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Originally Posted by rg4619
From what I hear, School Days isn't about rational or irrational choices at all. Rather, seemingly inconsequential decisions made at Point A (i.e. as seemingly inconsequential as turning left or right where a corridor forks) will eventually lead to promiscuous behavior at Point B. This design purposely forces the player into being unfaithful, regardless of his original intentions. Consequently, the likelihood of reaching a bad ending is disproportionately high.
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Exactly, the worst part about School Days is the choice branch system. The choices can look completely innocent and harmless, yet choosing, say, "return to classroom" over "wander around a bit more" could lead to totally different developments, one of which most likely involves Makoto meeting the girl that he's NOT currently going out with, and ends up screwing around with her after failing to maintain whatever little willpower he had to begin with.
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Originally Posted by rg4619
At any rate, I suppose that this is the main gimmick of School Days, with the violent endings being just icing on the cake. The protagonist is intentionally unlikable/thoroughly amoral, and you're supposed to get a thrill from seeing him destroy the girls' lives (depicted through the ensuing melodrama) through no choice of your own. Given the story premise, design, and violent endings, I'd say that School Days is primarily intended to be a sadistic romp (although simultaneously compelling via the drama), whereas KGNE takes itself more seriously as a soap opera featuring hapless, yet well-intentioned and potentially redeemable characters.
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Pretty much right. School Days is a typical netorare game (a game that focuses on cheating/being cheated, basically), which is a niche genre even for eroges. The sadist element is definitely there.
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Originally Posted by wontaek
There is one ending, which is considered as true ending by many of my fellow Korean anime watchers, where Makoto gives really heartfelt and touching apology to one of the girl, to which the girl gives in. I don't know how you arrive at the few good and decent endings, but they do exist, so it is possible for the main character to not ruin people's lives. If the anime producers plays things safe, they will make one of those few good endings as the core of the overall plot.
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I didn't have the time to complete all of Kotonoha's endings, although most of them were either "holy psychopath, batman!" or "eh..." for me. But it's true that there were a couple of endings for Sekai where Makoto finally realizes his wrongdoings and did his hardest to gain Sekai's forgiveness.
To be honest, they weren't all that bad, but only because it made Sekai happy in the end (I didn't really give a damn about Makoto's change of heart). Makoto's efforts were sincere and real, but for me, it was too little, too late.
Still, they were "good" endings, so for people looking for a happy ending, it's definitely a possibility too.
Unfortunately, the ending that actually made me (and probably many others) cheer out loud was:
The "wife" ending for Setsuna was good too, in a comedy-good kind of way.
As for Summer Days. I generally consider that as a different game (it's an "alternate story", after all). Makoto's "needs-to-die" level is much lower here since he didn't really screw around with anyone (well, not behind another person's back anyway). In the Paris route, he actually acted like an upstanding nice guy (although he really needs to work on the jealousy thing). I would've actually been impressed if it weren't for his track record in School Days.