Rin's Path discussion *spoilers*

[zanzarra]

Her asking what was wrong with herself nearly killed me. I think I stared at the screen for half an hour, or so it felt.

[Bagheera]

I didn't do Rin first, nor is she my favorite character, but I agree that her path is one of the best. There's a lot of awesome mixed in there.

[Rivan]

I finished Rin's path today.

Quite possibly, she is the best written and most interesting character I've ever encountered in a novel or a sim game. Her path is awesome, thanks to the way it is so complicated and I can truly appreciate and understand, as well as identify with, the hardships both Rin and Hisao face, either thanks to my current point in life or some moment in the past.

The fact that Rin's path is the hardest, most complex and possibly the longest (or at least it took me the longest to read, take in, and choose whether I've done the choices myself or flipped a coin) route, as well as having a character (two characters, in fact - both the main character as well as the girl) I can not only appreciate, but understand and identify with make it the best route of them all in my eyes, and catapult Rin from her original spot 2 she shared with Hanako to Lilly's level at my #1 favorite girl (still, she shares the spot with Lilly).

Utterly awesome and kudos to Aura and whoever else had a hand in this masterpiece.

[newnar]

Can someone explain to me what was actually going on in the art room before Hisao started touching her?

What was she doing exactly? How was she breaking herself?

I am really lost playing her arc.

[yipyapper]

Can someone explain to me what was actually going on in the art room before Hisao started touching her?

What was she doing exactly? How was she breaking herself?

I am really lost playing her arc.

You are not alone. The route is very difficult to follow, whch for me makes it even better. I am going to keep redoing her route so I can understand it better, and because I love the route anyway.

[themocaw]

Can someone explain to me what was actually going on in the art room before Hisao started touching her?

What was she doing exactly? How was she breaking herself?

I am really lost playing her arc.

Nonspoilered because Rin's route.

Let's see. . . she has no clothes on, she's grinding herself up against something rhythmically, she's making soft noises, and Hisao calls what she's doing obscene.

Obviously she's playing parcheesi.

[urishima]

Let's see. . . she has no clothes on, she's grinding herself up against something rhythmically, she's making soft noises, and Hisao calls what she's doing obscene.

Obviously she's playing parcheesi.

[zanzarra]

Not to derail the current train of thoughts, but I'm surprised how many people think Rin has some kind of mental disorder because of the way she acts.

From an adult point of view it might seem that way, sure, someone acting like her would seem weird and not really fitting into society - but let's not forget that the KS characters are teenagers. I rememember acting similarly socially awkward at times, and know some people that had the deadpan manner of speaking as well as the scatterbrained logic ( myself included, at times ). She didn't strike me as especially strange, in a "normal" school she'd just be the usual class weirdo.
At best it's a bit exaggerated for the sake of storytelling.
( Add the usual "she's the artsy, hard-to-understand type, duh" - although every teenager is criminally misunderstood by everyone else, right? )

That said, I'd be really interested how Rin would be about 10 years later - actually, that goes for all characters.

[Lunar Archivist]

Can someone explain to me what was actually going on in the art room before Hisao started touching her?

What was she doing exactly? How was she breaking herself?

I am really lost playing her arc.

Well, she's obviously masturbating, of course. Or at least trying to. Considering her lack of hands and any suitable makeshift masturbatory aids in the atelier, though, she's apparently having a difficult time doing so. As for breaking herself, Rin has trouble expressing her feelings with words or gestures, so she originally took up painting in an attempt to get people to understand how she felt. She hoped that, when people saw her paintings, they would be able to look into her soul, a fact that is alluded to in her intro FMV, where we see that she's painting a mirror. Unfortunately, everyone misinterpreted her actions for creative drive, so when the gallery exhibit came up, she was forced to produce artwork in a way that was unnatural to her. This literally left her emotionally drained since she kept having to recharge her emotional batteries in order to keep going. That's why she was constantly searching for new stimuli to fuel her creativity: the night out on the town with Hisao, smoking a pack of cigarattes, masturbating, etc.

[theforgott3none]

This route actually touched me less than Emi's. The choices are all so vague and it doesn't feel like you are SUPPOSED to choose right because you are smart or smth; i sort of only chose after what i think and felt, atleast in Emi's you got the hint from Mutou. That's why i got to the first bad end then "won" it. It's funny how my experience is so different to everyone else. I almost wanted the MC to just abandon her because of how ignorant she was sometimes, you know, keeping the distance just as SHE wanted it.

I just couldn't relate to her like others did i think.

[themocaw]

Is it just me, or is the scene where Rin comes back from walking in the rain and Hisao dries her off one of the sweetest moments in the entire game?

It's a perfect metaphor for their relationship: she's strange and kooky and no one knows quite what she thinks. . . but Hisao's her solid anchor for when she needs to come back to earth.

[zanzarra]

That scene, and the follow-up/intermission with the black-on-white musings ( followed immediately by "...but right now I can't stop staring at her butt", wich cracked me up ) are some of the best moments in the whole game. I can't play through Rins good ending without a broad grin plastered to my face the entire time.

Also, someone earlier in the thread wrote that Rins good ending feels "hard earned", or something to that extent, and I can only agree there.

[Dampwaffles Alternate Personality]

As a professional artist myself, it was a bit difficult to work my way through the Rin path. First, because she's so unable to verbally communicate, and second, her art is so abstract that it's difficult for her to communicate through her art. I certainly found it both touching and annoying how her teacher and the gallery owner forced their own expectations on to her, but this is not uncommon in the world of art. One is expected to communicate great messages through the medium to the astonishment of all and the "art world" looks askance at artists if they just paint a pretty picture because they wanted to. I've had my work turned out of galleries because "they didn't want to encourage realistic art" and I've taken part in exhibitions where the winners were those artists who found out what style the judge painted in and aped the judge's style, rather than remaining true to their art. Sort of sours one on the whole gallery and exhibition scene. So, when teacher dearest triesto force Rin to become the artist he could never be, I could see disaster coming from miles away. I thought it was very clever and also a little cheap on the part of the writer that if you have Hisao nurture and support Rin in her desire to complete the exhibition, which she said in no uncertain terms was what she wanted to do - just about the only unambigous thing she says in the entire game - it takes you to the Bad End! That's not to say it wasn't a good writing, but it's a bit like a mystery story I recently read where the author, who is famous for making the mysteries solvable (all the clues are revealed in the story) but in her latest book, in order to solve the mystery, you had to have attended a certain play on a certain day at one particular London theater to understand the clue that solved the whole mystery. I thought it was a bit of a cheap cheat, which was also how I felt about Rin's path after encouraging her in her ambitions for hours, without pushing her too hard, only to get the bad end. But, when I went back and replayed her path, I got the good end and the good end was adorable.

[gecko]

You don't get the "bad" (officially neutral) end just by supporting her art. The turning point is when you misunderstand her after her break-down in the gallery. When you push her to feel happy that people are asking questions about her paintings, when she's made it clear she's not.
Although I'd misunderstood the "Explain / I need to understand" choice, this one, the "Shouldn't you be happy that people are interested in your paintings / what if you found someone like that", was clear for me. By answering with the first, you're clearly focusing on her art, while the second does focus on understanding Rin as a person: it's logical that's it's the one toward the good ending.

Other than that, I approve your analysis of the art world.

[GreenSkinBoy]

In what way were you supposed to understand the difference between "Then Explain" and "I need to understand". I only picked the former because it imo felt less harsh to say.

- Then try and explain!
- I need to understand!

Smth like that. But other than going for ur gut feeling, how were you supposed to know?