#partly inspired by yume nikki

[springtimebat]

Kikiyama (A Short, Experimental Poem)

“Build bridges, not walls”  is the statement sprayed across a subway station as I make my way to my afternoon classes. It’s just past noon, the mildew in the air makes me feel more awake, more aware. I can appreciate my corporate surroundings, analyse a reality which is less than ideal. I take apart the statement mentioned in my head many times as I walk, take it apart piece by piece like large segments of concrete. Man-made concrete that would crush me, take apart my body, discrete my inner being just as I myself destroy its inspirational edifice. The underground I take three times, sometimes six, a week swallows me in tiny bites, pressing against my hips, dips and marks. The subway car I take slides open a rubble-grey door. Its amber lights lick and leer at my face, my spots, like a hollow feeler, or perhaps a greedy, swollen tongue. And I want to die on this platform.

Build bridges, not walls. Scrawled in an artist’s blood, the poet's handwriting giving way to their rushing soul. Yet, all their screed remains hidden with underground chambers. Their language provokes great rebellion, unification despite worldly barriers, great masterworks made in periods of immense trauma. This personal mantra, however, remains a simple, silver line on our man-made caves under citizen footsteps. Kikyama, or “machine mountain”. Loosely translated, much like the shackles that sometimes appear on the paper wrists of the upper suburbia. To the uninitiated, such a term may bring to mind bright thoughts. A kaleidoscope of restrained emotion. Instances of humanity displayed with evocative clarity. 

A collective sky-garden like hallowed halls during space travel. Perhaps, this too is simply a stark projection from me. Accidental poetry, accidental dreams. Manufactured dreams, maybe? Manufactured dreams of grief and sadness. 

Still, even with these jumbled ideas and themes that persist (and chip, chip, chip away), I go back to the subway walls and their slow decay. Build bridges, not walls, spray painted onto a lime-green wall. That is my personal, secret machine mountain, my cave composed of ash, and air, and shadow. Slowly, I begin to board my train away. 

[gingeredmink]

your art style is so pleasing to look at... i'd like to get back to drawing, so i can see it becoming part of my inspiration! i think your art also encouraged me to play mikan muzou (and hopefully debris soon!), which was a very interesting time -- a little confusing, trying to reference both wikis and a bit of the yume nikki online server, since not all of the information is consolidated, but i've enjoyed my time with it! i'd like to go back and get the yno badges, too.

hope things are alright! wishing you all the best. 🤍

AAAAAAAAJBFAF THANK YOU SO MUCH!! wishin ya the best of luck with getting back into art, and am beyond happy to be a source of inspo to ya!

NIIICE! yeaah the wiki for Mikan can be a bit difficult at times, esp when area names are different and the game does have a lot in it. at least people on the server are pretty good at helping from what i recall. also sorz if server was confusing partly due to missing messages and people talking to a ghost in the past. that was me. insecurities came to haunt me and i freaked out and accidentally exorcised myself heh. Glad you enjoyed it anyhow, it really is an interesting and unique experience and am glad its available online. Good luck on getting the badges!

THANK YOU, SAME FOR YOU! (ノ´͈ ᐜ `͈)ノ~♥

[dustward]

Continuing where I left off...the both Earthbound and Yume Nikki-inspired indie rpg with a mix of enjoyable combat and a protagonist coasting through a world, plagued by the memory of his dear sister.

But enough about Lisa. Just kidding, this is where I point out my issues here did in fact have an answer, previously tackled by the Lisa series! All the heaviest psychological dreamscaping for that series was self contained in a prologue game of sorts, Lisa the first. Though I do think if Omori had done this, such a game would’ve been best served as an interquel between a supposed Omori-specific game and a Sunny-specific sequel. Omori’s adventure itself slowly devolves into the Yume Nikki structure in a way that I feel would have segued into Black Space and then the “Sunny’s Fears” moments perfectly. Alas, this is just musing of what could’ve been at this point.

The most me-issue of these posts comes up here - I did not find the game funny. Charming? Yes. Sadly most of the humor bounced off me, partially because of how heavy or otherwise distracting all the story beats became, and partially because it simply was not for me, which is weird because I figured a game like this would have met those needs easily. The most it got from me were chuckles like the Metal Gear Solid ladder reference. The one Actually Laughing moment came from intentionally fucking up the baking section of Sweetheart’s castle and killing the chef as a result. Maybe I just needed to not follow the game’s formula more? It’s too late to know now.

I bring up this issue in relation to Lisa because both games were psychological traumas filled with sudden scares and bloodied messes. Serious moments took place constantly in both games that needed full attention, and yet with Lisa I was able to enjoy the flow without ever thinking about it. What it did instead was a lot of dark (if sometimes crude) humor. Most of the time it got me laughing or at least thinking “oh my god why” in a way that broke the tension or otherwise got my mind off the fact the protagonist jus--wait I’m not here to spoil that game.

I guess another gripe I should get into is that while I said I enjoyed exploring Headspace, Sweetheart’s castle was definitely the low point. I think by then I was pretty mentally done with the sprout moles, but the game found them far more charming than I had. The Maximus fights went on for one too many. Two was enough. The garden felt unnecessary and I groaned when I realized we were not done with this part of the game.

On the other hand, I loved the Deepwell section. I’m a sucker for water-themed environments I guess, but both Last Resort and the venture to Humphrey, heck even including the Humphrey portion - that was all great and the part where Omori shined its brightest. Felt like the perfect blend of everything the game wanted to be, and I wish we could’ve reached that point sooner.

I can’t think of a better place to insert these misc. gripes so I’ll just mention how the quality of the flavor texts felt lacking at times and how there were moments where I’d want to explore but accidentally progressed and missed out on bits, like in the Lost Library. A stupid me-issue here but I wish the Slime girls didn’t get overshadowed by Humphrey. Any moments in Faraway that were required but didn’t further the main story with the central characters felt like filler. The final photo album constantly prompting you to place photos into it one by one instead of all at once at the end felt unnecessarily interruptive. Did I mention the juxtaposition issues? Anyways,

One last factor of the game that didn’t sit well with me, and might play into my mixed feelings is that I did not like Sunny/Omori. They felt like an emotionless blank slate, and that was acceptable and clearly the intention. However, when they were shown to have motivations and options I did not understand why they were what they were. Omori *hated* Basil, but I did not understand why. (I’m left to assume Sunny partly did too with how he beat the hell out of him towards the ending)

In the real world, at every turn, the only options Sunny allowed seemed so contradictory. Why would he leave the house for Kel of all people? Because of his overbearing personality? “Oh, Aubrey’s in the church, I’d like to wait outside. Kel seems to think so, too.” “Oh I cannot progress this plot unless I barge in, this is Sunny deciding such...? Why?” “Oh, we’re just gonna see Basil in a completely distressed and beyond cry for help state and walk away, despite him literally asking us not to? Really, Sunny?” “We’re gonna leave Aubrey in a guilt ridden state for accidentally pushing Basil into the water? Because Kel said to or because you felt that way, Sunny?” The flavor text or otherwise smaller details did not cover even an ounce of these questions. This is the one time I bring up Undertale/Deltarune, because its silent protagonists felt like clearly defined characters despite having these similar restrictions. Or at least, there were enough details to interpret and guesstimate their actions.

The one thing I knew and understood about their character was how much they missed their sister, Mari. She’s around every corner in both Headspace and the real world. A constant presence, sometimes of warmth and sometimes of dread. If it were up to me, I’d never forgive Sunny for what he did to her. Her theme, “By Your Side” is easily the most memorable track of the game and everything about Mari, I feel was handled explicitly well. If the gameplay’s the main draw for ever bringing me back to the game, the promise of seeing Mari again is the next biggest draw following it.

I feel I’ve said all I need to say about what bothered me most, so I’d like to end off on listing my favorite moments the game offered. The moments that, despite these issues, I’m glad to have witnessed. I realize I tend to have an all in personality with loving or hating something, but Omori managed to prevent me from leaning too far into the “I hate this” side, and it’s thanks to the following:

The journey through Deep Well, scenery music and all, the realization your “friends” were forgetting Basil, and that when I checked the sidequests with Mari saw his quest replaced. Feeling like I was going to places I had no business being in, and then moving on to Black Space and having that truly authentic Yume Nikki experience - Moreso a collection of moments here, but a highlight nonetheless. And yes, I did revisit Basil’s house periodically and watered the flowers. Glad to know at least that action was not pointless.

I did not think much of Hero for the longest time until I realized that’s because he wasn’t really “there” until well past the halfway point. The interactions with him in Sunny’s house are about the only time we’re allowed to see him for who he was, and that somehow managed to be enough, despite the briefness of it.

I hated being drawn into a fight with Aubrey, feeling tricked into using the knife on her, barging into the church when I would’ve waited patiently outside. But after seeing her so filled with anger in the park, only to see that peaceful expression on her face in the church - that cemented my love for her. That was the moment I understood who she was, what she went through, and that no matter what happened going forward she was going to be okay. Doesn’t stop me from wanting to console her, though. From the perspective of Sunny it’s definitely bittersweet seeing friends grow away from you and yet thriving all the same, but from my perspective it showed that despite her own understandable frustration in being forced to find her own happiness and closure, she sure as hell found it.

The Omori fight itself was a fitting final battle, despite the fact it plays into my issues of how this fight is isolated from the rest of the game mechanically. If things changed at all depending on how much you did in Headspace, that would definitely change my opinion, but I have a limited scope here with my one playthrough.

Fully appreciated the flashbacks to the moments with a living Mari and the few, genuine periods of happiness you know Sunny experienced.

The one thread, the one connection between Omori and Sunny’s worlds, the only moment that felt like it brought the entire game together, that was the picnic with Mari in the cemetery. That moment, like most others, felt undermined by the final reveal, which is another reason why it’s hard to accept that ending as the truth. You’ll forgive me if I choose to deny that final reveal in the same way Sunny denied parts of his own reality for the longest time. Oh, the irony.

[clarste]

With the new game seems partly inspired by Yume Nikki (what with the Dream Diary theme thing), do you think this is ZUN's way of doing a horror game? Though it look more like a summer horror story telling in Japan though, from the look of it.

I don’t think it’s necessarily inspired by Yume Nikki. I think a dream diary is a standard scène à faire, and everything about Sumireko has always had to do with dreams anyway.

While I wouldn’t completely discount any influence, I think there’s way too little to make a bold conclusion like that so early.