The Friend Zone ending

[Janemba]

Maybe this topic would be better, and seem less pointless:

Is the game set up so that unless you go a route and end up with a girl, you get a bad ending and die? O.o Or could there, for some reason, be a route where you don't hook up with anyone? Would adding such a route be a good thing, or at least give you one more thing to accomplish?

[Pimmy]

There is a route where you don't hook up! you die.

[Janemba]

There is a route where you don't hook up! you die.

How about one where you don't hook up and live? Poor bastard doesn't need to die if he can't get pussy. Ain't fair, man

[Suriko]

We don't routinely give away the contend of the game's endings.

You won't die though in every bad end.

[Janemba]

We don't routinely give away the contend of the game's endings.

You won't die though in every bad end.

I wasn't expecting anyone to give away content. I'm just saying...

[G3n0c1de]

Well, after act 1, you're either sucessfully gotten on to one of the main heroine paths, or fell off a roof. That is when you don't end up with anyone. I think all of the bad ends that occur after act 1 will be more path specific. And I don't think all the bad ends will involve Hisao's death. Some will, but bad ends in general are things that are bad. Maybe one of the girls commits sucide or something.

As for a 'Friend Zone' ending, I don't think KS will have connotation-neutral endings; they will be either good, or bad. Hisao either gets the girl, or he fucks it up big time. An ending in which Hisao doesn't screw up his (or someone else's) life horribly, and yet doesn't get any girl, is a mildly interesting concept, though. Perhaps it will involve the power of friendship.

[Janemba]

Well, after act 1, you're either sucessfully gotten on to one of the main heroine paths, or fell off a roof. That is when you don't end up with anyone. I think all of the bad ends that occur after act 1 will be more path specific. And I don't think all the bad ends will involve Hisao's death. Some will, but bad ends in general are things that are bad. Maybe one of the girls commits sucide or something.

As for a 'Friend Zone' ending, I don't think KS will have connotation-neutral endings; they will be either good, or bad. Hisao either gets the girl, or he fucks it up big time. An ending in which Hisao doesn't screw up his (or someone else's) life horribly, and yet doesn't get any girl, is a mildly interesting concept, though. Perhaps it will involve the power of friendship.

I doubt the power of friendship can do much for anyone in a setting that's more realistic than crazy shit like anime or captain planet

[kosherbacon]

As for a 'Friend Zone' ending, I don't think KS will have connotation-neutral endings; they will be either good, or bad. Hisao either gets the girl, or he fucks it up big time. An ending in which Hisao doesn't screw up his (or someone else's) life horribly, and yet doesn't get any girl, is a mildly interesting concept, though. Perhaps it will involve the power of friendship.

Every time someone posts a TvTropes link, I lose at least an hour of my life and add another three or four new TV shows to my torrent queue.

Anyways, yeah I'm curious as to what'd be more depressing to me, a possibly sweet but at best non romantic "normal" end or an out and out Hisao gets shoved in front of a train by Hanako ending. Probably the former, lol. The Kenji end for act 1 was pretty funny.

[Janemba]

As for a 'Friend Zone' ending, I don't think KS will have connotation-neutral endings; they will be either good, or bad. Hisao either gets the girl, or he fucks it up big time. An ending in which Hisao doesn't screw up his (or someone else's) life horribly, and yet doesn't get any girl, is a mildly interesting concept, though. Perhaps it will involve the power of friendship.

Every time someone posts a TvTropes link, I lose at least an hour of my life and add another three or four new TV shows to my torrent queue.

Anyways, yeah I'm curious as to what'd be more depressing to me, a possibly sweet but at best non romantic "normal" end or an out and out Hisao gets shoved in front of a train by Hanako ending. Probably the former, lol. The Kenji end for act 1 was pretty funny.

How would that first one be more depressing? It'd be less funny, I'll admit...

[G3n0c1de]

How would that first one be more depressing? It'd be less funny, I'll admit...

Hmm, perhaps it's more depressing because even after all you went through to try and court this girl, you only end up with nothing. No diabetes end, and no over the top terrible end. Just the sad notion that you have failed. In a way, having a horrible end makes it seem surreal enough that it has entertainment value. It may hurt at the time, but looking back, it's still ridiculous. The manly picnic is a perfect example of this. Also, ending up with nothing after a failed relationship is something that happens in real life, not falling off of rooftops. The fact that an ending like this can, and maybe it already has happened to the player in real life, makes this hit a little too close to home. We don't want that much reality from a VN. VNs, like any other good medium can be seen as a form of escapism from real life. I'm not sure what this says about the over the top bad ends. Do we really want Hisao to go through a horrible ending?

[Janemba]

How would that first one be more depressing? It'd be less funny, I'll admit...

Hmm, perhaps it's more depressing because even after all you went through to try and court this girl, you only end up with nothing. No diabetes end, and no over the top terrible end. Just the sad notion that you have failed. In a way, having a horrible end makes it seem surreal enough that it has entertainment value. It may hurt at the time, but looking back, it's still ridiculous. The manly picnic is a perfect example of this. Also, ending up with nothing after a failed relationship is something that happens in real life, not falling off of rooftops. The fact that an ending like this can, and maybe it already has happened to the player in real life, makes this hit a little too close to home. We don't want that much reality from a VN. VNs, like any other good medium can be seen as a form of escapism from real life. I'm not sure what this says about the over the top bad ends. Do we really want Hisao to go through a horrible ending?

He might deserve it depending on what happens

[kosherbacon]

How would that first one be more depressing? It'd be less funny, I'll admit...

Hmm, perhaps it's more depressing because even after all you went through to try and court this girl, you only end up with nothing. No diabetes end, and no over the top terrible end. Just the sad notion that you have failed. In a way, having a horrible end makes it seem surreal enough that it has entertainment value. It may hurt at the time, but looking back, it's still ridiculous. The manly picnic is a perfect example of this. Also, ending up with nothing after a failed relationship is something that happens in real life, not falling off of rooftops. The fact that an ending like this can, and maybe it already has happened to the player in real life, makes this hit a little too close to home. We don't want that much reality from a VN. VNs, like any other good medium can be seen as a form of escapism from real life. I'm not sure what this says about the over the top bad ends.

Pretty much nailed what I was thinking of. A potential romance fizzling out after a long series of non starts and missed opportunities? Depressing as hell. Who hasn't had that happen to them?

Falling off a roof and dying because you couldn't get a date? Hillarious.

[Extremist_Line]

I think this is as good a time as any for me to ask something. So, we can assume that Hisao dies in Kenji's ending, right? Well, does that mean when the full game comes out, if you get that ending, the game will just end right there with a "Go pick a girl dumbass!" middle finger to you? Or will we find out that Hisao didn't die from that and the game will continue from there? Or, is that ending just a placeholder, with a different ending being planned? Also, will the rest of the game be littered with scenes like this? If we were doing fine with a certain girl, then screw up early (ie: Not late enough to get a bad ending) then would it automaticly shove the player into a bad end? Or would we get another "Sucks to be single" ending, likely involving another drunken accident with the K-man?
What I'm trying to say is, will we get any more game-stopping endings midway through the game?

[G3n0c1de]

I think this is as good a time as any for me to ask something. So, we can assume that Hisao dies in Kenji's ending, right? Well, does that mean when the full game comes out, if you get that ending, the game will just end right there with a "Go pick a girl dumbass!" middle finger to you? Or will we find out that Hisao didn't die from that and the game will continue from there? Or, is that ending just a placeholder, with a different ending being planned? Also, will the rest of the game be littered with scenes like this? If we were doing fine with a certain girl, then screw up early (ie: Not late enough to get a bad ending) then would it automaticly shove the player into a bad end? Or would we get another "Sucks to be single" ending, likely involving another drunken accident with the K-man?
What I'm trying to say is, will we get any more game-stopping endings midway through the game?

After the manly picnic, Hisao seems pretty dead man. If he isn't he'd probably spend the rest of his life in hospitals and therapy. But yeah, VNs typically have choices that will end the game for the player midway through. These count as bad ends, no matter how early they are. Most of the choices will probably be inconsequential until the end, though.

[Aura]

Coincidentally, both of the mentioned trends in visual novels are pretty damn retarded.