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New Patient: Genshin Impact

Diagnosis: We Need Cash Prescription: 900mg of You Don't Need Cash, taken with [recent Genshin reference].

What To Fix

Firstly, I want to preface this by saying - i have only played Genshin Impact as far as about Sumeru. I quit a few years back because it was destroying my mental health. As such, my criticisms may not be as up-to-date as someone else's is, and I would be very happy if some of these have naturally or artificially improved over time.

Lots of elements of Genshin demonstrate to me that there is talent in this game. The character designs are often repetitive, but some of them are gorgeous and detailed. Some of the NPCs have genuinely phenomenal storylines- Teppei, Ruu, Jeht and her father, Kazari, Zhiqiong; these people are far more interesting and developed than a lot of the PCs. The combat is, at least, foundationally good, it's not excellent, but it's relatively simple and provides useful building blocks for the rest of the game. Some of the events are fucking amazing (by that I mean the Labyrinth Warriors event in 2.1 and no others), and some of the storylines (inazuma's Main Quest comes to mind) have well-written moments. There is talent here.

However, Genshin is also a very, very lazy cash-grab. Most of the playable characters are almost obsessively pandered to the player- even the "bad guys" are justified too much, almost as if the creators are afraid they'll lose money if this character isn't adored. Characters have been getting repetitive as they recycle popular designs and personalities. Gacha systems are inherently exploitative and stressful- Genshin Impact is only barely F2P. The introduction of Dendro was very poor and didn't balance the game correctly at all. The storyline is very clearly meandering, to a frustrating extent, and characters are being added to an overwhelming number, which is confusing and reduces all the character depth. The sexualisation and fetishisation of the characters is genuinely unbearable- while sexuality can be an important part of a character, in Genshin it's all very unnecessary.

I think this game could be improved, but it would require probably starting from the beginning. Bear that in mind for the next section.

How To Fix

Integrate Dendro initially. It was a mistake and a very clear cash-grab to introduce Dendro mid-game, and it fucked with the balancing of the combat system, which either took a while to or has never been rectified. All elements should be present initially in the game.

Lower the number of characters, and put effort into the ones that are kept. Have writing be in-depth and proper - show me why characters are the way they are, don't list lazy traits. I don't care if less characters fuck up your Gacha system, you'll figure it out.

Do not be afraid of a hated character. Complex characters are essential to a good storyline. If your players hate a character that is well-written, it is what it is. Hastily and clumsily fixing or justifying every "evil" character is putting yourself in shallow water. Don't be afraid to kill off PCs, either.

Make a game because you wanna make a game. Prioritising money over everything else is lame and exploitative. Show me that you actually love this game, more than it is for the cash. This company must be worth millions now, you can switch things up.

Chill out on the sexualisation. It's clear none of the sexualisation in this game is relevant to characters or the plot. If it isn't for that, it's fanservice, and therefore it sucks. Do better.

I don't really expect Hoyoverse to ever take my advice, nor the fans of this game. I'm unsure if Star Rail is any better. I think having characters be hot is the point, so, sorry if I missed it, I expect better from games.

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New Patient: Class of '09: The Flipside

Diagnosis: Took the Joke Too Far

Prescription: 700mg of Dial It Down, taken with Adderall purchased from a high schooler.

SPOILERS?? I GUESS. I DON'T THINK PEOPLE REALLY CARE ABOUT C09 SPOILERS I'LL BE REAL. BUT IF THAT MEANS A LOT TO YOU.

What To Fix

I want to start off by saying I've got nothing wrong with the humor in Class of '09. It's a period piece, it's hilarious, and I genuinely enjoyed the voice acting and character interactions of the first two games. I'm a sucker for reality show-style things, and this really entertained me. I understand the purpose of the humor in these games and I really enjoyed it.

The Flipside was not funny. It was borderline unbearable.

I've heard a lot of excuses for why the Flipside is the way it is. They took the joke too far, this is a hate letter to Jeckole, this is fetish content, this is fetish bait, they wanted to show who Nicole really is- frankly, I don't care about excuses. I expected a lot from this, and it turned me off the series and the upcoming anime entirely.

I will praise it for a few things. The presentation of Jecka's reaction to Nicole's suicide and some scenes back at their school were enjoyable. The voice acting, as always, was impeccable- I am a sucker for good voice acting. On the whole, the characterisation of Jecka specifically was very good, I felt as though we were genuinely able to see her struggles. If they intended to make the game a psychological horror, they... sort of succeeded?

How To Fix

- Get Rid of the Foot Stuff. Not funny, makes it seem like you’re actually into it. The twist that Nicole was doing it with Jecka's Dad was also neither funny nor entertaining.

- Honestly, Tone Down the Unnecessary Sexualisation. I am someone who can handle a little sexualisation, especially if it's a criticism of reality or otherwise interesting. Heck, I can sometimes handle fanservice. This game really tested my patience with it. The Jecka death scene with her red lace bra is something that comes to mind as unnecessary.

- Nicole's Characterisation. I understand the choice to present her as a literal psychopath, but she was cruel in situations that felt abnormal (ie: Jeffery scenes). Character is up to the creator, though, so I won't go too hard on this one since it isn't my big focus.

- Focus on the School. I don't mind the choice to set it post-school but I honestly think it took us out of the original atmosphere. It also meant we lost a lot of character interactions. I think putting the game back in the School setting brings back the right tone for the game.

- Pick A Genre! This is my big improvement. The game oscillates carelessly between genuinely psychological horror and black comedy, which it didn't do in the first two games. This wavering genre really felt peculiar. I know this can be done well, but it was not done well here, and genuinely would've been better off picking a side.

- For VN Fans: More Choices. I saw a lot of big visual novel fans upset about the lack of choices in this game, and I agree with them. It felt like less content overall, even if that wasn't necessarily the case, due to the lack of choice.

Seen that Reddit post about Nicole's Dad, McPizza and the Copyright Act? Yeah. Do That. Just do it. I adored this post and genuinely wished it was the reality of the Flipside- part of a wider mystery.

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spiders, or how to fix half of omori's plot with one symbol

i think i can fix omori. well, some of it.

This will be an attempt to prove that a key symbol related to Mari is a spider/bug, and how making this more obvious to the player would have fixed half the narrative.

Mari is closely associated with bugs and spiders in several scenes, but I believe the photos in the real world and Headspace demonstrate this most explicitly.

This photo is one of few direct redraws from the real world in Headspace, and it identifies Mari as a character unafraid, even fascinated, by bugs, which is one of very few character traits she's actually given. This is repeated multiple times as we explore Headspace, where Mari comforts Sunny and Hero about their fear of spiders, takes the group bug-hunting in the real world, and previously put bugs in Hero's desk. It's notable that the reframing of this photo specifically puts a spider in Omori's hand, further linking the girl to bugs in his mind.

Within Headspace, spiders are shown to be far more present than the other two phobias present. We see it in Daddy Long Legs, the ominous nature of Pyrefly forest, the Spider Area, the references to the creatures from Hero, Mari and Basil, and much more - it's clear that the creators wanted this symbol to be present, but overwhelmed it with subtlety, making it impossible to actually understand, and leaving it in the dust in favour of following other threads. The narrative fails to distinguish the Arachnophobia boss, and loses its the relationship between Mari and spiders/bugs.

There are several benefits to making this metaphor more deliberate to the player, by enhancing the relationship through jumpscares, making it important to the Truth/Final Boss segments, or even just distinguishing Arachnophobia from the other bosses. I've decided to organise them into a list since there's so many.

Cohesive narrative interactions between the Phobias and the recital day: I'm always talking about how the juxtaposition between these two events is so subtle that people miss the point. Singling out the importance of Arachnophobia would highlight these two events and bring them to the forefront, making the Final Duet more cohesive.

The Phobia bosses become relevant: If the game is able to properly integrate Arachnophobia into the truth segment, this provides so much more purpose to the Phobia bosses, who often feel like just game mechanics to teach you how fighting against hallucinations functions.

Intriguing moral exploration: I think the idea of the subtlety of conveying Mari as a bug portrays her insignificance - Sunny was able to just kill her, as though she were just a spider to be swatted. It furthers an interesting understanding of morality in the text, talking about the prioritisation of life, leaving more of an impact on the audience. Are humans really as fickle as that?

Hero's character: Connecting Mari to a spider not only allows for more theory and AU creation, but actually mimics Hero's actions in the real world. Only two characters are afraid of spiders - and only those two characters have not visited Mari's grave since it was dug, which mirrors (but fails to highlight) Sunny and Hero's character arcs. In a similar way, Mari and Basil's love for bugs could also mirror some sort of decline.

The relevance of Daddy Long Legs and spider-related Black Space areas: Spiders are regularly referenced in Headspace and Black Space, with a whole room of Black Space surrounding them, but there's never any lucid reason why they're so prominent compared to the other phobias. Making a clear connection to the truth would clear up this confusion.

Basil's Something and Headspace Basil's dialogue: Basil's Something is deliberately abstract, but it is never defined further than its presentation. Not only would it properly link the Spider Area to the reality of the truth, but it would potentially connect Basil's Something to it, too.

Just plain easy to add: Much of Omori's story, characterisation and pacing is very difficult to improve without hours of effort. Being able to cohesively connect elements of the narrative with one symbol is much more realistic.

song i listened to while writing this:

this song is literally the reason i came to this realisation, the themes of environmental preservation were essential dskjhjdsgdjhsgjhkdg shout out to me rediscovering this after years and years

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Foreshadowing in Omori and its manga: a critique

I'm back again, although it's been a while since I've written anything. I'm waiting on more Dreamscape chapters to formulate an analysis on Mari.

Omori Spoilers and Omori Manga Spoilers under the cut

Omori has poor foreshadowing, in the manga and the game, but for different reasons. And I can tell from one chapter.

Firstly, a rundown on the narrative device itself - foreshadowing provides an advance hint toward the events of the story. It's a very common device, but it's actually relatively difficult to do well. There's a very fine line between too obvious and too subtle, especially with the expectation of twists.

Foreshadowing in these types of psychological horror games tends to be very subtle, take Doki Doki as an example, and further foreshadowing in games like Yume Nikki is so subtle that the reality of the world isn't even evident at all. While this can be frustrating for the players, it's actually incredibly important, allowing you to theorise and discuss.

In the original Omori game, foreshadowing was often too abstract and subtle to be properly understood by a player - and this was fundamentally because there foreshadowing was so widespread, it overwhelms the player as they attempt to discover the truth.

Let me cite an example. Daddy Long-Legs belongs to a group I'll call the "Truth creatures" - characters like Stranger, the various Somethings, Hellmari, Phobias etc. He exists in a portion of Pyrefly Forest which foreshadows the truth of Headspace. But he's purposeless as a character otherwise, he only appears in a corner of Black Space 2 that is practically inaccessible to those on the Truth route. Why would you introduce a new character, one who becomes irrelevant, to foreshadow a part of the game that would be far better foreshadowed by Stranger? Someone who is actually relevant? This convoluted choice feels unnecessary, adding characters for the sake of subtlety.

In a similar way, the Somethings, Phobia bosses and Hellmari are loosely linked, and it's not quite explicit where each comes from and the relevance of each to the truth. Where's the distinction between the Mari Something and the others? Where does the game show me an explicit difference between the formation of Something and the formation of the Phobias? Why aren't Hellmari and Something more related, considering the events that formed them? A better foreshadower would be able to accurately make these distinctions, leading to overall better contrast between the recital day and the formation of the Phobias.

This is also incredibly obvious in Black Space, where the foreshadowing and symbolism ramps up. I will say it here, there is no way anyone will ever understand the purpose and analysis of every single area, object and NPC in Black Space. As a result, while it feels magnificent, there's so much that feels pointless, as well. This worked in Yume Nikki because it is very focused on this premise of "no real truth", but since Omori has a real truth and a real reason for Black Space's existence, it makes so many objects and areas feel pointless to analyse and overthink. Again, it's this insistence on adding things upon things to make foreshadowing far too abstract and impossible to understand.

Music and its importance to the truth was also very poorly foreshadowed. While I can understand, from a repression perspective, why Mari playing the piano or Sunny playing the violin was only very very subtly foreshadowed in the music itself, there is a point where you do need to make it obvious to the players, otherwise it feels like this idea of Sunny playing the violin is just thrown onto the players with no real interrelation. Similarly, Mari's character was far too hidden, where it isn't evident at all that Mari is a human with emotions - she's portrayed as a God the entire game. Again, too much subtlety has led to story beats feeling out-of-place and underrepresented.

However, in the manga, foreshadowing makes events very obvious to the reader, making me question the goals of this manga at all - are you really going to introduce Omori to new audiences in such a rushed and evident way? Making everything obvious and clear, when foreshadowing was such a key element to the original game? The whole point of the twist was it was completely unexpected!!

Immediately as we get into the manga, it's already obvious that Mari and violins are relevant to the truth. I wouldn't be surprised if the dialogue that Mari speaks during the Hellmari sequence is related to the argument between Mari and Sunny on the recital day, and I would be so disappointed if they chose to immediately out key dialogue that was not present in the original game.

Furthermore, why on Earth would you immediately reveal the hidden part of Mari's character in the first chapter? Mari is supposed to be perfect, at least in Sunny's mind. The game absolutely goes too far with this - it was a fundamental failure to have no dialogue in the Truth segment, as it led to so many misinterpretations of Mari as a character - but you choose to reveal her anger and humanity now???? NOT LATER??? NOT LIKE A BIT LATER?? SO WE CAN PERCIEVE HER AS PERFECT??

I'm not even going to get into the mischaracterisation of Aubrey, portraying her as evil and horrible without the very necessary exploration of how her relationship with Kel influences her actions.

I want to have faith in the manga. I want to enjoy it, but, just, the pacing and foreshadowing is already off. I'm worried. At least the horror art is gorgeous.

a summary of this analysis. HOW THE FUCK DID YOU MESS UP FORESHADOWING IN BOTH DIRECTIONS??

song i listened to while writing

i've been obsessed with the beef recently, it's so funny.

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It sounds like you just want an excuse for Mari and Sunny to be antagonized.

If you equate characterisation to antagonisation, read fluff fics.

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New Patient: MARI from OMORI

Diagnosis: Complete Lack of Personality and Depth

Prescription: 900mg of Essential Character Interactions, taken with Orange Joe.

MAJOR OMORI SPOILERS.

What To Fix

To begin, I loved Omori for a very long time, the game meant a lot to me, and now I am very critical of Omori. I'm certain at some point you'll see a full big massive post about everything I believe could be improved. I love these characters, and I want the best for them, and I don't think they've been given that at all.

But Mari has been done dirtiest. Because of her role in the game, she has been dumbed down to only her most external character traits, the only hint of possible depth being unconfirmed due to Sunny's unreliable narration. Mari is the perfect older sister figure, and she is nothing more than that.

I agree with unreliability as a narrative device (I adore it, actually), but the issue in Omori is that we never see anything more than unreliability for Mari. Instead, the Final Fight and Truth Sequence focus on Sunny's guilt, which means Mari is risen to the status of a martyr; some symbol of perfect and good.

How To Fix

Keeping everything else about Omori the same, ignroing any other faults with the game, there is one possible fix for Mari's lack of character.

Show the Final Fight Dialogue. It is absolutely essential to characterising both Sunny and Mari. By not showing us this, the game can keep both Sunny and Mari as perfect figures, because we don't know what caused Mari's death. Was Sunny being an asshole? Was Mari abusive? Were they in some grey area in-between? We don't know. We can't know.

By showing us the dialogue from the Final Fight, we can understand where each sibling was coming from, and understand more about what they value, especially Mari, who needs that more than any other character.

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the danganronpa series (or whatever games you played)

OOO SOMEONE'S READING MY MIND. I was planning to write this one today.

New Patient: Danganronpa v3's Ending

Diagnosis: Destruction of Worldbuilding Prescription: 100mg of Change The Twist, taken with grape soda.

MAJOR DANGANRONPA SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!

What To Fix:

Okay, it sounds like I'm picking out v3 without criticising the others, and I do want to point out problems with the series. The gameplay leaves little to be desired (although I find a lot of people complain overly about it, not quite considering how old the series is and how plot takes precedence over gameplay), some of the jokes and character designs are embarrassingly out-dated, and the world-building can be unnecessarily convoluted.

However, there's one part of this series that I cannot stand. The twist ending of Danganronpa v3 ruins the worldbuilding that the rest of the series worked so hard to construct, and places blame on the player. I love the dystopic world the series was built around, and the twist endings of the first two games just added more to it (I particularly liked the Danganronpa 2 ending, it was so destructive to the characters and genuinely an interesting change in pace.)

I understand that v3's ending is an exploration of exploitation in media and how the audience contributes to it, and I'm sure the guilt it gives the audience was deliberate, but... it just doesn't hit as hard, and it removes the catastrophic nature of the way society literally crumbled in the Despair Arc. It downplays the other twists!!

How To Fix:

Connect v3 to the Original Story: I don't mind the concept of a Killing Reality Show, Rantaro being a survivor and Tsumugi as a Mastermind, but the game needs to fit into the original story better than it does currently. v3 could take place after the reconstruction of society, or act as a continuation for despair. Choosing to make a meta-narrative instead of adding to the worldbuilding was a mistake.

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What would you prescribe for Mr. Rainer's Solve-It Service? It's a game I've fallen heavily for, but I've seen enough people complain about not having been able to follow the story that I'm a little worried if that's made people see it as less approachable.

Oooo, good ask!

New Patient: Mr Rainer's Solve-It Service

Diagnosis: Overcomplex Lore. Prescription: 200mg of Further Explanation, taken through sound output hole.

SPOILERS FOR MRSIS.

What To Fix:

I think MRSIS is very good at introducing the world and story at the beginning, it is able to accustom you to these different elements of ÜLAR's life (especially with the clickable definitions for things). This is because we're introduced to this universe as ÜLAR is.

It falters later on in the story, when we start to switch perspectives, because these characters (Reverse ÜLAR, AIK, HEINO, etc.) are expected to know everything they need about this world - but we don't.

Fixing this is harder than I expected, because I want to preserve the intention behind this, which is evidently to confuse the player (at least to some extent).

How To Fix:

Spend more time with our ÜLAR: Even spending a bit more time with him gives us more perspective and understanding of the world. We could've taken him to the Echo battles, or learnt more about HEINO from him. I don't mind the changes in perspective, but we need more time with our main boy!

More work!: Working at the Solve-It Service with HEINO more than one/two times would help the player settle into a regular routine. Danganronpa does this well - they give the protagonists time to adjust to a daily life before murders occur. Normalcy is just as important as extraordinary events.

Cohesion: I did enjoy the branching storyline, but new viewers going in blind would find it confusing and possibly tedious. Perhaps an indicator that the storyline branches would be useful, a little story map or something.

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can you fix any marvel movie you dislike

I haven't actually seen a lot of Marvel movies, but I can think of one I could improve (slightly).

New Patient: Spider-Man, No Way Home

Diagnosis: Mild Case of Unemotional Depth. Prescription: 5mg of Character Interaction.

MAJOR SPOILERS.

What To Fix:

Okay, let's start off with this. As someone walking into the film with no real context for the Spider-Man universe, or Marvel movies at all, I enjoyed this film. I really liked that it had a bold resolution (memory erasure) and actually went through with it - I love that shit. It always makes me so happy when an ending is bittersweet in the way this movie's ending was.

However, I was told prior to watching it that the film had a lot of emotional depth, and I just didn't feel that? I guess in comparison to most action films, it would've felt that way to that audience, but I didn't really feel it as much as I would usually.

How To Fix:

Easy. Draw out emotional character interactions. Some of the best parts of the film were the Spider Mans discussing their grief, I think this could've been explored far more. I understand a lot of dialogue can be boring, but I'm certain these guys could write it in an intriguing way.

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😒😒can u fix Dreamscape for me please there's too much fucking fluff😡😒 in it and no angst everyone just keeps kissing and 🫦💋💏making out and it's very ✨gay and 🏳️‍🌈homo and that makes me uncomfortable. 😔👊

New Patient: Dreamscape (Omori AU Fic)

Diagnosis: Unfinished Fanfiction Prescription: 100mg of Stop Teasing Me With Vague Lore Drops In Every New Chapter

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New Patient: Splatoon 3 (particularly, its DLC)

Diagnosis: Absence of Plot Development. Prescription: 500mg of Character Depth, taken without water.

SPOILERS FOR SPLATOON 2 AND 3'S DLCs.

What To Fix:

First, let me be clear. I love Splatoon, I've played all the games. Particularly Splatoon 2. Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion DLC was phenomenal with bringing in challenges for the players AND in-depth worldbuilding for the Deepsea Metro. It was really a masterpiece in game-balancing, genuinely excellent (highly recommended if you've never played it).

Splatoon 3's DLC is... not. It's not much of a challenge, it's very repetitive and doesn't add much to the lore of Agent 8. Despite apparently retrieving their memories, we find out nothing about our protagonist, unlike the Mem Cakes in the Octo Expansion. We hear tidbits about Pearl and Marina, but it's really a vague attempt to lead on from the final splatfest of Splatoon 2. Acht is also fundamentally a plothole - their sanitized appearance and lack of explanation about how they returned to normal is a gap in the story that would be so interesting to explore, considering how essential sanitization was to the Octo Expansion.

This DLC had a lot of opportunities, I really loved the aesthetic they brought in. I want it to improve.

How to Fix:

Focus on fleshing out Agent 8: If the story instead was a glimpse into Agent 8's memories, and had us go through Octarian Training/Society with them, it would be far more interesting and add more to the world. This is my main idea, a flashback to 8's past.

Acht: Change their apperance, or at least provide a good explanation as to where the sanitized Ocatarians and how they were returned to normal. This shouldn't just be off-screen, guys.

Increase gameplay difficulty: You guys made the Octo Expansion. You can go harder than this. Agent 3 and Parallel Canon are so different in difficulty that I'm genuinely disappointed.

Remove or alter repetition: I'm okay with some repetition but not twelve times, and not for nothing. The weapons unlocked weren't much, either. We need more rewarding rewards.

Keep the sick aesthetic, though. I love it.

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Welcome!

This is a silly little gimmick blog where I attempt to fix plots, characters, worldbuilding and others of media that I think could be improved.

Totally open to suggestions for new patients - bear in mind it may be in less depth if I've never engaged with the media in the past!

How It Works

Each media is ranked on a prescription dose in milligrams based on how much improvement I think it needs! I'll explain why I think it needs improvement and what I'd improve. Medical reports are tagged with the #media cured tag.

This blog contains major spoilers for literally everything! I will warn you about spoilers at the top of each post.

I'm critical of a lot of the media I talk about in here, and I would prefer not to be yelled at about it. Anon asks are on, but play nice. Use this as an exercise in open-mindedness.