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toyota-supra · 11 months ago

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My Top 10 Favorite Games I Played In 2023

In chronological order. It's a long one.

Titanfall 2

I've been told to play this for years now, though for most of those I did not really know why, as it never seemed like my kind of game. But, ever since I started really getting into mecha sometime in 2022, I decided to finally give it a try. I'm very glad I did. Titanfall 2 is a criminally short First Person Shooter with a very fun mech/pilot dynamic, really good mechanics of movement and combat for both, and some of my favorite level design of any game I've played in a long while. The platforming is crazy good! The mechanics are tight as hell! The mech is awesome! I recommend Titanfall 2 for literally anyone reading this.

Mega Man Zero

The Zero series is the one that most called to me in the Mega Man franchise every time I looked these games over, and I was right in that judgement. While I couldn't say if I was going to appreciate most of the GBA era action platformer difficulty or not, it was clear from Zero's more agile movement and bite-sized missions with very memorization-heavy bosses that I would enjoy it. And I did enjoy it a lot! Most of the bosses kicked my ass but it was an absolute blast to finally learn their patterns enough to defeat them. The problem is, I went out of my way to not get any of the game's health upgrades or energy tanks, making the final boss so hard for me that after days and days of attempts I gave up. Not beating Mega Man Zero is probably my biggest regret of the year lmao

Fate/Stay Night

Honestly, what do I even say? You can see my Saber icon, right? Fate is a franchise I never bothered to get close to, knowing of its name only through vague images and names of more popular characters (not even from FGO, just in general), and from later on getting to know that Fate/Grand Order was the game it is I felt like it wasn't for me at all and who cares. So when I learned what the original VN was actually about I felt stupid. How could something so fitting to my tastes have gone under my radar for so long...? Despite not being much of a reader in general, F/SN is a very long game that feels like it's just as short as you need it to be. The prose flows so well, every single character is lovable in many ways, and there's so much passion written into them and the situations they're in that it's one of the most smooth-flowing VNs I've read (which granted are not many) even though it's around the high 6 digit wordcounts. I love this game dearly.

Stranger of Paradise - Final Fantasy Origin

I wanted to play this game since the first few trailers! How cruel was it that, not only did I not have a powerful enough machine at the time, but the game wasn't even on Steam until the year after release? Final Fantasy Origin is the game it presents itself to be. There's something about it that's so special to a certain kind of person (which I happen to be one of) and that falls flat for everyone else. The combat and its many Weapons, Jobs and Skills to use are just fantastic in how nice they feel, and I really do like the type of story Stranger tells. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm close to it. I like to describe Stranger of Paradise as everything good about PS2 and PS3 games in a modern title.

Pseudoregalia

An old feeling from a new friend. Pseudoregalia is everything I like in 3D Platforming, and a little bit of what I don't. If you've ever looked at a single gif or video of Super Mario 64 and thought, "this looks pretty fun to play," you should be playing Pseudoregalia. If you like goat ladies with big butts, I can't say I understand if that would sell you on a game or not, but it is a feature everyone mentions. I wrote on this game already, so please do check that out and get it. It's one of the three titles of this list that came out this year, and I have not heard enough people talk about it.

Armored Core VI - Fires of Rubicon

My favorite in this list, which is funny because I don't know what to say about it at all. Armored Core is a series I've been studying up on from the outside for a while, and the announcement for this title was my reason to finally dive in. Unfortunately, I did not get past playing the first mission of AC1 a few times and booting up AC3 once. But I will get to it eventually! Fires of Rubicon is one hell of an action game, that I adored for every single one of my (currently) 67 hours of play. Going through the campaign with builds a little too busted for the AI most of the time was my dishonorable focus of the experience, but there's a lot else to do for every kind of person. The amount of freedom you have for messing with your builds for either single or multiplayer is not to be underestimated. Though it could be better. Here's hoping there will be a game that is.

Midnight Club 3 DUB Edition Remix

I played this game as a kid so much that the main menu and its theme are scarred into my mind, yet this whole time I had no idea what the game was actually like due to the fact that most of my playtime was doing a few races and just cruising around. Once you dive into trying to finish the story, MC3 is a much different experience. One that frustrated me so much, I got actually ill from the stress. Please take breaks, gamers! Your health is more important than finishing an 18 year old game! Still, I did eventually do it. Midnight Club 3's handling model and gameplay structure are really impressive in comparison to the much more popular Need for Speed series, and I have to admit I did enjoy the game a lot. It's just a lot harder than it ever needed to be. I'll probably never forget this game, and that's not really a good or bad thing. Just, advice from me, if it gets too hard, maybe switch to sports bikes. Buy that Ducati.

Test Drive Unlimited

Another car game, but this one I have the least to say about of any on this list. I had played TDU on PS2 multiple times before and thought it was awesome. The atmosphere and immersion of this game are unrivaled by any racing game to this day. But playing the PC version with a steering wheel and pedals made everything so much more incredible. I played the Platinum mod, which adds hundreds more cars and fixes a lot of issues with the original game (but not all of them; the game was still really rough and I hate how much the resolution is a pain to change). Overall, one of my favorite experiences with a steering wheel controller so far. Otherwise, a pretty good game if you like driving.

Super Mario Sunshine

An old friend, and a new feeling. I don't play 3D platformers as much as I wish I did, because they're really not part of my main priorities looking for games lately, but every time I play a Mario game, it's like I found love again. It was not the first time I played Super Mario Sunshine, as I had collected a dozen or so Sprites years before, but playing the whole game in I think two weeks during the latter half of the year was such an incredible experience. Unless for some reason you play it on the Switch, Sunshine is a game that loves you as much as you love it. And you do love it, right? I know I do. I'd love to play this game many other times in the future. Granted, that applies to every game here, I just wanted to say it out loud for this one.

Lethal Company

A fairly recent release! Having played it with many groups of people by now, both modded and vanilla, I think Lethal Company is probably one of my favorite multiplayer experiences ever. It is scary and hilarious, but also just really really good, to a level that surprised me for my quality standards of co-op (horror) games. Lethal Company turns friends into improvised horror movie actors and it's incredible. I'm almost at 30 hours played and will likely get to 40 at minimum. It's also pretty cheap and likely runs well on all sorts of machines, so consider checking this one out too.

Honorable Mentions

Witch on the Holy Night and Story of Seasons - Friends of Mineral Town are games I am adoring and could definitely go on this list, hadn't I started them both quite late into December. Maybe next year I'll give them a shoutout!

#video games

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maleyanderecafe · 10 months ago

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I NEED YOUR HELP SO BADLY 😭

Okay so last year I was bored and shi and was just watching yandere vn playthroughs from Your Game on my chrome book (I downloaded the videos and stuff) and there was this one where you had a boyfriend, I forgot what his name was but it wasn't an American name, basically he fucking dies i think and MC gets kidnapped at one part? They find a wall of pictures with them in them (I THUNK, I skipped most of it cause ADD and now I hate myself for it.) MC gets exhausted or smth happens and they collapse but then the ghost of the boyfriend is like "yooooo get up and all that good stuff, comfort comfort" and then the yandere is some type of yandere demon that looks like darkiplier (im not joking he does) and in his end you basically submit to him after he brings you to the VOID and you give him what he wanted. Also you find out the boyfriend died by coming home and seeing MINE (I think) written on the wall in blood.

I have searched FAR AND WIDE looking for this game but can't find it, it had a similar art style to My Darling so I tried seeing they made it but NOPE.

AND I CANT FIND THE VIDEO CAUSE I DELETED IT FROM GOOGLE DRIVE FOR STORAGE AND IM GONNA CRY I WANT IT SO BADLY PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR KNOWLEDGE 🛐😭

Whoa, okay, that’s a lot of info, but I think the game you’re talking about is Love Me Dearly?

From what I remember, the MC doesn't have a boyfriend (at least from what I remember), but she and the pink haired guy, Takuma (non American name) did have a history together that the MC doesn't remember, but Takuma does.

The MC gets trapped (not kidnapped) by the other male yandere Asurio and if the MC does submit to them you give him the box that he wanted. Takuma also does the comfort comfort thing with the MC when they're trapped together and at the end.

Hopefully, this is the game that you were talking about? I'll have to contemplate on it harder if it isn't. It's a pretty good game because it's very different from a lot of yandere vns that I've played and there's a lot more problem solving and mysterious intrigue that made it pretty memorable to me.

#asks #male yandere #yandere #yandere boy #recommendations

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ggren-mainz · 5 months ago

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Don't worry about the reblog, I think you were not offensive. Yeah I watched Gou and Sotsu in like 2021, I don't remember it at all, I remember I dropped it and I watched specific episodes other friends told me to watch because of *lore*... and like, no, no. It has so many errors in it, it's completely not a "shit" or some insult, because the tv series itself is an insult to the world of higurashi Now, I'm going with spoilers, so don't continue if you don't want them. Or avoid this if you don't want to suffer because a group of authors decided to ruin an entire saga because they have to capitalize on everything >Hanyuu's origin as a demiurge/homunculus of another goddess is completely made up and I think it's incoherent not only to Higurashi Rei where they explain Hanyuu's goddess origins, but also to the vns where we meet other goddesses >Rena in actual Higurashi continuosly deal with her past life, always having the trauma of her biological mother's behavior (I'm not divorcephobic, neither Rena I think, but being pregnant for another man meanwhile staying with your husband and husband-daughter is... bad, at least for me). But hey! Higurashi Gou and Sotsu isn't only about bullying Rika everyday in physical and psychological tortures, but also making Rena's father abusive! Yippy! My god Ryukishi... >Satoko as a villain. Let be honest: Satoko has nothing wrong, she's a protagonist, she has good intentions just like the other characters, she matures herself a lot after all the loops together with the others, she became independent af AS A KID, like can you ever imagine such strength? Losing parents, losing your beloved brother, suffering under an abusive family, but you still can take care of yourself, you still continue your life, but no Ryukishi needs a yuri yandere >as mentioned before, Rika being a punchbag. Guys, it's not funny at all, literally. After Higurashi Kai, after what we see also in Higurashi Rei were Rika was panicking because of another loop, you literally have the gut to say "Nuh huh, we have to infantilize Rika again, we have to loop them again". But also, most important thing: Rika already suffers for many things, so WHY THE HELL EVEN AKASAKA KILLS HER? IT'S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE THAT RIKA WOULD CONTINUE AFTER THAT EPISODE, I WOULD LOSE ANY WILL OF LIVING IF I WAS HER >Umineko isn't connected to Higurashi. I know this is a strong take, I understand that if 50% of people appreciate gou and sotsu, 80% or even 90% of when they cry fanbase thinks that all the universes are connected. My personal interpretation is that Bernkastel, in Higurashi, is a Rika's chuunibyou to cope about her condition as superhuman/not-human, considering she lives things no one understand until Answer Arc I growed up with Higurashi, I suffered too abusive adults and family so like I relate so much about Rena's behavior, but also I always felt love for every character. The horror of "friends killing you" is a thing that I think it would've been, narratively speaking, stopped as a topic in the Question Arc

AKASAKA DOES WHAT!?!? Oooo I'm getting mad, someone hold me down (figuratively). Yeah I heard that gou/sotsu were bad but glad to see its even worse. The fact that they made satoko the villain always irked me so bad because I just can't see the ingame satoko do those things. You mean to tell me the satoko whose most violent L5 symptoms were pushing people off places and that loved her friends dearly would just start torturing them?? In my humble opinion I think she'd just give into despari very early, but it is true that i dont know the whole context.

And also a thing that annoyed me about it (and an issue I had with the first season of the og anime too, although not as bad) is how it seems to depend a lot on the gore parts. And just seeing the edits I can tell these people never got the actual meaning of higurashi, which I don't even kmow if this anime is even trying to send anymore. They just got "Oh my gosh, cute anime girls but make them murderers!!! Wow gore gore, blood and psychos ☆⌒(≧▽° ) so kawaaaiiii". The og anime isn't as bad on this, but I do feel like it fails at sending the actual message many times. Depends a lot on the arc, like I hated how they did meakashi but I thought that onikakushi was pretty ok.

And also another thing I don't get...why? Why did ryukishii do this? I have heard that he apparently gave just an outline and other people refined the story and I hope that's true because otherwise I just don't get it. Did he really fall off that bad, or does he just suck at doing animes? Ig we'll see with silent Hill F/whatever new project he planned.

#higurashi #higurashi no naku koro ni

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purgemarchlockdown · 9 months ago

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New Apple

(Also Known as: Nott Broke, I am now writing the WKTD-Amane Cross Analysis. This is also the Trans Amane Momose Thesis)

(CWs: Cults, Child Abuse, Child Death, Body Horror, Homophobia, Transphobia.)

(Spoilers for We Know The Devil and Milgram.)

I am a unrepentant fan of the Visual Novel We Know The Devil. I love it dearly, I think it's one of the best Things ever made.

I am also a...fan, to say the least, of Amane Momose. I think about her every day. And as a result I've thought about these two things together a lot. I think there's a lot of thematically cohesion that can be derived from putting the two together.

Since this is Milgram Focused, I'm going to put an explanation for what the plot of WKTD is first before continuing.

WKTD is a 2015 VN about Three Bad Kids at a Christian Summer Camp who are sent to meet The Devil one day in a cabin in the woods. This game is about Queer Religious Horror and has great prose and you should play it-

Now, there are already comparisons that can be drawn to Amane's cult and the game's main premise, but let's discuss each of the three kids first.

No Prince For The Princesses

Starting with Jupiter. Jupiter is the tomboyish good kid of the bunch or, more accurately, tries her best to be the good kid to minimal success.

Laughing off a head injury isn't all that Jupiter's good at; she has the best grades in class, and coaches make her starter on whatever team has the most pressing need for someone who can do sports. She's a perfect role model, except for how she always misses the winning goal and she always blanks on the last question. She leads when no one else wants to, which is always.

Jupiter can keep up until right when it matters the most. It's here where I mention Jupiter snaps a hairband against her wrist, a common tactic used as an alternative to self-harm.

Her place in the dysfunctional group of problem kids becoming clear as her issues with being the perfect good kid and her immense self-hate and loathing start to seep through. Jupiter struggles under this weight of expectations and pleasing others but tries to pretend she an:

Neptune: ascetic monk at not giving a shit.

To her own detriment, she hangs out with the Worst Group in the Camp of Worst Kids just so she can get them to stay away from her. If they just like her enough then they won't bother her. Even if she personally dislikes them and how they act.

Not that she...enjoys acting like this. She's disgusted by the idea of the Counselor liking her. Because:

Jupiter: He likes people he can make a little uncomfortable and won't give any trouble about it.

Though as Venus says, that's exactly why he likes their group.

Jupiter is someone who's resigned to reality being like this. To being considered a bad kid even though she tried so hard. Sure it's unfair and people have tried a lot less than her but:

Jupiter: You can still get better at this, if you try, you know?

Even I can say "I'm sorry" Even I have hope I swear! I'm going to be a good girl now! That's it!

Anyway, Jupiter Kisses Girls. She Likes Women. She's a Lesbian. She has a Seven Minutes in Heaven Scene with Neptune where they Kiss-

That kiss having a lot of relevance to how (specifically) a t1 Amane attempts to approach certain taboo ideas and concepts.

Jupiter: It's not real if we don't say it out loud, right?

Amane tends to talk around things in T1. It's not immediately noticeable but it's prevalent in a lot of her speak. Specifically when taboo ideas come into play. Instead of saying anything directly she talks around it.

(Apostle and Death)

Amane: Okay! I’m kind, so I shall forgive you. That’s nice, isn’t it? If my parents were in my place, you would have been lectured for another hour.

This is my favorite example, as Amane is just calling her parents unkind here. But, Amane isn't really good at talking around things. In the same VD, when faced with the knoweldge that she's being underestimated she immdieatly talks about her genuine feelings about being treated like a child, and being talked down to because of it. Being very forward and open about her own emotions.

Outside of that we have instances of her showing interest in things that are believed to be taboo, or at least in things discouraged by her community.

(20/06/27, Amane’s Birthday)

Amane: I don’t need it. I’ll gratefully accept your well-wishes, but I don’t eat things like that. Also…… Shidou-san, I can’t say I’m especially fond of the way you assume that all children will love frivolous things like this. Shidou: ………… Is that so… I apologise. I’m sure everyone else will be happy to eat it, so don’t worry about it. Sorry for intruding. Amane: ………… ……cake……

She even disrespects the blue flag in Purge March, the flag representing "discarding vulgarity"

Considering both how a lot of the generally aesthetics of Magic and Purge March seem to be considered frivolous. And her being forbidden to go to an amusement park.

T1Q5:When you go to an amusement park, what do you like to ride? A: That is a place I should not go to.

I think we can infer that these things are consider vulgar and wanting them anyway. She wants something outside of what she has. Something that she tries to Hide in her interrogations. (Interrogations)

T1Q3: If you were allowed to do anything, what would you want to do? Nothing really. I am not lacking anything.

T1Q17: What would you do if the world ends tomorrow? If everything ends? Then, I might do all sorts of things I have never done before.

(Put a pin in these interros, we are Going to come back to them.)

It's wrong to want such a thing, she knows this well. That's why she doesn't say it out loud. It's not real until she does. No one can punish her for it if she doesn't say anything.

Except...they Do. Same with Jupiter, people who didn't try as hard to get into the "proper, good girl" summer scouts got in when Jupiter didn't. Amane studies so hard and yet she only gets a 83% when Kotoko is tutoring her.

(20/06/18)

Kotoko: There, I’ve finished marking. 83%. How do I put it… Even though you act like this, it’s not like you’re super brilliant at studying or anything, huh.

She just blanks at the last question.

Misses the winning goal.

Something about Her is...inherently holding them back from this illustrious standard of being a good girl. It's just, impossible for her to be one. She knows this herself.

Only if, only if, only if I could be a good girl

And even though she tries, she Can't do anything to change that. In the same way that no matter how hard Jupiter tries, people instinctively understand that she's something Other somehow. The both of them being harmed over and over again in an attempt to live up to ideals that they will...never be able to live up to.

The system of We Know The Devil works like this, you choose two kids and leave one behind each hour. Leave one behind enough and they become the devil. The worst kid out of all of them.

Jupiter does her best but her best is never going to be enough. So if she gets excluded enough times...

Even the best kid has the devil inside her.

Jupiter wants to touch, to hit, to pull.

Venus: I wish I could be meaner. I wish I could be so much meaner.

She's never going to be able to make up for this incessant greedy Want.

Her hairband snaps here, she can't keep the devil away for much longer, and she knows it.

Jupiter: You know, I actually liked when the captain talked about how heaven was on merit; as long as you do good things, maybe you can one day be good… Jupiter: But then they said we don’t believe that anymore and it’s only what’s in your heart that matters. Jupiter: Just when I think I got it right, they changed it. Jupiter: I can try hard, but I think… Jupiter: God knows my heart isn’t really in it. And that was my only shot, right?

Amane considers love a showcase of mercy,

T2Q9: What does love mean to you? A: To spread mercy with no limits.

And considers her punishments love.

T2Q2: Do you believe you were loved? A: Very much deeply.

I suppose when you think about it, trying to beat the devil out of someone is mercy.

But, you can't really do anything about it if someone does want the devil.

Jupiter: It's wrong to want such a thing, you know that, don't you? So don't do it. I still know that much.

In each color ending, the devil gets destroyed. The devil only getting one moment for whatever they wanted.

For revenge, for love, for "please take me back."

One Singular Moment to live as they are before having it burnt out of them.

...Someone had to have opened that door at the end of Purge March

(Milgram T1 Glitched Character Voicelines)

Amane: Ahh! I'm so sorry...! I'm sorry...! I'm sorry for breaking the rules!

Lukewarm, I Spit You Out

We have more bad kids to go through, so let's talk Neptune.

Neptune is, to be blunt, a self-proclaimed bitch. She doesn't act like she's supposed to belong her which is exactly why she belongs here. She uses profanities, sneaks alcohol into the camp, and the summary of this game calls her a mean girl. Though this meanness of hers betrays a certain amount of care and worry for her group, or, at least they like to think of it that way:

Neptune is very kind or possibly super mean and hates us. But that's okay. She's really funny.

This kindness of hers comes out in many ways. She's concerned for Jupiter, trying to get her to actually give a shit about herself, especially when she does so much work.

Neptune: I mean like, aren't you doing fine? Neptune: Aren't you trying harder than literally everyone else here? Neptune: You're so chill about everyone's bullshit it makes me so mad and then you won't extend even the slightest of that chill to yourself and that makes me EVEN SO MADDER. Neptune: Can't you just be a little less…good?

And wants Venus to get out of his egg, to let himself be a bit of a bitch, and stop apologizing for himself when he is doing nothing wrong.

Neptune: Wait, I got it. I dare you to not say sorry for the rest of the night. Jupiter: Oh my god. Venus: I can do that! Jupiter: …can he though? Neptune: No it's perfect. Neptune: It'll fix something annoying, and this will make everyone's life easier, and all of us win. Venus: Is it really annoying? Neptune: You shouldn't have to apologize for things you don't need to apologize for.

Neptune deeply cares about the people around her, it just comes out as harsh words and actions. She wants to make Jupiter's life a living hell so that she's forced to say that it hurts.

Neptune: People are supposed to get hurt by things. It's fucked up to not. It's not good for you.

Though, as Venus calls out, the way Neptune acts doesn't fully come from self-confidence.

Venus: ...your problem Neptune is. Venus: You think being mean is more honest. Venus: But you're just as bad as Jupiter. Venus: And me.

Neptune, like the other two, deeply hates herself. Like Jupiter she has a consistent "tell" that shows she's the devil. She throws up this black ichor-like substance. Poison really. The only thing she can say. She's a bad kid through and through.

Now, Amane is self-proclaimed annoying.

Es: Regardless of whether you’re a child or an adult… you are beyond annoying. Amane: Oh, my. I am honored by your praise. Es: As I said. Amane: (giggles)

She takes Real Pride in being, a little shit to people.

20/06/03

Fuuta: ……huh? What’s your problem? You’re just leaving all your meat? What a weird kid. Amane: You say that, but you’re not eating all of your food either. ……are you not able to eat your vegetables? Even though you’re an adult. Fuuta: Huh, what, so you’re just eating grass? What are you, a rabbit or something? Since you’re just a brat, you should be eating your meat properly. You won’t grow if you don’t. Amane: ……you make some really funny jokes, don’t you, Fuuta-san.

This behavior is mostly present in T1, mostly cause T1 is Amane's testing period. She's trying to see what she can get away with. These behaviors disappearing by T2 because she learns that she can't get away with much. Introducing us to a less playful, more angry and genuinely despairing Amane. (Of Blessedness and Punishment)

Amane: This is unforgivable! I won’t forgive you! (screams)

That isn't to say Amane doesn't genuinely want to help out though, even with her more aggressive attitude. In fact she goes out of her way to "help" Fuuta and responds to Yuno's questions and worries honestly and patiently.

(23/06/27, Amane’s Birthday)

Yuno: By the way, Amane. Have you ever wished you were never born? I’ve thankfully lived a pretty fun life so far, so haven’t really. But you seem to be struggling with something. So I kinda wondered if you thought like that. Amane: ……I don’t think that. Being born into this world is the first miracle any person experiences, and is something to celebrate. Even if after birth I was put through trial after trial, the value of that will never disappear.

Amane is kind, genuinely so. She helps the cat, she tries her best to "guide" people back to the better path. The problem is, is that her want to help gets tied up in her community and her worldview. Causing more harm than she would like, it's almost like she can only spit out doctrine when that isn't the case.

Amane: Hm. Is that so? Are the prisoners who weren’t forgiven feeling lost right now? Maybe they need our faith as well.

Outside of that, Amane is rather opinionated, she tries to keep it down but it seeps out anyway. She's expressed numerous times her frustration with being treated like a child (ie: being treated like she has no rights of her own.) And expresses that openly and bluntly.

(20/06/13)

Shidou: I…… I just don’t understand. If everything about MILGRAM is true…… why did a child like you have to become a murderer? Just imagining what sort of circumstances must have led to that, it makes me so sad…… Amane: ……*sigh*. Is that right. I don’t think I’m going to get along with you, Shidou-san.I don’t agree with the fact you refuse to acknowledge that I have my own free will, and that I should be held accountable for my actions, just because I’m a child. I may have only been alive for 12 years, but all the choices I’ve made, even if they weren’t the best ones, were entirely my own. What point is there in you getting sad when I have no regrets myself?

It's easy to call her annoying or petulant for this, especially when Shidou (seemingly) is just concerned for how how a child is in prison of murders. And again she Does act annoying on purpose.

But Shidou is being actively patronizing and forcing his view of Amane Onto her. When Amane rebukes this, instead of apologizing or reevaluating he dismisses what she says. Something that deeply frustrates her.

Neptune: I'm an evil bad slut right? I'm a bitch and a flirt. Neptune: I'm a bitch because I let people know when they walk over me. Neptune: I'm a flirt because boys keep talking at me. Neptune: And this is somehow my problem, because they can't get over themselves and leave me alone? Neptune: How is that fair? Why should I get hurt by that? It makes me so mad! Neptune: Why would I be anything but MAD about all this stupid obnoxious BULLSHIT.

You’re sorry? I don’t care! Please, go ahead and die already Remember MY cries, MY repents, MY words of “I’m sorry” that I said to you?

Amane cares a lot about being treated Properly, about the people around her being treated Properly. She can't really...accept injustice. She broke one of her cult's doctrines because she wanted wrap up what was probably a Small Wound at worst judging by the state of the cat. She's not going to waver just because the people around her believe otherwise.

Amane: ……I’m fine. I don’t know what you’ve done or what it is you’re worried about, but I think if there’s something you believe in, you should stay true to it. It’s not something that should waver just because other people said something. I personally don’t plan on changing my own beliefs even if I’m told I’m wrong either……

Amane believes in the idea that people can get better, and wants to see people get better even if she can't. She's going to help even if she has to be Violent to do so.

Neptune: You asked me to come out. So I'm coming out. The door opens and it's her but it's not her She grabs Venus and crushes him against the wall like he's a little doll.

Amane: Don’t you think it’s a good opportunity to be reborn? If, right now, you could shake off those around you trying to drag you down to depravity, and could change––

When Neptune's the devil she forcibly tries to turn the other two kids into the devil alongside with her. She knows this whole situation is a nightmare and wants to force the two into accepting who they really are, even if it meant hurting them.

Why should they be the ones to suffer when their trying so hard to be good? Why should they be suffering when they already ARE good?

Neptune: Doesn't it feel unfair? You're already good, so why do you have to try so hard to be good? It makes me mad. They want you to prove you're good. But you're already so good. What is that? Why do they do that?

We must not give into them, they are the ones that should be judged

Why does She need to prove that she's righteous when the people around her can break the same rules she does and get away with no consequences?

I don’t need it any more, if you’re going to break your vow Here and now, it’s my turn to tear you apart

It's just so Unfair. Why is she the one getting hurt for no good reason? Why was the cat the one who got hurt for something that wasn't even its fault? It's just not right. None of this is right.

Neptune: Does that kid look happy to you? Well I guess we have different opinions and you will have to stop me from making him into what he is trying very hard not to be.

Help Me God, I'm In Love

We have one more kid to go through.

Venus is known for being very much a doormat, and very easy to push around. A small detail when their sitting down to listen to the Bonfire Captain's story is that Venus tries his best not to take up space.

Venus sits with his legs crossed, taking up as little space as he can, which is at most not very much.

And As mentioned before he constantly apologizes for himself, even when it isn't even his fault. That dare Neptune gives him? He immdieatly fails it, the sorry is an instinct, he does it automatically.

Though even then, Venus is known to be...a bit of a little shit. Maybe even quite Mean. He has a bite to his words and can be extremely judgemental. Not that he seems to notice .

Jupiter: Do you think he notices how much of a jerk he is sometimes? Neptune: I wish.

Amane: An arts university, though…… Does that mean you’re good at drawing, then? It may be a bit rude to say, but that’s rather unexpected.

(I Love how Amane implies that she thought Mikoto was too boring to be an artist. Incredible.)

Not only that but he's strongly opinionated, often surprising the people around him with them and how pointed and critical he can be. The people around him being so used to how shy and docile he seems.

Jupiter: Why not you. You're safe. You're like a puppy. You're harmless. Venus: …did you lose your nerve? Jupiter: Except when you talk.

He doesn't mean to be mean on purpose, he doesn't even like being mean, but it just comes out of him. He can't stop himself. He's so angry and bitter about certain things that his real feelings bleed out of him.

Neptune: Wow Venus I'm ALMOST impressed. Neptune: You are, deep down, kind of a little shit. Venus: I didn't mean it in a mean way. I wasn't teasing. Neptune: That's so much worse, Venus. Venus: I guess I just don't get it? Venus: I don't like being mean and I don't want to be mean so I try really hard not to be mean. Venus: I don't get any of the 'just kidding' because it's not just kidding.

But Venus is easy to pick on, he smiles weirdly, he tries his best to avoid causing too much conflict, and the idea that Venus is "not like the other boys" get floated around pretty early depending on what interactions you chose, and Jupiter and Neptune discuss this their 10AM interaction:

Neptune: Are you seriously worried about him? Jupiter: Maybe. A little. Jupiter: He's weird. Not in a bad way, necessarily? Jupiter: But maybe in a bad way, possibly. Jupiter: Sometimes I don't even know what he is.

Jackalope: That isn’t even really Amane Momose anymore. You’ve awakened something much bigger.

There's something....different about Venus, like Jupiter and Neptune before him. Everyone can tell, and thus treats him differently for it but he's just not exactly sure what that...Is.

And it's so Frustrating.

Venus: …I don't know what's wrong with me.

Venus: But I can't. Not when it comes to this. Jupiter: What is "this"? Venus: Whatever they want out of me that's not fixing radios. Venus: To be tougher? To grow up? To-what's that?

He's jealous, so deeply jealous of Jupiter and Neptune and he doesn't even know why.

Venus: I'm mad about a lot of things I guess. Jupiter: Liar Jupiter: You're not mad. Jupiter: You're jealous. Jupiter: Why are you so jealous. Jupiter: It's flattering. But it's weird. Venus: I don't know.

Muu: ……hey, are you listening to me? What are you staring at……? Amane: I’m not staring at anything. Muu: Liar, you definitely are……

Amane: ……cake……

He wants...something from them, he doesn't know what but it's something important to him. Something that would make him feel like he's himself and not...whatever he is. It's not even like he necessarily minds being different. He doesn't even think he can be anything else.

Venus: I know I'm bad at getting anyone to like me and I'm weird and everyone else can deal even though I can't, but I can't. Venus: I'm just going to be like this. I'm not going to be any different. Jupiter: You're asking to get beat up. Venus: I don't care.

T2Q20: How do you feel about you not being like everyone else? A: Nevertheless I was born as myself, so I'm happy.

This deep want appears in Everything he does. Everything he does is to somehow get that Thing he Wants the Most. He can attribute it to something else but everyone can tell he wants Something.

Neptune: Venus, your problem is that you are very nice. But you want something. And you think being nice is going to give it to you. But it never will. And until you figure out what it is you want. Every kindness of yours will be full of that want.

Amane: Ah, I am looking forward to it! Seeing whether your judgement will align with that of these higher standards! If that is the case, maybe Milgram would be the right world for us to live in, rather than the outside world!

Milgram relies on your judgement, isn’t that right? In that case, you could become the mediator for a far more righteous world!!

That isn't to say he Isn't afraid of being found out. Of having the kind of person he is being revealed. In a game of truth or dare he chooses dare because:

Venus: I mean, it's kinda like Jupiter said? Truth is embarrassing and dares could get you hurt. Getting hurt is way less scary.

But then the contradiction of this gets pointed out to him, people can be embarrassing with dares as well. It's easy to hurt and embarrass someone.

I've already mentioned that Amane hides...a lot, she tends to talk around things and use double meanings and what not. But she also doesn't want to seem frivolous or wasteful. She wants to stay seeming mature and smart and pure. Being immature is dangerous to her, another reason for people to view her as useless and weak. Another reason to get hurt.

She isn't that. She can prove it. She's not greedy or materialistic.

Venus: I don't want to be strong. I don't want to be that sort of person at all.

She doesn't want anything.

Venus: I want them within me and without me. All through and about me. I want feathers in my lungs and eyes on my skin. I want my heart to see and my lungs to fly.

Nothing at all.

T1Q17: What would you do if the world ends tomorrow? If everything ends? Then, I might do all sorts of things I have never done before.

This is when I reveal Venus is Trans.

Venus is Trans! She uses She/Her, I've been using He/Him for her previously to reveal she's trans like how the VN reveals she's trans.

Venus wants to reveal the truth, to be seen as she is, to have:

That wing to see the truth and that eye to lay it bare.

She wants to be honest and live as herself. To really Be Her. When she becomes the devil she says it's nobody's fault but hers. She wants this. She wants this so much.

She's not doing it cause she was forced or coerced she did it cause she Wanted To. She wanted to do it so badly. She does it with such glee it's honestly terrifying. She killed out of hate and duty and Enjoyed It.

The devil is lonely. We kicked out the devil and it must miss us. It keeps begging to be let back, to let it in.

And Amane Did.

Smoke and Honey

Amane Momose is undeniably monster-coded.

Jackalope: That isn’t even really Amane Momose anymore. You’ve awakened something much bigger.

Amane: Right now, I am both Amane Momose and I am not. I am speaking on behalf of our faith.

Amane: Yes. It is only natural for a person(/human) to apologize to another for breaking a promise. Es: … Amane: Why are you looking so doubtful? Are you not human?

This happy pinky promise hurts to break

There's so much to discuss that if I did do it in detail we would get so set off track very badly, but Amane Momose is Other. She's the Other, she's not human. She's never Been Human. Atleast not by the standards of her cult.

In the Milgram Cat Symbolism, Cats has been highly associated with sin. Yuno portrays her cat self as the most honest but also sinful version of herself. Kazui does the same. Amane being the cat, implicates her as a sinful force in the world. Something dangerous and terrifying that needs to be destroyed.

Amane Momose, somehow, is a threat to normal human existence (at least in the existence of the cult.) She's too opinionated, too dedicated, too Bad of a kid. Having her exist at all as she is, is a threat. She doesn't Want to stop being herself, she's supposed to want to stop. Humans aren't supposed to act like she acts. What if that stubbornness was directed at something against the cult?

Adults also hate perfect kids who love the world so much they can't stop themselves from saving it.

We Need to Destory The Devil No Matter What or Who it is. To choose someone to act as the scapegoat, the worst girl, the one kid too weird, too strange, too threatening.

What does Amane do? She's already a liability, just a child, useless and unhelpful. What if she was destructive? Better to teach her now to be better, right?

It's not like she isn't destructive, it's true. She does harm. Horrible harm actually. I completely understand wanting to restrain her for those reasons.

But, she had One Moment, and it was ripped away from her.

Jupiter: If I taste what it's like, I know, there's no way I'll be happy being human ever again.

I Wonder what else is left for her now.

#milgram #cw child abuse #amane momose #cw cults #milgram analysis #milgram meta #it is MIDNIGHT #I wrote this in Two Days and Two Long Sessions #Im telling you guys this VN is important reading for Amane Momose purposes #I also dont know how to beta read theres probably a quadrillion mistakes

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papaziggy-devblog · 2 years ago

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oh i wasn't complaining or anything and i apologize if it came off that way, but i really was curious as to why these similarities keep popping up in the yandere community. so many yandere men have these traits now which makes them stand out less when compared to each other. not that comparing others is a good thing, but i do love Harper dearly and it annoys me whenever someone calls him a secondary option (or an offbrand version of another yandere like Friend, who shares these similarities) in conversations with my friends. even worse when they say you're mooching off of other yans because it's popular.

also /nm but making my own game "because i want something different" isn't as easy as it sounds because in retrospect, mama sloth has been working carefully on cwp to make it perfect for us. it takes time and commitment to create a game as fleshed out and detailed as hers and i wouldn't want to create something big just to spite someone else. there's no love in it if that makes sense. again i'm sorry if the way i worded my question offended you or that anon but that wasn't my intention

O snap I'm moochin off other Yans? Thats crazy since I've barely interacted with any other yans in like... Months... Man I sure am devious, someone should give me a stern talking to .w.

Word to the wise famsquad, none of the yan devs are mooching off other yan devs, we're just friends, friends interact... Fuck @itsya-boi / @stnaf-vn reached out to me first if I recall lol

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ebi-hime · 2 years ago

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Since you've written quite a few yuri works yourself, what are some of your favorite lesbian stories you've read or watched?

My favourite lesbian novel is probably Affinity by Sarah Waters. I've read all of Sarah Waters's novels, and I'm very fond of all of them (she's the only author I know of who writes WLW stuff set specifically in Victorian England, which is very much My Thing), but I like Affinity in particular because of how morose the main character is. She's really rather gloomy, but she's gloomy in a very #relatable way haha. I also appreciated the twist ending in Affinity a lot: once I'd finished the book I had to put it down and lie on my bed for a while Feeling Things for the poor main character haha ;;; It's a very grim story which deals with a lot of uncomfortable subject matter (for example, the main character is suicidally depressed), and the ending isn't cheerful at all. If you prefer lighter, sweeter stories, I'd advise you to stay away from it, but if you can handle a bit a Misery then I think you'd find it a very engaging experience! As for visual novels, I'm pretty fond of Wanting Wings, which is a relatively sweet VN set in high school dealing with a trio of friends. The VN lets you pair these girls up however you want, and it gives you stories with each of them showing how things would pan out if they dated. It's mostly quite light, but the characters had a decent amount of depth, and the story had a bit of a bittersweet(?) vibe to it. It seems like a simple story, but there's a bit more to it than that. It'd also be remiss of me not to mention one of my favourite yuri VNs of all time, A Little Lily Princess. It's an adaptation of A Little Princess, the famous children's story, but it makes some of the subtext between the girls (there's a lot of "I love you dearly"s in the original novel haha) outright text. Since the characters are quite young, the romances aren't explicit at all (and some of the relationships are more friendly than out-and-out romantic), but it is a very sweet story which does a good job fleshing out the characters from the original novel who didn't get much attention. I especially love Lavinia's route: she is my best girl (because she's kind of horrible and she has Problems haha) and I love her a lot! I'm also pretty fond of Lilycle Rainbow Stage, surprisingly(?) enough. I tend to prefer gloomy stories on the whole, and Lilycle is very light and fuwafuwa, but I happened to read it at a particularly stressful time period and it cheered me up a lot! The art is gorgeous, and I enjoy how it has such a large cast of couples to read about. There were some pairings I definitely liked more than others (Alice and Ibuki in particular lol), but the sheer amount of variety was appreciated! It also might have some of my favourite UI out of any VN I've read before, since it's so dedicated to the 'moemoe' aesthetic haha. It's nice read, if you want something light and sweet!

#ask #there's some other yuri vns i'm fond of too but i've already talked a lot #so i'll leave it at that lol #i tend to instabuy most yuri vns i see crop up on steam because what is self-control #so i've read a lot of them...#studio elan's stuff is good too tho #and i liked nurse love addiction a lot haha

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kagaminelen · 30 days ago

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I randomly clicked on the All Cast Review Session in Hou

Where is Keiichi...

this country version of Dear You is so cute?! I never thought such a dramatic song would be good in a context like this...

EVERYONE STOP TALKING ABOUT SATOSHI AND SHOW ME THE BOY WTF

SATOSHIIIII KISSY KISSY MWAH MWAH MWAH BABY BOY I love him dearly.............also Shion is acting like they're a couple?? Shion has a one-sided crush on him. I'm pretty sure he's not even aware of Shion's existence since she always dresses as Mion

Also, I do not hate Satoko's voice in Hou. Perhaps that's her voice actress in the originals? Either way, I hated her voice so much in the anime

Higurashi is just about the only anime where I actually enjoy the comedic elements. Most of the time I hate comedic relief in my serious anime, but Higurashi banks itself on oscillating between periods of peace and periods of chaos and despair. So I will allow it :3

yaaaay Keiichi is finally here. I swear he's like the only "default" male protag I actually like this much. I like this....all the characters just fucking around after the story like they're actors. Like they just put on a play but they are all still just their usual selves.

Rena feeling like she was the poster girl but feeling like Mion's position as Keiichi's love interest demoted her. I don't even think Rena likes Keiichi like that, it's just a case of having multiple girl friends and if you choose one the other is like "...am I not a girl to you?"

Keiichi is actually exclusively friends with girls. For whatever reason, the cast likes to make jokes about Keiichi being with Satoko or Rika. The first time I saw them I legitimately thought they were like 6 years old. They're so much shorter than the teenagers and act quite young as well. So I just see them as infinitely younger than Keiichi and off limits.

Erm. Higurashi is so confusing.

Rena says "What are your thoughts on the side stories Yoigoshi, Hirukowashi, Saikoroshi, and Matsuribayashi?" and I'm like.......what are Yoigoshi and Hirukowashi....what do you mean the original finale? Is there a different finale????

COME TO FIND OUT HIGURASHI KIZUNA IS A THING????? AND THERE ARE 10 BILLION DIFFERENT ARCS

Normal person: there are 8 arcs in Higurashi

Mental Illness:

I think I need someone to legit hand hold and tell me exactly which arcs involve the main casts and the order they should be in

Right now I'm really focused on the VNs, I might read the manga(s) someday, but right now I'm trying to focus on chronological order in one medium DX

actually um the 07th expansion wiki explains where each arc kinda comes together thank god.

I was watching a playthrough of Hou+ without realizing it (I think) so it had console exclusive arcs. I think I need to look at (at least) those arcs before I finish this video, unfortunately. This was a fun video, I wanted to finish it :(

REJOICE!!!! for I have found that there is loads of Higurashi content that I have yet to lay my eyes on!

I think it will be harder to live blog it if it's not split up into episodes but alas that is my cross to bear

I think the next stop is Hou. I don't know if there's a particular order to this, I already watched Outbreak (the anime was not that good, the VN is probably better but I don't feel like watching that at this time).

I'll watch Hinamizawa Bus Stop then

We've seen this bust stop before, most notably where Rika first met Akasaka.

Mion's so cute.....

I wonder what the silhouettes are for? I wonder what that's all about. I'm sure reddit would tell me.

Maybe this one-off arc is just character exploration between Mion and Rika.

Mion has a confident, yet still slightly insecure vibe to her. She's loud, and says what's on her mind, but in reality she is insecure about what other people think of her, how people perceive her. That's why she is (probably) jealous of how feminine Shion is. She knows she isn't that person, but she thinks other people (Keiichi) would want that, and feels bad that she isn't that. Her comment about being so much of a tomboy that she should've been born a boy is indicative of this...

You don't see too many one on ones of Mion and Rika. I can't think of anything. Meakushi doesn't count cause that's Shion ;P

it's taken me 12 hours to get through 8 minutes of this. Dear lord is it boring. But in the name of lore I will watch this

Perhaps I'm more used to Rika acting like a mini-adult but she feels very much like a child in this story.

This shit between the two of them is giving "Harold they're lesbians"

there's a lot of terminology related to dams. Did the author do this much research about dams? Also is a very educated 10(?) year old when it comes to the pros and cons of dams.

Also it turns out Mion doesn't really have an emotional attachment to Hinamizawa? She borderline detests this place.

What is it with Japanese people spending two seconds in the rain and then getting a cold. Like I swear I have gotten caught in the rain dozens of times, been soaking wet, and have never gotten a cold.

anyways, I did some poking around the 07th expansion wiki and found that this is actually a type of........prototype Higurashi. Most of these characters either exclusively appear in this arc, or are "prototype" versions of characters we know, hence why they are silhouette versions of the actual sprites. This also explains why Rika is sounding so mature, because in the console version of Hou that Rika actually looks a lot older, possibly only a year or two younger that Mion.

So this is basically the very first bit of Higurashi....a piece of history, if you will. cool. let's move onto something else

#higurashi posting

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measuringbliss · 2 years ago

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Thanks @dance2xrevolution <3

I always love to see you around.

favorite time of year: Halloween actually! It's fun to see the decoration and stuff, watch tons of horror movies, dress up, etc. I also love summer nights (when not trying to sleep), and when it's very sunny but there's also wind so the sky is beautiful but the wind helps tame the heat.

comfort food: fajitas, fried chicken, risotto, curry, soup... if I love it, it's comforting!

favorite dessert: concorde chocolate cake, île flottante, chocolate mousse

things you collect: at one point I was collecting the Umineko manga collection because I was in my Umineko era, but there were 21 omnibusses at 25-30 euros the omnibus if you were lucky. eventually decided it was much more handy (and cheaper) to have them digitally instead.

See the issue?

If you're curious, my physical collection comprises of the first two Episodes, Legend of the Golden Witch and Turn of the Golden Witch. Then digitally (through Kobo), I've got the third Episode (Banquet, vol. 5&6), Vol. 10 (first vol. of Episode 5, End), the sixth Episode (Dawn, vol. 13-15) and the eight and final Episode (Twilight, vol. 19-21). My reasoning was that I wanted to go chronological, but I was already not fond of Banquet (though with distance I can appreciate its chaotic approach), then I think Alliance mostly sucks. End is great but I never re-read it, Dawn is great too, Requiem (Episode 7) was perfect when I read it in VN but I never felt the need to read the manga, and Twilight is a good Episode and most importantly, the manga version actually adds stuff for the better!

So I've got 13/21 volumes.

I also collected a few Spider-Man comic books. I'm not a big collector in general but I *would* have an entire room dedicated to Virtue's Last Reward if I could and wanted to.

Hi baby

favorite drinks: Cherry Coke, Milk + Strawberry Syrup

favorite musician/band: CAPSULE (Japanese electro) is regularly something I come back to, but nowadays I'm much less fixated on specific bands. I had a Jamiroquai phase but I was so into it that nowadays I pretty much can't stand it.

Now if we're talking *composers*, I'd say Masafumi Takada and Shinji Hosoe are mainstays.

last song listened to: Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes

last movie watched: A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge! Very gay, enjoyed it much more than the first one.

last series watched: I recently finished She-Hulk, absolutely loved it. I'm also rewatching Glee.

Also this wasn't asked but video games are an important component of my life so I very recently finished Metroid Dread and loved its challenge. Also going through Picross S, it's great but literally lead me to stay up all night hahaha

currently watching: DS9 (less than a season per year lmao), Merli: Sapere Aude (love triangles, bisexual protagonist, philosophy...), Spider-Man 1994 (almost finished with S1 and very impressed), Brideshead Revisited (I think I stalled it).

current obsession: Glee, in a way. Bears. Buffy still? Kind of. I mean I just bought a magazine about it.

dream place to visit: Nothing! I'm pretty content with where I went. I think I realized that no place will ever be as charming as you could dream of. I'm very happy with where I am right now, where I was last year, and I don't feel the place to go anywhere specific.

places you wanna go back to: Austria, where I was last year. I miss my city very dearly. I also enjoy the south of France in small doses. I'd like to go back to Saint Emilion because it's very charming.

something you want: nothing again! I feel pretty content in an achievable category of things. I don't think I let myself want anything I can't have.

but also I really want Adderall (or Ritalin, whatever).

project working on: Another fantranslation (ugh), the Glee Rewatch project (link on my pinned masterpost!), maybe a fanfic, maybe video essays... mostly I just finished an exhausting week so I'm. sleeping. or trying to.

I'm tagging anyone who sees this post and wants to participate!

#asks #not an ask but it's similar enough #umineko #virtue's last reward #i'm absolutely willing to send drm-free versions of the Umineko ebooks I have

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apenapaperandadoofus · 4 years ago

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omg, yes, i was referring to saeran's route. it is my favourite buuuut i think they tried to portay did and didn't do a good job at it. not because of his symptoms, but because he was 'cured' after mc returns his affections :( i don't like rika as a character, i feel she could have been a good villain but with the whole v after ending + rika behind they kind of killed her character :( they basically took any responsibility from her and i feel they left her kind of empty as a character :/

Ohoho that’s very interesting~

I hope you don’t mind me going on a rant lmao

For the Saeran route, you’re right, the whole cured after MCs love thing was super rushed and I mean, if it were maybe with more time, I could sort of see it? But it was far too much change for just 11 days, but I get why they would do it like that (IMAGINE MM if the routes where like 30 days long I WOULD DIE PFT)

As for Rika, here’s where I go on a ramble lmao

I absolutely love her character. Mind you, I don’t LIKE what she does, it’s horrible in every way, but I love the way they did her character. ForVs after ending,I hated it though, the way they portrayed her and everything I just hated it so much. Also in the SE, where Rika just went off to Alaska or smth to chill lol

What I like about Rika, is the way we see her origins. Rika’s behind story I feel, it’s not a way to go “oh look! It was actually another person who made the cult! Rika is innocent!” I see it more as Cheritz showing us how Rika became...well evil or whatever. I like that they showed the ways V actually enabled her behavior, I mean, it is Rika’s fault about everything she did,but let’s not forget that V actually sort of? How do I say this...

Like when you have a kid and you reward them for something they did? That’s what V did with Rika. They’re both to blame about everything, Rika of course, for giving in to her dark desires and hurting people, and V for making her think it was ok, for him to enable her behavior, to even reward her in a way.

Mika also helped a lot because she fed more into Rikas dark side, she was the... last straw I think? Mika ENVIED Rika, who has admired her her whole LIFE! The person who she loved dearly, actually hates her, and envies her life, not knowing the abuse Rika has gone through, not knowing that this girl had been literally sexually abused by a Pastor, I’m sure Rika’s step mom porbably knew what was going on too, but she turned a blind eye. Mind you, I don’t see this as in a way “enabling”her behavior. I see it more as an origin story. To explain everything.

I love when villains are complex like this. We see how Rika suffered, how she became the person she is today. We see why she thought that she was doing the right thing, why she thought she was protecting people that went through what she went. Rika in her own mind is, well, the Savior. That’s why she gets called that. In her story, Rika is the heroine. The RFA are the villains, the people she has to protect, to fix, that’s how she sees it.

She can’t tell what’s right or wrong anymore. She wants to help in her own way, she thinks she’s helping when in reality she’s destroying everything. And we get to see that.

We get to see how Rika turns into the dark side, and how it was her actions, along with others that made her who she is. We get to see how she thinks of herself.

She isn’t just a dumb villain who’s doing everything for no reason. She isn’t your typical VN villain! I mean she’s complex, we get to see what she thinks, in her Behind Story, in the SE where we see snippets of V and Rika’s conversations. Hell,even in V route we get a closer look at Rika.

The SE and Vs AE did an absolutely shitty job. I hated it. Because they made her into...into the dumb villain that “changes” in the end.

I want to see Rika actually realize what she did.

She has to feel the guilt, the pain. And then the RFA unable to forgive her.

After all, who would just go like “oh you tried to literally drug us, probably kill us and make a cult but you said sorry that’s fine luv”

No no, Cheritz let me see where Rika is regretful, where we get to see her realize that all along, she was the bad one. She was hurting everyone. She would break...but it’s more relaistic. She would probably deny it at first, but then slowly realize that yes, she was wrong.

I want for years to pass before the RFA even manages to speak to her, to look at her. For Rika to take years to finally change, just like V in his AE, and apologize correctly, not because everyone is mad at her, but because she understands what she’s done.

I want Rika to change, but in a realistic way. She has to take time to mend the wounds she caused, to fix herself. If V can do it, why can’t she?

Also I want V to actually apologize to her too, to actually admit that he had a fault too. I don’t like how we always make Rika the bad one but V a Saint. Don’t get me wrong, V has good intentions, but he just screwed up. He was using Rika to feel better, to actually feel love and give someone love, a thing he’s always wanted to do

Anyway I’ll leave it at that for today lol, sorry for the super long rant, I’m just super passionate about Rika’s whole story pfttttttt

#mystic messenger #rika mysme #jihyun mysme #jumin han #saeyoung choi #mysme #saeran choi #yoosung kim #jaehee kang #choi bois #mysme zen

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time-to-write-and-suffer · 3 years ago

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What are some of your favourite and mot hated of IF and visual novels you've played

Oooh hmm. Prepare for a long one cuz you really got me going off.

I don't really "hate" any IFs I've played, contrary to some belief, but I do have one that I disliked a lot aside from the obvious one. And I disliked it immediately while/after playing, so I can't even remember anything good about it that I liked unlike T/W/C.

It's called Choice of Robots and it's one of the older CoG games, it had surprisingly good reviews on Steam which is why I went for it, plus I'm a sucker for robots. I remember being super disappointed once I'd played it, mainly because it felt a lot like it was just stat building for the sake of stat building, the characters were very flat, the interactions were boring, the plot was thin, and there were so many time skips over a large period of time (from the player being a young adult to their death of old age, I think?) that it was hard to feel connected to anything that happened. I guess I'm just not into IFs that focus heavily on stats and nothing else? I'd rather have fewer choices and variations in exchange for a more focused story.

Also you could romance a robot you created. And that was part of why I bought it cuz I love robot characters and robo-mancing (man I should really write one), but I thought that it wouldn't be handled ... like it was? Like right from the start it's a bit iffy because your character would be crafting their own perfect romantic partner or whatever, but I could think of some ways it could work without being too weird? But from what I recall, in the game the MC literally designs them from scratch and has to teach them things and "raise" them until the robot eventually propositions them. By that point, I was so uncomfortable at the prospect that I ended up rejecting the main reason I bought the game, and one of the ways you could reject them was literally to say "I'm basically your parent." Which is yeah, fair enough, but like ... why write it like that where that's even a valid thing to say.

Take this all with a grain of salt though since it's been literally years since I played it and I understandably never went back lol.

Another IF that I found deeply, deeply, deeply flawed but still entertaining in some ironic ways with hints of genuine potential was The Soul Stone War. Maybe I'll talk about that one someday as well. Mostly that one was ... god, I think this word is bad to use negatively/genuinely, but ... cringe. It was cringe, ok? That's all I'll say.

As for my favorite IF. I'll be basic and say Guenevere, it's still the best IF I've ever played, and it's the one that got me into IFs in the first place. I also enjoy Tally Ho and Heart of the House. Oh and for Twine IFs, I like A Tale of Crowns as well.

I'd give you a list of all my favorite and dearly detested VNs, but I feel like this answer is long enough already lol. Went off abt Choice of Robots, sorry about that.

I could make a separate post about VNs though ... Hmm.

#personal

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dcomposing · 5 years ago

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jumin route rewrite???

ive had.... Issues with jumin's route since the first time i played it and im waiting out a 3 hour layover which means its time to self indulgently fix all of those problems right now in excruciating detail

for the record, i dont mean any disrespect towards cheritz -- i love mysme dearly and this is purely a self indulgent experiment to see what my ideal jumin route would have been! if you like his route as is thats totally fine! it just wasnt for me lmao

this was super fun to write and if this picks up i might do another route rewrite (and i might do it even if it doesnt because it was just that fun lol)

anyways this is REALLY long (literally its like 3k words all in outline form) so its gonna go under the cut lol

okay so: issues i had with jumin’s route that i want to address:

it moves WAY too fast — i mean all of the routes do to a certain degree; they’re only 11 days long but like... you’re literally engaged to him by the end of it which iirc, is something that is only replicated in seven’s normal ending (and even then i think its only implied?) and i get that the point is that jumin goes all out for the people he loves and is VERY certain that he loves you but it just feels... way too soon for my liking ESPECIALLY because you’re his first love! it just makes it feel like he’s caught up in the rush of being in love for the first time and isn’t thinking things through which... isn’t exactly the making of a great relationship lol. so for this re- write we’re gonna slow it WAY down because... oof.

the sarah and glam plot line happening concurrently with the mint eye/possessive jumin one makes the route feel overly busy. i actually have a similar issue with the echo girl/mint eye overlap in zen’s route but that’s a topic for another day lol. so i’m gonna try to delineate between the two a bit more so there’s less overlap.

SPEAKING OF possessive jumin lol... maybe its just my Personal Background bleeding in, but possessiveness is a really big red flag/trigger for me and i felt like it went WAY too far in his route. dgmw, i understand that its meant to be a character flaw and something he’s meant to overcome but i just feel like there are simpler ways to show that side of him without it becoming... as scary as it got. i wasn’t sure how to deal with it though -- i think it would best be expressed through smaller actions and the minutia of dialogue with the others (e.g. jumin refusing to send a photo of you into the chat room when zen asks if you’re alright, locking up elizabeth, etc.)

the canon first kiss with jumin happening both without your explicit consent AND just to drive sarah away is.... icky to me. especially because he MAKES EYE CONTACT WITH SARAH while kissing you??? i hate that cg lol. it just takes what should be a moment about the two of you and turns it into him using you to prove a point and i don’t like it at all. it’s not romantic and it feels... out of character for jumin to use someone he cares about like that. i have similar issues with the proposal happening right after he exposes glam and sarah. so lets make the kiss more genuine and nix the proposal entirely because it happens too quickly for comfort anyways.

with all of that in mind, i decided a fake dating plot would probably work best (and like i said, this is self indulgent and i’m a SUCKER for fake dating stories sooooo). it makes sure we hit all the beats of the glam/sarah plot line without shoving him and the mc into a relationship too quickly. it also means we can keep their first kiss as a big “fuck you” to sarah, but this time mc gets to be 100% in on the joke AND they get to have a “real” first kiss later on! that’s two (2!) kisses for the price of one folks.

i also decided that in order to streamline the plot a bit, the glam and sarah plot should end earlier, allowing for the mint eye plot to take center stage instead of being shoehorned in around a larger love triangle plot line. also glam and sarah are annoying and i don’t want to deal with them for six full days. the only downside is we don’t get to see v dunk on sarah at the party :-(

in lieu of a proposal for the necessary Big Romantic Gesture at the party, i thought it would be nice if jumin whisked you away from the party to paris or somewhere far away for a ridiculously extravagant first date literally in the middle of the party. not only is it ridiculously grandiose in and of itself, but in abandoning the party halfway through, it shows that jumin has grown into a more relaxed and spontaneous person through knowing you! he’s ready to throw caution to the wind and have fun with you (plus, Big Romantic Date cg!!)

day 5:

VN mode where we essentially get the exact same scene of chairman han telling jumin he wants him to marry sarah to make the merger with sugar round go more smoothly BUT this time jumin blurts out that he’s already with someone and that he didn’t want to go public with it yet. he assumes his father won’t press further, given that they’ve always had a mutual respect for one another’s privacy, but at glam’s insistence, chairman han says he wants to meet jumin’s partner. oh no!

jumin laments his situation to the rfa, resulting in pretty typical responses. zen laughs, yoosung is sympathetic but also kind of wishes it were just that simple for him to meet a wife. jaehee is worried that the inevitable fallout of this will result in more work for her. everything is business as usual until seven is like “ur so rich why don’t you just pay someone to pretend to date you lolol” and jumin (being, well, jumin) runs with it 100%. because they don’t have time to vet candidates (they’re supposed to have dinner with his dad tomorrow night!) he decides it should be someone he knows, but the majority of the other rfa members are already acquainted with his father via rfa events, making it more likely that he sees through the ruse. mc, however, has never met him, making them the perfect candidate! who would have thought lol

so they decide to move you into the penthouse that evening BUT before that can happen, they have to clear it with v because bomb, hacker, mint eye, etc. (yes this is how i’m choosing to do the bomb reveal lol). bonus, v gets to chide jumin about his dumb lie and we get a fun bff conversation with them!

final VN where you show up to the penthouse and you and jumin establish the parameters of your “relationship”. you decide that you’ll both sleep in his bed, just in case a cleaning staff member walks in and notices that he and his partner sleep separately and it ruins everything. establish what physical contact is and isn’t cool, etc, etc. you also decide that when the time comes, you’re going to tell his dad that the entire debacle with sarah put so much strain on your relationship that you had to break up. the hope being that chairman han will feel so bad about ruining things for jumin that he won’t try to force him into something like that ever again.

days 6-8:

you have dinner with his dad and answer pretty typical “meeting the parrents” questions. he asks what you guys did for your first date and jumin tells a 100% fake story about taking you to dinner on top of the eiffel tower and kissing you beneath the stars and the chairman is satisfied. that doesn’t mean that glam and sarah are though. they decide to do some sleuthing to prove that you guys aren’t really dating.

this is the fun part where we get to hit most of the beats of ur typical fake dating story! you and jumin get to know each other really well, albeit kind of superficially (favorite foods, fun childhood stories, etc. etc. nothing too heavy yet.) you guys cook together for the first time, cue cg of jumin with like... idk tomato sauce on his cheek or something. you watch a movie together and elizabeth falls asleep on your lap and jumin dies on spot idk

this is also where your first kiss happens, and pretty much in the same way except its much more mutual and he doesn’t look at sarah this time because his focus is on trying to make it look like he doesn’t even care that she’s there because you’re the only thing he cares about. (which.... isn’t actually hard for him to do at all)

chatrooms are pretty typical for this timeframe — you guys all know the drill. the other members are like “wow they seem really close” and speculate on whether or not you guys are actually together. zen is worried that jumin is going to force himself on you (wolves, etc.). yoosung is jealous that jumin gets to hang out with you. jaehee is upset that jumin is neglecting his work.

VAGUE mentions of weird activity on the messenger, but nothing too serious sounding. just enough to make jumin nervous -- esp with sarah and glam on his back still. this is when he locks elizabeth up.

day 8, the chairman learns that sugar round is worthless and that glam and sarah have been duping him the whole time. they’re disgraced and are never heard from again so... problem solved but this also means that you and jumin no longer have a reason to stay “together”... and you’re both kind of falling for each other so obviously that’s no good. you spend one last night in the penthouse before resolving to break things off officially in the morning. the other members talk about how sad you guys both seem to be parting.

BAD STORY END 1:

if you shy away at the fake intimate gestures (hand holding, hugging, etc), and pointedly answer incorrectly when asked a question about jumin that you should know the answer to, your ruse fails and you guys are caught faking the relationship. to avoid the scandal breaking to the press, jumin winds up marrying sarah anyways.

the branch point for this one would be right before the kiss scene, if you’re on track for the good end then the kiss happens, if not, you’re forced to shove him away when he goes in for it, revealing to sarah that you guys are frauds.

the cg would be him and sarah at the press release for their engagement announcement. sarah’s all smiles and jumin is... pretty understandably miserable looking. a reporter asks him about the other person he was in a relationship with prior to his engagement to sarah, and he reads off a line about how sarah captivated him like no one else ever could in an emotionless voice.

BAD RELATIONSHIP END 1:

if you do fine during the VN portions, but aren’t active enough in the chats, then the fake relationship plan works, but afterwards its just... really awkward. once the whole mint eye thing ends you’re pretty much just excommunicated from the rfa since you... didn’t really seem to like them all that much.

day 9:

a huge attack on the messenger happens, coupled with explicit threats directed at mc, sending everyone into such a panic that ending your fake relationship is the last thing on anyones mind. jumin is so fucking scared that he’s going to lose you, and muses in the chatroom about why he’s more scared for your safety than he would be if it were, say, yoosung being threatened (cue yoosung’s crying emoji lmao). everyone else is like “well clearly its because you’re in love with them”

anyways. they decide its for the best if you continue to stay at the penthouse and in spite of everything, you’re both... kind of relieved lol.

everything is all fine and dandy until elizabeth III runs away, ramping jumins anxiety up to 11 like... right away

this is where we really start to see behavior more along the lines of what happens in his route, you suggest the two of you leave and search for elizabeth, and he refuses to let you go, etc. etc.

it sort of turns into a fight, but it all works out in the end. he tells you about rika and elizabeth and why she means so much to him, and you guys talk about how fear of losing someone important to him can’t rule his life, and that its one thing to be careful, but another entirely to try to control someone else’s behavior because of fear.

you convince him to get some sleep, assuring him that elizabeth will turn up soon and that he’s going to be alright. you guys fall asleep next to eachother without even thinking about it. its not until jumin mentions something about waking up next to you in the chat the next day that the rest of the gang is like “uhhhh,,,, why are you guys still sharing a bed”

MEANWHILE lol seven and yoosung arrive at mint eye and find elizabeth, just like what happens in canon. they decide to bring her back tomorrow.

BAD STORY END 2:

obligatory mint eye ending. if you’re too aggressive and forward with jumin and don’t give him time to properly process his feelings, he doesn’t offer to let you stay at the penthouse, relying on seven’s assurance that the apartment is totally secure (it’s not). saeran breaks in and takes you away.

this branch happens pretty early in the day, before elizabeth escapes.

i thought about a cg for this one but tbh... there are so many saeran and mc at mint eye BE cgs that idk what i could come up with that wouldn’t be super derivative lol

BAD RELATIONSHIP END 2:

again, because you’re only talking to jumin and not the rest of the rfa, he assumes that you don’t like being in the rfa very much BUT he still likes you... a lot and is very worried about your safety re: hacker, AND because he still hasn’t really dealt with his issues regarding v/rika/emotions, you guys decide to just straight up leave lol. you move to a different country where he can pretty much continue doing his work remotely while keeping you safe.

the cg for this one is the two of you in a different cushy apartment somewhere. you’re making dinner while he works. its... stable, but noticeably stiff. neither of you are talking much and his dialogue is pretty stilted. its pretty clear that he regrets abandoning his friends and is unhappy.

day 10:

3AM chat with zen where he speaks entirely in thinly veiled hypotheticals about you guys. (“well, if i thought i could have a shot with someone i really loved, i think i would take that chance and tell them, even if i might get shot down. and even if that person was a huge ass who my sexy white-haired best friend hated. i would tell them how i felt”)

seven secures the messenger again and the threat is declared neutralized! you’re safe to go home but neither you nor jumin want that at all.

yoosung brings elizabeth back around 9, and it proceeds pretty similarly to what happens in his route: he’s wary about taking her back because he feels that he’s mistreated her, you’re like “whoa buddy you’re going too far in the opposite direction here” and you and v have to convince hm that its going to be okay. the only real difference is that v doesnt also have to convince him to let you go. he just says something about how the two of you seem to bring out the best in each other, and that jumin is brighter when you’re around.

later, jumin (tries) to make you lunch using the cooking skills you taught him a few days ago as a final payment (since you refused actual money) for all of your help, both with his father and with elizabeth, but he winds up ordering in instead. its very cute BUT its super awkward because neither of you has said anything about not wanting to leave.

finally you have to face the music and pack your bags. you hug jumin goodbye and make him promise to still get lunch with you sometime before heading back to rika’s apartment sadly.

everyone is like “yo what the fuck???” and its actually yoosung of all people who is finally like “this is ridiculous. you two clearly have feelings for each other and you need to deal with it”

jumin is absent from most of the chatrooms for the rest of the day though, so he doesn’t really see anything until he forces himself to log on later that night and is like “oh”

and YES of course this is going to culminate in a typical romcom scene where he has driver kim race to the apartment so he can pound on the door and apologize to you and tell you how he feels!! maybe it even happens in the rain just to maximize romance. the important thing here is that you finally kiss him for real this time and its perfect.

BAD STORY END 3:

pretty much jumin’s BE2, if you werent assertive enough with him re: his possession/control issues on day 9, he never gets over them. when elizabeth is returned he locks her back up and insists that you continue to stay with him as well, canon BE2 ensues.

i gotta hand it to cheritz. its a really good bad ending and theres not much i wanna change about it. its so scary in a calm sort of way, which i think is the perfect vibe for a dangerously unhealthy jumin. if only people would stop fetishizing it lolol

party (GE ver):

date is technically a work function. especially when the fake first date you told his father was so perfect. he then decides that the two of you have been there long enough to fulfill your obligations, and that no one could really begrudge you if you “took off” a little early. you guys fly to paris that night and have that dinner on top of the eiffel tower.

the ending cg isn’t a kiss one, but a more simple, sweet one of the two of you in a dimly lit restaurant, jumin listening to you talk with the most tender, loving look in his eyes.

party (NE ver):

you and jumin mingle with the guests and the other members for a bit, but as the evening goes on, jumin gets restless. he pulls you aside and tells you that, while you did a wonderful job planning the party, he can’t help but regret that your guys’ first date is technically a work function. especially when the fake first date you told his father was so perfect. he laments the fact that if he was caught shirking responsibilities to take you on a real date, the press would have a field day with it, but promises to make it up to you, and take you out on a proper one tomorrow.

this cg is the two of you dancing at the rfa party, jumin resting his chin on the top of your head and daydreaming out loud about everything the two of you could do on your real first date.

#jumin stans please dont come for me jfgjflkjlkjdl #jumin han #mystic messenger #mysme jumin

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nightpool · 3 years ago

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"Nightpool," you might ask, "what is this? Why are you reblogging this?"

Well, see, about two months ago, discord user Zerovirus came to the Flower that Bloomed Nowhere Discord, and announced that he had a new, untranslated Chinese murder-mystery VN, set in an underwater time loop, just like Flower. We all gathered around as he live-translated and screencapped it every night, like some sort of modern-day campfire story.

This game, it turns out, was very bad. But it was bad in a very fun and entertaining way. And it was really funny, and the characters had a lot of heart. And, it turns out, it has a great femslash ship.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I recommend reading Zero's translation. He's a very funny translator, and I like to imagine that in our role as the peanut gallery we added a little bit to the game too. You can join the Flower That Bloomed Nowhere discord here (although I do have to shill for Flower again, it's a very good murder mystery and much better then Rail of Mobius). The link to the start of the Rail of Mobius liveblog is here: https://discord.com/channels/855042557922377738/898208020834705418/939664058808950844 (Use the "Mark Unread" feature in discord to save your place and jump back to it). I'll probably end up making a website for it as well, so if you find the Discord archive hard to navigate, send me an ask about that and i'll bump it slightly higher on my to-do list.

Edit: I made the website for it! Still missing a few features, but if you don't want to join a new discord or you don't want to try and wade through like three weeks wort of ancient Discord archives, you can view the whole completed story here: https://rail-of-mobius.netlify.app

I do not necessarily recommend reading Avun's fanfic first, because it has some spoilers in it, but I can't really be too upset if you do, because it's probably one of the best things about this game, and I love it dearly. If only the Rail of Mobius developers had considered building their game around this awesome femslash ship instead. Imagine what might have been.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Rail of Möbius Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ji Hengsheng/Se Yue, Se Yue/Wu Shi (implied), Ji Hengsheng/Wu Shi (implied) Characters: Ji Hengsheng, Se Yue Additional Tags: Acausal Found Family Kidnapping Negotiations, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary:

Ji Hengsheng becomes S with full knowledge of Se Yue’s plans and motivations, because inescapable time loops wear down your ability to keep scheming.

The Se princess isn’t the Se’s princess any more, so she might as well be someone else.

#rail of mobius #zero's liveblog translation extravaganza

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wonderfuls-worlds · 7 years ago

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Mystic Messenger : Day 9 ~ V Walkthrough (FULL ANSWERS)

I worked all alone - I cheked each answers ~ Please be considerate.

Like, reblog, or do nothing, but please don’t copy/paste it and claim it as your own… I am on my own and spent a lot of time to do this.

If you are on phone, please setting the page to be seen in the computer version! On the phone, the answers are sometimes unaligned and it can confuse you…

In order to not bother and annoy my followers who don’t play this game by this looong post, I’ll put a seperate line. Click to see.

- Don't be aggressive and insulting and stuff like that (oh you might get upset in the VN when you are with V and Vanderwood though XD) - Don’t act like you possess V

- Game branches at the end

00 :56 : Seduction of the Moon [Rika]

I don’t want to think about that. (V…)

Feels very afar… (V)

Something disastrous will happen if you can’t control the darkness within you, Rika. (V)

What are you up to now? (V)

Of course. V will be with me from now on. (V…)

I think it was a realization essential for V. It’s not something that derived from fear. It’s something that he needed for himself. (V)

That’s more natural to me (V)

I’m not on any side. (nothing)

Whichever it is… I don’t care. AS long as V comes to me. (V…)

I am a little afraid, but it’s something that I want. (V)

I strongly believe I should be nice because of my fear. (Unknown…)

I’m not afraid of anything. Because my true nature is closer to the light. (V…)

I want to prove that the good will prevail in the end. (V)

I…want to grow by agonizing and feeling those kinds of thing. (V…)

I…actually want to be free. (Unknown)

It seems you’re using fear but have an ideal completely opposite from it. (V)

Idyllic… I understand what you mean. (Unknown)

Sounds unrealistic to me. (V…)

I’ll…choose the RFA. (V)

Mint Eye may be right for me… (Unknown)

I’m confused! (nothing)

I’ll… wait for the sun. (V)

Are you going to awaken me? (Unknown)

Rika, you should let the sun be! (V…)

Visual Novel 707 : no choices

YOU can call V

02:43 : I Can Make You Have More Fun [Unknown]

You’re new, aren’t you? (nothing)

Ray…? (Unknown)

Is Ray okay? (Unknown)

Sleeping? What do you mean? (nothing)

Do you tend to sleep a lot? (nothing)

Why did you wake up now? (nothing)

Get rid of him!? (Unknown)

I don’t like Ray’s indecisiveness as well. (Unknown…)

You … seem dangerous. (V)

How are you going to do that? (Unknown…)

Give me back Ray. (Unknown)

No thanks. (V)

I’m curious about you. (Unknown)

I’m not going back ! (V)

Please leave us and V alone.. (V)

Will we be together if we start from the beginning? (Unknown)

There’s no way that’s going to happen…? (V)

…. (nothing)

Visual Novel 707 : no choices

06:21 : Stop It [V]

Why did you come in here ? (nothing)

How are you feeling ? (V)

I know, right ? You don’t think you can do anything without me, can you ? (V…)

I’m okay! You don’t have to be sorry! (V)

I’m sure the others are doing well! (nothing)

The harder it is, the better outcomes it should come to… (nothing)

Merely hiding things wasn’t the answer… But you can change that from now on. (V – feels like it’s the best ans)

It must have been tough for you too, V. You can rely on me… (V)

Wouldn’t Rika feel the same guilt ? Rika used to do a lot of good things before… (V)

I think you’re the only one getting hurt because of Rika. (V…)

Stop trying to sacrifice yourself, V! That’s not good to Rika as well. (V)

Are you planning to leave me ? Don’t say such a thing ! (V…)

Don’t betray me….! (V…)

I want you to treasure yourself more. V, you’re a precious person to me as well. (V)

Why don’t you just say it straight that you like Rika more than me ? (V…)

If that makes you feel relieved… then do as you wish. (nothing)

Then what about the people who care for you, V? Stop saying such irresponsible things and get a grip! (V)

V, please… (nothing)

V… if you go I’ll be disappointed… (nothing)

V, is there no way for you and me to be happy? (V)

V, isf you want everyone to be hapy, you have to sop pampering Rika. (V…)

Aren’t you sick and tired of living your life for someone else ? The two of us can be happy! (V…)

Thinking of others is great, but you should relaly think about yourself, V ! (V)

That boy…? (nothing)

Visual Novel V

(no hearts given)

V, how are you feeling?

V? What were you going?

It’s alright. You’re good enough just the way you are.

Once this passes, only happiness will await you. Happiness with me.

I’m so jealous of Rika… You love her this much.

There goes your habit again. You’re trying to handle everything by yourself-.

There’s nothing but that you shouldn’t have started. Back then you only had innocent intention… You only wished to..

It’s not your fault, V. Who would’ve thought that Rika was such an evil person?

You’re not a monster, V§ You’re just… you’ve experienced tragically sad love. That’s all.

I don’t care if you hurt me. I want to be yours.

If it’s complicated, just embrace the way it is.. I’m here for you.

You can find your hue from now on. You can start discovering yourself from the beginning.

Please don’t go. Stay. Stay and find a new path.

I’ll come with you. I don’t want to let you go alone.

You don’t have to do this alone. We can work together.

09:04 : Third Person Perspective [Vanderwood]

Seven?? (nothing)

A hacker! There’s a hacker here ! (nothing)

Seven!!! Vanderwood is using your phone!! (707)

Are you fiddling with Seven’s phone? (nothing)

What’s wrong with the design of our app? (707)

Oh… the design’s like this because it was hacked. (V)

It is a test lol Let’s talk nonsense ! (Unknown)

No. No at test… but Vanderwood, the hacker can see the messages you write here. (V)

Say something ! Anything! (nothing)

Does the camera work ? (nothing )

It’s reeking with tiredness.; (V)

In truth… I think you’re good-looking. (nothing)

Who’s the call from? (nothing but gosh, take this one if you want to laugh)

Why isn’t e answering them? (nothing)

He probably thinks of his life dearly… (nothing)

Isn’t there something you wanted to say to 707? This is your chance. (nothing)

It seems like a series of distress… I joined because it was a group doing good deeds… (V)

Now I have no idea where this party is heading either.. (707)

He was always like that. (707)

He’s sacrificing to protect everyone. (V)

Maybe he likes the RFA that much…. (nothing)

He codes with his toes… ? (nothing)

Hereditary, maybe…? (nothing)

Why? You like it? (nothing)

Allow me thank you in his place ^^ ;V had many difficult things going on. (V)

You’re very good at cleaning. I’ll compliment you on that. (707)

I thought you were avoiding us. (nothing)

Don’t you want to join our association ? (nothing)

Yes We will soon start our relationship. (V..)

I think our relationship is somewhat ambiguous… (nothing)

…It might not be the time yet… But you never know about the future, right? (V)

So that’s how you give a legitimate excuse for being single… (nothing)

What are you saying? (nothing)

Is there something gwrong with Seven? (nothing)

But this is the exceptional situation ! Exceptional! (V)

What’s wrong with Seven’s impression…? (nothing)

How is that job from Seven going? (707)

I think I t’ll be a good idea to give up for the sake of eyes… (nothing)

What kind of photos are you comparing ? (nothing)

Seven is safe, right? (707)

What other jobs do you do other than keeping watch on him, Vanderwood? (nothing)

He wouldn’t be angry, would he? (nothing)

Run run run-(nothing)

Visual Novel 707 : no choices

12:07 : Rika’s Feelings [Rika]

He wants to protect everyone. (V)

He’s trying to do everything he can to stop you, Rika. (V…)

That’s not completely wrong… (nothing)

Don’t belittle yourself that much… (nothing)

Do you have to prove yourself like that? (nothing)

The idea that someone will save me is just a fantasy. (nothing)

Rika, you have a lot of people around you. Why do you feel lonely? (V)

It may be love to you, Rika, but… it might have been obsession to V. (V…)

You two are people with completely different ideas. (V)

Then you should let go of V now. (V…)

You’re only using them. (nothing)

Then take your hands off the RFA and V. (nothing)

Rika, will you be satisfied when you make the whole RFA fall into darkness? (nothing)

That’s even scarier… (nothing)

They will not want to be healed. (nothing)

Rika, how much do you know about RFA ? (nothing)

Rika, that’s really dangerous… I can see why V is trying tostopyou by himself. (nothing)

Even without you, Rika… they will find ways themselves. (nothing)

At least V is a leader with a warm heart… (nothing)

Are you saying you’re different?

If it slips to one side, that’s called obsession. It’s obsession for you as well. (nothing)

Rika, you’re also using others to prove yourself. (nothing)

Visual Novel V

(no hearts given – hey whenever you explode, Vanderwood is impressed and agrees XD)

V please calm down… It’s too dangerous to go there by yourself.

You’re not even doing well! Stop being so stubborn.

V, you’re so stubborn.

Please, stop being obsessed with Rika.

Are you sure you’re okay with that, V?

You tried to embrace it.

V… can’t you take courage and let us all work this out together?

So what is your real answer?

Is that the reason why you live on?

Enough with your obsession with Rika! You should treasure yourself some more !

You think like that? That’s an obsession, not an in idea. No more obsession!

You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for Rika. You’re already priceless to me.

You already have the courage to put an end to your obsession. Its already inside you, and I’m sure you find it.

Of course, as long as you love yourself.

Choose what you think is right.

14:11 : Reason Trying to Stop Her [707]

He just fell asleep… Rika and V’s relationship is extremely complicated. (nothing)

Yes…He’s asleep. Seven… Did you see what Rika wrote? (nothing)

Isn’t saying beyond repair kind of harsh…? (nothing)

Yes, Rika is now like a bomb; (nothing)

Who is the word would believe in Rika’s words? (V..)

Then you’re saying that if Rika can take RFA to the Mint Eye is she wants to? (V)

But I think lying that she committed suicide was too much. (V…)

I can’t imagine what V would have gone through… It breaks my heart. (V)

Since when did Rika change like this…? (nothing)

The reason why Rika could act so violently was because V’s love was too idea… (nothing)

I think he’ll eventually follow Rika (nothing)

Yoosung… will be in a mental catastrophe (nothing)

V seems to want to to Rika. (V…)

Yes, of course. (V)

You weren’t interested, were you ? (nothing)

She might have hidden her dual side very well… (nothing)

Would there be someone like that? (nothing)

You can see that, Seven ? (nothing)

That’s… sad… (nothing)

Is there no way to change her mind back ? (nothing)

Alright… (nothing)

See you, Seven. (nothing)

Visual Novel : no choices

16:39 : You Change Me [V]

Why do you keep coming into the chatroom? (nothing)

I’ll hate you for the rest of my life if you disappear without a word… I’ll hate you more than Rika! (nothing)

We should be happy soon… Throw away your lingering feelings for Rika! (V…)

If you know I’m having a difficult time, hurry up and recover ! Let’s think this positively! (V)

No… She’ll probably keep doing what she wants. (V)

She might stop if you leave Rika dead on. (V…)

I don’t mind sufferinf, as long as my words have reached you, V… (V)

Stop staying that, and rather, how about trying to forget Rika? (V…)

Then there’s one more reason why you shouldn’t go… (nothing)

You know that’s not the way to save Rika, don’t you? (nothing)

We can fill that in together. We have time a head of us. So don’t leave. (V)

I’m different from Rika… You don’t have to be scared. (V…)

What are you going to do after meeting her? (nothing)

You’re going to sacrifice yourself by meeting her? You know that’s not the answer. (V)

… So are you really going to go? Putting everyone behind you..? (nothing)

If you go to Rika, it means I won’t be able to see you again, V… (nothing)

You can start again. Even love and at… Please listen to me. (V)

In whatever shape it is, we will be happy soon, as long as Rika is taken care of ! (V…)

So, now I’m more influential to you than Rika, right? (V…)

V, you change is… entirely up to you. I told you to think of yourself first! (V)

Visual Novel V : no choices

18:35 : Seven’s Persuasion [707, Ray]

Return “Jumin cat” (Jumin)

What are you doing? (nothing)

Did you come in to interfere us? (nothing)

Ray…! (nothing)

Seven, is Ray baffled because we’ve won? (707)

Ray, calm down.. (Unknown)

He’s right, Ray.. You should rather go with Seven. (707)

Ray… Any plans on shifting over to the RFA? (nothing)

Ray… You should let go of us now. (V)

Why are you so afraid of losing? (nothing)

You have a brother? (nothing)

Don’t trust Rika too much… (nothing)

Did you eat something wrong? (nothing)

Are you in pain again…? (Unknown)

Seven, you seem to be very interested in that hacker. (nothing)

Do you think you know him, Seven? (nothing)

I hope V can endure to the last moment… (V)

Good luck till the end! (707)

20:12 : Winner Seven !!! [707]

Heart-beating faster? (nothing)

Can we now get rid of the Mint Eye? (V..)

Hmm? Did something change?? (nothing)

Hmm. It’s still the same background as before (nothing)

Wow!!!! (nothing)

Is the security system back? (nothing)

Why aren’t the others coming in? (nothing)

Are we safe now? (nothing)

Would V want to go to the hospital? (nothing)

Yes! Can we now move V to a safer place? (V)

I wonder what Ray’s real identity is… (Unknown)

Will Ray not attack again…? (nothing

Take him to the agency. (nothing)

Wouldn’t it be more transparent by receiving the law’s orders? (nothing)

I want to share this emotional moment with V…(V)

Let’s celebrate the recovery of our messenger! (nothing)

I want to see the messenger buzzing again with everyone logged on. (V and 707)

Can the RFA members come into the messenger now? (nothing)

What is it?! (nothing)

Then make them exit the room and add the RFA members. (nothing)

Wasn’t it all recovered? (nothing)

If the members login, can they read the messages Rika and the hacker wrote…? (nothing)

This will be the last, won’t it? (nothing)

Good luck ! (nothing)

Ps : you can call V after this chat, he will answer (and for once, it’s not depressing about decision and Rika and stuff, it’s a very nice talk, I was smiling haha

21:49 : I missed you all [Rika]

Rika, soon you won’t be able to log in anymore. (nothing)

The meessenger’s security system has been recovered, Rika. (nothing)

Mistake? (nothing)

What do you want? (nothing)

Are you planning to talk the RFA members here? (nothing)

We did. ButSeven would have blocked it. (nothing)

It’d be better for them not to see. (nothing)

What kind of text? (nothing)

Quit if you’re trying to seduce them to join the Mint Eye. (nothing)

That’s a lie… What trip? (nothing)

I hope everyone believes your words, Rika. (nothing)

For making V like that? (V)

For being absent for the past 6 months? (nothing)

You do know…that your words can confused him, don’t you? (nothing)

You don’t even plan to do that… (nothing)

You know very well about V’s father when you don’t really talk about your parents. (nothing)

Are you planning to say hello to every member like this? (nothing but omg that answer XD)

Rika, your attitude is very double-sided. (V)

…. (nothing)

Rika…what is it that you really want? (nothing)

Yes, the three of us should get together. I’ll reveal what kind of person you are, Rika! (V…)

I don’t plan to… Rika, stop being like that in front of me… (V)

Keep away from V and the RFA! It’s really sick and tiring! (V…)

If it were possible, he would have… (V)

The RFA won’t be able to read what you’ve written. (nothing)

It’s now getting pitiful….. (nothing)

One last thing…? (nothing)

Ps ; you can call 707, he will answer

Game branch here : I’ll write the good ending

Visual Novel

There are choices but you can choose like you want 😉

23:24 : V has been stabbed ! [Ray, 707, Zen, Yoosung]

I have nothing to say to you now, Ray. (nothing)

Ray, we might get to see each other soon ! (nothing)

…….. (nothing)

Ray? (nothing)

Then… about the texts Rika wrote…the others can see it as well, right…? (nothing)

Wouldn’t Rika and the hacker participate in our chats? (nothing)

Why don’t we first take V to the hospital and contact the others later? (nothing)

Can the others come in now? (nothing)

Yes. I’m innocent ! (nothing)

That’s not what’s important right now! Get V to the hospital first ! (V)

V’s here as well ! (V)

Zen, call the others ! (nothing)

Yes, I’ll keep him awake! (V)

Should try pinching him? (nothing)

I don’t feel good since V’s hurt. (nothing)

I’m okay. So is Seven. V’s the only one hurt badly. (nothing)

I have to look over V so it’ll be difficult for me to tell you in detail; (nothing)

It’s a long story… You should go read it yourself. (nothing)

Did you read the messages Rika left? (nothing)

Yoosung, V has been hurt ! (nothing)

Of course that’s a lie. Rika was the one who attacked the RFA messenger unsing the Mint Eye. (V)

It was between the two of them… Some of it might be true. (V)

Yes. Seven sait he recovered it all. (707)

Everything’s been done but he couldn’t kick out Rika and the hacker. (nothing)

Yoosung, you don’t trust Rika anymore as well, right? (nothing)

Do you want me to find proof or something? (nothing but I took this one, I clearly preferred this one haha)

It’s frustrating that you’re in denial even when the situation says it all. (V)

Make up your mind after listening to both side of the story, after V recovers. (V – best answer)

Having a party when someone’s life is in danger is a bit… (Zen)

Yoosung, you’re trying to look after RFA in your own way…aren’t you ? (Yoosung)

Leave V to me and you two should contact the other members ! (onthing)

Don’t worry. V will be okay. He’s strong! (V)

I’m relieaved as well to see the members doing fine. (nothing)

I’m okay… But I’m worried about V… (nothing)

Visual Novel

Day 10 | V is here

#v route #v's route #v walkthrough #mystic messenger walkthrough

154 notes · View notes

sally-mun · 7 years ago

Note

As someone who hasn't, wouldn't, and won't be experiencing Major/Minor (or whatever it was called) could you perhaps analyze more specifically some of the things you felt were missteps more in depth, so others who decide they might want to make a visual novel or even just a story, might be able to avoid the same issues? I realize this might not be your area of interest, but I'm always interested in these kinds of analyses.

Man, where do I even begin.

I suppose I should start by saying that this game could have been fine; I don’t necessarily hate this game for the story, even if I think it’s uninspired. I play lots of point-and-click games and usually enjoy them (even the stupid ones) so long as they have merit in one area or another. But that’s the core of the problems with Major/Minor: It has NO merit to work with. Its construction shows absolutely no understanding of this genre of game design. Or of writing. Or of entertainment in general. Or of simply respecting one’s audience.

First and foremost, let’s discuss visual novels.

The critical difference between a novel and a visual novel is interactivity; a novel is a set and done deal that takes its readers along for the ride, whereas a visual novel invites the readers to be part of the ride itself. The direction of the story is influenced by the player, and this allows them to personally take ownership of later events. It’s the sort of game that tries to put you in the role of the protagonist in the most direct form possible. Like other first-person games your view as a player is exactly that of the character you’re playing, but in a VN’s case it’s like reading a comic book in a choose-your-own-adventure format.

Major/Minor not only fails on both the visual and novel elements, but it also fails when combined as a visual novel.

1) Visual

For the most part, visual novels don’t have a lot of action. They primarily consist of conversations with NPCs and usually take place in static locations. For this reason, both the characters and the environments need to have a lot of personality. Players need to feel like they’re actually having conversations with the characters and that they’ve entered a unique location that sees real use. This is the red, meaty center of how VNs engage and gratify their players.

Designing characters in a visual novel is about more than giving each one a different face; it’s about giving each character enough of a range of actions and emotions to sell the idea that the character is actually interacting with you, and in a way that’s truly unique from every other character. In real life, people do all sorts of crap when speaking: Our expressions change, we gesture with our hands, our posture varies, and sometimes we even have small ticks associated with certain topics or emotions. Between these visual cues and the actual discussions themselves, players ought to know the NPCs well enough to be able to describe them like real-life friends by the end of the game.

This brings us to Major/Minor’s first serious offense: Every character has one face. Typically in a VN, each character has a minimum of half a dozen expressions, poses, and gestures/ticks to match the different emotions they’ll need to exhibit over the course of their conversation topics. The characters in Major/Minor can only make a single expression and pose throughout the entire game, which immediately leads to some seriously disjointed discussions. It’s hard for me to take a character seriously when they say they’re angry with me when the art staring through the computer screen is bright, cheerful, and apparently mid-laugh. Sorry, NPC #672, I really don’t care that you’re allegedly on the brink of tears, because your singular piece of character art is so smarmy and mischievous that I forgot you were trying to tell me something tragic.

What makes this even more annoying is that most of the characters DO have a secondary piece of art, but it’s only ever used ONE time as an introduction to a new character before the game chucks it in the bin and we never see it again. Each character COULD have had at least two expressions if the dev had planned his commissions carefully enough, buuut instead he chose to get two shots that are barely distinguishable from one another so there could be a ~=*FLOURISH*=~ when we see someone for the first time. Granted, two per character still isn’t anywhere near enough, but it’s a hell of a lot better than just one! It makes me wonder why he bothered to spend the money on a second image for each character at all, since half of these commissions only get about 10 seconds of screen time. What a waste.

And hey, speaking of wasted opportunities, let’s talk more about the environments! Lots of visual novels don’t spend much energy on their backgrounds, and although that’s usually fine (albeit not my first preference), Major/Minor seriously needed to think more about its settings. For the moment I’ll ignore the laziness of the fact that the backgrounds are generic photos with a blur filter over them; what’s more important is that this game loves to tell us all kinds of random crap about the rooms we’re in, especially during the scenes that take place in Japan. This game would’ve benefited dearly from simply having more detailed backgrounds and just letting us observe the goings on of the room on our own. Y’know, because that makes it more... visual.

Honestly, if it were me, I would’ve taken it all a step further and gone full-blown Ace Attorney on the environments. In AA games, investigating the scene is very important because you have to look for clues. I’m not saying Major/Minor needed to let you hunt for items, but I do think that it could’ve cut a ton of random information from the text by simply letting us inspect the backgrounds. That way the players that want to know what a kotatsu is can find out on their own time and players that already know or don’t care can move on.

Something else that would’ve brought the game a much-needed boost of interest is cut scenes. As noted earlier, visual novels don’t tend to have a lot of action, so when something physical DOES happen, it makes an impact. One way to maximize that flash of excitement is with a cut scene – or at least, the visual novel equivalent of one. A “cut scene” in a VN isn’t typically a full motion video like most video games boast; it still makes use of a static image, but it’s an image whose quality far surpasses that of the rest of the art in the game. Maybe it’s abnormally large and the camera slowly pans across for dramatic effect, or maybe it’s a scene drawn from an interesting angle that isn’t the player’s POV. Some games take this even farther and really do animate their cut scenes a bit (usually on par with a nice animated gif). Lots of VN cut scenes make use of sound effects or action-specific music cues to keep the player emotionally involved with the scene, as it’s a moment that’s out of the player’s control.

Major/Minor, on the other hand, does none of this. Much like the drought of facial expressions, the game simply pelts you with paragraph after paragraph to tell you about the events taking place around you, rather than simply letting you see for yourself and be, y’know, involved. Even a handful of cut scenes that had some real effort put into them would’ve really given this game some pep. Not only would it have kept me engaged as a player, but it would’ve weeded out even more unnecessary narration.

Oh, and speaking of weeding shit out of the text…

2) Novel

The writing in this game badly, badly needed to be edited. Like, so badly it makes me physically hurt from how poorly this text is constructed. I’m not talking about the simple things like misspellings and failed capitalizations, I mean BIG mistakes, like sentence fragments and improper conjugations and completely misusing some words all together. It’s also excruciatingly repetitive. Never in my life have I ever seen prose that recaps itself so frequently – sometimes literally within minutes of the event that it’s reminding you of. It even recaps itself within the same block of text a few times.

It’s pretty obvious the dev never allowed a seasoned editor to proof the text, but it’s so unbelievably bad that I’m not even sure the dev himself ever gave it a second glance. It reeks of being a first draft that was never once revisited; actually, it strongly reminds me of the sort of stories I myself wrote when I was about 13. At that time I wanted so badly to write big, dramatic stories! Stories that had deep themes and lots of intrigue! With a complicated plot and several subplots!! And lots of characters that would all totally be different and completely matter!!!! But the problem was I was so wrapped up in wanting to make my stories big, impressive epics that I stretched myself way too thin and everything came out incredibly shallow. It’s honestly kind of eerie to think back on the things I wrote as a kid while I play this game. The similarities are so striking that I can’t tell if this is something the dev wrote at that age and just never decided to polish, or if he did write it as an adult but has the writing skill-level of a teenager.

But honestly, I’d overlook all the technical flaws and melodrama this guy could throw at me if he would just show and not tell. “Show, don’t tell” is one of the oldest rules in the book when it comes to storytelling, and for good reason: Telling instead of showing is not only fucking boring, but it treats the reader like an idiot. If a writer knows what they’re doing, they shouldn’t have to tell, because they’d just demonstrate those things instead.

For example, let’s examine another huge flaw with the writing: Incredibly shallow characterizations. Early in the game the player meets a character named Rook. Rook is very rude. I know this because the game tells me. All. The. Time. I legit don’t remember how many times the game has mentioned that Rook is rude at this point. The dev seems completely oblivious to the notion that you don’t have to tell the player these things. You can just… write Rook as being rude. Trust me, my dude, I can figure out if a character is an asshole or not. Not only can Rook’s rudeness be demonstrated by how he treats me as a player, but it can be further reinforced by other characters reacting to him in a put-off manner. If you’re so concerned that I won’t pick up on the fact that Rook is a rude person just based on how he behaves, then you’re doing it wrong, end of discussion.

But then, as I said, the characterizations are shallow in general. Everyone tends to have their one basic trope and the story rests on the idea that you know what the character is. None of the scenes go out of their way to really dig into who someone is – which is kind of amazing, honestly, since the prose is so obsessed with making sure you know the most inane and unrelated shit half the time – and even after I’ve known a character for several chapters they still feel like a cardboard cut-out to me.

To be honest, I’m kind of impressed by the sheer volume of ways that Major/Minor fails at showing instead of telling. It tells you what characters are like instead of just letting you interact with them, it tells you about the places you visit instead of just letting you view them, it tells you every single time the characters have a mood shift or expression change because it couldn’t be bothered to give them each more than one face, and it hamfists unnecessary information into the script where it’s unneeded and interrupts the scene – and THEN, it makes SURE you notice that it’s telling instead of showing by repeating those things over and over and over again!

All of this is further exacerbated, by the way, because the dev has no idea how to tell a story in the first place. Even with all the above flaws, I miiight have still been able to enjoy this game if it was just a compelling narrative in any sense of the word at all. I will happily deal with poor construction and telling-not-showing if the story still has some intrigue. Even a flawed story can have a mind-blowing plot and keep you reading just to find out what happens next, right? I thought so too, until I realized that Major/Minor goes SO far out of its way to spoil its own plot that it frequently makes you sit through scenes that you, the protagonist, are not even present for. Yes, in a game that’s built upon being a first-person experience, the story will slam on the brakes and take you OUT of the protagonist’s shoes to make you sit by as an observer to events that probably would’ve been an great reveal later on had the dev just kept his mouth shut.

3) Visual Novel

So the visuals suck and the writing sucks, but hey, lots of games get by without investing much in those areas. Could Major/Minor pull it together and at least give the player an interesting mechanic? Hahahaha no, of course it didn’t. As far as the gameplay is concerned, Major/Minor is so bad that in many ways I hesitate to even call it a game.

The cornerstone of visual novels is making choices. They can range from serious decisions that determine the overall outcome of the game or small cosmetic details, but either way, the core of this gaming style is putting the player in the driver’s seat as often as possible. When playing Major/Minor, however, the player is strapped into a straight jacket, blindfolded, and tossed into the trunk of the damn car. This game is so reluctant to surrender control of the narrative that it’s not uncommon at all to go through entire sections of the game having made no choices whatsoever. It fails so spectacularly as a visual novel that I’d be willing to bet that the dev had never played one before. He is astonishingly disinterested in what makes a visual novel enjoyable to the player.

There’s a principle in game design called Illusion of Control. The goal of this idea is to allow the player to feel like they’re in charge of the game while actually keeping them within strict boundaries. It applies to a lot of games, but it’s especially important in visual novels. Players need to be able to dictate how the story progresses, even if some of those choices make no real impact on outcomes. For example, players can enter conversation trees with NPCs that seemingly offer a lot of control – perhaps the player chooses the discussion topics, or can decide if they want to be shy or snarky in their replies – and yet at the end of the scene there could realistically be no change to the story’s progress. The greater point is that the player feels like they handled the conversation the way they wanted to. This allows them to still feel like they’ve gotten somewhere and that they accomplished something.

Major/Minor appears to scoff at the very idea of this, like the game’s worried you’ll cramp its style if it gives you too much power.The player is allotted no input whatsoever on how the PC treats the other characters, what subjects to discuss, where they’d like to go, how to react to the actions of other characters… It’s truly mind-blowing just how consistently the game misses opportunities to allow the player even the illusion of control. For example, there’s a scene where the player character (PC) is awakened in the middle of the night by a pounding on the door, and no options are offered on how the player would like to handle this. A better game might allow the player to choose if they want to pretend to keep sleeping, or call out to whomever is knocking, or try escaping out a window, or crack the door open to see what the person wants. Even if it’s an absolute necessity to the plot that this person enters the room, it’s still better to let the player choose, because there are a plethora of ways to redirect each of those options back around toward the character getting in.

Unfortunately, Major/Minor is just too damn lazy to be bothered with gameplay, and the PC just lets the stranger in with no input from the player. Soon after, the stranger attacks the PC, which would again be a prime opportunity for lots of reactionary options: The player could duck! Or the player could punch their assailant! Or maybe they could kick instead! Maybe they’d try to run away or call for help! Buuut no, Major/Minor really doesn’t care what you want YOUR CHARACTER to do, and it’s already decided that you’re going to put up no fight at all and immediately pass out. It’s by far one of the most unsatisfying things I’ve ever experienced in a video game.

The disconnect between the player and the protagonist is so extreme that I honestly don’t feel it’s a fair assessment to refer to the protagonist as the “player character.” It’s not uncommon for visual novel protagonists to speak in the first person, but in most games it feels like the PC is speaking on your behalf because they’re acting according to your will. The protagonist of Major/Minor decides so many things for themself that it stopped feeling like “my” character a very, very long time ago. This character isn’t me and never was; it’s the main character of a book that I didn’t ask to read, who very occasionally pauses to ask my opinion on something.

HEY HOWDY HEY SPEAKING OF PAUSING… If you boot this “game” up for a session, you’d better hope you have plenty of time on your hands to get through it, because you’re at the dev’s mercy for when you can save your progress. Being able to save anytime you want is a staple of visual novels because 1) people read at wildly different paces, and 2) for many people, excessive reading makes them tired. Not only that, but sometimes life just plain gets in the way and you have to pick up and go on short notice. Major/Minor ignores all of these factors and leaves the player relegated to appointed checkpoints throughout the game.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying that checkpoints are inherently bad, but they do need to be used very, very wisely. Any game (VN or otherwise) that doesn’t allow the player to save anytime they want needs to be sure checkpoints are reasonably close from any given location, and furthermore that they’re spaced at regular intervals. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, however, the dev flushed that idea down the toilet along with what was left of his common sense and parents’ love. Sometimes Major/Minor stacks save points practically back-to-back within the span of a few minutes, and in other cases I’ve literally played for over and hour before the game finally rewarded me with the option to save.

There’s no discernible pattern or technique that I can detect for when save points are bestowed on the player; you’re not even guaranteed an opportunity to save when the game switches chapters! I would say that I can’t fathom why the dev thought this would be a good idea, but let’s not kid ourselves here, it’s clear that the dev never thought this through in the first place. If he had, he might’ve noticed that players being uncertain about whether or not they’ll be able to save their progress discourages them from playing at all.

Also, before I fully move on from the game design, I just wanted to make a brief side note about the music. To be honest, I turned the music off a VERY long time ago, so I don’t even remember what it sounds like; however, I’ve read that all of the music in the game is from the free assets you get in RPG Maker. I’ve further read that the free assets (both audio and visual) were the entire reason the dev decided to use RPG Maker for this game in the first place, in spite of the fact that there are other programs out there specifically geared toward making visual novels. This is worth mentioning because it further highlights just how lazy this entire game is. It’s not a sin to use free program assets – that IS what they’re there for, after all – but when you ONLY use the free assets and then advertise your game on Steam for being sooo creative and original, AND have the gall to charge $20 for it?? Yeah, that’s a gigantic slap in the face.

Speaking of Steam, you’d think a game like this would’ve been weeded out by the gaming community for being the garbage that it is, right? After all, there’s a ranking right at the top of the page showing the proportion of good and bad reviews it’s gotten, and right now it says the feedback is “very positive.” I will say that I do take community feedback into consideration when I’m thinking about a game that I haven’t otherwise heard of before, and my misstep with this game has definitely taught me a valuable lesson. When I saw that the game is ranked “very positive” and I scrolled down to see several glowing reviews, I felt that was sufficient enough research to know if the game was worth my time and money.

However, upon trying out the game and realizing just how badly I’d been deceived, I did a little more digging. As it turns out, the dev is known for flagging negative reviews as “abusive” and getting them deleted, allowing him to effectively filter out the bad press so long as he can make some kind of a case to Steam. This debacle has taught me that it’s not enough to scroll to the bottom of a Steam page for user reviews, as those tend to be the most recent; what you do instead is click the “Read all [x] reviews” link, as those reviews are sorted by popularity. THIS is where you’ll find the reviews that the community has deemed the most helpful and informative, and in this case, it’s like night and day. ALL of the highest-ranked reviews of Major/Minor are negative, and the numbers are staggering. Literally HUNDREDS of people have ranked these terrible reviews as helpful, and most of them are in the 80-90% range on agreement. You have to load more reviews four times to find even one single positive post, and once you do start getting into the positives, the upvotes are significantly fewer.

SO, in conclusion...

I want to say that’s about all I have to give on this subject, but the sad truth is it’s not. I could probably critique this game line-by-line, moment-by-moment, if I really wanted to. Fortunately for my sanity, I really don’t want to. … Not right now, anyway. I’m sure I’ll lose it at some point and decide to go through and count all the missed opportunities in the game or something, but I won’t be doing that right now, thankfully.

So in the vein of others learning from the mistakes of this game: If you were thinking about buying Major/Minor, don’t. If you bought it a while ago during a sale and were thinking about starting to play it, don’t. If you’re interested in making a visual novel and wanted to learn from this game’s mistakes… Well granted there’s a lot to learn about what not to do, but still, don’t give this lazy, deceptive dev any more money. Learn from this guy’s shortcomings based on the feedback of players. Hell, read or watch a Let’s Play if you really want to experience it first-hand. Just please don’t buy and play this game. As a favor to ME, please don’t buy and play this game.

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#sciver #Sallymun plays Major/Minor #I hope you guys enjoy this because it was not easy #if you know someone who's thinking about this game please show them this post #REBLOG TO SAVE A LIFE

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