On January 18 2012 06:16 HardMacro wrote: For those that liked this game and other VNs in general, may I ask why you think this game/genre is entertaining?
I am a regularly performing musician who reads novels and prefers drama over action movies, so I'd like to think of myself as sensitive and not without emotions, which was why I downloaded KS in the first place. I honestly gave it a good chance, playing for ~2 hours but in the end I just had to give up. It could be that I'm one of those people that could never get into anything anime, but I'd like to think that I could and am simply missing something here?
To me a video novel feels like a slightly animated comic. I've always been a big fan of comics, but always wanted more to read about the characters. In comics dialogue is typically short. In this story format you get the visuals of a comic along with more detailed dialogue between characters. After reading through as much as I have of this VN (Shizune, Lilly, Hanako) so far it's really driven to me the point of sound. Reminds me of a stop motion a bit. Being a fan of online comics like Dr McNinja, Striptease, Shadowgirls, Flipside, Questionable Content, Paradigm Shift, Finders Keepers, and others that preference easily translated over to the video novel format. Add in my enjoyment of everything audio and it's amazing. I feel it's heavy anime influence is simply because the source material was a doujin. I'm sure with other styles of art it would have the same impact. At least for me it would, though that picture of Hanako from the Whispered Touch scene is just too amazing for me to believe it could have been drawn in any other style and still be as intense.
In summary I enjoy story-driven comics and VNs to me are just slightly animated comics with a soundtrack. It's like someone decided to take my favorite form of story media and make it more awesome.
I hope that provides a little insight. I can't speak for many, but that's what does it for me. It's the style of delivery not the style of art that attracts me.
i really enjoyed the game. this isnt my first visual novel, but i barely play them. im surprised by the negative feedback in the thread. If people feel that there are much better ones, im excited to further explorer VNs. That being said, my favourite parts of the game are the immense character development, and the songs which really helps to shape the mood.
This was also my first time every playing a Visual Novel. It was surprisingly touching. The writing did seem a little amateur at times, but most of it was well written. The art and music was quite good all the way through, though. At the end of the Emi storyline, I was a little sad that it was so short. I'm probably going to try and unlock the other storylines later, but I need some time to digest what I just went through lol. I'm a pretty sappy guy.
On January 17 2012 12:18 VATO_Gandair wrote: Yay a thread for this! I'd been following KS for about 2 years. I've read through Shizune, Lilly, and Hanako so far. Just recently I started on Emi's path and am pursuing Rin's last.
The soundtrack is easily the best thing about this game. I would enjoy it far less if not for it. All the music synchs up phenomenally with the scenes they're attached to. It's difficult to explain in wordd, but the soundtrack is so fitting. Especially the jazzy music playing during the scenes with the Nurse. Shadow of the Truth during the reveal scene from Lilly's sister Akira was jaw-dropping and made the scene have so much more impact. Sarabande from BMV1010, Musicbox seemed pleasant and inconsequential until it's reappearance during a scene in the end of Lilly's path and in that context it was tear inducing for me. Concord (played often alongside Lilly scenes) is very mellow and pleasant, highly enjoyable to listen to. Ah Eh I Oh You (Nurse's office) is a good tune as well. For me personally the song which had the most impact (tied with Lilly and the music box) was Painful History during Hanako's scar reveal in Act 4. I must have stared wide-eyed at the image for nearly ten minutes thinking to myself. That scene was so jarring it made me wince at first glance. That response is hard to find of me real-life let alone in fiction. There's still Emi and Rin's paths left unread. I hear a lot of people extol the Rin path as the best alongside Lilly's.
Shizune's path I was a little disappointed in, but in the end it was happy and upbeat. Shizune's personality was so intense, but I feel like it didn't probe into her character much other than showing off that. It did Misha justice at times especially with the unexpected reveal about her. I feel Misha told more about Shizune than Shiichan herself. The inside joke about drills made me laugh a ton.
Lilly's path blew me away. The word choice and how well conveyed her personality was I felt was excellently done. So far she's the only character I got a real solid sense of by the end of the story path. Considering films, books, anime, and comics nothing has ever been as moving as the music box scene near the very end of her story path. The idea of something minor coming back in such a meanginful way put a firm punctuation in that scene.
Hanako... It's hard to find a coherent thought to describe it with the scene Whispered Touch still lingering in my memory. During her path I found myself rolling my eyes at her treatment and how she was coddled by Hisao and Lilly. It wasn't until late in Act 4 I felt as if Hanako really began to be filled out. For a long time I felt as if the Lilly path did Hanako more justice than her own until Whispered Touch. Cute, but a little cliche is how I would describe it until Act 4 then it stands rather powerfully on it's own. On a personal note I suffer from Panic attacks and the scene involving such during her story path struck me pretty hard. Reading the author's view from the point of view of the onlooker's opposed to the one suffering the panic attack opened myself to something I'd never realized. It showed me how much I affect those around me, led me to understand why some see me rarely, and why the ones who stick around now are so important. Those who stayed after having to deal with my panic issues are treasures to me. I'm disgusted it took a story to bring that to my attention, but I'm thankful it did. Today I spent a lot of time calling people and thanking them for being so considerate with me for the past several years.
Emi I've just begun and Rin will be the last. I'm overjoyed at the existence of this story. It gave me some perspective I didn't have before on how to treat other people and how other people treat me, the reasons behind it as well. It's my first VN and I'm a little sad to see some's take on it. I highly encourage everyone to give it a go. It's made me smile a lot. In my world of uncertainty that counts for a lot.
Katawa Shoujo is worth the time.
Saw this mentioned in the anime thread so I thought I'd try it out. I haven't done Lilly, and I'm like halfway through Hanako.
I fully agree with the Shizune path, though it's kind of depressing because + Show Spoiler +
you don't really get a good ending either way. You either get one where Misha feels a bit better, but Shizune pushes everyone away to reconsider how she manipulates people, or you get one where Misha presumably pretends to feel better without any real resolution other than "We're sure we'll see each other again." Just a strange love triangle amongst very likable characters with a lot of never-really-resolved awkwardness.
While it was upbeat, the language was not up to par with that in the other arcs, and using terms like "dickish" really reveals the lack of homogenity in the authors' writing styles and levels of education.
Rin was, of the ones I've played, the most flushed out beginning to end, on one hand, but on the other the most microcosmic. Nothing is ever said of Rin's family or her condition. Her disability is almost entirely irrelevant except for some (humorous) inconveniences that pop up now and again. This story arc is purely one where you watch a talented girl struggle through an emotional self-discovery. That being said, I thought the emotionality and melodrama were well-presented and well-executed but were underpinned by comparatively sparse plot details. There were no plot twists, or even much of a plot to begin with. It was somewhat self-consistent, though, with its central theme of living in the moment. Definitely worth playing through.
Emi arc made me -_______-'' every other scene and doesn't really make sense, considering + Show Spoiler +
it is completely obvious from the first scene with Emi's mother onwards that her dad died in the car accident and the rest of the freaking plot revolves around the protagonist failing to figure that out. The only twist is what Emi says about it at the end. On a bright note, this is the only arc I've played through so far that uses Iwanako's letter as a legitimate plot device. Also, this is the only arc I've played through that had some sense of the future and continuity.
Glad to see that there's a thread about this amazing VN on these boards - it deserves all the attention it can get.
As far as being "well written" goes...no, its not up to Hemingway's standards, and I was a bit disappointed by the quality of Emi's writing, but it gets right what it needs to: the characters and the story. I think the best point of reference is J.K. Rowling - the sentence-to-sentence stuff of her books is a bit schizophrenic, but her characters and narrative structure are spot-on, and so the big picture comes together astonishingly well, much greater than the sum of its parts. KS is a lot like that, each path written by a different amateur writer. As in the case of Emi's route, sometimes they can't put together either a sentence or a narrative, but in all the other paths I thought they succeeded well in both regards.
Moreover, the feels, man, the feels. Anything that can make me emote on the level that KS did accomplished what it set out to achieve, regardless of just how many big words they used to get there.
Definitely not the best VN around, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Hanako route was definitely my favorite, but I haven't done Rin's yet. I enjoyed Lilly's, Emi's was enjoyable but the entire route had me thinking the protagonist is an absolute retard, and Shizune's route was boring as hell for the most part.
Regarding other VNs, I don't really go through them all that often; I know I'm missing out on a lot of quality titles, but I just don't take the time. Give me a good Alice Soft game though, and I'll be occupied for weeks.
On January 18 2012 06:16 HardMacro wrote: For those that liked this game and other VNs in general, may I ask why you think this game/genre is entertaining?
I am a regularly performing musician who reads novels and prefers drama over action movies, so I'd like to think of myself as sensitive and not without emotions, which was why I downloaded KS in the first place. I honestly gave it a good chance, playing for ~2 hours but in the end I just had to give up. It could be that I'm one of those people that could never get into anything anime, but I'd like to think that I could and am simply missing something here?
Basing an entire genre on a single piece is not the way to go. I recommend you try some more widely acclaimed VNs. Fate/Stay Night, Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, etc.
I've just finished act 2 of Emi's path and thought to talk about my impressions of it.
From what I understand after following it's development the Emi path and art were dramatically changed at a couple points. I noticed this first in the art and then realized it in the writing when comparing act 1 to act 2. She gives me the confident and direct vibe that Shizune gives off. Right now I'm still unsure about Emi's path. Personally I enjoy her dialogue. The word choice feels appropriate enough for a person in their last year of high school. It doesn't seem too out of place thus far. It is nice to see the Nurse get more developed in this path. The side characters have always been a curiosity and Miki's minor presence in Hanako's path felt appropriate and seemed whole not just added-in haphazardly. Miki fit in well and here the Nurse fits in well also.
Consternation and Maudlin are two words I did not know the meanings of going into this VN. Whenever something teaches me a new word I get excited. That's another part of the reason I enjoyed Lilly's path. The copious amounts of Concord playing in the background helped matters and Sarabande from BMV1010, Musicbox still is the cornerstone of my favorite scene in any story. Her dialogue was also well written. I feel as if the author had either a firm grasp of the character in their mind or otherwise went to great lengths to ensure it was conveyed properly. Her character feels complete like Hanako's.
While I was a little critical about Hanako's path after something reconsidering I feel she was handled well. In the first two acts of her character path I didn't respond favorably and felt bored at times. Though I think this extended display of Hanako's discomfort and shyness emphasized it well enough to make later reveals have the impact they were meant to. With that in mind I like her path a lot more than I did in my earlier post in this thread. Going back and reading some of those scenes over again gave me a little more perspective than my first impression playthrough. I still have only gotten one ending for each of the three character's I've completed.
I'll agree with an earlier post about the Shizune path not really having any closure and being kind of awkward. While I did enjoy what there was of Shizune it felt very split between Shizune and Misha. Had Misha a path of her own I feel it would have made the story better even if she was simply a split off from the Shizune path after a certain point. That story left me wondering what became of them.
I'm looking forward to finishing Emi act 3 and 4 tonight. I do hope they're longer than Act 2 was. It felt quite short much like Shizune act 4 did. Sorta blew by rather casually and left me curious, but not expecting of much. I will note that following up Shizune with Lilly really caused Lilly's path quality to take me wholly by surprise. If anyone is reading this VN I'd suggest Shizune first. It ends very neutrally and helps highlight the emotion of other paths better. I'd say go with Lilly or Rin last because I know Lilly's is amazing and I hear nothing but good things about Rin's which I'll be reading last.
Does anyone know where to download the full version for Windows? I'm not talking about using torrents, but as a download. On the website it says that it's "coming soon" so all I have is Part 1.
I played VNs before and it is the best free non-professional VN out there but you can feel that it was made by foreigners, the h-scenes feel somehow inappropriate to me. Nevertheless I'd give KS 8/10, a must play.
On January 22 2012 05:08 VoO wrote: I played VNs before and it is the best free non-professional VN out there but you can feel that it was made by foreigners, the h-scenes feel somehow inappropriate to me. Nevertheless I'd give KS 8/10, a must play.
After playing through 100%, I think a few of the H-scenes were without a doubt inappropriate, random, and probably could've been cut (cough cough Emi cough cough) but the majority have some sort of meaning to it. Some have weird meanings (cough cough Rin cough cough) but they add to the already exististing, completely TT worthy, and amazing stories.
On January 18 2012 06:16 HardMacro wrote: For those that liked this game and other VNs in general, may I ask why you think this game/genre is entertaining?
I am a regularly performing musician who reads novels and prefers drama over action movies, so I'd like to think of myself as sensitive and not without emotions, which was why I downloaded KS in the first place. I honestly gave it a good chance, playing for ~2 hours but in the end I just had to give up. It could be that I'm one of those people that could never get into anything anime, but I'd like to think that I could and am simply missing something here?
Basing an entire genre on a single piece is not the way to go. I recommend you try some more widely acclaimed VNs. Fate/Stay Night, Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, etc.
I absolutely recommend all Nitro+ VNs, you can start with ChäoS;HEAd which, I think, will appeal to the TL audience.
On January 18 2012 06:16 HardMacro wrote: For those that liked this game and other VNs in general, may I ask why you think this game/genre is entertaining?
I am a regularly performing musician who reads novels and prefers drama over action movies, so I'd like to think of myself as sensitive and not without emotions, which was why I downloaded KS in the first place. I honestly gave it a good chance, playing for ~2 hours but in the end I just had to give up. It could be that I'm one of those people that could never get into anything anime, but I'd like to think that I could and am simply missing something here?
Basing an entire genre on a single piece is not the way to go. I recommend you try some more widely acclaimed VNs. Fate/Stay Night, Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, etc.
I absolutely recommend all Nitro+ VNs, you can start with ChäoS;HEAd which, I think, will appeal to the TL audience.
Chaos Head <3 That VN is epic amounts of epic, I do think that everyone who enjoys mindbending stuff would enjoy that ^^
EPT
