Just started playing recently...

[KSPuff]

And I'm loving Katawa Shoujo so far. I just finished my first route going in without doing any research. Admittingly, I got more emotional wrapped into story then I expected, as panicked when Emi snapped and threw me out of her mother's house. But I ended up with Emi and the good ending.

Now, I noticed there are stars under Act 1 and Emi's listing in the library. What are those for? Parts I've missed in the storyline? Does this mean I need to replay her route to unlock them? Is there anyway I could skip ahead so I don't have to start from the beginning? I kinda planning to start from the begin with each girl.

Sorry if these are noobish questions or being asked in the wrong place. I don't where else I can get help with KS.

[AaronIsCrunchy]

Welcome to the forums! Yeah, the stars will be scenes that you haven't seen yet, which you can unlock by going through again and choosing different choices. If you right click, you can skip to next choice on the menu I think.

And yeah, getting emotionally wrapped up is definitely a thing Stayed up until 3 in the morning so I could finish the route first time round if I remember.

[Munchenhausen]

And I'm loving Katawa Shoujo so far. I just finished my first route going in without doing any research. Admittingly, I got more emotional wrapped into story then I expected, as panicked when Emi snapped and threw me out of her mother's house. But I ended up with Emi and the good ending.

You've essentially done what I did This was my first ever VN and I was not expecting to me affected. I was in it for cripple porn and a laugh-and-a-half.

I got way more than I bargained for.

Now, I noticed there are stars under Act 1 and Emi's listing in the library. What are those for? Parts I've missed in the storyline? Does this mean I need to replay her route to unlock them? Is there anyway I could skip ahead so I don't have to start from the beginning? I kinda planning to start from the begin with each girl.

Sorry if these are noobish questions or being asked in the wrong place. I don't where else I can get help with KS.

Yeah, the stars are just scenes that you missed due to the choices you made. They're not really detrimental for the story, but if you want 100%, go for them
There is a skip mode, that send you into hyperspeed until you reach a choice, where it rather politely goes back to normal speed until you select Skip Mode again.
No worries mate, we were all new once

[Valjean Lafitte]

Welcome! Yeah, as the others said the stars mean that there are scenes that you have yet to unlock.

Being emotionally wrapped up is perfectly normal, especially in Emi's route (which seems to be the route most people start with, even without intending to). Like Munchenhausen, I came for an H-game but got way, way more than I bargained for. Emi's good ending (and bad, because I went back to see what that was like) stayed in my mind for a few days before I finally felt I was able to start another route, and even then it felt weird seeing her around even though I was pursuing Hanako at that point. For a while I felt like I couldn't let her go.

You'll form connections with these characters, and generally feel things you've probably never felt before while playing a game, especially if it's your first visual novel. You're in for quite a ride--enjoy!

[KSPuff]

Wow, I wasn't expect such a warm reception. Now, I'm really glad I joined. Wahahahaha!

Thanks for the info, it's a big help. Being OCD, I'm got to go back to get all scenes I'm missing with Emi. Not, that I'd mind spending more time with her. And I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who emotionally touched by KS.

[FBOF]

Welcome, always nice to see more people delve into the game and get invested in it. I had the same experience as you described there and it still makes me feel all fuzzy inside just thinking about it.

In regards to the stars in Emi's route, they are indeed missing scenes but be warned: Most of the those will lead you to different endings (mostly bad ones where you break up with her in either less or more heartwrenching fashion). I couldn't bear watching those hence avoided them, so be warned if it might be too emotionally taxing on you!

[300BillionDegrees]

I would add that you shouldn't spoiler yourself even a tiny bit for any of the other routes, it will likely damped the effect. The default to skip text that you have already seen is [TAB] I think, it will stop on decisions and at any text you haven't seen before. Skipping anything when starting again for a new route, even though its faster, also kind of lessens the immersion.