Your first experience with Katawa Shoujo?

[Po1ntBlank]

I am very new here, in fact this is my second post. If this topic is already alive, please just delete this. I won't be upset!

I wanted to share my first experience with this game, and wanted to hear everyone else's. Did you know anything about it? Did you understand how the game worked? Etc. I'll go first I suppose!

**SPOILERS POSSIBLY AHEAD. NOTHING SPECIFIC OUTSIDE ACT 1. IF YOU HAVE PLAYED THROUGH ACT 1, READ AHEAD.**

I found out about this game on some random thread on /b/ about two weeks ago. (3 days ago, at 3ish AM. I finally finished every possible route/ending). The post was unrelated, but the game was mentioned. I believe some anon said "That game gave me a lot of feels, indeed." Then another kind anon linked the game, which I torrented and began to play.

Jumping into the "game," I had absolutely NO idea what to expect, other than that "feels were imminent." I started reading the prologue, and when I read about the heart attack, a dark tone set into my mind.

Once "I" (I'll refer to wherever Hisao is as "I" if you don't mind.) was outside the main gate for the first time, I was a bit confused. Then the first choice came up, and I wasn't nervous at all about it. (I'm assuming many of you who tried for certain routes after understanding the real consequences of the game (without cheating) took time with each choice.) I believe I chose to introduce myself. I played through a few scenes, and didn't take any interest to Shizune or Misha. I took direct interest in Hanako however. I played aggressively, after reloading a save because I felt like Shizune was mad at me for going on defense.

When I saw Lilly for the first time, I made the decision to go after her. (Noted that I wasn't thinking too hardly about the choices, I had no idea how hard Act 1 could be) Then somehow I roped myself into running with Emi, and when I managed to push myself to run after her, I guess I was in the Emi route.

I played through the Emi route, becoming more and more intrigued (Despite my usual distaste for "loli" like hentai images). I never once reloaded, quite often I (Emi Act 2/3 spoiler): pestered emi to let me help her with her leg, but generally felt okay. But then it happened. (Emi Act 3/4 Spoiler): The fight. At Emi's house. And then not talking to her for a week. I finally understood what everyone meant by the "feels" this game gave. Somehow, I managed to fix things (Act 4 spoiler): by talking to Misha and at the end, when I reached the good end of Emi's route, I started to physically tear up. I spent the next hour or so (Given it was 4AM Sunday night) reading about the game, and watching videos. That's when I learned there was a bad ending, and that I barely missed it. I started to understand that there was actually an amount of effort required for this game, and you couldn't really just play through it whimsically (Well you could, but it could be bad, as I found out).

The game was on my mind the next day, so for about a week I continued through the other routes. (First Hanako, then Lilly, then Shizune, and finally Rin)

This game took it's toll on me, and I've appreciated everything that has gone into it (Especially after reaching 100%) but I wanted more. I continued to look at fanfics (ESPECIALLY epilogues) most noteworthy are Sisterhood, Ascent, and one I saw on a different website, which got me to love the Misha character, "Listen to your Heart."

That's about it for me, and I'm looking forward to how others reacted to this game. If they went headfirst in like I did, or took time to plan things out.

Slightly off topic, if anyone knows of anything exceptionally close to a Misha Route, I would be delighted to hear about it. Thanks!

[Xanatos]

Misha has a route. It's just sealed up in Kenji's box you deliver during Shizune's route.

[Dream]

If you stay detached from all the girls up to and including the festival, you unlock the secret Misha route. It's very emotional.

[Po1ntBlank]

Not sure people keep making these jokes... Tried to make a serious thread. I have 100% completion, I'm not an idiot.

[Nicendeth]

I'll be serious. Some of us here have our own idiosyncratic senses of humor but that's another story
I've probably had tons of opportunities to post something like this in other obvious threads but I never have and here's one now, so what the hell.

How did I find KS? It's because I was technically a disillusioned CA & TGWTG fan. I only have a few of them on my twitter anymore (...and dwindling), and specifically I was following JewWario who posted his Katawa Shoujo review. I knew about VNs particularly because I made a few attempts to get into them awhile back, namely Higurashi and FSN (I wasn't that old, or resourceful, or cared enough) and I was surprised J-Dub was even reviewing one. KS was also my first encounter with an OELVN, so I was curious on that point as well as to how well it could be executed. I mean, it's needless to say how great of a surprise that was. Nothing too amazing to see there, enough about that.

I was kept interested at first mostly because I noticed some pretty glaring references like Haruki and Highlander... I wanted to recognize as many of them as I could... lol. I think you can probably tell my expectations of the game at that time weren't very high, nor was my purpose for playing it. But I forgot about that and as soon as I got into Emi's arc, I was paying pretty serious attention. Feeling that challenge to run a successful relationship spurned me on (and I also eventually found the character page on the site; I found it personally weird that both my one ex and Emi are Pisces, so I decided to stick to it). Maybe it was around the time of Emi in the wheelchair that I understood her and began theorizing her whole arc would have a lack of trust theme. When that proved to be true, it wasn't too hard to get the good ending. I still feel a bit slow on that one actually...

And then when I went into Shizune's arc and found the really obvious theme, then I was afraid it was going to be too easy. And then I found Rin's arc, and I didn't know what to think. Rin's caused me to play the whole game, every arc again and read it again, taking it seriously and reading context. I read a lot and I don't mind massive walls of text. I always miss the subtext the first time though, so I love analyzing stories and getting the subtext, it's like uncovering gold to me. Glad I did, in terms of how much enjoyment I got it's technically my Game-of-the-Year .

Pretty sure most every first-timer who took the run of the roulette stumbled into Emi, but I was also dangerously close to veering off into Shizune's arc so I decided to do her arc second. After finishing that with it's solid pace, I actively went for Rin, and failed once before I did xD It's when my game-mentality really went away and when my book mentality kicked in, to be frank.

And that's that, my first time with the game, for whatever it's worth (I also have 100% (but not that damn elusive last CG)).

[Xanatos]

(I also have 100% (but not that damn elusive last CG)

Then it's not technically 100%, is it? =P Pull up a guide.

And OP, that wasn't a joke. It's Word of God.


Anyway! I play a lot of eroge VNs (for the porn, but equally for the writing and such). The last one I played had some really good humor so once I finished it (still not 100% though ), I wanted more. I went looking and found Katawa Shoujo. Being a cripple myself, it sounded interesting. So I went to the KS site...But it wasn't even a demo yet. I soon forgot about it.

One day, on my Twitter timeline, someone was complaining that they accidentally got stuck into Emi's route, which reminded me of the game. I checked again to see that not only was a demo out, but the full game was out as well. I downloaded it and immediately fell for Hanako. But, not paying much attention to choices, my first ending was Kenji's. Next, I got myself locked onto Emi's by accident. Got the bad ending just by following the choices I'd likely pick...Then went back for the good. (By the way, there's two ways to get the good end, so grab both.) After the bad end, I fell into a deep introspection that uncovered a lot of repressed issues in me but I got over it...For a while. Next, I finally got onto Hanako's path...Which brought up far more repressed issues, given my extreme similarities to Hanako (from crippling social problems to the tile game). In every path after, I kept finding bits of myself that uncovered still more repression. I've resolved to improve but it's slow, difficult work. Still contemplating proper counseling.

I got Hanako's bad end first but only because I directly sought it. I think I went for Lilly after and got the bad end where she leaves. Then the good later on, after a break. She ended up my favorite because I'm a sucker for the Yamato Nadeshiko type. Then went for Shizune, loved the route, hated Jigoro, and deliberately got the bad end first again. Ended with Rin, bad end first, then neutral, deliberately saving the good end for last.

[Po1ntBlank]

Wall of text

I noticed we had a vaguely similar story. Seems a lot of people get roped into Emi's route. I think a vast majority had a more relaxed viewpoint in the game, and it seems like if you go through not really paying too much mind to anything, you get default-ed into the Emi route. I think Shizune is the second easiest to get into, then Lilly, then Hanako, and finally Rin (which took me so long, because I didn't realize that all the choices I made in Act 1, even before I met Rin, affected whether I had the option to route her)

[Xanatos]

Wall of text

I noticed we had a vaguely similar story. Seems a lot of people get roped into Emi's route. I think a vast majority had a more relaxed viewpoint in the game, and it seems like if you go through not really paying too much mind to anything, you get default-ed into the Emi route. I think Shizune is the second easiest to get into, then Lilly, then Hanako, and finally Rin (which took me so long, because I didn't realize that all the choices I made in Act 1, even before I met Rin, affected whether I had the option to route her)

I just roped into it by the damn training flags. Apparently, showing basic logical concern for my own health steadily forced me onto Emi's path. Prior to that, just plain not paying attention got me onto Kenji's.

[Umbra]

Well, my story is pretty traditional.

I sort-of got over a girl I've been in love with for two years (on top of that, she ran off with my best friend. :/)
About that time (back in January) I read about KS on TIGsource. So, one evening in March, I was really bored, and, being into trying out new things, decided to download the VN, to see what the rave was about. I got like 1/3 through the intro, thought it was really dull and left the thing to collect dust on my desktop.
...three weeks later I was once again testing the limits of my boredom and decided to revisit KS. Through force of will (and making the choices I'd make) I finished the intro and got into Emi's route. Read it all in two days.
Needless to say, I was crushed. Then I followed with Rin's route, and Lilly's afterwards.
I remember those days really well. Taking long walks to a nearby forest. Listening to Animal Collective. Thinking. Feeling the grey atmosphere weighing heavily on your shoulders, but at the same time, feeling bodyless. I'm really nostalgic, and the realisation that I wasted my best HS years chasing after a girl made me really depressed. I've thrown a lot of time away. Suicide was an option as any other (although I hate myself for thinking this way.)
The memories of me and my friend going fishing on ice, watching movies, acting in school plays together. Episodes of me and the girl walking around after school, talking about music, the cool spring air chilling us slightly. Eventually, I became accustomed to melancholy, even loving it.
Oh well, enough about that my life's pretty good, aside from some serious financial problems, I'm studying for a degree I've always wanted, finding new friends, honing my guitar skills. I was never a loner, although quite autistic, but still really friendly.
KS changed me, made me mature on a more intellectual, social level. And it helped me put the dot on my relationship. I haven't talked to either my friend or the girl for a long time now. Probably for the better.

[Mader Levap]

I just roped into it by the damn training flags. Apparently, showing basic logical concern for my own health steadily forced me onto Emi's path.

No, if you are concerned for health, you would not "go for it" on second running. This choice locks in, not talk with nurse earlier.

[Superdingo13]

The first time I heard of KS I thought "Oh joy... Another hentai game", like much of the world probably. Didn't think much of it, had no real interest, until a few weeks later when I somehow stumbled upon the song Painful History on youtube. Don't remember how I found it, but I know it was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard... After listening to more of the music, I realized that maybe there was more to KS than I originally thought. I started looking more into it, and when I saw it was free, figured why not give it a try? Unfortunately the torrent took forever to download, and since I never do torrents anyways, it just slipped my mind and I forgot about it until a few weeks ago.

I had a free afternoon when I suddenly remembered it, and gave the game a try. Like others, I got roped in to Emi's route despite trying for Hanako's. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from it; she was obviously the most cheerful of the girls (except maybe for Misha), so I wasn't expecting any real feels from it. By the time I got to act three, I was totally hooked and finished it the next day... That was when the feels began, and I've been playing ever since. Even started listening to the soundtrack in the car (while I'm alone... No others must see the tears ;_;) and I've even set my wake-up alarm to the song School Days to start my day with all the good feels.

As I've said somewhere else, the game really helped me examine my life and motivated me to try and break my introverted nature. I've tried several times before and failed, but now I feel like it may work this time. Like other's, I've taken up running after Emi's route, but with a little bit of a twist: for some reason I can't even remember now, I had actually started a running routine literally two days before I even started KS and was already considering giving it up, so it seems KS didn't really start me on getting in shape, but rather gave me the strength to go on.

[Heartless Wanderer]

I heard of Katawa Shoujo via Mibbit chat with an acquaintance of mine, so the fact that it was coming through a trusted source certainly helped my decision to give it a whirl. It also helped that the adult content was something that my chat-friend only mentioned as an afterthought/warning, like: "There's graphic sex in there, so if you don't like that turn the censor option on."

Not that I'm bothered by sexual content in the first place. My relatively prudish teenage years are several birthdays behind me now.

Anyway, it sounded interesting but I didn't actually try it out right away, mostly because all of my free time at that point was being poured with gusto into the Persona series (I had only recently discovered it). The installation file sat in my Documents folder for a couple of months and through an operating system upgrade, even, before I remembered it during a fit of boredom and decided to give it a go.

The last few days, sans yesterday (the goddamn hurricane knocked out our power for a good twenty-four hours), have been dedicated to reading through the various story paths, and to achieving all of the endings because I'm a bit of a klepto when it comes to 100% completion. I'm probably going to do a Let's Play (or more appropriately a "Let's Read") on my YouTube channel just for the sake of sharing it with people. I'm tempted to record it for the more popular commentary group I work with for the sake of sharing it with more people (that channel has over 20,000 subscribers to my own measly 4,000-plus), but visual novels don't really lend themselves that well to group commentary, so I'm not sure that's a great idea.

The first path I took was Hanako's because, as a formerly-shy and still-very-introverted individual, she was the most relatable and therefore the most attractive.

The story throughout was engaging enough that it actually made me think pretty deep thoughts, particularly when the power went out and I ran out of battery power just in time NOT to finish Lilly's story path (Grrrr...), since I don't ever have much of anything to do when there's no power so sitting around and thinking was pretty much all I had to occupy my waking hours with. That in itself speaks volumes about how attached I've become to the characters and setting. I never expected to find that level of immersion in anything freeware, so I have to salute the dev team for their hard work and dedication in making this concept come to life.

It's definitely something I'll be coming back to from time to time. Although maybe not Shizune's path. She's too pushy and domineering for someone like me to really get behind. Ah, metaphorically speaking.

[Xanatos]

I'm probably going to do a Let's Play (or more appropriately a "Let's Read") on my YouTube channel

Visual novels make for bad LPs. The few KS ones I've seen were terrible. Plus having it read to you has the same issue that adding voice acting has, messing with what peoples' mental 'voices' for the characters (assuming you do voices and don't just monotone it).

[Dream]

Visual novels make for bad LPs. The few KS ones I've seen were terrible. Plus having it read to you has the same issue that adding voice acting has, messing with what peoples' mental 'voices' for the characters (assuming you do voices and don't just monotone it).

Out of curiosity, have you seen ChilledChaos's LP? Pretty funny guy, and while he does add voices, i think they're worth it.

[Heartless Wanderer]

I'm probably going to do a Let's Play (or more appropriately a "Let's Read") on my YouTube channel

Visual novels make for bad LPs. The few KS ones I've seen were terrible. Plus having it read to you has the same issue that adding voice acting has, messing with what peoples' mental 'voices' for the characters (assuming you do voices and don't just monotone it).

I don't mean to brag, but I'm quite good at reading out loud. I've been complimented on it on multiple occasions. And I do put in effort to "voice act" when I read. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who monotone-read.

Mind you, the focus of any attempted YouTube playthrough is going to be more interjecting with my own thoughts than just outright reading the story word-for-word. I still need to think about how I'm going to do it, though, because you're right, it's not exactly prime LP material. That doesn't make it impossible, just... tricky.

For now, though, I have a blog review that I've shared on my Facebook page. At the very least I think this game deserves to be shared, and since I'm not altogether concerned about whether people give me weird looks for it I might as well do some of the sharing.

Out of curiosity, have you seen ChilledChaos's LP? Pretty funny guy, and while he does add voices, i think they're worth it.

Could you link to it if it still exists? I can't seem to find it and my attempt to go directly to the channel "ChilledChaos" was met by a "this channel has been terminated" page. >_>