Katawa Shoujo Forums

For example, everytime I watch the animations, I get this wave of sadness/disturbance of some kind that distracts me unless I exit the video and force myself to do something that distracts me (like DotA 2, watching funny videos to counter the sads, and pacing my room because I can).

The music doesn't help either, when the sad/intense music plays when I'm trying to replay a route, my emotions go HNNNNNNGHHHHHHHHHHH and I end up not continuing the scenes.

Don't even get me started on the actual sad scenes Like MIsha's roof scene where she gets kinda suicidal

Heh, I guess I can attribute it to the fact that my lame love life will never be as epic as Hisao's, but I think it's more of a testament of how good a job the devs did when they made this VN.

Anyone else get the same feelings I lamely attempted to describe (like Rin) ?

Hmm, It feels like there could be a better thread to post this, But I have no idea.


Anyway, I agree, I can't even go through all the paths, I got through Emi's First, I was like, OK, But then I went through Lilly's, I don't know why, but that one really hit me hard, it brought down a major overload of the feels, and I've started Shizune's path, But I always remember Lilly's path everytime she makes an Appearance, It's bloody irritating!

Alexbond45 wrote:Hmm, It feels like there could be a better thread to post this, But I have no idea.


Anyway, I agree, I can't even go through all the paths, I got through Emi's First, I was like, OK, But then I went through Lilly's, I don't know why, but that one really hit me hard, it brought down a major overload of the feels, and I've started Shizune's path, But I always remember Lilly's path everytime she makes an Appearance, It's bloody irritating!

A guy on Kotaku told me to save Lilly's route for last, and he was right. I did Emi's and Hanako's before Lilly's, but Lilly's route is considered the best out of all five writing wise. You may be a bit disappointed in Shizune's arc, but I'd rather you find out yourself.

Apparently Rin's route has the best feels overload, but I didn't really feel that way. Will retry later to see if I zoned out the whole time

Well, For Counter-Feels, I got into south park! I love that show, It's on the developer website by the way, southparkstudios.com.

I felt depressed when I did Hanako and Lilly, because I could relate in certain ways, so I understand you and just think about what you might have learned from the experience and reflect on it. All will be better.

It's a quality that proliferates the forums here, and many of us aren't able to pin down just what exactly causes it. Hell, the devs aren't entirely sure how their project to just turn out a good VN became the catalyst for so much personal insight and catharsis. My own theories go that we, collectively as escapists, are looking for a window out of our world. An interesting distraction. A fascinating 'what-if' to take in for a bit. We have a series of understandings about how stories are told and what is told in them.

Then comes this story. It's set up to be just like any other little window of escape into another world; a soft-hearted tale about broken girls. Sure. We buy into it like fools. But then... it's not really about that, is it? The hardest thing in their lives isn't the disability wrapping paper; it's just being human. Feeling isolated. Feeling self-critical. Feeling like you need to keep up a facade. We buy into this new interpretation, fools all the more. But then, it's not even really about that. All those moments where the protagonist reaches out, and we see how selfish and misguided it can be; we realized that we would or very likely have done the same. Even if you can't proxy yourself for Hisao, the archetype is there and you know you've seen some fleeting piece of Emi's strong smile somewhere, or Hanako cowering under her own self-torment. Some piece of a greater tapestry of humanity that we've somehow looked at every day of our lives and never really seen.

This game tricks us, again, and again, and again. It take away our prejudice. It takes away our pride. It takes away the assumptions we never even realized we had about how people work. Then it sits us down naked of our armor and forces us to look into the digital eyes of a lover that never was, and maybe begin to understand something about them without all that muck clouding up our head. Maybe even see ourselves. I always feel some ennui when I finish a book, like a beautiful universe was born and died between its pages, and I'm forced to keep living like some haunted widow, but my experience with KS defies categorization with such things.

Tilting Clock wrote:Then comes this story. It's set up to be just like any other little window of escape into another world; a soft-hearted tale about broken girls. Sure. We buy into it like fools. But then... it's not really about that, is it? The hardest thing in their lives isn't the disability wrapping paper; it's just being human. Feeling isolated. Feeling self-critical. Feeling like you need to keep up a facade. We buy into this new interpretation, fools all the more. But then, it's not even really about that. All those moments where the protagonist reaches out, and we see how selfish and misguided it can be; we realized that we would or very likely have done the same. Even if you can't proxy yourself for Hisao, the archetype is there and you know you've seen some fleeting piece of Emi's strong smile somewhere, or Hanako cowering under her own self-torment. Some piece of a greater tapestry of humanity that we've somehow looked at every day of our lives and never really seen.

Yeah, I can agree with your analysis. Even when I played the act one demo a while back, I knew that there was something unusual about this visual novel. I couldn't put my finger on why back then, but it somehow made me believe that yes, a blind and a deaf girl could have a cat fight. I just brushed off that odd sentiment, so I didn't analyze why I had it. I just awaited for the release eagerly expecting something entertaining. I've read quite a few emotional visual novels, so even if Katawa Shoujo was moving, I thought I could take it.

What I got was ... severe FEELS. I felt freakin EMPATHY!! Seriously. Sure, I was forced to feel intense levels of sympathy before and occasionally got depressed over an awesome VN for a small duration of time, maybe a couple of days at most, but Katawa Shoujo's effect was ridiculously profound.

Yeah, this VN can definitely invoke inspiration. Maybe it's because of the realism, maybe it's because of the in-depth characterization, maybe it's because we are somehow reminded of ourselves and the people we have met. It really is unusual.

Perhaps the best way that I can describe Katawa Shoujo as a story is that it is a tale of people being people. Nothing more and nothing less. There may be naysayers that are uninterested in such a story, people so entrenched in their love of escapism that they can't appreciate Katawa Shoujo. Nevertheless, I shall praise it even with the flaws it has. Perhaps forevermore.

Naturally because of all that, this forum has become life story central.

It's just testiment as to how well it's written and produced.

And maybe a bit of nostalgia for it.

I think it's just that KS has soul. Which comes from making it out of love instead of profit.

All art(music, literary, visual) is better when it's from love of doing it instead of profit.

Counter the feels by watching "Jurassic Bark" and "A Clockwork Origin" episodes from Futurama.

Just kidding, but the anime parody of Futurama never fails to cheer me up. Try that.

Tilting Clock wrote:It's a quality that proliferates the forums here, and many of us aren't able to pin down just what exactly causes it. Hell, the devs aren't entirely sure how their project to just turn out a good VN became the catalyst for so much personal insight and catharsis. My own theories go that we, collectively as escapists, are looking for a window out of our world. An interesting distraction. A fascinating 'what-if' to take in for a bit. We have a series of understandings about how stories are told and what is told in them.

Then comes this story. It's set up to be just like any other little window of escape into another world; a soft-hearted tale about broken girls. Sure. We buy into it like fools. But then... it's not really about that, is it? The hardest thing in their lives isn't the disability wrapping paper; it's just being human. Feeling isolated. Feeling self-critical. Feeling like you need to keep up a facade. We buy into this new interpretation, fools all the more. But then, it's not even really about that. All those moments where the protagonist reaches out, and we see how selfish and misguided it can be; we realized that we would or very likely have done the same. Even if you can't proxy yourself for Hisao, the archetype is there and you know you've seen some fleeting piece of Emi's strong smile somewhere, or Hanako cowering under her own self-torment. Some piece of a greater tapestry of humanity that we've somehow looked at every day of our lives and never really seen.

This game tricks us, again, and again, and again. It take away our prejudice. It takes away our pride. It takes away the assumptions we never even realized we had about how people work. Then it sits us down naked of our armor and forces us to look into the digital eyes of a lover that never was, and maybe begin to understand something about them without all that muck clouding up our head. Maybe even see ourselves. I always feel some ennui when I finish a book, like a beautiful universe was born and died between its pages, and I'm forced to keep living like some haunted widow, but my experience with KS defies categorization with such things.

Soo, much, BIG WORDS! Hehe just joking, I understood everything except the word catharsis. But anyways, this seems to help explain the kind of emotions that I feel when I keep going through the routes again. I'm pretty big on the escapist bit, hence why I'm a gamer and a bit of a loner on occasion. I did see all the stupid bits Hisao did straightaway (hence why I'm making my crappy fanfic, since I'd rather get out the ideas about what I'd do differently now while the ideas are fresh), but could definitely sympathize when he couldn't figure out the girls, since that's happened to me on one occasion too much. I can also relate to the ennui, since I'm definitely a bit down that I'm not going to see another VN like KS for a WHILE. Huh, I guess I do have more emotions thatn I thought I did. These days, everything seemed to blend so nothing really stands out, and KS reminded me that every day is different in a way, that and the fact that my spring break ended :3

Well, I'm definitely sure I'll get over the KS phase, but I'm not sure when. The only thing I can do is to help spread the word a bit so that other people may be overloaded with the sads that I went through when doing the routes. Your explanation is very enlightening though, and I do thank you for the post. The devs definitely didn't know what they unleashed when they published the game though, that's fer sure.

zanger wrote:Counter the feels by watching "Jurassic Bark" and "A Clockwork Origin" episodes from Futurama.

themocaw wrote:

zanger wrote:Counter the feels by watching "Jurassic Bark" and "A Clockwork Origin" episodes from Futurama.

[img]http://i43.tinypic.com/6zqafr.gif[img]

but it's ok! because he and Fry had a fulfilling life together (at least until Bender causes the dog to die with a rocket launcher )

Daitengu wrote: All art(music, literary, visual) is better when it's from love of doing it instead of profit.

I second this. With some actual, earnest motivation to a cause people can make miracles happen.

As for Bobberson; I know exactly how you're feeling. Completing most of the game left me pretty speechless and saddened as well, and I had to do some serious thinking, mostly concerning the attitude towards people with some real difficulties, and what I really want to achieve with my own life. I got past my emotional surges, and I think anyone can do the same. KS really opened my eyes concerning certain things, and changed me for the better. Along with many other sweet memories, KS will always have a special place in my heart.

If this is the first time you feel like this by finishing a game, man, you need to play more games, or read more books.

This feeling of emptiness, longing, loss or sadness always happens when i finish some great game (like Dreamfall or Planescape Torment) or after some books (like Name of the Wind or H2G2)