Rin's Path discussion *spoilers*

[KeWano]

I never saw Sae or Nomiya as being greedy. Rather, they wanted Rin to become the artist that Nomiya/Sae's husband couldn't become - well, Nomiya did anyway. It was a way of being artistic by proxy, I suppose you could say. Nomiya is the kind of person who values 'art' over everything, by the looks of things, while Sae... I don't think she had that same 'semi-selfish' urge. I think insofar as she could read Rin, that she probably thought that Rin wanted it that way.

Well, what gave me the impression of Nomiya being greedy was when he yelled at Rin for leaving the exhibition and telling her that she wasted her talent and all "their" work was for nothing. Sae was just doing her work, putting out art for an exhibition and helping the artist along the way.

and to Norinvaux, I feel the same. I have a hard time playing through the other parts, since I got attached to Rin and her path (for mostly the same reasons as you). But I kind of want to see what the game has to offer, since it really is a great game. But replaying Rin's path is a must for me. I'll probably cry even more than I did the first time though :'(

[MrSabotage]

I thought I would have a carefree story, something wierd yet easy going, I had a masterpiece of art, a bittersweet piece of music, painting call it as you wish, Rin and Hanako have such great routes... I can't wait to see the rest of the girls. ^^

i totally agree, i was completely blindsided by the direction they took with rin, and i loved every minute of it.

The way Rin was talked about in the few blog posts specifically about her, it was fairly easy to infer her route was going to be something special, at least for the writer. But seriously holy shit.

i must've missed that, been a while since i went through the blog posts.

edit: I also probably haven't read absolutely all the blog posts, in fact now that i think of it and look at the amount of posts there have been i probably haven't even read half of them
I R ashamed.

[Guest]

Anyone catch the butterfly analogy with regards to Rin's story?
Change, isolation, emerging as a new person? Larva, pupa, butterfly.
Nicely done. It was beautiful all of it. Though, Hisao was kind of a douche not connecting the dots. It all worked for the drama though.

Too be honest, I don't feel like Hisao was a douche. The reader has the added bonus of seeing the story in a 3rd person view and can understand each character's mind more easily while reading into the story as a whole. Hisao has no such luxury. He is like any other person. Can you honestly tell me, that if you were Hisao, that you would be able to figure out what Rin was having trouble with right off the bat? Even I had some trouble until I went back and reread some things.

Not to mention, Hisao tried his hardest to understand her and express his only feelings, only to be shot down, avoided, and given blank expressions. That can't feel very good, even if it is Rin. Hisao makes mistakes too.

Honestly if I were Rin I wouldn't have gotten involved with Hisao and if I were Hisao I wouldn't have gotten involved with Rin.

I'd say Hisao had an excuse with Emi, but Rin... Rin never really indicated anything except that she didn't exactly care if Hisao hung around. Everything else between the two was largely Hisao's doing. Yeah Hisao cared and was frustrated because he cared, but I don't recall Rin ever asking him to, he just somewhat invites himself to do so (and honestly it was hard for me to play it that way)

[Heartlesswithaheart]

Rin's path was a little painful for me to do. It was so melancholy and saddening, and I didn't want to see my precious Rin like that. I wanted to scream at Hisao to do better, but I knew I couldn't do any better than him. I truly loved it, but it hurt to do her path.

[gromulke]

Am I the only one who got lost with Rin's rant?

I mean, it IS the biggest part of the plot, but still, I felt like no matter how much thought I would give to it, I won't understand it.

Maybe i'm just too simple-minded. Still, it was good. Not my personal favorite though (I still have the hanako path to play, it's 2 AM, and I have to be up at around 5AM.. Meh, sleep is overrated).

[NubChaos]

Rin's path is a marvelous example of engrossing us, the readers, into the very same struggles as the characters.

Hisao grows increasingly frustrated and confused with Rin, never being able to figure out the right things to say to her, or being able to properly read how she's really feeling. You the reader have those same frustrations, and it's even shown in the in-game mechanics with the various dialogue choices regarding Rin. Some of the choices completely change based on the choices you made earlier in the path, and it's extremely hard to tell which choices are the "right" ones, given Rin's all-over-the-place personality. And the fact that there can be completely different choices in a couple of scenes each time you play the path only further adds to all the confusion.

I was STILL rather confused even during her good ending, and I think Hisao was as well. But by that point, both myself and Hisao didn't really mind that anymore, and just enjoyed Rin for Rin. It calls back to a previous line by Rin herself regarding "Emi at her Emiest". You come to just appreciate Rin at her Riniest, even if it might leave you confused.

[Tropic of /c/ancer]

Just completed Rin's rout with a good ending. It was quite nice, gave me some new ideas about art in general, along with heartwarming story.

Few observations: I remember that in a blog post someone of the devs wrote that none liked doing the e-scenes. Can't recall who it was, but that ain't prolly important. Anyways, I've read some erotic novels, Fanny, Xaviera Hollanders memoir and some Miller and in my opinion you handled those scenes very well. The art was actually quite nice, if not really matched the text, which itself was very pleasing to read. Not too monotonous, nor too vulgar or vanilla, at least for my taste. I presume that some /d/eviants might find it hard to fap to, but hey you had quite a lot of expectations to be met, your own as the most important ones. I personally see this game as a work of art, as games are usually put in the genre of light entertainement.

So anyways, thanks a bunch. I really hope that we'll be hearing more from you, even though you already decided otherwise.

What is the word for feeling overwhelmed, positively?

[Watered-Down]

Looking back I think most of my criticism for this path would be with the writing of Hisao. He does to much repeating himself in the final third, to much wallowing with no forward progress and not even at least getting into some other events that highlight his situation with Rin.


Of course I was walking through Lowe's earlier today and I was hit with that wave of bittersweet longing(Is that the word for it? I feel very Rin.) that wont go away after playing it. So If a story is good enough to keep hitting the day after its hard to criticize to much.

[sagehero]

For those who have beaten it, I stumbled upon this bit of foreshadowing in act 1:

I feel like I'm treading on very unknown territory with art. The way these meetings with Rin go, It's as though I'm starting a smoking habit or something. I should probably stop talking with her.

[Yukito]

Rin's path was a little painful for me to do. It was so melancholy and saddening, and I didn't want to see my precious Rin like that. I wanted to scream at Hisao to do better, but I knew I couldn't do any better than him. I truly loved it, but it hurt to do her path.

My thoughts exactly. And at least I didn't see it coming because 1. act was so humorous and fun with Rin. It was sad, stressful... but also sweet and awesome. It made a grown man cry...

I finished it (my first arc) last night and I had some weird dreams. I don't know if I have the strength to continue with other character arcs just yet. Maybe I just try to survive my lack of sleep and get my thoughts straight. Maybe I should go back to sleep before I really start to think that Farmer Boys "Like Jesus Wept" is about Katawa Shoujo (listened it last night while playing the game a bit too much...).

[Clem]

Anyone else feel like they need a recap of what exactly happened? A day later I feel like I don't quite understand what I just went through?

[ultrarare]

Anyone else feel like they need a recap of what exactly happened? A day later I feel like I don't quite understand what I just went through?

I didn't quite get everything the first time I when through it either, however, I just played through it a second time and it makes FAR more sense in every respect. (It even tugged my heartstrings a lot harder this time as well... )


If you don't fully understand it, I highly recommend you play through it again. A lot of Rin's path has to do with symbolism and profound statements that you have to think about for a bit. Dandelions, butterflies, panting, and a lot of other minor things Rin talks actually hold a tremendous amount of weight regarding what she feels and fears.

Rin's path is by far, the deepest and most profound of all the paths.

[Fronzel]

Well, holy shit. I knew Rin wasn't a proper "weird chick" comedy stereotype (nor did I want her to be), but I wasn't expecting this! It engrossing but no fun at all. There was so much uncertainty and tension. it was all pretty uncomfortable, really. Not a bad idea at all and I'm happy I chose to play Rin's route first.

I don't really understand the progression from scene in the classroom after Nomiya blows up, where Hisao decides that neither of them can be what the other wants, and the next scene, where Rin comes our of the rain to Hisao for comfort.

I'm confused what affect my decisions had. I usually manged to have a pretty good reason for making the choices I did, but I just don't understand how they drove the story. I ended up missing five or six scenes.

I especially don't understand the last choice of Act 3. "Explain it to me" get me a really short bad ending and "I want to understand" was actually a similarly frustrating outcome for Hisao, just less angry...and the dialogue from the short bad ending showed up in Act 4 anyway!

What is the word for feeling overwhelmed, positively?

I'd try "awed".

[ultrarare]

I especially don't understand the last choice of Act 3. "Explain it to me" get me a really short bad ending and "I want to understand" was actually a similarly frustrating outcome for Hisao, just less angry...and the dialogue from the short bad ending showed up in Act 4 anyway!

Rin's main conflict is that she wishes people could understand her and hates that people can't. That is why she collapsed during the art exhibit. She hoped that her art would reach out to the "artsy" people so that people could finally see what she was thinking and that she wouldn't be alone. Instead all they did was ask questions about "why she did so and so" and "what she was thinking ". Explain it to me!" is exactly what she wanted to avoid. She doesn't want to explain it. She can't. She wants Hisao to understand, but he doesn't. "I want to understand" is better because it is softer and, while it still shows misunderstanding, tells Rin that their is possible hope of understanding.

[Derosian]

Rin's story made me cry three times, I am a 24-year-old male. Whoever wrote Rin's storyline should earns some form of award that they give to writers, I can't believe how in-depth and complicated her path was, and I was very moved by the whole thing.