Katawa Shoujo Forums

Remember the nice guy named Ryumaru-MG who interviewed the Devs for an article on his website? He posted his writings (although it claims to be up since February which is not quite correct).

Anyway, link here:

http://www.tipofthenose.com/feature02-28-10.html

hat's not to say that no good can come from the internet's own wretched hive—Anonymous (a.k.a. every single poster on /b/) has done some amazing stuff. Just think back to how they/he/she/it inflicted huge retribution on those people who were stupid enough to post videos of them abusing a cat to the internet. They've also shot down pedophiles and wrecked a racist radio show host's career. You know not to screw with them. But you wouldn't expect a classy video game to come from the internet equivalent of Mos Eisley. Boy, would you be surprised if it did.

Gee willikers, another article equating 4LS with /b/tards.

Sweet. The more positive exposure the better. Hell, I wouldn't have found out about KS at all if it weren't for that one Kotaku article.

And the 4chan/4LS connection will never, ever die. It would be nice if that weren't always the first thing people read about KS, but it's a great hook, and gives casual readers a reason to give enough of a crap to keep reading the article.

While I like the articel (it's quite fine written, short, blah blah blah) I don't understand this:

"While the demo doesn't allow for much delving (only about 15 minutes' worth)"

I couldn't quite get that. if I was reading the article and had no knowledge of the game I'd say this sir implies that the game takes 15 minutes.
or just the introduction to the topic?

It's good to see more coverage on KS.

The writing is fantastic; the art is wonderful eye candy, and the music is incredibly atmospheric and appropriate. Each girl gets her own theme, which is perfectly suited to her.

I have to admit I didn't realize that every girl had her own theme in the game. I guess I'll have to play it again and pay more attention to the background music.

Smoku wrote: "While the demo doesn't allow for much delving (only about 15 minutes' worth)"

I couldn't quite get that. if I was reading the article and had no knowledge of the game I'd say this sir implies that the game takes 15 minutes.
or just the introduction to the topic?

I believe he was referring to where he said in the previous paragraph "Immediately, I wanted to delve into [Hanako's] story", and the 15 minutes figure refers to actual development of Hanako's past and condition, not counting all other aspects of the game.

You know, this makes me even more want to do my youtube project updating video. We have discovered a lot more recently about the games progress and and new sprite designs along with other things from the blog and forums. Its best to let the world know where everything stands. And where else but youtube can do that at the exact cost of nothing for me and google >$30,000,000

This is probably one of the worst articles I've ever read. That Ryumaru guy wasted so much time and accomplished nothing at all.

Goddamn. Some people should not write reviews.

Captain Niggawatts wrote:This is probably one of the worst articles I've ever read. That Ryumaru guy wasted so much time and accomplished nothing at all.

Goddamn. Some people should not write reviews.

U MAD

The interview's pretty good, although most of us have already read it.

Captain Niggawatts wrote:This is probably one of the worst articles I've ever read. That Ryumaru guy wasted so much time and accomplished nothing at all.
Goddamn. Some people should not write reviews.

You lost me. Would you mind to explain?

Csihar wrote:Sweet. The more positive exposure the better. Hell, I wouldn't have found out about KS at all if it weren't for that one Kotaku article.

And the 4chan/4LS connection will never, ever die. It would be nice if that weren't always the first thing people read about KS, but it's a great hook, and gives casual readers a reason to give enough of a crap to keep reading the article.

I think that link can have a beneficial effect in the long run because this helps other ppl change their ideas about 4chan i.e there are ppl (not all of course) in 4chan with an awesome amount of talent, be it in arts, music, writing etc. that can come together and make stuff that is full of awesome, like KS.

BTW... I would like to congratulate Anonymous22, Suriko and the other devs for the interview... It was very interesting and you put up a good impression for KS! Thank you devs!

Yes, many, many moons ago, 4chan gave birth to something that didn't turned into AIDS-infected cancer. But that's not what 4chan or 4LS are about at this point.

Just think back to how they/he/she/it inflicted huge retribution on those people who were stupid enough to post videos of them abusing a cat to the internet. They've also shot down pedophiles and wrecked a racist radio show host's career.

Huh? When did that stuff happen? I didn't think 4chan members would ever accomplish something good...

About what I'd expected from the...interview. Still, actually posting a link to the damn site is an infinite improvement from most of the other reviews we've seen.

This article is much better since while it does equate 4chan to us it doesn't demonize us for being an idea that originated from 4chan.

I'm glad that he was able to make that distinction about us. No one can deny that 4 chan has a horrible reputation and that KS is something that originated from 4 chan. So by making this article and pointing out the facts that this has good character design and writing is a good thing.

....

however two things are worrisome. He doesn't mention that KS is an eroge. That means that no matter how good the writing is or how colorful that characters are eventually there will be porn. It's possible that the writer didn't know this fact and just by reading the demo you wouldn't know this either.

This is the biggest argument as to way there should not be porn in the final product. KS already has 2 strikes against it for being from 4 chan. Now add porn and no matter how tasteful the writing is and no matter well developed the characters are people will not think too highly of this project.

Second is the games name. Katawa does translate to "cripple" or "Disability" is Japanese. I did not know that this word was banned from Japanese television. I think that it will be very hard for something like this to be seen as a good thing when the very title is offensive. I understand that the devs mean well but due to a combination of originating from a seedy place, having a borderline offensive name and having adult content makes this difficult for people to really get into unless you know about the good things that come with it.

What are your thoughts?