English Visual Novels With Good Stories, Please?

[Bane Rieko]

I can say that my favorite kind of game is a visual novel for the PC. The problem is I have trouble finding good ones in English without worrying if they're all h-scenes or boring. Be they official or fan translated, the problem is always the same.

So, I was wondering if anyone could help me out by suggesting a few. Here's a list of what I have that I like and what I'm trying to get a hold of. Most of the ones with fan translations I had imported (I recommend most of these):

What I have:
True Remembrance
Narcissu (and a few other short free ones)
Ever 17 ~Out of Infinity~ (In my opinion, one of the best out there)
Yo-Jin-bo
Clannad
D.Nd: Poisoned (Death Note yaoi doujin novel by my friend Akane)
Fate/Stay Night
Saya no Uta
Yume Miru Kusuri
Tsukihime (thanks for friends who picked it up for me!)
Utawarerumono
Enzai
Absolute Obedience
Animamundi

What I want (and can't find/buy yet):
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Please recommend some with patches or with English releases. I don't mind if they have H-scenes (as you can probably tell from my list, though with yaoi it is welcome), but I'd prefer ones without any. Patches, official, doijin, I like them all.

[junesue]

there aren't really many english visual novels nor patches for them in the first place dude.
you probably listed 80 percent of them right there, heh.

if you want basically a complete list of every single japanese language visual novel that has A PATCH in the works or completed, take a look at shii.org . it has a running list of them.

there are still english eroge that are actually commercially released by companies like peach princess though. ex: princess waltz.

but funnily enough you dont have tears to tiara on there.

i dont like the art style of tears to tiara as much as utawarerumono, but to me it feels like it has a little more epic story line.

[Bane Rieko]

Originally Posted by junesue

there aren't really many english visual novels nor patches for them in the first place dude.
you probably listed 80 percent of them right there, heh.

if you want basically a complete list of every single japanese language visual novel that has A PATCH in the works or completed, take a look at shii.org . it has a running list of them.

there are still english eroge that are actually commercially released by companies like peach princess though. ex: princess waltz.

but funnily enough you dont have tears to tiara on there.

i dont like the art style of tears to tiara as much as utawarerumono, but to me it feels like it has a little more epic story line.

There are a lot, and I know most of them... I should have made it more clear, what I want is recommendations for ones people have enjoyed. The link was very helpful though, thanks.

And now I must find Tears to Tiara and get the English Patch! Thanks for pointing it out for me.

[Otus]

If you liked Saya no Uta, give Chaos;Head a try. I have no idea about the quality of the translation, but according to TLWiki, it's completed despite having some bugs and poorly edited cg.

EDIT: Flipped trough some of the links SaraFilipa provided and noticed that One ~ To the Radiant Season ~ has also been translated. It's made by the same people that formed Key(Air, Kanon, Clannad etc.). Despite pretty poor looks and somewhat an asshole protagonist I really recommend this one.

[Coruja]

The Chaos;Head translation is pretty good, and I really enjoyed the VN. Also, it has no hentai scenes.

As for other fan-translated games, I also recommend Togainu no Chi, and Remember11 ~The Age of Infinity~ (a must if you liked Ever17). All of these are getting translated or/and have some kind of patch out already.

Umineko and Higurashi are great well, so I would recommend getting those. The Umineko translation team is VERY fast and they are doing a wonderful job too.

You should check out these sites, too:

http://www.rikkaidai.net/otomeeternal/ (girl-oriented only fan-translated VNs)
http://witch-hunt.com/ (Umineko no Naku Koro ni translation team site - where you can download for free the first episode (out of the four that are out already))
http://www.tsukuru.info/tlwiki/index...e=Chaos%3BHead (Chaos;Head translation project page)
http://www.midoshiro.com/blwiki/doku.php/start (boys-love translated VNs; highly incomplete though)
http://www.tsukuru.info/tlwiki/index...Novel_Projects (list of most of the active translation projects over the internet)
http://www.tsukuru.info/tlwiki/index...Novel_Projects (Some completed VN translations out there)
http://www.tsukuru.info/tlwiki/index...Novel_Projects (another list)
http://novelnews.net/ (news site, most news are about the fan translations)
http://www.tsukuru.info/tlwiki/index...ge_of_infinity (Remember11 translation project)

Sorry for the long list, but I heart Visual Novels as well and I feel that there are clearly not enough VNs translated for the ocidental fans. I mean, not without hentai-scenes, and I dislike these thoroughly.

Also, there is going to come out D.Nd:Infection, by Akane, and you can download a very small intro too. I can't wait for this one. The final game should come out in a few months.

[Mentar]

Definitely Phantom of Inferno, which I would rate at least on the same level as anything you listed. (It also has an anime conversion right now)

Here's a link to a review I've written about it:

http://www.designchronicle.com/memen...me_review.html

[metamorphic]

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recommend Red Shift, a free doujin by Team EXTRA. While it might be short, it has a truly bittersweet and touching storyline; one of the best I've come across.

[meh]

I believe Da Capo's out in English now, right? I'm not sure if it qualifies as having a good story. If you've watched the anime, you have a good idea.

But seriously, the first game you should be getting is umineko.

[Bane Rieko]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! I'll be sure to look out for these games and patches that I can get a hold of!

[grimwald]

Kana - Little Sister
Crescendo

Both have hentai elements. Might not be your cup o' tea, but they both have good stories.

[izmosmolnar]

If you enjoyed Uta and it's Turn-based strategy aspect I recommend checking out Castle Fantasia2. Even though it's several years old by now, I believe the art of Studio E-go is still stunningly beatiful. It's basically a harem-Turn-based strategy-Visual Novel game. There is a fantranslated version and it's gameplay is quite long actually.
And I really recommend to buy Umineko before the anime comes out, it's worth every penny .

[hodil]

Originally Posted by Bane Rieko

What I want (and can't find/buy yet):
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni

http://www.himeyashop.com/advanced_s...ywords=umineko

Episode 4 of Umineko contains 1,2,3! ^^

[violentv]

lol..I cant help but notice that u have played tsukihime..
but kagetsu tohya isnt in the list!
plenty of good short stories in the tsukihime fan disc too.

How about melty blood? lol.. despite all the fighting it is still a visual novel I guess


Chaos head is pretty awesome too..just dont be too disappointed with the 1st arc's ending.

erm..since you have played Utawarerumono, why not try the other game that Leaf has....Tears to Tiara. In terms of storyline I guess ToT loses out to Utaware but it is still pretty engaging.

There is quite a bit of hype over Snow Sakura also right? zzz..well I tried the game..and..I didnt like the character designs..character development was pretty good..but somewhere in the middle I got bored and stopped.

By the way..I am going to start ever17 soon..zz took me forever to finish fate/hollow ataraxia ( chinese patch!) ..how long did you guys take to finish ever17?

[iMPRESTOR]

great recommendations, i better start crackin'!