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[Bood_war]

I just finished Katawa Shoujo (Lilly's ending anyway) and it was just.... Wow. I mean it was just... wow. Despite this being the first visual novel I've played (?) through, it definitely feels like something special, partially because of the subject. Which is Katawa. Now katawa, roughly translated, means "cripple" or "retard". Not a nice word. But it fits, because it's not a nice thing to be disfigured, or to have your arms or legs taken from you.

The game takes place after Hisao (the main character)has a heart attack, and subsequently discovers that he has a congenital heart defect. Once Hisao gets out of the hospital, he is transferred to Yamaku, school for the disabled. He then meets various girls during the short time in the first act (a week overall). But a portion of the game is also about Hisao dealing with his disability.

At heart, Katawa Shoujo is a dating sim, first posted on the /a/ board of 4chan. But it's so much more than that. It's a portrayal of the disabled and how they deal with their problems - and one of the best out there at that.Katawa Shoujo is still under development by 4 Leaf Studios, who have been working on it for 3 years now. It's a great game and needs to be experienced by everyone who has a few hours. (Lilly and Hanako are my favorite girls)

Get it here. Now!

[John Lee]

I'd like to disagree about one thing: KS is not a dating sim. Dating sims are those games where it jumps you from date to date. Usually there's stats you have to build up and you work for money to buy present for your shallow pretendgirls...
...or so I've heard.

Anyway, I'd make the argument that KS is, eventually, about dating, but it's a romance-themed visual novel.

And it's quite good. I can vouch for the accuracy of a lot of Hisao's feelings about the disabled, as I worked in my mother's adult literacy center for a while, which had some disabled people... and my job is working at my college's disability testing center manning the help desk.



Also, did you find Lilly's ending sad or what?

[Bood_war]

No, I didn't find it sad...

And yes, I'd agree that it's probably more romanced-based that a dating sim.

[linger]

I made a KS thread when the Act One demo was released and it got zero replies, orz.

I guess TIGsource isn't all that into the moemoe~ stuff.

And yeah, games need more game/simulationist type gameplay to be Dating Sims...stuff like stats, time management, etc. Katawa Shoujo is just story-based, hence it's a VN.

Personally I feel like Lily's route has the worst writing of all the girls so far. And I like her character...it's just that it's bogged down at times by the wordiness.

One of the truly impressive things about KS is how much good fanart it's inspired. Especially this comic series:

http://shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com/post/view/684?search=pimmy

[Eclipse]

basically an hentai adventure without the hentai plus a plot that's not like "you're in a new school full of stereotyped hot girls, fuck 'em all until you find the true love"?

[Bood_war]

basically an hentai adventure without the hentai plus a plot that's not like "you're in a new school full of stereotyped hot girls, fuck 'em all until you find the true love"?

Screw you. It's not about fucking hot girls, it's about romance. And cripples.

[Mipe]

There will be fucking in Katawa Shoujo. At least I judge so from that thread about what sex should be like with each girl. Also Kenji.

[Bood_war]

I almost wish there wasn't. Almost. But KS is still awesome.

[Lucaz]

There will be sex in it, that's a fact. But seeing how the thing looks now, and where the creators come from, there will be few. Right now, I'd bet for just one or two scenes near the end of the game, and only with the girl from the current path. It'd be a weird (and bad) choice for it to have lots of sex, with every single character. You can't make a good and emotive love story that's also a pornfest.

As for the game itself, it's good. I got three of the five paths, but I never did the other two, 'cause I didn't feel like dumping time completing a demo. But it's nothing to go crazy over, from what the demo shows.

[imaginationac]

I played it a while ago. Enjoyable, and pretty impressive for a ragtag bunch from 4chan.
That said, I'm sad there won't be voice overs. I understand the logistical difficulty of doing that, but it would still be awesome.