I think he just forgot to put <sarcasm> tag. Or have you forgot it too?

What is the meaning of the phrase, "activates their almonds"?

I guess it's equivalent to "floats their boat".

I think he's talking about the time I hooked a car battery up to an Almond Joy, resulting in the deaths of eighteen people.

It's an going joke between some youtubers at the moment. Originally it was to refer to someone getting a boost over testosterone over something (and, yes, it's originally meant to sound as derogatory as possible, hence why it became a joke). In this case, it could be punny given the notariety of pornographic VNs, but you can get testosterone boosts for non-sexual reasons as well (like if you go to the gym for the first time, and you feel like you've lifted a lot of weight, and suddenly you walk around like the strongest man alive, at least for the next few hours until you go to bed, wake up, and feel the opposite way). I also meant it as a joke for anyone fast enough to catch it. Congrats, you've won.

How does it compare to Doki Doki Panic?

You might think I've been living under a rock but I've been on GOG for a while, and not having any experience with visual novels, I'd seen many of these titles on the front page and I just assumed that they were point&click adventures or dating sims. And I paid them no mind. Because back in the day, I played Myst, and I played Roommate on my Sega Saturn, and I decided that these genres were not for me. But today I saw a review that explained that the product in question contained no interactivity, no choices, no puzzles. And I said to myself "wait... so it's just a story?" To me, this is a big difference, and now that I know what I'm looking at I am intrigued.

Of course, my next thought was "how then does this qualify as a game?"

So I came to this forum to admit my confusion and suggest that maybe something extra is needed to delineate visual novels. I would not have thought of one as a "game." And by saying that, I am not suggesting that GOG shouldn't sell them. GOG can sell whatever they want and I have no objection (as long as DRM-free!), the more the merrier. But GOG also has movies and they are clearly marked "MOVIE" so there is no confusion. Perhaps a separate category or other distinction for VNs would also reduce the tendency of people to post frivolous reviews for the sake of making commentary about the genre.

Just my .02

Well, you are not alone, who is asking that question. However, the thing is that most VN do have some interactivity in form of branching dialogs that lead to branching story paths. So they can qualify as games. That's why I personaly think that kinetic novels (VNs without such branching, but made with the same engines and aesthetics) should be put in "games" category too, to avoid confusion.

You would start with babby's first VN: Katawa Shoujo https://www.katawa-shoujo.com/
It's not the best, it's the dating sim type and the writing is pretty contrived in a number of spots, but it's a good intro nonetheless. It's very character driven and as the website implies, it tries to change the way you look at your own life. Did I mention it's free?

It's a derivative of "Really makes you think" https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/really-makes-you-think
Along with a bunch of other stuff like really: "joggles the noggle," "percolates my pecans," "perplexes my mental reflexes," etc.

I think like Blade to Blade Runner.

Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I don't really play VN's at all. Doki Doki Literiture Club was just one I played because a friend was raving about it. Haven't actually played any others though...

Don't fret. Doki Doki Panic is a Japeneese platformer, that has nothing to do with VNs. So the question was just a dumb joke or dtgreene doesn't know the first thing about those games.

Nope, no sarcasm. Just a curious tread outside my usual comfort zone.

It's been years since I did Narcissu but I wasn't bothered by such a thing. As I recall, it was simply a hospice where the terminally ill are cared for. What their illness is, is kinda besides the point.

Anyway, I really liked Narcissu as well as Side 2nd (prequel to Narcissu, which got released after Narcissu). I think the difficulty here is that "VN" is not so much a genre as it is a medium. So asking for a representative example is kinda like asking for something that represent the non-genre "book." As with books, there are genres, and within genres there are works that target different demographics.

I recently bought and read Highway Blossoms. I think there were some objective qualities that make it not-very-good, but I probably still would've enjoyed it quite a bit more than I did if I were a teenager. I don't think I'm the target demographic for this one. On the other hand, I could probably enjoy a kids / teenagers book, were it executed well enough. (I like most of the Ghibli movies)

See, that's the thing. A guy i respected (who introduced me to alot of really good games, like Morrowind and Deus Ex) wanted me to try Narcissu. I was pretty bored with the idea before i started, but out of respect, i tried it anyway. Ultimately, my only hook to get through it, was trying to figure out the mystery that it presented, which apparently was over-presented, and i've read that alot of people have had the same issue with it. All i really wanted to know was why no one came back after leaving their 3rd time, and why these people were here to begin with. It started off with that concept, and it is pretty peculiar, so you expect that something so peculiar and obviously highlighted to be explained by the end. The end was a bit surprising, but the rest of it was pretty dry. Maybe if i wasn't so stuck on the idea, i could've appreciated the rest more, 'cause i was constantly trying to read between the lines to figure out what was going on with that place.

It was 15 years ago, and all i can remember is how much it blueballed me with the basis for the plot, the long swim, and something trying to resemble a romance. Fair enough.