Rin's Path discussion *spoilers*

[alabaster]

As well-written as Rin's path is, it affected me the least emotionally. It's very satisfying intellectually, but I agree with sazaland; it's difficult to really feel for Rin when you don't understand her, and I honestly didn't understand her until the end. I'll try to replay it sometime soon now that I've read everyone's impressions.

So far, it's Emi that hit me the hardest, though I haven't played Hanako's path. I'm sort of dreading it, after the state Emi's put me in.

[Kazuki]

As well-written as Rin's path is, it affected me the least emotionally. It's very satisfying intellectually, but I agree with sazaland; it's difficult to really feel for Rin when you don't understand her, and I honestly didn't understand her until the end. I'll try to replay it sometime soon now that I've read everyone's impressions.

So far, it's Emi that hit me the hardest, though I haven't played Hanako's path. I'm sort of dreading it, after the state Emi's put me in.

My conclusion was that there was nothing to understand; Rin is Rin, and I came to accept her for who she is.

[konoa]

(This'll probably get a tad rambly, because it's a bit of a hard discussion to isolate into specific points)

I ended up completing Rin's route third, and I have to say, I still find it my favorite.
Partly because in retrospect, I find myself in a fairly similar situation to Hisao, just... "further along" may be a decent way of putting it.

Regardless of how advanced their relationship feels(or as far as Hisao thinks it is/should be), objectively, they haven't known each other for a particularly long time. This is true in all the paths, technically, but Rins is by far the most complex in terms of emotional involvement, and hurtles to overcome.
Hisao approached their relationship at a steady pace intially, but as he developed proper feelings over it, he began to push for a "normal" relationship pretty hard, as well as other issues of assumption on his part(such as what she really wanted). Which is where most of their relationship's turmoil spawns. Communication. It's obvious Rin isn't capable of a 'normal' relationship. They wouldn't really ever just snuggle up for a movie, (pardon the expression) hold hands, or arbitrarily start making out if they got into the mood. It's not at all about the throes of romance, and entirely about the pleasure of just simply being around one another. Hisao spent a LOT of time finally coming to terms with that, which, as far as we can tell at the end of the good path, he finally does.

This is similar to how I find myself. Obviously not to quite an extreme, but it's pretty close on a core basis.
I've known her for 7, going on 8 years now. Due to her personality, it was hard to relate to her because we tended to have clashes, and for a while, I wanted to romance her. As time went on, it became more and more apparent that it wasn't a matter of romance. She doesn't ascribe to overly emotive/expressive things like snuggling up, hugging, kissing, or the like. Not to family or anyone. She understands the idea of it(she watches a lot of porn, as it happens), but the best way to put it is "it doesn't work for her". This ended up confusing the ever-loving-crap out of me for quite a while, and it screwed with my head for quite a long time. She obviously was very familiar with me, and let me well past 'normal' boundaries of friendships, but it never flirted with a traditional romantic relationship.

This is where it starts paralleling Hisao's predicament pretty soundly(though not quite as extreme, as said). I, as Hisao, was looking for a romantic relationship with the person of interest, and that's just simply not how their personality or brains worked. And it drove me(and him) crazy until it hit a sort of epiphany. It wasn't about kissing, or hand holding or all that sappy romantic garbage. It was about connecting and being together.
You see elements of that in the path, which you can note as being 'high points' for Rin. Such as the cigarette scene. It was just simply being together. I mentioned the idea of being 'further along' in the same sort of relationship than where the path in the game ends simply because the progression of things like this is eventually you just learn the other person to a degree no one else can.
Eventually, you don't need verbal communication. If something is happening, very little discussion is needed for us to understand each other(finishing each others thoughts/sentences happening rather frequently).
A comparison I make decently often, and others have jokingly as well is that we're an 'old married couple'. We're together because we enjoy each others company, and we're really the only ones that can understand one another.

Hisao and Rin's relationship is very obviously headed that way, but it's not quite there yet. It just only recently took the first steps towards that. In the end, I see it as a definitively happy ending, as I know that going forward; months, and eventually years later, it will be to the point that they just know what isn't being said, and thus don't need to hang up on so many words. Given that this is all Rin really wanted, and Hisao being able to provide that naturally, without guessing or pulling hair out, means that later down the line, they'll be legitimately happy.
It's not there yet, but it's started.

I guess a succinct way of explaining the difference, would be 'romance will fade, but love lasts' or something equally overly sappy. And holy crap that was ramble-tastic. Not sure if the point was articulated as well as I wanted, but I think it should get the idea across in any case.

I think i know what you mean. After reading Rins path, i realized that I dont "understand" all this romancing and stuff. I have a girlfriend that i have been going out with for about a year now, and she constantly gets annoyed that i wont make any advances and am genuinly clueless as to what im supposed to do. I space out often, to the point that it gets annoying but thats not the problem. I will admit i have a very shy personality but thats not the problem either. I just dont understand how relationships like this are supposed to work, despite reading about a lot of them. Im learning apparently, but I enjoy watching movies and being with people, and adding all that relationship stuff ontop of it just feels strange.

I guess what im trying to say is that i understand how a relationship is supposed to work, but i dont understand how they work i guess. I know im supposed to do things, but i dont know what or when or how. And then i just get confused. I see couples in books, and on tv but it doesn't help.

Still, im nowhere near as bad as Rin is at understanding everything. Everybody learns, and I think Rin's idea of changing isnt a major change in personality or action, but rather a change in attitude. Both of them have "changed" to try to understand one another. No two people can ever fully understand another though, so all they can do is try. Its the real world. You will never perfectly understand another person, but the more you try the closer you get to them, and that is what makes up love. Maybe, now im just rambling i guess.

[ultrarare]

As well-written as Rin's path is, it affected me the least emotionally. It's very satisfying intellectually, but I agree with sazaland; it's difficult to really feel for Rin when you don't understand her, and I honestly didn't understand her until the end. I'll try to replay it sometime soon now that I've read everyone's impressions.

So far, it's Emi that hit me the hardest, though I haven't played Hanako's path. I'm sort of dreading it, after the state Emi's put me in.

My conclusion was that there was nothing to understand; Rin is Rin, and I came to accept her for who she is.

I felt the opposite. I felt like I understood Rin more and more as the story progressed, especially at the end. While she will never be completely understood, it seemed like you just have to interpret how what she says and does in a different way. Rin expresses herself life everyone else, just...differently.

[Harco]

Just completed her route. It felt... draining. Utterly draining. Not in a bad way, it's just a lot to take in once.

Although one of the final (good) scenes, when they were just staring at each other -- naked and slightly smiling, happy -- was beautiful, that much I'm sure of.

[ultrarare]

Just completed her route. It felt... draining. Utterly draining. Not in a bad way, it's just a lot to take in once.

Although one of the final (good) scenes, when they were just staring at each other -- naked and slightly smiling, happy -- was beautiful, that much I'm sure of.

Too be honest, I didn't really like her route the first time around. The second time around was amazing and made it my favorite route. (probably because I was actually able to understand it and all of the subtleties I missed through the story)

[xanderhunter]

Another ending down, with only Emi and Kenji left to go. Surprisingly this was the first one that I actually failed to get to on Act 1, ending on the manly picnic. I could not figure out for the life of me what choice I had made wrong, so I went and looked up and old Act 1 walk through. Turns out the walk up the hill with Lilly and Rin gave a point to Rin if you responded the same way you would for Lilly, I was trying not to give any extra points to Lilly thinking the choice wouldn't affect Rin because she already knew about Hisao's heart problem. Turns out I was wrong. x.x Beyond that I had smooth sailing getting to the good ending, though a couple of choices felt like pure random guesses for me.

Also odd for the course is my lack of thought's on the path in whole. Usually I have a whole list of what I thought about while following the path but the only real point that stuck out to me was when Rin had her wall of text when she was trying to get across her feelings. Beyond that it was just kinda this is the path here it is. It was still a good path I just didn't feel as connected to it or drawn in as Lilly/Hanako's path, which is why Rin is currently ranked 2nd for my favorite path, since I still cant see much from Shizune's path.

[urishima]

Just completed her route. It felt... draining. Utterly draining. Not in a bad way, it's just a lot to take in once.

How I feel since the day before yesterday.
I started with Emi's route yesterday but I dunno...
I think I need to sort my thoughts before I can truly stomach another route. Plus, seeing Rin as a bystander and 'friend only' during this route after her route just feels... wrong. I dunno what to do right now, really. Heck, I don't even understand myself right now.

Everything is just weird right now.

Although one of the final (good) scenes, when they were just staring at each other -- naked and slightly smiling, happy -- was beautiful, that much I'm sure of.

Yeah, still puts a smile on my face

@ rambling guest
Thanks for sharing that with us.

@ sazaland
I think you were right about that 'not supposed to be entirely in the head of Hisao'. But I understand his frustration. As much as some of the things made me want to yell at him, after trying to put myself in his shoes, I understand his frustration and I am not sure whether or not I would've been able react 'better' if it had been me in this situation.

[rrc2soft]

I think I need to sort my thoughts before I can truly stomach another route. Plus, seeing Rin as a bystander and 'friend only' during this route after her route just feels... wrong. I dunno what to do right now, really. Heck, I don't even understand myself right now.

@urishima I think I totally understand. The funny thing is that a long time ago I had a relationship with a girl that was very similar to Rin (yup, you can find someone that special, adorable and complicated in real life), and in fact many moments that are portrayed in the game are very similar to real moments that I spent with her. Heck, the game even made me achieve a epiphany that helped me to both understand our "bad endings" and to find my core self. So I had to stop playing the other routes (first I played shizune and misha's route - which I actually liked a lot), because every time I see Rin I also feel quite weird.

In other words, the game rocks . Thanks!

[Rinbro]

I finished Rin's route Sunday night and couldn't play the game until now D:

I already felt kinda bad in Rin's storyline whenever I met Hanako in school or when Hisao went to the Shanghai with Emi and Rin as I had finished Hanako's storyline first. I think it will feel even worse now after having finished the amazing, amazing storyline of Rin.

On the other hand I will have lot of KS to play once I cool down emotionally : )

[Rykthrall]

Finished Rin's path yesterday and I can't bring myself to 100% it and get RIn's bad ending
Hell, I don't even want to get the neutral ending.

Kudos to whoever wrote this path.

[Bix]

The first time I got to Rin's good ending I must of been half asleep because I missed the pivotal line where she says: "I love you!"
This drastically changed how I perceived Rin's route, and after reading how happy everyone was with it, I did it again, and saw what I missed, still felt kind of bittersweet, but I guess Im happy with how it ended.

[Astrid]

This path was physically painful for me to play through because of how much I felt like I could relate to Rin. I'm autistic. I'm not sure exactly what was up with Rin, but I really, really felt like I could relate. So much of what she said throughout the path - it just made so much sense to me, and then Hisao wouldn't get it, and I'd get really frustrated. Hisao was trying so hard to understand her, and he was having so much trouble with it... but it made sense. Everything made perfect sense.

That moment when Rin collapsed in the art gallery was really, really painful to watch. I just sat there looking at the CG in some kind of empathetic horror. That's exactly what it's like.

Somehow, I didn't cry during the Hanako path at all, but Rin's saying "It's all right to be me after all." in the good ending made me just lose it. I was just so sad and so happy at once. I want to believe her and to agree with her. I want to believe it's all right to be me, too.

[Rinbro]

Somehow, I didn't cry during the Hanako path at all, but Rin's saying "It's all right to be me after all." in the good ending made me just lose it. I was just so sad and so happy at once. I want to believe her and to agree with her. I want to believe it's all right to be me, too.

I think that line emphasizes another important theme of her storyline - finding out who you are and accepting yourself. Early on Rin is fascinated by watching Emi being her Emi-est yet she struggles with herself as her budding relationship with Hisao changes her. On the one hand she tries to hold back a lot of her weird thoughts and ideas from him in order not to alienate him and on the other she really dives into her art in order to find a way to make Hisao understand how she feels.

I am certain that Rin doesn't push Hisao away out of ill-will after they get constantly closer in the atelier. I think the real reason is that her feelings are increasing and overwhelming her too and that it frustrates and scares her that she isn't able to let him know.

In the end both accept that it is difficult to understand each other completely and that it isn't necessary completely. They accept each other for what they are and it is really endearing that Hisao realizes that he really loves all the small things that irritated him so far with Rin. Rin can be herself as she doesn't have to fear rejection from him anymore and she also loses her fear from changing what she used to be. Rin can be her Rin-est in the end too.

[gecko]

Rin... Ouch!
I knew she was going to be an intriguing, challenging character, I'd been mulling about her since I played the demo, so I jumped directly on her path after my first "natural play" (Emi). But I didn't realize how much I would get sucked in her story. I had problems getting to sleep after playing it, like after reading a deeply touching book. I'll get back on the story later, but having befriended several artists, I'd say I find it quite realistic.

As for the interactions, I found the choice points relevant. Once again in that game, I liked that there isn't only one path to the good end, so you can try and stay natural instead of meta-gaming it, so you can stay involved in the story. e.g. You can choose "I want to be like Emi" and still make Rin happy. My only gripe would be the "Explain" / "I need to understand" choice. Choosing the wrong one, having Hisao overreact (nooo, Hisao, stop, not like that!) and suddenly getting the end credits was like a punch in the stomach. Luckily, my previous save point was not far away (I had smelled something fishy with that choice) and I was able to quickly revert but aargh! I still consider I got the good end on my first try, because actually, my choice was in the intended spirit of the other answer:
For me, "explain" was the non-committal one, the one was letting Rin free to do what she could, and the onus to understand was on Hisao, while "I need to understand" sounded more like an ultimatum, putting pressure on Rin I didn't want to. Chalk it up to English not being my mother tongue maybe, so I didn't realize the strength of "explain", but I would have appreciated a clearer choice!
(okay, I could have chosen "I can't leave her alone" previously, and get the "it doesn't matter" choice, but I'm dumb like that – I was so annoyed by Hisao white-knighting tendencies than I didn't want to give him any reason to do it again)
I also disliked how I've needed a chart to get on her path first thing. Why would Hisao need to get in the art club to get interested in Rin? For me, it looked like he had already accepted that he didn't understand what Rin was painting, could not really help her, but that they both felt nice just being near each-other. Why would not wanting to stalk her in the club lead to a manly picnic? Seriously devs?

As I said, I found the story wasn't so out-of-here. Having been myself a budding musician or writer when younger, having hanged out with other musicians or with graphic artists, I've experienced how art is time-consuming, attention-sucking... It's difficult to dedicate oneself to art without becoming a bit selfish, without giving it the first place in your life, sometime to the point of actually lying to your friends (whom you owe money, for instance). Always thinking that once this deadline is past, you'll be able to mend things, but then discovering another deadline, another challenge, was masked by the first.
Some teachers can add a lot of pressure too. If they believe you can be good, they're going to make you question everything you propose, criticise everything you do, just to be sure that you don't grow comfortable, that you don't rely on old recipes but continue progressing. I remember an art student telling me he had taken to lie to his teacher, presenting a bad draft of a project on purpose, so he'd get predictable criticism he knew how to answer and could continue working on his real idea of the final project: being honest led to too many sleepless nights and to the verge of depression.
Rin was already unstable, not being sure who she was or wanted to be, before her teacher applied pressure, I don't think we need a big-scale mental problem for her to become the Rin who's written in that story. (especially that the teacher was probably applying pressure for some time already, even if he didn't have such a concrete goal)
Another good point for the story: nowhere did Rin having no arms make a difference, plot-wise. She was like that, that's all, and although it coloured some scenes (like the orange or the smoking), the plot never hung on that.
I just have one criticism of the story, it's that we learn nothing about Rin's family. Why is she so alone and vulnerable out there? Is there nobody, no parent, to care for her or be afraid for her? I'd have liked to know why.

As for the H-scenes, which H-scenes? I didn't even notice there was sex! No, I'm kidding, but seriously, so much happened, plot-wise and emotionally, in those, that I really didn't read them like sex scenes. I don't think one can fully appreciate that path with the adult scenes turned off.

Really, one week later or so, I'm still thinking of Rin. Specially now that I made the mistake of looking at the neutral end. I'm glad I took Emi's path before hers, or I would have felt very bad meeting her on that other path... But I think I'll have to devote my free time to some serious fanfic plotting during the next month, if I want to get KS out of my system.