Psychotic reviews stuff, Katawa Shoujo Act 1, 4Chan?

Safe in the Dark

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[HEADING=1]Katawa Shoujo[/HEADING]​

[HEADING=2]4Chan?OH NO![/HEADING]
Thats right folks, today I'm reviewing Katawa Shoujo a visual-novel game by Four Leaf Studios, firstly though. When I said a game made by 4chan, what did you imagine? A creepy meme-filled piece of garbage that should be cast into a fire? Probably. Well this is not that game, and I'll be happy to explain why.

[HEADING=2]Premise[/HEADING]
You may be wondering "But Psychotic you marvelous madman what in the world is this game like?" Simple, it's a bishoujo visual novel that takes place in a school for disabled students, Katawa Shoujo literally translates into Disability Girls. If you're unfamiliar with Visual-Novels it's a lot like reading an interactive book,you go through the Dialogue making certain story altering choices along the way.If you only like games for the aspect of shooting and mindless violence this really isn't the game or review for you. If you enjoy a game with a colorful cast and a story that is both heart warming and in places comedic,you will want to at least give this overlooked gem a chance. But yes it's a game about Disabled girls "Is it offencive?" you may be inclined to ask,well I'll be getting back to that in a bit. Another thing,this is only act 1,meaning not the whole game,the full game is still being developed as we speak, Think of this like a demo. I'll review the full game when it is released. It's a unique premise and I rather admire it.




[HEADING=2]Story[/HEADING]
You take the role of Hisao Nakai, an average everyday ordinary student. This is where things get interesting, Hisao soon discovers he has a terminal heart condition and nearly dies, he is infirmed for around four months and after he is told he must attend a special school. He is of course reluctant to leave his old life and expects the worst to happen, but decides he has to go, There Hisao meets several other characters each unique and colorful in their own way.From there you take control of hisao and as the story and dialogue progress you of course make decisions that alter and add to the story, whether you help girl x with something,or side with girl y in an argument, every action has an equal and opposite reaction,and each of the five girls has a distinctive personality and condition. The story flows well enough and most decisions play out the way they should, but some choices are a bit confusing, so it isn't perfect.

[HEADING=2]Characters[/HEADING]

From left to right, Lily, Hanako, Rin, Shizune and Emi.

Lily Sato: Blind since birth Lily is a Caring, responcible,and highly intellectual girl who is close friends with Hanako, and is Shizune's rival. She is polite and is very well mannered but she and Shizune apparently dislike eachother for some reason.

Hanako Ikezawa: My personal favorite of the five, Hanako was in a house fire that left her severly traumatized, and with burns over the rightside of her body, she is shy,and self concious and most likely sought Lily as a friend due to her blindness, they both help eachother.

Rin Tezuka: Since Rin?s arms are tiny stumps due to a severe birth defect and subsequent surgery, she uses her feet and occasionally her mouth to do everything, which includes painting. Because of her disability, using skirts is tough, so Rin is wearing a boy?s uniform at school. Her creativity is matched by her philosophical streak: Rin is fond of occasionally getting lost in thought and giving voice to abstract ideas about man, the universe, and other things that thoroughly confuse people.

Shizune Hakamichi: Strong willed and forceful, Shizune is definitely the leader type. She?s been the class rep, despite being deaf and mute, for as long as her class has had one, and generally takes charge in just about any situation she?s placed in. Shizune is known around the school as a fearsome taskmaster, and skilled manipulator, but also as a fair and just leader.

Emi Ibaraki:Despite being left with legs amputated below the knee, Emi is perhaps one of the most cheery, happy-go-lucky girls on the entire globe, let alone the school. Not one to be left in despair even after the accident that claimed her legs, Emi views her disability more as a blessing, her prosthetic legs having brought her to the heights of her ability on the track team rather than becoming a permanent obstacle.

The characters aren't Stereotypes and actually have personality and life to them, each one is easy to relate to in one way or another and they rarely feel flat or unlikeable.(Except a few side characters. Except for Kenji, I'll let you see Kenji for yourselves though, because He's that awesome.)

[HEADING=2]Closing thoughts.[/HEADING]

In my opinion this is a wonderful and charming game,Katawa Shoujo is surprisingly enthralling. Despite being created by the "Internet Hate Machine", it's deep, almost poetic at points. The characters are honestly intriguing and the story is beautifully written.
Dismissing this games solely due to the fact that it is made by 4Channers is ignorant. This is a piece of art. It is the first push in the industry to make this content acceptable. These characters aren't "cripples" in the player's eyes, they're people.
After playing the demo, I can say with the utmost assurance that I will never look at a disabled individual as I previously have, again. That alone is the sign of an excellent game.I highly recommend this game,and I give it a 8.5/10 just for those of you who like number systems.

If you want the free download,or are at least slightly curious,Heres the official site :http://katawa-shoujo.com/
 

Totenkopf

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Excellent review. It is well written and brilliantly structured; furthermore it has reflecting points about the disability aspects and the fact that it was "made by 4chan", also a good use of pictures.

I started playing the game yesterday. It's a really good game, almost addicting.
 

Jark212

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I remember playing the demo quite a few months ago maybe a year, I've been waiting for it's release ever sense...
 

Safe in the Dark

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Totenkopf said:
Excellent review. It is well written and brilliantly structured; furthermore it has reflecting points about the disability aspects and the fact that it was "made by 4chan", also a good use of pictures.

I started playing the game yesterday. It's a really good game, almost addicting.
Thanks,I'm glad you enjoyed it and my review,Who's your favorite character so far?
 

Totenkopf

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PsychoticForesight said:
Totenkopf said:
Excellent review. It is well written and brilliantly structured; furthermore it has reflecting points about the disability aspects and the fact that it was "made by 4chan", also a good use of pictures.

I started playing the game yesterday. It's a really good game, almost addicting.
Thanks,I'm glad you enjoyed it and my review,Who's your favorite character so far?
Not a problem, it's your honest good work after all :)

I've only met Shicchan and Misha in-game so far, I'm looking forward to meet the other girls to so that I can really judge that.

Depending on the looks I would say... Emi and Hanako :3
 

Safe in the Dark

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Totenkopf said:
PsychoticForesight said:
Totenkopf said:
Excellent review. It is well written and brilliantly structured; furthermore it has reflecting points about the disability aspects and the fact that it was "made by 4chan", also a good use of pictures.

I started playing the game yesterday. It's a really good game, almost addicting.
Thanks,I'm glad you enjoyed it and my review,Who's your favorite character so far?
Not a problem, it's your honest good work after all :)

I've only met Shicchan and Misha in-game so far, I'm looking forward to meet the other girls to so that I can really judge that.

Depending on the looks I would say... Emi and Hanako :3
My favorites are Hanako andRin.:D Once you meet Kenji you will never forget him. So judging by what you've already played would you play he full game when it's finished?
 

Milo Windby

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I honestly don't see anything wrong with 4chan (Unless its the /b/ section... then really... that is where all the problems come from)
 

Safe in the Dark

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Milo Windby said:
I honestly don't see anything wrong with 4chan (Unless its the /b/ section... then really... that is where all the problems come from)
4chan can be pretty good,especially /a/ and /v/ unfortunately it's usually /b/ that people think of when they hear 4chan.
 

Totenkopf

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PsychoticForesight said:
Totenkopf said:
PsychoticForesight said:
Totenkopf said:
Excellent review. It is well written and brilliantly structured; furthermore it has reflecting points about the disability aspects and the fact that it was "made by 4chan", also a good use of pictures.

I started playing the game yesterday. It's a really good game, almost addicting.
Thanks,I'm glad you enjoyed it and my review,Who's your favorite character so far?
Not a problem, it's your honest good work after all :)

I've only met Shicchan and Misha in-game so far, I'm looking forward to meet the other girls to so that I can really judge that.

Depending on the looks I would say... Emi and Hanako :3
My favorites are Hanako and Kenji.:D So judging by what you've already played would you play he full game when it's finished?
Of course, the quality of the game is really top-notch from what I can tell :)
Also, I had the honour to meet nurse-kun... or did I?

But now I have to ask a question that may sound very stupid... has that game ecchi in it...?
 

Milo Windby

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PsychoticForesight said:
Milo Windby said:
I honestly don't see anything wrong with 4chan (Unless its the /b/ section... then really... that is where all the problems come from)
4chan can be pretty good,especially /a/ and /v/ it's usually /b/ that people think of when they hear 4chan though.
True, its like saying all Halo fans are frat boys.
Not all of them are and they can even be fun to talk with.
 

Safe in the Dark

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Jun 5, 2010
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Totenkopf said:
PsychoticForesight said:
Totenkopf said:
PsychoticForesight said:
Totenkopf said:
Excellent review. It is well written and brilliantly structured; furthermore it has reflecting points about the disability aspects and the fact that it was "made by 4chan", also a good use of pictures.

I started playing the game yesterday. It's a really good game, almost addicting.
Thanks,I'm glad you enjoyed it and my review,Who's your favorite character so far?
Not a problem, it's your honest good work after all :)

I've only met Shicchan and Misha in-game so far, I'm looking forward to meet the other girls to so that I can really judge that.

Depending on the looks I would say... Emi and Hanako :3
My favorites are Hanako and Kenji.:D So judging by what you've already played would you play he full game when it's finished?
Of course, the quality of the game is really top-notch from what I can tell :)
Also, I had the honour to meet nurse-kun... or did I?

But now I have to ask a question that may sound very stupid... has that game ecchi in it...?
Well the full game...Will have a bit more than that...But the game let's you choose if you want it or not.
 

NeutralDrow

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PsychoticForesight said:
So how was this for my first review?
Not too bad, actually. This game has been on my "to-do" list for a while, and I think the only thing you didn't mention that influence my decision was more about Hisao. I get the impression he's a pretty fun character.
 

Safe in the Dark

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NeutralDrow said:
PsychoticForesight said:
So how was this for my first review?
Not too bad, actually. This game has been on my "to-do" list for a while, and I think the only thing you didn't mention that influence my decision was more about Hisao. I get the impression he's a pretty fun character.
Well Hisao is a bit of a flexible character,is a sense your personality is his personality since you make a lot of his decisions for him.
 

Steppin Razor

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A couple spelling and grammar issues, but a pretty good review overall. I haven't really been to 4chan for quite a while so I'd never heard of this game before now, but it sounds rather nice. I might have to look into it when I get the chance.
 

lapan

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I liked the game for the most part. Especially Kenji made the game worthwhile to play since he had hilarious dialog and even a great ending. I miss a description of his character in your summary, and the review part is a bit short.

I guess it will take years till the full game is coming out though, since at the moment all they made are recolors of Act 1.
 

Safe in the Dark

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lapan said:
I liked the game for the most part. Especially Kenji made the game worthwhile to play since he had hilarious dialog and even a great ending. I miss a description of his character in your summary, and the review part is a bit short.

I guess it will take years till the full game is coming out though, since at the moment all they made are recolors of Act 1.
I wanted to let people discover Kenji and his ending themselves,I find it better that way.
 

Safe in the Dark

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Cleril said:
I liked the game but I feel like I'm missing the point, this is my first visual novel game but I can't help but feel that I didn't actually control anything because at times it would take at least 30 minutes for me to arrive at an actual choice section and while I do feel that at least 2 choices had a big impact but it still bothers me that it takes 30 minutes plus time of pure reading to get to a choice part.

Also, Hanako doesn't get enough screen time damn it.

Why is that during the classroom section when you are alone with Hanako your character feels the need to answer questions and you as the player just want the choice to go over and talk to her but heaven forbid!

I mean really, why can't I decide directly who I make friends with and who I let get more screen time?

I understand I'm new to visual novel type games but still....I feel cheated out of an opportunity to enjoy myself and that is essentially my gripe with the game, lack of choices when they should clearly be present.

Nice review though it borderlines on showcasing, also nice avatar. :D
Hmm...Well the best answer I can hope to give is that since it's only the first chapter/a work in progress you'll get more choices and have more impact in the full version,I hope.Some visual novels give you a quick amount of choices some are a bit less frequent.

And no Hanako doesn't thats the reason it didn't get a perfect score. ;)

Well...That and the choices thing,but I let a few problems slide because this really is just a demo,and for being completely free.

And about the showcasing I hope there isn't too much,and thanks I love this avatar....BTW what did you think of Kenji?