Rewrite & Harvest Festa

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

*scratches head* I guess I got this impression because I had only 1 part away from the full clock

I'm pretty sure that the Nov. 13th event brings him to the same point on the dial regardless of previous rewrites, too.

[Mcfart]

Yeah, the common route rewrites don't seem to affect anything except a bit of dialogue. It's weird, but it's not like those are the only meaningless choices (Let Kotori do it, Ask for Kotori's Help or Talk to Kotori) :P

[Randrak42]

Spoiler for Shizuru and Chihaya Routes:

It's funny...as I play through Chihaya's route and see Kotarou actually fighting against powerful familiars like Krivoy Rog I keep thinking back to Shizuru's route where everyone tells him that his power isn't meant for battle and that he'd never become a warrior...even Kotarou thought that xD

It's kinda fun seeing these differences...(not enough to make me forget my rage over the Shizuru ending...but it's getting there).

[Klashikari]

That's actually due to Tonokawa being quite inconsistent compared to Tanaka and Ryukishi. Even within his own scenario, it goes whacky at times...

[Kirayuki]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Spoiler for Shizuru and Chihaya Routes:

It's funny...as I play through Chihaya's route and see Kotarou actually fighting against powerful familiars like Krivoy Rog I keep thinking back to Shizuru's route where everyone tells him that his power isn't meant for battle and that he'd never become a warrior...even Kotarou thought that xD

It's kinda fun seeing these differences...(not enough to make me forget my rage over the Shizuru ending...but it's getting there).

Definitely getting there, good thing that you try to clear out those two first before doing the rest. If you do like Kotori's route, I'm sure you gonna at least enjoy the ride in Akane.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

That's actually due to Tonokawa being quite inconsistent compared to Tanaka and Ryukishi. Even within his own scenario, it goes whacky at times...

Spoiler for Shizuru/Chihaya routes:

I actually interpreted it as in Shizuru's route nobody really believed he could do it, which made him not believe he could be as strong and not really train for it plus Shizuru or someone else ended up saving his ass when he needed it. But then in Chihaya's route he has Sakuya not only giving him advise on how to actually use the rewrite power but also teaching and training him, pushing him to be stronger.

Then again it could really be just inconsistencies and I'm over-thinking it.

Originally Posted by Kirayuki

Definitely getting there, good thing that you try to clear out those two first before doing the rest. If you do like Kotori's route, I'm sure you gonna at least enjoy the ride in Akane.

As long as I don't get any more endings of Shizuru's level I'll keep going...I like to think that the worst has passed after playing Shizuru's route and I'll be getting smoother sailings from now on (as in...no more rage inducing endings). Let's see if I'm right or wrong.

Besides, the Common Route was so awesome for me that it alone makes the whole VN deserve a full playthrough, even after raging so much in Shuzuru's ending.

[Tyabann]

You should probably play Akane's route last, FYI... Lucia's route is great, but it's not particularly relevant.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

You should probably play Akane's route last, FYI... Lucia's route is great, but it's not particularly relevant.

Will do.
I was planning on going Kotori > Guardian > Gaia > Guardian > Gaia anyways xD

[Dirty_Harry]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Spoiler for Shizuru and Chihaya Routes:

It's funny...as I play through Chihaya's route and see Kotarou actually fighting against powerful familiars like Krivoy Rog I keep thinking back to Shizuru's route where everyone tells him that his power isn't meant for battle and that he'd never become a warrior...even Kotarou thought that xD

It's kinda fun seeing these differences...(not enough to make me forget my rage over the Shizuru ending...but it's getting there).

Terra explain why everyone tells him that in Shizuru's route.

[Kirayuki]

So, this occur to me suddenly after reading through some of Chihaya's route in HF. Anybody want to take a guess which writer is in charge of Common route ? and I mean the part where the club activities take place (or basically any group moments), not specific heroine moments. I get the feeling that Tonokawa is the one who is in charge of this.

[Dirty_Harry]

Originally Posted by Kirayuki

So, this occur to me suddenly after reading through some of Chihaya's route in HF. Anybody want to take a guess which writer is in charge of Common route ? and I mean the part where the club activities take place (or basically any group moments), not specific heroine moments. I get the feeling that Tonokawa is the one who is in charge of this.

Officially is Romeo Tanaka.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Kirayuki

Anybody want to take a guess which writer is in charge of Common route ? and I mean the part where the club activities take place (or basically any group moments), not specific heroine moments. I get the feeling that Tonokawa is the one who is in charge of this.

IIRC Tonokawa and Romeo wrote it together.

[Randrak42]

Please do explain to me how it is possible to have a awesome heroine route like Chihaya's in the same VN as one such as Shizuru? How is it possible for me to love the route of a heroine I thought was boring...but hate the route of my favorite character in the VN?

This VN gives me a headache...

Spoiler for Chihaya Route Rant:

Chihaya's route was great...so great that it managed to erase the rage I had from the Shizuru ending almost completely, IT WAS THAT GOOD. I'm actually glad I played Shizuru's route first and then this one because it was like...the healing magic I needed after raging so hard at the Shizuru Ending.

Speaking of which, I can see why playing Chihaya's route before Shizuru's helps with understand and viewing the Shizuru ending a bit differently but...fact of the matter is, everyone in the world still died, including everyone she cared about and Kotarou is still stuck as a fucking tree since there are no summoners to make a contract with like Sakuya. So it's still a fucking shitty ending...how I wish I had Shizuru's ability to erase memories so I could erase my own.

Also, playing Shizuru's route first helps you connect much better with the Guardian people in Chihaya's route IMHO.

Yet again...I get more emotional (to be honest I freaking cried) when something happens to side characters than when something happens to the main cast...I mean, I couldn't stop myself from crying during Gil's final moments (much like during Kotori's parent's final moments) yet at no point in any other route I felt so sad due to a main character. Though Sakuya's epic "final" walk did almost bring about a manly tear.

I'll be honest, when Chihaya stabbed herself I threw my arms in the air, said fuck it and went to play with my dogs for 10 minutes while insulting the VN...I was just so done with shitty bitter-sweet endings, thank god the epic music rolled in a while after and I knew everything would be alright.

If I had one complaint about the route (not really a complain though) it's that it didn't feel like a heroine route...at least not like Kotori and Shizuru's...it actually gave me that feeling you get when you play a VN with a single True Route and final girl, where everything converges into one True Epic Ending. If I played the Chihaya route first and then was told that it was the only route and I finished the VN I would honestly go "Yea, that feels right." aside from minor details of course. As such, I felt it was a bit unfair for the other routes (at least Kotori and Shizuru's...ugh...).

Oh and...Psycho Akane <3

I was going to follow Kaisos' advice, play Lucia's route and leave Akane's route for last...but how is that possible after witnessing what happened to her in the Chihaya Route!?

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Spoiler for Chihaya:

If I had one complaint about the route (not really a complain though) it's that it didn't feel like a heroine route...at least not like Kotori and Shizuru's...it actually gave me that feeling you get when you play a VN with a single True Route and final girl, where everything converges into one True Epic Ending. If I played the Chihaya route first and then was told that it was the only route and I finished the VN I would honestly go "Yea, that feels right." aside from minor details of course.

And partly because of this,

Spoiler:

It feels like Tonokawa was almost deliberately trying to insult everything that Romeo tries to do in the actually-relevant routes of the game.

It'll get worse if and when you start to notice the major inconsistencies.

[Randrak42]

Man...why can't they work together...and destroy the evil monster that was Shizuru's Ending?
I mean...make one epic collaborated effort!

[Tyabann]

They collaborated on the common route... why there was no communication at any other point in development I have no idea.

[Balzac]

Some excellent discussion here. Though I don't quite agree with the impression that the writers are out to sabotage each other. It's a collaborative effort, and they'd be pretty blind not to see these so-called "invalidations" without some justification. I prefer the simpler explanation: the progression from Common route to Terra is an ongoing story with each heroine route revealing parts of the whole thing - regardless of whichever heroine might be perceived to have gotten the worst off. After all, Kagari notwithstanding, the advertising line during the planning stages was "Can her fate be rewritten?" It might be that they intended the heroine routes to just plain suck to put across the message they wanted to convey. Some heroines are worse off, after all, we don't know what happened to that woman Kotarou remembers marrying. The slight inconsistencies can, dare I say it, be kind of easily hand-waved or explained.

Also, as regards Harvest Festa, there's nothing there that breathes new life to the original game - perhaps some character insights and a "redemption" of sorts to the villain, but it's basically Common intermixing with Moon.

EDIT: To Randrak: I don't know if I missed it but: how and why could you have read Sizuru's before Chihaya's if you don't mind me asking? Reading in that order is an interesting perspective which you've demonstrated in your posts.

Further edit: If Tonokawa had a hand in writing Common Route, I'll have to rethink my position on the man's comedy. Rewrite's Common had some of the best I've ever read in Visual Novel/ADV history.

[Mcfart]

Haha, maybe not sabotage, but certainly miscommunication about some finers points aboot the plot (such as Kotarou being able to make left handed aurora in Chihaya's route). Also, I thought almost everyone would have read Shizuru's before Chihaya's route, since who wouldn't do Kotori's route first (prereq to unlock Shizuru's)

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Balzac

EDIT: To Randrak: I don't know if I missed it but: how and why could you have read Sizuru's before Chihaya's if you don't mind me asking? Reading in that order is an interesting perspective which you've demonstrated in your posts.

Simple, while playing the Common Route Shizuru instantly became my favorite heroine of the 5, I have a habit of playing my favorite heroine first in VNs. But then I found out that I had to go through the Kotori Route to unlock Shizuru's thus I did so and went on the Shizuru.
After complaining and raging over how shitty Shizuru's ending was for me (especially because she's my favorite character) I was told the Chihaya route contains some important info so I went ahead and played it.

Spoiler for Chihaya/Shizuru Routes:

While I can see why playing the Chihaya route before Shizuru's grants some important info, such as why Sakuya was such a strong familiar and why Chihaya just suddenly quit...even how Kotarou was able to turn into a tree and such, I still think what you get from Shizuru's route makes for a better experience during the Chihaya route, namely the later part of it. This is simply because you understand Guardian better, after playing Shizuru's route you are more attached and closer to the members of Guardian so you know that for example Touka isn't the cold blooded killed she looks to be when she starts fighting Koutarou or why Shizuru is acting like she is. Also when they stop Akane, Shizuru seems to wipe her bad memories, you don't get that if you don't know her abilities that well because it's not explained, it's just a little thing she does (silently touching her head).

Well that's my opinion...I haven't finished the VN anyway (playing Lucia now).

[Klashikari]

I personally think that Chihaya and Shizuru's routes can have their order swapped for equal reasons, exactly because they are mirroring a bit their exclusive information from each route.
Although in term of balance,

Spoiler for Game structure, very minimal spoiler:

Shizuru being first makes a better momentum after what you learn from Kotori's route (Gaia's position is well established, Guardian look quite colder than they might be though), and it does help to learn early what could potentially happen if the key is left unchecked.

It also gives some expectation from what Chihaya can do before knowing what actually happens on her side, whereas starting with Chihaya still makes you unable to know the little details about Shizuru, dragging even more questions the reader might actually have ever since Kotori's route.