Katawa Shoujo Act 1 Preview feedback thread

[Shades of gray]

Well, if you enjoyed it, why don't you elaborate on what you enjoyed most, and why? and at the other end of the spectrum, was there any parts you didn't enjoy?

Either way, I'm sure the Devs will be happy to hear you enjoyed Act 1

[Beezle]

Ugh, I kinda wish I didn't play this.

It totally slipped my mind it wasn't a full release, I was just minding my business playing Chess with Hanako and the game ends.

Is there any way to get email updates?
Really hoping this project is finished and doesn't become abandoned.

[Esa94]

Ugh, I kinda wish I didn't play this.

It totally slipped my mind it wasn't a full release, I was just minding my business playing Chess with Hanako and the game ends.

Is there any way to get email updates?
Really hoping this project is finished and doesn't become abandoned.

Don't worry about it being finished; Most of the direction is apparently complete and Hanako's art assets were finished a few days back

[Beezle]

Ugh, I kinda wish I didn't play this.

It totally slipped my mind it wasn't a full release, I was just minding my business playing Chess with Hanako and the game ends.

Is there any way to get email updates?
Really hoping this project is finished and doesn't become abandoned.

Don't worry about it being finished; Most of the direction is apparently complete and Hanako's art assets were finished a few days back

Awesome, I've never actually looked forward to a game this much.

Katawa Shoujo > Skyrim

[Viero]

I can not find a place to put this post so I will just say it here. I have read quite a few VN. But there is only 2 VN's that have had such a impact on me that I consider to be the best things I ever read. This is including normal books as well. One is "Don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story." And the other, Katawa Shoujo. I only have done one path and I fucking LOVE it! I want to congratulate the people who worked on this in making such a fantastic start to what I have no doubt will be a fantastic story.

<3 Hanako! The burns makes her look kinda cute and awesome at the same time. And I like her personality so of what I seen of her.

Only other thing I want to say is HURRY UP WITH IT!

lol Just messing. Take all the time you guys need. I am in no rush at all. Quality over fast release.

Thank you for this awesome VN!!

[Tewi]

I was recommended this by a friend, finally got around to reading it - and was hooked immediately, beasting through to 100% completion in one sitting (though I had to consult the walkthrough for one scene, Slow Recovery). Great intro, sensitive handling of themes, quality writing and characterisation, better art than I expected, and just all-around amazing work. Enjoyed it immensely, and am now looking forward to the remaining Acts with much eagerness!

As someone who started from v5, I was a little surprised to find out that every girl had a different artist (Emi aside, but her sketchy style eventually evolved into a feature for me), so good job with the coordination of visuals. The overall impact on the route of the choices presented and made were also well done, speaking from the point of view of a completionist-minded, compulsive save-scummer; at no point did I feel that I was forced to make a decision that had no bearing on the story just for the sake of it, yet they were intuitive enough for the most part that I wasn't driven to consult a walkthrough to complete all the routes except for that one scene. I particularly liked how playing through all the routes slowly fleshes out what the other girls were doing while you were locked into certain scenes, explaining things like Shizune/Misha's absence in class.

Kenji is hilarious. My initial impression was 'wtf is this' but he grew on me, like an obnoxious but strangely endearing case of.. something vaguely embarrassing and fungus-like. It's almost disappointing that he has no viable route. (And incidentally, while I don't personally mind spoilers and 'enjoyed' his.. End regardless, Kenji's description in the Wikipedia article of this project just about reveals all the details with no warning whatsoever.)

Now that I'm done gushing all that pent-up praise, there was one minor hiccup I noticed, though I don't know if it has been mentioned already - in the final Shizune scene when they're silhouetted against the fence/city watching the fireworks, she takes her hand off Hisao's shoulder just before the fireworks end, which is echoed in the visual. However, when the last fireworks flash during the transition between the fireworks-are-ongoing phase and the normal night sky, the 'lit' frames of that final flickering has her hand still on his shoulder while the dark one has it down, so her silhouette does this strange rapid arm-twitch before it goes and stays dark. Hopefully I'm describing that coherently and in enough detail, because it's now 7AM and I should really sleep...

tl;dr A+, quality work, will read again and/or pay to read the rest if need be

[RetulVonAmora]

Now normally I wouldn't do something like this, but this begs it of me.

I have just now finished Act 1 and I must say this is the best VN's I have played ever. The story and characters are so well crafted I found myself actually reading into each sentence. The illustration's are beyond belief, far more than what I had initially expected. The dialogue is also exquisitely designed. It brought moments where I would actually delve into a sage-like trance as I tried to figure out any hidden meaning to the last conversation. Hell.. I laughed and well almost cried a couple of times. Of which is a rare thing when I play games.

In essence this game is beautiful and the development team should feel extremely proud.

For now it appears I must wait to see what happens next. This I understand and accept with sorrow and patience.

Okay, tech wise I did not notice anything wrong, although I generally stayed with Lily throughout the story.

[ThndrMge]

I just finished the Act 1 Preview of Katawa Shoujo.

Having been there 4 years ago, seeing the sticky on /a/ and following the conceptual process via the threads that popped up there-on-out but losing interest after a few months... I must say, it was exceptionally breathtaking to be reminded that you guys existed, and to see just how far you've come. Not only is this project an inspiration to people who have a desire to do something similar, but it's also a great example of dedication to a breed of storytelling that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. I salute all of the members of the Four Leaf Studio's team, past and present. With the full release imminent (according to what I've read) I couldn't sit by and wait for the release to compliment you guys on a job well done, as far as I'm concerned, Four Leaf Studios is a success. You have a loyal following already it seems, and I hope you guys might even consider producing something else after you finish Katawa Shoujo. Companies such as RIOT Games for example have arisen from free-to-play indie projects, to be successful fully funded companies and so I hope to see more work by the lot of you beyond this project.

I hope that your time spent on this project has been as enjoyable as it has been for everyone else who watched as you developed it.

[Shades of gray]

I hope that your time spent on this project has been as enjoyable as it has been for everyone else who watched as you developed it.

I hope that your time spent on this project has been as enjoyable as it has been for everyone else who watched as you developed it.

... dear lord... hmm... how to put this... go take a gander around some of the devs posts, look at some of the shimmie images (I would recommend : http://shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com/post/view/1783 )
and if you are brave, check the IRC...

amusing at times... not so amusing the rest

[Bara]

I hope that your time spent on this project has been as enjoyable as it has been for everyone else who watched as you developed it.

I hope that your time spent on this project has been as enjoyable as it has been for everyone else who watched as you developed it.

... dear lord... hmm... how to put this... go take a gander around some of the devs posts, look at some of the shimmie images (I would recommend : http://shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com/post/view/1783 )
and if you are brave, check the IRC...

amusing at times... not so amusing the rest

Shhhh! Don't disillusion people new to KS. Why yes! KS was made with sparkly magic fairy dust and flying rainbow ponies.
To enjoy KS as a consumer knowing the grimy, gritty nuts and bolts and hard knocks of the internal creative process in not necessary. I bet there were even some good moments to offset some of the bad ones behind the scenes. I'm just glad that they all were willing to share as much as they have about the behind the scene process of this project.

[Teclo]

I can't remember if this is where this sort of thing goes, so apologies if it isn't.

I recently noticed there's an inconsistent use of "OK" and "okay". It's okay to do this if you're seeing what people have written themselves (as in, a letter Kenji has written, for example) but since the text is representing speech, it seems sloppy to be inconsistent with these things. Yes, I'm nitpicking, but I just want this VN to be as polished as possible.

Secondly, I've noticed "Earth" being written as "earth" on several occasions. More nitpicking? Probably, but "earth" basically means "soil" whereas "Earth" is the planet you were referring to.

[Shades of gray]

those are good points, and i imagine that the devs are probably going to do a bit of clean up before the final release.

and this is why there is a feedback thread, to find little things like this that the devs can use to improve KS.

due to the fact I read a lot on the net, I have managed to develop a filter in my mind that automatically spell-checks and corrects things as i read so i barely even notice little things like that :/

[moonpalace]

Well I don't know what you'll make of this but here's a couple of things that stuck in my mind (they're such little issues which may not even really matter I wasn't sure you'd want to hear about it) and then I forgot until the last two posts.

In Risk vs Reward, when Misha has trouble with the word magnanimous she writes it down to find out how to sign it. Wouldn't it be more accurate if she just finger spelled it?

In Sip part 2 when Hisao is sitting with Lilly he says internally "Letting them to their chatting,". Perhaps you meant "Letting them return to their chatting,".

[ThndrMge]

... dear lord... hmm... how to put this... go take a gander around some of the devs posts, look at some of the shimmie images (I would recommend : http://shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com/post/view/1783 )
and if you are brave, check the IRC...

amusing at times... not so amusing the rest

Ha, well, I assume there are plenty of tough, annoying, stressful, angering, so-on-so-forth times, but I meant as a whole, I hoped they did/are enjoying the dev process.

Shhhh! Don't disillusion people new to KS. Why yes! KS was made with sparkly magic fairy dust and flying rainbow ponies.
To enjoy KS as a consumer knowing the grimy, gritty nuts and bolts and hard knocks of the internal creative process in not necessary. I bet there were even some good moments to offset some of the bad ones behind the scenes. I'm just glad that they all were willing to share as much as they have about the behind the scene process of this project.

Lol, same as above really, I just meant in general I hope they feel like the time they spent on the project was worth more than the stress it caused. I mean after all, the work they've done seems to have drawn a lot of people's attention, so many people love these characters. Just would be a shame to hear that after all this work, the dev team didn't even enjoy it all that time. So I'm hoping the mess of fans they've gathered, even before releasing the game, at least gives them something to feel prideful about.

[X-SAM]

I played the first act a long time ago, and while this sounds silly, it really made a huge impact on my life. Before I had played this game, I was, for a lack of better words, afraid. People with disabilities always disturbed me and made me feel uneasy. I didn't want to even look at them because I sadly found them 'gross'. I was like this, mostly due to some experiences as a child, but I can't blame everything on that. Back then, I believed that anything along those lines that was overly different physically was unsightly and disgusting.... and then I played this game.

My friend who is into visual novels first brought this game to my attention. At first I was reluctant to play it. I didn't want to see what in my mind were 'horrors' that the game had. It sat on my HDD for a long time until I finally one day decided to play it... and that's when everything changed. I had never allowed myself to get close to someone with a disability that was considered 'large', like an amputee or a burn victim, but for this one time, I opened my heart and let these characters get close to me... I had been such a fool this whole time. They're not any different than normal people. I had been living in such a way that I had ignored people who I deemed to be 'unusual'.... and for what reason exactly? It was simple... I was afraid of things that are different, and change.

This game opened my eyes and showed me of how terrible I had been all these years. I had grown ignorant of the fact that just because something is different doesn't mean it's still not a person. As it stands now, if these girls were real, I'd want to protect them in every way I could. I'd take a bullet for one if I had to.


I'll never forgive myself for all my wrongdoings, but this game opened my eyes, that I had been keeping shut for so long.