So one thing I've discovered since my...uh...time of "reduced social-ness" are visual novels. Unfortunately, VNs get a really bad rep, so I like to sometimes try to spread knowledge and awareness on them.
The 2 main issues and misconceptions are:
1) They're sex romps
2) they're games of hardly any interactivity, and therefore boring
Both of which are only half-true. Yes there are many VNs that are sex romps, but at the same time there are many movies that are just porn flicks. Does this make ALL movies porn? Heck no. The issue is just that many VNs target the otaku and weaboo, and therefore end up jam-packed with fan-service and yes, sex scenes. Like a Hollywood blockbuster, some high quality VNs will only have a sex scene or two just for the sake of it - Either way,
VNDB is a good resource for sorting all that out.
As for the second, yes, it's true that many have very little interaction. Heck, some even have pretty much no interaction at all! (kinetic novels) At the same time, some even have RPG game elements built-in. Either way, if this is a complaint, you're looking at it the wrong way. Try to not treat it as a game with some novel-like elements, but a novel with extra media richness and some minor game-like elements.
Now this is the part where I point out a few free quality VNs (with no sex content) as examples:
Narcissu (kinetic novel - no plot branches & choices)
True Remembrance (kinetic novel)
Katawa Shoujo (Act 1 demo)Fate/stay night (trial demo) (demo has no plot branches & choices)
And some non-free quality VNs (with no sexual content):
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (kinetic novel)
ClannadEver17 -the out of infinity-Tsukihime (no-sex option included in english patch)
Fate/stay night: Realta Nua (Realta Nua replaces the sex-scenes with more plot-logical scenes)
Now that that's out of the way, I just gotta say... Fate/stay night was an
INCREDIBLY AWESOME read. (the
Realta Nua version even increases the GAR)
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