Since it's my first time posting, I guess I should put at least a little effort into introduction, even though it's going to make this post longer :
I'm from Central Europe and I've only discovered Katawa Shoujo a few days back, obtaining two (well, technically it's three) endings yesterday and today in the morning.
Why played it? Well, I'm quite a gamer (though I hope not unhealthily so for my age) and while I tend towards more fantasy or sci-fi roleplaying games I do get the occassional urge to play a life-simulation, dating sim or a *sim*ilar game - either when I'm bored with constant killing things with the ultimate sword of chilling awesomeness and thundering badassery, or when my own personal friend-life/love life (as little of it as there is) gets worse and forces me to recover through the virtual world.
First of all I have to praise you for the game overall - not only it is a creative idea with interesting, rather realistic and well-written characters, it is enjoyable, relaxing, quite funny sometimes, and most of all, free of charge, to my amazement. I guess I could complain about some things but they're more the fault of the genre than the fault of the game itself - such as there usually being only two choices to anything or there being too few choices overall. But so far the game is very enjoyable and deep, something hard to pull off with this genre, and it actually got me wondering about how open-minded I would be about my life partner having a disability. Congratulations for the creators.
Now, on to the issue. This is mostly a question to the "Devs", but any players are welcome to try and answer. If the question would be too much of a spoiler, isn't really sorted out yet, or for whatever reason the answer should not be revealed I guess I'll understand.
I guess this is also the part where I should warn that the post contains some spoilers for act I!
I'm not the type of person who would replay a game rapidly just to get something out of it or fill up the completion metter. Which is why when I play I usually do one "main" save, get a break, and afterwards try to make one to three minor saves to see how the game would've played out differently, and it usually takes me a very long time to complete those additional saves.
Which is what forces the entire issue - do the events of act I have an unchangeable, "locking" effects on Hisao's relationships, romantic or otherwise, or is there a possibility that the player can shift them around to an extent in later play?
I'm asking because our dear Nakai sometimes makes pretty extreme choices and decisions in general, which is common and I guess is something of a way to show that you cannot have everything, but nevertheless I'd like to play him being as close to me-in-a-strange-situation-with-heart-disease as possible. Which is sometimes impossible without picking girls in Yamaku whom I personally dislike over the ones I like...
Specifically, the issue happens when I decide to become running pals with Emi due to jogging being something of my personal favorite "sport" to do. I'd like my Hisao to take care about his health at least occassionally in that way and I have nothing against becoming running pals with Emi, and I even have enough of a competitive streak to choose the "speeding up" option, but it is clearly a way of starting a relationship with her which is something I do not want. Bummer, because the only alternative is Hisao giving up on the whole jogging idea altogether it seems.
Before the running issue, I was forced to distance myself from the Mischa-Shizune duo (Misha is pretty likeable, but Shizune-types usually annoy me), since their personalities seem out of the line and bullying two girls out of some ridiculous sense of rivalry is not something I'd condone.
So, I got on good terms with Lilly-Hanako duo, which is okay since so far Lilly is first on my "most liked" list and Hanako shares the second place with Rin (I'm drawn to people with higher levels of insanity than myself
) [No Hero nor Damsel in Distress syndromes here - while I'm willing to try and help or stand up for someone I like or care about, I would be unwilling to spend my entire life "fixing" someone else, so I think that, unless something happens to jump Hanako to place 1, I won't pursue anything romantic with her].
Well, and then comes the whole running issue and Hisao being over-dramatic as well as Emi being a control freak (I'd never let ANYONE else control my eating or arrange a diet for me. I never even let my mother do that) which forced my first save to end in going to the festive with Emi and Rin, which I suppose is ultimately the "Emi" part of things. Today I discovered that through a reload I can easily finish the game in either Lilly or Hanako endings, but the problem is...
Would I have to do that in the full game version if I ran my game the way I did the first time around? Would I be locked with Emi (whom I dislike) forever, or could I "switch" to Lilly, Rin, or Hanako, whom I like far more and have seemingly good relations with until the whole issue happened?
I appreciate clear answers and the truth (good or bad), "maybe" answers, "so far it would seem" answers, "mysterious" answers and I accept "we cannot tell you that, SPOILERZZZZ" answers, but as Mischa put it, people learn through asking questions.
Thanks in advance.
