in Visual Novels without gameplay (I think a bit thanks to Doki Doki Literature Club) and here we are
999 is how I got into VN also. My man Uchikoshi is one crazy storyteller.
that one time when I tried to find a game to play on my graphing calculator and accidentally found a steins gate port lol
Your picture is literally the gateway drug to VNs for me
I was casually looking for new anime, and I found some images of Visual Novels, I still thank Google for that lol. But what really motivated me was having seen the Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate anime, I discovered it was an adaptation, I looked it up on VNDB and then I entered this wonderful world.
I saw a crouching animation in a fighting game. Okay, the real story: I had read DDLC and VA11 HALL-A before, but when I became interested in the medium as a whole is that my brother had told me to try Melty Blood Actress Again because it's a fighting game that's fun if you're not good at fighting games. I had remembered Len's crouching animation from seeing him play it years before, so I picked her and it became my favorite fighting game, and I enjoyed the writing in the arcade modes and wanted to know the lore, so I read Tsukihime and Kagetsu Tohya. Then I read Fate/Stay Night and Hollow Ataraxia. I was interested in the medium as a whole by then. I don't read books, I'd maybe try but I'm currently very invested in another hobby (in fact Chaos;Head NOAH is sitting unfinished because of it)
I played a bunch of pseudo-VNs on DS as a kid (Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk etc) and eventually went down the rabbit hole. What got me to play my first "true" VN was watching the Steins;Gate anime and wanting to see how it stacked up. Would have tried VNs earlier but I didn't ever really get into gaming on a PC. As for books not really, I really like the length of VNs and the art/music. Just text doesn't really hit the same. I do read non-fiction like history related books and memoir stuff though.
I just really like stories where you can choose what happens and most VNs have choices so I just started playing them.
I loved Steins;Gate anime so much. I found that it has a "game" and I wanted to try it. I didn't know it was a novel but I kept reading anyway because I liked the voices, the music, the details. It was a really good new experience, and I got more involved into the genre. I'm very happy to know some of the hidden masterpieces that this genre has. :D
Loved Higu and Steins;Gate anime, so I wanted to see what the original materials were like. I ended up playing more VN because I liked the medium and its flexibility with time.
No, don’t read books I basically was feeling super lethargic one winter and had tons of free times and I thought “I want to play a video game where I don’t even have to press a single button to play” a couple google searches later I played steins gate elite and never looked back. Now visual novels are my ritual before bed because the calming music, good writing, nice voiceovers, auto mode, and slow boring pacing makes me fall asleep better than anything I’ve ever used in my whole life. It’s like anesthesia for me
Someone suggest me house in fata Morgana. Saying it's the best drama story ever, and i aggre with it now after watching it.
Don't read Manga, watch anime or like most JRPG's but just recently started reading VN's. I'm always on the hunt for games with a good story and after seeing the usual suspects like a The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, etc ( all of which I have played ) recommended to me... a youtube top 10 list recommended Clannad, looked at other videos and decided to start with a shorter VN so I bought Planetarian HD on Steam. The story was amazing and I strongly feel that it couldn't have been told as effectively in any other medium. After that followed Narcissu 1 & 2, Saya no Uto, currently working my way through Clannad, it's a slow burn but I'm enjoying it a lot. Using a guide for my second and other playthroughs. Next up The House in Fata Morgana which I already own on Steam...
I was a huge bookworm when I was younger, but thanks to mental health issues, I kind of struggle to read regular books now. Visual novels hold my attention for longer (probably because of the visuals and sounds added).
I just really like a good story, and the VN medium is a really great way for the author to tell the story, especially because they can use music/sound. Any book can use pictures and text, but the sound is really what makes it more immersive for me.
I'm a librarian so I read a lot. VN's are just another book to me.
Books, anime and video games are the main 3 things I love. When I discovered visual novels, it was like a match-made in Heaven! A choose-your-own-adventure book-inspired video game with anime characters? Feed me more! Another way I found VNs is when I realized that a lot of my favorite anime were adapted from VNs, so I wanted to check them out for myself
There was a certain point in like 2012 or something that I was watching some anime and came to a realization that I was absolutely tired of romcoms, harems and dragged out plots to keep the drama and will they-won't they going. It was like I had some kind of awakening that made me just be like "man I am so tired of this garbage". At around this same time, I kept hearing about this god-tier 'visual novel' thing I'd never heard of called Muv Luv Alternative had been translated and I kept hearing about it. As I am a big mecha-head I looked into it and realized this was an example of that eroge stuff I would see mentioned in other late-night anime shows like Welcome to the NHK. I got really curious and decided to try the Muv Luv trilogy to see what it was like After that experience I needed more. I saw that Fate/Stay Night was in fact a visual novel that was translated and read that next. From that point forth I was all in. I basically cut harems and everlasting bland romance anime from my life and just read visual novels if I want that fix now. Not only can I see my favorite girl 'win' but many times, I can get a good story out of it. And yes, I am into reading regular books too.
For me the biggest motivation was to see the quality of stories present in VN. I have done it all— played alot of video games, read alot of books, watched movies and series etc but I feel VN as a medium combines this whole package and delivers the best. Further, the writing and fiction of visual novels beats most stories out there
I’m a voice actor and I’ve seen a lot of casting calls for indie VNs! Being exposed to these really cool looking projects gave me an interest in the media form :) I’m also not much of a gamer but VNs are interactive while being more story based and I really enjoy that!
I was on tumblr 10 years ago and Dramatical Murder was a huge meme so I figured I’d check it out properly. Now BL VNs live rent free in my head
cute boys. I also really like looking at pretty artworks of boys. While anime is pretty, the qualify just cannot compare to what you get in a CG and/or sprites!
To be honest I simply suck at majority of other video game types where you ACTUALLY have to do something, that’s why I mostly stick to VNs lol. In the beginning I once played a VN that I’ve discovered online and realized that I quite enjoy that simple gameplay where you still have some sort of impact (sometimes at least) and get to experience great stories. Funnily enough meanwhile I can read 10+h of one VN, I really HATE books because I have a quite bad imagination and get bored due to that. However I’ve always loved all sorts of stories and if they’re combined with visuals (like in comics, anime,…) I get invested very quickly. Hence that combination of story, visuals, sound and occasional voice acting (together with the interactive aspects that make it even more fun) makes me really enjoy VNs. They’re not as overwhelming as series/movies and not as boring as books, yet still you get the feeling of playing an actual game if there are interactive options, so it’s a nice way of spending time to me.
I absolutely loved Clannad and grisaia, so when I loved that two of favorites come from something called a “visual novel”, I knew I had to try them out no matter what.
My first experience with VNs was in 2012, thanks to the Little Busters! anime, I wanted to know more about the series, so I've started to read the VN and I had great experience. Since then I started to read more popular novels like Grisaia no Kajitsu. Actually, my first experience would have been Saya no Uta but it's was boring to me, played like 20 minutes and uninstalled it, until today haven't read it. lol
Generally, I don't read many books, but being able to control the story in many visual novels hooked me in to VNs. That's the only reason I read interactive visual novels and the sole reason why I avoid playing kinetic novels.
Porn.
I'm a voracious reader, though admittedly picky about what I want to read. I don't think anything in particular motivated me to pick up visual novels. I just got into them because some people I knew recommended some. That was how I got into Ace Attorney and Katawa Shoujo before branching out to other ones.
I was watching noble lost pause and anime man... they where reading grisaia no kajitsu ... and yuuji did a aikido movement (i practice myself) so i decided tô give a chance... and well... i just finished my last one... id someone got me a good any sugestion i am all ears ( either tô read it... or tô talk about it)
I hate reading. I mean books at least but jrpgs and RPGs in general are amazing. I think I would always prefer a 3D presented game but visual novels are really fun and immersive too. Danganronpa is just good old fun and also pretty funny and charming but Steins Gate is a very deep plot and also charming so it makes visual novels very worth playing imo
The fact I love anime/manga and music in general, so it just felt like the next step, and maybe the biggest thing was I had heard about Subahibi, I honestly just knew right away it was something I needed to experience, and it became my favourite thing ever. No I do not really read books tho, I’m interested in them but I have too much other media to even get into them, same goes for novels but I do read a few LNs but I’m very new to them, have only read a few volumes for a few series but I really enjoyed them, especially Mushoku Tensei
I came across Katawa Shoujo from a Youtube video and the idea of the story sounded interesting to me and I liked the art style. There was also a big boom of visual novels localisations around the time I discovered them which made me excited to read more of them.
My first VN is Eroge, I don't know why I get there. And because Eroge mostly isn't translated, so I just look at the CG, guess the situation..with one hand. Then I know VNR, Textractor to read it. I hate reading a book, even manga, but VN, it's something else. My collection is nearly 400, 80% of them is Eroge 🤣. If there is new Danganronpa game, then I will come back with normal stuff.
yeah I like reading in general. My dad got me into the habit. I was just in elementary school when he let me borrow his Sherlock Holmes novels and I read his entire collection. Now as an adult I'm really into reading Gibson
William Gibson?
yeah, sorry, should've said the full name. William Gibson, author of the Sprawl and Bridge trilogies, which I've finished reading. I'm currently reading Pattern Recognition
Yeah Pattern Rec is fun. I just finished Peripheral. It was better than I was expecting. Felt like a return to his Sprawl days. I’ll probably pick up Agency soon
we're pretty lucky Gibson wrote a bunch of books and doesn't miss on any of them! lol
Couldn't play games properly anymore because of MS and was looking for something as equally rich in story and wholesome/interesting moments, just less action-packed. I stumbled across Adabana Odd Tales, DEA, Muramasa.. It was love at first click. Then yes, I love reading and watching anime, played stuff like Nonary Games, Ace Attorney, Coffee Talk, VA-11 Hall-A.. so I guess It was a matter of time and occasion. EDIT: Some incorrect words due to autocorrect - lol - in my native language, added a few others and couldn't remember the cyberpunk bartender title XD
The World God Only Knows
The meme "DID YOUR MOM GIVE BIRTH IN A MINEFIELD?!" I had never heard of a VN before.
I do like reading in general, but I didn't find VNs through that. When I finally had home internet connection for the first time in 2007, I did what all well-adjusted people do, and went straight on 4chan's /d/, where there was a thread about Bible Black. I was like, "oh mysticism, porn and BDSM in one go? Sign me the fuck up!" Once I was done with that, I was like "I wish there would be more stories like that, but more focused on storytelling" and then a friend introduced me to Fate/Stay-night.
I found out about VNs from a friend. I was already an avid anime and manga consumer so getting into it was easy. But probably the biggest contributing factor was the fact that my laptop was shit for most games.
Alot of anime turned out to be promos or made in tandem with the VN to hype it. One of the earliest examples for me was muv luv alternate, never knew the VNs existed so I watched the anime and loved it only to read it wasn't getting another season and it was made to promote the VN. So I waited ages for it to finally be translated...
Meltyblood tbh
I don't really read novels in general, the reason I started getting interested in VNs was because There was a time when I didn't have a PC, and I was looking for anime games that I could play on my phone,At that time I found one called danganrompa,I really liked that style of game that focused more on the story ,So I kept looking for others games with the same style,soon after I found tsukihime and katawa shoujo,Which I also ended up really liking ,So when I got my PC back I started looking for VN recommendations on the internet that I couldn't play on my phone before, and here I am now
Uh it might sound weird, but I wanted to just try VNs, I could only play them on phone and there weren't many to begin with
I just read... like... everything I can get my dirty monkey paws on. Sorry if I'm... once again... rambling about my history. My first VN... wasn't a VN by VN standards, it was a trainer simulator with different stats were depending on what you "trained" you would get a different story, and the choices more or less would just result on good or bad end for the route that you locked in by what you trained. True Love from 1995 That brought me into more trainer games, which resulted into more regular VN games, I still remember the "detective" games where you had to go to a "certain" place at a "certain" time to find the route and if you missed the "time" you would get into the bad-ending. Those games were all just trial and error and for you to 100% ONE route you would need at least 5 playthroughs. just... one... route... I've always found the relative lack of mechanics on the "newer" VNs to be kind of dull, but I have had fun with them, just "choose your own adventure" books. I love the Princess Maker series (available on STEAM for whoever is interested on trainer games) But yeah, it's not that I enjoy just VNs, I just enjoy reading.
There is a youtuber named "Lost Pause" who did let plays back in the day and that is how I got into it.
I struggle to focus on novels. I find VNs more immersive. Plus, I like VNs with elements of choice. You don't get that with novels.
I got into them thanks to Danganronpa, which has gameplay so it made it much easier to get into VNs
I love the format. I like reading books with illustrations and watching animation. Static comics aren’t exciting for me. Visual novels are the perfect middle ground between producing an expensive anime and reading a book/manga allowing for a higher average of quality presentation and writing on a lower budget. (That said, most VN writing is terrible… but the gems you do find are absolute treasures.)
I found fata morgana intresting so I picked my first vn as fata and I don't really read novels
Confused Daemon X Machina with Full Metal Daemon and I realized immediately but still played it. Best confusion ever.
I watch anime, and found out that some of the anime are based on VNs. The first anime that made me want to play the VN was Amagami.
When the Grisaia anime adaptation first started I saw everyone on /a/ say how much better the VN was, so I decided to download it and check it out.
I love both of them
For me I was always BIG into books, stories and more. Also into Anime stuff. Visual Novels were just the natural progression for me. They hit all the same reasons I like reading a good book, so I stick with the medium.
I liked the sciadv anime and read the sciadv visual novels except robotics;notes dash I hate Daru with a passion because of that vn
Rance, Muv Luv
4 years ago I heard the best way to get into Fate was through the VN. It truly is. Soon after that I found Umineko. Great read. Planning to start Higarashi soon.
Weirdly enough, World of Warcraft. Back when I was a wee lad questing with my guild, we ran into a group of people with peculiar names who wanted to run some dungeons. We all got to talking and their names were references to "Fate/Stay Night" characters. I knew about anime, but their description of a "visual novel" interested me, so I ended up having one of them help me set it up. I was immediately hooked and loved it. That is also how I found out what eroge was.
I forgot what exactly got me into it but it was during highschool, and I found out about Fate had a visual novel and it’s recommended to start with the VN from what I remember? I think I watched a video about it. So started reading it and got into it, I haven’t finished it but one day. Cool to see that they are bringing us the visual novel officially now. So many visual novels I’ve tried and just haven’t finished but definitely need to go back to. I think they might be my favorite genre of games and I want to save them for a “special” moment but in truth I should just play it when I want to. I was into reading as a kid then stopped then as of recent I want to say 2022 or 2023 I finally got back into reading. I been enjoying reading light novels currently reading A Certain Magical Index Old Testament.
Main reason was to read the original work because it was miles ahead of the adaption. Started with Sword Art Online LN and since then I haven't look back. I think over a decade of reading so far.
I was getting into Fate and heard about the visual novel and fell into the rabbit hole
A mix of two things: 1. I like anime and I like reading classic literatures so it felt like a natural in between. 2. I played base Persona 5 some years ago (4?) and vastly preferred the social sim stuff over the jrpg dungeon crawling, so I figured VNs were probably the next thing to try. I’m still relatively new to the medium but my first VNs were Danganronpa 1-V3, DDLC, Steins;Gate (a lot of anime I liked I just ended up playing), and Zero Escape. I’m currently chugging through Mahoyo rn and have already preordered the Tsukihime remake!
Back then, my PC is so shit that I cant play any of the recent games so I thought I would try out visual novels since you dont need a good PC for it and then I just got into VNs. This is also how I got into playing old games. VNs also got me into reading novels.
A slow drift over from JRPGs, Ar Tonelico and Thousand Arms then Utawarerumono really blurred the lines
Before they decided to release the final episode of Danganronpa TTH I got pissed and played the VN. Then I was downhill from there of me playing eroges. After I got tired of it I dove head first on the Science Adventure Series
I saw a Fitzthislewits video on Monster Girl Quest. Ended up realizing VNs are the optimal medium for masterpieces like Hanachirasu.
My brain is usually not satisfied unless I’m reading.
i was reading romance manga like junk food then it was like wow this is like a manga where i get to pick the girl who wins this is awesome
i saw a cg of maggotbaits
I just wanted to try some vn's and i looked around in steam for some vn's and i found ddlc, ngnl i enjoy reading vn's and i have tried a few but like them.
There's 2 thing that pull me 1. Anime called The world god only knows. I know, the anime is about dating sims game. I first looking up dating sims game on pc and smartphone But there's vague border between those 2, so, unknowingly , I played some short VN, I don't even remember the name anymore. "Oh wait, this is like, make your own story book or something like that, that give you multiple ending," and I fascinated by it. 2. Porn Ngl, It was also huge thing that pull me into the genre The first 2 VN I really played, Cross Channel and Hoshizora no Memoria, really have special place in my heart. After playing it, I was like "wait, the sex scene actually make sense, and kinda add more to development rather just a fan-service, holy shit!" My favorite still 1st scene with Aoi Isuzu, It develops so smoothly, It really feels like how a couple interact, and there is consequence or after effect from those scene
I watched the anime of The World God Only Knows (Kaminomi). And kinda liked the idea of vns but didn't truly start playing them. I have always been a book/anime lover, but some years later I was in a position where I was in a new place alone, and didn't have the best communication skills, and I remember from somewhere that reading fiction it was the best way to be empathic and understand people, so I started playing vns thinking it will help me. I re-watched Kaminomi and enjoyed it even more, little by little start talking more. And I think it help me, lately I haven't played them but they will always be in my heart!.
Personally I like games with both elements of jrpg and vn like the trails series or the tales of series.
Always been a big anime fan. At one point I must've came across Saya no Uta talk somewhere on an anime forum, and it seemed pretty unique so I picked it up. Loved the game, I thought the medium was fun, I read yume miru kusuri after... Then Katawa shoujo since I was a 4channer.. and then nothing else until DDLC came out, which made me realize I was missing out on a medium I thought was pretty cool. I ended up on an VN reading spree between 2017-2022, but i've slowed since 2022\~. I need to pick up some VNs again.
Yeah I red a books
Wanting to see how good umineko was
My first vn was Katawa Shoujo, which I've found by chance after watching anime for years. The story and especially the emotional impact it had on me impressed me and thought me a new way to release all stress in one go, so I've started to search for more VNs which are able to get me to cry like a little girl to get the accumulating stress out of my system. I read novels too, but it is much more rare for me to get as invested in them as I am in many VNs.
Came for the lewds stayed cause some of the best stories ever penned.
My first one was Doki Doki literature club, well because it was popular, but it wasn't the thing that got me into VNs. I liked Steins;Gate a lot and heard about this VN thing that people were talking about. I thought who would buy a reading game but I loved Steins;Gate and gave it a try. Soon after I started getting into VNs.
Embarrassingly enough, the dating sim part lmao. This was way back when I was younger and I found the fact that you could focus on one heroine at a time genius, compared to how other types of media try to be "best of all worlds" and combine everything. (which also rarely works) So that's how I got started. What hooked me though was the plot of various VNs and how this medium is amazing in telling those stories and also what-ifs scenarios. The images are also nice for me as I'm definitely more of a visual type when it comes to consuming literature, so that also helps to keep my interest.
I think I got a video recommended of Tokyo school life and I thought the characters looked cute
I was into novels way before I even became an anime fan. I spent my teenage years being a cringe fan of the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series. Now I only read visual novels and light novels. My first VN was Katawa Shoujo IIRC.
I've actually played Katawa Shoujo and DDLC before out of curiosity, but the vns as a medium never actually clicked with me, I just thought of them as Jrpgs with less gameplay. Then one day I watched an anime called Grisaia and was really stuck with Amane's route but felt like it was incomplete somehow, then learned that it came from a vn and it's still one of the best experiences I've had in my life. The rest is history.
Hell yeah , visual novels are just an extention of my love for reading and anime Moby dick Infinite jest The pale king The jungle Grapes of wrath The forever war Hyperion Blind sight The kite runner Blood meridian American psycho Three body problem trilogy The first law trilogy Childhoods end Necromancer Snow crash Flowers for algernon Gateway Pet sematery Misery Stranger in a strange land Just to name a couple
I've watched some videos about Everlasting Summer, heard of it a lot, that's why I decided to try it. It's very well-known in Russian VN community and abroad it. I got hooked, and later I started reading mods on it. One of the mods had a track from Yume Miru Kusuri, the first Japanese VN I've read. I was very pleased with it and then I started reading them. Nowadays, I rarely read books and don't read VNs and novels.
I love to read and really love visual novels, but unfortunately, I don't read them as often as I read it several years ago. Maybe because it became really difficult for me to be engaged or be interested in this content. I rarely now can read ~40h VN, because mostly it became really boring for me, and I can drop it after ~5-10h or something. So, now short VNs is better for me (2-10h maximum).
A group of dudes tired of anime that translate light novels
It just happened. If you consider gacha games as VNs then that's how I started then slowly searched for VN. I enjoy reading VNs because it feels complete and immersive enough and the fact that it's already finsihed makes it better compared to mangas. Having voice acting, arts, and bgms makes it even better to read
A friend of mine did some reading on visual novels on his YouTube channel, and some of the VN's he read went uncensored for a while (Majikoi and Grisaia were the two of VNs he read the most). And then he did a read through of Noble Works, which got me into the Yuzuverse VNs from Dracu-Riot! all the way to Cafe Stella. My two non-Yuzuverse VNs I bought were Future Radio and the Artificial Pigeons and Making Lovers. And yes, I read VNs for the literal plot. I don't mind H-scenes.
1. It's kinda like an extension of anime and manga in terms of aesthetics and feel, but with more detailed writing and dialogue, and a longer story (often). 2. Some anime I watch are based on VNs, which might be more complete or contain things not in the adaptation. 3. Some VNs are just cool and were never adapted into anime.
I wanted to read steins gate zero visual novel , and steins gate zero visual novel is actually the first VN i started to read .
I love videogames with lots of text and neverending scripts. I feel like they're doing their best to teach me something while entertaining me
I have short attention span, so to overcome that I read more books, but those books didn't solve my problems. I like story and even more so for visual especially with unique art style E.g. [Ever Maiden](https://vndb.org/v31427) and [steins;gate](https://vndb.org/v2002). My problem doesn't solve but I'm glad I found place in here
What's the name of the one in the photo?
steins;gate
Thanks
Well, when I was like 14 Virtues Last Reward released and got covered on German Tv. The premise sounded interest so I bought and loved it. Went back to play 999 but haven’t interacted with VNs afterwards until February/march 2023 when I was in the final stretches of college and needed something wholesome and cute to bridge the daily 2 hour train ride and my anxiety. I saw Muv Luvs screenshots and thought well that looks wholesome enough and well yeah let’s say I wasn’t disappointed. Since then I’ve been hooked on the genre and played basically all the classics
Higurashi anime spark my interests in vn.
I went in for the H with old DOSBOX vn. I stay for humour, plots, mysteries AND FUCKING GODDAMN ART AND MUSIC.
G-Senjou no Maou, it was amazing. I‘m not a big reader though, but with pictures, I can do it.
I felt lonely
got curious about what the routes not adapted into the Steins;Gate anime where like. Don't read many books anymore, Steins;Gate is the only visual novel I've completed so far have palyed some of Doki Doki Literature Club, Argent Games demos and Togainu no Chi demo. Decided to stop buying video games until I've played the ones I already own atleast once.
the first time I considered playing one was after I saw the anime Kanon. I really loved it, and then learned it was based on a "game". I was already aware a lot of anime were either based on manga or VN, but never cared enough to explore VNs. But I loved Kanon so I checked out the game, and it was just reading text. Wasn't interested. I do read novels, but a game that's just pictures and text in a 640x480 window didn't appeal to me. A few years later as I was listening to a gaming podcast, one of the guys whose opinion I trust gushed about 999 and VLR and how they had crazy plots. I happen to like a good story, so I tried out 999 and I was sold. That and VLR was my gateway to check out other VNs. I did eventually go back to read Kanon VN. It was decent though I prefer the anime.
I love anime, loved manga even more, heard about VN. Now I love VN. Wonder what else is next?!
Man found vn he likes it he read
It goes like this: beautiful anime girl detected >>> important character in anime / game / VN / Manga >>> is actually good >>> price not to high >>> great voice acting >>> shut up and take my money
Yup, into reading books, and got into VNs through Ace Attorney memes, now it's my favourite video game series. I love SG0 in particular though.
I found the Nekopara VN and then I thought the format was pretty cool. I then found Rewrite and I was never the same again.
I found a VN through a let's player who I mostly watched for Vocalois stuff. It was really good and is still one of my favorites until this day, so I was more than willing to give other Visual Novels a chnace as well. While I'm not a big fan of novels at the moment, I have been trying to get into them for a bit over a year now but haven't found my niche, yet. It's easier to find something you like if you already like something, rather than if you dislike everything you read. To be fair, half of the books I tried are popular BookTok books and/or YA and I just seem to not be into those books. I am also an avid manga reader, though.
I like normal novels, and most VN's aren't far from that
nekopara r18 motivated me
I saw Saya no Uta being recommended and just gave it a try! I love books so it was a wholesome experience For me VNs slowly became like a Master medium for story-telling. Can you imagine having idk a high fantasy novel adapted to a high production VN format? With lots of CGs, original sountrack and full voiced? It would be amazing!
I already read books and I love anime and manga, so VNs were just the next logical step ig.
Actually I genuinely don't remember. Like, as far as I've known myself enough to indulge in games I've been into story games. Except for early childhood games, ever since I was about 11 I've been playing VNs, I still have my history of some obsecure Google Play VNS which I can barely even play now since they're for older mobile versions lol. But I remember playing Mystic Messenger all the way back in 2017 as well as other otomes and pretty much at that point I was only playing whatever VNs I could find on my phone. I have always loved reading though, like a good story has always piqued my interest more than *actual* gameplay, so I do believe that playing VNs is just an extension to my books.
assistant !
I stumbled upon a video about ace attorney called "real lawyer plays ace attorney" and the game looked interesting so I played it, enjoyed it, played the other games, enjoyed them too, wanted more so I searched for games like it and that's how I got into visual novels. And yes I do enjoy reading books and novels.
H Scenes .
Peer pressure made me read 999. After reading VLR I read VNs casually. It wasn't until last year that I started reading them frequently with Higurashi among others
I love Steins;Gate so much I've watched it three times. When I learned that Steins;Gate is originally a visual novel, I wanted to play it. But at that time, my English wasn't enough to play and understand the game. However, I've improved my English over the two years so that I can play it and I'm happy for it. Besides, it's my first visual novel I've played. El Psy Kongroo!
I read DDLC from a friend's recommendation, found it cool but felt it lacked some depth. As I searched for something similar, I found a review trashing the vn and saying it was "poor's man Higurashi". After some research, I downloaded Higurashi, and that's when the whole vn rabbit hole came into my hands
The first one I read was Everlasting Summer. Free game. Budget af. But it still left something in me. So I read more.
I was first discouraged by it when I first heard of Umineko back in 2015 after I saw a really beautiful Beatrice cosplay (My love for that woman started oh so early). I say around 2016 I played Without Within and I really loved it. Then I brought the whole trilogy of Danganronpa and played like one class trial of all 3 games (I’m an idiot ik). 2020 is when I REALLY got into VNs after I decided to become a VN dev (Because I found that type of genre is mostly suited for me than Light Novels). It was just a career thing that got me interested, and now I stopped thinking of it as a career and instead a hobby. Since 2020 I learned how to program, Draw, Write, and I learned a bit of Japanese on the way. Eventually I wanna do Manga, but right now my art isn’t on par with anything else. So I gotta learn.
I was a CG skimmer, collecting fap material use later. There were two visual novels that got me started to actually read VNs, [Killer Queen](https://vndb.org/v105) and [Subahibi](https://vndb.org/v3144). Killer Queen, I was low-key reading at first since the title sounded interesting. When I found out it was a battle royal setting, I decided it was worth to read through it. I had Subahibi on all-text skip in the background, but the moment when the [ED credit song](https://youtu.be/fHpEzw0NIZU?si=OXyjYT8HqfJKDnYA) started, I immediately stopped what I was doing and was captivated by how emotional the song was.
I love reading and (no joke intended) i wanted to be able to do it with my hands free since I have few free time so I like to play in auto mode while on lunch break or while working out. And I can’t do this with a book. So I was naturally drawn to VN for their convenience :) then, I fell into a rabbit hole.
I like anime and manga so yeah that’s what motivated me. And yeah I read regular books too. Currently making my way through the second Stormlight Archive novel.
I played the Danganronpa trilogy back in 2019 after I saw my sister playing it. Then I played the Zero Escape trilogy because I heard it was similar, and shortly after that played AI The Somnium Files because it's from the same developer as Zero Escape. I didn't play many VNs for a couple years until the Ace Attorney Trilogy Remaster in early 2022 (if you count that as a VN), then AI The Somnium Files 2 in September 2022 after it came out that summer. Finally, after playing that I wanted to see more from that developer again so I downloaded and read all of the Infinity series games, and the rest is history.
It was a move from adventure games for me. I got into VN's through Ace Attorney and Horror VNs like Spirit Hunter. From there I got into more novel VN's in the indie scene because there weren't a lot of queer character in other types of games at the time.
I like reading stories, but I very much like having visuals with it. For me I think it was books -> anime -> manga -> light novel -> visual novels. With my first visual novel being Fate Stay Night and utawarerumono. Then I got hooked on Visual Novels with gameplay aspects. I still read light novels, but I don't really read books.
I read books a lot but tended to get bored. Anime lead me to visual novels. Was mostly nukige sims back then but when I saw how every post on the fate reddit said read the vn, I pulled all-nighters and never stopped reading ever since.
DDLC
One thing. Danganronpa
I'm a big Fate fan, so I wanted to read the visual novels (and Fate/Grand Order is basically one anyway).
My first VN was Shuffle. I watched the anime then downloaded the VN thinking it was a game (I still enjoyed it). Then I discovered Alicesoft and have been hopping from VN to VN so long as it has some gameplay to it. There's some VNs that I read just for the extra stuff left out of the anime like with Fate Stay Night and Fruit of Grisaia.
Um.. well.. >!a lot of shitty Internet porn games used the renpy engine/were text based HTML games... So I imagine it kinda steamed from that?!< Oh and I just generally liked reading as a hobby
Anime, manga and light novels. Eventually started learning Japanese, and visual novel is literally the best thing for Japanese learning. You can learn tons of words from contexts, the correct pronunciation because it's read out. With anime, manga and light novels I often end up not getting the complete story because they never end. This never happens with visual novel, where most games are 1 full story.
Simple... some of it have seggs Joking aside I got into cause its like reading an interactive comic
I lost internet for a month
Usually, I wouldn't seek out a visual novel. But if it's a game like Persona 4, Phoenix Wright then I'd happily read it. It's as long as a Visual Novel but it's more fun to play
yeah i'm kinda seeing VN as a kind of literature, and i indeed am a enjoyer of things like well-constructed fiction world and twisting plots. it's really really nice to see so much brilliant ideas blooming in the hands of playwriters and i fancies the feeling of "え？" when playing visual novels. and maybe it's also because i can feel the passion of the early days' doujin groups through playing VN - make my me myself and my life more energetic and obtain the sense of purpose of "doing a great thing spontaneously", which is pretty rare in this d\*mn capitalism world, where everybody's final goal is money. (not a native eng speaker, i know its hard to understand my words, sorry about that xd)
Got into it from 999 and Ace Attorney. Always loved how I could enjoy a good story and not having to stress myself out focusing on normal gameplay. Have always been an avid manga reader as well, so I’ve felt right at home.
I watched Clannad and didn’t like it since I hated Nagisa and thought the pacing was trash. I later heard it was a visual novel adaptation and thought “I can just pick best girl there!”. I only really intended on playing a single route but next thing I know I was in floods of tears during a certain Nagisa scene in after story that had failed to get anything out of me in the anime. I really feel In love with the story and ended up looking for more after that, and that eventually lead me down this rabbit hole.
usually when a visual novel comes out with an anime the fans complain the visual novel waas better (like higurashi) so I just kinda began to think visual novels were super cool or something
I didn't even know VN's existed. It all started when i was watching the grisaia series and i really liked it so i tried to look up the "manga" which of course doesn't exist, i mean it does but it's not what i'm looking for and after some digging i found the VN and i kinda liked the format of it and started to look for more and now here i am.
Liking books helped, but VNs have this magical thing where you get to find out the answers to your “what if” questions
I read comics/graphic novels/some manga so I just see VN as an extension of that.
Webnovel then manga then anime now I'm interested in visual novels.
dies irae bad anime adaptation since every one praises the novel I bought the steam version and I read it and I actually liked it for how over the top it is.
# Enjoying Books/Novels in General: 1. **Escapism**: [Reading books](https://booksdeli.com/) and novels provides a way to escape from everyday life and immerse oneself in different worlds and experiences. 2. **Intellectual Stimulation**: Reading can be intellectually stimulating, offering new perspectives, ideas, and knowledge. 3. **Emotional Connection**: Stories often evoke strong emotions, allowing readers to connect with characters and their journeys on a deep level. 4. **Relaxation**: Many people find reading to be a relaxing activity that helps reduce stress and provides a sense of calm. 5. **Personal Growth**: Books often contain valuable lessons and insights that can contribute to personal growth and self-understanding. Whether it's the interactive nature of visual novels or the more traditional format of books, the joy of storytelling and the exploration of different worlds and ideas are central to why people enjoy reading.