The "thank you 4LS" thread.

[gekiganwing]

Chiming in here as a person who's been active in anime-manga fandom for almost fourteen years... It has been a little while since I got into a game or a story with a distinct western aesthetic. I know there's plenty of examples that are selling millions and getting critical praise. So if it's not *too far* off-topic, what relatively recent western media would you recommend for a supah crazy weeaboo like me?

There are a few people in the VN community who are creating stories with distinct art styles. As much as I like current anime/manga influenced styles, I have to admit that it's good to see some diversity entering this small fandom. "Vera Blanc," "Crimsonness," and "Heart of Fire" are not bad starts, and I'm keeping an eye on "Cinders." If you browse the Lemma Soft forums a bit, you'll see a recent discussion on the topic of creating a more western visual novel.

And as much as I like (reverse) harem stories, I'm equally glad to see that indie and freeware creators are trying to create visual novels with more diverse themes. Lots of stories can be written with this format -- someone just has to be willing to make the content.

[Daratum]

Ive always been a fan of visual novels and dating sim games, ever since I could navigate newgrounds back in the day. I stopped playing them after middle school because of lack of interest and quite frankly lack of quality. This is my first year of college and I decided to give it a try, you know, for old times sakes, that and its been worked on for 5 years so its the least I can do. I can say, without a doubt, that I have never felt this way ever before, this game touched me in ways I cannot begin to describe. It brought back alot of painful memories of relationships old, broke me down, made me cry time and time again, made me laugh and snicker and cry (did I mention cry?) but it also changed me. Its made me kinder, happier, more open, i've started exercising and eating healthy (thanks to Emi nagging at the back of my head) and overall things are looking good. I've decided to change my life now, feeling good about it. I just completed the game for the first time, after a little of 6 hours and ended up with Emi (in case you couldn't guess by the earlier comment) ... but ... I just wish ... I wish I could erase my memories and play this again not knowing anything about it. I guess I just wanted to get this off my chest and say, thank you 4 leaf studio. Thank you Kataw Shoujo.

I love seeing these threads. =)

It seems this story has been inspiring for many people. I think that's wonderful. Congratulations on your new resolve, and best of luck to you.

Thank you very much.

[Daratum]

Ive always been a fan of visual novels and dating sim games, ever since I could navigate newgrounds back in the day. I stopped playing them after middle school because of lack of interest and quite frankly lack of quality. This is my first year of college and I decided to give it a try, you know, for old times sakes, that and its been worked on for 5 years so its the least I can do. I can say, without a doubt, that I have never felt this way ever before, this game touched me in ways I cannot begin to describe. It brought back alot of painful memories of relationships old, broke me down, made me cry time and time again, made me laugh and snicker and cry (did I mention cry?) but it also changed me. Its made me kinder, happier, more open, i've started exercising and eating healthy (thanks to Emi nagging at the back of my head) and overall things are looking good. I've decided to change my life now, feeling good about it. I just completed the game for the first time, after a little of 6 hours and ended up with Emi (in case you couldn't guess by the earlier comment) ... but ... I just wish ... I wish I could erase my memories and play this again not knowing anything about it. I guess I just wanted to get this off my chest and say, thank you 4 leaf studio. Thank you Kataw Shoujo.

[vestenet]

It's two weeks post-release, and I am unfashionably late as always, but I really want to thank the 4LS team for all of their hard work. Aside from the fact that Katawa Shoujo is an exceptional installment of storytelling, I just find the game's genesis and making-of to be really inspirational. That so many "nonprofessionals" can band together and create something simply for the sake of the creation, and for that creation to be such an impressive piece of work--it's invigorating. The game definitely made me feel a lot of ~those feels~, but it also made me realize I need to just suck it up and work my way out of this creative slump I've been in. I wrote a very small and very inconsequential thing today, but it felt good, and it felt like a start. So thanks, KS Devs, for seeing this game through to a really wonderful end.

[Drakensang]

This game actually made me smile, then cry and feel bad, then smile again all within ten minutes. I have gotten more emotion out of playing this game once than I have playing more than 90% of the other games I own. So thank you for making a wonderful experience, all the while keeping it tasteful. Katawa Shoujo will forever be on my top 10 list.

[Nebur]

Just finished my first playthrough, apparently going the Lily route and without screwing up once.

It was a wonderful story. I'm still amazed at what you created. You had me at the verge of tears sometimes. Beautifully written, nice artwork. Top soundtrack. Great characters...
Chapeau. Better than any €50 game I ever bought.

[lhfan04]

Well, I am going to try to keep this one relatively short, trust me there is much to say about this but I just wanted to give you guys a quick thank you. This VN is truly amazing, all the routes were really good, even if I have my preferences on which I prefer most they were all entertaining and none of them were bad at all. Thank you for making a awesome VN that is so touching, this game truly tugs on your heart strings a lot. It also reminds you to not look at a person by what kind of disability or what makes them different, it shows you to just look at them as a person. I am not one that is elegant with words unlike a lot of people here, but I still wanted to say thank you. It is such a honor and a privilege to be able to be able to play your VN, I am proud to say that this was my first VN as well. Thank you everyone, not just the people that made the game, thank you to the people that run and post in the form too, its great to hear feedback and share our feelings about this game. Again thanks for making this game you guys should be proud of yourselves for making such an amazing VN and for making such great stories that have not only touched me but have touched the hearts of many here.
-Tim

[Omnicretus]

Hello.

I've recently played a great deal of Katawa Shoujo, and just finished the Lilly route (both with the good and bad ending).

Upon finishing it, I went to bed to reflect upon what I had experienced (and to get some sleep), and that's when I realized something, which will be in the paragraph after the one that's after this next one, so feel free to skip it if you feel this is tl;dr. If you just want to get to the conclusion, go to the last paragraph.

I'm pretty much the textbook definition of a procrastinator. Everything I do, I do because of a small, easy-to-get fix that can lighten my mood, somewhat in comparison to a drug addict. Whenever I'm faced with a problem, I rationalize out of solving it, so I avoid it and learn to accept it instead of doing something about it. One of these problems are my health. I'm a typical gamer-teenager. I wake up, come to school late, sleep through class, go home, drown in my own escapism until late night and I go to bed. I keep telling myself to do something about it, to either get a healthy hobby (my physique is downright terrible, which has pushed me over in the weight category of "slightly above average" -.-), get rid of my bad habits or at least replace my sources of enjoyment with something that'll also be good in the long run. I've been telling myself this since I was 13-14, and I'm 17 now (procrastination, fuck yeah).

So, as I finished up the bad ending of Lilly (I thought that was the only ending), I was absolutely crushed (jadda jadda, I'm sure you can find plenty of topics explaining all the feelings involved with Lilly in general). I thought to myself that that couldn't be true, that had to be some sort of "bad" ending or something, so I went to the forums to discover that I was right. I then skipped ahead, redid the options (fucking kenji and his fucking mafia theory) and I continued from where I left. As the story unfolds, I get more and more tense, and as I can see Lilly leaving down the airport hallway, I'm practically crying. The story goes on, I hear the music box melody, I cry some more (seriously, that scene, a scene from a freeware fanmade visual novel made me cry more than Titanic, an old classic which has brought enough tears out of people to practically fill an alternative ocean for an other ship to crash in), I skip the credits, I shed a tear as I watch the "and they lived happily ever after" ending.

That's when it hit me. I want this. I want to experience this, to stand by someone I love with a feeling of success and content happiness. I have for a long time, but not to this extend. As I went to bed and slept on it, I thought to myself (as I have done countless times before, without result) that I actually wanted to do this now. So I woke up in the morning, walked over to my computer, only to come to a complete halt and realize that I actually didn't want to do anything on it. My mind was completely devoid of any wish to embark on some adventure in a game or movie. Instead, I felt like having a run. I didn't know why, I just thought "eh, what the heck, can't hurt. It might even feel nice", so I got out some shoes suited for the occasion, I grabbed a pull-over and I almost caused myself a heart attack (heh, I ran for some time, took what Emi taught me to be a relaxation walk, and ran the same amount as before, only this time, I collapsed as I entered the door, unable to move (out of exhaustion, I wasn't acutally paralyzed or something), followed by a quite unpleasant visit to the bathroom since my stomache no longer seemed to want the breakfast I had eaten an hour ago. As I retaliated I thought to myself "Yeah... this is nice... this feels nice...". I then spent some time with my dog and my sister untill the evening where I went on a run with my dog similar to the one in the morning, only not as long. The rest of the day (today, sunday) went on with some computer, I'll admit, mainly topics involving Katawa Shoujo, as I searched for the OST (ost means cheese in danish, so I'll admit that I can't read this without laughing). Around dinnertime, which usually is a pleasant experience since I'm quite fond of good food *ahembadphysiqueahem*, I just stared at the dish with what looked like a delicious meal. I ate a bit, and realized that I actually wasn't hungry. I genuinely wasn't hungry. It's not that I forced it upon myself, thinking "yeah, burn that fat, fuck food!". I just didn't feel like eating. I sit here, with the meal infront of me, absolutely mortified over my complete lack of hunger (a very unfamiliar feeling, I might add), and think to myself "maybe... this wont be as hard as I thought..." which leads me to the bloody reason I'm here.

Thank you 4LS. This (these) wonderful story(-ies) gave me a new take on my approach to life. As I sit here, listening to the wonderful OST of the game, I can't help but feel a greater amount of hope than I have in a long time. A hope that I can actually make this happen, that I can build myself a life I'm content with. And for once, I'm not only wanting the result, I'm actually enjoying the ride. Thank you.

-sincerely, Philip

[dunkelfalke]

Amen to that. You are not alone in this.

[vexx]

I registered to say thanks for a very entertaining few days spent going through these story lines. I still can't believe it was for "free". I would have coughed up 10 or 20 bucks without blinking. I remember playing the demo years ago but figured it would fade like many japanese VN translation projects fade --- because its hard, eh?

Anyway... I thoroughly enjoyed all the routes except one (for which I felt like the story just seemed a bit stilted or forced and I actually thought the bad end made more sense, just my opinion of course). Hard to choose, I would hate to have to choose between, say Hanako, Lilly in real life. The Emi and Rin routes were fascinating (hilarity to tragic and back).

I hang out over at Animesuki and the reception there has been very positive as a whole. Thanks again. I think I'll go replay a few of my favorite routes

[Gerbil X]

I made my own topic earlier on the feedback forum, and it seems that it was deleted for relevance. Therefore, I'll post here again and say that KS has changed my life. It gives me such a burning desire to live. I am inspired by its beauty.

[OrangeChocobo]

I played this thinking it would kill some time maybe give me something to do besides watch TV or videos on the internet. That being said i found the game through kotaku while catching up on articles, so i come in to this game knowing nothing besides thoughts that it was a dating sim with disabled chicks. Whatever, i had nothing better to do....Then i played through it...
This blew me away. Nothing else can be said about it. The characters had real problems and the emotional attachment was there like in no other game iv played. After each story i had to actually stop playing to let it sink in to let those feelings apply to everything to reflect upon myself, the people around me and even life what everything means to me. I even took a few days to think alone about what everything was. But even after all that i went back...i played more to get the 100% having to get all the bad endings just tore into me it was as if i was hurting real people. After connecting everything together reevaluating my life and vowing to change for the better, i went to the gallery and saw the Thanks for Playing image...and then i started crying. After such a touching game they thank ME for playing? Being a high school student maybe i can just connect easily to these characters...but seeing them all in that picture...something hit me and it tore at me for a few hours. All the good things that iv gotten from this game, the fun I've had and the emotional awakening that i felt it was over. The game or visual novel or whatever is over.

It took me a few hours to come to a conclusion of what to do next. What that is I'm still unsure of but i think it starts with my health. Work to better myself before i start to look for my interests, for love, for everything...Maybe with time I'll be able to find the path needed for my happiness but until then and until these great feelings from this game leave...

The only thing i can give is my thanks...everyone involved in this deserves some sort of prize and reward. Something akin to the awards that someone would get for writing a great book or making some other great work of art...


Sorry I'm not the best writer ever and my punctuation is horrible too i just really needed to express what this game is to me.

[ziamatt]

Thank you 4LS for making this game. This is a truly incredible game. Very few games, or anything really, has ever forced me into any kind of self-reflection. And yet this game managed exactly that. I can't say this game changed my life or anything like that, but even just being able to see myself a little more clearly has made playing this game worth while. It's truly a testament to 4LS that this game has resonated with so many players on such a personal level, in an age where gameplay rarely goes much deeper than shooting things. Whenever I feel like I'm being desensitized to life, I know I can open up Katawa Shoujo and feel a little more connected to those around me.

[encrypted12345]

Hmm... what I can say. Speaking as a veteran (as much as one who doesn't know Japanese can be anyways) VN player, I commend you on your efforts. When I played the act 1 demo a few months ago, I knew that this would be something special within the first few minutes. Katawa Shoujo is better than a significant amount of professional works that I have played.

It has its flaws, sure. But... yeah. It was moving. Not because you tortured your characters Key Visual Arts style. But because you guys made them as human as conceivably possible. I have never read or seen in any romance focused work such empathetic characters. So I thank you for this experience.

[Itsmrrda]

I was told to post this in here. I posted this on Reddit earlier today and someone linked me here, so I figured I'd repost and see what other people think. When I downloaded Katawa yesterday, I found myself in Emi's storyline, which hit real close to home. When I was 8 my father died and ever since I haven't let anyone get close because of fear of going through it again. Ever since I finished the story arc, I've been feeling extremely depressed. I feel like I need to get this off my chest, and if you guys can help me at all, I'd appreciate it greatly.