Katawa Shoujo

[waffo]

They should've stuck to running. But yay for conveniently cut picture!

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

If this picture was not in a sex scene , I say she's ugly.

[BetoJR]

But it was.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by BetoJR

But it was.

...and I said she's damn HOT...!!!! I thought I was playing a "more than the usual" eroge game.

[Skane]

Well... it would seem I have screwed up the flags because I appear to be railroaded on Emi's route for better or for worse. I was actually trying for Hanako, but I apparently triggered the wrong flags. Emi's cute, but... things are just out of my control now.

Natch.

[Tempester]

Just completed Emi's route in my first playthrough.

I was initially unimpressed by Katawa Shoujo. The writing of Act 1 dragged on a bit, so it took me a whole week just to motivate myself to get through it. I couldn't care for Shizune's scenes which hogged a great deal of screen time. I hope her route isn't as uninteresting as her Act 1 scenes, but I'll just deal with it when I get to it.

Then I got to Emi's route. It was a very satisfying and emotional read. It had its drama, sure, but the highlights of the route were the light, heartwarming and bright moments which left a strong positive impression on me.

Spoiler for Emi route:

I think I fell in love with Emi. Her cheerfulness and energy is exciting to watch, and she almost strikes me as a type of woman I could meet in real life. The scene where Hisao visited her room in Act 2 when she was sick was simply magical to me. I don't consider myself to be on the same level as those waifu-claiming otaku out there, but I can see now where their interest is coming from.

By the way, who else laughed when Rin barged into the room during one of the sex scenes? The sheer spontaneity of that moment was hilarious, and it fit right into Rin's character.

Emi also encouraged me to start a basic running routine. Even though I had already been running once or twice a week, I've made a schedule and routine for myself. Inspiration sure comes from the strangest places!

I'm also impressed by the production values of this VN. It's an English language VN made for free by a mostly anonymous team without a salary, so I didn't expect much when going into it. There are inconsistencies with the art, but those just served to lower my expectations and subsequently amplify my appreciation for the parts where the art really was good. I did *not* expect to see animated cut scenes in this, so I was blown away when I actually got to them.

As for the music, I'm really digging Romance in Andante II. The first minute or so with the violin reminds me of the melody from the 3rd movement (incidentally also called Andante) of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2.

Spoiler for piece comparison:

Overall, I'm stupendously impressed so far. I'll try to go for Rin's route next.

[Stiletto]

Uh, hey. Did anyone else notice Lelouch when Hisao introduced himself in the class or am I just imagining things?

I'm being completely serious.

[Tempester]

The running plan I'm following at the moment is the famous "Couch-to-5k" program. Here's the edit, courtesy of /a/:

Originally Posted by Stiletto

Uh, hey. Did anyone else notice Lelouch when Hisao introduced himself in the class or am I just imagining things?

I'm being completely serious.

It was very much deliberate on the part of 4LS to add Lelouch Lamperouge to the class. Judging from your post, are you playing the demo rather than the full release? Because Lelouch was removed and replaced with some generic guy in the full release (for whatever reason).

[Stiletto]

Originally Posted by Tempester

It was very much deliberate on the part of 4LS to add Lelouch Lamperouge to the class.

Yeah, I'm playing the demo. I was actually wondering whether or not it was coincidence they looked so similar. I was kind of spooked, honestly.

I got done with the demo afew hours ago, and I see they removed him. Smart call, I imagine.

[waffo]

Completed Shizune's route. Maybe I'm weird but I liked her route more than Emi's. I guess I like Shizune's personality and different kind of energy in her personality.

Spoiler for Emi and Shizune:

Also, yay for less random feeling sex scenes (or so I assume since I didn't see them) in Shizune's. Didn't expect the Misha bit as I expected Shizune's relationship with her family to be her focus of angst. Ugh, I hate her dad so much. Only thing I preferred in Emi's route was that it sounds like Hisao and Emi would continue their relationship after high school while the school council gang got more of a "see you in a few years and hope we still remember each other!" kind of ending.

So what did I miss in Shizune's route during cuttlefish and chinchilla censors? Er...what exactly happened in the first one?

Also, instead of Rin, I sort of chose Lily for the next one. Just started Act 2. So far, she's very...observant?

[Kyrok]

I loved Katawa Shoujo, it was actually my first real experience with a Visual Novel/Eroge.

I did Lilly's route first and found myself sad that it was over, I then went to Haruka's which just didn't feel as great to me. I felt that Hisao and Hanako's relationship was kind of unnatural, and that the way it progressed within Lilly's route seemed much more realistic and Hanako seemed better off in the end.

I did Emi next and was really happy with the way it turned out, and felt it was a very realistic look at a relationship IRL, it reminded me a lot of one of my past relationships so that may be why.

I had a serious disinterest with Shizune and Rin, I did plan on doing Shizune's route because I hear it adds a lot to the overall story of the game as well as I wanted to see the Misha ending even if it was the bad end. I never honestly felt like doing Rin's route, never liked her.

After doing the three routes I did, even tho I planned on playing through Shizune and Rin's routes for completion, I would up playing Little Busters! and got addicted. I actually just beat it yesterday, not really sure if I can go back to Katawa after that kind of experience.

[Skane]

I must say, I'm pretty impressed by the length of the routes. I know it took five years of development, but given the nature of the self-funding, I thought it would be shorter. As it is, it's a major strain on my eyes to read so much text in so many hours; but the story, while not earth-shattering, is compelling enough to want to keep on going.

I have completed Emi's route and Hanako's route, and will probably read Lilly's route next. Kinda dreading having to read Shizune's one since I just don't like her character? Will probably force myself to read hers for completion sake. Looking forward to Rin's one, but the path I must take to unlock her's just seems so... out of character for the protagonist, or to put it mildly, sociopathic.

~~~~ ~~~~

Emi's route was so-so in my opinion, and really... the person I looked forward to the most in that path was the Nurse. The comedy between him and the pair was really funny. The twist in her ending didn't feel much like a twist at all because it basically got "resolved and ignored" in a matter of moments, literally. Killing whatever emotional impact it might had on the state of their relationship.

It was the elephant in the room that turned out not to be an elephant after all.

Given all the constant referencing to it throughout the path, I thought it would have been given much more focus in the reveal, but that wasn't the case at all and the "happily ever after" felt a little rushed in the end.

~~~~ ~~~~

Hanako's route started out slow, but howdy did it escalate towards the end. When Act 3 ended, I was wondering if I had accidentally skipped anything because the pacing was so different from Emi's route. Then Act 4 started and basically barraged me with a flood of story developments.

That said, I must remark that some of the protagonist's actions in Hanako's route made me want to clobber him as he was basically sabotaging the relationship between him and Hanako ("No you fool! What have you done? What. Have. You. Done!), and I was so happy when Hanako got to call him out on it in Act 4. You go, girl!

Completing Hanako's route also made me understand some of the fanart circulating around more, and I got to agree... Hanako in her city clothes playing Pool is *HNRGGHH!* worthy.

A little disappointed that there was no epilogue after they resolved their conflict, but still a sweet ending to one of the cuter girls in this Visual Novel (IMO).

~~~~ ~~~~

Whilst I can't say I have met as many "special" people as the protagonist in this game; his heart condition reminded me of one of my classmates way back in Secondary School. He had the same heart condition, but unlike Hisao, he was actually in the school's Track & Field team, and regularly won Gold Medals in the inter-school meets to boot as a runner/sprinter.

He never mentioned about his heart condition at all, and it was with surprise when I found out from his close friends that the reason he was not in school one day was because he had to see a specialist for his heart.

But nobody ever thought of him as "that guy with a heart problem". He was still our Joseph, the guy who can punt your soccer ball over the school roof if he so chooses. Give him an American slang, and he can probably pass for your stereotypical jock.

Cheers.

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by Skane

Hanako's route started out slow, but howdy did it escalate towards the end. When Act 3 ended, I was wondering if I had accidentally skipped anything because the pacing was so different from Emi's route. Then Act 4 started and basically barraged me with a flood of story developments.

That said, I must remark that some of the protagonist's actions in Hanako's route made me want to clobber him as he was basically sabotaging the relationship between him and Hanako ("No you fool! What have you done? What. Have. You. Done!), and I was so happy when Hanako got to call him out on it in Act 4. You go, girl!

Completing Hanako's route also made me understand some of the fanart circulating around more, and I got to agree... Hanako in her city clothes playing Pool is *HNRGGHH!* worthy.

A little disappointed that there was no epilogue after they resolved their conflict, but still a sweet ending to one of the cuter girls in this Visual Novel (IMO).

~~~~ ~~~~

Yeah, Hanako's route left the impression that it had ended too sudden. While the conclusion and all was quite well done, the "sudden" credit roll left me baffled despite knowing it had no epilogue. But, so far I think I will remain a loyal Lilly fanboy . With Hanako as a very close 2nd.

I need to redo Emi's route since I'm on my laptop =/. I'm at least not a person who can predict her kind of (different) problems since I have no psychologic or medical knowledge (someone mentioned PTS (post traumatic syndrom?) or something like that a few pages ago).

[Skane]

Just finished Act-2 of Lilly's route, and wow... just wow.



I like how she's so coy and manipulative (in a good way) towards the protagonist (I know, I know, he has a name, but I am used to this). Compared to the timidness of Emi and Hanako, this is a refreshing change of pace. Less frustrating too. Nice to see the guy being the one being constantly flustered for once in this type of game.

Hmm... I wonder how would a studio structure the arcs so that it would cover all five girls? Lilly seems to be a really good character to build the foundations on due to her connections to the other four girls. Something that is lacking from the other girls. I can easily see how a tag-team of Lilly and the protagonist can go about assisting the other four girls.

Cheers.

[MeoTwister5]

Finally had time to play again.

They weren't kidding about Rin's story. It just ripped me the fuck right open. As someone who also lived a lot of my life as something of a recluse, I understand just what it feels like thinking how hard it is too connect to people, being so different that you always find it difficult to express yourself in a way people would understand, rather than having them stare at you simply thinking you're a weirdo.

Brought out a few old memories in me some pleasant, some not so, but it deeply reminded me of how different I have become over the years as I tried to be more... how you say... open, without lying to myself and keeping things locked in all the time.

Bravo.

[Kakujitsu]

Anyone else played the leaked Grid1 version?


Also, I'll just leave this here.

Spoiler:

[waffo]

Man, everyone really seems to live Lily's route. You guys are making me get high expectations. Hope they don't disappoint.

[Stiletto]

Originally Posted by waffo

Man, everyone really seems to live Lily's route. You guys are making me get high expectations. Hope they don't disappoint.

I'm stuck between Hanako or Lily's next. I hear amazingly good things about both, even though Emi is much closer to my taste. Or so I keep thinking. I'm trying to not feel embittered over my bad ending in her route, real hard. I'm kind of failing. It just feels like.. I don't know, like I failed at being a human being.

"Couldn't catch up". Fogger, that hit me hard.

I could really relate to the state between Hisao and Emi too. Yanked on my heart strings and made me feel terrible about trying too hard.

Originally Posted by Kakujitsu

Also, I'll just leave this here.

Spoiler:

Yeah, I'm doing Hanako's route next.

[Kakujitsu]

Originally Posted by Stiletto

Yeah, I'm doing Hanako's route next.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not really from the game.

But here, have another one.

Spoiler:

I wish I could unsee this ;_;

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by waffo

Man, everyone really seems to live Lily's route. You guys are making me get high expectations. Hope they don't disappoint.

Lily is a *relatively* unstressful route, mostly due to Lily's own calming personality.