Doki Doki Literature Club

To my mind, its more important to be unique than original. DDLC, from what I've seen, pulls off the delivery of its plot in a great way. I know Dangan Ronpa doesn't make you have to go into your own computer files to beat the game.

Plus the Visual Novel medium as a whole doesn't get the love it deserves, so if DDLC becomes a Gateway Series for some people then I'm happy with that.

edited 14th Dec '17 6:37:19 PM by Prime32

Technically the ending of Super Dangan Ronpa 2 reveals the game Takes place in a simulation and New Dangan Ronpa V 3 is Set in a reality TV Show where all previous francchise entries are a Show Within a Show for that world.

As said I prefer the Slice of Life first half, but I get why people love the horror stuff, I just kinda feel the premise devalues to some extent the characters that aren't named Monika. That and I'm kind of tired of a lot of Monika's fans taking her stance at face value, even though fictional or not, her friends clearly had free will in trying to fight her off and didn't take her manipulations passively. She's still the villain of the piece.

Speaking of Monika, I made this mashup yesterday and am posting it here because otherwise it'll just be ignored.

Honestly, I think it makes Your Reality sound even sadder.

A small detail I've noticed: Natsuki didn't seem to remember her glitchy argument with Yuri, while Yuri did. And it was implied that Monika was responsible for that. So why did Monika did that? Was she trying to keep Natsuki sane so that she can eat her cupcakes for the last time?

edited 15th Dec '17 10:24:19 AM by HottoKenai

What happens if you fall asleep while "talking" with Monika in Act 3

@darkabomination: I'm interested: would you elaborate on how you feel it devalues the others, please?

For myself, I don't think that it devalues them much more than any story with an active, salient antagonist. The other girls are supporting cast—it's just that the game hides this fact until one reaches the point at which the story takes its turn.

(I do agree regarding the other girls apparently having free will, and fighting back. Indeed, the ending strongly implies that Monika isn't inherently different to them, given that Sayori ends up with the same abilities and awareness after taking over the presidency.)

@Hotto Kenai I suspect that she simply didn't bother with Yuri, as she didn't see the latter as being the problem.

@marston: That's... both cute and a little worrying. ^^;

edited 15th Dec '17 10:35:47 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

After seeing that part again on Youtube, I think Monika was trying to make Yuri feel insecure about how she. in Natsuki words, "worry too much about the little things". Okay?
Due to the ambiguity of the game, there are just so many possible answers. Maybe Monika was experimenting with her power and choose Natsuki as test subject? Maybe Monika was being nicer to Natsuki since she saw Yuri as being the main priority? Maybe that Yuri has some special power due to her Third eye that she's immune to Laser-Guided Amnesia?
As for the other girls not getting enough attention, I think this game might benefit from a Alternate Universe normal mode like Danganronpa.

As you say, there are a number of potential interpretations. Having just seen it again myself, my own is still that she simply saw Natsuke as the one that called for "fixing": while Yuri was contrite, Natsuke had run off in tears. Had the latter not forgotten, and also not forgiven, the argument could have gone on the next day.

In news regarding Let's Plays, Markiplier mentioned in a video that he's been playing and intends to upload a playthrough of the game. That should be interesting, I think. ^_^

edited 16th Dec '17 6:58:35 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

I'm cautiously optimistic about Mark playing this. Games with lots of dialogue boxes don't seem to go along with him well.

Well, I've finished Jack Septiceye's playthrough, and I very much enjoyed it! I really loved his enthusiasm for it, and how invested he became in the characters and story. I particularly enjoyed his brief tangent on game design (but then, I'm a game-dev, so it's little surprise that I'm interested in that).

At the end of this game, I just feel empty. There's no happy ending for anyone.

edited 18th Dec '17 7:23:13 PM by Hobgoblin

There is...

The best ending involved Sayori destroying their world and probably still hating Monika.

If you're being serious, I've read that If you play through the game enough to get all the CG pics then, when Sayori becomes President after Monika is deleted, she won't go insane herself. She'll be able to move past her depression because you put so much work into making every girl happy.

Yep. Just get all the C Gs before Sayori's suicide.

Always save...

That's the ending I was talking about, though.

She doesn't destroy their world, though. What she says is there's nothing left for you to do there, and that the game is over. The point was that she recognized your efforts to try and make everyone happy, and thus is able to move on with her life in the game with everyone else knowing that she and everyone else is cared about.

No world destroying except in the normal and bad endings where Monika destroys everything since you didn't prove to her and Sayori that there is a way to have there be happiness in the literature club- and thus Sayori becomes even more obsessive than Monika or Sayori destroys everything since she didn't have the knowledge of past events (since there are none) to buffer the self realization that everything was a lie (and thus she crashes the game because it was too much for her).

Also, I don't think there's any evidence to suggest Sayori hates Monika? Maybe in the normal ending, but it's likely in the true ending that Sayori saw any efforts to make Monika happy as well (ie. staying in the void with her and continuing to come back) so she's likely included in that.

Really, the only character who's ending is always sad is Monika's. Since she always gets deleted- and she's either proven right that there isn't happiness in the literature club when Sayori tries to do what Monika did or she's proven wrong and doesn't get to spend time with a literature club that's found happiness.

Though Monika doesn't want to be brought back because she viewed you deleting her and trying to restore her as playing with her heart.

That said, Your Reality does take on a different meaning in the true ending for Monika's character to the point that it's a bittersweet ending where she's just trying to do the best for her friends by staying away from them- especially since you don't get the letter from Monika (but rather from Dan Salvato) showing that she's okay with the way things turned out.

But I digress. Point is that there's no world destruction in the true ending, just an ending of your time in the game and also that the ending changes from sad to bittersweet.

edited 20th Dec '17 8:24:08 AM by EpicBleye

I spoiled myself on key details of this game because I'm too scared to play it myself, but I started watching a walkthrough of it yesterday. Sayori's a precious precious girl who deserves big, loving hugs and reassurances that she's truly valuable to her friends, and I wish I could give her a big hug in real life. I haven't seen the suicide scene myself, but just knowing that it exists makes me extremely sad. No other character has ever made me feel like this.

I also hate how the main character is kind of a jerkass toward her.

That doesn't really redeem Monika. As far as I'm concerned her ending is purely self-inflicted. She got to make all the choices, and ironically there's not much the player can do but watch. Also for someone who wanted to make herself as least unlikable as possible, it's very clear she's up to something by the second act, if not earlier.

It's also to be noted that it's hard to take anything Monika says at face value. She insists her friends have no free will, yet their struggles against her control would beg to differ. She's a great Love to Hate and or Hate Sink at least to me, but she crosses too many lines of nonconsent and murder to be sympathetic.

Natsuki and Sayori don't struggle against her influence...

Only Yuri does...mainly because she seems to notice how different her behavior is compared to before.

Natsuki at least figures out something is wrong, though. She has that letter she slips you during poem sharing.

Sayori didn't die immediately though, she tried getting the rope off. And the infamous "get out of my head" bit. And Monika told her about what was going on with the club while she was at home over the internet, and not good things by her reactions.

And she cracks a joke about the hanging the day it happens to Sayori. I can't reconcile deliberate cruelty just because she feels guilty before the end. Her realization to me doesn't feel earned, Monika doesn't have to deal with the consequences.

And even then, Sayori's left to go through similar suffering, so her mental torment's still not over because of Monika's prier selfishness.