"It gets good eventually" is the worst advice given about visual novels
I see this type of advice given often in this sub or the subs for individual visual novels like Gnosia, Umineko, and Grisaia.
PSA: If you don't like enough about a visual novel within 2 hours (from the characters to the story or lack thereof), you're probably wasting your time.
Even if Steins;Gate is a masterclass character analysis with time travel, you will not appreciate the whole package if the first half of this 35 hour vn was miserable.
Other vns that "get good eventually" are just hard reads for most people. Muv Luv being a full game to get to the good part is an insane recommendation. If you bounce off of the beginning, again, the rest of the series will not flip that. It will be fun and whimsy to awesome, or insufferable to "really?"
If you have experiences with visual novels you trudged through and ultimately thought were overhyped, share some stories. While we can't stop reading what we already read, we can help help advise new fans who see only the positives, spend tons of time and money on visual novels, only to feel pretty lukewarm. Even veteran readers fall into this trap, much like any hobby.