Use this topic to offer feedback and ask any questons you might have about the Little Busters Bookclub. General forum rules apply!
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Going with the obvious question, what’s up with the route order?
I guess I needed to write this sooner or later… A big reason for the route order is because it maximises the number of special scenes you can get only by reading certain routes beforehand, but I can’t possibly remember all of those scenes myself and I didn’t write it all down. I’ll try to add them as I remember them, but here’s a bunch of reasons for the order. Full series spoilers ahead, proceed at your own discretion.
- Rin1 first should be fitting enough. It’s a sudden and abrupt ending to the daily life which really fits in thematically with the tone of Little Busters. The drama is meant to be shocking. It also builds a sense of interest in Rin’s scenario. And really, there’s no better time to do this than the first playthrough.
- Mio first instead of Komari has a few reasons. First, Komari’s route is kind of a poor introduction to the rest of Little Busters. It doesn’t really show off many of the series’ strengths, and it doesn’t build any sense of intrigue for the secret of the world. It’s the kind of first route that could cause a lot of people to lose interest. And also, putting Komari’s route first reduces any potential impact the reader may experience from noticing that her route doesn’t lock out. For the full effect of that to kick in, you need to have already played through a route that was locked out, otherwise you wouldn’t think there’s anything strange. As for why Mio specifcally, it’s a well-rounded route that doesn’t have any dependencies on other routes to unlock extra scenes, as far as I’m aware. It builds interest in the Secret of the World, and highlights some really cool storytelling of the series.
- Komari second for most of the reasons people would put her first.
- Kurugaya third because KURUGAYA ISN’T A PREQUEL TO REFRAIN DAMMIT. I want people to enjoy it on it’s own, and I want the impact to linger with people for the time it takes for them to get from there to Refrain. I want people to think about the implications of it all and take that with them when they enter say, Kud’s route.
- Haruka’s route fourth because…
Also it works nicely since we’ve interspersed more mundane routes with more supernatural ones.
- Kud last because, it’s very dramatic and serves as good preparation for the intensity of Refrain. It also has some scenes which you can only get from previous routes; I’m pretty sure you need to do Haruka before it to get something. But most importantly, it’s good to put this last because of all the routes, fully appreciating it requires a good understanding that the world of Little Busters is very mysterious and not all is as it seems.
As for EX routes…
- Saya next because everyone’s itching to meet that new character, and it’s also not really suitable for the final route for various reasons.
- Sasami is the salami of the EX sandwich.
- For Kanata, I’ve been told by those who’ve read it that it’s a very good final route for the series, so we’ll need to take their word for it.
But yeah, this was a group decision with a bunch of Busters and Staff I collaborated with many months ago. We’re all pretty happy with the result.
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I have a suggestion for the bookclub:
I’d like to somehow salvage the discussions we’ve had prior to the Bookclub and integrate them into it. On one hand, it would be a waste to just move past them, but on the other hand, expecting everyone to read 60+ old posts every week while also keeping up with the current discussion may be asking too much. So far, I have thought of two possible solutions:
- Every topic shall be assigned a volunteer who’ll read through the previous posts and write a summary (preferrably with links).
- Those who have participated in the past discussions can go ahead and summarize their own posts in a new one.
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So, has the routemap for the Bookclub been designed in mind with players completely new to the story? I’d kind of like to play blind at the first attempt but not if the Bookclub route is “optimised” in a logical way for first-timers ( I thought the CLANNAD bookclub route was excellent - though I did play blind first before dicovering Kazamatsuri I kind of wished I’d known of the Bookclub route beforehand!).
Yep it’s definitely optimised for new readers! But you’re welcome to play in any order you want, just keep in mind the Podcast schedule if you want to join the conversation.
Generally speaking, most players will end up doing Rin1 first anyway.
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The reasoning of @Aspirety and the others who decided on the route order makes sense to me (its also very close to the order I read them in). It was definitely designed with first-time readers in mind. I would recommend using it.
Edit: ninja’d XD
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No questions just feedback to say I am HYPE. I have been waiting forever for this game to come out on Steam so I can give it a try!
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The reasoning for Haruka is that her route has the, I believe, only completely missable scene in the game. You only get that scene if you read Haruka after Kurugaya but before Kud, and it stays unviewable even after completing Refrain.
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Hmm, that’s a scene I’ve never read, though I highly doubt it’s a scene worth screwing up a route order for.
Not that I actually think this is a problematic route order, but if that’s the reasoning behind it it’s a bit weak IMO.
I both hate you and love you so much right now
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Hm. I have the all-ages of ecstasy should I play as the order that @Aspierty share? Someone recommended me to do Komari’s route
Non non! There is no English-translated version of Ecstasy. This is for the upcoming English Edition on Steam!
And like I said, you can play in whatever order you want, but I will naturally suggest the Kazamatsuri order.
Hey guys, just to give you an update on the progress of the podcast.
We’re aware that most of our readers have already finished the game by now, and discussion has taken place for all the routes, and that’s great! We appreciate all of the discussion you guys have been putting forward.
Regrettably, the podcasts have suffered numerous delays due to scheduling issues and just, life getting in the way for some of our participants. At the moment, Haruka and Kud are in editing, and Refrain is next to be recorded.
Just so as to not keep you guys in the dark, some unforeseen circumstances have come up for one of our cast, and we’re not sure how long they’ll be persisting for. Given this, we’ve decided to put the podcast recordings on hold until the situation has changed. It could be a week, it could be more than a month. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and hope you’ll continue bringing up more discussion on the remaining routes in the time we have before continuing our recording. I hope to get the Haruka and Kud podcasts out within the next two weeks.
Thank you once more for your support of the Little Busters Bookclub. I’m sure the extra wait for the remaining podcasts will be well worth it!
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