Katawa Shoujo Forums

Well, one week later and still I can't play it.


As I said before, in my heart I've finished this VN, so I think I will give up ...

Also, I would like to thank 4LS again for making a character so wonderful...

When I first did it, I wasn't too sure about the VN, I stumbled through the options and ended up with Emi, though the entire time I keep looking at Hanako I felt a pang of guilt. I finished through Emi's story and touched as I was over it I had to try and get Hanako. Slightly more aware that the early options had the most consequence I weighed them much more carefully. Managed to get her good ending, touching as it was. Won't get into details for obvious reasons. I needed time between playmodes after that, and even after a good day or two I still feel that pang of guilt whenever I saw her on the other walkthroughs, Lilly's being one of the most painful, though that ending seemed to work more in her favor still.. It feels so immersive, most of the playthrough I didn't even realize it wasn't real. I saw her as I would see any other person, a real person not an anime character. Which only made the storyline more depressing as I continued, even now I still tear. I had to remind myself it was just a VN, although the first real VN I've ever actually played through. I'm not even sure why I'm typing all this out, just to get it off I suppose. I think I'm going to be emotionally screwed for a while, especially if I decide to go through the last 2 I haven't done yet.

After finishing Lilly's route I tried to casually try another one, ended up on Lilly's path again -.-
Its sadness me that I have to actively avoid her path to not end up on it.
I tried to play most of the others girls 2nd acts but none of them connected with me as Lilly did :/
Basically I think I'm done with this game, in a month I might make a quicker run through of Lilly's to remember it

For anyone that has only finished the Hanako path and can't bring themselves to do another, I'll spoil Lilly's ending (this happens in both) so you can kind of figure out where the story went after the good Hanako ending. Before Lilly is to go home to be with her family, Hanako has joined the school newspaper and actually made more friends. She even goes on summer holiday with them! For me, I think the same thing would happen, but Hisao would join them on the holiday. Even MORE yay.

Wait...neutral ending? What is Lilly's neutral ending?

KaneTaker wrote:Wait...neutral ending? What is Lilly's neutral ending?

The only one that isn't her good one

It's where everything happens normally, but Hisao never decides things CANNOT end like this and never goes after Lilly, staying in his room for the last scene of the game.

Oh, ok. Always saw that referred to as the BAD ending. LOL

I didn't think I'd feel the same way but right now I do. Like to much drama per route and I feel emotionally drained. The game is almost to good in making you care about the characters in investing your feelings in them...need some time to let things settle to where I'm in a state of mind to approach things from a neutral standpoint.

KaneTaker wrote:For anyone that has only finished the Hanako path and can't bring themselves to do another, I'll spoil Lilly's ending (this happens in both) so you can kind of figure out where the story went after the good Hanako ending. Before Lilly is to go home to be with her family, Hanako has joined the school newspaper and actually made more friends. She even goes on summer holiday with them! For me, I think the same thing would happen, but Hisao would join them on the holiday. Even MORE yay.

Thanks, that may come in handy some day. Tho i would WANT TO play Lilly's route myself, not sure when i can, IF i can.

First off, I just want to thanks the developers for creating such an honest and incredible game.

Secondly, I want to thank my fellow fans for sharing their feelings towards the game. It amazes me how similar my feelings are to others to have played this.

So I guess this is where I share my experience.

To begin with, I've always tried to steer clear of most VN's. None of them caught my interest, and I felt that most were just merely fan service. When I began reading about KS on Kotaku and various other news websites, I have to say, I was turned off by all the negativity. Then, after reading Deskimus Prime's review on The Escapist, I was blown away at the effect it had on him and other readers. Needless to say it intrigued me, and I decided to give it a go for myself. 5 hours later, I had gone through one of the biggest emotional roller coasters that i had ever experienced. Hanako's story made me laugh, cry, stop and think, cry some more, and look back at my own life more than any other novel/story/movie has ever done. It made me realize so many things about myself that I didn't know, and it made me look at my life and evaluate it. It has made me rethink every aspect of my life; namely, how I treat others. I was so heartbroken at how Hanako felt about the world, and about herself. At that moment, if I could have, I would have done anything for her, even it was just to tell her that everything was alright. Then I remembered that I was just playing a game. But calling it a game seems so... wrong. It has been much more than a game to me. It has been a life experience.

Not only has it made me rethink how I live my life and treat others, it has made me re-evaluate my relationship with my wife. Now that i think about it, I think the reason that I subconsciously chose to go with Lilly/Hanako is because they are the ones that reminded me the most of my love. Minus the burns and blindness, my wife bears a striking resemblance to Lilly, and her personality is similar to that of Hanako (shy, awkward at times, and such a treasure once you get to know her). After playing through Hanako's happy ending, at first I felt a tinge of sadness. Now that it was over, that meant I had to move on. That meant that I couldn't go any further with her. That meant that she was nothing more than a figment of pixels on my screen. Then I realized that I already had a Hanako in my life. Someone who I wanted to make sure was the happiest woman in the world. Someone who I wanted to give everything to. This thought hit me like a train, and I realized that not only had I taken for granted everything that I had, but I had so much more than I ever could have asked for. Someone who loved me for who I was, someone who was always there for me, someone who if I lost, I would have no more reason to go on living. Keep in mind, we are both in our mid-20's, but when you find someone for whom you care so deeply about, the ominous reminder that you could lose them in an instant is always there. Even now, as I write these words, I can't bring myself to think about it. But this game helped me see past that. Yes, it's possible that I could lose her, but why dwell on that when I have her, living, now.

I'm not sure why, but it gives me a feeling of settlement for having written these words. It's given me a chance to share these feelings and get them (literally) off my chest. This game has brought me more than I could have asked for, and has been a stark reminder of what I have, and what I should be to others.

I apologize if what I shared was too much. But this is what Katawa Shoujo did for me.

This is why it's much more than a game.

Now I need to do the not-so-good ones. Any suggestions on what order to do them in? I plan on skipping act 1 but redoing anything past that (obviously taking new paths where appropriate.) In case it matters my initial order was Emi, Hanako, Shizune, Lilly, Rin (with a Manly Picnic thrown in there somewhere.)

Oh man, I would not recommend shotgunning all the bad endings at once. Either take some time in between them, or intersperse some replays of good endings.

As for order, I don't think it matters all that much. Rin's neutral ending was the worst for me, but many people find Shizune's bad ending to be the hardest to take. I guess try not to do both of those in a row.

IT doesn't matter what order.

I think when I tackled the bad endings, I did this first:

Get one bad ending, then a good ending. For example, I got Hanako's bad ending then her good ending.

You're doing it wrong.

You're supposed to do all the endings from one route, then go on to the next route

newnar wrote:You're doing it wrong.

You're supposed to do all the endings from one route, then go on to the next route

^ This (although I still haven't done Emi's bad route yet )

Also, Lilly's Good ending is better after you've played her neutral ending.