Secret ending: A good Kenji route
Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 9:02 am
Hey, ever thought about what if KS had a hidden secret, an easteregg of sorts, a hidden route, complete with an ending of its own? Well here's a small descriptive fanfic just for you, the curious person. As someone who likes playing with code it is no surprise for me to learn that there's more packed into the installer of KS than what we get to play in the end. So here goes the secret route, an actual good Kenji route, of sorts... .
Please mind overbearing spoilers even for the normal game.
Having played through the game and completed it 100% I felt the need to go back and make every single choice in the game so I could read all the dialog there is to be had. After having done that, I felt like there's a big void in my heart, kind of like a black hole, eating away at my very enthusiasm. So, I tried to see if this game holds any secrets, like so many other games do. Just think about the hidden Nero Family Side Quest in Final Fantasy IX that has been first discovered over a decade after the game's release.
It's difficult, though, for a VN to hold any surprises, but this game actually has one. Using certain tools to check what the code does while the game runs and playing through it several times while skipping text, I found out that a random number generator runs just once, exactly on the last screen of the bad Kenji ending and exactly when the “splat” sound plays and you - normally - die.
What happens here is that this generator produces a random value between "00" and "FF" (hexadecimal, leading to 256 possibilities). "AF" is the value you're going for here, so there's a 1:255 chance you're going to get it each time the RNG runs. But the devious thing about this RNG is that, it doesn't even activate, unless you have attained 100% completion and went through every little dialog option there is (save scumming helps immensely here). So, naturally, few would have ever found the secret, I mean, who wants to play the game again after finishing it completely? Well the game's really good, actually a lot of people would want to, but who is gonna explicitly go for the "bad" Kenji ending again? See?
Now... there's 2 outcomes:
1 AF doesn't get chosen: the scene plays normally and you die.
2 AF gets chosen: (what follows here is a general description, since I am lazy, and I just found this. A full-fledged replay of the conversations in text form will definitely follow suit)
The game goes on! Hisao lands on Iwanako, who came to Yamaku to confess her love for him once more, as she's recently won the lotto and is now sure that she can give them another chance. She dies from this and Hisao completely loses his spirit, taking up drinking whiskey as a vice and generally hanging out more with Kenji, who does his usual thing of stirring up anxiety over the "feminist invasion plans".
You get a full second week but the scenes are very short actually. The Wednesday screen, for example, is basically: Transition screen (logo) ;; screen that shows Hisao's room (Hisao: “Today I'm not going to do jack”) ;; Transition screen.
Throughout this week Hisao is building a time machine using his science, wanting to undo the Iwanako incident. He finishes on Saturday and decides to jump in on Sunday, however, he left the door open so apparently Misha sneaked in and used it first (this happens off-screen).
On Sunday, Hisao finds Misha missing and meets Lilly, who decides to go with him into the past. However they overshoot their target date by a margin and jump back to Ancient Japan, after wandering aimlessly about for a bit you will eventually spot Misha, who's been turned into a giant enemy crab by an evil sorceress by the name of "Kagura".
It is here that you get 2 choices:
1 Cower and let Lilly attack blindly → screen fades to black, you die.
2 Throw a stone at its weak point for massive damage: → The crab explodes into thin air, you recover an unconscious Misha and Kagura is slain by an ancient samurai version of Kenji, called Kenjirou, who thanks you for helping to kill the supposed “head of the feminist conspiracy”.
He goes on: “Just as my ancestors were, so are my children destined to fight the conspiracy for all eternity.”
You return triumphantly, but the time machine breaks down. Hisao, though, has learned his lesson of not to screw with time and he lets Iwanako go. This leads to a special credits scene that shows versions of Kenji throughout history, posing heroically while fighting feminists. It goes from caveman attire all the way through Tron-esque clothing.
Please mind overbearing spoilers even for the normal game.
Having played through the game and completed it 100% I felt the need to go back and make every single choice in the game so I could read all the dialog there is to be had. After having done that, I felt like there's a big void in my heart, kind of like a black hole, eating away at my very enthusiasm. So, I tried to see if this game holds any secrets, like so many other games do. Just think about the hidden Nero Family Side Quest in Final Fantasy IX that has been first discovered over a decade after the game's release.
It's difficult, though, for a VN to hold any surprises, but this game actually has one. Using certain tools to check what the code does while the game runs and playing through it several times while skipping text, I found out that a random number generator runs just once, exactly on the last screen of the bad Kenji ending and exactly when the “splat” sound plays and you - normally - die.
What happens here is that this generator produces a random value between "00" and "FF" (hexadecimal, leading to 256 possibilities). "AF" is the value you're going for here, so there's a 1:255 chance you're going to get it each time the RNG runs. But the devious thing about this RNG is that, it doesn't even activate, unless you have attained 100% completion and went through every little dialog option there is (save scumming helps immensely here). So, naturally, few would have ever found the secret, I mean, who wants to play the game again after finishing it completely? Well the game's really good, actually a lot of people would want to, but who is gonna explicitly go for the "bad" Kenji ending again? See?
Now... there's 2 outcomes:
1 AF doesn't get chosen: the scene plays normally and you die.
2 AF gets chosen: (what follows here is a general description, since I am lazy, and I just found this. A full-fledged replay of the conversations in text form will definitely follow suit)
The game goes on! Hisao lands on Iwanako, who came to Yamaku to confess her love for him once more, as she's recently won the lotto and is now sure that she can give them another chance. She dies from this and Hisao completely loses his spirit, taking up drinking whiskey as a vice and generally hanging out more with Kenji, who does his usual thing of stirring up anxiety over the "feminist invasion plans".
You get a full second week but the scenes are very short actually. The Wednesday screen, for example, is basically: Transition screen (logo) ;; screen that shows Hisao's room (Hisao: “Today I'm not going to do jack”) ;; Transition screen.
Throughout this week Hisao is building a time machine using his science, wanting to undo the Iwanako incident. He finishes on Saturday and decides to jump in on Sunday, however, he left the door open so apparently Misha sneaked in and used it first (this happens off-screen).
On Sunday, Hisao finds Misha missing and meets Lilly, who decides to go with him into the past. However they overshoot their target date by a margin and jump back to Ancient Japan, after wandering aimlessly about for a bit you will eventually spot Misha, who's been turned into a giant enemy crab by an evil sorceress by the name of "Kagura".
It is here that you get 2 choices:
1 Cower and let Lilly attack blindly → screen fades to black, you die.
2 Throw a stone at its weak point for massive damage: → The crab explodes into thin air, you recover an unconscious Misha and Kagura is slain by an ancient samurai version of Kenji, called Kenjirou, who thanks you for helping to kill the supposed “head of the feminist conspiracy”.
He goes on: “Just as my ancestors were, so are my children destined to fight the conspiracy for all eternity.”
You return triumphantly, but the time machine breaks down. Hisao, though, has learned his lesson of not to screw with time and he lets Iwanako go. This leads to a special credits scene that shows versions of Kenji throughout history, posing heroically while fighting feminists. It goes from caveman attire all the way through Tron-esque clothing.
