So I just encountered a certain scene in Steins;Gate regarding the character Luka, and I feel the need to talk about it (Spoilers)

[Dee Dee]

So weird, I never read Luka as being trans, I felt that wish to be a girl came out of their wish to have their feelings for Okabe reciprocated. They seemed quite insistent to be a boy and uncomfortable being mistaken as a girl to me in the original time line.

Which is why I really never got the love for that story line. It felt REALLY wrong to me.

 

[LiK]

And there's it is, the contractual fanservice scene of Mayuri and Kurisu in the shower.

I did in fact know about this one going in, but it is jammed into the VN very haphazardly.

Click to shrink...

It's a bit tropey.

 

[Dany1899]

As some who really likes Steins;Gate, that scene is indeed the low point of VN. However, I feel that Luka overall is a good character (even more in Steins;Gate 0). Maybe it is only my interpretation but in the true ending

Spoiler

when Okabe says "You will return a guy but nothing will change" (or something similar), maybe he implies that according to him the fact Luka is in love with him is not wrong at all

But maybe it is only my positive interpretation. Unfortunately, despite I really love visual novels, there are even worse scenes - particularly in the old ones, but sometimes also recently, for example I read negative opinions about Our World is Ended.

 

[zMiiChy-]

So weird, I never read Luka as being trans, I felt that wish to be a girl came out of their wish to have their feelings for Okabe reciprocated. They seemed quite insistent to be a boy and uncomfortable being mistaken as a girl to me in the original time line.

Which is why I really never got the love for that story line. It felt REALLY wrong to me.

Click to shrink...

That really seems to be case for the anime, at least.

 

[Korigama]

I knew I remembered hearing about something terrible from the VN
Trigger warning

That's far more depraved and unsettling than the Luka scene IMO.

Yep. Stein's;Gate is an Anime series for me - I'm going to continue ignoring the VNs.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: the segment linked

The mental deterioration that Okabe underwent as he kept repeating the same day over and over again to keep everyone safe and avoid deleting Suzuha's D-Mail while preventing the tragedy that followed if she were to use the broken time machine, resulting in forgetting entirely why he had been doing what he was before his mind started turning to such horrific thoughts, was easily the most unsettling thing concerning him in the original game even with him thankfully not acting on any of it.

There are things that the anime did better, and things the VN did better.

Spoiler: major late-game, Moeka-related spoilers

The anime screwed up in having Mr. Braun be the one to kill Moeka after he was revealed to be her boss in SERN's Rounders, FB. The whole reason why he cut her off in the original story was that in spite of his claims of not caring about her when confronted on the issue, no longer involving her was his way of protecting her since SERN would've done away with her themselves otherwise. As a result, the anime also nixed having Nae be the one to kill Moeka and torture Okabe after blaming them for her father ending his own life, the Nae of that world line having been taken over by a psychotic future version of herself who became a Rounder herself and had already killed future Okabe. The Psycho Nae story had also served to demonstrate what could potentially happen to someone who Time Leaped too many times and/or too far back, the possibility of consequences for such things having only been alluded to earlier.

For another part of the story,

Spoiler: Faris-related

the anime skipped over the major Rai-Net tournament and omitted that edgelord Shido whom Faris played and won against, who had also been the one who sent his goons after her and Okabe before catching up with them. No dust explosion in the ramen shop was also disappointing.

I would also say that

Spoiler: Luka-related

the later parts devoted to Luka and her D-Mail were generally handled better and significantly less rushed than in the anime. The anime also completely dropped having Luka hide the fact that she had accidentally damaged the IBN at the shrine while cleaning out of fear that Okabe would hate her for it.

More minor nitpick,

Spoiler

no technovision playing during the scene when Okabe was running away from the Rounders with Mayuri was also lame.

That said, something the anime did better was

Spoiler: Kurisu-related, mid and late-game spoilers

getting rid of the moral ambiguity that Kurisu had occasionally displayed in the original VN. It had always bothered me how she had suggested that Okabe coerce Luka into telling him her mother's pager number if he had to, concluding that it wouldn't be an issue since she wouldn't remember once the D-Mail was undone (even though it was already demonstrated in the story and would continue to be that memories of things undone by Time Leaps and shifting world lines still came back eventually). This made even less sense after how upset she was with Okabe for grabbing Luka before that. By comparison, the suggestion that Okabe be prepared to kill Moeka if he had to after being informed of what she had done on other world lines bothered me less, but both moments were still at odds with the rest of Kurisu's characterization.

And though unrelated to those points, I did prefer how they ditched having her call Okabe a "motherfucker" upon getting upset when he insisted that he could find a way to save both her and Mayuri after she had already accepted that him giving her up was the only way Mayuri would live.

And honestly,

Spoiler: true ending

I felt significantly less bitter about Kurisu officially ending up with Okabe as a result of the anime having done significantly better to make such a pairing more plausible thanks to how much focus the two of them received together throughout its version of the story.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

Shit has just hit the mother fucking fan, and my interest is reinvigorated.

Spoiler

:'( Mayuriiiiiiiiii
Fuck me, fate just really hates her :'(
It just gets worse and worse.

Hopefully the rest of the game/VN doesn't have anything so bad as the thing I made this thread about.

 

[Hakunon]

My perception might be wrong since I watched the anime 8 years ago and I'm reading the VN in Japanese only now but the "but he's a man!!!" thing felt more pronounced in the VN and made think less of S;G in general and I'm not looking forward to the route.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

HOLD UP
HOLD UP

I got the ending Irreversible reboot.
And it is very unsatisfying.
Can someone push me in a more satisfying direction?!
Seriously, at least with 999 and VLR I had a timeline to look at.
I feel blind.

 

[Dany1899]

HOLD UP
HOLD UP

I got the ending Irreversible reboot.
And it is very unsatisfying.
Can someone push me in a more satisfying direction?!
Seriously, at least with 999 and VLR I had a timeline to look at.
I feel blind.

Click to shrink...

In Steins;Gate there are some characters ending (like the one you got now) which basically depend only on one choice. On the other hand, getting the true ending can be particularly difficult because it depends on multiple choices you make during the whole game. I work suggest you to have a lookup at a flowchart you an easily find on Google, that is also easier to understand than a simple walkthrough.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

In Steins;Gate there are some characters ending (like the one you got now) which basically depend only on one choice. On the other hand, getting the true ending can be particularly difficult because it depends on multiple choices you make during the whole game. I work suggest you to have a lookup at a flowchart you an easily find on Google, that is also easier to understand than a simple walkthrough.

Click to shrink...

Do you have any recommendations on where I should go from here?
The story just kinda slammed on the breaks, it nearly feels like a bad ending.

999 and VLR leave you with a sense of curiosity.
Here I just feel kinda empty.

 

[Dany1899]

Do you have any recommendations on where I should go from here?
The story just kinda slammed on the breaks, it nearly feels like a bad ending.

999 and VLR leave you with a sense of curiosity.
Here I just feel kinda empty.

Click to shrink...

Are you in Chapter 6, am I right? If so,

Spoiler

did you send the DMail?

Anyway I put under the next spoiler the link for a flowchart that is spoiler-free, since it has just sentences and choices that are out of context:

Spoiler

https://jiangcsim2016.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/steinsgate-flowchart1.pdf

 

[Oreiller]

HOLD UP
HOLD UP

I got the ending Irreversible reboot.
And it is very unsatisfying.
Can someone push me in a more satisfying direction?!
Seriously, at least with 999 and VLR I had a timeline to look at.
I feel blind.

Click to shrink...

I don't remember the specifics but you got this ending because of a specific choice you made. Just reload a previous save and make a different choice when your phone comes up.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

Are you in Chapter 6, am I right? If so,

Spoiler

did you send the DMail?

Anyway I put under the next spoiler the link for a flowchart that is spoiler-free, since it has just sentences and choices that are out of context:

Spoiler

https://jiangcsim2016.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/steinsgate-flowchart1.pdf

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

I don't think I did, Okabe just panicked and secluded himself in a timeloop, unless you are referring to the point where I sent one earlier in the story to go find Suzuha

And thank you for the guide.
Thank god the skip speed is godly.

 

[Dany1899]

Spoiler

I don't think I did, Okabe just panicked and secluded himself in a timeloop, unless you are referring to the point where I sent one earlier in the story to go find Suzuha

And thank you for the guide.
Thank god the skip speed is godly.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

That D-Mail is part of the story,because this way Suzuha doesn't use the time machine. But later you should send another D-Mail involving Suzuha. If you don't do that, Okabe enters into that mad timeloop - that is Suzuha's ending

The guide will be essential for your last play though when you want to reach the true ending, while almost all the other endings involve only

Spoiler

sending a D-Mail or not

In those cases, to continue with the main storyline, you just have to change your last decisions.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

Spoiler

That D-Mail is part of the story,because this way Suzuha doesn't use the time machine. But later you should send another D-Mail involving Suzuha. If you don't do that, Okabe enters into that mad timeloop - that is Suzuha's ending

The guide will be essential for your last play though when you want to reach the true ending, while almost all the other endings involve only

Spoiler

sending a D-Mail or not

In those cases, to continue with the main storyline, you just have to change your last decisions.

Click to shrink...

I recall I answered every single phonecall, without fail.
Because that's what I do in real life, it's unlike me to ignore someone.

Spoiler

Was I meant to get the option to send a Dmail to call off the search for suzuha? Because I was planning to, but then Okabe was like "Fuck, I can't do it."

 

[Dany1899]

I recall I answered every single phonecall, without fail.
Because that's what I do in real life, it's unlike me to ignore someone.

Spoiler

Was I meant to get the option to send a Dmail to call off the search for suzuha? Because I was planning to, but then Okabe was like "Fuck, I can't do it."

Click to shrink...

Yes, that is the moment which made you get that ending. You have to send it to continue the story. Elite makes easier to identify these critical moments. But also in the old VN, you just have to send it before Okabe decides otherwise.

 

[Strings]

By the end, they actually treat that aspect of the story surprisingly well, but yeah, I did cringe when what you're describing happened (as I do whenever that sort of shit happens in anime).

 

[Deleted member 48434]

Yes, that is the moment which made you get that ending. You have to send it to continue the story. Elite makes easier to identify these critical moments. But also in the old VN, you just have to send it before Okabe decides otherwise.

Click to shrink...

Oh wow, that's irritating. I hate it when VNs put a hidden time limit on something, the house in Fata Morgana was awful about that.

Spoiler

I just saw what happens to mayuri in the event you call Luka in chap 6 thanks to that flow chart. Holy fucking shit.

 

[Weltall Zero]

(and the early game scenes where Okabe intentionally misgenders Luka)

Click to shrink...

The weird thing about it is, Okabe doesn't technically misgender Luka because in the main timeline, Luka identifies as male, which is in turn even weirder because Luka expresses the wish of having been born as a female. It's like SG happens in an alternate world where transgender people don't exist, as a concept, which to be fair might as well be the case for ten-years-ago Japan in terms of public opinion.

Surreal as it might sound, I think SG was almost kind of progressive for its time and place, and some of its blunders seem borne out of ignorance rather than malice. I get similar vibes from it than Persona 4's Kanji, like the author is fumbling its way through concepts they haven't had any contact with before. I feel ambivalent towards that, especially as opposed to the rest of their contemporary anime and Japanese games either pretending LGBT people don't exist or stereotyping the fuck out of them.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

So, now that I've hit chapter 7, and have the spoiler free flowchart in my hand, I have just only one more question.
From what I can tell from the flowchart, I've missed the first true ending flag, meaning I've missed all of them.

Should I head onwards, and then then aim to get the flags after I've gotten every other ending?
Or should I go back, and make sure I pick them up as I go along?
Dany1899 ?

 

[Dany1899]

So, now that I've hit chapter 7, and have the spoiler free flowchart in my hand, I have just only one more question.
From what I can tell from the flowchart, I've missed the first true ending flag, meaning I've missed all of them.

Should I head onwards, and then then aim to get the flags after I've gotten every other ending?
Or should I go back, and make sure I pick them up as I go along?
Dany1899 ?

Click to shrink...

Yes, I suggest you to head onwards getting all the characters ending plus the alternative final ending that you can get only if you have 0 true ending flags