A Week of Memories part 7: Graduation

[AShimmeringRadiance]

You know...this post feels as sad as any bad ending of the VN
Anyway, thanks for the post(s)!

[v]

You know...this post feels as sad as any bad ending of the VN

Nah, it feels as sad as any of the good ends.

I've watched this game grow along with myself. I think back to playing Act 1 two and a half years ago when the demo was released (which made me feel like how everyone new to the game feels now, I suppose), and I was absolutely stunned that people could make something this high of quality from such a disorganized place as 4chan. More importantly, it was my first VN aside from the PW series, and I wasn't even aware Act 1 was a demo until I hit the end of Hanako's route.

Since then, that demo has made me want to play Yume Miru Kusuri, Saya No Uta, True Remembrance, KiraKira, Narcissu, Planetarian, digital, Curtain Call, Ever17, Fate/stay Night, Tsukihime, ef, don't take it personally, CROSS+CHANNEL... You people have introduced me to an emotional side that I didn't know I had. You managed to make me realize that I'm the weird, introverted idealist I am today with nothing more than a proof of concept that raised my expectations about what a game might be able to do.

And then you actually finished it. And despite becoming rather privy to the genre of VNs, you still managed to completely and totally shatter my expectations. I don't think I've felt anything warmer than what I've felt over this game.

It's... Done. And it might be finished as a project, but what has come out of it has completely and totally exceeded any of my expectations, and I couldn't be any happier over what you people have done for my life.


This isn't like a bad end in the slightest; it's bittersweet, but necessary and it couldn't have gone any better for me and for what I assume from many others in the community. Really, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

-Doug

[Jaksio]

Thank you for your hard work 4 leaf Studio and Godspeed.

[rrc2soft]

I came here due to an old memory of a megatokyo post, and now i go as a much richer person.

Thank you, 4LS.

Thanks for imprinting your love to katawa shoujo and giving it to us selflessly.

[Synoptic]

"Saying goodbye to friends."
This is why I hate school settings, man.

Thank you, 4LS!

[Demoneq]

I only found out about KS once it was done, too. (and had mixed feelings about it as well, possibly expecting some weird stuff because of disabled girls and all... but I don't regret giving it a try in the slightest, even though I can't get myself to run through the remaining 2 paths, Emi and Rin's, after the emotional bomb I got hit with by the first three ones)

Anyway, thanks 4LS.

And damn you, Aura, you made me feel all overly emotional again.

[sabre98]

This post really touched me. It brought memories of my graduation from high school and I realized that it looked almost exactly like Aura wrote. I realized that I haven´t seen some of those people since then and it made me sad. I might have known them just by name but we were part of special group and it´s hard to believe it all ended so quick. Just like this.

But it´s not good to dwell too much in past. End of one thing means beginning of something new. Thank you Aura and everyone at 4LS for this wonderful experience and good luck with your life after KS

[Yuno]

;_; I love you, KS devs

[~]

.....
Damn, I feel like crying now.

I admit I heard about Katawa Shoujo last year, and I downloaded the demo. And after that I've constantly checked up like a lolicon would stalk a beautiful loli. (Ok, not really that extreme...in fact quite a bad analogy...but you get the point, right?...right...?)

Anyway, I completely enjoyed the game thoroughly, and I loved all of it. The music, script, art, characters, everything. The only I possibly hated was when I got the ending where I die. But even that was well scripted.

I haven't...graduated high school yet. I know, in the future, I might not ever see the people from my high school ever again. We'll all be in different places, fulfilling our dreams, meeting new people. In fact, I'm even planning to go to a university overseas to study for my future career. Of course, I'm sad when I think about it, but....

After graduation is a whole new chapter of your life, filled with new experiences and things. You branch out from the people who taught you what you know, and meet new people and learn much more than calculus and the writings of textbooks. You try different things, and experience happy times as well as sad times. Your experiences make you who you are, and through the things around you begin to change.

You have to say goodbye someday, but you have to say goodbye to someone to say to them again hello.

...I've finished with that now. Sorry for being a bit...maybe depressing. I know it's probably not very teenage like to have deep thoughts...but whatever, this is a special occasion.

So...yeah. I'll now leave. But before that...
Thank you.... Thank you very, very much for all your effort into this game!
Really, I mean it from the bottom of my heart....thanks.

[Akira]

Saw this line in one of the recent blog posts:

A commercial team has a clear incentive to get as many fans as possible, and make them as happy as possible: revenue.

Often I think that's where the commercial teams do it wrong.
They're out to release something as soon as possible to try and make as much money as possible and that's it. it's just a job to them, they don't really care if the game sucks, as long as it sells more than it cost them to make it. They're not the ones who'll be playing it after all.
Once you bring money into the equation of creativity, it becomes something mechanical, something you do because it's a way of making a living. Even if you start out with good ideas and high hopes, they quickly become constricted by tight deadlines, buried under requests from managers and publishers to tone things down a bit because the budget won't stretch to it, or they won't be able to do it in time for the unrealistically close release date.
There are exceptions of course, occasional gems among the dirt, but fewer and fewer as time goes by.


But 4LS set out to create something huge just because...
"Doing something they can't do just because they can" as Rin would put it.
Just because they could. Just for the sake of creating something. No money involved, just an idea, and enough people who wanted to make it happen.
And it worked. The response to this (as well as the emotional impact the story had on the players) has eclipsed just about anything that a commercial studio could have done.
And hopefully it's inspired more people to make something of their own ideas too. (I have a couple in mind myself, but need to get a proper computer instead of this heap of junk first, lol)

Thanks for everything guys.
If you're ever in Scotland, let me know and I'll buy you a beer - As Akira would probably say here.

[Raiden]

Thank you, 4 leaf studios, for making such a beautiful game. <3

[Me!!!]

Katawa Shoujo has been my first VN game/ eroge and I am happy it is my first. I love the story and all the characters. The game itself has made me think twice about people who have difficulties in their everyday life and be grateful to how lucky I am to be where and how I am. Thank you for such a great game.

[Yukkuri]

Aura, thank you for this series of posts. You are a good clam.

[Andronicus]

I made an account just to voice my thanks here.

I must confess, up until about 2 weeks ago, I'd never even heard about KS. I read a news piece about the release of some erotic game about crippled girls. Curiosity overcame my disgust, and I downloaded it. My first playthrough had my in genuine tears by the end, and I doubt that I'll never experience anything quite as beautiful as this, for as long as I live. I played through each character, each as touching as the last. Then I played through them all again, just to be sure that I'd experienced all that there was to experience.

It's sad that it's over now, but all good things must come to an end. Things like KS only come around once in a lifetime, and I'm just happy I was privy to the result.

I don't know if 4LS will make anything else in the future, but I just want you guys to know that you've made another lifetime fan in me, for good or bad. Otherwise, all the best, and good luck, in whatever it is you decide to do.

Thanks again.

~Andronicus

[gpower2]

I stumbled on KS out of pure luck, following a signature link from some user in some forum, only a few days after the final release.
I played all week in my free time, since I just couldn't stop. I managed to reach 100% in library, without any help from a walkthrough.

The game was astonishingly well made. The texts were warm and touching, the art was beautiful and the soundtrack... mind blowing.

Seeing that 4LS will silently disappear leaves me with a lingering sad taste, but it's something I understand.

God bless you all members of 4LS, since you indeed left something to be remembered by.

A sincere "thanks" from me.