Katawa Shoujo overall feedback
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:37 pm
First thing : I'm french, but since only act 1 was available at the time I started playing, I've stick to english to the end.
Though I'm fluent in english, I'm not good enough to make a good proofreading, so I won't : I'll only say I think some more proofreading would be required.
I just want to point out what i felt about the story.
The first part of Prologue, "Out cold", is okay : not too short, not too long, it let the reader familiarize a bit with what kind of guy is Hisao.
The second part, with its 5 long reminiscing screens is pretty boring. But I think it's a good point though : we can feel how Hisao is bored himself.
Act 1 is kind of long. Since it's where the path is chosen and where we discover the school, it couldn't be too short, of course, but I think that it could have been shorter :
- Presenting all the girls no matter which path is taken could have been avoided (helping Rin could happen only if choosing Rin's route and same with Lilly).
- Starting to develop some relationship while keeping on introducing the girls and school make this act feel even longer (Shizune's route especially)
I would have love some parts of it being shortened to let some more place to an important side of the school that is only briefly introduced : medical care, and how the medical team would be present in such environment (Hisao Nakai couldn't be oblivious to that, given his admission and his passion for science).
Shizune's route :
This route was pleasant, but since i liked Misha a lot more than Shizune, I couldn't really immerse myself. It may be due to the fact that Misha has a lot more complex personnality than Shizune, but I'm not really sure there.
Rin's Route :
This one is excellent, though it may be hard to get immersed into it. That's a weird story, after all, but Rin being weird, that what makes this route excellent.
At some point, though, I don't think it's possible for Hisao to keep thinking that Rin could like being renowned. Letting that slip away isn't that hard, though.
Emi's Route :
Something there is wrong. Emi's personality seems split in a way it doesn't feel like it could be. being in love with Hisao and trying to keep him away at the same time don't match her. She would either ditch him once for all or stop thinking about loosing him. And that would be the same about everyone else near her : Rin and the track's captain. That way of thinking could match many of the girl, but not her (very Misha-like). I liked Emi's a lot, though, so it wasn't hard to read all the story despite that.
Lilly's route :
Good one. Lilly's a simple girl, and that's a simple story that match perfectly. But because of that, it can only be good, not excellent. Maybe a development of Lilly's relationship with Shizune could have make it better ?
Hanako's route :
This one is really hard to comment for me. I played the game in the same order... Shizune, then Rin, etc... finishing by Hanako. That was actually the choice i made : right from the start, i knew Hanako would be my favourite. I couldn't help but find her really beautiful (physically too, despite the scares), and I like to keep the best for the end.
Because of that, I may be harsher than I need to be...
I found that story too short. I would have love to read the development right after Lilly come back from Scotland, and also years after that : With Lilly's certainly going to Scotland while Hanako and Hisao... whatever cpl_crud would have decided about it. An epilogue would have been welcome.
Anyway, excellent.
I'm a perfectionist, and though i'm less expectant from others than from myself, my critiques may lack compliments. Please, don't feel offended by that.
I don't like rating (because i'm perfectionist, too), but I'll make a top 10 of story intensive games / visual novels i played to let you have an idea of how i felt about this game.
1) Clannad
2) Fate stay Night
3) Alice : retour au pays de la folie (alice : madness returns)
4) Narcissu
5) Katawa Shoujo
6) Utawarerumono
7) Tears to Tiara
8) Tsukihime
9) Kanon
10) Kamidori alchemist meister
I also have some questions I'd like to be answered, if you don't mind :
- Rin's paintings all have a gloomy side (it DOES reflect well how Rin could be seeing the world)... who did those ?
- How were made the musics ?
- Was Kenji supposed to have a route for himself at a time ? His paranoïa seems fake... Like a wall for protecting himself. Felt kind of promising.
- How to make a donation ? I've placed Katawa Shoujo before many commercial game I bought, so I wanted to make a donation, but after half an hour i couldn't find any way on the site, blog and forum...
Though I'm fluent in english, I'm not good enough to make a good proofreading, so I won't : I'll only say I think some more proofreading would be required.
I just want to point out what i felt about the story.
The first part of Prologue, "Out cold", is okay : not too short, not too long, it let the reader familiarize a bit with what kind of guy is Hisao.
The second part, with its 5 long reminiscing screens is pretty boring. But I think it's a good point though : we can feel how Hisao is bored himself.
Act 1 is kind of long. Since it's where the path is chosen and where we discover the school, it couldn't be too short, of course, but I think that it could have been shorter :
- Presenting all the girls no matter which path is taken could have been avoided (helping Rin could happen only if choosing Rin's route and same with Lilly).
- Starting to develop some relationship while keeping on introducing the girls and school make this act feel even longer (Shizune's route especially)
I would have love some parts of it being shortened to let some more place to an important side of the school that is only briefly introduced : medical care, and how the medical team would be present in such environment (Hisao Nakai couldn't be oblivious to that, given his admission and his passion for science).
Shizune's route :
This route was pleasant, but since i liked Misha a lot more than Shizune, I couldn't really immerse myself. It may be due to the fact that Misha has a lot more complex personnality than Shizune, but I'm not really sure there.
Rin's Route :
This one is excellent, though it may be hard to get immersed into it. That's a weird story, after all, but Rin being weird, that what makes this route excellent.
At some point, though, I don't think it's possible for Hisao to keep thinking that Rin could like being renowned. Letting that slip away isn't that hard, though.
Emi's Route :
Something there is wrong. Emi's personality seems split in a way it doesn't feel like it could be. being in love with Hisao and trying to keep him away at the same time don't match her. She would either ditch him once for all or stop thinking about loosing him. And that would be the same about everyone else near her : Rin and the track's captain. That way of thinking could match many of the girl, but not her (very Misha-like). I liked Emi's a lot, though, so it wasn't hard to read all the story despite that.
Lilly's route :
Good one. Lilly's a simple girl, and that's a simple story that match perfectly. But because of that, it can only be good, not excellent. Maybe a development of Lilly's relationship with Shizune could have make it better ?
Hanako's route :
This one is really hard to comment for me. I played the game in the same order... Shizune, then Rin, etc... finishing by Hanako. That was actually the choice i made : right from the start, i knew Hanako would be my favourite. I couldn't help but find her really beautiful (physically too, despite the scares), and I like to keep the best for the end.
Because of that, I may be harsher than I need to be...
I found that story too short. I would have love to read the development right after Lilly come back from Scotland, and also years after that : With Lilly's certainly going to Scotland while Hanako and Hisao... whatever cpl_crud would have decided about it. An epilogue would have been welcome.
Anyway, excellent.
I'm a perfectionist, and though i'm less expectant from others than from myself, my critiques may lack compliments. Please, don't feel offended by that.
I don't like rating (because i'm perfectionist, too), but I'll make a top 10 of story intensive games / visual novels i played to let you have an idea of how i felt about this game.
1) Clannad
2) Fate stay Night
3) Alice : retour au pays de la folie (alice : madness returns)
4) Narcissu
5) Katawa Shoujo
6) Utawarerumono
7) Tears to Tiara
8) Tsukihime
9) Kanon
10) Kamidori alchemist meister
I also have some questions I'd like to be answered, if you don't mind :
- Rin's paintings all have a gloomy side (it DOES reflect well how Rin could be seeing the world)... who did those ?
- How were made the musics ?
- Was Kenji supposed to have a route for himself at a time ? His paranoïa seems fake... Like a wall for protecting himself. Felt kind of promising.
- How to make a donation ? I've placed Katawa Shoujo before many commercial game I bought, so I wanted to make a donation, but after half an hour i couldn't find any way on the site, blog and forum...