Little Busters! English Edition True Route?

[Phantom]

Hello. 

So I recently got myself a copy of Little Busters! English Edition which I've been playing. I've just finished 'Rin1' from what I found out. I wanted to know if there is a route / girl that is considered the 'true' route or 'canon' romance to the story with no spoilers. Is refrain the true ending? I'm a bit confused about it. 

Really enjoying the game at the moment, glad it got fully translated! 

Thanks!

 

[Kenshin_sama]

If nothing else, I suppose Rin would be the closest to the game's true heroine, but I wouldn't say she's the de facto romance canon. Refrain would be Little Busters' true route, and is mostly centered on friendship (I don't remember there being any romance). There are 3 bonus routes that unlock after Refrain which are now available for the first time with the Steam version.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it. Little Busters is my favorite VN! Make sure you have a couple tissue boxes ready when you get to Refrain.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Kenshin_sama

[Phantom]

20 minutes ago, Kenshin_sama said:

If nothing else, I suppose Rin would be the closest to the game's true heroine, but I wouldn't say she's the de facto romance canon. Refrain would be Little Busters' true route, and is mostly centered on friendship (I don't remember there being any romance). There are 3 bonus routes that unlock after Refrain which are now available for the first time with the Steam version.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it. Little Busters is my favorite VN! Make sure you have a couple tissue boxes ready when you get to Refrain.

Thanks for this!

[Okarin]

Yeah, also there's a second route for Rin codenamed "Rin 2". It has some requirements, you're better off picking up a guide if you want to enjoy it to the fullest.

[Phantom]

15 minutes ago, Okarin said:

Yeah, also there's a second route for Rin codenamed "Rin 2". It has some requirements, you're better off picking up a guide if you want to enjoy it to the fullest.

Do any of the routes go into refrain or is it completely separate?

E.g. Does Rin 2 continue to refrain?

[Okarin]

4 minutes ago, Phantom said:

Do any of the routes go into refrain or is it completely separate?

E.g. Does Rin 2 continue to refrain?

You've got to clear all routes before going into Refrain, that in this case is Rin1, Rin2, Komari, Mio, Kud, Kurugaya, Haruka, Kanata, Saya and Sasami. A mountain of reading, certainly.

Beware that I only played the base version, without the 3 extra routes, but I don't think that they'll allow to leave them by the wayside. Refrain is the true route for a reason :3

With a guide you will quickly tell this kind of thing.

Enjoy.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Okarin

[Mr Poltroon]

11 minutes ago, Okarin said:

You've got to clear all routes before going into Refrain, that in this case is Rin1, Rin2, Komari, Mio, Kud, Kurugaya, Haruka, Kanata, Saya and Sasami. A mountain of reading, certainly.

Beware that I only played the base version, without the 3 extra routes, but I don't think that they'll allow to leave them by the wayside. Refrain is the true route for a reason :3

With a guide you will quickly tell this kind of thing.

Enjoy.

The new three routes (Kanata, Saya and Sasami) allegedly unlock after Refrain, for clarification.

[Okarin]

Just now, Mr Poltroon said:

The new three routes (Kanata, Saya and Sasami) allegedly unlock after Refrain, for clarification.

Um, yes, now that you say it I remember something like that.

[Kenshin_sama]

Sheesh, I already said the 3 EX routes unlock after Refrain.

I heard they spoil Refrain too, so it probably wouldn't make sense to read them first.

[Okarin]

They actually look more interesting now.

[Phantom]

1 hour ago, Okarin said:

You've got to clear all routes before going into Refrain, that in this case is Rin1, Rin2, Komari, Mio, Kud, Kurugaya, Haruka, Kanata, Saya and Sasami. A mountain of reading, certainly.

Beware that I only played the base version, without the 3 extra routes, but I don't think that they'll allow to leave them by the wayside. Refrain is the true route for a reason :3

With a guide you will quickly tell this kind of thing.

Enjoy.

Thanks for the tip!

Does Refrain continue from any of the routes beforehand? (Is it related to any other route in the game or is it a standalone route?)

Edited November 11, 2017 by Phantom
New comment

[Okarin]

19 minutes ago, Phantom said:

Does Refrain continue from any of the routes beforehand?

Refrain ties the whole game together, and it's centered around the classic lineup of the Little Busters (Riki, Kyousuke, Masato, Kengo and Rin). If you look at the game's structure when you have finished it, the girls' routes are separate from the core, but there's a certain girl that makes a noteworthy appearance in Refrain. There are no argumental ties between the pre-Refrain routes and it, with the general exception of Rin.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Okarin

[Kenshin_sama]

2 minutes ago, Okarin said:

the girls' routes are separate from the core

Not necessarily. Their stories do tie in with Refrain, so I don't think it's fair to say they're separate.

Major Refrain spoilers

Like with how their situations are based on unfulfilled experiences in the real world, and how solving those problems help Naoe become emotionally stronger so that he and Rin could save everybody in the real world.

[Okarin]

Yes, there is that, but apart from one case (and of course Rin since she's central to the story) I don't remember that they appear in Refrain, and the contents of their respective routes aren't referenced in it.

The routes are not pointless but they're not essential for the core story.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Okarin

[Silvz]

I'm saying this without actually having read LB, but knowing a little about it, as I want to play it for some time.

Starting from Clannad, Key games have individual routes for the characters and then, after you clear them all, you get the true route. It was like this in Clannad, LB and Rewrite, with After Story, Refrain and Terra respectively.

So yeah, read every route you have available now. Follow a guide, because Key games have many silly choices that affect the game, so playing it blind won't work well.

Then, after reading all possible routes, you'll have Refrain, which will "close" the story.

As for the extra routes, I didn't know about them before this thread.

[Stormwolf]

Kurugaya route also ends after refrain if i'm not mistaken.

[Phantom]

Spoiler

It sounds like the first routes take place in a different timeline completely and then Refrain is the true ending of Little Busters. (I was hoping Rin was a canon romance in Refrain and after or something because I liked her character but that's cool; 'just a bit more sugar on the cake' when a canon romance I like is there I think xD.)

Anyway thanks again everyone will be following a guide from now on because there are so many choices in this game. Going to continue on tomorrow!

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by Phantom
Possible Spoiler

[Silvz]

1 minute ago, Phantom said:

Spoiler

 

It sounds like the first routes take place in a different timeline completely and then Refrain is the true ending of Little Busters.

(I was hoping Rin was a canon romance in Refrain and after or something because I liked her character but that's cool; 'just a bit more sugar on the cake' when a canon romance I like is there I think xD.)

 

Anyway thanks again everyone will be following a guide from now on because there are so many choices in this game. Going to continue on tomorrow!

 

this should be in a spoiler tag!

[Phantom]

Spoiler

I changed it, didn't consider it a spoiler as most visual novel routes are in different timelines. Also the Rin comment I guess? :S My bad.

23 minutes ago, Silvz said:

this should be in a spoiler tag!

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by Phantom
Possible Spoiler

[Kenshin_sama]

28 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

Kurugaya route also ends after refrain if i'm not mistaken.

You're thinking of the true ending for her route. The regular ending still takes place before Refrain.

[Okarin]

1 hour ago, Phantom said:

  Hide contents

It sounds like the first routes take place in a different timeline completely and then Refrain is the true ending of Little Busters. (I was hoping Rin was a canon romance in Refrain and after or something because I liked her character but that's cool; 'just a bit more sugar on the cake' when a canon romance I like is there I think xD.)

 

If you ask me, Rin is the central heroine because the game revolves around her that much (you'll understand when you play through Refrain and arrive at the answers). Especially in Refrain. The other routes (which apparently you haven't tried yet) contain romance but separate from the main story, for me Rin is always canon (because basically Riki can't have a harem, can he? Though that's not stated anywhere, plus you have this Kud "Wafter" game that's currently untranslated and serves as your regular Key after-story). She is the only girl in the Little Busters' original lineup and has known Riki since forever, so there's that. The other girls are just recruited by Riki for the baseball team.

All of this is odd, but you'll get it eventually after completing the game because everything gets explained and falls into place.

[Stormwolf]

But honestly, you shouldnt treat the additional routes as more true than any others. It's way easier for a lazy team to add some separate additions to the end of the story than to weave in multiple stories mid way, and that's likely all it is.

[Phantom]

1 hour ago, Stormwolf said:

But honestly, you shouldnt treat the additional routes as more true than any others. It's way easier for a lazy team to add some separate additions to the end of the story than to weave in multiple stories mid way, and that's likely all it is.

I really just consider it many different timelines where all cases happen in different worlds. I personally like that way of thinking but obviously people will have their favorite 'world' out of them all. I haven't played all routes yet so I'm going to keep my judgement on hold until then but I like Rin for the most part next to Komari which I'm going to start next.

[Phantom]

Spoiler

Just as a quick note, the wiki mentions rin and riki as boyfriend and girlfriend and I saw another website saying rin 2 is the prologue to refrain. (Guessing these 'loops' end from rin 2 to refrain.)