OK this is my first post here, & although I always meant to use it to talk about one of Shark's great games(Thank you, Shark. btw

), Katawa Shoujo surprised the heck out of me, and I was compelled to add my full support of it to the Lagoon.
This is a masterpiece, I can't believe it. It was my first visual novel, and I don't think it will be my last, but I doubt (m)any will live up to this one.
I have only finished the Emi & Hanako routes, I guess I fell into the Emi route through my natural play, rather than the clear choice which I made for Hanako.
Emi's route was very fun and engaging but also poignant. I really liked the effect Emi had on Hisao, making him face his heart problem, and act to try to improve his health and himself.
While Hanako's was sweet, heart-rending & tear-jerking. I guess it hit extremely close to home having two terribly shy characters try so hard to make something work.
I like that Hisao is really different based on player choices and each partners influence, it makes each choice seem more like his "emergent personality" in action, rather than a simple binary "What if" random scenario selection. Even though it's the player who really determines if Hisao is "ambitious", "protective", "quirky", "reckless", "fun", "shy" etc.
I wanted to delay my next route, but just writing this post has whetted my appetite for some more.