Disabled Girl Dating Sim Katawa Shoujo Finally Available
- Thread starter Earnest Cavalli
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Eh, why not, you have a point. Free is free. If it actually cost something I wouldn't bother cause I am trying to save up and not having a source of income in college makes that an issue... Anyway, the moral of the story is, it will be downloaded shortly.TehCookie said:
Also, got to love captcha wanting us to type math equations...
They're not 'disabled people', they're people who happen to have disabilities. What's wrong with people dating other people? Or are they some kind of strange freaks?GreatTeacherCAW said:
The only ones saying "it's some sick twisted fetish porn game" are the people who haven't even bothered to give it a try. Every single person who has played it has said that it's absolutely not the case.
There really seems to be two (maybe 3 if you count "undecided" as one) very distinct opinions in this thread: the "I've played it and this is good/great/surprising/excellent/better than expected," and the "I haven't played this but think it is weird/unnatural/fetish pandering/porn."
I'd have to say Katawa Shoujo is one of the better examples I can think of of testing people's open-mindedness. If your default opinion upon hearing of a game where you fall in love with disabled girls is "This sounds despicable, I can't believe people would stoop so low as this," doesn't that say a little something about your faith in humanity? Is it really so impossible to think that a game's developers could handle this subject well? Is it so hard to think that this could be extremely well-done, well-handled, and that you might even enjoy it?
There's a conversation fairly early on between the protagonist and the librarian about how difficult it is to act around the people he's meeting, in which (roughly paraphrased) he mentions the difficulty in dealing with the elephant in the room (i.e. everyone's varying disabilities). To which she replies, "I think it's only an elephant if you feel it is."
That's the general feel coming Katawa Shoujo. It's not about anything except the people themselves. They aren't their disabilities any more than any character can be summed up by their various personality traits. It's not "Emi, the girl with no legs," it's not even "Emi, the always-cheerful, stubborn track star with a secret love of pillowfights," it's just Emi. It's a testament to the character writing that they don't feel like characters, just...people.
And that's really what's at the heart of a "dating sim:" not a sad escape for lonely people, not extremely slow fap material, just an opportunity for you to meet different people from different walks of life that you never would have otherwise.
So come on, give it a shot. It's fun, enlightening, a touch inspiring, and if you don't break into a colossal shit-eating grin at some point in everyone's route I don't think you can call yourself human. The only thing you have to lose is an uninformed opinion.
I'd have to say Katawa Shoujo is one of the better examples I can think of of testing people's open-mindedness. If your default opinion upon hearing of a game where you fall in love with disabled girls is "This sounds despicable, I can't believe people would stoop so low as this," doesn't that say a little something about your faith in humanity? Is it really so impossible to think that a game's developers could handle this subject well? Is it so hard to think that this could be extremely well-done, well-handled, and that you might even enjoy it?
There's a conversation fairly early on between the protagonist and the librarian about how difficult it is to act around the people he's meeting, in which (roughly paraphrased) he mentions the difficulty in dealing with the elephant in the room (i.e. everyone's varying disabilities). To which she replies, "I think it's only an elephant if you feel it is."
That's the general feel coming Katawa Shoujo. It's not about anything except the people themselves. They aren't their disabilities any more than any character can be summed up by their various personality traits. It's not "Emi, the girl with no legs," it's not even "Emi, the always-cheerful, stubborn track star with a secret love of pillowfights," it's just Emi. It's a testament to the character writing that they don't feel like characters, just...people.
And that's really what's at the heart of a "dating sim:" not a sad escape for lonely people, not extremely slow fap material, just an opportunity for you to meet different people from different walks of life that you never would have otherwise.
So come on, give it a shot. It's fun, enlightening, a touch inspiring, and if you don't break into a colossal shit-eating grin at some point in everyone's route I don't think you can call yourself human. The only thing you have to lose is an uninformed opinion.
First game that I've actually played through. These kind of games don't normally attract me, but hey, the story sounded interesting and innovative, if anything. So I gave it a shot.
And it's actually pretty good. The characters, though the sometimes fall into the anime cliche persona (Headstrong girl, shy girl, nerdy girl, happy-go-lucky girl,etc.), feel pretty real. You don't think of them as the girl who has no legs or the girl who can't speak or the one with the obvious scar on her face. You learn to appreciate the girls (Seriously, there's only two guys in the school, yourself included) for who they are. Sure, you got your drama and gossip and secrets and stuff. I mean, we know those are gonna be there. But the game makes them look realistic, you know? Not like you're watching an anime about the super secretive girl who won't share anything just for the sake of being hard on you/being a badass. Each story is unique and it makes sense.
Another thing I liked about it is that it wasn't super long, I finished all 4 acts in about 5 hours. It starts slow, though. And even though I wanted to go after a specific girl, I ended up being paired with the last thing I had in mind. I was actually fine with it once I found out more about that character. In my case...
One thing I didn't like, though. Throughout the entire gameplay, I only made like 10 choices. The rest was just clicking over and over again, almost like reading a novel. It didn't feel like I was making the decisions that much. But I don't know if that's the way it goes with these games.
...And I still feel like the lead guy has no business at that school. There's girl with no legs, scarred girl, blind girl, mute girl, hyperactive/dumb (?) girl, guy with cane, girl with no hand and...guy who suffered a heart attack once and suffers from a condition that doesn't really come into play except once or twice. :/
And it's actually pretty good. The characters, though the sometimes fall into the anime cliche persona (Headstrong girl, shy girl, nerdy girl, happy-go-lucky girl,etc.), feel pretty real. You don't think of them as the girl who has no legs or the girl who can't speak or the one with the obvious scar on her face. You learn to appreciate the girls (Seriously, there's only two guys in the school, yourself included) for who they are. Sure, you got your drama and gossip and secrets and stuff. I mean, we know those are gonna be there. But the game makes them look realistic, you know? Not like you're watching an anime about the super secretive girl who won't share anything just for the sake of being hard on you/being a badass. Each story is unique and it makes sense.
Another thing I liked about it is that it wasn't super long, I finished all 4 acts in about 5 hours. It starts slow, though. And even though I wanted to go after a specific girl, I ended up being paired with the last thing I had in mind. I was actually fine with it once I found out more about that character. In my case...
I was paired up with Emi, the girl with no legs. She appears to be emotionally scarred despite her upbeat and competitive attitude. Getting to know her was fun and...well, the sex scenes were well handled. It's not like you're reading an erotic fan fiction or watching random porn. If anything, you just see her breasts and...positions. They even get into anal. But whatever. The point is the game was all about getting to know her, making my character fall for her and building up that relationship to a near-to-perfect one.
One thing I didn't like, though. Throughout the entire gameplay, I only made like 10 choices. The rest was just clicking over and over again, almost like reading a novel. It didn't feel like I was making the decisions that much. But I don't know if that's the way it goes with these games.
...And I still feel like the lead guy has no business at that school. There's girl with no legs, scarred girl, blind girl, mute girl, hyperactive/dumb (?) girl, guy with cane, girl with no hand and...guy who suffered a heart attack once and suffers from a condition that doesn't really come into play except once or twice. :/
"congenital heart defect"
Get it?! Get it?! He has a broken heart!!
Seriously, for all the subtly Japanese culture has, it's largely absent from anime and manga. That's why I don't find these games all that interesting. The girls are physically disabled, and so they're going for a 'beautiful personality' style story, but because the company wants you to like them, they're given hugely cute character designs, so that the only 'ugly' part of the character is the disability. That's probably the complete opposite of the message they wanted to send.
Perhaps that's reading too much into it, but all too often when I play Japanese games, or watch anime (particularly with the main stream stuff) I can just hear the creators having that Welcome to the NHK conversation, where they pile on character points without really thinking about it might mean.
Buuut, that's a blanket generalisation and completely unfair to say about a game I only heard about ten minutes ago and probably won't play. These games tend to be predictable with their plots though... back when I was heavily into anime I could tell you the exact outcome of most shows, right down to the pacing and dialogue.
Get it?! Get it?! He has a broken heart!!
Seriously, for all the subtly Japanese culture has, it's largely absent from anime and manga. That's why I don't find these games all that interesting. The girls are physically disabled, and so they're going for a 'beautiful personality' style story, but because the company wants you to like them, they're given hugely cute character designs, so that the only 'ugly' part of the character is the disability. That's probably the complete opposite of the message they wanted to send.
Perhaps that's reading too much into it, but all too often when I play Japanese games, or watch anime (particularly with the main stream stuff) I can just hear the creators having that Welcome to the NHK conversation, where they pile on character points without really thinking about it might mean.
Buuut, that's a blanket generalisation and completely unfair to say about a game I only heard about ten minutes ago and probably won't play. These games tend to be predictable with their plots though... back when I was heavily into anime I could tell you the exact outcome of most shows, right down to the pacing and dialogue.
If you have a fetish for that sort of thing or want a hentai game with a twist then play with the 18+ option on.GreatTeacherCAW said:
If you're just curios and want to see a decent graphic novel about people overcoming their disabilities, then turn the 18+ off. I downloaded it out of curiosity and was surprised at how good the writing and the characterizations are. I'm playing with 18+ turned off and honestly I think 18+ content would be very out of place in this game. Like a feel good family movie that suddenly turns into a porno.
Try it for yourself. But if you're sold on the opinion that it's stupid and everyone who touches it is sick then why are you even on this thread?
To mock a game you know next to nothing about is to copy Fox New's reaction to Mass Effect's "sex scene".
Don't bother. As you can see, most of the people on this thread who tried the game with an open mind liked it and my statement that the 18+ content is out of place has been stated at least once before.GreatTeacherCAW said:
Sadly, your mind is made up and nothing and no one is going to change that. Trying the game would only be a waste of your time and your synopsis of it isn't something I would bother reading.
While I was lurking 4LS forums a bit after the demo release back in 2009, one of the developers elaborated that the hero's heart condition was Low QT Syndrome.Beautiful End said:
Wiki it. It's fucking scary.
It is the inner demon he has to wrestle with after living a healthy life for 17-18 years, but now can't so much as break into a mad dash or be surprised by a prank... or make love, without being afraid of death at any moment, and he likely won't live nearly as long as anyone else. That's a pretty damn powerful "monster" he has to overcome.