Opinion on Katawa Shoujo

[LittleFalcon]

Hello, so I have recently started playing Katawa shoujo visual novel. I started playing in because I heard from everyone how good it was and how aperantly it was the saddest Visual Novel ever . I really liked it at the begining. Now I have played 10 hours of this VN im currently on Act 3 of Shizune's route and I'm just not enjoying this VN as much as I though I would. So I picked Shizune as my first route because I kinda liked her at the begining but now I find her route rather boring and lacking development. It feels like everything in this route is just some sort of student council work. And I also think that the romance with her came out of no where in my opinion. And I also dont like the fact that pretty much all of the characters except Shizune and Misha became non existent. I'll admit I dont play VN's often but as far as I remember in other Vn that I have played even though your playing a certain heroine's route other heroines still get some time and show up from time to time(sorry If my thoughts are unclear english isn't my first language so I hope you understand) . And also I didn't like how this vn intoduced me to some heroines very late in the game like I had to make choices with mattered in my route choosing but I wasn't intoduced to all of the heroines yet... So whats your opinion on this guys? Maybe i picked the wrong route? I also really liked Emi and also Rin seemed kinda cool but agian I got so see them like 2 times in the entire game because I was already on Shizune route.  So don't get me wrong guys I'm not trying to say that this VN is bad its quite good actualy but I just cant ignore the problems I have listed above. Its just my opinion though so If you are a hardcore fan of this vn please dont hate me for it. So I'll definetly finish the Shizune route that I have started but I don't know if I should play other routes now. So I wanted to ask you guys a couple of questions:

What its your opinion on this VN?

Should I try playing other routes?

If so what routes you think I should play and witch ones are the best/most interesting routes?

 

Thanks for your answers and also thanks for taking your time and reading this. Agian its just my opinion and your opinions may differ.

And of course the obligatory: Sorry for bad english.

Edited December 18, 2016 by LittleFalcon

[Zakamutt]

Shizune's route is generally considered one of the weakest, though it has its fans. KS isn't all that long and you might as well just go through with finishing Shizune's route; drama should arrive soon enough.

I think Katawa Shoujo is a pretty good VN. Especially Rin's route is interesting from an artistic standpoint, but every route plays with what you might think should happen given how the characters act on the surface. Don't miss Rin's route especially; Emi is probably the weakest route overall storywise but you might still like it over Shizune's. Do go for Hanako and Lilly as well as Rin imo.

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as I remember in other Vn that I have played even though your playing a certain heroine's route other heroines still get some time and show up from time to time

Nah this is a common complaint when it comes to other VNs as well. Matter of taste IMO; I don't really care personally.

[Zidan209]

I honestly think that Shizune's route was boring. I finished every other, but midway through Shizune, i dropped the whole VN.

You should play the other ones, because they are the ones that all the "hardcore fans" love the most. You get to deal with a few dillemas on each of them, if you deal wrongly, you will be sad enough to consider the VN "emotional". Also, the good endings are happy enough to have the same effect

[atorq]

1 hour ago, LittleFalcon said:

What its your opinion on this VN?

I quite like it, it's nice and simple for the most part, not full of bullshit.

 

Lilly is best grill.

[Shota_Victory]

Shizune is a fucking awful heroine with an awful route.

Just skip her route. It's not worth it.

[finiteHP]

I played Hanako's and liked it quite a bit, but couldn't stand the thought of wading through the early stuff again right away.  I picked it up a few months later and did Emi's route and didn't really like it.  Picked it up again a few months after that and did Rin's route.  I barely made it through her route.  I think I even dropped it for at least a month partway through, but maybe not.  I picked it after about a year and tried Shizune's.  I dropped it when they visited her father.  That was about um... 2 years ago.  Haven't had any urge to go back and try Lily's route.

[mitchhamilton]

1 hour ago, finiteHP said:

I played Hanako's and liked it quite a bit, but couldn't stand the thought of wading through the early stuff again right away.  I picked it up a few months later and did Emi's route and didn't really like it.  Picked it up again a few months after that and did Rin's route.  I barely made it through her route.  I think I even dropped it for at least a month partway through, but maybe not.  I picked it after about a year and tried Shizune's.  I dropped it when they visited her father.  That was about um... 2 years ago.  Haven't had any urge to go back and try Lily's route.

lily's is pretty good. her and hanako's route are usually considered the best in ks.

 

but yeah, shizune isnt really the vns strong point. go with hanako's or lily's. theyre worth it.

[Kawasumi]

you literally took the worst route lol. So yes its fine for a starter vn, almost every vn has "the weak link" you were just unfortunate to take it on your first try

Edited December 19, 2016 by Kawasumi

[Okarin]

Well Katawa Shoujo isn't "the saddest VN ever", whoever said that needs to play moar.

And about playing more... obviously each girl brings something different to the table, so why not give them a go?

[Khazit]

It's good.

Nothing spectacular, but nothing particularly bad, either.

And the fact that it's from fucking 4chan should not be undersold. It's a proof that a bunch of random guys in one of the most notorious place in the interweb can come together and make something good.

[DarkZedge]

While I personally like Shizune, I understand where the people who don't are coming from. If you don't find her route appealing or simply aren't enjoying it then you should try a different one, I'd recommend doing either Rin's or Lili's, Hanako's isn't bad but I liked those other two more.

 

Woops for got about the "Whats your opinion on this VN?", let's see KS while it's not spectacular and it definitely has it fair share of problems still has a place in my heart for it was the first Visual Novel I read and it introduced me to a medium which I deeply love and enjoy nowadays.

It's good, it has it's great points and it has it's low points just like anything else out there.

Edited December 19, 2016 by DarkZedge

[Okarin]

Let's say it's better to play it early in your VN-reading career, because you'll encounter lots of better VNs (and most of them are sadly untranslated).

That's not to say playing Katawa is an underwhelming experience. It isn't.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Okarin

[MiyazawaLulu]

I approached KS with a very "meh" attitude and I found it much better than I expected (hype can really kill your enjoyment, so I generally try to avoid it), specially Hanako and Lilly. I admit Rin's very interesting from an objective standpoint, but I couldn't really get into her character (not my type), so I ended up preferring the two I mentioned before. I liked Emi as a character but found her route a little lackluster, and Shizune didn't even left an impression of me to be honest (I can't quite recall what happened in it, thought some years have passed already so it can be just that too).

All in all, I think it's something you should read and get your own opinion about. It's not the best title out there, but it's iconic enough to deserve its own small place in this world IMHO.

[Okarin]

Another thing worth commenting is that Katawa deconstructs a lot of stereotypes commonly found in VN routes. Take a look at TVTropes.

As such, you'll enjoy it more if you know the medium. I know I said before Katawa is really good as a starter VN, but it can work either way; for the veteran as well as for the newbie. That's why it's so well considered.

[Narcosis]

52 minutes ago, Okarin said:

Another thing worth commenting is that Katawa deconstructs a lot of stereotypes commonly found in VN routes. Take a look at TVTropes.

As such, you'll enjoy it more if you know the medium. I know I said before Katawa is really good as a starter VN, but it can work either way; for the veteran as well as for the newbie. That's why it's so well considered.

Preety much.

I still consider KS a really decent recommendation to get people into VN's. It works especially well in case of those, who already had some contact with japanese popculture in general, because KS is written in a way, that makes it the more interesting, the more you know about the things it tries to deconstruct.

It's not a literary masterpiece, but nontheless, an enjoyable and seemingly polished experience.

[LittleFalcon]

Thanks to all of you who replied the information you gave me was a big help. Btw I just finished Shizune's route and I feel like its the was my least favorite route of any VN that I have played before. The ending felt very weak like it just stoped and thats it. I will probaly try other routes some time later hopefully I will like them more. And agian thanks for the answers guys.

[Zakamutt]

I consider Shizune's bad ending better than her good one, if you haven't seen that.

[Suzu Fanatic]

12 hours ago, Zakamutt said:

I consider Shizune's bad ending better than her good one, if you haven't seen that.

That ending probably had the strongest impact on me out of many endings. It did a great job of making me feel like utter garbage inside, lol~ I still rate it as one of the top bad endings.

Edited December 21, 2016 by Suzu Fanatic
cleaned up sloppy punctuation

[Okarin]

Yeah, bad endings can be heavy hitters in Katawa. Even though, there's a certain neutral ending that tore my heart to pieces, play and find out...