Katawa Shoujo Forums

Reading all these topic about " the feels " and " men tears " ... myself personally i don't connect with like the 99% of the other players who have stop living to get over the game and i just dont get why ppl are affected this deeply by KS

I not trying to judge ppl here i just dont understand how ppl can cry for days at a time with what happens with Rin or Hanako ( I know its mostly do to what happened to that player in real life ) .... maybe im not feeling the feels

Straight up, it could be so many things that you'll have to figure it out for yourself.

Examples:

-numb stage of depression (just can't feel anything)
-Can't relate to the characters (You life could just be so different that it's hard to 'get it')
-Can't empathize. (some people can't/don't think about how others feel)
-Couldn't get into the story (format, expectations, personal bias can all do it)
-Haven't built up a good mental image skills of the text you read. (I personally can get into a story because the text disappears and I just watch a movie in my head of what's going on)
-Reading comprehension (some people just don't read enough to develop the skill of understanding the deeper meaning of the story, which is what usually draws out emotion)
-Mental illness (somethings like ADD and autism prevent people from being about to empathize)
-Heavy belief in bad social standards(Manly men don't feel)
-Lack of imagination (Even though there's pictures, they are just a springboard for the imaginations. Without it, all stories would feel shallow)

there's plenty more plausible reasons, and any one or combination could do it. You'll have to try to understand yourself, and how you interact with the world to figure it out. I don't think it's something a stranger can just give an answer to since it's deep rooted in your core personality. If you figure it out, you may not like what you find. But if you don't face it, you'll stagnate. Stagnation is death in every sense (emotional, spiritual, physically).

Daitengu wrote:Straight up, it could be so many things that you'll have to figure it out for yourself.

Examples:

-numb stage of depression (just can't feel anything)
-Can't relate to the characters (You life could just be so different that it's hard to 'get it')
-Can't empathize. (some people can't/don't think about how others feel)
-Couldn't get into the story (format, expectations, personal bias can all do it)
-Haven't built up a good mental image skills of the text you read. (I personally can get into a story because the text disappears and I just watch a movie in my head of what's going on)
-Reading comprehension (some people just don't read enough to develop the skill of understanding the deeper meaning of the story, which is what usually draws out emotion)
-Mental illness (somethings like ADD and autism prevent people from being about to empathize)
-Heavy belief in bad social standards(Manly men don't feel)
-Lack of imagination (Even though there's pictures, they are just a springboard for the imaginations. Without it, all stories would feel shallow)

there's plenty more plausible reasons, and any one or combination could do it. You'll have to try to understand yourself, and how you interact with the world to figure it out. I don't think it's something a stranger can just give an answer to since it's deep rooted in your core personality. If you figure it out, you may not like what you find. But if you don't face it, you'll stagnate. Stagnation is death in every sense (emotional, spiritual, physically).

OUCH lol was that a back handed insult .... ... I cried many man tears in my day so i do have feelings ( i can't watch a beautiful mind or the wrestler without tearing up ) just KS doesn't do it for me

You're not heartless, you just don't take video games seriously, thus you have a life.

rydiafan wrote:OUCH lol was that a back handed insult .... ... I cried many man tears in my day so i do have feelings ( i can't watch a beautiful mind or the wrestler without tearing up ) just KS doesn't do it for me

lol they're just a buckshot's worth of examples. some dire, and some are just perspective.

You just might be something like this one :

-Couldn't get into the story (format, expectations, personal bias can all do it)

Many people who aren't use to Visual Novels or aren't quickly adaptable to new media, just can't get into it. New/rarely used format. It's also why kids and teens tend to not appreciate books as much as adults these days.

Nah.
Rest peacefully, my child. You're not required by anyone to feel anything about anything.

I don't think im weird for not crying over this ... and its not like i don't see why ppl do ( shizune bad end hit close to home me ) i just dont see the need for getting that upset over it

rydiafan wrote:I don't think im weird for not crying over this ... and its not like i don't see why ppl do ( shizune bad end hit close to home me ) i just dont see the need for getting that upset over it

It's relative. Hanako and Rin, personality, thought process, and actions hit home pretty hard for me. Imagine thinking and talking like Rin, while having the fears and being bullied like Hanako in school. I got alot out of KS besides just story, which caused 'the feels'. Lots of introspection with a new perspective.

Thus I got more out of it than you.

Daitengu wrote:

rydiafan wrote:I don't think im weird for not crying over this ... and its not like i don't see why ppl do ( shizune bad end hit close to home me ) i just dont see the need for getting that upset over it

It's relative. Hanako and Rin, personality, thought process, and actions hit home pretty hard for me. Imagine thinking and talking like Rin, while having the fears and being bullied like Hanako in school. I got alot out of KS besides just story, which caused 'the feels'. Lots of introspection with a new perspective.

Thus I got more out of it than you.

I agree with this guy. Four of the routes within the game had very little emotional impact on me, but I could relate to Rin and so it hit me pretty hard. It's really all a matter of whether you can relate to the characters or story and how much you relate to it.

Different things affect different people differently. Was this thread really necessary?

Wander wrote:Different things affect different people differently. Was this thread really necessary?

nope but are half the threads here ??

rydiafan wrote:

Wander wrote:Different things affect different people differently. Was this thread really necessary?

nope but are half the threads here ??

Good point.

My point is that only you know what things you react to emotionally. I can't give any particular reason for KS not giving you that, possibly, as others have said, you don't relate as much as the people who really do get an emotional response. If certain films can make you tear up, perhaps you can try and analyse what factors make that happen. I get why The Wrestler could give that, although for me it was a bit here and there, possibly because I never quite got the passion for professional wrestling. The last movie that made me actually cry was Senna. That's probably partly because I was always huge on motor sports. No other sport to me has the same passion so I really understood the character of Senna, on some level.

KS had some effect on me, cause I could draw some parallels to my life and empathise. It's different things for everyone.

Wander wrote: KS had some effect on me, cause I could draw some parallels to my life and empathise. It's different things for everyone.

This.

Snow_Storm wrote:You're not heartless, you just don't take video games seriously, thus you have a life.

He has a life because this particular story didn't move him to tears? I really don't think that's a reasonable conclusion. Not to say he doesn't have a life; I think you can't reasonably conclude one way or the other.

None of the five story lines hit particularly close to home for me but I still got choked up/cried on a number of occasions. I just got very emotionally invested in the characters and what they were going through.

If you didn't feel anything when reading through Katawa Shoujo, that's fine. If you did, that's fine too.