Katawa Shoujo Act 1 Preview feedback thread

[Leotrak]

Same story as above: Rin tells Hisao and Lilly they'll have bad luck for talking about a work in progress in the friday night shopping scene. That scene doesn't happen if you get the heart attack.

There is still a scene where you're helping Rin paint her mural, and Hisao mentions that it looks good. Rin says that he'll have seven years of bad luck at that point.

Woops, forgot about that one ">_>

[a3d]

It's been said thousands of times already, and I'm sure it will be fixed before the final release but the new Emi sprites are VERY sketchy and not up to scratch.

[Crowbar]

Same story as above: Rin tells Hisao and Lilly they'll have bad luck for talking about a work in progress in the friday night shopping scene. That scene doesn't happen if you get the heart attack.

There is still a scene where you're helping Rin paint her mural, and Hisao mentions that it looks good. Rin says that he'll have seven years of bad luck at that point.

Woops, forgot about that one ">_>

Actually, you can avoid that scene, too, resulting in the discrepancy. I actually got this on my first playthrough, and I just redid it twice to check. This is the route I took.

• Yeah, of course.
• Ask about Shizune's deafness.
• It's a trap, it's smarter to play defensively here.
• I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.
• She was cute.
• Go talk with Hanako.
• Yes.
• Hey, come on. Cut me and Lilly some slack...
• Go for it.

(so basically, sort of half-assedly going for the Hanako/Lilly route, then get sidelined into GO AWAY EMI).
Going with these choices, the first time you help Rin with the mural ("The Other Green", I believe) no mention is made of bad luck. The second time ("An Aesthetics") you get this.

anaesthetics.jpg (249.08 KiB) Viewed 5234 times

There's been no mention of bad luck up to this point so it doesn't make much sense.
In short, there are two scenes where Rin's concept of bad luck can be introduced, "Things You Can Do" or "Mind Your Step". However, it's possible to avoid both of them on the way to "An Aesthetics", where it is mentioned a "second" time.

I also made a couple of other very minor observations regarding direction.

• After "Mind Your Step", it seems that the music doesn't fade out into night, it just cuts off abruptly.
• Same for the crowd SFX as you arrive at the library in "Nc5xb3" (Hanako's route).

There may be more of these, but sadly these are the only two I noticed since I started actually noting these things down.

As for more general feedback, I felt that the track used for the teahouse scenes with Shizune and Misha ("Afternoon") was a bit overbearing in those instances. It works well in other scenes it's used for, and there's nothing wrong with the track itself, it just felt over-emotive for these scenes. I'm pretty sure at least one of them doesn't even take place in the afternoon! Something gentler like "Air Guitar" would've worked better, in my opinion.
I know there's been tons of complaining about the changed music in V3 (personally, nothing seemed off to me, even "Ae Eh I Oh You"s apparently notorious bassline), so I hope this isn't bothersome.

Also regarding those scenes, I felt that the "competition" between Hisao and Shizune never really went anywhere; that is to say, Hisao never actually "loses", but ends up hanging out with Shizune and Misha anyway. I know that whole scene is meant to be a bit confusing (both for Hisao and the player), but leaving that thread hanging seems sloppy. I have no idea if you guys are even considering rewriting to any extent in Act 1 at this point, though.

Oh, something I just noticed, I'm afraid I'm not going to go through the whole thread with a fine comb to see if it's been mentioned already, but in "Shanghaied", there's a typo in one of Misha's lines: "And here's how much it all costs: 3685 yen!Wahahahaha~!" Note the missing space before her laugh.

[Medrex]

I've recently finished playing through all the endings for this game and i've gotta say, i picked the wrong week to discover this game. I had a lot of stuff i needed to get done but all i wanted to do was go back and play some more KS.
I had my doubts a really engaging story could be built off the premise without hamming it up a whole bunch but it really was just fantastic. The characters were believable and likeable and everything from the character art to the background and the music just seemed to work perfectly. There was only one thing that felt off to me and that was Kenji. Just Kenji. every time he turned up i would groan something along the lines of "Oh God, not him again". Other than that it was just flat out awesome, Really looking forward to the directions the story will take when it's finished. Favourite character has to be Shizune, she's so adorably devious.

[Leotrak]

Just Kenji. every time he turned up i would groan something along the lines of "Oh God, not him again".

I'm starting to suspect that's why the Devs put him in >_>

[Caesius]

When I realized Act 1 is a lot shorter than I remember I came to really like the Kenji scenes, since I didn't feel like I was in a rush to get through a story of epic scale.

[Esa94]

Just Kenji. every time he turned up i would groan something along the lines of "Oh God, not him again".

I'm starting to suspect that's why the Devs put him in >_>

I suspect your suspicions are correct.

[neumanproductions]

Just Kenji. every time he turned up i would groan something along the lines of "Oh God, not him again".

I'm starting to suspect that's why the Devs put him in >_>

I suspect your suspicions are correct.

Same on my part, but he is one of those characters I like to openly voice. Same thing is true with Yuuji's father and Sumiyoshi from Snow Sakura, and the obvious Itsuki and the kings from Shuffle!, and many many more like them.

[DESU]

alright, I finally upgraded from the original release to v3.

first off, i noticed there were some songs that were significantly quieter than others, and it sort of bothered me.

secondly, i noticed there were a few parts there text was removed, and I think that it was better with those couple of sentences.

third, I can deal with new yuuko, but new emi is just overly sketchy, like the artist was rushed when making the sprites. The old ones are much more cleaner and well-made.

and finally, one small thing: when hanako thanks hisao for spending time with her, I think that instead of saying "hanging out with me", i think she should say something else, as the phrase "hanging out" just seems a bit unnatural for her, I was thinking something like "spending time with me" would fit better. and as for hisao's reply, "you're welcome" is something that seems like an awkward reply, i was thinking of something like "it was my pleasure" would be nicer.

and one smaller thing, when hisao decides to either go to town or to the library (where hanako and lilly path split) the screen is panned slightly to the right, and when a selection is made, it jerks back to the middle

also, I believe I counted 3 "it cant be helped"'s in the hanako path

[Xybaro]

and finally, one small thing: when hanako thanks hisao for spending time with her, I think that instead of saying "hanging out with me", i think she should say something else, as the phrase "hanging out" just seems a bit unnatural for her, I was thinking something like "spending time with me" would fit better. and as for hisao's reply, "you're welcome" is something that seems like an awkward reply, i was thinking of something like "it was my pleasure" would be nicer.

Sounds like a derp moment.

In other words, perfectly natural for Hanako and Hisao.

[DESU]

and finally, one small thing: when hanako thanks hisao for spending time with her, I think that instead of saying "hanging out with me", i think she should say something else, as the phrase "hanging out" just seems a bit unnatural for her, I was thinking something like "spending time with me" would fit better. and as for hisao's reply, "you're welcome" is something that seems like an awkward reply, i was thinking of something like "it was my pleasure" would be nicer.

Sounds like a derp moment.

In other words, perfectly natural for Hanako and Hisao.

yeah, but he says "a flawless response", and "you're welcome" is not flawless. and "hanging out with me" just doesn't seem like something she would say.

[Esa94]

and "hanging out with me" just doesn't seem like something she would say.

Why not? What if she's implying something?

Also I just replayed the Rin path and it was win <3

[Scarlet Fox]

I think it fits, one reason because I'd expect she's trying to be normal.

[Mercutio]

I think it fits, one reason because I'd expect she's trying to be normal.

exactly, man. I've been reading the stuff about Hanako saying "thank you for hanging out with me," and I don't see why it's a big deal. it's not like at that point Hanako's had enough lines for us to really know how she talks all the time. also, and a little more seriously, by that point in her path you can see that Hanako sees Hisao as a friend, or maybe she's starting to see him like that, so she'd probably talk less formally.

just my thoughts. I'd check scenes and stuff like that, but I just had to do another damn reinstall so now I have to play through act 1 a fourth time.

[Esa94]

it's not like at that point Hanako's had enough lines for us to really know how she talks all the time.

Indeed, especially since she doesn't really talk that much.