I wouldnt mind seeing any bigger names review it. Atleast it may get people to try it. I tried alpha protocol after everyone hated it, I enjoyed it.
Atleast seeing a review some people may try it, if they dont like it fine, if they do even better.

I am jst suprised to see a game like KS up there with games like BF3, Skyrim and ToR. Huge names, huge bugets and lots of hype.

I was looking at Alpha Protocol last week, I ended up picking up Velvet Assassin for ￡1.99 instead, was a bit miffed that I had to use Steam though. How does AP play? I may pick it up as well.

I found it similar to mass effect 1. Much more about stats than the tps aspect. Good dialouge system, good choice and consiquence.
Horrible boss fights though. I will just say you should most definately invest in chain shot.

People say its buggy, but on xbox I have only ever had 2 freezes, ond one boss who froze in the air (lucky becuase he kept kicking my ass), and have around 5 playthroughs.
I play on xbox, no idea how it is on PC.

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/01/17/jast-usa-have-discussed-the-possibility-of-publishing-steinsgate-with-nitroplus/ I sure hope so... up until now official translators/distrubuters were mainly interested in the 18+ games, more story-based games would definitely be nice and draw more interest.

Played through 3 routes so far (not counting the manly picnic ). The game is amazing. Quite a surprise. I used to hang around the Ren'py community a few years back, so I've enjoyed a fair amount of amateur VNs, but was still wary of KS given to its shady origins. I'm glad I decided to give it a go though.

WARNING: Here be minor spoilers.

Hanako's route was my first. Great all the way from start to finish. The slow pace, the relaxed atmosphere, the sweet, innocent build up, the rage-inducing scar scene, the twist at the end, all combine into an absolutely lovely experience. Too bad the screen got a little blurry for some reason near the end.

Next was Rin's. Didn't like it much. Way too much angst and pretentiousness for my taste. But then again some people seem to be honestly into it, so it may well have sailed over my head. During Act 1 I always took Rin's dialogue to be dry humor, so I was a little pissed at the bait and switch. Still, both the "good" and the "neutral" endings were decent, so that makes up for it a bit.

The last one was Lilly's path. And wow! What an awesome path it is! It has most of the good sides of Hanako's, but with huge doses of passion mixed in. Some of the most romantic writing I've ever read! If only it lasted. The ending was just horrendous. How they managed to fit half a dozen cliches in there, I will never understand. Why do people have to introduce conflict into every story, especially if they can't write a resolution worth a damn?! I think it would have been better off if it ended before the scene of the private chat with Akira. Perhaps it would've lacked closure, but at least it would not have marred such a sweet story with silly Hollywood tricks.

Just Emi and Shizune remaining now. Neither looks promising, but I can't just leave it half-done.

Relaxed atmosphere ? I didnt find it relaxing, especially with that classroom scene. That made me pretty dam sad, and Hisao took his sweet time helping her.
And the Birthday party was heartwarming imo. Though im still not sure how Hisao got hungover, he didnt drink much it seemed.

I may have to get steam if they start distributing VNs.

The many scenes of drinking tea, the silent afternoons at the library, the chess, the jazz and all the other slow scenes certainly outweigh that one scene (well, and the depression phase).

Provided that they use other distribution platforms aside from Steam I'll be happy. It'd make more sense to use gog due to the potential for extras that could come with the game.

Really glad you're enjoying it Max, you're going to have a fun time with Emi

Yeah Emi's path wasnt depressing as hell. My only regret is playing it before Hanako's (something more happy after that would have been great).

"There was a cloud".

It's something quite fun and nice that something that is so easy to make taglines and memes from a product of a disbosable media format is also a heartwarming and interesting piece of work that's gotten people talking and feeling some feels.

It'd be great if more games sought to incorporate this type of characterisation and storytelling.

I said I'd download this if I didn't use up my bandwidth. I haven't, so I shall. Who do you recommend I try to romance first?

Im glad to see this thread revived. I completed the game 100% a few days ago. GAME OF THE FRIKIN' YEAR!.

To the post above me, just play it and see what girl you like the most, don't use any chart for your first play through, just go with your heart.

Most people end up with emi, her path is easiest to get on.
I only played Hanako's and Emi's but I liked Hanako's more.

Its early to call it GoTY. But seeing as I no longer have an interest in gmes (canceled KoA pre orded as a result) and feels are much better than anything I have experienced in games. I doubt it will be topped.

Now im just looking for more VNs, heared Symphonic rain is good, will likely try and find that. Once I find out how the hell I go about, buying these things.

Also going to reccomend Narcissu to those who havent played it.

I will be interested to see how others react to it, hopefully its positive, and the rest of us havent hyped it to insane standards. Hype kills things.
Well enjoy the VN, dont be put off if you end up with the manly picnic path. That happened to me twice, trying for Hanako's path.

Oof, same again with the suggestion that you simply see where you end up and don't use the flow charts. Once you've gone through a couple of routes and if you enjoy it then do attempt Lilly's and Rin's routes. They're very different to each other but really good. Hanako's is probably the path that I'd see as the games canon path despite there not being one.

Why ? I assumed it would most likely be Emi's or Lilly's.

Devs said it was all equally canon.

All equally canon, I think it's because Hanako was the one that I played first and provoked the strongest reaction in me that I see it as a canon ending, or to be more fair. The ending that I'd want to be canon.

Emi's path is the one that I laughed at the most Lilly's and Rin's though provoked more thought from me.

I think one of the best things about KS is that it elicits different reactions from different players making it such a wonderful but subjective game. There's no right answer, just feels and recomendations for feels

I only played Hanako and Emi paths, but liked Hanakos most. The birthday party was a nice scene, good change from the usual stuff.

But I just suspect emi's becuase her path is the easiest to end up on. Also it helps Hisao most, and Lilly apparently has an epilouge post credits. But devs dismissed that, saying it meant nothing.

If they ever declare one path canon it should be the manly picnic.

And yes some people talk bout depression, others feel like changing their lives, other people said they felt nothing on routes that depressed others. Its interesting to see the variety of effects.

So I finally finished my second path yesterday, Rin's. Got the act 3 bad ending which just shocked me, and I immediately started again from a save. Got the good ending, teared up multiple times (especially during the nighttime walk in the city). Today decided to get 3 scenes I missed, not expecting anything to move me after finally getting the good end. It was actually the "real" bad end.

Ended up sitting frozen after watching the credits with tears in my eyes, but then while grabbing some water and making some coffee broke down and sobbed for almost 40 minutes. That ending hit me soo hard, but in an amazing, self reflecting way. I'm so happy I got to experience this game, though not sure when I'm going to play it again for the other 3 paths. Cried enough this weekend to last me the next month haha.

Apparently Rin's hits hardest, or you miss it completely.
I havent played since getting Hanako's good end. Mainly becuase my screen has got even worse.

The feels are awesome though, good ones, bad ones it dosent matter to me, I jsut like them for some reason. They are also new to me, never felt them from games, movies, or even books.
KS didnt make me cry, parts made me tear up, but not fully cry. Narcissu did though. Even after that I felt depresed for a long time. Confused me, im usually emotionally dead, yet I cried over something that isnt real, I knew it wasnt real, but it changed nothing, still felt sad. I feel depressed just thinking about it.

That just tells you that you're not emotionally dead, just shall we say - dormant. Check out some of those films in the message I sent you, they may or may not get a reaction but they're worth a try. Feeeeling the feels be they happy, sad or anywhere inbetween.

Now if only more games would encourage some feeling beyond "RAWR Whack the big beastie".

Despite what is said Shizune's path is worth playing for the interest factor to it, particularly if you get the bad end. It does in some ways add more impact and perspective to the other paths also.

Glad you're getting something out of KS Kuro. It'll vary for different people but I got the most out of KS when I did each path in one sitting, I tried playing it off and on and it just didn't work as well as when you let yourself become immersed in it.

One game that does come to mind for its atmosphere is ArmA 2. Perhaps an unexpected choice but when you have topics such as genocide, war crimes, isolation thrown into the mix it can quietly sneak up on you and surprise you beyond the standard mil-sim remit.

*SPOILERS* (this thread is filled with them - stop reading and just go http://katawa-shoujo.com/, it's free)


I totally agree with this. It seems like the author sacrificed an interesting story in service of the kind of ending I've gotten sick of seeing in romances. Still, the writing was very good on the whole, and Lilly turned out to be a much more interesting character than the one-dimensional angelic figure I expected her to be. Also, Akira is awesome.


It was angsty, but it's my favorite so far (haven't done Emi's). Rin's was the first path I did and I felt so emotionally drained when it was over. She's a very difficult character to understand (that's the point) but I always felt that there was a fully developed character underneath everything and I enjoyed trying to figure her out. Her character and story were the least cliched. I do agree that her path feels very different after act 1, although I blame that on the fact that the first act was released years ago. I suspect that the author had second thoughts about the direction they were taking her in, and I'm glad they did.

Also, for anyone who got her bad ending as well as the good one:

Lilly's path had other issues.
Havent played it, I jsut know this stuff from all the threads on KS.

Ok sorry fo the double post, but narcissu was mentioned. I just finished 2nd side, I had a question, googled it, and couldnt find an answer.

Whats the moral of the story ? What message do I take away ? I remember reading that the writer was a bit disspointed with the first one, people overlooked the messages. Never found out what it was, so im hoping someone picked up on it, because I didnt.

it doesnt really matter if you turn off the six stuff because they're disabled either way

I assume a few people who read this thread know about VNs. I saw some people saying that "Yume Miru Kusuri" is a good VN, like KS. Im kinda on the fence, like KS it has sixual content apparently, but I want to know if its a story motivated VN, or just one filled with six/fancervice. I would rather avoid VNs like the latter.
Also I saw it priced at $34.95 (cant find a UK site) Is that how much Vns usually are, seems alot.

Also for those who care and liked the soundtrack. KS devs have released it for download (im late, but hadnt seen it posted).