Steins;Gate, Danganronpa, or Zero Escape, What Would be a Better Gateway for Visual Novels?

[Hybris]

Zero Escape. Good mix of well done puzzle rooms and VN elements. Danganronpa would be 2nd on that list for me. The minigames are pretty bad so I feel like it would be a bad entry point since it's best to ease into something like a full VN. I haven't played Steins;Gate but it's a more traditional VN right? If so, definitely not that one. Loved the anime so I'm sure it's great, but not as an entry point.

 

[osnameless]

Uhhhhhhhh I would care all three games you listed intense and/or time consuming. Steins;Gate and Danganronpa are both 20+ hours. 999 can be done in like 10-15 hours. But all of them are extremely intense games and hit pretty heavy themes. I feel bad after playing Zero Escape games because of the game's atmosphere. You need to be able to stomach a lot of violence and death, sometimes graphic. Also Danganronpa and 999 are barely 'visual novels'. They're adventure games. Steins;Gate is the best and most VN of the trio, but it's quite the experience to jump straight into it.

Ace Attorney is the best answer (and again: not really a VN, but it's separated into cases and plays in chunks nicely and is much less intense) but yeah you're a little platform constrained there. Personally I'd say go for something Western like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango or Full Throttle, I consider them basically the same genre and they're PC-centric, but if you want the Japanese flavor... Ace Attorney still probably best. Find a way to play DS / iOS / Wii games?

If you have to choose one of the three series, I guess I'd say Danganronpa. It's probably the weakest but it's also probably the friendliest.

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I didn't phrase myself well, and I apologize for that. I chose those because I was aware they had a heavy-themed story, I am not interested in something light or inncous. What I meant by 'not intense and time-consuming', I guess, is some action adventure title with tons of collectibles or a fighting game that would require long sessions.

I played a good chunk of adventure games, and I've always wanted to try some other story-focused video game form, and visual novels fits the bill perfectly (at least that is my perception).

 

[zenspider]

Steins;gate is the only of the 3 I actually finished, so I'd go with that. It's a fantastic story, and there's no puzzles or minigames in the way of the story.

Danganropa was fun, but the exploration was an irritating interruption after a while, and at normal difficulty it's really hard to feel smart or clever for "figuring it out" before the game lays it out and hits all it's beats - it gets dragged out no matter what you as a player know because your character has to figure it out with everyone else.

I dropped 999 on DS almost immediately, but I don't remember if it was game or life related.

 

[wombleac]

Steins;gate is amazing. I've played all 3 and it gets my vote easily.

 

[JAlpsWanderer]

Danganronpa or Zero Escape. The plots of both games roll along pretty much right from the get-go.

I prefer Steins;Gate the most of the three, but the slow build means you need patience for the payoff in that one. How many VN threads have I seen where people give up on Steins;Gate because it's too slow and they hate the protagonist.

 

[ZeroX]

I didn't phrase myself well, and I apologize for that. I chose those because I was aware they had a heavy-themed story, I am not interested in something light or inncous. What I meant by 'not intense and time-consuming', I guess, is some action adventure title with tons of collectibles or a fighting game that would require long sessions.

I played a good chunk of adventure games, and I've always wanted to try some other story-focused video game form, and visual novels fits the bill perfectly (at least that is my perception).

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Okay yeah if you're fine with heavy themes those games should be fine. I'd probably say 999 then, just because you can get it done in a weekend if you commit.

I will say if you're one of those people who have to 100% a game, Danganronpa is fully of completely stupid, pointless collectibles and an additional mode that'll completely waste your time for basically nothing but achievements. If you're just in it for the main story you don't have to worry about any of that at all.

 

[osnameless]

I will say if you're one of those people who have to 100% a game, Danganronpa is fully of completely stupid, pointless collectibles and an additional mode that'll completely waste your time for basically nothing but achievements. If you're just in it for the main story you don't have to worry about any of that at all.

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Since I am one of those people, I think I will ease off on that. Thanks for telling me. I had no idea actually.

 

[petethepanda]

I'd think 999 is the safest bet for most people, it has the most approachable tone and "it's like reading a novel and intermittently stopping to play Myst" is a pretty easy sell, but I'd probably say that with the caveat that they should play one of the ports; the DS version is the best for Reasons, but the amount of time spent going through repeat segments is punishing.

With some editing Steins;Gate might have been the best choice, but the first half is excruciating; obnoxious characters, impossibly slow pace, way past my tolerance for a particular strain of 'anime bullshit.' If that had been my first VN I probably would have stopped after three or four hours and never played another one. (If the first half were condensed into just a few hours instead of 12+, though, I would have been left going "omg I'm going to play every visual novel I can find.")

 

[OnionPowder]

I mean the real answer is Ace Attorney, but second best would be 999.

 

[banter]

Depends on what your gaming preferences are. Steins;Gate is the only strictly Visual Novel out of the 3. Danganronpa has quite a bit of "actual gameplay" and Zero Escape has puzzles riddled throughout (more of a point and click adventure than a visual novel IMO).

 

[osnameless]

I've heard good things about all those 3 but I've yet to play them, lol.

I can, however, instead second The House in Fata Morgana because it really is that good - it was my GOTY 2016.
It's really hard to say what makes it special without spoiling it, but preta is absolutely spot on.
I'm going to add that it's not that long for VN standards -- 20-30 hours depending on your reading speed and besides having an amazing story and a really cool and unusual artstyle it also has really good and unusual music.

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Yeah. It sounds particularly interesting. The gothic aesthetics also sounds cool. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Thac]

I think it really comes down to what you're looking for. I've played all of them, though currently going through Steins;Gate (only 1 ending so far) and it really depends on mood and if you're looking for super serious or kind of off the wall ridiculous.

Zero Escape was basically escape room the game - which was super fun imo - and can feel really heavy
Danganronpa wasn't really a VN per say due to puzzles and character control - but probably my favorite of the 3 series listed but that's more to do with ridiculousness and changes between lighthearted fun and super dark at the flip of a switch.
Steins;gate is your typical VN - multiple endings based on basically yes/no choices you make through the game - except it's done on the phone instead of during conversation. The premise is really cool but it took a while to get moving forward. Definitely some irritation based on like filler conversation and weird anime stuff. Opinion again though because I'm fine with weird anime stuff and others would get super annoyed.

I'd say - play whichever one has the most interesting premise to you - time travel your thing? Steins;gate. Murder mystery? Danganronpa. Without Spoiling ZE - weird stuff happens that's interesting and makes for a good story? ZE

 

[osnameless]

I'd say - play whichever one has the most interesting premise to you - time travel your thing? Steins;gate. Murder mystery? Danganronpa. Without Spoiling ZE - weird stuff happens that's interesting and makes for a good story? ZE

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I mean, going off the premise, Steins;Gate was my first choice, but Zero Escape also sounds really good.

 

[feyder]

Tbh I would say Ace Attorney is the best game to start getting used to the genre with, and then go for the ZE games.

 

[LiK]

Ace Attorney is the best gateway if you have access to the original trilogy.

999 got me into VNs much more after that so I would suggest that first (DS version preferred). DanganRonpa is also a good choice.

I don't recommend Steins;Gate as a gateway. It was amazing but it's much more pure VN than the above titles I mentioned. You literally barely play anything. It's more just reading the text and listening to the JPN dialogue and music. There's barely any gameplay like the others.

 

[Kaz Frankenstein]

MY problem with Steins Gate (and im playing Zero right now), is not the lack of gameplay, but the way its so opaque as to whats required to unlock new chapters.
The number of times i have had to skip through and entire chapter 2 or 3 times, picking different options (or no option at all), in the hope that it would set a flag, only to find (through a walk through) that i had to make a different choice about 4 chapters back. This seems so out of odds with the low anxiety that naturally comes from a largely passive experience that i find it really grating. I actually dread finishing a chapter as it means i'm probably going to have to hit the internet for the progression path WITHOUT reading any spoilers.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

999 would make the best gateway. How do I know? Because 999 is the game that hooked me on visual novels, Japanese culture and media and art in general (not just games), and narrative-heavy games.

Great characters, not very stylized or tropey, just an amazing fucking story through and through. Wonderful soundtrack, amazing atmosphere, do get it on a DS if you can.

Danganronpa, while having easily the most fun gameplay among these, is far and away the weakest in terms of actual story and characterization. It's more entertaining, so to speak, though. So if you want something that's just more "fun" than deep/emotional, you could still give it a try. Has a pretty huge cast, so most characters aren't that well-developed.

Steins; Gate ranks, like 999, among the best VNs ever. However, it both has far and away the most tropey characters (from the outset), the most anime tropes, and the pacing is the slowest. Many people are bored to hell and back in the first 4-5 hours (and then get hooked DEEP), but some enjoy the slice-of-life tone at the beginning. What's objectively annoying about this one is that you'll either have to follow a walkthrough or skip through much of the game while stopping to make certain arbitrary, obtuse choices to get to the ESSENTIAL true ending. Getting that true ending is a slog, so I'd recommend you to start with something else.
----

Side note: I really hate the way the western audience has latched onto the term "visual novel" to mean all of Japanese adventures. It's a complete malapropism to call something like Ace Attorney or Danganrompa a "visual novel." VNs are a small subset of Japanese adventures that have essentially no gameplay.

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That's a topic of continuous debate, though. Even whether VNs are games or a completely distinct medium is dubious.

 

[GoldStarz]

As a Gateway? Probably 999, you're constantly doing Escape Room puzzles in between talking segments (with some happening during the puzzles). With DR, there's large portions of really nothing but VN segments before you get to gameplay and Steins;Gate is purely a VN from what I know.

 

[Acquiesc3]

Ace Attorney 1 is the best gateway.

But of the ones you mentioned, Danganronpa 1 is the best gateway.

Oh and 999 is the best out of those.

 

[osnameless]

I don't recommend Steins;Gate as a gateway. It was amazing but it's much more pure VN than the above titles I mentioned. You literally barely play anything. It's more just reading the text and listening to the JPN dialogue and music. There's barely any gameplay like the others.

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I've said in earlier posts. I feel kinda at an advantage here. I am going into either one blindly, and I am willing and eager to finish an entire series (Danganronpa trilogy, ZE trilogy, or Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0), so I really have no preferences or complaints for now.

Whether it had gameplay aspects or not, or it was too long or not, I want to commit to one of those to the finish, just to experience the visual novel form once at least, and I am very optimistic I will play all three eventually, but was hoping to see people's impressions in the hopes that I'd have some sort of encouraging first experience.

 

[osnameless]

Y problem with Steins Gate (and im playing Zero right now), is not the lack of gameplay, but the way its so opaque as to whats required to unlock new chapters.
The number of times i have had to skip through and entire chapter 2 or 3 times, picking different options (or no option at all), in the hope that it would set a flag, only to find (through a walk through) that i had to make a different choice about 4 chapters back. This seems so out of odds with the low anxiety that naturally comes from a largely passive experience that i find it really grating. I actually dread finishing a chapter as it means i'm probably going to have to hit the internet for the progression path WITHOUT reading any spoilers.

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Hmmm. I think I kinda get what you mean, and that might be an issue. I hope I have the patience to redo stuff.

 

[Liam Allen-Miller]

Either Danganronpa or 999 are great first picks. I highly recommend against Steins;Gate as a first visual novel since it's incredibly long and doesn't hold your hand in any way. Getting all the endings is an absolute chore and it may only put you off VNs.

 

[LiK]

I've said in earlier posts. I feel kinda at an advantage here. I am going into either one blindly, and I am willing and eager to finish an entire series (Danganronpa trilogy, ZE trilogy, or Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0), so I really have no preferences or complaints for now.

Whether it had gameplay aspects or not, or it was too long or not, I want to commit to one of those to the finish, just to experience the visual novel form once at least, and I am very optimistic I will play all three eventually, but was hoping to see people's impressions in the hopes that I'd have some sort of encouraging first experience.

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S;G is a real slow burn too. It was my first real VN and I almost fell off but I'm glad I stayed cuz it was quite a journey. So yes, all worth experiencing and I would recommend them all to anyone.

If you're willing to finish all of them, that's a good thing.

 

[osnameless]

If you're willing to finish all of them, that's a good thing.

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Yeah. Been meaning to do that for a long time since all three sound great. It is just I don't have that much time to play, so I don't know exactly when I will get around to finish all three, and I am afraid I can only go through one this weekend.

 

[LiK]

Yeah. Been meaning to do that for a long time since all three sound great. It is just I don't have that much time to play, so I don't know exactly when I will get around to finish all three, and I am afraid I can only go through one this weekend.

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Yea, take your time. They're great to just enjoy at your pace (like a good book) because once it's over, you'll miss it. But at least you have all the sequels to play without waiting like I did, ha ha.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

Whether it had gameplay aspects or not, or it was too long or not, I want to commit to one of those to the finish, just to experience the visual novel form once at least, and I am very optimistic I will play all three eventually, but was hoping to see people's impressions in the hopes that I'd have some sort of encouraging first experience.

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If you mean series, we're talking in a different ballpark.

Strictly counting VNs, Danganronpa is quite consistent in quality (if not increasing) throughout the games (and the mainline games only).

Zero Escape turned off some people with the second game but was loved overall, and then the third game shat the bed for 3/4 of the fanbase. Might not be satisfying. 999 is perfect on its own though.

Steins; Gate 0 seems to be liked generally but not held as high as the original.

I changed my mind, the best one for you might be Danganronpa.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Slightly off topic:

Would y'all recommend the Steins;Gate visual novel or the anime? I've heard good things about the anime.

 

[UltraGashInferno]

Once you finish one of the beginner VNs and get your feet wet, go for Yu-No, the one all these other games are trying to emulate

 

[osnameless]

If you mean series, we're talking in a different ballpark.

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Yeah. My intention was to play through an entire one of those three series.

And your assessment about Danganronpa seems right from what I've read. People seem to like it more with each new entry.

 

[kodax_shc]

I feel like Danganronpa is a great gateway into VNs. It contains a lot of gameplay which eases someone into all the reading that they may be doing in a game like Steins;Gate. You can't go wrong with any of these series though.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

Yeah. My intention was to play through an entire one of those three series.

And your assessment about Danganronpa seems right from what I've read. People seem to like it more with each new entry.

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Danganronpa's violent and zany and funny and weird and in-your-face (and consequently somewhat superficial from a serious lens), 999's interesting and mysterious and atmospheric and surprising, steins;gate is funny and tranquil (at first) and weeb and silly but also intense and poignant and suspenseful as 999

Danganronpa just gets fucking crazier with every entry.

999's horror and grim and dark, VLR's grim but mild in comparison, Zero Time Dilemma's just gratuitous, grimdark (to its detriment), and really an insult to everything people liked about the first 2 games (in my eyes.)

Haven't played S;G 0 myself but the original S;G, like 999, is a damned great fucking story on its own.

 

[CognitiveAtrophy]

Zero Escape.

I can't speak for Stein's Gate, but Danganronpa is poorly written trope ridden nonsense that I truly regret wasting money on.

 

[UltraGashInferno]

Ever17 psp translation is also a good choice

You should just watch the stein's gate anime instead of playing the game tbh

 

[PKrockin]

I don't really see why you need an "entry point" into visual novels? If you can read, push a button to advance text, and choose between dialogue options, you're golden. It's a lot of reading... so what? Isn't there a lot of reading in RPGs? Haven't you read a lot at some point in your life? The games already have graphics, music, sound effects, and such. It's not that different from a lot of JRPG cutscenes.

That being said, you should absolutely play Phoenix Wright, Zero Escape and Danganronpa because they're just darn good games.

 

[Unknownlight]

I don't really see why you need an "entry point" into visual novels? If you can read, push a button to advance text, and choose between dialogue options, you're golden. It's a lot of reading... so what? Isn't there a lot of reading in RPGs? Haven't you read a lot at some point in your life? The games already have graphics, music, sound effects, and such. It's not that different from a lot of JRPG cutscenes.

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"Entry point" just means something easy to enjoy in a genre you haven't tried before. And no, many visual novels are nothing at all like text in RPGs or reading a book. For example, Umineko is fantastic... but it takes nearly 10 hours before anything happens besides small talk between the characters. That's like watching 5 movies' worth of prologue before actually starting the movie. You're not going to enjoy it unless you're prepared for it, and a good way to prepare for it would be to play some other visual novels that also have long prologues (but not as long) first.

(I do agree, though, that "entry points" are overrated if someone is already genuinely interested in exploring the genre. OP sounds like they'll play all three options regardless, so it doesn't really matter which one they play first.)

 

[Deleted member 4037]

Shit, they are all amazing, but DR or 999 are probably the best "gateway" games, I would lean to 999

 

[ignata]

I'd say Zero Escape. For me it's the best story of the three and the puzzles are engaging but not overly frustrating.

 

[PKrockin]

"Entry point" just means something easy to enjoy in a genre you haven't tried before. And no, many visual novels are nothing at all like text in RPGs or reading a book. For example, Umineko is fantastic... but it takes nearly 10 hours before anything happens besides small talk between the characters. That's like watching 5 movies' worth of prologue before actually starting the movie. You're not going to enjoy it unless you're prepared for it, and a good way to prepare for it would be to play some other visual novels that also have long prologues (but not as long) first.

(I do agree, though, that "entry points" are overrated if someone is already genuinely interested in exploring the genre. OP sounds like they'll play all three options regardless, so it doesn't really matter which one they play first.)

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I've only played 6 VNs, but all of them had shit happening long before 10 hours. That sounds like quite an anomaly. By the time 10 hours are up I've got my first ending and possibly onto a second route.

 

[TinTuba47]

For what it's worth Danganronpa is the only one that I was able to get into

 

[Unknownlight]

I've only played 6 VNs, but all of them had shit happening long before 10 hours. That sounds like quite an anomaly. By the time 10 hours are up I've got my first ending and possibly onto a second route.

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Yeah, I know, that was my point.

Maybe there's a better way to word this. There are some games that are good as an entry point, and there are some games that are terrible as an entry point. I was trying to give an example of the latter.

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

Zero Escape turned off some people with the second game but was loved overall, and then the third game shat the bed for 3/4 of the fanbase

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This being the internet, this is still dumb hyperbole. There's no way 3/4 of the people who played it thought it was anywhere close to shit. It's still -very positive- on Steam user reviews, positive on metacritic for all versions (critic and user). Same on 3ds eshop. Don't let the small but loud crowd put you off of zero time dilemma if you like the first two games.

 

[PKrockin]

Yeah, I know, that was my point.

Maybe there's a better way to word this. There are some games that are good as an entry point, and there are some games that are terrible as an entry point. I was trying to give an example of the latter.

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Oh, I get you now. I misread that as though you were using Umineko as a representative example of VNs as a whole. My bad.

 

[2+2=5]

Danganronpa and VLR because they have some gameplay, so they are a sort of middle ground to make you used to the lack of "gameplay" of pure VNs.
Danganronpa V3 has a demo on Steam.

 

[LiK]

Slightly off topic:

Would y'all recommend the Steins;Gate visual novel or the anime? I've heard good things about the anime.

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VN first. The anime glosses over a lot of stuff or downright cuts them out for time. It's worth watching after you played it. The VN has a better build up and some glorious twists.

 

[Ruck]

Steins;Gate starts off so slow. Like, I cannot emphasize this enough. You will be reading for half a dozen hours or more before anything happens. It's a good game but I would really not recommend it for people who have no experience with visual novels. You could watch the entire anime adapation before the story starts in earnest in the VN.

999 and Danganronpa are both good but Danganronpa is a lot cheesier I think. 999 would be my recommendation.

 

[NiceOne]

If you can stand horror and a bit of gore, then I recommend Doki Doki Literature Club.

Might not be the best VN entry, but it plays like other VNs (At least like the usual stuff, but I find DDLC pretty great for a videogame), Also it's short. It can easily be completed under 10 hours, or so I think. AND IT'S FREE :)

 

[Tom_Cody]

VN first. The anime glosses over a lot of stuff or downright cuts them out for time. It's worth watching after you played it. The VN has a better build up and some glorious twists.

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Thanks. I'll look forward to checking it out when it comes to Switch.

 

[D4rth Man7iz]

I've been wondering the same for some time now. I'll keep an eye on this thread.

 

[Ralemont]

Man this thread's making me regret buying Steins;Gate years ago on sale. Still sitting in backlog. I'll admit I havent played many VNs and was expecting something like Danganronpa or Zero Escape. Ah well, I'll get to it one day.

 

[Dee Dee]

Steins;Gate starts off so slow. Like, I cannot emphasize this enough. You will be reading for half a dozen hours or more before anything happens. It's a good game but I would really not recommend it for people who have no experience with visual novels. You could watch the entire anime adapation before the story starts in earnest in the VN.

999 and Danganronpa are both good but Danganronpa is a lot cheesier I think. 999 would be my recommendation.

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This!!!!!!!!
Yes, the story in Steins;Gate is amazing, but that game takes AT LEAST 8 hours to get good. It's worth it, but as an entry point a VN with a bit of gameplay will serve better.
DanganRonpa games are fun, but 999 is a true masterpiece and showcases what VNs do right much better in my opinion.

Another downside to Steins;Gate is that after the first game, the series is half told in untranslated Light Novels. I just finished Steins;Gate 0, and there was just random stuff happening at the end, that apparently only gets fully explained in those books. That's a heavy downside for me.

Also, someone mentioned The House in Fata Morgana, and this is still my favourite VN of all times. Please consider this, it's an absolutely wonderful experience. (Try the ones you like first.)


Lastly, I think you would REALLY like "To the Moon". I have actually been advocating "To the Moon" as the entry drug to Visual Novels for years. I mean, I guess TellTale games work too...
To the Moon looks like a 16bit SNES RPG but actually tells the story of two scientists that implant fake memories into dying people's minds to fulfill their last wishes.
If you're into SciFi and interesting story, this is a good, relatively short peak into what VNs can achieve.