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A truly amazing (and free!) experience - Katawa Shoujo

Wulfgar
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I know what you're thinking. "Some weird japanese thing about having sex with crippled girls". No. This is much more than that.

 

Katawa Shoujo is a VN (visual novel) produced entirely for free by an american team, from 4chan no less. If you haven't tried a VN before, Katawa is a great introduction to the scene. 

 

As someone who has to deal with PTSD and depression, I was in a bad position last christmas. I don't have family, and had no friends at the time. Jobless, hungry and nearing the brink of suicide, I found this while browsing the depression/suicide watch subs on reddit. It's very hard to bring me to tears, or feel a strong surge of emotion. You become desensitized to a lot of things over time. However, I truly believe this game helped to keep me afloat. It gave me the distraction I needed, the self-reflection to turn the tide of succumbing to the darkness.

 

Your character is a high school boy who finds himself in a school for disabled teens. Along the way, he befriends other classmates, chooses a girlfriend, and learns a lot about himself and about love, regardless of physical impairment.

 

The writing is great overall, however you have to realize that there are multiple writers for each story ark (I think one guy wrote several). Some of the arks won't effect you much, others could possibly give you more feels than any game/novel/movie has ever given you before. There isn't a whole lot of interaction, you mostly click through text and images while making an important (or sometimes not so important) choice every now and then. Your choices do have consequences, and there are multiple endings for each ark. The music composed for this is quite organic with the themes portrayed, it seem to fit perfectly with the mood.

 

I would give this work of art a 9/10. 1 point deducted only because of the style of writing on one of the arks (I won't spoil it). The game takes about 15 hours to fully complete. If you find yourself with spare time, and feel like something quite immersive, try this out. If you're feeling down and out, this might help.

 

You can download it here:

 

http://www.katawa-shoujo.com/download.php

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Ahhh heard about this game. Freebie one even...

 

Wanted to download it many times but always fallen out of my head.

 

 

 

 "Some weird japanese thing about having sex with crippled girls".

 

Still better love story than Twilight :P

<p>Eryi's Action Rule#2 - "Dont jump on the green mushroom"

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Well, this will be a first for me if I ever get around to it.

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If I can get enough people into this, perhaps we can even get a katawa section for the forums (pokes the mods) :P

 

If I can get Linus or Slick to play this, then my life's mission will be done. Or something like that.

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If I can get enough people into this, perhaps we can even get a katawa section for the forums (pokes the mods) :P

Not gonna happen. Althought anime/manga subforum would be nice...

<p>Eryi's Action Rule#2 - "Dont jump on the green mushroom"

Ministry of StopIt!

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If I can get enough people into this, perhaps we can even get a katawa section for the forums (pokes the mods) :P

 

If I can get Linus or Slick to play this, then my life's mission will be done. Or something like that.

You should tweet them and PM them on the forums. Maybe they could do it during an aftershow?

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You should tweet them and PM them on the forums. Maybe they could do it during an aftershow?

 

I don't think it would be very good for an aftershow. The pacing can be slow, and it doesn't lend itself well to a Let's Play format. A side discussion about it could be good, at least to raise awareness about the game.

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I don't think it would be very good for an aftershow. The pacing can be slow, and it doesn't lend itself well to a Let's Play format. A side discussion about it could be good, at least to raise awareness about the game.

Ah, okay. They could do that too :)

 

All I know is that this needs to become more known.

Main Rig: CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | RAM: 32GB (2x16GB) KLEVV CRAS XR RGB DDR4-3600 | Motherboard: Gigabyte B550I AORUS PRO AX | Storage: 512GB SKHynix PC401, 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus, 2x Micron 1100 256GB SATA SSDs | GPU: EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra 10GB | Cooling: ThermalTake Floe 280mm w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 3 | Case: Sliger SM580 (Black) | PSU: Lian Li SP 850W

 

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As virtual novel is ok, but storylines are bit childish and so boring. I was interested through first storyline and after that it was just for art.

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As virtual novel is ok, but storylines are bit childish and so boring. I was interested through first storyline and after that it was just for art.

 

Glad that you tried it, at least.

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i have it
it's a dating sim
very well written and deep story.
would recommend if you're patient and if you're really into story based games.

it's a good way to take your mind off competitive gaming.

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Playing this game for short time, but would kick the sh*t outta this Kenji dude - he's creepy...

<p>Eryi's Action Rule#2 - "Dont jump on the green mushroom"

Ministry of StopIt!

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Playing this game for short time, but would kick the sh*t outta this Kenji dude - he's creepy...

 

Yeah he's the paranoid comic relief.

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Kinda want to know who you all end up with and why?

<p>Eryi's Action Rule#2 - "Dont jump on the green mushroom"

Ministry of StopIt!

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Kinda want to know who you all end up with and why?

 

And people's favorites storylines!

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And people's favorites storylines!

Rin and her storyline. The male-male story was soo messed up!

 

I liked Rin from beginning due to her being soo straightforward when you meet her in the classroom. In most games like that i go for character than looks.

<p>Eryi's Action Rule#2 - "Dont jump on the green mushroom"

Ministry of StopIt!

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