999
Story: 9/10
Characters: 7/10
Plot Twists: 10/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Overall: 9/10 (Not an average)
Amazing story, punchy and well-written with just a few clunky parts. Characters feel a touch underdeveloped and almost caricaturistic at times (everyone other than Junpei, Akane and Clover can be boiled down to one or two traits, most of them snarky or smarmy, and that feels kinda samey). On the DS version, having to replay the puzzle rooms over and over was infuriating at the time, but I'm still bitter over the last puzzle change in the remaster.
VLR
Story: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Plot Twists: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Overall: 10/10
I genuinely like the characters way more in this game and I acknowledge that this is probably a bad opinion. Maybe because most of them weren't snarky or outwardly hostile to start, so when they did bad things, their reasons were compelling. Very first Uchikoshi game where I didn't see at least a few of the twists coming. Completely blew my mind. However, I continue to hear the pinging hall movement sound in my nightmares.
ZTD
Story: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Plot Twists: 7/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
I liked ZTD quite a bit until the ending. If they had fleshed out the reveal just a BIT more, even with just some history about [REDACTED], as well as not invalidated the secret ending of VLR, I would have been perfectly satisfied. Diana inflates the character average here, and I'm one of those weirdos that actually likes Mira and Eric. In fact, I love all of the teams, in spite of making my girl Akane hold the idiot ball a few times :(.
AI
Story: 8/10
Characters: 6.5/10
Plot Twists: Probably like a 4/10 because I guessed all of them and didn't care for them but twists don't matter so much to me.
Gameplay: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Perfectly satisfying game. No major complaints, but no standout loves either. Characters were hit-or-miss for me.
Yes, I liked ZTD more than AI. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Remember11:
Story: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot Twists: 5/10 (Doesn't have a true ending due to budget reasons, just straight up ends)
Overall: 9.5/10
Remember11 would be a perfect game... if it just had an ending.
Ever17
Story: 5/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot Twists: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
There are a few things in Ever17's plot that I find extremely offputting, so it's easier to just recommend 999 to people instead. Sora's route is nearly the worst thing I've ever played in a visual novel, which is sad, because I do like her a lot. In fact, all of the characters are wonderful. It's been a LONG time since I played this game, but I remember all of them very clearly, and am still attached to them.
Never7
Story: 5/10
Characters 4/10
Plot Twists: 6/10
Overall: 5/10
I don't remember much about this game other than I shrugged after I was done and said "yeah, that wasn't bad." As one of his very first projects, it's okay, I guess. I remember the characters driving me crazy once or twice.
