CUT/CHANGED/ADDED CONTENT VOLUME 1: Joshua's Grimm (main series)
CONTENT UP TO C.12:
Joshua was originally meant to carry a Ruger GP100 in .357 magnum called "Black Thunder" that would have had a changed hammer spring, heavily polished internals, and a heavily polished blued finish as well as a front fiber optic blade-style sight. This was changed due .357 magnum being too much power at the start for him to have. Other guns he would have had at the start were a Smith and Wesson SD9VE, a Colt SAA clone, and a P-83 Wanad. The SD9VE was also meant to have a flashlight attached to the bottom tac-rail. The PA-63 was chosen as a way to limit capacity and overall effective firepower at the start and to balance out his ranged and melee abilities.
Joshua was meant to sport a very different appearance and personality in the beginning. The original appearance was short blonde hair, blue eyes, blue denim pants, a jacket similar to Ajay's in farcry 4, and brown leather boots as well as no hat. This then changed to grey running shoes, black denim pants, short hair, light brown eyes, and a brown leather jacket as well as his ivy hat. It then evolved into the current form we know now. His personality was meant to be very crude with the first appearance than it is now, to slightly less crude with the second, until it evolved into what it is now. He also would have had a great disdain for authority in his first incarnation and butt heads more with the religious order in Lescatie to the point he was almost completely unlikeable/very problematic and would have been more of a punk adult with a high sex drive.
Originally Joshua wasn't meant to have any sort of Deja' vu upon arriving in the new world. This was changed due to him needing magic later on and a good way to tie it into the world as well as explain why he had the ability to use magic, to begin with.
Joshua wasn't meant to have fought in the Sino-American war and wasn't meant to have a relationship with Reiko at all. He was just a down-on-his-luck loser close to being evicted from his apartment due to butting heads with his neighbors almost all the time. The war made him more redeemable by showing he stood for what was right and could protect people despite leaving him with physical/mental scars.
Chapter 7 was meant to be slightly different when it came to the classroom setting. Joshua was supposed to be way more strict on High Priest Noscrim due to Noscrim ruining the atmosphere in the room with his ego and pride. Paula wasn't even meant to be there in the beginning and was added as a way to see how Lescatie's actual gunman would view a gunman from another world and open more possibilities in the story later. C.7 was also meant to be split into two chapters 2/3 of the way through but was made into one whole chapter to experiment with the site's abilities and so events felt like they flowed more easily.
Chapter 12 was very different in the beginning. Its original name was 'My Name Is Human' and starts off with Joshua reading one of his magazines leading to Luciana asking him about why his world is the way it is and Joshua's response was rather dark. He was also meant to show a great deal of cynicism towards religion in the original chapter incarnation. The name and direction were changed thanks to a question by a reader.
A scene in c.9 was very different in beta stage. When The knight asks Joshua about his weapons, the night was originally meant to pull him off the horse onto the ground and Joshua was supposed to draw his pistol in response to this aggression. Luciana was meant to break up this fight.