I just finished a route in the interactive visual novel Katawa Shoujo. Katawa shoujo is a game where you live at a school for the disabled with a heart problem, and it's centered around making choices to achieve certain endings in your often romantic relationships with the people there. My ending involved a girl I had been dating, Lilly, to move to Scotland and leave me. I think I took the game too seriously. The game had been so good in its character progression, and so tastefully made in its romance, that I just broke down completely crying for the last 5 minutes of the game and awhile afterwards. It doesn't feel like I've just finished a game where the main characters girlfriend left. It feels like I've been left. I just needed to tell someone this, and I'm not sure to put this in relationships because of the content, or here because of the subject matter. Anyway, I'm not sure wether or not I should reccomend this game to anyone, but if you want to play it, just don't use a guide. I just need to vent. That's all.
Aww poor maracont! There's a damn good reason I haven't played that game yet ;D I suppose that's the mark of good writing though, isn't it? To make you so attached to the characters that when something bad happens you take it personally!
I think it's the mark of bad fiction, game or otherwise, if you don't feel any emotion while experiencing it or if the ending leaves you cold. I cried during that ending of Virtue's Last Reward, several Final Fantasy games have moved me and I damn near bawled my eyes out at the ending of Terranigma (along with several other sequences in that game).
Just means you put your all into it. If it negatively affects your life in a significant way, I'd say stay away from it. Until then, pour your heart into it and enjoy those feelings with due distance.
I think it's good to be affected by a video game, it shows you have an artful, emotional investment in a genre of entertainment which is often overlooked. I played a game which had a similar effect on me, called 'A Small talk at the Back of Beyond' which I cried for like 5 mins afterward. It's a flash game on the internet if you're interested in games like that.
That's what happens when you're capable of empathy! You wanted a good story and you got it. You're only taking fiction too seriously if it takes over your life. Seek out new entertainment, for example if you're into anime then try watching some new anime and it'll replace the empty feeling. You're not the only one deeply affected by KS, I've seen plenty FEELS threads on another website.
OMG I totally know exactly the scene you're talking about in Katawa Shoujo! Lilly was my first path I ever took in that game and I genuinely cried when she left at the end... I don't think it's a mark of anything bad when you feel a connection like that to fictional characters. It's only when you let it control your existence that it starts to get too serious. But I really think that having that sort of connection really says something about how whole-heartedly you feel things and get involved in stories, as well as the quality of the story being written as well.
I got Final Fantasy 7 when it's price came down enough for me to afford it, so a year or two after it came out. I played that game for all it was worth so it took me a while to get through the story line to the point where Aeris dies. I cried my eyes out. I did a separate save and went back and replayed from my last save to see if I could get a better outcome. I restarted the game and tried it again and again. LOL I have replayed that game so many times looking for a better outcome. I have it at a point where I maxed the hours played meter and have tried to kill all the hidden monsters in case that makes a difference. I KNOW it can't be changed but have been wishing and every now and then pulling the game out and trying for a different outcome. I have finished the game several times but always keep a "before she dies" save open to try new things. Yep. Games can get in your head a bit. LOL Glad it's not just me they grab and mess with.
