Harem route is the only acceptable choice for me!

[Dollywitch]

I was thinking about this for a while, but there's some serious drawbacks to not picking a particular girl.

If you don't pick Hanako, she goes on being sad and lonely with only one friend in the whole world.
If you don't pick Lily, she's left all alone to look after Hanako and presumably never sorts out whatever drama comes up with her sister.
If you don't pick Shizune and Misha, they're left alone to be the ENTIRE student council, doing everything on their own.
If you don't pick Emi, Hisao never gets healthy.
If you don't pick Rin, Hisao never decides on a club to join and doesn't develop any new interests.

Hanako's kind of the worst, it hurts too much to imagine her not having more friends, but given she clings to Lily, picking Lily might be a better option in some ways as she may feel patronised if you romance her just to make her feel pretty. Since Lily has the least negative consequences not to pick, it gives you more reason to pick her too.

I sometimes wonder if VNs forced the "Missed opportunity" thing a bit much. In reality, you could probably sort out all of those without romancing the girl. That's what I really liked about the Kanon & Clannad animes, where it put it all into one linear(Well, mostly linear) story that worked really well.

It'd be really nice if KS ever got picked up for an anime, and got the same treatment, maybe a more original story featuring the characters even.

[scott1and]

I feel sad and empty inside after reading this
*sniffle* poor Hanako *sniffle*

Never know, harem may still happen...likely hood is low and it has been denied but its a possibility still exist

[Sperance]

Well, thank you. Now I'll feel like a jerk no matter which girl I choose

[SirMax]

Hisao is not the only person in the school or magic. I'm sure they'll find other people.

[DaMan65]

by Sperance on Thu May 05, 2011 12:31 pm
Well, thank you. Now I'll feel like a jerk no matter which girl I choose

I've felt the same way, and its true anyone who the main character doesn't get involved with in most fiction are left to wallow in their own problems. Sad but true

[Napalm]

If you don't pick Hanako, she goes on being sad and lonely with only one friend in the whole world.
If you don't pick Lily, she's left all alone to look after Hanako and presumably never sorts out whatever drama comes up with her sister.

Well, you see, you just proved yourself wrong. If you do pick Lilly, you'll still befriend and help out Hanako, to a lesser extent than actually going on Hanako's route, but still, she wouldn't have only 1 friend.

The other "missed opportunities" aren't that big of a deal, except maybe Emi's, but that's what the nurse is for.

[Shujoxa]

If you don't pick Emi, Hisao never gets healthy.
If you don't pick Rin, Hisao never decides on a club to join and doesn't develop any new interests.

Hisao's health/school participation doesn't have to depend solely on Emi/Rin. But I do see the point you're trying to make, and completely agree on the other three.

[Deimos]

Actually, we should not demean the potential of an existence without the protagonist. The absence of a romantic partner and accordingly the absence of that special bond created by mutual amorous interest does not devalue a life completely. There is still the possibility to be the recipient and emitter of platonic love and and bonds of friendships may still be forged even without ever having found true love. Life must not be devoid of all happiness for such a reason, although it may be more bittersweet that way from another perspective.

Hisao is not the only person in the school or magic. I'm sure they'll find other people.

I agree, as long as we are talking about the ability of each girl to establish social contacts and engage in them. However, I am undecided concerning if they could replace someone who is their designated true love. Either there is the possibility of more than one person being another one's destined, complimentary half (a fact that would make me question how the quality of being a "true" love would still be maintained) or there is no one to fill that gap, which, as I said above, does not necessarily leave a person's existence entirely hollow and unfulfilled.

[Silentcook]

There are a few things I'd like to point out.


First, you won't get a harem route in KS unless we change our minds for the umpteenth time *AHEM*.

Aside from the flow complications required to do such a thing (which could possibly make Aura flip, and would surely make me weep inside), the idea behind "harem route" in eroge usually turns out to be HAPPY ORGY ALL TOGETHER - which is a fairly idiotic concept, even in suspension-of-belief escapism. We try not to be that retarded. Most of the time.

[shimmie=1225]Even though we didn't exactly discourage the idea.[/shimmie]


Second, there's an inherent failing in thinking that Hisao is the ONLY factor that can cause change. Sure, he's the protagonist of our little story. So what?
Just the fact that diverging, alternate storylines exist should show that there are infinite possibilities out there. We have to limit ourselves to a few because we'd go daft if we tried to cover all bases, but it's not like the "Hisao train" is the exclusive one true ticket to happiness™ for the poor girls.

I mean, imagine how pissed off would the rest of Yamaku be if that was true and they found out.


I think the flaw here lies in thinking as a player, yet wanting to immerse like a character. You'll get to peek in those alternate universes; if you don't find complete satisfaction of your every single desire... I'm sorry, but deal with it. It's the price to pay for not having had a heart attack in your late teens. I don't think it's a very harsh one.

[DMGnome]

"Well, the bad news is you'll die before you're thirty. The good news is that your penis is 100% of what is necessary for true happiness."

[Rocket Royal]

It's fine. The girl didn't pick your route, and look how great we all turned out!

I dislike the harem idea. The woman deserves all your love and tenderness.

[Dollywitch]

If you don't pick Hanako, she goes on being sad and lonely with only one friend in the whole world.
If you don't pick Lily, she's left all alone to look after Hanako and presumably never sorts out whatever drama comes up with her sister.

Well, you see, you just proved yourself wrong. If you do pick Lilly, you'll still befriend and help out Hanako, to a lesser extent than actually going on Hanako's route, but still, she wouldn't have only 1 friend.

The other "missed opportunities" aren't that big of a deal, except maybe Emi's, but that's what the nurse is for.

We don't know yet though, if it follows the same things as most VNs you probably won't get all that close to Hanako.

I'm interested in this actually and would like to hear from the devs is how much the other characters are involved in each other's route.

For example, does Lilly come up much in Shizune's route? Or Emi & Rin? Or are they just minor characters?

I can see how they may not be focused on, as it should be saved for their route, it's about them, you don't want to be finding out things about them in someone else's route! But I like the idea of seeing a different side to them in different routes, and gives more reason for fans of that character to play other characters routes. The Type Moon games were a bit like that, though of course they weren't straight up Eroges/Dating Sims.

I'm also curious how large the final cast will be, how many characters will be added, or will it mostly use the main cast we've seen here?

I don't think picking one girl means you can't be friends with the others. I hope they all end up as one group of friends in most routes, like in Clannad(at least in the anime)

[Dollywitch]

It's fine. The girl didn't pick your route, and look how great we all turned out!

You have no idea lol.

I dislike the harem idea. The woman deserves all your love and tenderness.

I think I'm not really suggesting a real Harem route, but to have a "true" route where everyone gets to be friends. Or something like the Coco route of Ever 17. Of course, the love interest would be Misha.

I hope they do work on a true route after it's released.

Also, I'm not against polyamorous relationships and I think if everyone consents it's fine. Of course there's also the "harem" anime archetype that's not quite a proper Harem, but has a bunch of love interests falling over the main, all claiming to be their girl/boyfriend. I really wanna write a harem light novel where the main character is transgendered, and the love interests all have weird talents.

[Dollywitch]

"Well, the bad news is you'll die before you're thirty. The good news is that your penis is 100% of what is necessary for true happiness."

How long is Hisao likely to live? Is it possible if he gets healthy and doesn't push himself, he'll live to a relatively ordinary old age? That makes it even more worrying if you don't pick Emi though, and he probably will die when he's 30.

[Silentcook]

I'm interested in this actually and would like to hear from the devs is how much the other characters are involved in each other's route.

I'm also curious how large the final cast will be, how many characters will be added, or will it mostly use the main cast we've seen here?

Sorry but the first question is impossible to quantify, and in any case we don't give out spoilers to our own game.

Unless it's the first of April, that is...