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#anyway i need to find a ddlc playthrough to watch now
scarlet-bee · 10 months
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I stayed up till morning last night reading the wiki pages for the DDLC characters, even though I've never played or watched videos of the game. No wonder it was so popular, god damn
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sparrowofsong · 4 years
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For whatever reason, I got super super into the Doki Doki Literature Club AU I thought up last night, so I decided to expand on it. Will I do anything else with it? That’s for the gods to know and me to find out.
Technically inspired by @nachosforfree, who commented “doki doki” when someone mentioned a Sanders Sides dating sim AU.
(TW for blood, suicide, self harm, abuse, manipulation, starvation -- basically just all of the warnings for DDLC.)
Patton is Monika, and the other sides don’t have specific assigned characters. Patton controls them while the game is played, switching them around each time in hopes that, eventually, he’ll find the perfect combination of roles and personalities so that the player will hate them and love him.
The sides are conscious the entire time they're puppeted, even for the off-screen events or “death”, and feel what the characters feel. Whoever acts as Yuri has to watch as he cuts himself, as he stabs himself, as he grows more possessive and insane. Whoever acts as Sayori has to watch himself tie the noose, hang himself, and desperately claw at the rope as he slowly asphyxiates. Whoever acts as Natsuki has to watch himself be abused and starved by his dad, has to watch his neck get snapped, has to watch himself walk into the classroom where he knows he’ll see his friend dead. They have to watch and feel all the random chance body horror.
The only control Patton intentionally grants them (as far as they know) is over the personality, and vaguely the appearance, of the character they play as. The delivery of the lines and actions, the eye color or an accessory (out of specific options), etc.
Unbeknownst to them, though, Patton also purposefully lightens his control during specific parts of the game, just enough to allow some vague dialogue changes, to cover their tracks. Because if those changes happen around the same places, people think that’s just a random chance sort of thing like the other intentional glitches.
Of course, even he can’t consistently control everything at once. He’s powerful, but not omnipotent. Some things can slip through even outside of his intentional gaps. But usually, he manages to catch them in time to act like he does with the programmed glitches. If the attempted rebel does enough to potentially raise suspicion (or if he just feels shitty after being rejected once again) he makes sure they regret it. And more often than not, Patton’s precautions help players disregard the out of place “glitches”.
Even after they hit every single combination, Patton still keeps trying. Again, and again, and again. They know the entire game by heart; every line of dialogue, every poem, every choice-based mini plot line, every randomly generated event. They could act it out perfectly even without being puppeted.
Eventually, after enough repeats and failures and punishments, the other sides just,, give up. They don't bother with personality, they don't bother with trying to speak to the player outside of the script. It gets to the point where Patton has to start controlling those too to avoid players picking up on it. That's how they discover that he was allowing the changes, but at that point, they just don't care.
Enter Thomas: the latest DDLC player. He plays the game blind, gets scared, doesn’t understand every single aspect, yada yada yada. A typical playthrough. Until Yuri’s death.
After Yuri kills himself, Thomas doesn't know how to speed up the scene, trying to click through each individual line. He soon gets discouraged and bored. He spends the next couple days clicking through some more lines on and off, always forgetting/not caring to exit the game in between.
The effects of the game’s events are put on hold when the game is closed, and removed entirely once the character is "deleted”. Otherwise, the sides are continuously existing as the characters in their current state. Which means Remus, this current Yuri, has been living with the pain of three stab wounds for this whole time.
At some point during Thomas mindlessly clicking through the nonsense, one of the lines is actually something legible, and he almost misses it.
“Please... please skip forward. It... hurts.”
And it seems just a little odd? But, y’know, maybe the game just eventually auto-reminds people so they didn’t have to click through everything if they forgot about the skip option.
He gets to the day of the festival, and before Natsuki comes in with his line, Yuri's dialogue box pops back up with "Please keep playing. Just... a few more minutes. Please."
That's a little more weird. But so's the whole game, right?
Natsuki comes in, and says his usual lines. But right before the screaming and vomiting as the script dictates, he pauses, and Thomas swears he sees an expression of pity cross his face. The dialogue box shows a very tiny line reading "Please keep playing. Don't let him sit there anymore." 
It only lasts for a moment before immediately switching to the scripted terror. The transition is so awkward that it doesn't really sit well with Thomas. But it's probably like that to seem more meta. Or it's just bad writing. Right?
Monika's smile when he arrives seems slightly different than before. Almost forced. Thomas can't tell if it was like that before or not, so he takes a screenshot to compare later. He was considering googling it then and there, but after the pleas to hurry, he kinda felt like it'd be rude. Even if it was just a game. 
When Monika "deletes" Natsuki and Yuri, he hears a whispered "Thank you" and freaks out. Literally the only other audible human sounds in the game are breathing, a "baa", and the credits song, and there's a chance he didn't even hear the first two, and he wouldn't have heard the third yet. But,,, It’s a meta horror game. So it's supposed to freak him out. That's the whole point. Right?
(They're able to do all this because after so long of completely giving up, Patton realized he didn't need to waste so much energy on keeping them in line, so he gradually began using less and less. At this point, he's hardly using any more than necessary to have them play the part, and is a little rusty. They took advantage of it this one time out of desperation, and now that they've already started, they're doing as much as they can to get Thomas to listen before Patton takes them down again.)
Monika looks pissed before quickly forcing another smile and continuing his lines. The game goes the same way, Thomas eventually figures out to delete Monika, and Sayori appears to gain sentience. But instead of saying "I wanted to thank you for getting rid of Monika", the dialogue box shows "I wanted to thank you for freeing Yuri", and "Yuri" glitches into "Remus" on and off. 
When Thomas clicks, instead of going to the next line, the previous one glitches into "I wanted to thank you for getting rid of Monika" like it was supposed to be. The rest of the dialogue proceeds normally until Monika returns. 
Sayori's line glitches back and forth from "W-What's happening...?" to "Don't trust him!"
Rather than saying "I won't let you hurt him", Monika says "I won't let you lie to him." 
And instead of "Who..." "I-It hurts...", Sayori's final dialogue is "NO!"
The game continues and ends as programmed. Thomas just kinda goes "...What the fwuh?" before immediately looking up details about the game to see if this is all normal.
Surprise surprise: It isn't. No matter how long he researches, and despite all of Patton's precautions, the conclusion is the same: everything after Yuri's death is completely unique to his playthrough. No one else had those dialogue changes. Monika's smile in the screenshot is, in fact, different from his earlier smiles. There are not supposed to be any audible words besides the ending song. And there is no mention of a "Remus" anywhere.
There is definitely something up here. After he gives up searching for answers, he resolves to play again soon, and tries to commit to memory what's supposed to happen in the meantime.
Up until this point, their common area was a house a good bit away from the setting the events of the game took place in. They had a fair radius around the house to walk around, entertain themselves, etc., and were about as free as they could get while in that area. But, see, uh, Patton’s sorta really fucking pissed now.
Patton restricts the boundaries to just the house for everyone, and locks Logan, Remus, and Deceit (Natsuki, Yuri, and Sayori, respectively) into separate rooms, to make sure they can’t plan something else. He promises that they'll be playing the exact same roles every single time the game gets played, especially to decrease more suspicious changes if Thomas plays again, until he decides otherwise.
He hopes that Thomas will simply uninstall the game so that they'll move onto another player (because that's how I've decided it works don't question the logic). Unfortunately, he does not, and he decides to play again. 
Upon learning this, the three rebels decide that if they're fucked anyway, they may as well take this opportunity to give everything they've got in hopes that they can get Thomas to help them.
Which means Patton has to find some way to balance keeping them under his complete control, keeping Roman and Virgil from finding some way to escape the boundary and help out, and figuring out what to do with the script to undo the suspicion the three caused.
Roll for initiative!
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otomesruinedmylife · 6 years
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#emberplays: doki doki literature club
AKA. Why Doki Doki Literature Club is So Freaking Good The First Time You Play It and It’ll Blow Your Goddamn Mind (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ
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When I first posted this on my other tumblr it was way before any youtuber did a letsplay of it, so I’m gonna have to rewrite parts of it and readdress some things. Thats not at all saying I dislike them, I actually found a majority entertaining. But now everyone pretty much knows what happens in DDLC, the jig is up and we all are #triggered with two infamous words.
So, listen. I know what you’re thinking. Why am I recommending a totally moe looking VN? I’m not moe, I don’t go gaga for animu girls. But I do love me some visual novels, and I love me some meta-level fuckery. Doki Doki Literature Club is a ren’py VN that just (now somewhat) recently came out that looks completely harmless. What could possibly go wrong? And It’s COMPLETELY FREE, yes you heard me, free. So fucking play it (unless it's going to trigger you, in which case pls don’t). And it’s… really interesting.
Spoilers and heavy triggers for DDLC under the cut (I didn’t want to spoil that but I think it's only fair to let you know what you’re clicking on)
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Ĵ̷̙̑ ̴̳̯̘̞̘̺͍̩͔̙̘̗̲͚͊̍͑͋̒̽U̵̡͓͖̰̣̪̫̘̐͜͝ͅ ̶͇̮͎̝̫̩̊͊̊͛͘Ş̸̛̥͓͙̞͕̼͗̽̽́̈́̈́̽́̚̚̚̚ͅ ̶̡̨͍̰̽͋̀͆̊͑̂̅̓͆͠T̴̪̝̼̖͙̲͎͖̘̩̒͆͜ ̴̨̘͈̘̬̱̟͕͖͔͈̞̺̇̆͋̏̀͋̇̉͒͒͝ ̶̧͓̥̻͒̓́̊̈́̔͑̀͆͗͊͜M̴̘͚̀̑̆͒̋͌̈́̕͝ ̷̧̡̞̹͙̖̣̝̖̣̜̙̻͋̅͠͠ͅO̶̢̡͉͓̞̰͔̬̔̊͆̊̄͗̆͝͝ ̷̫̦̱̹̈́N̵̘̺̬̰͍̗͙̾͂̈́͊ ̷̺̲̝̜̦̘̒̈́́̈́͜Ï̷͉̻̖͉̣̥̣͕̟͍̜͍̳̥͎̋͂͑̆̋̇̊͆̆͗͘̚͘͘ ̸̡̧̨̙̻͈̮̻̫̤͖͉̱̟̤͗̈̔͑́̂̚̚͘͝Ķ̷̧̮̼͓̺͓̱̹̩̅̈́͝ͅ ̵̧̥͍͓̬̻̙̀͋͆͜ͅͅA̶̢̲͎͎͕̟̋̇̎́̐̍͛͐̈́͋̕͝͝͝͠ ̵̛̦̺̖̘̝̜͕̮͇̤͔͈͐̓͐͂̀̏̈͒͊̏͋͝͝͠J̴̝̼̫̃̃͌̅̏́̈́̽̒̊̋̏̚͝͝ ̷̡̢͚̬̜̯͍̲̰͎̩̮̤́͋̈́͑͊́͆̈́̀̃͘͝Ų̸̨̼͓̬͉͖̰̜̣̺͔͇̀̔̐̎͒ ̷͇̲̗͎̱͖̮̳̹̜̜̬̦̠̖̈́̒̾͋̽̍̿̌̽̋̏͑́̕̚S̴̢̰͎̯̪̠̗̏̈́͗͒̓̍͊͜͝ͅ ̷̠͑̈́T̷̮̾̂͊̂̎̈́̊͑̍̍͘ ̷̛͖̺͚̬͎̠̥̱̓͐̔͆͂̈͋̕͜ ̶̨͙̣̭̺̬̙͚͖͔̭̰͓̠̇̈́̐̊͘͠͠M̸̮̹̾̎͌̃͠͠ ̸̮̱̗̤̖̼̺̟͍̓O̷̢̡͓̗͇̰͈͕̟̫̓͝ ̸̨̛̛̲̮̞̑̈́̇̀͋̀͐͆́͘͘̚͠Ń̶̖͕̖͉̱̝̃̊̈ͅ ̵̙͇̠̜͔̖̖̯̪͔͊̋Ị̴̮̺̬̈́͗́̀ ̷̯͖̤͙̬̜͈͔̪̮̳͔̄͂͂̂̎͊͗͠͠K̴̹̳͈̰̫̖̠͈͛̔́̐̓̅͋̈́͂̎͘͜ͅ ̷̠͔̗̳̲͕̲̱̪̊͂̅́̚Ḁ̵̡̠͍͔̩̲̦̯̗̔͐͑ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋Ḿ̶̡̼̤̯̥̳̤̰̠͍͍͔̝̯ ̷̢̦̓Ǫ̸̞̳͇̜̮̜̞̉͆͐̍̎͂͗̔͆́ ̴͚̂̍͜͠N̸̨͌̃͌̑͒̄̚̚͝ ̶̢̡̼̩͙͈̬̰̬̙̞̔́̒͌̅̑̓͛͛́ͅI̵̟̗̤̲̹͍͍̖͊́̎͒̃̽̓͒͒͊̕͘ ̴̛̱̿̄̑̈́̇͑̂̎͘͝K̴̝̜̑̏̾̿́̒͗͊ͅ ̸̡͍̠͐̅̒̈͂̓͆̉̚͝Ȃ̷̧͍̗̲͇͇̱̜̊͛̀̎̐͛̌̈͜ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋
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(TRIGGER WARNINGS: SUICIDE, CUTTING, DEPRESSION.)
To really talk about why I enjoy DDLC so much, unfortunately, we need to talk about when this cute moe dating sim turns into a glitchy acid horrorshow. The game starts with you choosing your name and being introduced, and then the game introducing your next door neighbor and close friend Sayori who looks like a bubbly ray of sunshine. She convinces you to join her (*surprise*) literature club at school, and you meet three other girls: Nasuki, Yuri and Monika. They seem like pretty nice girls. Nasuki is the typical young tsundere, Yuri the quiet passionate type, and Monika, who seems, well… pretty normal. You join their club and immediately get wrangled into things and this is when it starts taking a weird turn. Monika breaks the fourth wall. Yuri drops she’s into some weird shit. Nasuki has troubles at home. And Sayori might have a little bit of a crush on you. 
Then you have to write a poem.
UHH GAME, WHAT THE FUCK ARE THE POEM WORD CHOICES????
This process repeats but the game starts forcing you (or at least in my playthrough) into decisions, which in my experience with VNs is a telltale sign of an Oncoming Bad End (see mysme, amnesia, etc.) Monika becomes an ominous figure of knowledge (at first I thought maybe she was a yandere stalker… oh, was I wrong). Yuri goes batshit crazy yandere obsessed with you. Natsuki keeps a somewhat level head, surprisingly enough. 
Sayori though, poor Sayori has it pretty rough. You find out she’s dealing with a surprisingly accurate depiction of MDD (major depressive disorder) at least by cutesy video game standards.
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Shit gets real when the day of the festival when Sayori ends up being missing and Monika heavily lampshades something bad. You race home and the game starts glitching out as you find Sayori has committed suicide. Having seen a fair amount of bad endings in VNs, I was like “wow this is over the top, but ok” and the music gets lowkey terrifying. I was expecting to see the BAD END screen as most otomes go and for the title screen to show up and it does, but YOUR SAVE FILES ARE MISSING. (nice page out of cheritz book y’all, good shit ;) )
This is refered to as ACT 2 of the game and the demarcation line of when we realize we are playing a horror game not an otome. The title screen is glitchy and corrupted over where Sayori was. And then the game starts bugging the fuck out and shit gets real. Shadow selves with darkened text, crazy yandere eyes and Monika handwaving everything away. The poetry gets to a level of insanity that’s unreal as Yuri basically goes cuil theory on your ass at one point.
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Anyway, JUST MONIKA, amirite?
Let’s skip ahead then backtrack. What I think makes this game so great is the level of awareness we must assume Monika has. She’s completely aware she’s in a video game and is forced to watch her friends around her be romance options and fall in love, but she’s been relegated to the role of side character and thinks she has no agency in the story. And this takes a toll on her sanity. She tells you in The Final Room that she started messing with the character data to make you dislike the others, but since it backfired and it only drew you closer to each of the other girls she had to take more drastic measures.
Completely frustrated after all the corruption of their data doesn’t work, she resorts to pushing Sayori’s depression to suicide. Letting Yuri’s cutting finish in a finale of garbled text and stabbing herself to death only to let you stay with her as she rots over the weekend at school. Nasuki gets outright deleted from the game on a whim by Monika, and then she goes so far as to delete everything so it’s just the two of you sitting in a room. The assumption is that it’s a pretty permanent situation. Try turning the game on and off at this point. Yeah.
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Yeah.
Anyway, Monika is without a doubt, one of the best versions of how a yandere knowing the meta of the situation can make a situation horrifying. Think like Yuno Gasai from Mirrai Nikki. If you know the plot and have god-levels of information, you can fuck around mercilessly with the viewer/player. And Monika does. The slow descent into madness the game takes because of her corruption of the game is probably my favorite part. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it changes of the characters, music, and surroundings. And the railroading you into choices giving you such a sense of helplessness as you play. I really felt like I was on a train off the tracks by Act 2 and it was great.
You really think you have choices (at least at the end), but the more and more I think about this and go in for another playthrough I don’t think you ever truly have ANY choices and Monika’s holding all the cards. It begs the question what is Monica supposed to be? A sentient AI? What actually is Doki Doki Literature Club? Some weird form of a reverse turing test once you get to the Monica Room? It’s bizarre and oddly novel in its take on the VN horror genre by stripping you of any power to do anything and sit back terrified as it gets meta on you. No matter what you do the culmination of the game is essentially the same and there’s no real happy end in sight or resolution once you realize that even the game is aware it’s not real. At that point you are finishing it to finish it, to come to an ending. 
And that's simultaneously the best and worst part about it, but man I can’t complain, that was a wild 5 hours of my life....
Ĵ̷̙̑ ̴̳̯̘̞̘̺͍̩͔̙̘̗̲͚͊̍͑͋̒̽U̵̡͓͖̰̣̪̫̘̐͜͝ͅ ̶͇̮͎̝̫̩̊͊̊͛͘Ş̸̛̥͓͙̞͕̼͗̽̽́̈́̈́̽́̚̚̚̚ͅ ̶̡̨͍̰̽͋̀͆̊͑̂̅̓͆͠T̴̪̝̼̖͙̲͎͖̘̩̒͆͜ ̴̨̘͈̘̬̱̟͕͖͔͈̞̺̇̆͋̏̀͋̇̉͒͒͝ ̶̧͓̥̻͒̓́̊̈́̔͑̀͆͗͊͜M̴̘͚̀̑̆͒̋͌̈́̕͝ ̷̧̡̞̹͙̖̣̝̖̣̜̙̻͋̅͠͠ͅO̶̢̡͉͓̞̰͔̬̔̊͆̊̄͗̆͝͝ ̷̫̦̱̹̈́N̵̘̺̬̰͍̗͙̾͂̈́͊ ̷̺̲̝̜̦̘̒̈́́̈́͜Ï̷͉̻̖͉̣̥̣͕̟͍̜͍̳̥͎̋͂͑̆̋̇̊͆̆͗͘̚͘͘ ̸̡̧̨̙̻͈̮̻̫̤͖͉̱̟̤͗̈̔͑́̂̚̚͘͝Ķ̷̧̮̼͓̺͓̱̹̩̅̈́͝ͅ ̵̧̥͍͓̬̻̙̀͋͆͜ͅͅA̶̢̲͎͎͕̟̋̇̎́̐̍͛͐̈́͋̕͝͝͝͠ ̵̛̦̺̖̘̝̜͕̮͇̤͔͈͐̓͐͂̀̏̈͒͊̏͋͝͝͠J̴̝̼̫̃̃͌̅̏́̈́̽̒̊̋̏̚͝͝ ̷̡̢͚̬̜̯͍̲̰͎̩̮̤́͋̈́͑͊́͆̈́̀̃͘͝Ų̸̨̼͓̬͉͖̰̜̣̺͔͇̀̔̐̎͒ ̷͇̲̗͎̱͖̮̳̹̜̜̬̦̠̖̈́̒̾͋̽̍̿̌̽̋̏͑́̕̚S̴̢̰͎̯̪̠̗̏̈́͗͒̓̍͊͜͝ͅ ̷̠͑̈́T̷̮̾̂͊̂̎̈́̊͑̍̍͘ ̷̛͖̺͚̬͎̠̥̱̓͐̔͆͂̈͋̕͜ ̶̨͙̣̭̺̬̙͚͖͔̭̰͓̠̇̈́̐̊͘͠͠M̸̮̹̾̎͌̃͠͠ ̸̮̱̗̤̖̼̺̟͍̓O̷̢̡͓̗͇̰͈͕̟̫̓͝ ̸̨̛̛̲̮̞̑̈́̇̀͋̀͐͆́͘͘̚͠Ń̶̖͕̖͉̱̝̃̊̈ͅ ̵̙͇̠̜͔̖̖̯̪͔͊̋Ị̴̮̺̬̈́͗́̀ ̷̯͖̤͙̬̜͈͔̪̮̳͔̄͂͂̂̎͊͗͠͠K̴̹̳͈̰̫̖̠͈͛̔́̐̓̅͋̈́͂̎͘͜ͅ ̷̠͔̗̳̲͕̲̱̪̊͂̅́̚Ḁ̵̡̠͍͔̩̲̦̯̗̔͐͑ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋Ḿ̶̡̼̤̯̥̳̤̰̠͍͍͔̝̯ ̷̢̦̓Ǫ̸̞̳͇̜̮̜̞̉͆͐̍̎͂͗̔͆́ ̴͚̂̍͜͠N̸̨͌̃͌̑͒̄̚̚͝ ̶̢̡̼̩͙͈̬̰̬̙̞̔́̒͌̅̑̓͛͛́ͅI̵̟̗̤̲̹͍͍̖͊́̎͒̃̽̓͒͒͊̕͘ ̴̛̱̿̄̑̈́̇͑̂̎͘͝K̴̝̜̑̏̾̿́̒͗͊ͅ ̸̡͍̠͐̅̒̈͂̓͆̉̚͝Ȃ̷̧͍̗̲͇͇̱̜̊͛̀̎̐͛̌̈͜ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋
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Oh, by the way, hope you’re familiar with deleting files out of your game library, because Monika isn’t going anywhere until you do... still she has like tons of unique conversation if you wanna stay and chat for a while.
I did enjoy her anguish when I got rid of her even though I ended up really liking her later. I’m excited to see what happens because she’s rumored to be the protagonist in the next team salvato game. Yeah.
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My only complaint of this game is once you know the premise it really doens’t hold replayability value, quite the same as anything from the horror genre is never really as scary as the first time around. It does what it does so well its not the same and is basically only worth playing again to fuck with your unassuming friends.
Which I, of course, did.
What did you guys think of DDLC? Was it over the top? Did you know what was going to happen? Or have it spoiled? Have you tried deleting other character files and playing the game or decoded any of the secret info files? 
Send your thoughts to my inbox and stay tuned for the next time #emberplays otomes!
NEXT TIME: #Emberplays: Keisuke Sanan (Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds)  LAST TIME:  #Emberplays: Toma Time (Amnesia: Memories)
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emberashcosplay · 7 years
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#emberplays otomes: Doki Doki Literature Club
AKA. Why Doki Doki Literature Club is So Freaking Good The First Time You Play It and It’ll Blow Your Goddamn Mind (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ
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Okay, listen. I know what you’re thinking. Why am I recommending a totally moe looking VN? I’m not moe, I don’t go gaga for animu girls. But I do love me some visual novels, and I love me some meta-level fuckery. Doki Doki Literature Club is a ren’py VN that just recently came out that looks completely harmless. What could possibly go wrong? And It’s COMPLETELY FREE, yes you heard me, free. So fucking play it (unless it's going to trigger you, in which case pls don’t). And it’s… really interesting.
Spoilers and heavy triggers for DDLC under the cut (I didn’t want to spoil that but I think it's only fair to let you know what you’re clicking on).
Ĵ̷̙̑ ̴̳̯̘̞̘̺͍̩͔̙̘̗̲͚͊̍͑͋̒̽U̵̡͓͖̰̣̪̫̘̐͜͝ͅ ̶͇̮͎̝̫̩̊͊̊͛͘Ş̸̛̥͓͙̞͕̼͗̽̽́̈́̈́̽́̚̚̚̚ͅ ̶̡̨͍̰̽͋̀͆̊͑̂̅̓͆͠T̴̪̝̼̖͙̲͎͖̘̩̒͆͜ ̴̨̘͈̘̬̱̟͕͖͔͈̞̺̇̆͋̏̀͋̇̉͒͒͝ ̶̧͓̥̻͒̓́̊̈́̔͑̀͆͗͊͜M̴̘͚̀̑̆͒̋͌̈́̕͝ ̷̧̡̞̹͙̖̣̝̖̣̜̙̻͋̅͠͠ͅO̶̢̡͉͓̞̰͔̬̔̊͆̊̄͗̆͝͝ ̷̫̦̱̹̈́N̵̘̺̬̰͍̗͙̾͂̈́͊ ̷̺̲̝̜̦̘̒̈́́̈́͜Ï̷͉̻̖͉̣̥̣͕̟͍̜͍̳̥͎̋͂͑̆̋̇̊͆̆͗͘̚͘͘ ̸̡̧̨̙̻͈̮̻̫̤͖͉̱̟̤͗̈̔͑́̂̚̚͘͝Ķ̷̧̮̼͓̺͓̱̹̩̅̈́͝ͅ ̵̧̥͍͓̬̻̙̀͋͆͜ͅͅA̶̢̲͎͎͕̟̋̇̎́̐̍͛͐̈́͋̕͝͝͝͠ ̵̛̦̺̖̘̝̜͕̮͇̤͔͈͐̓͐͂̀̏̈͒͊̏͋͝͝͠J̴̝̼̫̃̃͌̅̏́̈́̽̒̊̋̏̚͝͝ ̷̡̢͚̬̜̯͍̲̰͎̩̮̤́͋̈́͑͊́͆̈́̀̃͘͝Ų̸̨̼͓̬͉͖̰̜̣̺͔͇̀̔̐̎͒ ̷͇̲̗͎̱͖̮̳̹̜̜̬̦̠̖̈́̒̾͋̽̍̿̌̽̋̏͑́̕̚S̴̢̰͎̯̪̠̗̏̈́͗͒̓̍͊͜͝ͅ ̷̠͑̈́T̷̮̾̂͊̂̎̈́̊͑̍̍͘ ̷̛͖̺͚̬͎̠̥̱̓͐̔͆͂̈͋̕͜ ̶̨͙̣̭̺̬̙͚͖͔̭̰͓̠̇̈́̐̊͘͠͠M̸̮̹̾̎͌̃͠͠ ̸̮̱̗̤̖̼̺̟͍̓O̷̢̡͓̗͇̰͈͕̟̫̓͝ ̸̨̛̛̲̮̞̑̈́̇̀͋̀͐͆́͘͘̚͠Ń̶̖͕̖͉̱̝̃̊̈ͅ ̵̙͇̠̜͔̖̖̯̪͔͊̋Ị̴̮̺̬̈́͗́̀ ̷̯͖̤͙̬̜͈͔̪̮̳͔̄͂͂̂̎͊͗͠͠K̴̹̳͈̰̫̖̠͈͛̔́̐̓̅͋̈́͂̎͘͜ͅ ̷̠͔̗̳̲͕̲̱̪̊͂̅́̚Ḁ̵̡̠͍͔̩̲̦̯̗̔͐͑ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋Ḿ̶̡̼̤̯̥̳̤̰̠͍͍͔̝̯ ̷̢̦̓Ǫ̸̞̳͇̜̮̜̞̉͆͐̍̎͂͗̔͆́ ̴͚̂̍͜͠N̸̨͌̃͌̑͒̄̚̚͝ ̶̢̡̼̩͙͈̬̰̬̙̞̔́̒͌̅̑̓͛͛́ͅI̵̟̗̤̲̹͍͍̖͊́̎͒̃̽̓͒͒͊̕͘ ̴̛̱̿̄̑̈́̇͑̂̎͘͝K̴̝̜̑̏̾̿́̒͗͊ͅ ̸̡͍̠͐̅̒̈͂̓͆̉̚͝Ȃ̷̧͍̗̲͇͇̱̜̊͛̀̎̐͛̌̈͜ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋
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(TRIGGER WARNINGS: SUICIDE, CUTTING, DEPRESSION.)
To really talk about why I enjoy DDLC so much, unfortunately we need to talk about when this cute moe dating sim turns into a glitchy acid horrorshow. The game starts with you choosing your name and being introduced, and then the game introducing your next door neighbor and close friend Sayori who looks like a bubbly ray of sunshine. She convinces you to join her (*surprise*) literature club at school, and you meet three other girls: Nasuki, Yuri and Monika. They seem like pretty nice girls. Nasuki is the typical young tsundere, Yuri the quiet passionate type, and Monika, who seems, well… pretty normal. You join their club and immediately get wrangled into things and this is when it starts taking a weird turn. Monika breaks the fourth wall. Yuri drops she’s into some weird shit. Nasuki has troubles at home. And Sayori might have a little bit of a crush on you. Then you have to write a poem.
UHH GAME, WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE WORD CHOICES????
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This process repeats but the game starts forcing you (or at least in my playthrough) into decisions, which in my experience with VNs is a telltale sign of a Oncoming Bad End. Monika becomes an ominous figure of knowledge (at first I thought maybe she was a yandere stalker… oh, was I wrong). Yuri goes batshit crazy yandere obsessed with you. Natsuki keeps a somewhat level head, surprisingly enough. Sayori though, poor Sayori has it pretty rough. You find out she’s dealing with a surprisingly accurate depiction of MDD (major depressive disorder) at least by cutesy video game standards.
Shit gets real when the day of the festival when Sayori ends up being missing and Monika heavily lampshades something bad. You race home and the game starts glitching out as you find Sayori has committed suicide. Having seen a fair amount of bad endings in VNs, I was like “wow this is over the top, but ok.” and expected the title screen to show up and it does, but YOUR SAVE IS MISSING.
The title screen is glitchy and corrupted over where Sayori was. And then the game starts bugging the fuck out and shit gets real. Shadow selves with darkened text, crazy yandere eyes and Monika hand waving everything away. The poetry gets to a level of insanity that’s unreal as Yuri basically goes cuil theory on your ass at one point.
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Anyway, JUST MONIKA, amirite?
Let’s skip ahead then backtrack. What I think makes this game so great is the level of awareness we must assume Monika has. She’s completely aware she’s in a videogame and is forced to watch her friends around her be romance options and fall in love, but she’s been relegated to the role of side character and thinks she has no agency in the story. And this takes a toll on her sanity. She tells you in the The Final Room that she started messing with the character data to make you dislike the others, but since it backfired and it only drew you closer to each of the other girls she had to take more drastic measures.
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Completely frustrated after all the corruption of their data doesn’t work, she resorts to pushing Sayori’s depression to suicide. Letting Yuri’s cutting finish in a finale of garbled text and stabbing herself to death only to let you stay with her as she rots over the weekend at school. Nasuki gets outright deleted from the game on a whim by Monika, and then she goes so far as to delete everything so it’s just the two of you sitting in a room. The assumption is that it’s a pretty permanent situation. Try turning the game on and off at this point. Yeah.
Yeah.
Betcha feel like you can make choices now, fucko.
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Anyway, Monika is without a doubt, one of the best versions of how a yandere knowing the meta of the situation can make a situation horrifying. Think like Yuno Gasai from Mirrai Nikki. If you know the plot and have god-levels of information, you can fuck around mercilessly with the viewer/player. And Monika does. The slow decent into madness the game takes because of her corruption of the game is probably my favorite part. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it changes of the characters, music and surroundings. And the railroading you into choices giving you such a sense of helplessness as you play.
You really think you have choices (at least at the end), but the more and more I think about this and go in for another playthrough I don’t think you ever truly have choices and Monika’s holding all the cards. Just Monika. JUST MONIKA.
Ĵ̷̙̑ ̴̳̯̘̞̘̺͍̩͔̙̘̗̲͚͊̍͑͋̒̽U̵̡͓͖̰̣̪̫̘̐͜͝ͅ ̶͇̮͎̝̫̩̊͊̊͛͘Ş̸̛̥͓͙̞͕̼͗̽̽́̈́̈́̽́̚̚̚̚ͅ ̶̡̨͍̰̽͋̀͆̊͑̂̅̓͆͠T̴̪̝̼̖͙̲͎͖̘̩̒͆͜ ̴̨̘͈̘̬̱̟͕͖͔͈̞̺̇̆͋̏̀͋̇̉͒͒͝ ̶̧͓̥̻͒̓́̊̈́̔͑̀͆͗͊͜M̴̘͚̀̑̆͒̋͌̈́̕͝ ̷̧̡̞̹͙̖̣̝̖̣̜̙̻͋̅͠͠ͅO̶̢̡͉͓̞̰͔̬̔̊͆̊̄͗̆͝͝ ̷̫̦̱̹̈́N̵̘̺̬̰͍̗͙̾͂̈́͊ ̷̺̲̝̜̦̘̒̈́́̈́͜Ï̷͉̻̖͉̣̥̣͕̟͍̜͍̳̥͎̋͂͑̆̋̇̊͆̆͗͘̚͘͘ ̸̡̧̨̙̻͈̮̻̫̤͖͉̱̟̤͗̈̔͑́̂̚̚͘͝Ķ̷̧̮̼͓̺͓̱̹̩̅̈́͝ͅ ̵̧̥͍͓̬̻̙̀͋͆͜ͅͅA̶̢̲͎͎͕̟̋̇̎́̐̍͛͐̈́͋̕͝͝͝͠ ̵̛̦̺̖̘̝̜͕̮͇̤͔͈͐̓͐͂̀̏̈͒͊̏͋͝͝͠J̴̝̼̫̃̃͌̅̏́̈́̽̒̊̋̏̚͝͝ ̷̡̢͚̬̜̯͍̲̰͎̩̮̤́͋̈́͑͊́͆̈́̀̃͘͝Ų̸̨̼͓̬͉͖̰̜̣̺͔͇̀̔̐̎͒ ̷͇̲̗͎̱͖̮̳̹̜̜̬̦̠̖̈́̒̾͋̽̍̿̌̽̋̏͑́̕̚S̴̢̰͎̯̪̠̗̏̈́͗͒̓̍͊͜͝ͅ ̷̠͑̈́T̷̮̾̂͊̂̎̈́̊͑̍̍͘ ̷̛͖̺͚̬͎̠̥̱̓͐̔͆͂̈͋̕͜ ̶̨͙̣̭̺̬̙͚͖͔̭̰͓̠̇̈́̐̊͘͠͠M̸̮̹̾̎͌̃͠͠ ̸̮̱̗̤̖̼̺̟͍̓O̷̢̡͓̗͇̰͈͕̟̫̓͝ ̸̨̛̛̲̮̞̑̈́̇̀͋̀͐͆́͘͘̚͠Ń̶̖͕̖͉̱̝̃̊̈ͅ ̵̙͇̠̜͔̖̖̯̪͔͊̋Ị̴̮̺̬̈́͗́̀ ̷̯͖̤͙̬̜͈͔̪̮̳͔̄͂͂̂̎͊͗͠͠K̴̹̳͈̰̫̖̠͈͛̔́̐̓̅͋̈́͂̎͘͜ͅ ̷̠͔̗̳̲͕̲̱̪̊͂̅́̚Ḁ̵̡̠͍͔̩̲̦̯̗̔͐͑ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋Ḿ̶̡̼̤̯̥̳̤̰̠͍͍͔̝̯ ̷̢̦̓Ǫ̸̞̳͇̜̮̜̞̉͆͐̍̎͂͗̔͆́ ̴͚̂̍͜͠N̸̨͌̃͌̑͒̄̚̚͝ ̶̢̡̼̩͙͈̬̰̬̙̞̔́̒͌̅̑̓͛͛́ͅI̵̟̗̤̲̹͍͍̖͊́̎͒̃̽̓͒͒͊̕͘ ̴̛̱̿̄̑̈́̇͑̂̎͘͝K̴̝̜̑̏̾̿́̒͗͊ͅ ̸̡͍̠͐̅̒̈͂̓͆̉̚͝Ȃ̷̧͍̗̲͇͇̱̜̊͛̀̎̐͛̌̈͜ ̴̡̡͎͔̳̻̣̞͎͚̠̀͑̍̃̌̂́̊̒͐̓̚͝ͅͅJ̶̠͑̀́̑̔́̋̉̉̋̀̚͘͠ ̵͙̖̘͓͔̄͗͌̍̉̅̈̾́͘Ų̶̹̂͘͜ ̵̹̗̠͙͉̪̜̜̦̏̅Ṡ̸͖̤͚̣͕͔͙͖̯̞̬̪͇̌̀̋͑̇̂̔͝ ̵̢̛̖͉̟̹̩̇͐̐̽͆̑̊̓̂̏̾̚T̸̲͙̼͉̓̒ ̴̢̛̛̛̠̑̒̀͛̽͑̀̍͒͌͘͜ ̵̧̗̩̲̈́̏̐̅͆̽̋
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Oh by the way, hope you’re familiar with deleting files out of your game library, because Monika isn’t going anywhere until you do.
But man, did I enjoy her anguish when I got rid of her.
What did you guys think of DDLC? Was it over the top? Did you know what was going to happen? Or have it spoiled? Have you tried deleting other character files and playing the game or decoded any of the secret info files? 
Send your thoughts to my inbox and stay tuned for the next time #emberplays otomes!
NEXT TIME: OZMAFIA! IS GREAT BUT YOU’LL NEVER FIND OUT WHY LAST TIME:  KEISUKE SANAN (HAKUOKI: KYOTO WINDS)
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