#like the player would probably have to be someone who just find the route interesting rather than one like. outright malicious like some

[holydramon]

time loop fic where snowgrave happened (probably multiple times) and noelle can remember the resets and that it happened but instead of being too angsty it’s actually a comedy with noelle just doing every weird thing she can think of to throw off the story to try and keep the player entertained without killing people

[midnight-bay-if]

Hey! I didn't have time before, so I've only now read the newest chapter, and damn... it was my first time meeting Umbra in the story (as I didn't take the path allowing that in the previous content), and I loved that scene so much! I never expected the "book reveal" at the end. It's interesting how despite me not realizing it before, Umbra seems to be the exact kind of character I usually like to romance in games. To be honest, if Taj wasn't so amazing, I could have been tempted to go for Umbra. Though to be fair, I love all the ROs (I'm a "one canon playthrough" player, so I normally don't go for more than one "route" in IF, hence me actually having to commit to a choice).

Also, Rain and S teasing Taj about their "crush" was so unexpected and funny to me.

That aside, I have two pretty random questions. - First one is, how much would Alek approve of each of the ROs? Either his opinion on each or just a ranking, I'm fine with both. Assuming Alek is like a second father to the MC when it comes to their relationship, if it changes things. - Second is a bit longer… What do the ROs think of a very nice and sweet MC who is an ultimate people-pleaser (as per that one choice at the beginning, about a flaw the MC has)? Like for example, my MC was dead tired but still went to the diner just cause Rue asked. And then he agreed to the "date" with Hunter (what could go wrong?…) just because he clearly can't help himself from caving when someone asks him basically anything, even if he doesn't want to do it. Which is obviously bad when it reaches such levels.

Hi! I’m glad you enjoyed that scene with Umbra. I tried to make it a good scene regardless of whether it was the first time you met Umbra or the second. With my indecisive mind being the way it is, my mind will probably change about another ten times before the end, but I will just keep rolling with it, haha. If it’s any consolation, you could always buddy up with Umbra instead.

I had great fun writing the scene with the team from their POV. It makes me excited to get them all in one room and let chaos commence.

As for your questions… well…

To be honest, Alek isn’t going to approve of any of the ROs for a long time. Alek really wants MC to lead a normal, with a reasonable level of excitement, life. All of the ROs are dangerous and lead dangerous lives. Alek would much prefer they all kept their distance. However, when things start happening, and the danger levels rise, Alek’s opinion may shift. Some shift quicker than others.

Overall, Alek will probably approve of S the most. For obvious reasons. They are human, for a start. They are also smart, and they can rely on S to navigate any given situation, putting you in the most advantageous position.

Next would be Rain. On the surface level, they seem to be well put together, kind, generous… all good traits. Probably not as strong as Alek would like (Rain is somewhat deceptive in this way. They look and act weaker than they), but Alek feels they could trust Rain to protect you emotionally, at least.

Taj and Umbra are pretty close. Alek’s first impression of Taj was less than favourable, and that is a difficult image to wipe away. He also witnessed Taj’s harshness towards you in particular, so his hackles are well and truly up. Umbra’s is a little more personal, and I can’t really say more without spoilers, but obviously, both Alek and Umbra have been around since MC’s childhood, so that should provide some clue.

N is last, and this should come as a surprise to nobody, lol. N is going to have to grovel at Alek’s feet to ever get him to approve of the relationship.

As for the second question…

S: They think it’s a trait deserving of nurture. They want you to keep your kindness since it’s much more valuable than people give credit for, whilst also giving you permission to find your assertiveness. There are people who would take advantage of such a trait if exposed, and S has no qualms about backing you up when this happens. If you can’t stand up for yourself, they at least want you to trust them enough to do it for you.

Rain: You might find that you have more in common with Rain than you think. Rain has a hard time saying “no” to anything. Their fear of conflict in others leads them to go to extreme lengths to maintain the peace and keep people happy. Maybe together, you could agree to be the other one's advocate if you can’t find it in yourself to be your own.

Taj: At first, Taj doesn’t trust it. They have this image in their head of what humans should be like, what they are always like. S has already tested the bounds of their preconceptions, but since S is just one person, it was easy enough to rule them an outlier. Once Taj realises this is real and you have gained their trust, they become fiercely protective. They will still rib you repeatedly, coaxing you to stand up for yourself. But when push comes to shove, they will be the first to stand in front of you if someone goes too far.

N: N doesn’t understand it at first. They think it is a weakness to exploit. If you can’t say “no”, you certainly won’t say “no” to them. But later, when they see how it affects you, the strain it places on you, they feel something close to regret. Eventually, they come to the conclusion that, actually, you might just be the strongest person they have ever met.

Umbra: There isn’t a single version of MC Umbra doesn’t love (whether platonic or romantic). However, an MC who struggles to navigate their own agency will find Umbra hovering a little closer. Words are difficult, but they are pretty good at looking ominous or menacing when required.

[longbobmckenzie]

Things I'd do...

... if I were a Fusebox writer. Fusebox, if you're reading this, feel free to take these into consideration. I know you won't though because it would require more work on your part.

(note: this ended up being a lot longer than I expected, but I probably should have expected that)

5 girls, 5 boys

Let's go back to the early seasons when we started off with a full lineup of 5 couples to start off with. Like I said, this means more work, more characters. But it also allows for...

More unromanceable characters

Hear me out. The last truly unromanceable male character was... Toby? I think? But for the most part, all the male characters from S6-S9 are available in some way (even if it's only at the finale/reunion, which is really just a copout from FB because they don't want to branch routes but still want to be able to say that everyone's romanceable).

Here's the thing. Everyone wants to romance their favourite characters, nobody wants to meet a character and really love them only to find out you can't have them. Trust me, I've been there. But it's also not the end of the world, and it means you can read/write fanfics for that character, pine for them from afar, etc etc. Maybe it's my sadism talking, but it kind of makes things more interesting in a way? To me it's kinda boring to have all these guys in the villa who would get with me at the drop of a hat (obviously excepting the slow burn LIs).

But the thing about unromanceable characters is that you NEED them in order to write a realistic season with distinct characters who aren't just interchangeable with one another based on MC's choices. Those characters can help drive the plot, they can have canon storylines, they can be friends, they don't have to share dialogue, etc etc.

First coupling

So with those first 2 points out of the way, here's what I'd like for the first coupling:

Of the 5 guys, 1 is completely unavailable to be chosen, and another is not an endgame LI. Think Noah and Rocco in S2 - one can't be coupled up with but is still a slow burn LI, the other CAN be coupled up with but is always going to be dumped. I think this formula from S2 works so well because it still means you have 3 OG guys to be endgame LIs but also allows for the other 2 to be part of fixed plots.

I want the boys to choose instead of the girls. HOW HAS THIS NOT BEEN DONE YET?!?!?! On the show, the girls only picked on day 1 for the first... 1 or 2 seasons? and then it was always boys choosing until they started messing around with other options. But this could work SO WELL for the game! MC has the choice for each guy to step forward or not. If she steps forward for the unromanceable guy, he picks someone else. If she doesn't step forward for someone, he won't pick her. If she steps forward, gets picked, and then steps forward again for someone else, that person steals her and it gets acknowledged throughout the game a bit (minor branching!) If she doesn't step forward for anyone, she ends up being the last picked. IT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN

Couples/Sneaking around

You shouldn't be able to do bits with someone you're not coupled up with except under certain circumstances:

Casa Amor

You're developing a relationship with someone but not able to couple up with them (or one of you gets stolen) and you're upfront with your partners about going to the daybeds together

You're sneaking around behind people's backs but there WILL be consequences

Just honour the couples, that's the point of the game. Stop letting people go to the hideaway with people they're not coupled up with.

Consequences/Drama

Further to the above, there should be consequences for BOTH parties if you sleep with someone you're not coupled up with. Even if you go to the daybeds and your partners know about it, they should be able to say how disrespectful that is to them.

Sneaky kisses always have a way of coming out on the show, so the same thing should be done in the game. It's harder to branch because some players may choose not to kiss anyway, so those people shouldn't be attacked for something they haven't done. But if you kiss someone and your partner finds out and breaks up with you because of it? And the partner of the person you kissed also dumps them? That would be fun!

Female villains

Just stop with the whole thing where one girl constantly gets up in MC's face. Whether it's because the girl is gunning for the same guy or for other reasons, it's so tired and annoying. Or a girl being a bitch for absolutely no reason.

And especially stop making them WOC!

More filler scenes

This has been one of the big complaints over the last few seasons, and that's the lack of filler scenes. There needs to be a balance, obviously, because you don't want too much filler - but this is how we learn about the characters' personalities. Let us be involved in fun chats, give our MC a personality other than "everyone loves me except that one bitch who hates me for no apparent reason," let us chill with the other islanders instead of constantly being involved in drama, eavesdropping on conversations, investigating who slept with who, and doing a million challenges

(Slightly) Longer season

Season 2 is the only deviation from the typical 13-14 "day" season (S1 is technically 7 weeks squeezed into 14 days, later seasons use volumes instead of sticking to a morning/afternoon/evening format but they fit so much into them that they just feel chaotic). Adding a little filler and stretching the seasons out a bit (5-7 volumes seems reasonable?) should make them more enjoyable to play (and replay?)

Cliffhangers

I love cliffhangers (insert joke about all the LIs I like who do rock climbing), but not every episode/volume needs one. It's perfectly fine to find a natural ending to an episode (like going to bed at the end of the night, which was common in S2), and save the cliffhangers for when they really matter

Make the challenges make sense

I didn't play S8 and I'm not playing S9, but I've heard some complaints about the order of challenges - playing Mr & Mrs in Casa Amor, etc. And I saw that today's volume included the Excess Baggage challenge, which is fine, but that one should always be near the beginning

Have the 'get to know people' challenges (kissing challenges, truth/dare, never have I ever) in the first few volumes. Once people are coupled up and relationships are developing, hit 'em with the snogathon to maybe create some drama (and do it when new bombshells have just come in so you get a chance to kiss the new guy). After Casa Amor, you can do Mr & Mrs, any other couple compatibility challenges (or do one of these just before Casa Amor to create some drama just before splitting up the couples), and of course Snog, Marry, Pie.

Have a few of the random obstacle course challenges, food challenges, building tents/sandcastles/whatever challenges interspersed throughout, but make them mean something.

And for the love of donuts, make the challenges in Raunchy Races objective - none of this 'coolest person' or 'hottest person' or whatever, just stick to tallest/shortest/oldest/etc or 'one person must snog the person they fancy the most' or whatever like in S2

Casa Amor

I think CA is a great plot device, but there's a fine line between 'too long' and 'not long enough' that's hard to figure out. But either way, let's stop with the hideaway and sending couples on dates, because nobody's coupled up in CA. Give everyone a chance to get to know everyone. Have a couple guys who aren't interested in MC. If MC is wlw, give some scenes with her LI where they can talk about the future and wanting to couple up when they have a chance, etc.

WLW Routes

I don't do WLW routes in the game so I don't know exactly what the experience is like, but I know that it's not great - carrying on a romance with someone with no consequences but also not being able to couple up with them and sometimes watching them also be carrying on a relationship with whoever they're coupled up with.

I don't have any brilliant solutions, but why not spend every night on the daybeds together until being able to couple up? Why not have two guys who couple up together on these routes, like in S3? Or bring in another character like Sammi in S1 to even out the couples? Or an NB/bisexual character who could couple up with a girl or guy depending on what MC does?

Ultimately, the show and the game are extremely straight-coded, and it's not easy to account for players being able to couple up with female LIs early on, but every option should be explored instead of just doing what they're doing every season.

[bandtrees]

AAHHHH!!! AAHHHHHHHH DIALTOWN AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay i've had a night to sit on the evil route and put my thoughts together and holy shit dude. ALL OF IT- all of it was so good but i'm obviously (being the callum and gingi guy) going to focus on the callum and gingi stuff. spoilers ahead if you have not done the evil route gooo do it!!!!

i think looking at the worst end of the evil route is best to view through the lens of "the literal opposite of ch3" and also "knowing who milt and marla and all of them are" because - for starters - i think the approach dogman has taken, out of universe, is genius. i know milt and marla aren't ingame mostly for writing constraint reasons, but the specifics of their lives (milt's especially, being basically erased from history) not being something you ever get is really really good because history just... does not remember them!

milt committed suicide but according to dogman that's not even public knowledge, as far as anyone in-universe knows he just disappeared and all of the turmoil that took place is kind of lost to time. and i think knowledge of his name, much less what happened to him, being something you have to dig through paratext and get an easter egg of a fuckin tie-in web quiz to learn, is... probably the experience you'd more or less have in-universe. he's someone you only really know if you're really into the subject.

and to be honest i dont think i would have it any other way, because what the dlc does to you if you're one of those who know is MADDENING. it's everywhere. the hat motif. i have very strong feelings on evil route peter essentially having the exact role marla must have - the conversations gingi has with the narrator, with roger, is soooooo gooooood. it's a subtle background puzzle you get to piece together that (i reckon) also would hit hard for any player who doesn't Know(tm).

(and that also segues into a general feeling i have about the dlc, being that i am not a dsaf guy at all, i was into dialtown first and i have no interest in dsaf i'm sure its great but just not something i think i'll ever look into: for a bit before this dlc i was worried if it would be enjoyable as someone who's not into dsaf or has context for any cameo characters or references - but it was and is :D the characters all exist perfectly in dialtown and the references that exist still have merit on their own and are funny/etc on their own even without whatever added context im sure dsaf gives. which is good and i love it.)

all of that to say, i really really love what this dlc did for so many characters, but especially gingi and callum (and the narrator!) - i love how, as seems to be callum's destiny with maladjusted people, gingi only sees him as an incomplete and biased ideal to strive for. we simultaneously get so much weight and nuance to callum through seeing gingi go down a similar path, but also get so little of it because the only thing gingi cares about wrt callum is him being the "greatest salesman ever" and completely discarding the parts of him that made him anything but an industrial supervillain.

i think it wouldv been easy for it to just be "phonegingi is basically becoming (the worst parts of) callum and so, when they're working with mingus, finds some degree of kinship in the pictures etc of him" but the fact they're completely dismissive of mingus and her family history in every way, demanding the pictures of him be taken down, making a jab at him being "forgetful", staining and ruining them, etc, is even MORE telling of what they've become. much like callum was, they've found success and don't really think about how they got there or who helped them get there!

(see: mingus having marla's hat, which gingi takes from her when they execute her - you could say that hat symbolizes the genuine good that callum did despite his mixed legacy, and the love that he had for his wife and those closest to him: and that's something gingi is completely ignoring in favor of having it be another symbol of their (and callum's) power :D)

also the space ending. You're telling me gingi became wildly successful and then in an act of innovation-induced hubris, locked themself in an inescapable box, alone? Good god man. callum is INESCAPABLE in this route its so fucking good. elements of him and what happened to him and the path he went down are everywhere - even in other routes, there's roger's amnesia, there's gingi making other people suffer for their mistakes: it's so horrifying when you realize what's happening but in retrospect the signs were always there. roger's plant is literally crown mechanics. no wonder that man's juices are all over the goddamn place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also gingi getting a cat tail in the bad ends is genius. 10/10 design choice. really good dlc. this is not a coherent ramble but i'm hopped up on being insane about what iv witnessed this weekend and also we have like no food in the house rn. we dont even have fucking milk iv had to make pb&js with this strangely tasting strangely textured squeeze bottle jelly and not even have milk with it. roger is the only thing keeping me stable

and roger himself is like... god, i dont even know what to say about him really? i adore him so much. he's a brilliantly written character. it's to the point where i cant even like analyze anything i just kind of have to point at him really hard and hope you understand. i related to him a lot as i'm sure a lot of people did. inexperience and "stupidity" and forgetfulness are traits that often get flattened into either completely sympathetic non-flaws or completely unlikable annoyances and i think how the dlc touched upon those traits of roger's - funnily a lot of the time, yet very respectfully and sympathetically when the time came for it, while never letting you forget the genuine harm it was causing to the people around him - was reaaaaally good. you love roger but you understand why others might not - but even then, like the rest of his workers, you still care about him first and foremost, not what he can accomplish.

and i think that duality being present in the good/evil routes is really good: roger's good ending is one where he flubs the presentation and hands the reins over to someone he trusts more to fix up the place, and he acknowledges his workers love him as a friend more than they do a leader. and the evil ending is the one where he has a wildly successful, energetic presentation that people love, and he's getting praise and is saving the plant and everyone's so excited, because not only is he promoting an underhanded shitty scam, but it's not him. he IS, like gingi, becoming a HORRIBLE version of himself: the point where good intentions or even ignorance begin to matter less and less in the face of actual harm being done. again, much like callum!!!!!

i also love peter. oh my god peter. in his marla crown era

i 100% had more to say but i'm beginning to lose it. oh yeah THE FUCKING INSULIN SCAM IS CRUEL. that part had me with my hand over my mouth and my eyes just agape at how fucking grim it was. the reveal that peter's wife is also diabetic makes it go from "pretty fucked up!" to "actively devastating". truly gingi at their worst. both it and the blowout argument they have with the narrator afterwards are done excellently. taking advantage of peter's tendency to worry about roger, roger's not wanting to upset peter, peter's fucking diabetic wife, is so so cruel and i love it. really really gets into the weight of what you're doing and how fucked up scams are, we are out of the realm of silly jokes about crypto and in the realm of ruining peoples' lives. it's so good.

anyway. really good dlc. i will surely have so much more to say and create about it. it maddens me that it's only five dollars because i dont think i will ever be the same again after that to be quite honest with you!!!! literally my only gripe is the way it's kind of carried on dialtown's general problem with its non-main female characters but that's something people have talked about more and articulated better than me.

good dlc. really good dlc. cough up the five dollars because it is truly worth so much more i havent even been able to touch upon here. and if you havent played dialtown cough up the eight dollars and then cough up the five dollars. its real good.

[a-manicured-lawn]

So I know you like Spirit…what do you think his role would be if he is added to Jojo’s Lay boys? Any headcanons for his personality?

I DO LOVE SPIRIT HOWD YOU KNOW is it cause I won’t shut up about him?

Well! If he was added to Jojo’s cast, I’m honestly not sure. There was an old post mentioning a link with rivets in his tunic in the profile banner back when she was answering asks on tumblr, but she refused to say who exactly it was. There’s been a few suspicions that this rivet hero is in fact the riveting Hero of Spirits himself!

Much as I hate to say it, if spirit were to officially find himself on the LU roster, that is probably what he’d look like. An aged-up version of himself, probably with a few more years of service under his belt, although as a knight or as an engineer is the real question.

Ingame, there’s a dialogue option with Spirit’s Zelda (Phantom? Spooky?) where she’ll ask you what you want to do after the adventure. You’re given three options: be a knight, an engineer, or undecided. If you choose a knight you’ll get an endgame cutscene of Spirit fighting in the courtyard as a knight trainee, and if you choose an engineer you’ll get a cutscene of him driving past the castle and I don’t know what happens if you pick undecided someone please let me know I always pick engineer.

If Jojo goes the knight route I worry he may become a carbon copy of the other knights and knight adjacents in the Chain as a rough blend of Wars, Sky, pre-Calamity Wild and Legend.

Should he be an engineer, however, I believe he may find his place alongside Four servicing more magical items as Four handles swords and shields. He may also serve as an inventor, finding novel and more modern solutions to issues the Chain faces.

However, this speaks mostly to his physical place in the chain, rather than his personality. Unfortunately, with no manga and just his ingame personality, a glass of water has more life than him. The only time he shows any kind of interest outside the player is in response to his Zelda, and that’s to blush when he first sees her and to be delighted when she threatens violence. Thus, any personality has to be built ground up.

Now, I’m not Jojo (obviously), but with such a blank slate I can’t help but add my own ideas and model for an LU spirit (which has a WIP! It’s HUGE!) to add onto the Chain.

Ingame, Spirit and Wind actually have the exact same character models, only changing Wind’s clothes into engineer duds. Thus, I’d headcanon them as identical twins. Slightly different, just because they are still separate heroes, such as giving one or the other freckles or paler skin or different eye colors (blue vs green vs black?) to help tell them apart, but otherwise basing it off of clothes.

For personality, I’d honestly make a foil to Wind. He’s a bright, exuberant young kid, which would be paired beautifully to a shyer, more reserved twin. I’ve noticed that in canon all of the Links tend to have forceful personalities (yes, even Hyrule, shy Hyrule is fanon but if I’m wrong PLEASE tell me I love shy hyrule) which can lead to personality clashes. However, with a quieter personality in the mix, it can lead to Wind “stepping up”, so to speak. Making sure Spirit is heard over all the hubbub, sharing stories to keep Spirit out of the spotlight, etc etc.

However, if spirit were to become canon I doubt that’s how it would go. It’s a bit out there, especially considering the other Links’ personalities like I mentioned before. The fandom represents, though! There’s SO many Spirits out there by now and I am DELIGHTED each time I come across a new one!

[snellyfish]

Why is Angie your favourite character?

This is really funny I just got off call with Glownary and was talking about how much I don't miss Danganronpa discourse. Anyway I hope someone finds a way to get mad at me in this post!

((Admittedly I'd probably actually place Korekiyo above her because he ACTUALLY has a relevant and specified canon story,,, but, y'kno))

Plain and simple, she just has a handful of design and character tropes I super adore in characters! As a base, I'm usually not super into,,, well-adjusted, well-liked , reasonable, and rational characters. LMAO. They're fine but I live for exaggeration. I LOVE when they're little freaks and not watered down at all for the viewers sake/comfort, I love when they (both the writers and the written) just keep twisting the knife for no good reason other than the bit despite how unconventional it may be.

One could argue that her not being watered down and being as shitty to the other players as she is is a trauma response, or just a mentally ill person being mentally ill. It can be neat to think of her that way sometimes! It's of my opinion that almost all Danganronpa characters are super open-ended lore/personality-wise and we as fans are just making up canon as we go because it's FUCKING FUN, and, as such, all the ways that Angie can be interpreted is very interesting to me-- EVEN if that's seen as "the irredeemable annoying religion-force-feeding zealot antagonist." Which is, of course, an objectively awful way to view anyone REGARDLESS of media illiteracy, but, you know! I like weird freaks so this "flaw" they see is simply more food for me. Yippee!!

Whether I think she's canonically A) genuinely malicious and sadistic, B) traumatized from an abusive religious sect, C) honestly caring about the other players, and/or D) none/all of the above? I'll never tell! Oops all bangers!

Tropes I enjoy, whether or not I found myself enjoying them BECAUSE of Angie herself;;

Religion, especially if it's horrifying and...bad! (Most of my own characters deal heavily with religion and religious trauma, I think it's cool to play with, whether or not it's a fantasy religion like I think Angie's is)

CULTS! Cult behavior! Let's live in a commune!! (GUYS I LOVE MIDSOMMAR)

Dark skin / light hair contrast color combo goes hard!!!

+ The pansexual flag palette is literally my favorite color combo ever!!!!

Manipulative little shits!!!!!

Small scary women!!!!!!

Islander stuff, it's very nostalgic to me and I just have a deep love and appreciation for the beach and ocean!!!!!!!

Piercings!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cutesy sunshine character who could and would stab you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BLOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IDK HOW THIS WASN'T MY FIRST POINT!!!!!!!!!!

AND SHE'S JUST FUCKING SILLY!!!!!!!! SHE'S GENUINELY SO FUNNY AND CUTE ESPECIALLY IN HER INTERACTIONS WITH SHUICHI!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE HER SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was an IMMEDIATE favorite when I played V3 and when I found out that, like, everyone fucking HATED her and she's probably the least liked character in the entire class by the fans, my brain immediately went the contrarian route to find reasons to like her even MORE. I tend to do this a lot, but when it's a character I already enjoy, it's even worse, dude.

ummmmm obligatory Shinnaga mention sorry but I frequently tend to appreciate a character a lot more based on potential dynamics alone. Ships, romantic or not, have legitimately gotten me to enjoy characters I hated before, based on interesting interactions unique to them alone. So while Kiyo and Angie's (they're making out btw) ingame dynamic and dialogues aren't REALLY what my sick and twisted mind views them as, it's worth noting that my honest belief and interpretation of the two of them could even give me a sliver of that dynamic being possible .......... means she's fuckin slay ............ it means love wins..... It means Vote For Yonaga 2024

[snobgoblin]

re: this ask

god not to find an excuse to write the courtiers more (MY BELOVEDS) but it's fun to think about what Reise's future dynamic with the court might be. like they're demons they've been alive for a long time they'll still be around when Reise is an adult obviously so it's like huh. I wonder if they would try to strike any deals with him? hard to say because Valerius STATED in Muriel's route that he would never make a deal with Lucio- and their frame of reference for this kid is mostly gonna be like. tiny Lucio. they might see him as gullible

anyway Valerius says he would never make a deal with Lucio but it's also like... we know from Nadia's route he doesn't actually know he's a demon? or at least he's unaware of the physical transformation that took place. and, before this interaction he mentions "I'm a busy man you'll have to be more specific" so I'm sure Valerius is talking like business deals and not like Demon Deals TM- anyway anyway the point still stands, Valerius is smart enough to not deal with Lucio. and after Lucio's first deal with Vlastomil... it probably should have been obvious to other demons that they shouldn't deal with him? he doesn't pay up! much to their frustration. but the other three did continue to deal with him despite him being in debt with Vlastomil already

so, with that in mind. would they target Reise. I'm not sure right now. but I do think at least Vulgora would be really really interested in seeing how his fighting skills develop- I didn't screenshot every Vulgora line so don't quote me on this but Vulgora seemed excited to fight Morga. they had heard about her at least and refers to her as "Eirsdottir" without her even revealing that information

it will also be interesting seeing how Reise's fire powers work because it seems like that's kind of a lost art at this point, or something that's not common in Vesuvia, anyway. Asra is so bad at it that they burn off Julian's eyebrows when they try and they have a pet salamander specifically to make fires for him, not to mention the Apprentice, who's really only familiar with Vesuvia, actually doesn't realize magic can involve blood and fire (both Lucio and Morga use it this way and it will be interesting if Reise does as well I think)

>Morga using blood and fire see: I think it's her fight with Lucio in Muriel's route, she slices open her palm and her spear catches on fire

>Lucio using blood and fire see: Dawn of the Grub, where Lucio slits open his feet and sets a fire to summon Vlastomil

*and I don't think the blood part was entirely unheard of on the Apprentice's part considering how Lucio's route starts, but, they are notably hesitant to use it. the fire part does seem particularly uncommon

I'm getting unexpectedly invested in this kid LMFAO

OH ALSO I FORGOT TO ELABORATE ON WHY VALDEMAR GIVES A SHIT okay Valdemar is eager to dissect Julian, Lucio, and the player because they have come back from the dead so I think they'd be very curious about someone that was literally born from two of those people AND... if Reise doesn't pay up... there's a chance the plague could come back... and wouldn't that just be terrible (they're lying)

[barbwritesstuff]

hey! everyone's been really talkative about this IF so I wanted to jump on the train :) do you think you could tell me about the RO routes and like, the vibe of them? i want to start planning out my characters now becuz the release date is next month! (congratulations btw)

also, ik this is a romance book, so I wanted to ask if there's a bunch of romance scenes/small romance stuff included? (ie; them holding hands, sneaky looks, etc) cuz some books advertise as a romance but like only include like 5 scenes, you feel me? the plot seems super cool and im intrigued! but romance also plays a huge part in my satisfaction so just, wanna know!

sorry if this comes off as rude 😭😭

Not rude at all! Though, honestly, I'm not 100% sure how to answer this.

Blood Moon is defiantly more romantic than a lot of games, but it's not as romantic as others. There are romantic scenes and moments, dates, and explicit content, but a large chunk of the game is also... not that.

Like the tagline says: date werewolves, fight vampires.

So, for every werewolf kiss, expect to have to punch a vampire or two.

If anyone who has played Blood Moon would like to comment on the romantic aspect of the game please do. As the author, I feel like I'm not the best person to describe it, because when I write the game I see every possible outcome, so it might seem different for me than someone playing it through.

As for vibes... There are eight romanceable characters and the feel of each romance is different.

CliffsNotes version:

Marco is a lanky blond guy who likes to joke around. He's got some insecurities, because he had a shitty upbringing, but he's also fiercely loving and loyal. He tends to 'match' with the player's character a lot, eg, when running side by side, they always run in lockstep. His romantic route has a lot of BFF to lovers vibes.

Vicky is a tall, muscular woman with a dark past. She's terrifying on the battlefield, but very soft and gentle with those she loves. Her romantic route is about finding peace and softness in a world at war. Great if you want to play a more world wary protagonist, through she can mesh with other sorts of characters too.

Ed is young, ambitious, cheeky, and idealistic. He's probably the most 'human' of the werewolves and strongly believes the world can and should be a better place, though he sometimes uses underhanded methods to make that happen. His route is pitched a little younger, and can include some 'first love' vibes.

Shawnie is a curvy red head with a sassy personality. She's very sexual but actually probably one of the hardest to win the heart of. You have to really get to know her, and prove that you're interested in her for her, before she really shows you her heart.

Roe is a non binary person, very beautiful, with long hair and a lean build. They can come across as aloof or cold, until you get to know them, then they'll show a fierce and passionate side. Romance route is VERY star-crossed lovers. They're torn between desire and duty.

Farro is the resident DILF. He's VERY tall and muscular. Think Pakistani lumberjack. He's also, in contrast to appearances, quite shy and reclusive. He has an eight year old daughter that is the opposite to him in almost every way. Be nice to the kid to win his heart.

Sergi is a stocky man, dark hair, dark eyes, and is older than the player's character by a decade or two (he will call you 'pup'). He has a playful personality, but undergoes some serious trauma throughout the story, so loses that for a large chunk of the game's runtime. The romance is a little forbidden love, but leans more toward shared trauma bringing people together.

Carrie is small, skinny, and covered in sharp edges. She can be rude and abrasive, especially before she gets to know the player's character, but beneath that has a heart of gold, for those willing to take their time to get to know her. Enemies to lovers, but perhaps not in the traditional sense.

I hope that helped.

[medico-meo]

Sane and normal behavior is wanting to pursue Harper as an LI but I was contemplating the plausibility of which in terms of DoL as a game as well as the role of the PC and Harper to the best of my knowledge. If anyone happens to be interested in this utter insanity, disclaimers are everything below the cut is from my POV as a player; that I do, in fact, have biases due to personal preferences; and while I tried my best to get my hands on most Harper stuff there is, I play DoL Very Safely (< focusing on being a functional member of society despite everything's going on while grinding stats And avoiding pregnancy) so there surely would be things I missed.

Additional warning for being too Long for someone with thoughts on an NPC with next to no disclosed lore. TL;DR at the end if anyone just wants to know the conclusion I reached :) Also! Open to any discussions or questions that may arise! I'd be happy to talk to anyone about anything DoL here lol.

So, Harper LI. There are two possible ways I can come up with this, either a Stockholm route or uh, half-way functional ig??? The former is clearly more likely than the latter (laughs) but I find the hypothetical gameplay to be less interesting. The problem with either of these is requiring the player to be able to spend time with Harper—like, plenty of it—which the current game doesn't even remotely allow the same way they do for us with the named NPCs we can work for. Letting the PC see Harper whenever would either destroy the elusive nature of Harper's character and/or undermine their established workaholicism, both of which I happen to be very fond of. Of course, the PC can become Harper's assistant etc which I categorize into the second way this can happen, but I'll expand on it as the secret third thing between the two.

Another point about Harper's character I wanna bring up is that, despite 90% of Who They Are exactly being complete whiteboard theory and personal tastes, one thing I can be Pretty Sure about is that they love their work more than they'll love the PC (the canon scenes proving this ranges from So Normal people probably don't think twice about it Or dearly hilarious, namely the encounter at the park if you're jogging naked there). A lot of Vrel's Q&A answers also point to this, which is something we can fall victim to or, you know, thoroughly exploit :)

Stockholm Route: Rather plausible, relatively speaking, but if no major changes can be made re:non-asylum Harper content this would most likely be locked behind the asylum with the addition of the Stockholm stat. Considering current Stockholm LIs sans Kylar, I don't consider it completely impossible ig?

Unlike (what I've seen) with Eden, BW, and GH however, I feel like this would be a one-way street into a different game mode altogether—yielding to Harper consistently locks you in as their "patient" brainwashed little toy for good and maintaining the power difference that, considering Harper's overall position and status in town, would largely influence the gameplay altogether both for the better and worse. Story-wise though it's surely consistent with (gestures) DoL is about so it's more about the technicalities of stuff.

I'm not exactly partial to this (personal tastes) (dislikes being almost entirely passive) but plenty of power to those who do.

Half-way Functional or I'd also like to call the Kylar-like Route: Possibly applies to Eden and a bunch of other non-LI NPCs too but I'm not exactly well-read on them due to the tunnel vision. This can be asylum-locked but I can see it with more frequent Harper visits available. The tldr of this is resisting their dodgy treatments to establish dominance (exploiting their workaholism and emotional repression) while aggressively coming onto them on your own terms.

"How would that even work?" Yeah, about that.

As much as I would love it in terms of the story I severely doubt that can ever happen because that is Not the point of DoL. It is Not written to primarily be a dating sim and neither is the PC supposed to be the protag of a romance in the truest sense. The school LIs are written to be otome game-like since you're more or less equals with them but that doesn't extend to the others, highlighting the PC's position relative to those higher than them in the hypothetical hierarchy—you can't very actively flirt with Avery or Eden before you can take them as an LI, ie to start with it's mostly Them seeking You out than the other way around, which is, unfortunately, the case with Harper here.

I can go on a bit more about how this undermines DoL and compromises the PC's role/function in general but I might have to start actually citing texts which... yeah no I'm not insane enough to do that yet. But! You can read about it in this interview. This is not to mention the numerous new gameplay mechanics that will have to be added and how they consequently influence existing content, but it's fun for me to think about. Pissing Harper off Then working the fact that they can't just Drop you because you're their patient and they're so committed to their job to your advantage. Charming.

The mentor-mentee/assistant route potentially falls into either umbrella plotline I mentioned, maybe even as a possible aftermath to Stockholm. The second one would slightly diverge since I think if you actively match their energy without straight up trying to straight up bully them it Might end up as actual criminal romance but, again, the PC's nature and the gameplay withstanding).

I can't remember if I have anything else I'd like to add so here's a thank you to anyone who actually read any of these LMAO and if you're a fellow Harper—or any other character, really—liker in a "I want to claw them apart and see what's inside" way (like me) there's this neat site that compilates the Q&As with Vrel (godspeed OP where would I be without them).

TLDR: Not very, Very plausible but if it does happen they'll likely be a Stockholm-inducing LI locked behind the asylum. If it's LI (conventional sense) then that's more likely than not never happening since it compromises quite a bit of what DoL is as its core. Wanna be their little underling? To me it falls into one of the aforementioned generally speaking, so it's a (wave hands) thing there.

[marshmallowprotection]

Hi Kait, I'm the anon who played the RAE without the route and I'm back to bother you with my thoughts lol. So long ask ahead and RAE spoilers!

If I had to describe my feelings in one word, I'd say it was an intense experience. As I said, I had only played the Causal Route by then, and of course those three routes are lighter than the rest (not that they aren'temotional, but they're less emotional. So it was my first exposure to the heaviest parts of the game, and boy did I feel the change.

As for GE Saeran, it's hard to describe. I did care about him, I definitely did. But I cared because you (Kait and the other players) cared deeply for him and I got to read your analysis and fics and hopeful words for the AE. I cared because I knew Saeyoung cared, and even if I played his route after the RAE I can understand the love from a sibling and the need to protect him.

(Similar thing with V, I can understand Jumin's love and trust for him because I see my best friend and me exactly like that. So when V betrayed them, and I had no way to know that he would because I didn't know he had gone back to Rika in the route, I was absolutely heartbroken and I had to work through those feelings when I played his route)

Back to Saeran. When I started playing, I kind of feel like I was inserted in the middle of a story, if that makes sense. But aside from being scared of getting a bad ending since I had few prior knowledge, I didn't really felt too out of place. Probably because it was still the RFA.

My impression of Saeran was that he was someone who was learning how to grow as a person, but he had quite managed to understand that he was free of choice, and that I as his partner was someone who respected his freedom of choice. He also looked healthier than I expected. And he had so much love to give, which I assumed was also a new experience for him. With the choices I noticed that he was still learning how to do that, since he was figuring put what he wanted but sometimes he was still a bit dependent on the MC's choices (like the option when the player said to leave it all behind and go to the beach, which I correctly assumed would lead to a bad ending). So that was my impression of the relationship, that it was based on mutual respect for the other's choices, and Saeran was learning to find his own individuality.

So it was all about supporting his choices, and not leaving him alone, and caring about him. And that was the gut feeling that lead me through the game. And we came to his choice to sacrifice himself, but I wasn't surprised, because in my mind I thought that of course he would. I'm somewhat like that too, and he didn't see another path, and as I said he was still learning to put himself first too sometimes. But I never felt that it was the end, I knew the MC wouldn't leave him alone.

Then I got the bad relationship ending in day 4 (twice) and I was absolutely heartbroken. Anyways.

And that's about it, when I managed to pass that part, I still knew I didn't have to leave him alone, and I was very happy with the ending.

As for Rika, I was a tad confused because I didn't know much about her, so I was surprised she wanted to create a family. I got to learn more about her later.

Of course, I had a lot of feelings through the entire AE. As I said, it was intense, and in just 4 days I ended up caring deeply about Saeran in another level, because of my own experience playing. So yeah, I don't know what to say to finish this sl thank you for being interested in my thoughts

First off, thank you for sharing your experience with me because I was curious how he might read as a character to somebody who only had interactions with Unknown up until that point.

It makes me happy to know that even if people don't know him, they can see that he's trying to be better every day, and it might seem a bit messy, but that's a part of the healing process. The road to getting better is very bumpy, and sometimes you run into roadblocks along the way. It's not always going to work out the way you think it will, but what matters is that you keep trying, and God... is he a person who wants to keep trying. 

Don't worry about getting that bad ending.

A lot of us got that bad ending, even those of us who know this character backward, forwards, and sideways.

This particular route was set up in a way to challenge us in a way none of us considered, and that's what made it interesting. My problem was giving V the benefit of the doubt. You are normally supposed to do that, but in this situation, you need to dump him immediately.

He will get to where he needs to be in the end, but you should only trust him once and that is on the last day. 

God, yeah. Rika's goals won't make any sense to anyone unless they've played through everything the game has to offer before they've decided to open the RAE. Even then, a lot of people don't understand what's going on in her head because there are so many moving pieces to figure out along the way. 

The RFA was her dream of gaining a family, but she thought she had to pretend to be an angel of light and hope to have a family. She truly believed that she had to suppress her demons and fears to be able to experience love and family. It becomes too much for her to handle, and then everything crumbles around her to prove that she might just be the devil her abusers always told her she was.

All she ever really wanted was a family and an identity that didn't feel like it was cursed with sin. She went about it in the wrong way, deciding that if she couldn't do it by pretending to be an angel, she would force everybody to be with her regardless in a paradise of her own making where nobody could ever leave her behind or think of her in a bad light. I can only imagine what you experienced going from knowing the least about her to knowing everything. 

[ybblue]

Lowkey, I'm so glad to read the history of YB. I really enjoyed the content I was able to find of him with the game, Day 1 & 2. It was hard to find info about this game at first, so I read the wiki of course. I saw the traits of a wholesome yandere, if such a thing could exist. A yandere who wasn't violent with their target. That sounded like my jam!

(My Commissioned Art by @Two_Leaf_Cl0ver on twitter, feel free to use it for whatever!)

So I supported the Patreon cause I wanted to see how far along the game was and to play it for myself, because nothing beats personal experience.

I want to lay my thoughts out as I process why I like YB and what disappointments I've come to have with the game and maybe what I would like to have seen done instead. I'm not a game dev, so I'm coming at this without knowing everything involved in making a game.

[SPOILERS BELOW, DUH. I mean for ALL currently playable days.]

[Also HEADCANON stuff.]

(Source: Wiki, not my art, pretty sure its Fuboo's)

Day 1 is pretty sparse, but I likened it to being a demo of what to expect. Since YB said things like "I'm your boyfriend. Isn't that why you're here?", I took it to mean he was aware everyone who downloaded the game wanted him to be their boyfriend. However, maybe Y/N is sentient in their own world and is mostly like wtf is going on with this dude. It would also explain the "mixed messages" he says we are sending him when we reject his advances. I thought he might have even chosen to approach Y/N that day because he could see we, the player, were inhabiting their body.

In short, I was pretty thrilled to play a weird meta yandere dating sim. Moving forward, I am treating Y/N as an entity separate from myself. They are my (likely very unwilling) vessel, and even though I can influence how they behave, they obviously have their own will. They don't seem to know I'm possessing them either.

Day 2 has more dialogue and such, introduces the other characters, but I still find it doesn't feel like there is as much content as I would have liked. All answers that day basically led to the same way the day ends, which I find to be really weird. It makes me wonder if dev isn't sure how to do branching paths so that Day 3 can start exactly the way they need it to. Based on what I know about YB, it felt like he was in character in all routes until the very end when he just attacks. It's especially out of place when playing along with him.

As a side note, Y/N's personality has the biggest divergence in this day. If you are mean to YB on Day 1, then you are a complete asshole to everyone around you. This route is called the abuse route, I think, because YB will abuse you? However, I think of it as the abuse route because Y/N is really abusive to everyone around them and YB just sort of runs with that energy. (I am saying here: the player is influencing both Y/N and YB to be assholes, so we are basically the assholes in this route? I'm not trying to victim blame Y/N, but rather, I'm saying Y/N and YB are our victims. I would say Y/N is always our victim regardless...)

Day 3 is when shit hits the fan for the story in many ways. For Y/N, they just lost someone they knew, probably. TK or Lucy (who both seem to come off as potential love interests) or the Landlord/Don Williams (who doesn't read as a love interest at all to me, maybe I'm just oblivious as fuck) will die. Or, if you played Day 2 a certain way, a random person will be murdered.

My gripe with this is mostly that it comes so quickly, so soon, just a random murder of a major character. With how little content I feel there is in Day 2, I feel like I barely formed any attachment to TK, Lucy, or Don Williams, especially from the perspective of only having played the games.

This isn't to say they aren't great characters, because I think they are.

In fanon.

The fans have really taken these characters, the random snippets we know about them from various sources (the Tumblr and Wiki) and ran with them. Though these characters don't receive the same level of love and attention as YB, I feel like they have really enhanced any attachments people could form with their own skillful writing/observations.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't also point out how Peter comes off out of character on this day. He's pushy, demeaning, and outright abusive towards Y/N.

A part of me wonders: is he just pissed off because Y/N is in his way of getting to us, the players? Or is he actually not aware he is in a game despite what the creator said?

If he is aware he is in a game, and this is supposed to be out of character for him to behave this way, does that mean the game is forcing him to act like this?

But then he admits to grinding against Y/N at night when he sneaks in through the window. He doesn't just watch Y/N sleep, he touches them. That's not consensual for Y/N at all. I thought he was just a guy who was peeking at worst (still not great), but he actually sexually assaults Y/N. (Not to kink shame anyone, but outside of fantasy obv that is not okay.)

It really left a sore taste in my mouth. I thought this game was about a meta yandere guy who loves the player so much he is trying to take advantage of the game to talk to us through Y/N. Obviously, this is me building up my own expectation for the game, but I would have accepted any other way the game turned out as long as it was still meta and vaguely wholesome in his actions, at least with regards to him never hurting us, sexually assaulting us, or berating us.

But instead, it's just a simple "he's just Y/N's stalker" and makes no further attempts to speak to us, the players. It all just feels disappointing.

Day 4, I won't say much since the creator doesn't want much to come out about it, but I will say it gets a tad better, though its gross inside the context of Day 3.

YB returns to being a sweetie cutie pie, mostly because he finally won. Depending on how your route has been going so far, you can experience the 'erotic' part of the game. Currently, there isn't much CG to it, its a still image with smut. I'm not going to complain about it. I will point out you can tell him to stop and he will.

Which is really out of character for how he acted on Day 3. Does he respect our consent or not? Does he care about how we see him or not? Day 3 he's acting like a huge douchebag, and Day 4 he is like 'uwu okay i'll stop.' It feels inconsistent with the narrative of the game.

I'll stop discussing day 4 here.

Right now, I feel like this game is missing so much. I feel like the game relies on the player to find lore about YB on their own, rather than include it in the game. The characters don't have enough screen time for me to miss them when they are killed or absent from Day 4.

It seems we are supposed to meet a new character on Day 4 who is a friend of YB, but it seems REALLY LATE to be introducing a new character. This character has been known to die hard fans for like over a year, but we don't know ANYTHING about him aside from a short list of bullet points.

Then there is the mysterious Greta. YB's therapist or some such. Supposedly this person is encouraging Peter's behaviors. Why would they do this? What is going on? Will this character make an appearance in the game at all? If they do, why so late?

There's a chance that a completed Day 4 and 5 (aka a finished game) will tie this altogether, but unless more is added to Day 1, 2, and 3, I don't see it coming together in a satisfying way.

I'll still play the game when it's completed, and I'm staying in the fandom, because I love YB and the fan content for YB. I love the YB we have all collectively imagined, the one who is a yandere stalker, but isn't hurting us. The YB who is sweet and thoughtful, even if he's stupid enough to think stalking is okay.

Here's some fan content that I really enjoy and is what helped me build my own personal head canons about YB, the game, and what it all means:

Sugar Gives Me a Toothache (SGMATA) - This is a fanfiction on AO3 and its a masterpiece. In this, the game's Y/N is called MC, and the reader is a Y/N that stalks YB (Peter). There is so much longing, pining, sweetness, bittersweet, and just... I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Game Over - A comic both on Twitter and Tumblr. It hasn't been updated in a long time, but it's still soooo good, and the art rocks.

And just all the random comics people draw for YB. Him being goofy and stupid. Him being a lovesick puppy. Him being a dangerous animal only Y/N can tame. All the memes and jokes. All very inspiring.

I guess in short, I really love YB more than I love the game, and I think YB might end up being something that transcends his own creator and becomes something that belongs to the fans.

[ellenchain]

Football Stadium assassination

I feel this mission would need to be subtle to, as you pointed out, not trigger a mass panic.

For a fan, 4 goes for the traditonal route of drowning them in a bathroom. Grey would infiltrate the tech room and send out the message that the owner of a certain vehicle must report to administration; when the fan comes to check out what hapened to their car, whack. Diana would brush up against the fan in a crowded stairwell with contact poison, although.....that could lead to a panic. Maybe she leads the fan to a special VIP lounge and then poisons him.

Player? Ambush in the locker room for 47. Diana pretends to be a reporter. Grey bashes them over the head with a football trophy.

For a Hitman game, the target needs to super rich, so maybe they're already in the VIP lounge? 47 acquires disguise after to disguise to slowly work his way up, to eventually poison the champagne. Grey scales the stadium wall, perches on the roof and uses his sniper rifle.

Olivia is the football who just wants to watch a game in peace, assassination be damned, decked out in the shirt, fan merch and cheeks smeared with the flag.

Ohh interesting theories! And you got Diana on board 💪 It's probably true that she wouldn't have any qualms about murdering someone either. I'm not so sure about Olivia tho - we saw how she reacted when she had to stab an ICA agent. So it's quite fitting that she takes on the football fan, quite unselfishly, just to check out the situation and give the others feedback on what it's like in the supporters' section, you know. Just to be sure. And have a taste test for the German beer. What do you mean she lived in Berlin for many years? Nah nah this beer is different, she can tell.

I'm sure Diana got golden VIP tickets for everyone. But Olivia gratefully declines (it's just funnier with 'normal' fans), Grey finds it unbearable to sit with the rich sods anyway and prefers to go to the roof of the stadium. So in the end it's just Diana and 47 enjoying the champagne while watching the target.

All in all, I think that's a great idea to have that as a map, we should suggest it to IOI. For the next World Cup or European Championship so to speak ⚽🦶

[httyddragonfox]

Unknown's regard towards the MC

Unknown/Ray/Saeran is interesting in regards to how he feels about and he treats as well as his intentions towards the MC of Mystic Messenger. He's the antagonist, and a creepy one at that, but he's also a "bad but sad boy." I can't help help but dissect how he's written as the antagonist of a visual novel/otome game. Just as a note, this is a long one.

Let's start from the beginning and work our way through.

Our first possible interaction with him: the prologue bad end. You refuse to co-operate and lie saying their is no way to enter the apartment (As players you might have just been trying to escape the obvious sketchy situation, but there is a reason the rest of the cast wants to protect her, it's because she's so innocent.) If you back out at just the right moment, he laughs at your joke but then warns you if it went on longer he would have snapped. Of course if you don't, he reveals he can see you're lying, which blows his cover as to the fact he's been watching you. Why did Unknown choose you for plan? Who knows? He just needed some random innocent person, which would push V to hold a party and cause enough confusion to hack in. Was he specifically aiming for a girl? Maybe, seeing as most of the group is made of dudes, Rika was the same gender, probably a good replacement as coordinator. Anyways, he probably doesn't think much of you. Once you fail, he just opts to find someone else. He would get rid of you, except for the fact that you're cute. This shows he at least finds you attractive. He decides he'll let you live as his assistant, something he wants ever since he heard his brother had one. If you wish to leave, he'll tell you he can't allow that because you know about him, he can't let you be a loose cannon. If you do agree to go with him, he's ecstatic, thinking you're like him. He promises to treat you well and be very nice to you. It's still a bad ending because you don't have a choice but to go with him. Also the ending didn't mention this, but if you're going to Magenta you're going to be drugged!

So he finds you attractive enough that he wishes to keep you, and hopes you'll be just like him...Mr. Trauma-boy Crazy-pants. I get the sense from this he's lonely and wants a companion who will see his side of things.

Throughout the game, he tends to go after you first out of everybody. The exceptions here are the bad endings for Regular route and Deep Route where he goes after Yoosung after he loses touch with reality (He's easy prey), or he captures V when thinks he's spying around.

The message he leaves you after you're dropped off is: "Don't worry, things will be really fun from now on. I'll come and get you soon."

You've already helped him commence his plans, so you seem to be a useful ally/tool. You also innocently decided to help a complete stranger, which makes you more cute. He seems more attached to you, but not completely, as I'll explain further down.

In the first bad relationship endings for the regular routes, he doesn't display much in the terms of attraction. In Jaehee's he just says he's going to take everyone early because she's not doing anything, and in Zen's he decides to get someone else to do her role while she's taken to Magenta to be re-educated ("You'll learn that we're the only ones who love you.") To early to decide anything. She's attractive sure, and nice, but she's a slacker. What she needs is a good fine-tuning.

Things don't pick up until Yoosung's second bad ending. Instead of forgiving V and understanding him, we are suspicious of V, and drive a further wedge between him and Yoosung. So much so, Yoosung wants to run away with us, more specifically leave the group. Unknown can't have that, that party needs to be held, we certainly can't leave. So he tricks us into thinking we were right and V can't be trusted, and he's just an innocent guy wrapped up in the turmoil. He offers Yoosung something he can't refuse, information on Rika, to get us into his car. That's when we start to feel suspicion and he knocks out Yoosung to make him his hostage and talk to us alone. He tells us he's only unconscious and he's his precious hostage. Hostage for who? Hostage for us, that's who. I assume he was in the front seat or else how could he knock him out. So Yoosung is unconscious in the front seat and we're unable to get him out of there. If we were to try anything, well he's right next to the guy. So Unknown takes off his mask to talk to us, probably feeling more personable. He tells us it was fun pretending to be scared, but not as fun as pretending to be the student...queuing us in that he was the guy who led us to the apartment. He's almost nostalgic as he remembers how we did everything he said then, but now we've gone and ruined his plan. He reassures us that it's okay, all he has do is re-educate us, and we can even decide how we start. He'll turn us into a proper assistant yet. At the ending he throws what Yoosung and we have been saying before this ending, 'how about we just leave out the traitors and be together," of course, with him saying it it implies he's just going to steal us from Yoosung after re-educating us. After all, he did see us first, and we've been helping him up until recently, all we need is some fixing and we'll be perfect.

Yes, in that bad ending it seems he likes us. However, around the end of the route things take a drastic turn. In Yoosung's route, Seven had discovered the IP address of the hacker's hideout, and was heading out to shut down their operations. Everything is burning down around him, all thanks to his brother. His final act of revenge is to make Luciel realize his sins and then have them all burn together. He's also going to have you burn too, for the heck of it; earlier in the route he had you trapped in your room...for seemingly no reason but to cause chaos (He didn't even come to get you before it was fixed), so why wouldn't he put you in harm's way again. Yes, you were his tool, his agent so to speak, but since he's done, you're done too. He no longer needs you, so he's going to kill you, as an added kick it'll make his brother suffer knowing he failed to protect you. If you want to think of it in a romantic sense, he wants to commit suicide with you and his brother. Of course it all depends on which ending you're looking at. In the original ending, he mentions he's going to blow up both Magenta and our apartment, and says Seven can make amends by allowing them all to die together; it seems romantic in a twisted way. He offhandedly mentions Yoosung will die too, forgetting the kid was there. When they wrestle him for the detonator, Unknown tells Yoosung that if the button is pressed, we will die too, like that was supposed to motivate him to stop. Unknown had lost his mind at this point, thinking it was a good thing to die in that moment, (Don't be scared, kid, your girlfriend will be dying with us.) Then he briefly captures Yoosung and tortures him, egging him on to talk about us as he tortures him. Either this was brought on because he wants to know why we're so great that Yoosung would save us, or he genuinely wants to hear about us; he's crazy at this point, so it could be either or both.

Now in the Yoosung Bad Ending 3, Seven instead of freezing up panics when he sees the detonator, knowing it will blow us up, then Unknown laughs and says we're not the only one going boom, as they're going up in smoke too. This purpose seems more malevolent, killing us as we have no more purpose to him instead of romantically dying together. In this one, Yoosung sacrifices himself to get the detonator away from him and ends up being indefinitely captured by him. While captured, the threat to keep him in line is no only will Unknown possibly mess with the RFA, he might also bring us to where they are. Seeing as he's torturing Yoosung, it's safe to say he'll probably torture us too. At this point, Unknown is just not happy Yoosung foiled his plans for revenge on his brother. As for what he thinks of us, he probably just sees us as a tool, something to release his anger on should the time come. He may have been attracted to us, but his plans come first.

Now let's talk about Jaehee's route, at least Bad relationship ending 2, as he doesn't really show up in the route aside from those. In this ending, V has apparently settled things between Mint Eye and the RFA, sacrificing himself to end the fighting. Yet, Unknown has still decided to cause trouble seeing as Luciel didn't play by the rules, so neither will he. He decided to go after you first because you seemed distracted. When you ask who he is, he asks you to call him an angel because he's delivering you to Paradise. He wonders if you wanted to see him (leaning on the 4th wall there), so he promises to spend so much time with you during your re-education that you will start to get sick of him. He also mentions he has a fun program planned for you that will probably make you tremble more than you're doing already.

So, it seems he wants to give personal attention to your re-education. Is this this because he feels this sort of possessiveness and responsibility towards you. He's the one to put you in there, and he's the one to take you out. You're his little tool of chaos, you're his assistant, so he has responsibility for you.

Now let's look at Zen's route. Unknown doesn't make himself known (ha) until near the end of the route. We get a little insight into Mint Eye's plans for the MC and RFA being discussed by Unknown to someone else. He's surprised we were able to pull it off (-_- What?), but everything is going according to their plans. (Question: why did he recruit us for this if he didn't think we could do it?) Apparently, we don't have to be good at the job he gives us, we just have to be willing to do it. Anyways, moving on...he says the plan is to capture the MC, which will eventually bring the RFA to them. Apparently the plan here is to bring in an innocent person so V will be pushed to throw a party, cause enough confusion and chaos that Unknown can hack in and obtain the guest information, and then kidnap the MC to cause even more confusion and chaos so the RFA can be captured and brought to Mint Eye. He then talks about his plans for the RFA, saying they'll tortured to the point where once they are nice to the members again, they'll be grateful to them. Zen then has a vision of MC being kidnapped; it doesn't actually happen, but in the dream we're told if we behave he'll treat us like a princess. The MC is referred to as a princess several times in the game. It's a term of endearment, so it's used by Zen and Jumin (who can actually treat you like a princess), but it's also used by Unknown, Ray and Saeran, for different reasons. When Unknown uses it in the dream, it means he'll treat you really nicely. Other times he uses it he seems to be implying that the MC is someone whom everyone wants to protect, someone who's sheltered away, a damsel in distress. When he actually shows up to kidnap you, he goes on talking about how he's taking you to a great place, so you should just come with him willingly. Yes, Zen comes in to save you, and he takes this moment to mock him and criticize the group. He points out that they shouldn't make a woman live on her own with bomb, even though having her live there was a part of his plan (He's pointing out they should have more common sense). He threatens to blow up the apartment if Zen tries anything, killing all of them. He's willing to die for the cause, and he doesn't care if you do as well; he's attracted to you, holds responsibility over you, but isn't in love with you. He tells Zen to watch as he takes "his girl" away. That's when you either bite his hand or wait for Zen to save you. He threatens to blow up the place, but apparently he doesn't because you go back there for the Valentine's day DLC. Maybe he had a change of heart, or didn't see the point because we already escaped.

Let's look at his bad endings, this is where Unknown shows more attraction to us. First, there is the 2nd Bad relationship ending. Basically, Zen doesn't get to us in time. Besides where he talks about how you don't have a choice and how you just waited mostly, he talks about what's going to happen. He says if re-educates you just a little bit, you will let go of everything and depend on him. He promises to protect you and give you an exciting life. He's mostly just excited on the fact you get to be "his." Here is my theory: despite everything, he's looking for a companion. He remembers his brother and his brother took care of him, but his brother "betrayed" him. He's lonely, and he wants that again, but not with him; he wants it with someone where he can be the protector, as he's not weak anymore; he'll also do a much better job than his brother did. The MC is attractive enough, maybe she can fill that role.

Then there's the third Bad Ending, where Zen also doesn't get there in time, of course in this ending we seem to go with him willingly. We are not happy we were forced to live with a bomb so we don't trust the RFA anymore. Unknown tells a story about a Prince and a Princess (Zen is Princely, and we are the RFA's Princess). The princess was being kept in a tall tower by a group of liars. She hoped the prince would save her, but he was just another liar. Luckily, there was someone better for her. There was an angel (him) watching her from afar, who wanted to bring her to paradise. Wisely, she believed him; going with him to paradise and becoming happy forever. The prince ended up following her, but unlike the princess it took him a bit for the angel to tame him. Unknown drugged and hypnotized Zen into becoming just a role to play, and it's implied he tortured him too. Unknown is crafting him into a prince to romance the princess (us), but Zen is having trouble focusing due to the drugs. I'm not sure how long that game would go, if he would even let us be together. Maybe Zen would be just some toy for us to romance, maybe he'll never be done 'practicing.' Either way, Unknown heavily believes Zen to be a liar, and not good enough for us. I think he's a hypocrite, as Unknown has pretended to be different people before. Unknown is insane, and insane people tend to be hypocrites. He doesn't think anyone is good enough for us, this is mainly because he believes he's better than all of them; we don't count as we're an innocent brought into this.

That's it for the regular routes. Now on to the Deep Routes.

First let's start with Jumin's Route, Unknown hardly shows up here. They run into him near the end of the route. Seven recognizes him, and Unknown asks how we're doing, queuing Seven in that he was the one behind everything. In the third Bad Ending, Unknown is waiting for you at the apartment. He expresses frustration that Seven basically destroyed his group, and now he wants to make him pay. His savior told him that in order to do that he had to wait for us at our apartment and then press the button. It doesn't seem like he knows exactly what it does in this route, as he's surprised when he hears the countdown. He does want to hurt us though, as he knows Seven cares about us; at least it was his job to protect us. There's no sign of attraction from him in this route, as he barely showed up. When he did, he was so mad, that we're just a means of revenge for him. Yeah he's attracted to us, but when he's mad, revenge comes first.

Seven's route the attraction comes through more. When Unknown realizes he's been tracked by his brother, he decides to speed up his plans to hack into the security system and kidnap the MC. As soon as he starts making his plans, he starts talking to us as if we can hear him ("Just you wait MC, I'll bring you to Mint Eye first.") You usually apostrophe like this if you're excited or anxious to see someone, or if you really wish someone could hear what you had to say to them. It shows he really wants to induct us. There's a story mode where he's talking to his savior about why he's leaving so suddenly, explaining that he wants to induct the girl he mentioned to them. Then he actually arrives at the apartment, telling us to be careful of the glass as he comes in (kudos to him). He explains to us he's the hacker of the security system and the one who led us to the apartment, as well as the one who sent the invites to paradise. He says the RFA is filled with liars and false hope which will be explained when we get to the second location. When we refuse, he tells us we don't have a say because he put us here, so he gets to take us out. This is all so everyone can be happy, including us. If you question the promise of Happiness, he's ecstatic thinking you're like him and promises special treatment for you at Magenta. If you still refuse to go, calling out for Seven, he gets furious. He claims Seven will not save us, and even if he tries it's too late. He then says he will cleanse us of our false faith and show us true paradise. He probably was reminded of how he wanted Seven to save him back in the day and he never did, and if Seven did try to save us, that would make him more furious; so Luciel would save her but not his own brother, huh? He wouldn't want to give him that satisfaction. He doesn't want us to believe in the fantasy he once believed in, so I guess he feels he's 'saving' us this way. He warns us that we better come with him while he's still rational. Seven then shows up, and Unknown grumbles that he was hoping to make Seven suffer, probably by taking away the person he was trying to protect. The brothers talk for a bit about their relationship and the past until MC is brought up again. Seven begs Saeran to let us go, as we nothing to do with what's going on between them. Saeran counters that since he brought us there, we're his. He then quickly figures out that Seven has feelings for us, and realizes he could torture us to hurt Seven. He's attracted to us, but his revenge comes first. If we try to get away, he warns us not to fight back as he will hurt us. He starts getting ecstatic thinking of how to torture us, implying most people have to go through it to get into Mint Eye anyway. Luckily, we get away from him.

In the first Bad Ending of 707's route, we don't manage to get away from him. He takes us away, planning on playing with us to inflict pain on Seven. So he tortures us, takes pictures of us in pain, and sends them to Seven. He's talking to us, but we might as well not be there; we're not even responding. He decides to make it seem like we ultimately enjoy what he's doing to us, make it seem like we don't care if we're rescued by him or not. So, basically Stockholm syndrome. We are very compliant at this point, either we actually do have Stockholm syndrome, or we're tortured to the point we'll do anything he tells us to do (The difference here is we still want to leave, still are hoping we'll be rescued). We're so obedient here, to the point we give him exactly what he wants. He seems to like that about us. He decides then to have us after photo taking. In our state of mind...yeesh.

Later in the route, when we find him at Mint Eye, we try convincing him to hear us out. When we first run into him, he doesn't like the fact we're friendly with each other. Of course, he does say it's nice to see us again. He probably doesn't want Seven to be happy with us, not that he holds anything against us. If we wish to run, he comments how we're so naive. Once Seven begins to explain himself, Saeran warns us not to trust him, as he was abandoned we will be too. If we tell him it was a misunderstanding, he believes we're brainwashed. If we say we'll be the judge of what happens, he says we're brave but foolish to follow Seven.

In the 2nd bad relationship ending of the route, he mistakes us for his Mom in a dissociative fit. This is probably because his brother is nearby, and we're the only woman nearby, he was probably brought back to his time as a kid. That doesn't count.

In the Third Bad Ending of the route, he tricks us into thinking us trying to convince him worked. He secretly leads us to a cell where we'll be locked in a corner until we're 'tamed.' Seven begs for us to be released, which Saeran doesn't wish to do. We are useless in his plans to become a better hacker, he only needs his brother. However, he thinks he can use us to keep Seven in line. He promises a good life for us as long Seven listens to him, but we'll be tortured in front of him should he misbehave. He likes us enough to treat us nicely, but his revenge comes first. Seven then threatens him into letting us go. Saeran then says his savior told him he shouldn't desire too many things. He then decides to let us go. So that says he would've liked to have us around.

Then there's the Secret endings, of course the reaction to us in those is not strong there. The only real reaction we get is that he mentions us in his apostrophe to Seven. He says that us and Vanderwood will join Mint Eye, which was his original plan for us, so he might react similarly to all the bad endings.

So far, he would like us as a companion, especially if we're like him and have a dark broken side. He genuinely believes he's doing us a good turn, and wants to 'help' us. Of course, he'd like us to be useful to him. As well as we can't come in between him and his revenge.

Let us now look at the Christmas DLC: In this DLC, the plan just seems to be kidnapping us. Of course, that isn't abundantly clear, especially seeing as the MC is super naive. First, you get a text asking if you remember him (I'd be pretty disappointed if you don't), he says he's been wondering how you've been doing and asks if you want to see him. If you ask him about the other members, he types you this madness mantra of how much he wants to get revenge. Of course, if you say you want to know who he is, he says to be patient in getting to know him, as he has a lot of questions too (By the time we're familiar with each other, a lot of things will have changed.) In his second text, he goes on about he feels like in his attempts to see us he'll be blocked. (I want to play with you...) He continues by mentioning the event, but not knowing about it. He asks you to invite him to the event (You won't keep secrets from me, would you?). You can send him the address to the apartment or the event. With the apartment, he comments he already knows it, but it's still difficult. With the event's address, he realizes that it's a Christmas charity party being thrown. The last text says he still has trouble getting through, but if he knew a moment where the red-head wasn't paying attention he'd find a weak spot, like the end of the event. So he asks for end-time. We can tell him the event's over, or we can tell him the event ends at nine. If we tell him it's over, he knows we're lying and plans to attack the RFA. If we do tell him the end-time, we remind him he said he'd come to get me soon. He's happy we remembered, (I'm liking you more and more), promises us that we'll have more fun with him than the RFA. Later he gives us a call, in that call he hints he can see us trembling with fear after he freaks us out with his creepy singing. No matter what we tell him, that we want our gift or we don't, he tells us he'll just do what he wants. He's our Santa, watching over us, difference being that he despises nice children. Of course, he encourages us to be nice until he comes to see us, just to see what will happen. He gives us a text later based on the person we bonded with the most. He likes to make us feel guilty about bonding with them. For Zen, he claims he's an actor so he's probably just pretending his feelings for us. For Yoosung, he claims Yoosung's eyes are on someone else and we're living in someone else's shadow. For Jaehee, he claims that she works so hard and is constantly busy so she doesn't have time for you. For Jumin, he claims his trust in you will break once he finds out you've been texting Unknown, you've basically betrayed him. For Seven, he says he will get quite upset when he finds out despite everything he's done to protect you, you've basically betrayed that. Then the event happens, but you don't see him until you get back home.

Most people I see react to this ending are not surprised and actually wanted to see him, but at least one person I saw was surprised it happened. So story wise, the MC probably didn't know this was going to happen. She is rather naive, she probably thought he was going to show up at the party. Also probably thought she could avoid a kidnapping. He is not a great guy to be with, he's emotionally manipulative.

When you see him, he wonders if you honestly thought the place would be empty, and hopes you had the happiest day of your life. He comments on how strong the security was, but he got through thanks to you. He wants you to admit you like him, (players maybe, MC who knows?) why else would you help him? Were you just being nice? (Some people have that problem). He tells you if you admit you like him he'll make your Christmas unforgettable. Of course, MC is trembling, so he wonders if she's scared of him or what might happen? He then critiques us saying if we're scared of what might happen, we shouldn't have contacted him. We were quite bold. He's fully down to believing we like him, regardless of what the reality is, and that we want to spend Christmas with him. He goes to tell us his idea of Christmas, thinking we'll love it. He tells us about Santa, and how he supposedly gives presents to nice children, however he's just a made up figure adults use to control their children. People are naive and believe in him, and so the bad people like him should just feel guilty on days like Christmas. A better version of Christmas for him would not have a Santa, and instead he'd take revenge on the adults who made him feel guilty. "And bad children like you and me...will get our presents." MC can tell this guy is unhinged and tries to run, but he tells her it's too late. He promises to show us real happiness, promising a Christmas so sweet we'll never want to return to reality. His Christmas has no naughtiness, no guilt, just Christmas. It then cuts to black as he laughs evilly and hysterically. At the end of the chatroom where the RFA is freaking out over our disappearance, he comes in and says he'll be taking "good care of the princess" Every day will be Christmas for us. So it ends with us being taken captive, enjoying Christmas with Unknown...forever. The CG looks tame enough, it implies we're his gift. We have a lot of presents. Of course, we're not smiling, we seem pretty blank. I guess I wouldn't know what to think.

This DLC re-establishes some things: He thinks we're like him, he wants to play with us, likes us when we're obedient, and considers us a "Princess." Also wants to treat us well, but I think that's mainly for his sake.

[Part 2}

[finniestoncrane]

First of all, congrats for the 1,5k followers! I love your account! It's the main reason I'm checking Tumblr now and then and it really encouraging me to get to writing on Tumblr myself, though I'm still building up the confidence to do it 👉👈🥺

Jumping on the Vill-inn bandwagon, I'd love a blind date please!

I'm a 21 year-old ace Frenchie (afab, but I go by they/them in english) who wants to study cybersecurityI'm a big Sherlock Holmes nerd and usually I love murder mysteries and lovecraftian horror as an aestheticI want to get into witchcraft as well, for now I'm trying to learn tarot but I'd love to get more into itAlso a big videogames player, these days I do A LOT of Dead by Daylight (I'm trying to get into horror but I'm a bit of a scaredy cat) I'm a former gifted kid, so lots of people pleasing and a lack of self-confidence here, and a sprinkle of social anxiety to spice it up lol

And, once more, félicitations! You deserve it!

💜 blind date 💜 the kitchen is now closed! 🔞minors dni🔞 • masterlist • kofi link • tag: finnie1500 (to follow or to block) a/n: oh god anon that's the nicest thing ;-; definitely share your writing with me if you feel comfortable i'd love to read it ;-; 💚

"Oh, hi. You're finally here. Welcome to the Vill-Inn. I'll show you to your table. If you could... either eat quick and get out of here or be the designated spokesperson for your table, that would be great. We're already sick of your date. Have a nice time..."

That's not really giving you a huge vote of confidence in how well this evening will go, but as you approach your date, you recognise him instantly. He doesn't need an introduction, but he offers you one anyone.

"Hello, Edward Nygma, you're welcome, by the way."

You can push aside the arrogance, The Riddler is as infamous as they come, so you can see why he might have developed an ego. he settles down quite quickly, also, which makes starting the evening a bit smoother than the introductions were.

When you actually get a chance to get a word in, you reveal your interest in cyber security.

"This isn't supposed to be a job interview... but I'm going to keep you in mind for a 'project' I have coming up."

Edward is quick to tell you he enjoys testing the limits of cyber security, or rather pushing them to it. It's like solving a puzzle. A mystery, where the solution is behind codes and passwords.

"I'm the Holmes, you could be my Watson?"

He grins wide when you laugh at his joke, mentioning your interest in Sherlock Holmes, as well as horror and the occult. These are subjects Edward isn't well-versed in, so he spends the next hour grilling you intensely, taking in as much knowledge as you can give him and thanking you profusely for giving him ever more information.

Once he's prattled on about his own love for video games off of your own admission about how much you enjoy them, he decides it's probably only polite to ask you a bit more about yourself, to get a feel for your personality, though he is desperate to talk about himself more.

When he learns how much you have in common though, he feels satiated in his desire for companionship. You're someone who might just get him. He too, struggled in childhood with his intelligence and the pressure placed on him because of it. Though, he's gone the opposite route. He prefers to disappoint people, and he's got, if he can admit it himself, possibly too much self-confidence. But he can always hope that some of that rubs off on you... if you're willing to spend more time with him, that is.

"Which of course you do! Who wouldn't?"

You can almost hear the wait staff rolling your eyes, but you're surprisingly only finding yourself falling for him more with each ridiculous statement he makes.

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

More propaganda on Flowey, because I think there has to be more said on him.

WARNING! REALLY LONG RAMBLE. Tried to summarize most of it.

Propaganda:

First of all, my dear flower boy DIED and was murdered by a bunch of humans. All the while he was probably being berated by his BEST friend, someone he TRUSTS to fight back and kill them so that they both can open the barrier for monsterkind to go out.

And to make it even worse, he didn't even TRY fighting back at all. He just let himself get killed. And he was a child throughout all of this.

Only to be revived after all of this, probably a few years ago as a flower. Without a soul. Neither was he a monster, or human. No, he was just a flower. There wasn't a single SOUL that was technically like him.

He was traumatized and now he had to deal with a body that had no familiarity to his body from before. And he could barely feel anything. Yet he was still DETERMINED for some reason.

He had to find the truth out for himself, tried to be a better person and feel something. And even help other monster. Got nothing out of it and found them to be predictable. Wanted to die, yet couldn't. And after all that he came to realize none of it even mattered in the first place. Because he found out that HIS life was a game.

Started caring even less and less until he just couldn't do it anymore. Instead only doing things that would be new. Give him new reactions, new interactions. New dialogue. ANYTHING to get rid of his boredom.

He probably didn't even kill most of the humans that fell down there directly either. Not the same way he tried doing to Frisk at least. Probably more less did something similar as in uty. Or just tried to befriend them and get something new out of them. See what THEY'D do. Then got bored and let them die when there was nothing else to do.

The cycle of trying everything with the new humans that fell probably repeated over and over again. And when he came to the SEVENTH human soul. He saw no point in it anymore, as he could've gotten himself out of the barrier or even monsterkind out anyway.

And then that one human turns out to have more determination than him.

And that's probably the most disturbing yet greatest thing that's ever happened to him at the same time.

He's both terrified yet glad that he lost his power. For one, if he dies. He can't come back. But at the same time. HE's got a new person to play with. Someone that is COMPLETELY unpredictable. Someone who's JUST like HIM.

That's how he sees the player. And even then. He's not even aware it IS the player at the same time. He thinks it's Chara. Partly that is. Because he is aware that YOU do exist. He just doesn't exactly comprehend how.

"Chara" is the personification of the player. Yet not. Chara is their own CHARActer. But "Chara", what you may name the fallen child is a personification of you. The name that is. NOT the child.

Throughout the whole game he also follows you around. Because he is interested. He's curious. And he finds it FUN. That's why in the pacifist route he fights you and directly talks to YOU the whole time. Because HE doesn't really want you to leave.

If you leave, the game ends. And what will he have to live for if not for his "best friend".

So in short. He's not evil. He's bad, sure. But he is not EVIL. He has his own reasons, and he does seem to want Frisk and the other monster to have their happy ending. He just doesn't think he can be a part of it.

Because after all, he is the "villain". He'll kill everyone you love! His words.

(And if you look further in the game you'll also realize that all of the things he's doing is because he thinks that that's what Chara would do. He himself has basically also become a replica of Chara because he looks up to them. Also because he regrets not listening to them. I could talk about Flowey for WAAYYYY longer. But I think this was long enough lmao.)

.

[chrissytinat]

I know I’ve made a handful of post about the Garten of Banban games, so I thought I’d give my overall thoughts on the games so far.

I’m not going to say they were cash grabs. I know a lot of people are saying that. I do think though, they were made with a particular audience in mind given the popularity of games like FNAF, Poppy’s Playtime, and Bendy and the Ink Machine. The merch in the menu for the first game was evident of that, especially since that game was free. Trying to make something from it was understandable, but could’ve been gone about a bit better given how short the game was.

As someone who’s trying to make a game myself, I know it’s certainly not easy. There are many ways you can make a game. But the choices made when making the game are just as important as why you’re making it. Whether it was to jump on the mascot horror train or not, if you’re making a game that tells a story, you need to know what that story is to some extent and how the gameplay ties into it. I feel like the story was an afterthought, especially the whole plot about being a parent looking for their child. I feel like that just serves as a reminder of why the character is there rather than actually being the story they wanted to tell. Nothing in the game or how it plays makes me feel like there are actually any children in the kindergarten or that any of the mechanics would make sense for the story being told. Games like Outlast and Portal have core mechanics that make sense for the story and the characters we play as. Bioshock gives the player a weapon that would make sense for someone being thrown into this strange world of the game to use. But in Banban we get a drone that I still don’t think fits the story or the game other than to solve puzzles and be the mechanic it’s known for.

I don’t think the games are necessarily bad. They’re certainly games. But I feel like they could’ve been planned out a bit more. The first game didn’t need to be it’s own game. It could’ve easily been part of the second game and treated as the intro to the game, like how Bioshock(something they’re clearly taking some inspiration from based on the trailer music and how Banban is basically the game’s version of Atlas) uses the starting area leading up to the elevator as an introduction to the mechanics and the world of Rapture. Had they put a bit more time into the planning, I don’t think it would’ve needed to be separate games.

If they wanted to make a story about experiments gone wrong, they didn’t need to go the mascot horror route. Yes, it’s a popular game genre at the moment, but there are many sub genres in gaming that we forget about. There’s an audience for every story and every game. I just don’t know if they made this game fully taking the audience in mind.

As a writer more than a gamer, it probably seems like I shouldn’t be talking much about the game at all. But as someone who loves horror, watching let’s plays, and loved games that have story to them(which this is trying to have, and I can see that), it’s piqued my interest and curiosity. The more I look into it the more questions I have about the choices made. And as someone working on their own mascot horror story and game as a challenge to myself, it’s making me want to see where the genre can go. I know it has potential, but a lot of this feels very copy and paste or like a weird mish mash of different games that don’t completely work together.

The games aren’t the worst. They aren’t the best. But they’re certainly an addition to the genre. I’ve seen people use these games as reasons the mascot horror genre is collapsing, but I disagree. If anything, this is making people look into the genre more and will hopefully inspire others to see what they can do with the genre. It doesn’t have to be all about ghost kids, shady corporations, or experiments. There are so many different ways you can go with it. It’s just a matter of finding those different paths you can take it.

On a slightly different note that’s a bit more of a nitpick than a serious critique: if Banban is supposed to be pronounced Bonbon, would that mean Nabnab would be Nobnob? Just curious.