Katawa Shoujo Act 1 Preview feedback thread

[Aura]

Yes, it's likely a typo.

[Squirg]

Having recently played the demo, I do like the concept of them game and how it is panning out. There's a lot of content in the first act from what I've seen, and that's a major plus. Anyhow, I like how this seems to be a more romantic VN than a horny crazy sex fantasy one, and that's also a welcome change for me. I'm looking forward to the completed thing. Judging from the demo, this is will be one of my favorite VN's. Very very well done, devs.

[Fir3y]

When I first saw a thread about this on rpg.net, I thought this was a ridiculous idea and must be some sort of huge joke. Suffice to say that I was completely surprised when I started playing. I am very excited to see the finished product.

Also I can't really decide who I like more, Shizune or Emi. I think all of the characters are excellent, but these two stand out to me for some reason.

[Catz]

During Emi's/Rin's route, when you are at the mural, where you either stay with Rin or go with Emi for the blue Prussian paint, Rin mentions the blind painter. Hisao says that he has heard the story already, even if you didn't get the scene earlier with Rin, where she tells you about it the first time. (She won't tell you if you are going for Emi's route; while Hisao is running for the second time, you chose to push yourself, I think.)

Thanks, and sorry if this doesn't make a lot of sense, or if it has been discussed already.(or I'm wrong :s)

[Teclo]

One thing that just struck me as odd is that Hanako reads in the library. She's meant to be incredibly shy and yet she sits there happily in a public place (well, public as far as the students are concerned). Surely she'd take the books back to her room? Hisao doesn't even read them in the library and he's not shy like Hanako. This oddity is highlighted when Lilly says the below line. I mean, Hanako's the kind of person who would buy her groceries online rather than going shopping - I even know someone like that, being very shy rather than lazy - and would generally want to eliminate any chance of being seen by others.

[Moekki]

hanako is shy but she's no hikki

[kslover]

if i may i think i will examine it like a reviewer for a magazine of some sort

Katawa Shoujo is perhaps the VN that has most successfully infiltrated the western culture. Having said that while i am a large fan of the game i must say that while it has numerous good qualities there are unfortunately some qualities that are still not up to snuff. First of all one of the first striking qualities of the game that you first notice is the music. Since this is a project made entirely by amateurs(sorry guys) one would assume that high quality music would be almost out of reach. However they truly manage too pull it together with a soundtrack that manages to set the mood and at the same time be near perfect background music. Of course since this is a visual novel were would it be it the animation in and of it self was not of high caliber. Well fortunately the characters and background pictures are truly the creme de la creme, it is beyond the quality that one sees on television and even in some films. finally the developers managed to pull of a hat trick with the addition of a truly captivating script. Not only is this VN a true shining beacon in this the age of anti-creativity from character development that manages to give you just a taste of the people in the teaser that is act I to the surprisingly realistic yet captivating plot and numerous paths that essentially leaves you wanting for more and yet perfectly content with only Act I. truly this trifecta of Music, Animation,a and a Script it is not hard too see why exactly this VN has become such a hit in a culture absolutely calling for something new and fresh in our dull western lives..... Having said all of that this project like any other like it (although will as unique as Katawa Shoujo is im hard pressed too find one) has some inevitable flaws. One of the most common is of course the sometimes confusing and illogical paths that lead to some scenarios that can often times leave you frustrated. Aside from that the only other true flaw is the fact that we are still waiting for the whole game all in all

(9.2/10)m

[Guest]

I was going to come here early and just blow my load at how awesome I think this was even tho I didn't get all endings in the demo, but I waited until that anyway. So...

I am not someone who is into VN's. I played Tsukihime years back because I also played Melty Blood, and for anyone who dosen't know that is Tsukihime's spin-off fighting game, because I has a genuine interest in who I was playing as. While I enjoyed Tsukihime as a novel on the computer, I didn't consider VN's past that point. A few days ago someone brought up Katawa Shoujo on a forum I frequent and, despite the terrible state the thread was in when I looked at it, I downloaded and played the demo and was pretty blown at how good KS is. For someone who never plays VN's and dosen't know them beyond their general notorious internet reputation, I ended up writing an exposition on the idea of "Well, maybe VN's do have viable stories.", which is totally out of character for me.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop in and say "Good fucking job." on Act 1. I'm patiently waiting for whatever you have in store next, and especially the full VN.

[Warwick]

One thing I realized about KS when I was doing the flowchart:

Katawa Shoujo handles choices slightly oddly, which doesn't exactly help with the library function (an amazing extra, btw). KS has "variations" of a single scene when it is affected by previous choices. For example, depending on how you answer Muto about the self-introduction (Gateway Effect), what you do in Enter Stage Left is different. However, the Library only saves one of those variations. My library has the variation where I introduce myself and Shizune thinks I'm an interesting person. If you refuse to introduce yourself, Shizune and Misha don't know so much about you. If I wanted to see that variation, I would actually have to play through the main game.

I know that at least in Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime, the results of each choice is a scene in itself, even if the two scenes are 95% identical or are just a few lines long before moving on to the next scene.

[Aura]

Technically that is true for KS as well. We just choose to not show all scenes in the Library.

[Teclo]

Would it be possible to have it so when you click on a scene with multiple versions, it gives you a choice of Version A, Version B, etc?

[Aura]

I'm sure, but delta would need to bother coding that feature and the benefit is questionable at best, especially considering the extremely high degree of variation some scenes have.

[TewDee]

I was going to come here early and just blow my load at how awesome I think this was even tho I didn't get all endings in the demo, but I waited until that anyway. So...

I am not someone who is into VN's. I played Tsukihime years back because I also played Melty Blood, and for anyone who dosen't know that is Tsukihime's spin-off fighting game, because I has a genuine interest in who I was playing as. While I enjoyed Tsukihime as a novel on the computer, I didn't consider VN's past that point. A few days ago someone brought up Katawa Shoujo on a forum I frequent and, despite the terrible state the thread was in when I looked at it, I downloaded and played the demo and was pretty blown at how good KS is. For someone who never plays VN's and dosen't know them beyond their general notorious internet reputation, I ended up writing an exposition on the idea of "Well, maybe VN's do have viable stories.", which is totally out of character for me.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop in and say "Good fucking job." on Act 1. I'm patiently waiting for whatever you have in store next, and especially the full VN.

Oh balls. How was I not logged in. This is me.

[Envy]

Would it be possible to have it so when you click on a scene with multiple versions, it gives you a choice of Version A, Version B, etc?

How would anyone really benefit from that?

It's more trouble than it's worth.

[Teclo]

Well they'd benefit from it as much as they'd benefit from the Library at all. I just imagine it as you click on the scene and then a box comes up, like the "Quit? Yes/No" box and it just gives you a choice of the two or three variations. I admit, if there are like five versions of the same thing with just the odd word changed, that's not worth it, but there are two or three and they have several different blocks of text that are different, it's more worthwhile.