Rewrite & Harvest Festa

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Mcfart

It should've shown the choices, then autopicked the correct one. Think it would've made more sense rather then presenting the illusion of choice.

At least two scenes would lose what impact they do have if you weren't forced to pick yourself.

Originally Posted by Dark Faith

Spoiler:

I'm really enjoying this alternate timeline

Spoiler for Terra:

Terra. Is not. AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE. Holy fuck.

[Dark Faith]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Spoiler for Terra:

Terra. Is not. AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE. Holy fuck.

Spoiler:

Yeah, I know... I meant it in a "It's nice to see what happens when Kotarou decides that attacking Kagari isn't such a good idea" way. Hence, alternate

[Pirkaf]

Is this playable without a walkthrough or is it like other Key VNs?

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Pirkaf

Is this playable without a walkthrough or is it like other Key VNs?

You only really need to know three things:

- Akane's route is locked until you complete Chihaya's route;
- Shizuru's route is locked until you complete Kotori's route;
- To enter a girl's route simply act like a stalker and ALWAYS pick choices that favour them.

If all you care is the story then no walkthrough is needed. It's actually easier than LB!

However, there's a bonus route that you'll need a walkthrough to reach since you have to complete all the quests (though like the Muscle Route in LB, it's just a comical extra).

[Mazyrian]

Also, it's recommended to play Kotori first and Akane last.

[DmonHiro]

Originally Posted by Mazyrian

Also, it's recommended to play Kotori first and Akane last.

Played them all, and I can say it's not really needed to play Akane last. But you MUST play Kotori first, or you won't get a lot of what's going on with the world in Akane's route.

[Mazyrian]

Well, I neither played it last, but it's true that doing so breaks less the story flow.

[Tyabann]

The atmosphere and tone of Akane's route is far more similar to the true routes than any other route, and is probably the best of the heroine routes, so I'd definitely recommend that you play it last.
I can't imagine not playing it last, actually.

[Randrak42]

Kotori > Lucia > Shizuru > Chihaya > Akane

Best play order IMHO

[Tyabann]

I went Kotori --> Chihaya --> Shizuru --> Lucia --> Akane. That's the best balance in my opinion.

[Kirayuki]

I was one of those guys tricked by the order of heroines shown in the gallery and OP.

So I did,
Kotori > Chihaya > Akane > Shizuru > Lucia

Don't ask me why I did Lucia last, just don't...

But yeah, Akane is better be the last route because of the atmosphere.

[Randrak42]

Oh I didn't follow my previous order...that was just the order I thought would give the best experience (due to exposition of characters and information from one route that can be used in others). For example, Kotori and Akane should always be first and last respectively, but I also believe you should go Shizuru and Lucia before Sakuya (mostly because of the Guardian involvement and exposition).

I went
Kotori > Shizuru > Sakuya > Lucia > Akane
Would have gone Akane > Shizuru > Kotori > Lucia > Sakuya but then I found out about having to unlock the first two...and was given the advice of leaving Akane for last.

And yes, there is no real Chihaya Route...just a Sakuya Route with a Chihaya side-plot :x

[Tyabann]

Well, my logic is that you should play the routes where Shizuru and Chihaya aren't particularly interesting characters before the one where they are, as it does a great deal to redeem them.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Well, my logic is that you should play the routes where Shizuru and Chihaya aren't particularly interesting characters before the one where they are, as it does a great deal to redeem them.

Taking the first time player mindset and the overall plot rather than each girl's individual plots into account, this is my logic for that order pick:

Spoiler for Heroine Routes and End-Game:

By playing Kotori's route first you get introduced to the plot on neutral ground (well, on Kotori's side but not in any of the organizations). This way you also get to see Kotori's struggles throughout the whole ordeal as well as learning about the two powers at play in the whole thing (Gaia and Guardian), yet you know nothing other than Gaia are evil summoners and Guardian (they aren't even named yet) are their enemies, plus they have strong people. Another thing is that you know nothing of the other girls, the only ones to appear are Shizuru briefly at the end and a message from Akane, yet you can speculate which girl is on which side due to the Leaf Dragon incident.

Next it would be Lucia's route, mostly because it feels the most disconnected from the main plot as it focuses a lot more on Lucia and Guardian. But you do learn a lot about Guardian, which is important...you learn just how big an organization it is, what it's all about, the kind of people it contains and so on. And since it's the most disconnected to the plot, it's best to get it right out of the way quickly since the other three kinda are much more connected.
In this route you are also well introduced to Shizuru involvement in Guardian and her powers...in a way I actually feel like her abilities are better explained in Lucia's route rather than in Shizuru's own route (memory erasing aside). Plus, at least for me it would serve well as a taste test for Shizuru's route...and the fact that she had a crush on Kotarou already is mentioned.
Also, you get to see two sides of Touka as well, especially how she may act tough but is actually a sweetheart that would kill/die for the girls.

Next's up is Shizuru's route. Here you actually get a much better look at the local aspect of Guardian (mainly the one stationed in town) rather than the world view you got in Lucia's route. Shizuru's character that you learn about in Lucia's route and grew fond of gets even more developed.
After Lucia's route you already know Touka's attachment to the girls, it comes to no surprise but in this one you actually find out that Esaka is also quite fond of Shizuru, you learn a lot about Esaka's true character in this route. You also get a sneak preview for the next route.
And, crappy ending aside, you also get to see what would happen if the Key was allowed to fully activate Salvation, while in Kotori and Lucia's routes you learn what happens if she's killed instead.

And now a side note before the next route: In these three routes you see a weaker version of Kotarou, even in Kotori's route he's still weaker than a Hound. You also don't learn a whole lot about his Rewrite ability, well nothing more than what you learn throughout the common route. In Kotori's what's most focused on is the Aurora power, in Lucia the only use for Rewrite he has outside the basic strengthening is the poison immunity and he barely does anything beyond the norm in Shizuru's route...though yea, he gets a sudden TREE TRANSFORMATION, but it's explained well enough and the next route does the rest.
The the next two routes however, you get introduced to a stronger Kotarou, one that can protect himself and those around him rather than be protected by others which is what happens in the other routes. Not only that but in the next route you find out just how strong Kotarou can get and in Akane's route you are introduced to Kotarou very similar to the one in Terra (which helps the transition).

Onto the next route, Sakuya's Route! This is the route where you get introduced to the other side of the struggle, Gaia...you get a feeling for how it's as worldwide as Guardian but don't get to into the internal politics aside from knowing that "there's a power struggle within the ranks". This is in part due to Chihaya not really being that connected to Gaia besides simply being part of it (in what seems like in name only).
But it's in this route is that you learn about Kotarou's rewrite ability more than in any of the other routes, plus about the possibilities it has (through Sakuya).
And now we have why Shizuru's route should come before Sakuya's route...due to a couple of plot points in the latter:
- After going trough the previous 2 routes you know about Shizuru's involvement in Guardian very well, plus you know about Touka and Esaka's true characters. When they meet up with Shizuru and Touka, who start acting quite evil, you already know that they do not want to do it and so the sudden switch from "We need to kill you" to "We trust you" isn't as jarring. Plus Esaka's sudden appearance as a swordsman at the end isn't that out of left field since you just went trough Shizuru's route and know about him.
- It is implied that Shizuru helps Akane by erasing all the memories Kagari gave her, which you would not realize unless you had played Shizuru's rute first (since it's the only one to explain her memory erasing powers).
- Shizuru's ending is better explained once you learn about Sakuya's backstory (still doesn't make it good...but that's beside the point).

Finally...everyone pretty much agrees that Akane's route should come last. It introduces and new side of Kotarou which is identical to Terra's, it explains the inner workings of Gaia, which you haven't needed at all in the last 4 routes but will for the final two routes. Plus...it's just great as an ending note for the heroine routes xD

[Dark Faith]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Spoiler for Heroine Routes and End-Game:

Next it would be Lucia's route, mostly because it feels the most disconnected from the main plot as it focuses a lot more on Lucia and Guardian. But you do learn a lot about Guardian, which is important...you learn just how big an organization it is, what it's all about, the kind of people it contains and so on. And since it's the most disconnected to the plot, it's best to get it right out of the way quickly since the other three kinda are much more connected.
In this route you are also well introduced to Shizuru involvement in Guardian and her powers...in a way I actually feel like her abilities are better explained in Lucia's route rather than in Shizuru's own route (memory erasing aside). Plus, at least for me it would serve well as a taste test for Shizuru's route...and the fact that she had a crush on Kotarou already is mentioned.
Also, you get to see two sides of Touka as well, especially how she may act tough but is actually a sweetheart that would kill/die for the girls.

Spoiler for Lucia's Route:

Funnily enough, that's the reason why I left Lucia's route for last. She never had an impact on any of the other routes after the event at the forest that I deduced her route would be something of a side story.
Hers is a strange route...You can't play it first because you'd be clueless about a lot of what was going on.. but if you play it last, like I did, it feels so disconnected from the rest that it breaks immersion.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Dark Faith

Spoiler for Lucia's Route:

Funnily enough, that's the reason why I left Lucia's route for last. She never had an impact on any of the other routes after the event at the forest that I deduced her route would be something of a side story.
Hers is a strange route...You can't play it first because you'd be clueless about a lot of what was going on.. but if you play it last, like I did, it feels so disconnected from the rest that it breaks immersion.

Thus why playing after Kotori's is probably the best choice ^^

Kotori is the best intro to the overall plot, Shizuru and Sakuya are best played back-to-back. I suppose playing it second to last would be alright too (I did it) but I still feel it would be better after Kotori's.

[Kirayuki]

I wish I could actually play it after finishing Terra, so I can have my happy end

[DmonHiro]

What are you talking about, Kirayuki?

Spoiler:

Terra DID have a happy end. In fact, it was the happiest ending in the whole thing (no, Oppai does not count). Not only is humanity not doomed, but Koutarou is reborn, gets to live with the girls, and can take them to the moon. Hell, they went to meed Moon-Kagari, so even she got a happy ending. She's not all alone anymore. Plus, it's implied that Kotarou can take the whole of humanity into outer space.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by DmonHiro

What are you talking about, Kirayuki?

Spoiler:

Terra DID have a happy end. In fact, it was the happiest ending in the whole thing (no, Oppai does not count). Not only is humanity not doomed, but Koutarou is reborn, gets to live with the girls, and can take them to the moon. Hell, they went to meed Moon-Kagari, so even she got a happy ending. She's not all alone anymore. Plus, it's implied that Kotarou can take the whole of humanity into outer space.

What!? OPPAI ALWAYS COUNTS!

[Kirayuki]

Originally Posted by DmonHiro

What are you talking about, Kirayuki?

Lucia end is the best end

No seriously, you need to check your Sarcasm detector