Katawa Shoujo Act 1 Preview feedback thread

[Smoku]

now that's an... original praise. guess KS deflects and parries even the most skeptic of voices.

[Wreckusu]

Well I'm British but I don't always use just "hospital", generally it's a mix and match of having no "the" and a "the" beforehand. Though I never say someone is "in the hospital", it's always someone is "in hospital". The former just sounds odd to me.

Uh where was I. Ah the game.

Where to start really. I'd been following it off and on a little while just out of curiosity so I knew a little bit about it beforehand. I didn't go in with the expectation that it'd be distasteful and fetishist due to its (vague now) 4chan roots. Beyond that though I didn't know what to expect. I didn't expect it to be so captivating, the characters to be so expressive and unique, the masterfully crafted interweaving net of paths that Act 1 is. What surprised me most though was the level of technical and artistic polish throughout (though I have to say it was a good call deciding to rework Emi's design, she stuck out like a sore thumb before. Especially with her gym outfit on), if someone told me that it'd been done by a professional Japanese VN studio I don't think I would doubt them.

I didn't think I'd hate MishShizune* so much either. I burned that bridge as fast as possible on my first play through, I think I'll leave her path for last. Maybe after Kenji.

* Disclaimer: Apologies to MishShizunes writer this isn't a criticism of you, I just don't like their personalities.

I think I decided on my play order for when the game comes out:
Rin > Emi or Hanako (Can't quite decide yet) > Lilly > Kenji or Shizune (Depends on what mood I'm in at the time).

P.S.
One thing struck me as odd though. In one of the scenes you go to the art class with Emi to fetch some blue for Rin. Emi is described as standing on her tiptoes trying to reach the top shelf. I couldn't help but think how can she stand on tiptoes without toes... or ankles...

[Mercutio]

P.S.
One thing struck me as odd though. In one of the scenes you go to the art class with Emi to fetch some blue for Rin. Emi is described as standing on her tiptoes trying to reach the top shelf. I couldn't help but think how can she stand on tiptoes without toes... or ankles...

not all her prostheseseseses are slingblades - she's got legs and feet that look like legs and feet too. you can see them in art, usually worn with stripey socks. though now that I think about it, how would she stand on tiptoe with those things?

also: welcome to the boards and glad you dig the game, man.

[G3n0c1de]

One thing struck me as odd though. In one of the scenes you go to the art class with Emi to fetch some blue for Rin. Emi is described as standing on her tiptoes trying to reach the top shelf. I couldn't help but think how can she stand on tiptoes without toes... or ankles...

Here are Emi's prosthetics for everyday use. And yes... without control of her ankles and feet I don't see how she could tiptoe.

Emi.png (213.22 KiB) Viewed 4506 times

I didn't think I'd hate MishShizune* so much either. I burned that bridge as fast as possible on my first play through, I think I'll leave her path for last. Maybe after Kenji.

Give them a chance. It is well worth it.

[Silentcook]

P.S.
One thing struck me as odd though. In one of the scenes you go to the art class with Emi to fetch some blue for Rin. Emi is described as standing on her tiptoes trying to reach the top shelf. I couldn't help but think how can she stand on tiptoes without toes... or ankles...

This has been mentioned to us before. There are ways to tiptoe if the prostheses used have specific features, but they don't look natural and don't read so well. So we changed that specific detail in Act 1 v2.
...which then begs the question: you are not playing that version, correct?

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

Silentcook
Medical Expart

Wait, seriously? If so, then I'm guessing what you say on this should have the most credibility?

[Wreckusu]

This has been mentioned to us before. There are ways to tiptoe if the prostheses used have specific features, but they don't look natural and don't read so well. So we changed that specific detail in Act 1 v2.
...which then begs the question: you are not playing that version, correct?

No I'm playing v1. Truth be told I've had it downloaded for ages and just never got around to playing it. Glad I finally did so.

not all her prostheseseseses are slingblades - she's got legs and feet that look like legs and feet too. you can see them in art, usually worn with stripey socks. though now that I think about it, how would she stand on tiptoe with those things?

also: welcome to the boards and glad you dig the game, man.

Yeah I had a mull over it at the time and concluded that the act of tiptoeing is nearly all below the knee muscle movement, largely the ankle and toes. It wasn't really a glaring error but rather a somewhat jarring sentence that breaks immersion for a moment or too, glad to hear it got fixed (not that it was a huge problem anyway).

G3n0c1de - That picture of Emi and Rin is adorable.

Speaking of Rin, I never expected to like her so much. From the pictures I'd seen of her before I had her pegged as a rather dull girl due to the sort of facial expressions I'd seen in the artwork beforehand. Boy was I wrong to judge that book by its cover. I loved her whimsical deadpan attitude, as such she got an instant upgrade to the path I'll be following first.

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

we changed that specific detail in Act 1 v2.
...which then begs the question: you are not playing that version, correct?

Maybe for some reason he's playing this on ReactOS? (Act 1 v2 doesn't work on it currently - it IS in alpha state)

[G3n0c1de]

That picture of Emi and Rin is adorable.

That's actually part of the 100% completion reward image. It has all the girls in it.

[Esa94]

That picture of Emi and Rin is adorable.

That's actually part of the 100% completion reward image. It has all the girls in it.

Thanks to you posting that image I had this urge to examine the full image.
Then I started playing Act 1 again (Even got a version of a scene I hadn't seen before!)

I guess this means KS has quite a good replay value.

[Wreckusu]

That picture of Emi and Rin is adorable.

That's actually part of the 100% completion reward image. It has all the girls in it.

Yeah I stumbled across its origins elsewhere on the forums. More incentive to continue playing (not that I needed more incentive though). Gonna go for Rin's end next, stumbled through it the first time and ended with Emi.

[Dervos]

Hello, not sure how to start this but I supposed I'll start from the beginning.

About a week ago, I was reading articles on cracked.com, and one of those articles inadvertently led me to a article on kotaku.com

This was the article

http://kotaku.com/5461619/romance-with- ... came-to-be

Anyway, I was reading the article, eager to learn about this because I had never heard of something like this before. and it sounded very interesting, I have been using 4chan for about 3 years but I never heard or saw anything related to this.

So I read the article paying more attention to the actual history of it's development(spotty as it was) and chuckling absentmindedly at the little throwbacks it would make to 4chan.(4chan being 4chan just seems to get everywhere in everything). I was hooked onto the idea of the game, I was just like "this is sounds incredible" and it really warmed my heart the more I found out about the story behind it's creation and about the group of people who were making it, and followed the link to the website and downloaded the game (Act 1 v2; I think it was)

A word I think that describes the game, the whole idea, is poignant, this game rapidly developed strong emotional tugs and I eagerly read every line, watching each character's reactions, the music was amazing it felt so right, the whole game smacks of strong emotion and very dedicated effort. I found myself wanting to cry at the more sad parts of the game, reading how the main character struggles with his situation in the hospital, I also found myself smiling and laughing a lot, Misha's bubbling laughter and Shizune's devious scheming, Rin's utter deadpan comments to everything, Hanako's cute little mannerisms and the things that she did that I found my self pouring with sympathy over, Lily' although quiet and regal was full of such character and kindness, Emi's playful and and jubilant rush were just so cute. Kenji's rampant paranoia made for some of the most hilarious things I've seen for a while. I could go on in describing how I felt about each character but it's just too much and I feel like I couldn't do the game justice trying to articulate everything I experienced into words.

I've only ever played 2 other games related to this genre, one was True Love 95' and the other was something like Pretty Soldier Wars a.d. something, Katawa Shoujo was better by far of either of those games in my opinion(Maybe I'm being unfair to True Love 95' since it is older and PSW is more a of turn based strategy/ half dating game, but I disgress, Katawa Shoujo really warmed my heart and I genuinely cared about the characters it was just that convincing and touching to me.)

I finished the demo finally over the course of about a week, just finished getting 100% today and I still find my self laughing, smiling, crying, and pondering deep thoughts at the character's interactions with everything. The demo just completely blew me away, I feel like I could play this every day, and I find myself eagerly looking forward to the day that the whole thing is completed.

I want to thank everyone who's had a part in making this game, the experience is just incredible and I can see the effort you all have put into this, I really appreciate what you are doing and look forward to more. The whole thing is just amazing the more I think about it.

Thank you, so much, it's hard I think to convey emotion with just word's on a online forum board, but I want to say sincerely from the bottom of my heart thank you for this, I hope more people discover what you have created and can share in this amazing work.

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

[large amount of words]

It sounds like you aren't too familiar with the visual novel genre, so why not do yourself a favor and check out some others? I personally haven't read any too similar in style to Katawa Shoujo, so I cannot give much advice. However, in terms of visual novels in general, I cannot speak highly enough of Fate/stay night - I was simply blown away, but it's quite different from Katawa Shoujo.

However this wouldn't be a good place to really go into the subject to much, so it may be a good idea to create your own topic about visual novel suggestions.

EDIT: Ya know, I should've at least point out the 2 commonly-mentioned quality free visual novels: Narcissu and True Remembrance

[Smoku]

I cannot speak highly enough of Fate/stay night - I was simply blown away, but its quite different from Katawa Shoujo.

I wanted to write the exact same thing just now. There are also many nice VNs out there. catch' em.

well, the really really big post there would make me smile and be proud if I was a dev making this game.

Isn't that right, creators? the guy wrote a pretty thing.

[Anon]

I don't have much evidence nor a compelling argument to support the claim, but it seems as if the convenience store scene with Lilly, where Hisao 'realizes' that she is forced to hold onto him without her cane, warrants a CG. Of course, there will always be more instances where a CG is desirable than there are instances where it is plausible - limited resources, so to speak.