VNs with "true endings"

[muliebrity]

Hi, I'm new, a bit about me: I had never played a VN at the start of this year until a friend of mine claimed in a discussion about how comically inaccurate sexuality in games is that KS really captured a lot of the complex emotions that come with sexual encounters. I laughed and said something like "ha ha yeah right" and he told me to shut up and play it.

So I did and now... Um... I'm addicted to VNs. Yeah... What impressed me wasn't the sexual bits, but the fact that I actually grew to care about the people in the story, especially Rin. FWIW, my favorite route is the one where a misogynistic Harry Potter accidentally kills you.

So one of the VNs I finished recently was Kira☆Kira. Honestly, I was very impressed, even though a lot of people seem to think it was mediocre, and this is in no small part because of the shockingly good music. One thing that really bothered me, though, is that there was a "true ending", an ending that came in after finishing all of the other endings and serves as the canon ending.

This drove me crazy, largely because I liked another ending better, but also because I would never have known if I hadn't stumbled across it while looking up info on the story online. What really bothers me is that I liked playing only one route, it felt like a more personal story that way, but now I feel obligated to try other routes just for the sake of being up to speed on the fandisks (granted, the Kira☆Kira fandisk was really good). Now I'm trying one called Hoshizora no Memoria ~Wish Upon a Shooting Star~, and the worry that there's a "true ending" is kind of eating at me.

Anyway, what are your opinions on this subject? Does anyone like "true endings"? Does anyone feel like they add to the experience? Does anyone have more VNs to reccommend?

[Xanatos]

my favorite route is the one where a misogynistic Harry Potter accidentally kills you.

Okay, I'm usually kind of a jerk to newcomers (because they make dumb threads, not that I'm naming anyone... <_<;) but you get to be my friend. Though I have to imagine you haven't played much if your favorite end is the "YOU FUCKED UP EVERYTHING" end. XD

And there's a whole thread of recommended VNs but you have to 100% Katawa Shoujo first. No, it's not optional.

As for true endings, I'd argue the term "true" is utter bullshit and that it's just a bonus ending with no more place in canon than the others. Filthy canon ruining my preferred endings...

[Umber]

Here you go. Click these words.

To me, KS didn't need a True Ending. And if you think about it logically, a True Ending would be a difficult thing to mesh into the story.

It's simply Hisao, a teenager going through high school, emotionally connecting with someone fighting with their inner demons. He wants to be there for them, and he wants to help. He loves them.

'True's might work elsewhere, but...I'm not feeling it here. For any possibilities outside of the game, outside of canon, I resort to reading Fan-Fictions.

[muliebrity]

my favorite route is the one where a misogynistic Harry Potter accidentally kills you.

Okay, I'm usually kind of a jerk to newcomers (because they make dumb threads, not that I'm naming anyone... <_<;) but you get to be my friend. Though I have to imagine you haven't played much if your favorite end is the "YOU FUCKED UP EVERYTHING" end. XD

Okay, you got me, I wasn't being entirely serious. I just thought it was really, really funny. I guess my favorite route was... Uh... Really hard to choose, I played them all, and I still don't know which I liked best.

As for true endings, I'd argue the term "true" is utter bullshit and that it's just a bonus ending with no more place in canon than the others. Filthy canon ruining my preferred endings...

I agree! I wish that devs would stop doing that! I don't know if you've played Kira☆Kira, but the true ending required you to play through again along the route of the girl named Kirari (not even the one I felt "closest" to, if that makes sense) and it completely undermined the melodramatic but still very engaging ending she'd had before. I wouldn't say that it ruined it, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Here you go. Click these words.

It's really weird that this didn't show up in my search for "VNs like Katawa Shoujo". Thanks!

To me, KS didn't need a True Ending. And if you think about it logically, a True Ending would be a difficult thing to mesh into the story.

Have you ever played a VN with a true ending? I don't think it ever made sense for any story...

[Xanatos]

I played them all, and I still don't know which I liked best.

Got every ending? That adds a lot to the characters so it might help your decision.

Click this.

[muliebrity]

Click this.

HA HA HA oh god that's horrible.

Horribly funny :V

[Xanatos]

Click this.

HA HA HA oh god that's horrible.

Horribly funny :V

Oh yeah. We'll get along just fine. As for VNs, most of the ones I've completed are far more hentai-focused than KS (if you're into that xD) but Little Busters is a good plot-driven one because loli baseball.

[Flutterz]

It really depends on how and why the true end was made. If it is just to lock you out of the route of the "canon" heroine until you do the rest, then it is probably a bad idea. I haven't played KiraKira, but from what you said about it this seems to be the case. However, if the VN has some sort of overarching plot, besides pick and do a girl, then true ends can be very good if done right. Since you have to do all the other routes before the true route, it will only deliver the reveal after you've read everything else.

Obviously a true route wouldn't work for KS. The conflict and even theme vary from route to route, and there is no overarching plot to deliver a reveal to.

VNs that do true routes right, at least in my humble opinion, are Little Busters!(loli baseball wafu!) Muv-Luv, where Alternative is entirely the true route, Ever17 and Clannad. Both G Senjou and Sharin no Kuni take a slightly different approach where the canon heroine is rather obvious from the start, and you can do her route first, but only if you don't pick any other heroine up until the end.

[Umber]

...one because loli baseball.

Loli Baseball. Thought I'd never see the day. Please tell me that has no True Ending, Xan.

And I thought I knew the internet so well.

[Xanatos]

...one because loli baseball.

Loli Baseball. Thought I'd never see the day. Please tell me that has no True Ending, Xan.

And I thought I knew the internet so well.

It has a bonus ending. Truth is in the eyes of the beholder.

[OtakuNinja]

my favorite route is the one where a misogynistic Harry Potter accidentally kills you.

Okay, I'm usually kind of a jerk to newcomers (because they make dumb threads, not that I'm naming anyone... <_<;)

I second that. But I'll try to be nice since you didn't write a wall of text.

[Xanatos]

my favorite route is the one where a misogynistic Harry Potter accidentally kills you.

Okay, I'm usually kind of a jerk to newcomers (because they make dumb threads, not that I'm naming anyone... <_<;)

I second that. But I'll try to be nice since you didn't write a wall of text.

He's not Fyn or Katie and he laughed at the chocolate. You be nice or I'll punt you.

Anyway, here's a thought: If KS did have a "true" ending, what would it be?

[Umber]

It really depends on...up until the end.

Flutterz, you need to post more often on these forums. You have more insight than I do on a lot of things.

@Xan: Can't think of a true ending. What pops into my mind is a high-school reunion six to ten years in the future, with an aged, satisfied Hisao looking at how everyone's lives were pieced together, that everyone had solved their personal issues. How this makes sense, I don't know. I don't even know if this can even be consideredatrueendingasdfjkl.

[muliebrity]

Oh yeah. We'll get along just fine.

Probably!

As for VNs, most of the ones I've completed are far more hentai-focused than KS (if you're into that xD) but Little Busters is a good plot-driven one because loli baseball.

I've only just started playing VNs, and I never thought I'd be into them ever, so maybe? I don't know. Little Busters looks like it will be hard to find, though. But more importantly... Does it have a "true ending"?

It really depends on how and why the true end was made. If it is just to lock you out of the route of the "canon" heroine until you do the rest, then it is probably a bad idea. I haven't played KiraKira, but from what you said about it this seems to be the case.

Yeah, that's accurate. And you should! Good music, if nothing else.

Obviously a true route wouldn't work for KS. The conflict and even theme vary from route to route, and there is no overarching plot to deliver a reveal to.

What really confused me about KS, though, is that there was an overarching story that applies to all of the routes, and it made taking different routes feel a bit weird if you got attached to one character over the others. I don't know, maybe I'll get used to it, 'cause that seems like a part of the medium and I don't intend to give VNs up any time soon.

VNs that do true routes right, at least in my humble opinion, are Little Busters!(loli baseball wafu!) Muv-Luv, where Alternative is entirely the true route, Ever17 and Clannad. Both G Senjou and Sharin no Kuni take a slightly different approach where the canon heroine is rather obvious from the start, and you can do her route first, but only if you don't pick any other heroine up until the end.

I guess G Senjou is next, then (I think I have a music fetish). Thank you for the recommendations!

...one because loli baseball.

Loli Baseball. Thought I'd never see the day. Please tell me that has no True Ending, Xan.

And I thought I knew the internet so well.

It has a bonus ending. Truth is in the eyes of the beholder.

Doesn't it have a fandisk? Wouldn't that mean there is a canon?

I second that. But I'll try to be nice since you didn't write a wall of text.

Give me time, I won't be new for long!

Anyway, here's a thought: If KS did have a "true" ending, what would it be?

I'd say it would be Emi's honestly, that's the one that ends with Hisao having the clearest direction, and the desire for a career in science seems to suit the character most. Then, maybe that's just what I think because I'm on that path.

[Xanatos]

I've only just started playing VNs, and I never thought I'd be into them ever, so maybe? I don't know. Little Busters looks like it will be hard to find, though. But more importantly... Does it have a "true ending"?

What really confused me about KS, though, is that there was an overarching story that applies to all of the routes, and it made taking different routes feel a bit weird if you got attached to one character over the others. I don't know, maybe I'll get used to it, 'cause that seems like a part of the medium and I don't intend to give VNs up any time soon.

Doesn't it have a fandisk? Wouldn't that mean there is a canon?

It's easy to find if you're flexible about piracy. But most things are in that case. And yes, I believe it does.

KS doesn't have an overarching story. It just has a sliver of story that all routes have in common: "Here's a guy with a shitty heart."

And a fandisk just means bonus stuff. No implication of canon.

And I dunno, I like to think Kenji's end is the truest...Then again, the fanfic I'm writing is full of psychosis and murder so maybe I'm a bit twisted. XD