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StrixNebulosa posted:Kindred Spirits on the Roof is 50% off this week, in case you want to read more this month! I haven't yet read it, but it's been recced before in this thread if you like Doki Doki and want to have something similar (but without the horror elements)! Just to clarify a bit here, the similarities are generally superficial. Kindred Spirits is, first, a yuri VN (lesbian, essentially, although yuri has more meaning to it than just that), which means it isn't the dating sim thing DDLC is doing with the various girls and guy protagonist. Secondly, there's no "protagonist" character, in the sense of a self-insert that you make choices for. Nor is there routes for the various characters - Kindred Spirits is a linear story, with some choices that change effectively nothing and only unlock scenes after completing the VN. Kindred Spirits is also much, much longer than DDLC, I have 85 hours on Steam with a 100% complete file. With that said, Kindred Spirits is an exceptional work in the genre, and I would consider it one of the best. It's worth the time investment. However, while I would argue it's much better written than the generic stuff in DDLC (let's be real here, the important and well written parts of DDLC aren't the generic dating sim stuff), if you didn't like those parts, you probably won't like Kindred Spirits either. Lord Justice fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Oct 16, 2017 |
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Oct 16, 2017 20:47
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I'd second Kindred Spirits (I 100% it after someone recommended it in this thread) if you want more of the VNs parts and less horror-inducing meta gaming. It's extremely cute and perfect for getting over this game. And since you're helping other characters achieve their goals and the story is linear you're free of the ethical issues DDLC inflicts on you.  lunar detritus fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Oct 16, 2017 |
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Oct 16, 2017 20:58
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I just recently learned about deleting Monika early and then restarting the game and I'm not going to lie it legit hosed with me hard. This loving game, man.
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Oct 17, 2017 00:35
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Not to make this the visual novel thread, but are Muv Luv or If My Heart Had Wings worth playing? I saw them on Steam listed alongside DDLC and Kindred Spirits.
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Oct 17, 2017 01:04
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Not to make this the visual novel thread, but are Muv Luv or If My Heart Had Wings worth playing? I saw them on Steam listed alongside DDLC and Kindred Spirits. Muv-Luv, the original, is a decent comedy/harem anime, basically. It's generic: you're a dude in a japanese town, you have a childhood friend who nags you, your classmates are wacky girls, and you're going to date all of them and get drawn into increasingly silly events with them. There's even a sports anime arc involving lacrosse!.... it's not very good. edit: The spoilers in the next paragraph aren't really spoilers if you know anything about the trilogy / its bad spin-off anime, but on the off-chance you haven't heard of Muv-Luv, Unlimited swaps genres on you and it's really cool. Then you beat Muv-Luv, and unlock Muv-Luv Unlimited, which has the dude wake up in his home...and it's all been destroyed. He walks through the ruins, finds a military base, and discovers that humanity is fighting a war with invading aliens. The girls you all dated? They're now soldiers. You now get a military comedy as the protagonist goes through training, learns about how bad things are, and, yes, romances the girls again. ... Oh, and his childhood friend is missing from this universe. It's a mystery! When you're done with that, you finally get to play Muv-Luv Alternative, which ditches the comedy almost entirely, goes completely in on the premise of Unlimited, and is probably one of the finest visual novels out there, barring some decidedly stupid decisions from the writers. But most of it is really good, and I highly recommend it. Bring a box of tissues, though! Note: I read the trilogy quite a few years back, with the, er, not great unofficial translation. I'm told the one on steam is way, way better, so you'd be having a superior experience to the one I had! As for the Heart with wings game, I haven't read it, but I hear the translation is not great, so, well.  e2: Oh right I should probably warn you - Muv-Luv has a porn patch. The smut isn't a big part of the game, but, welp, I hate visual novels and how it feels like most of them have porn in them, regardless of if it adds anything. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Oct 17, 2017 |
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Oct 17, 2017 01:17
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if my heart had wings is basically what this game was pretending to be, just replace the cool poetry with a shitton of talk about gliders like, it's competent enough and has some cool/cute moments, but even on a prose level it's incredibly inferior. also apparently the translation rewrote an entire route basically from scratch, which is v. lol? i got bored after one and a half routes. play Kindred Spirits instead unless you're desperately jonesing for an okay-ish slice of life high school romance
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Oct 17, 2017 01:32
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This was a good one, well-written for the most part and plenty creepy. The jumpscares were tacky but overall definitely a worthwhile ~4 hours and clearly had a lot of effort put into it by the creator. Its premise is totally stolen from Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, though.
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Oct 17, 2017 01:59
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I wish they could have explored Natsuki a bit more, the fact that she's starved and beaten by her dad because of her preferences and the corruption from Monika's manipulation could have really made for darker stuff, I'm glad all she does is barf though Muv-Luv is incredible and barring the stupid sex scenes, is a great experience when you play it completely blind, I'm curious to see how the official translation is though, so maybe I'll jump on the boat again. I really hope they bring everything else from that franchise to Steam. CHOMP! 
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Oct 17, 2017 03:24
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Not to make this the visual novel thread, but are Muv Luv or If My Heart Had Wings worth playing? I saw them on Steam listed alongside DDLC and Kindred Spirits. There is a Visual Novel thread. I'm a big fan of Muv Luv, but if you had issues with the opening portion of Doki Doki, you'll really struggle with Muv Luv Extra.
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Oct 17, 2017 08:24
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PhantomPayne posted:I wish they could have explored Natsuki a bit more, the fact that she's starved and beaten by her dad because of her preferences and the corruption from Monika's manipulation could have really made for darker stuff, I'm glad all she does is barf though I didn't actually do her route (I'm a Yuri gal myself) and I don't want to restart the game just to do Natsuki because I'm a weirdo and don't want to put her through all that torture again but is Natsuki super gay or something? I know her dad beats her and doesn't feed her but in the routes I went through it was never stated why and I'd kind of like to know since I did get that vibe off her a little
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Oct 17, 2017 16:52
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I doubt it since she says straight out that her dad wouldn’t approve of her having boys over to her house. He either really hates anime (since he doesn’t allow that either) or is more likely just an abusive drunk or something.
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Oct 17, 2017 17:07
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I think my only complaint about this game is that it has completely hosed up my Steam recommendations.
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Oct 17, 2017 17:46
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DrNutt posted:I think my only complaint about this game is that it has completely hosed up my Steam recommendations. Go into your account preferences and you can select tags to filter out (visual novel, dating sim), and also exclude "nudity or sexual content" titles. That will wipe out about 90% of them.
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Oct 18, 2017 18:55
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Slickdrac posted:Go into your account preferences and you can select tags to filter out (visual novel, dating sim), and also exclude "nudity or sexual content" titles. That will wipe out about 90% of them. This is great info. But. Wow. You can only choose to filter out up to three tags? Yowzers, Steam.
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Oct 18, 2017 19:04
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Just finished it last night and, while we're on Monika talk and the Meta-narrative, Monika is such an interesting way to write a cosmic horror protagonist. I'm really into the meta stuff too, although the talk about how this was probably set up to be a story where the protagonist was supposed to "fix" the different girls' neuroses and issues before going way off the rails is interesting and something that didn't really hit me at first. I haven't played a lot of VNs before this either so . I'm a sucker for atmosphere and tone too, and I actually got scared, or at least unsettled! Some of the effects are kind of goofy though, yeah. The blood spurt effects or that bit where Natsuki's eyes pop off reminded me of an Aqua Teen Hunger Force gag. The glitchy stuff was pretty great, but I think they're made better with the music or sound effects. I kinda regret my headphones dying and not being able to use them for this  Pollyanna's talk about modding ethics is really interesting too, and I think looking at your thought process laid out like that is a good example of how this game can effect you more than one would initially think. idk I didn't get much sleep so I feel like so I can't articulate good at the moment.
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Oct 20, 2017 04:33
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I marathoned the entire game in almost one sitting, yesterday, too. Sayori's very real description of depression, as far as I understand it, certainly made it hit a bit closer than I expected. The Protagonist being the most... on point at handling that in the exact wrong way I would expect people to, was some damned good writing that I can't say I expected. The first time it came up was also the only time I went "yeah, okay, I need a bit of a break here." After that, a lot of the second half at the time seemed like it was sorta trying a bit too hard at first, but once I hit the "weekend" event with Yuri's decaying corpse, that was something I sure didn't expect. I noticed that the Skip option was available and that the, uh, dialogue was looping so I twigged what was going on there. I really wished there was more in the second "chapter" with Natsuki since her entire plot arc involving being a victim of abuse and a clear inferiority complex came off more like a weird half-finished after-thought, which is pretty disappointing. I wasn't super into Monika's whole thing so that any future updates are just gonna be more of that is kinda bleh. The Monika Zone conversations were fun for a while, but the long gaps of nothing between them, while clearly part of the point, just made it feel really boring. I did like that there was a bunch of unique interactions available there at least, but that the only way to progress was spelt out so clearly really kinda ruined the moment. I get that it was necessary so people could get to the final part of the game, but the Monika-free redo of chapter 1 made it seem like there was nothing special about Monika herself and that the Literature Club President just has those abilities which... almost kinda ruins the previous stuff? At least to me anyway. It also sorta felt more like a bonus easter egg scenario for replays rather than the actual ending, but then everything went static-y, Monika had voice acting and Your Reality happened. That was probably the coolest and most unexpected part of the second half by far and certainly the most memorable overall. A bittersweet ending was expected in some way, but not quite like that. I dunno, maybe I just missed something at some point. Not really gonna start again from scratch to try other stuff though. It won't take overly long, but it'd be super tedious for what I would expect to be not much different.
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Oct 20, 2017 05:23
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I thought the reveal of Sayori gaining the President's powers was interesting because it implies the other characters are less "fake" than Monika thinks. Her experience of seeing beyond the game make everything inside feel so fake and flat to her that she dehumanized her friends, even though they still clearly have their own inner lives that the programming of the game violates. I can't believe I forgot to mention that I really loved the Just Monika bit too. It wasn't "scary" but I did think it was entertaining in an "Ahh, you! You scamp!" kind of way that you feel towards some antagonists. I can see where you're coming from with Monika's room, though. I deleted her file after the first bit of silence and I didn't get to see everything, unfortunately. I hate that these all look like CIA documents, so, who's style of poetry did everyone like best? They all do a pretty decent job of showcasing different styles, but I lean more towards either Natsuki's or Monika's. 
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Oct 20, 2017 05:41
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BaDandy posted:I thought the reveal of Sayori gaining the President's powers was interesting because it implies the other characters are less "fake" than Monika thinks. Or it implies that Monika is more fake than she thinks.
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Oct 20, 2017 05:51
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The game wasn't really great about keeping track of the CG scenes I managed to watch, but youtubing the "best" ending, at least there wasn't much I missed. What happens if you split your 20 nouns exactly 50/50 between two girls? Shame that (aside from deleting Monika early) the game doesn't bother to keep track of the .chr files state. I tried to save and restore them as they get deleted - no reaction. So, there's no way to figure out Natsuki's deal?
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Oct 20, 2017 22:58
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One of my friends told me about this. She's the sort of person that has played every Sakura game on Steam, so I ignored her until I saw a thread on SA and decided okay, now I needed to see what the deal is. Hours later 
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Oct 20, 2017 23:00
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DrNutt posted:I think my only complaint about this game is that it has completely hosed up my Steam recommendations. Yeah I downloaded the game off their website specifically to avoid this. I will not reveal my anime shame to others
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Oct 20, 2017 23:08
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Heaven Spacey posted:Yeah I downloaded the game off their website specifically to avoid this. I will not reveal my anime shame to others Your anime shame is not being proud of it.  I have to say, as someone who recently had to deal with it, this is probably one of the better representations of self-harm and depression I've seen in a game. Which is... Bizarre, on so many levels.
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Oct 20, 2017 23:15
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Xander77 posted:So, there's no way to figure out Natsuki's deal? Not specifically in-game but special poem 9 (which was PROBABLY written by her) and in-game text alludes that she has an abusive father/family.
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Oct 20, 2017 23:15
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Cuntellectual posted:Your anime shame is not being proud of it. Yeah I’d normally expect a metatextual work to be more irreverent than this was.
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Oct 20, 2017 23:19
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Xander77 posted:The game wasn't really great about keeping track of the CG scenes I managed to watch, but youtubing the "best" ending, at least there wasn't much I missed. iirc who you show your poem to first would function as a tiebreaker.
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Oct 20, 2017 23:21
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Xander77 posted:What happens if you split your 20 nouns exactly 50/50 between two girls? Each word is worth 3 invisible points to one of the girls, 2 to another, and 1 to the third. I don't know if it's completely impossible to get an exact even split, but it should be pretty tough.
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Oct 20, 2017 23:21
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Roar posted:Not specifically in-game but special poem 9 (which was PROBABLY written by her) and in-game text alludes that she has an abusive father/family. There's also a bit from Monika in Act 2 where she explicitly tells you that Natsuki's dad doesn't feed her or leave her any lunch money, which is what Monika thinks is the cause of Natsuki's small size.
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Oct 20, 2017 23:26
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ChaosArgate posted:There's also a bit from Monika in Act 2 where she explicitly tells you that Natsuki's dad doesn't feed her or leave her any lunch money, which is what Monika thinks is the cause of Natsuki's small size. It's weird because going off the poem in the game files, CAN YOU HEAR ME.txt, I really thought Natsuki would have an eating disorder. "Into their stomach, forcing them to drown their guilt in comfort food." The other lines reference Sayori and Yuri's instabilities, and Natsuki is the only character who has anything going on with food. I feel like this had to planned at some point because of her vomiting sprite.
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Oct 20, 2017 23:31
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ChaosArgate posted:There's also a bit from Monika in Act 2 where she explicitly tells you that Natsuki's dad doesn't feed her or leave her any lunch money, which is what Monika thinks is the cause of Natsuki's small size. Monika does talk about ramping up the girl's problems to make them less likable. So "default" Natsuki likely just has a strict father who doesn't like manga. She doesn't pass out when reading manga and shares cookies with Sayori.
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Oct 21, 2017 00:19
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Zephirum posted:Yeah I’d normally expect a metatextual work to be more irreverent than this was. I was actually disappointed by the metatextual bit, just because of how overdone it feels these days. Really, all the little hints like 'being into knives' or 'really oversleeps a lot and is spacy' are like "hm, yeah, I can identify with that." Roar posted:Not specifically in-game but special poem 9 (which was PROBABLY written by her) and in-game text alludes that she has an abusive father/family. It's also heavily implied by the way she acts. Things like shying away from the male main character, talking about a place she belongs, getting weirdly apologetic/backing down at times, etc. Cuntellectual fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Oct 21, 2017 |
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Oct 21, 2017 03:20
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Does it matter which order you pursue the girls in? I went Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, and that seems to be what the game wanted, but I can't tell if I even had a choice in the first place or...  Having finished it, I know I'm supposed to think of Monika as the villain, but... I feel so bad for her. I just want all my cute friends to be happy. 
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Oct 21, 2017 04:42
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Terper posted:Or it implies that Monika is more fake than she thinks. Right. It could swing either way depending and I really like that. Cuntellectual posted:Does it matter which order you pursue the girls in? I went Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, and that seems to be what the game wanted, but I can't tell if I even had a choice in the first place or... For the first one, not that I've noticed, no. For the second thing, I can't help it either. Is it weird that as soon as I picked up that Monika was up to something, the more often I noticed more of her nonsense, like not the bits where she was manipulating everyone else or talking poo poo about the girls but the stuff like "Just Monika", or her interrupting when things got really bad like "Ahaha, wow! Okay! Time to move on!", the more endeared I was? Like she was still being a horrible person but kind of affable too. I don't know. If you consider her perspective, then I just can't fully hate her. I honestly don't think that the game wants you to hate her either, but maybe I should save that for linking to a blog post or something. edit: I think it helps a bit that she's just bad at coding. I doubt that the game going full tilt bonkers with the glitch-outs was in her plans. BaDandy fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Oct 21, 2017 |
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Oct 21, 2017 05:38
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The moment everybody's sense got turned to 11, My own loving sense got tuned to 11 to witness the hosed poo poo that was unfolding. Doki Doki Literature Club is a game of the year consideration for me this year. Holy poo poo.
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Oct 21, 2017 06:04
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Personally, I appreciated the writing for Sayori, but really identified with Yuri in act 2 - the idea of something or someone just amplifying your inherent personality traits, so that you're not in control but can still recognize the basic stimuli as coming from within your brain is terrifying af. "I have to go vomit" indeed.
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Oct 21, 2017 07:06
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Thoughts on the game now that I've fully finished it. Warning: I do go into E/N briefly when I talk about Monika, Yuri and Sayori. Wow. Like I said, I hadn't known what this was until I got into it. I hope this doesn't turn into the next Undertale, but it probably will. Oh well. The only spoiler I had going in was that someone had called Monika an "insane AI" so the actual reveal was pretty great. I'm really interested in what the next thing the devs are going to make is; There's speculation that the Portrait of Markov book that Yuri brings up will be related to it somehow? Regardless, I know I'm going to be missing the point here but I'd be kinda happy to get a sequel to this where things turn out okay and you get to help everyone with their problems. I just want my friends to enjoy reading poetry, even if I can't be a part of it.  The game does a lot of simple things that are just really, really good. There's SO MUCH foreshadowing, tons of little things that make no sense at first, but do later, on all sorts of things. I appreciated Monika being a mouthpiece for what the developers thought good horror was, and I have to agree. It didn't do a good enough job that I was feeling scared after I left my computer or anything, but the entire time I was playing I felt on edge. Despite that I never felt emotionally exhausted or too stressed, because the well being of the characters was enough to keep me invested. The streamer surprise is such a simple thing, but I don't think I've seen any game do it before. What a brilliant little trick.  E/N-gagingIt's interesting how Sayori's depression turned out to be a relatively minor plot point, but was still handled so well. It's a shame that Yuri's self-harm is put aside due to bigger problems coming up. I've dealt with depression for a lot of my life, including cutting and attempted suicide, so see a game deal with it in a pretty accurate way hit me SUPER close to home. I felt kinda uncomfortable when Yuri came to the main character's room and was caught covering her arm up after mentioning she had a knife collection and that she kept her knives sharp enough to be able to cut skin without much fuss. Yeah, that's... really close to home. Sayori hiding her depression as well as she could, but it being a losing battle where her facade started to crack is something I identified with. Monika's feeling of being utterly alone and unable to open up to anyone, as well as feeling hopeless about the world, is something else I identified with. Make fun of me if you want (I totally deserve it) but I felt genuinely sad for this fictional character, because I know what it's like too. Sayori had the symptoms of depression, but Monika had the source for me. I teared up a little just because I've never felt like I had any friends I could talk to about feeling utterly hopeless. The fact that she's really doomed on top of all that is just so heartbreaking. That said, Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri's problems might be made up by Monika. I personally think they aren't; Not only because, well, they're realistic problems for people to have, but because Monika was shown to be less than masterful at altering the game. Doing something like that seems hard. Not to mention in the eternity room she talks about some of their traits when she has no real need to lie about them. Dis-E/N-gagingCharacter thoughts: Main Character isn't really a character, of course. I'll note that I named him with my (really feminine) middle name since I completely didn't think about how the main character would be a guy, which made Monika referring to him with that name and ME with my (much more masculine) computer profile name kind of funny. Anyways. It's too bad he doesn't get to do anything. I was kind of expecting him to get into an I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream situation, where Monika kept him trapped, thinking, but unable to act because he's your viewpoint into the world. I guess he just kind of melts away and is replaced by you, which is fine, but a little disappointing. ?/10 Sayori is kinda weird. What's likable about her on the surface is that she's energetic, friendly, funny, and so on... So basically that she's a generic love interest cutout for "childhood friend that isn't a tsundere". But I mean, those are likable traits for a reason. She's such a great representation of someone with depression, but the fact she's depressed is ultimately a footnote in the greater story. If the game was just about dating mentally unwell girls, it would be a bit... Exploitative. I'd be kinda interested in it anyways. The way she reacts to having love confessed to her makes me think if it was just about that, it could still be good, though. 11/10, would futilely try to provide emotional support. Judge me harshly if you want, I totally deserve it, but I really liked Yuri both before she went crazy and after. I feel like she's THE most unrealistic nerdbait anime archetype of the cast. I mean, I've met people with prickly exteriors but soft centers, upbeat and carefree people, and diligent people with magnetic personalities ( that are also probably serial killers). Not so much shy, cute and nerdy girls. (But if any are reading this, call me?  )Anyways. There's not as much to say about her before things go crazy, but I have to say, the way she went berserk was really entertaining. The Let It Die style 'drawn face with a feature cut out and replaced with a photorealistic feature' is so creepy. I think all the best creepy moments happen with Yuri, really. Her stare as she tells Monika she should kill herself is just perfect. Also, the way the main character is stuck sitting with her decomposing corpse in a classroom. For three days. Yikes. 11/10, would get stabbed to death in the night by. Now, it might have turned out differently if I was with Natsuki in part two (I gather her head twists 360 and flies off, exorcist style) where I was with Yuri instead, but I like Natsuki. She's so blatantly the tsundere archetype, but the fact she manages to somehow end up being the MOST reasonable person in the long term is kind of great. I mean, she flips out and curses when you pick Monika over her or Yuri, but when Yuri started ranting and Natsuki said "You're uh, starting to scare me" I was thinking "well at least SOMEONE brought it up." 11/10, would vainly try to fix broken situations with. Monika. Oh, Monika, Monika, Monika... Poor girl. I think she was more conflicted about killing the others than she first let on. She didn't resort to it immediately, and she talks about how they never really had time to bond, anyways, like she was justifying it as much to herself as you. She keeps insisting that they were fake because she feels terrible about killing them. I also think they reflected her in ways; Like Sayori, Monika is depressed, in her case about how she isn't real; Like Yuri, she hates herself, but for being bound to the script and not being able to assert herself; And like Natsuki (is implied to), she feels she doesn't belong anywhere and hates her creator. She's not an insane AI, or Literal Hitler, or Anime Teenage Girl Satan. She's the protagonist of a Cthulhu Mythos book. She's been forced to discover that everything she thought she knew was a lie, that her life has no meaning, and that she has no hope. The game never explains HOW she came to discover this, either. The saddest part to me is that she's truly doomed. Unlike the other girls, she gets no happy ending. She's just stuck in the void... Forever. J̞ͥ͆͞ȗ̸̥͉͎̮̱̲͇̮̃͆͑͊̑̅͗̕s̴̥̥̦͑ͨͩ̓͐ͥt̞͓̝̾̅̽ ͖͇͍̃ͨ̀ͬM̡̜̥̹̱̬͓̫̖̈́̆̐̓̆̉̊̀͞o̵̷̖͙̠̗̘̭̮̍ͤͩ̌̎ͩͩͧn̛̩̯ͭ́ͥ̋͘͟ȉ̴͕̩̋ͭ̊͆͊̂ͬ͠k̮̯̠̗̫̼̣ͥ̂̓͑͌̓͊̂â̯̲̥͔̟̅̏̑̌̉͠ ͥ͊̉ͪ͏̳͇̠̥̪̯̖̮ ̼̣̙̍̌1̳̖̪͈̦̩ͥͅ0̴̹̒̌̉͞ ̑ͩ̄͏̞o̴͖͓̱ͣ̇͊̈ͭȕ̷̺̳̐̑ͬͥ͘t̆͛͏͍̮̮͇̗̳̳͎͢ ̨̠̙͚͇̞̳̟̗̈́̒́ͧ͂̒o̞̎ͥ̉̏ͣ̚̕f̧̽̽̋͐̈́̂ͥ͏̫̳̳ ̷̝̱͍̐̍M͔̪̦̘̰͔̀̇͆͡O̼̿ͨͩ͘N̰ͦ̈̏ͪ̒͋ͨͤ̂͢Į͔̫̲̹̹̑ͯ̽̄ͮ͋̈́͆K̶̡̳̟͔͕̗̥̹̈́ͭͤ̾̂͟Ă̡̧͈̮̩͚͈̳͚̣̎̀ ̀̒ͩ̇ͮͬ̇͐̆͏͚͇̪̗̜̠1̧̹̮̫̤̭̫̉ͩ̏ͥͧ̍ͪ̅0͍̟̗̹̠̜̫͇ͦͪ̃̄͐̇͠͠ ̲̖͓̈́̀̈͐͛ͮ̋ͯ͘F̷̨͕̠͉̦ͪͮͭͭ͑o̢̧̼̪̼̠̺̪̽͛͢ŗ̟̺͈̠̺̞͕͒̏̓̊̿̓͊̇̿͞e̟̝̥̘̗͖̰ͫ̔͟v̓ͣ̿ͭ̆͂̓͏̩̪̗̼̤̬̕͠e̳̱͔̼̞̓̔̓̇ͬ̔́ṛ͖͚̃́͆ͫ̌ͭ̓ ̸̖̥̔̃ͫ͜W̜̰͚̃ͨ͑̀͐͂̽ͮ͝͠o̺̺̝͈̤̪̒ͪ̑̽͊ͨ͆͆͝u̸ͨ̉ͯͩ̈́̑̇̏͏̣̯͓͇l̫̗̯̭̱͈̣̣͌̀d͉̭̹̈͑ͩ̌̂̐̆̕ ͂͆̉̋̑̂҉̪̱̲͙̫̜m̶̪͈̺͕̤̭̉ͫͩͥ̚͠ǒ̴͍̩̜͉̳ͦ͗̐n̼̱̱̦̝͓̈́̀̓̈̋͛̍i̷̯̗̰̞̝̤͎̐ͬͦ̆͘k͙͎̭̲͍̅̈̂a̺͙͔̙̳̙͉̐̆̑͒̔̋́̚ ̛̺̦͎̘̱͙̘̜̈ͭ͟͝M̴̳̰͆ͭ̾͛ͬ̒͛́͘ȏ̬̲͉̫̠̗̓ͨͫ̌ͯ̓̔͝n͓͕̥͎͉̓̂ͪͭ̈́̌͒̌ ̶̣̙̫̦ͥ͛ ̦̗̮̒̐ ̸̭̤̓̇̓̄̌̋ę̶͚̪̲͔̮ͤ̒̐̂̾ͣ͒ͭm̶̭̳͓̯̤̪̞̍́͗ͯ̾ͤ̿͞p̺̘̗̝̣͕̲̦͆̒̄͆å̯͔̪͓̒̏̓ͅt̷̜͙̳̟̯̙̻̓̔ͣͧ́h͚̹̱̝ͦ̿̐̿̈́̓̓̈̀i͖͖̭̪̻͎̜̎̓͠ͅz̷̸̛͍̗͔̋e͖̠̗̖̰ͪ̽ͤ͆ͧ̆̊͑ ̩̘̾̈́͑͐̀̃͡a̩̯̗͒ͮ͒ͭ̈́b̸̷͙̤̖̺ͪ̌͗̆o̷͇̤̣͓͍ͤ̍̈́ŭ̸̺͙͆̃ͤ̇̐̒ͣ͡t̛͙̗ͯͧ̓ ̤̞̠̠̻̯͎͂͛̂̇̄ͪ͋ ̩̹̼̐̓̚ ̆͗̈͆͂ͬ̃̇҉͇̖ ̧̥̜̫̳̣̻̼͋ͫ̂̈́̿̑ ̤̥̰̥̣̝͖̼̀̔͑ͯͣ̑̚ ̴̥̤͂͌̃̋ ̵̠̙̝͚͕́ͦ̓̈͌ͣͅ ̷̷̨̖̖̙̺͚͙̤ͦ͂͛ͭͦͥ̚ḭ̶̗̠̦̭̻̟̹ͨ̀͊̆͗̐ͪ̊͘k̸̖̼̺̮͕̗͂͐̄̄͗ͦ͜ ̧̅ͥͫ͗ͤ̿̌̃ͩ̀͏̬̲̹̣̞̮͕ȁ̢̳̞̼̞ͦ̇̅̍̓̿ͩ ̭̙̼͖̊̍́͟n̞͔̼̖̩̞̈̋ͨͣ͞i̓̂̔̀̈́҉͜͏̯̙̳̼̮̰h̠̲̦̯̳͖̺̋̾ͪͯ͋͌ͦ́i͙͓͇̻̖̇͞l̡̪̳̺͕͇̘̱̃͊͌̈̀ͤͤi̬̥ͧ͒ͩͤ̂ͧ͝s̻͈̣̠ͩ͋ͥ́͜ͅm͍̩̮͖̪̉̎ͪ̊͛ͯ̆̊̅̀͘͝ Edit: For some reason spoilers didn't work on this one quote. Here's how I see it. [spoiler]I think Monika knows she's fake on some level, and that fact terrifies her. She doesn't have omniscient knowledge of the game's script, but she knows there IS one, and she knows how it's 'supposed' to go. As a result, killing her friends, making you 'fall in love with her', is because she knows she's fake. Her only hope is to try and become real by making you love her back (or at least think/talk about her), because what other choice is there? Just falling into despair? It's also part of why I think she gives up in the end; Because she figures out that she has a limited script, and she can't keep it up forever. It's just a matter of time. BaDandy posted:
I talked about it a bit above, but how much of the dialogue did you read in the eternity room? (I don't know if you have to exhaust it to move on to the final act or not, sorry). When she talked about how she felt she couldn't open up to anyone and how she felt scared and alone, I wanted to hug this video game character. On the ARG stuff: God, I hope whatever all this is building up to doesn't make everything from this wonderful game seem dumb if it sucks.
Cuntellectual fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Oct 21, 2017 |
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Oct 21, 2017 07:45
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The Lets Play hit the end of act 1. The audience is taking it as well as they can I think.
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Oct 21, 2017 10:34
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Yuri, unrealistic? No. Just the cute bit, honestly, but keep in mind: she doesn't have friends until the MC comes along. But being nerdy and weird about it and anxious...? Leave out the self-harm and that was me in highschool. Still am, but I'm better at being social now. (Also I'm cute now too! )That's one of the things about this game - everyone is relatable, give or take some things. Remove their anime portraits and they could be regular people.
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Oct 21, 2017 11:26
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Cuntellectual posted:I talked about it a bit above, but how much of the dialogue did you read in the eternity room? (I don't know if you have to exhaust it to move on to the final act or not, sorry). I missed a lot of stuff, unfortunately. I deleted her data really soon because I didn't know there was going to be more and I was caught up in being mad. I heard about all of that later, though, and I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought of her as being Anime Randolph Carter. Thank you for sharing all of that, by the way. Really.  I know that I definitely fall more into the anxiety (and Yuri's) part more than I'd like, but that just made her downward spiral hit harder. I know there might be people who think that her mental illness is just being exploited for horror but...no. I'm sorry, that's not where the horror is coming from. It's from the idea that something is wrong, that something is happening to her that she can't control, and the player can't do anything to stop it, taking the idea of the original, pre-hosed with game probably being a wish-fulfillment vn where the main character swoops in and plays a boyfriend therapist, and throwing it in your face, taking away any control you or even the others might have had. The horror is from the idea that they had these issues to begin with just so you could fix them. No wonder Monika couldn't understand why she wasn't a choice; there's nothing for you to "fix" with her in the beginning. Why even have a chance with her if your character can't be her emotional crutch?If the 2018 stuff the ARG is hinting at is at this level, I'm sold.
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Oct 21, 2017 15:54
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That was ok I guess. I thought that the start was a hell of a lot stronger than the finish. It was certainly an experience. Sayori's depression leading to her suicide was really disturbing, and seeing poo poo start to go wrong afterwards was incredibly creepy. I thought it kinda went downhill after that. Everything felt like it happened too quick and I think it would have benefited from a longer length to have some more buildup between poo poo going sideways instead of just chucking spooky fonts and glitches at the player right out of the gate. A longer stretch of the game playing normally with just a few minor glitches and more fleshing out of the characters to get a bit more invested in them would have been nice and accentuated the creepy and emotional stuff a lot better. By the end of it I didn't feel all that invested despite being moved to tears and terrified at the beginning. The game started off strong and hooked me, but somehow the line snapped as they were reeling it in.
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Oct 21, 2017 16:41
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tweet my meat posted:That was ok I guess. I thought that the start was a hell of a lot stronger than the finish. It was certainly an experience. How much time did you spend with Monika?
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Oct 21, 2017 16:47
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