Recommending Story-first games

[365 others]

It doesn't really mater. Both story and character development are blatantly worse in the second part of the game. It soon becomes a sex romp where the MC roams around the city from booty call to booty call to make every LI's fan happy enough with the number of scenes their fav girl gets.

Aaaawww man! I hate it when they do that. I like harem games, but it's hard to find a balanced one. Most of them end up as you say, going from booty call to booty call, and the whole main arc/story gets lost there. In some cases, even the main story gets affected by the events in some of the sex scenes and then starts losing coherency quite rapidly.

I don't remember what chapter I was when I stopped. I think it was right after they escaped the city. I hoped to catch up as I liked the story so far (even tho it already had started showing the effects of having too many LIs), but now I guess I'll leave it at that thinking it was a "good ending".

My thoughts are the same bro! I don't feel anything for almost any of the characters and that includes the MC, I think the worst of all this is the music star and the plane ride to a party, there's no point in doing that if you don't care much about the characters yet, because when you do care about them just a bonfire around them while they talk is enough to make it memorable.

The models seem good to me, I don't have many complaints there and the only character that interested me was the girl who wanted to commit suicide, too bad the plane ride killed my desire to get the story, maybe one day I'll give it a more drunken try to hold out until I get to her part of the story.

For me, it was a bit of everything, but nothing as a whole. I liked the kinks you can get to do/see with the friend who had a crush on MC since the beginning (Linda, I think?). I also liked how Cece was written, and her struggles with depression and suicide attempts were well described (reminded me of a case of a close friend).

However, the game could have been done without nearly all the other characters. The whole Lexi arc was too forced, and the Stephanie arc made no sense to me. Despite being something that was supposed to be essential for the main arc, its story, and the way it was developed left the main arc as if it was made of patches instead of having its own right and reason to exist.

 

[NukaCola]

Thread created in 2021. Why I only finding this now. Great list. Bookmarked. Although I already played or passed most games on the list.

 

[CyKrix]

This is my personal "F95 Zone greatest AVNs of all time"

1) Pale Carnations

2) Corporate Culture

3) Being a DIK

4) everything Tlaero & Mortze made (being Finding Miranda and Saving Chloe my favourites - just because Miranda is my favourite character )

5) Friends in Need

6) La Fille de la Zone aka Sophie: the Girl from the Zone

7) A Struggle with Sin (I know, I know, this is a RPG)

8) Rovering to Sussex

9) Now and Then (it has some flaws, anyway)

10) One Day at a Time



My Biggest disappointments (really really good AVNs that went totally south):

- City of Broken Dreamers, Hillside and MIST because the stories went totally south after a while (CoBD after Henry dies; Hillside after Zak is killed; MIST after MC and the girls run away and leave their house); Hillside will never be completed, anyway
- Summer Scent because it will NEVER be completed and the Author is definitely stuck with the story
- Estate: Dominate because it's abandoned even though its scammer dev claims he's still working on it (yeah, whatever).

I 2nd - Being A DIK - https://f95zone.to/threads/being-a-dik-v0-10-1-drpinkcake.25332/
It's easily one of the best AVN out there

Some others are

Superhuman - https://f95zone.to/threads/superhuman-v0-986-weirdworld.74436/

Project ATMOSPHERE - https://f95zone.to/threads/project-atmosphere-v0-4-p3-hotfix-1-dr-mad.49245/

Artemis - https://f95zone.to/threads/artemis-v0-5-1-digi-b.77680/

 

[thanks for the demos]

Strangers on Paper chapter 2 recently got released

 

[Vasin]

Strangers on Paper is, probably, the most well-directed game I have played on this site. Not to say that there aren't other games that have the same level of quality in the writing minutiae, but this game feels 100% organic in it's unity of intent and expression. All the other games with good direction, in my opinion, sadly lack in storytelling value (Summer Heat, A Shot in the Dark, and, recently, Beyond Tomorrow. That last one had an amazing opening scene, but then turned out to just be... okayish)

To call back to a somewhat recent discussion, the only minor thing that annoys me in this game are these tiny inconsequential choices on how to answer a particular question, or some other minor detail. They feel less like a narrative device and more like a tribute to the "gameness" of it all. I'd honestly be fine with just having to click one of two choices and just seeing the story as a kinetic novel. Maybe there will be some more branching down the line, we'll see.

 

[365 others]

Strangers on Paper is, probably, the most well-directed game I have played on this site. Not to say that there aren't other games that have the same level of quality in the writing minutiae, but this game feels 100% organic in it's unity of intent and expression. All the other games with good direction, in my opinion, sadly lack in storytelling value (Summer Heat, A Shot in the Dark, and, recently, Beyond Tomorrow. That last one had an amazing opening scene, but then turned out to just be... okayish)

To call back to a somewhat recent discussion, the only minor thing that annoys me in this game are these tiny inconsequential choices on how to answer a particular question, or some other minor detail. They feel less like a narrative device and more like a tribute to the "gameness" of it all. I'd honestly be fine with just having to click one of two choices and just seeing the story as a kinetic novel. Maybe there will be some more branching down the line, we'll see.

The art/renders, the description, and the reviews look good. How much content does it have (in read/play time)? It's been out for a bit over a year, yet it's still in chapter 2.

 

[Vasin]

The art/renders, the description, and the reviews look good. How much content does it have (in read/play time)? It's been out for a bit over a year, yet it's still in chapter 2.

Depends on your reading / click speed but I would say it's on a shorter side. The chapters do feel like a cohesive chapter rather than ending at an abrupt "we ran out of time, so here's what we have" moment. The game is planned to be quite short overall too, which in my opinion plays in it's favor.

If you want to explore both paths, it's probably around 2.5-3 hours currently? I'm really bad at estimating those things as I take a lot of breaks. Half that if you only play through it once

 

[jufot]

Occultus: Daughter of Darkness has its final chapter out on

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and should show up here soon. We've discussed it here before, but for those unfamiliar, it's a supernatural neo-noir mystery with good writing, a fleshed-out cast and a most excellent protagonist in Malady.

I should have added it to the OP a long time ago. Better late than never

 

[Birdnman993]

Occultus: Daughter of Darkness has its final chapter out on

You must be registered to see the links

and should show up here soon. We've discussed it here before, but for those unfamiliar, it's a supernatural neo-noir mystery with good writing, a fleshed-out cast and a most excellent protagonist in Malady.

I should have added it to the OP a long time ago. Better late than never

Is it over? What a pity, I thought it would have a few more chapters.

 

[jufot]

Is it over? What a pity, I thought it would have a few more chapters.

If it helps, it ends with a hook for another mystery for Malady to investigate

 

[zombieman69]

The Princess Trap, HTML game with good story and well written character, it has some AI and real art(I think), main theme is transformation.

 

[jufot]

Simple Beginnings is one of my favourite AVNs, certainly near the top of the list. Chapter 6 is out, and it concludes the first season of the game. I absolutely loved this episode, so here are some disorganized thoughts:

Spoiler: Massive spoilers inside

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[Birdnman993]

Spoiler

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Really? For me personally, this chapter only made me hate him even more, with regards to my version of Jenny, so if at some point Jenny manages to control her supernatural powers, oh boy, a torment worse than death awaits Carl.

 

[jufot]

Really? For me personally, this chapter only made me hate him even more

Yes, really. Keep in mind that for Carl, Jenny is simply a ticking time bomb that could get the woman he loves killed. That's a mighty powerful motivator. And we do see that he truly, sincerely loves Amanda, both from what he says to Bradford in the hospital, and what Amanda says during her torture scene. Now, Jenny does have every reason to hate him. I would too, in her shoes! But as the reader, I get to look at him dispassionately, and I just can't condemn a man willing to go to any length for the woman he loves. But I'm a romantic like that

 

[Birdnman993]

Yes, really. Keep in mind that for Carl, Jenny is simply a ticking time bomb that could get the woman he loves killed. That's a mighty powerful motivator. And we do see that he truly, sincerely loves Amanda, both from what he says to Bradford in the hospital, and what Amanda says during her torture scene. Now, Jenny does have every reason to hate him. I would too, in her shoes! But as the reader, I get to look at him dispassionately, and I just can't condemn a man willing to go to any length for the woman he loves. But I'm a romantic like that

I understand that point of view, something to take into account in my extended thoughts on the chapter, but hating it is inevitable for me.

 

[jufot]

I finally had some time for the second chapter of Strangers on Paper. It's been more than a year since I played the first one, so I started from the beginning. That was a good idea because I noticed a few things I missed the first time around:

Sober Me, if you’re somewhere in there, remember how her waist fits perfectly in your hand.

Spoiler

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On to chapter two, then. Amy first:

The problem is, you're in a Hallmark movie right now. We need to upgrade you to a better network.

Spoiler

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On to Becca:

How can you tell if a woman you're with has come?

Spoiler

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I just love this game. It's the first AVN I've added to my Patreon in quite a while, and it was missing from the OP for some reason, which has been duly corrected

P.S: The devs' Patreon has extensive behind the scenes stuff, including interviews, writing tips, and character building guides. It's worth subscribing for those alone.

 

[MrPocketRocket]

I love Scrubs. Have friends who worked on it. That's probably where, as you know, I stop agreeing;-)
Cheers!

 

[Deleted member 2577953]

I absolutely loved the different recollections Daniel and Amy have of their first day at school. Different facts, outfits, personalities and interactions. Daniel remembers Brandon and Samantha as assholes because he's already prejudiced against them, and he remembers Amy as a gorgeous girl with flowing hair. In her memories, though, Brandon and Samantha are sweet, and Amy just looks like a mousy girl wearing overalls. Such lovely contrast!

That was probably my most favorite part of this update.

Also, fully agree that it would have been much better if Amy's Fiance wasn't the typical villain.

But, man oh man, Becca's route... it was perfect in every way (At least for me.)

While, both routes are following a somewhat conventional trajectory, the meticulous care with which the art and writing is handled makes the whole game feel so... mesmerizing.

Nothing about the VN feels like it was made "easily". The devs worked really hard and it shows.

In short, loved SoP when I first played it a year ago, and I love it even more now.

 

[Zeruhhh]

Just like to chime in my .2, quite honestly Strangers on Paper and honorary mention Corporate Culture are the only two visual novels I’ve ever played where I walked away with a strong sense that the devs had a familiarity with creative writing. If I’m wrong, then even more props to you, devs. It was truly a pleasure to play the masterpiece that is Chapter 2 of SOP.

 

[jufot]

Nothing about the VN feels like it was made "easily". The devs worked really hard and it shows.

In short, loved SoP when I first played it a year ago, and I love it even more now.

Unsurprisingly, I agree completely