Already saw the clannad anime, so it is kind of spoiled.

Playing it is entirely different, especially if you play it without looking at any guides. Plus the other characters get waaaay more drawn out in their arcs.

Anime adaptions of VNs aren't as comprehensive. I'm not familiar with the Clannad VN, but I assume the anime mainly follows Nagisa's route.

Dunno if I should do it. After clannad I was depressed for like 2 weeks.

I still got a load to do on katawa, though... only 49% completed. By the time I am done with this it will be time to move onto another game genre. Next time I want to play a VN, it will prob be clannad.

Yeah that scene was funny.
Hanako's creeped me out though, I ended p shouting at Hisao s though it would change something. Atleast it ws linked to the story, but damn.

I will DL that other VN about the terminal illness. But I have no idea about VNs, where do I go to DL them ?

No one can link to where you can get it due to the forum rules (content), but you can find the translator/seller's site easy enough through google. Note that most visual novels aren't free and you have to buy them, including the one you are talking about.

Yeah scratch this... Just did Hanako's route. More is def shown than briasts.

What was the content ?
There was a free version on the dev site, lower quality or something. It has no choices, and was short.

I didnt feel anything through it, then the ending... Why am I crying damnit ?!

What did you think of Hanako's route ?

The free release Narcissu can be found here - http://narcissu.insani.org/ the Side 2nd version seems to be of a higher quality than the first release.

Free release of True Rememberance is here - http://trueremembrance.insani.org/

Titles like Kana Little Sister and Ever 17 you would however need to buy.

don'ttakeitpersonallybabethistitlewillatsomepointfinallyend is available here - http://scoutshonour.com/donttakeitpersonallybabeitjustaintyourstory/

How many of you have gone for the manly picnic then?

OK I see it a bit on /v/ but anyone else lost enjoyment from games since playing this ?
I dont know why, but im just not interested in them at all. I tried playing earlier, but got bored. I wouldnt care if I knew why I feel like this.

You want more of what you just got. That's how I felt when I played Fallout 3 for the first time.

Favorite one so far, and def had the best art so far. Was so sad when Hanako showed you all of her scars, since it must be so so hard for her to do considering she tries hard enough to hide the ones on her face. I was not really looking forward to Lilly, but since Hanako's route shows you a lot of Lilly, I am looking a lot more foward to her's next. Still not looking foward to Shizune, though... That girl is obnoxious, especially with her friend.

I also made saves so I could easily get her bad and neutral ending too. The good ending was the best, obviously.

That was me after Clannad. In comparison games just feel shallow. It went away after many months, though I never have played games nearly as much since (though there are numerous factors in that)

Join the club. I was talking with a friend about this for quite a long time, he hadn't played KS yet but understood. If you think about it the majority of games are obsessed with win conditions, hero fantasies and number crunching. Kind of an amalgamation of "Look at the dragunnnz! *Whack Whack Whack* YOUR TOAST MAKING ABILITY IS NOW 26!!!"

That's one type of game, the other is one where you explore how you relate to the world and how it works, not worrying about win conditions or playing the big hero. I think because KS allows us to explore the issue of disability and how we relate to it while encouraging an exploration of feelings it's something that's very different to what we would ordinarily play. Going back to those win condition obsessed derp derp whack the beastie games can feel very empty.

I've been the same the past week, been looking for more VN's and games that provoke a strong response from me. It may be worth you giving Pathologic and The Void (both by Ice-Pick Lodge) a try. While not VN's they are certainly quite the ride.

Katawa Crash will give you a chuckle as well. http://ks.renai.us/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3071

It is nice to have a game/VN get this kind of response but also irritating and frustrating when you realise how much potential that is never realised that games do have - as opposed to;


YOUR SANDWICH MAKING SKILL IS NOW 46!!! ...Feels pretty hollow doesn't it?

Hmm maybe, after finishing RDRs story I didnt feel like playing games for a bit. Its odd to feel like this, I know I enjoyed those games.

Well its not jsut the games, I posted on forums a bit, now its mostly just looking at KS threads on /v/ (and a few threads here). Im going to try and do something productive with this time, with no things like school nad no interest in games I have no excuses. Besides it wont take long before those threads get ruined by trolls.

Whts clannad ? I thought that was an anime ? I may check it out eventually. Making a list, of things people have mentioned.


It annoys me in a way, that its such a rare thing. I know some people on /v/ posted they were now interested in VNs, others with more experience posted about how many bad ones there are, and ones like KS and narcissu are rare. Its just a shame that they will likely be so hard to find,this was only discovered becuase of its controversy.
I am also kinda annoyed that this is al 4LS will do. It may be a good thing, look at lionhead or other devs who get worse over time. But its still sad, they made a great product and dont seem like they will make another. They have great potential imo.

Also off topic, but in Narcissu I think tht was one of the reasons I found it so sad.

Clannad is life

Really, though, it's a visual novel that the anime is based on. It's incredibly deep and a very involved visual novel. I've put in around ~140 hours into it and not unlocked everything. There's a 300 hour guide for unlocking everything, to give you an idea of how deep it is (non-fast forwarding, obviously). You have to import it, as it's not sold in the US (there is an http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=clannad, though) The Memorial Edition isn't compatible with the English Patch, so you need to get the older non-voice or full-voice version (you'll probably only be able to find them used nowadays)

I think with Hanako's path because of how Hisao and I think many people would walk as if on eggshells with Hanako that it becomes all the more uncomfortable as it seems like some that could really happen, making the same mistakes and causing the same upset. It does make you see Hanako in a different light where you can range from pity, to disgust, to anger to sadness. It works well in destroying the players feeling of worth though, all that they've previously done, the connection that they have forged and sets up the finale brilliantly. It balances the dynamic of the relationship making it more tangible also.

There does seem a fair amount of ambiguity over what next for Four Leaf. It's likely that they won't all work together on a subsequent title, I wouldn't be surprised and would be very happy to see if a number of them continued with other projects working either with portions of the original team or mixing in new people. Best of luck to them in any case. They've set themselves a high standard though in KS.

If people ask you why you're not playing *insert whack whack be a hero game title here* just tell them you've been "feeling some feels"

Import ? Cant you just DL it off some site ? If I can DL games from things like steam (I dont though) I dont see why a VN would be an issue. I live in the UK, so yeh, thats going to have to wait a long time before I buy it.

Well I dont think some will be going back, but together they did a good job. I know the gu who wrote Hanako apparently had to leve for some reason at some point, resulting in the guy who wrote Lilly's path redoing some of the Hanako route. I see most people hted Shizune's path, so the writer for her will likely not try again, some people havent expressed their dislike kindly.

Still, it will be interesting to see what some of them do in the future. I would also like to see what writers in the industy think of the game. Would be cool to see their oppinion on the writing.

Feels > most games I have played. Hell I would say all games, I love them, but would trade in my games for more feels.

I could see them selling it through gog.com a couple of the more popular VN's are on the wishlist there, add your vote and with a little luck and time we might get them Compatability can be a pain, Kana Little Sister and Vista made for a lot of frustration. I was glad that I've kept an XP machine for that reason.

On a search for feels I did come across this. Short but sweet: http://armorgames.com/play/12409/one-and-one-story

Pathologic is really worth a look, it's not heartwarming, more unsettling, despairing, depressing and with a story and script that'll make you go - *my head! it hurts!* best to check Quintin Smith's Rock Paper Shotgun writeup of it to see if it appeals. You can get pretty attached to the Darwinians in Darwinia also. I put them in a university assiginment and the tutor just looked puzzled when they saw them.

Because it's not licensed by anyone in the western world. No license, no download service. Otaku like boxes (myself included). Outside the doujinshi realm (and official English releases), visual novels are sold on disc and disc only. The only reason official english releases are primarly DL is because there isn't the market for disc releases (which by fans would be very welcomed)

I dont understand, but ok, but it seems kinda illogical, itunes has lots of music for eople to get, steam has games. Would have figured VNs had some equivilant of that system, it works. It could also help people find VNs similar to ones they read.

I googled doujinshi meaning, and it mentioend goal or something, then other stuff I wont mention. Im assuming, it just means Japan ? They tend to keep some of their stuff exclusive for some reason. I dont mind, but its weird whe I see people whou would buy the game, but they cant becuase they live in Europe, Americ, etc.

Still I may eventually get the disks, then its mine for good, incase something happens to my pc. So what, if I ever bought some I would need the Japanese equivilent of GAME or amazon ?

And Valve and Apple work hard to acquire the license to distribute that through their service (granted with iTunes and Valve, it's common to be approached nowadays since they are so popular, though there are still cases they work hard to get something put on their service). Otaku like collecting stuff, you can't brag about your digital collection like you can a physical one. You can't advertise it quite like visual novels are currently advertised. Visual Novels also aren't popular outside of Japan, so hence those services don't really exist as a digital distribution service for visual novels doesn't appeal to Japanese Otaku.


Doujinshi is any self-published (generally anime-related) work. It includes manga and visual novels primarily. Doujinshi visual novels are usually digitally distributed since they are created by a single person (or group of people) rather than by a company and lack the funds to release it in physical form. The thing is, the demand really isn't there. The few that do make it this side of the pacific generally don't sell any decent amount, lucky to get a couple hundred sales. The lack of a market is why it isn't really marketed over here, hence no real way to get ahold of them. There are a few companies that release them in English such as MangaGamer, JAST USA, and G-Collections (I don't think they're independent anymore, JAST bought them up). As for finding visual novels, I recommend VNDB (like IMDB, but for visual novels). It'll list if there's an english translation available and is quite comprehensive. Maybe in the future there will be some more coming over to English, but right now most translations are unofficial and the only way to get the game is to import it (personally, I prefer to import it even when there is an official release. I prefer having the box art and generally speaking certain aspects are changed in English releases that I'm not overly thrilled about).

There USED to be a great site for importing visual novels, but it unfortunately shut down a little over a year ago. I've not imported any novels since they shut down so I can't really advise. Your best bet is probably Yahoo Auction Japan (using Yotatta or Shopping Mall Japan as your intermediary service) or something similar. I usually see the old version Clannad for sale at conventions, but that would require you to go to a big one to be able to get it

So anyone else tried the game since posting it ?

I just found something interesting, I dont know how game faqs reviews games, but KS is their #6

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc

It was also rated higher than skyrim.

It was the #1 most requested FAQ last time I checked as well. I'm just glad to see it getting some notice. Part of me would be interested to see it reviewed on Destructoid as I can see them slating it. It seems that most of the things they slate I enjoy and the ones they gush over I'm ambivilant towards.