Seriously? You call Hanako's arc as something good?
All she did throughout the VN was just mourning her parents death, Hisao doing nothing but watch, nailed the shit out of her, then happy end. Dude, if that is your definition of a good tale, then you had a bad experiences with V Ns
The only reason why everyone likes Hanako is because of her shyness which is a total otaku trap. Ignore the disabilities of the characters and see for yourself a bland storyline and stereotype characters (Kenji is unique, though)
Never played Emi's arc though (cause the game is just boring) So I wont criticize her
There's nothing particularly surprising about someone calling Hanako's arc good, there are a huge amount of people who do the same thing and she's one of people's favourites in the game. Whether it's actually good or not, it's interested and provoked strong emotion in a lot of people
You sure love to stalk this site, do you? But whatever, i dont like arguing the same topic with the same person
People are allowed to have varying tastes. No one's opinions can be objectively right or wrong. You put up your review; he's allowed to put up his.
Anyways, my favorite route differs (Rin though it's honestly a love it or hate it thing) but I agree with the reviewer on the general points. I'm very used to Visual Novels that are easy though so that's never really a negative in my book.
I agree on Hanako's route being the second best.
Good review.
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A Good Story
As a game, Katawa Shoujo is kind of a failure. It waffles between having fairly meaningless choices, and choices that are obvious. Out of all the routes, I only had problems figuring out what to do in one, and that's more a product of my personality then anything else, when I sat down and analyzed it, it was pretty easy to see what the authors were going for. If you are looking for a visual novel that will take things to the next level and offer a lot of compelling choices, this is not it. Katawa isn't terribly long either, without skipping it only took me about 20 or so hours of gameplay to get through the routes (though I am a very fast reader).
However, I would heartily recommend KS as a STORY. It's a very beautiful story, and if you go into it thinking of it as a story and not as a game you will find yourself enjoying it immensely. All the characters are fairly well rounded and believable with their own problems and triumphs. The disabilities are addressed very well, they are not ignored but they are not what define the characters (with one exception, which makes sense).
The different routes are very well done in my opinion. The first one I got was Emi's, which came about as a result of making choices much as I would in real life if I had a heart condition. It was also my favorite route, probably because Emi's the kind of girl I get along with best. She's pretty bubbly and bouncy with a tone of energy, but she also has some very understandable issues and her route dealt with things like loss, overcoming fears of abandonment, and choosing a future.
Hanako's route was the last one I played, and my second favorite. She was radically different then the bouncy Emi, and her's was the route I struggled with the most. I got the bad ending and the neutral ending before I discovered the good ending. And you know what? I learned something from that. The game was not afraid to force me to confront my own biases and faulty beliefs and I applaud that. Hanako was also the most defined by her disability, but considering it's nature and impact, it was very appropriate.
In summery, I really recommend this to anyone who's interested in reading a good story. It's obviously an amateur production, but that only make the experience all the more enjoyable. It was a labor of love, and that shows. Recommended to anyone looking for a good read.