KS in 50 years

[WorldlyWiseman]

If they have no frame of reference, they might not understand the game. It's about overcoming misconceptions, that these girls are people and legitimate love interests.

If they have nothing to overcome, what does the game become?
A game about a crazy guy who wears a leaf when he showers and drinks on the school roof?

"I don't get these games from the Classical Pre-NeuralNet period at all, guys. Why doesn't that Lilly chick just get prosthetic eyes? Didn't Japan have vending machines?!"

In all seriousness, I tend to agree that KS's influence in the long term is going to be pretty limited. I part because it's a VN and has to drag all that baggage behind it, and also because the idea of people with disabilities being people first is so weird to a lot of people. Could it have some staying power in actual disability communities? Has anyone gotten into contact with any such groups?

[Tununias]

I was posting on a topic about forgetting KS to play it again,
And said that in 50 years I Might have forgotten some of it, so then I could Play it again,
And that I'd leave it in my will that everyone should play it.

And this got me thinking, what will this game say about our Generation when people look back at 2012?
Will the game lose some of it's impact when it is written in Archaic Text (as it will be to them)?
People won't know about mobile phones or music-boxes or

maybe there won't even be disabilities as technology and surgery improve.
I know the game is about "irrelevant of disabilities, not despite or because", but would the game still work?

You're kind of exaggerating. Try reading a book, watching a movie, or something else from the 60s. Sure there's change, but we're not flying around in rocket cars and neither will we in 50 years. <== Metaphor

[Paddy]

If current shadows remain unaltered, it will be to entertainment media what Beta was to VHS, or what cylinders were to phonograph records. Brilliant, but it will die because producers don't think it worth the cost for such a fine product.

It must have cost you guys a fair amount of time and money to make this game, and I'd say it's pretty brilliant. But capitalism generally dictates making as good of a product as possible as cheaply as possible and selling it for a price people think is reasonable. It need not be so. But it would take a lot of work for quality work like this to become anything like mainstream. And even then, it would probably be considered what limousines and HEMIs are to compact cars - best left to those of the higher fiscal echelons of society. You gather what I mean?

[Enemy |]

"Will she remember me 50 years later? I wish I could save her in some sort of time machine"

[Thatswhatbradsaid]

This is actually a much deeper question than it may first seem... But in regards to KS in 50 years I have one thing, will it still have the same impact it did, and still does have. I believe the sole reason that KS is such a superpower is that the Internet is a very harsh and cold place in general and KS had a bigger impact on us because it was such an oddity. But will it have the same impact when we've grown up? Teenagers like me will have gotten jobs, probably partners, Mabey even children so the Internet and things on it will be less important. And if I had those things would I still be as affected b it as I am?

Only time can tell...

But throughout the 80 or so years I plan to kick around on this planet, Lilly, will always have a special little spot in my heart.

[ravenlord]

Heh, another way to look at the thread title would be a sequel set in 2062, and Hisao's first day at a retirement home, after his heart finally forces him into assisted living. A divorcee for 10 years, he dons his old sweater vest and is ready to make a move again

His big surprise is that the gang is all here! Lilly is spiking her O2 tank with a little nitrous, Hanako shuffles along looking for dark tiles in the rec room, Shizune has taken over the place with control of the vitamins and suppliments, Misha continues to shock with her grey drills and 5 alarm voice, Rin freaks out the rest of the residents (at least those almost at death's door) with her morbid art and manly attire, and Emi keeps bullying the people with walkers to do "just one more lap".

So for all those demanding a sequel, be careful for what you wish for.

[Guest]

"Will she remember me 50 years later? I wish I could save her in some sort of time machine"

This is probably the only piece of media that's given me as many feels as KS.

"In my dreams you're alive and you're crying" gets me every time.

[EveryHisaoMustDie]

i think my generation (those who are 18 currently) are probably the first generation to grow up with video games and the internet

That's accurate. My generation was the first to grow up with home video games - being born in 1980. The internet was, technically, already around and in sparring use by the mid-80s, but it really hit its stride in the mid-late 90s as I was finishing High School. Kids your age now were, perhaps, in preschool around that time, so they would have been exposed to the internet almost at the same time as they were developing cognitive thinking skills and such (I'm no expert, but I believe that happens around age 3-4 - at least the higher reasoning anyway. Cognition starts at birth, I'm pretty sure. There's got to be some kind of brain function saying 'i need to breathe' and 'i need to eat' at that point).

In any case, the internet - barring thermonuclear war, meteor strikes or other civilization-destroying disasters - is here to stay. The amount of information out there at people's fingertips is already staggering and it's still growing.

In 50 years, virtually all of human history will be recorded and reviewed through a fast, digital interface and available at any time. I might be overly optimistic here, but I think you get the point. Everything we know now, everything we knew once before, and anything we'll know by then will be carefully cataloged and dog-eared for our convenience, hovering in an invisible cloud. KS will be remembered because everything else is remembered.

Maybe even this thread.

<insert conspiratorial Kenji rant>

Hey there. It's been 12 years now. You probably won't check on these forums again, but if nostalgia ever strikes you into doing so, i have to say it's wonderful to read directly what peoples thought of the future, and kind of funny how drastically it changed. KS is still very much remembered, though not half as popular anymore. What do you think of the time that passed, and of how you thought back when you wrote this?

[Siphonata]

Maybe in 50 years, it'll be one of those games that has developed a modding scene (that isn't elitist) and that has a "Deluxe" version that consists of mods based off ideas the fans wanted for years (e.g Kenji and Misha routes), adaptations of popular fanfics and other more... far out ideas for routes, all of which are a showcase of Katawa Shoujo and the history of it's fandom.

[Nero1994]

There will be a lot of fanon knowledge (that is, things that are not in canon) if KS fanfic prospers during this 50 years.

I think KS will be revived if a game is made with disabled people, which the new generation would love and would ask for examples of other games with that theme. There will be a clash between the old guard (if it is still alive) and the new guard (if it does not begin to dominate the fandom) over KS content. Yes I completely believe that Kenji would not be popular with the new generation and there would be a mod to remove him, you know why.

[Siphonata]

There will be a lot of fanon knowledge (that is, things that are not in canon) if KS fanfic prospers during this 50 years.

I think KS will be revived if a game is made with disabled people, which the new generation would love and would ask for examples of other games with that theme. There will be a clash between the old guard (if it is still alive) and the new guard (if it does not begin to dominate the fandom) over KS content. Yes I completely believe that Kenji would not be popular with the new generation and there would be a mod to remove him, you know why.

Kenji is one of those characters who ages like wine or milk depending on your personal perspective. I could see mods replacing Kenji with someone who doesn't read like a proto-incel or rewriting him to be less sexist or verbose (kinda like how YIIK had an update that allowed you to disable Alex's lengthy dialogue, making him a silent protagonist).

Though personally I do hope that fans will see potential in Kenji's character and understand why he's a part of the narrative in the first place.

[OtakuNinja]

There will be a lot of fanon knowledge (that is, things that are not in canon) if KS fanfic prospers during this 50 years.

I think KS will be revived if a game is made with disabled people, which the new generation would love and would ask for examples of other games with that theme. There will be a clash between the old guard (if it is still alive) and the new guard (if it does not begin to dominate the fandom) over KS content. Yes I completely believe that Kenji would not be popular with the new generation and there would be a mod to remove him, you know why.

Kenji is one of those characters who ages like wine or milk depending on your personal perspective. I could see mods replacing Kenji with someone who doesn't read like a proto-incel or rewriting him to be less sexist or verbose (kinda like how YIIK had an update that allowed you to disable Alex's lengthy dialogue, making him a silent protagonist).

Though personally I do hope that fans will see potential in Kenji's character and understand why he's a part of the narrative in the first place.

Every Frodo needs a Sam. Every VN protagonist needs a wacky sidekick

[Nero1994]

There will be a lot of fanon knowledge (that is, things that are not in canon) if KS fanfic prospers during this 50 years.

I think KS will be revived if a game is made with disabled people, which the new generation would love and would ask for examples of other games with that theme. There will be a clash between the old guard (if it is still alive) and the new guard (if it does not begin to dominate the fandom) over KS content. Yes I completely believe that Kenji would not be popular with the new generation and there would be a mod to remove him, you know why.

Kenji is one of those characters who ages like wine or milk depending on your personal perspective. I could see mods replacing Kenji with someone who doesn't read like a proto-incel or rewriting him to be less sexist or verbose (kinda like how YIIK had an update that allowed you to disable Alex's lengthy dialogue, making him a silent protagonist).

Though personally I do hope that fans will see potential in Kenji's character and understand why he's a part of the narrative in the first place.

Every Frodo needs a Sam. Every VN protagonist needs a wacky sidekick

With all due respect

Kenji doesn't look like Sam at all, he's more of a Gollum, his route literally kills Hisao if he takes what Kenji says seriously.

Sam is a very loyal friend and voice of reason when Frodo is losing his mind over the ring, nothing like Kenji.

I say this as a Lord of the Rings fan.

[OtakuNinja]

Kenji is one of those characters who ages like wine or milk depending on your personal perspective. I could see mods replacing Kenji with someone who doesn't read like a proto-incel or rewriting him to be less sexist or verbose (kinda like how YIIK had an update that allowed you to disable Alex's lengthy dialogue, making him a silent protagonist).

Though personally I do hope that fans will see potential in Kenji's character and understand why he's a part of the narrative in the first place.

Every Frodo needs a Sam. Every VN protagonist needs a wacky sidekick

With all due respect

Kenji doesn't look like Sam at all, he's more of a Gollum, his route literally kills Hisao if he takes what Kenji says seriously.

Sam is a very loyal friend and voice of reason when Frodo is losing his mind over the ring, nothing like Kenji.

I say this as a Lord of the Rings fan.

Lmao, it was a joke. But I would have to disagree. Kenji is not at all like Gollum. Kenji can be a very loyal friend, in his own way. He's nowhere near a Sam, but in pretty much every route except his own, he is a true bro who looks out for Hisao (in his own way). I recall him being alright with Hanako, polite towards Lilly and pretty chill around Rin and possibly Shizune too (perhaps the latter was an undercover op)

[Nero1994]

He's a good brother if someone has enough sense to not take his plots seriously, if not... poor Kenji's friend who fell for his nonsense.

I generally like Kenji, but sometimes I wish KS had a disabled male friend of Hisao's age who was more friendly and gave romantic advice.

It's sad that the only sane males are Akio Mutou and Nurse (not so much), but they are two adults in positions of authority and Hisao is a young student.