In a few Discord servers, I've stated, usually in very chide one-off statements, that this game sucks. I've never actually spent time elaborating why it sucks, and I realize that just saying it does doesn't really help any conversation whatsoever, or really have anything new to put forth.

Because, to be honest, to say this game is all bad is missing the mark just as much as saying “anime is for weebs”... which is largely true but still missing some information that could point a different direction..

So what is DDLC? It’s a very, very short VN that lampshades what happens in most VNs, where you meet a handful of characters and deal/handle their personal issues, except without a lot to say about it. It uses its runtime to poke fun at the laughable traits of the worst of VNs while then proceeding to put some valid criticism of unconditional attachment, while peppering its runtime with enough shock value to make streamers freak the fuck out and thus become a touchstone of Twitch culture with its reaction and memes such as “just Monika”. I highly doubt that all of that was intentional, but the impact can’t be disregarded, because it did become a part of online video game culture as a whole… for better or for worse.

There is something I need to outline. While I agree usually that a game should not be based on its toxic fanbase, DDLC is so big that it’s tough to ignore. It is extremely hard to detach the community and fanbase as a whole from the game. We can agree to disagree from there.

Let’s be clear, the shock value fucking works for one key moment. I am a wimp and autistic and find very emotional attachment to video games that is borderline unhealthy, and thus the very infamous first shock rolled me over like a lawnmower and I still have nightmares thinking about it. If there’s one thing to give credit to DDLC, it is that it’s very unpredictable, although at the expense of pacing or having a good kind of shock value past the first moment.

Everything else is very standard and frustrating to go through, particularly a moment where you have to “auto-skip” for a moment that abuses its time to the fullest extent. I don’t care if it’s not supposed to be fun, it’s nauseating. It doesn’t have anything to gain for its inclusion OTHER than shocking the player and to hammer harder how messed up Monika is, which would have benefitted from a tighter pace. Subversion, especially when it’s creatively done like DDLC, is fine, but its pace and execution despite its concept hampers this to an extreme.

DDLC’s good, however, comes in two things: a general and well done understanding of depression and the pain it causes through its first introductory character arc, and the danger and toxicity of parasocial relationships represented via Monika’s rampant fascination with the player. The latter unfortunately…. is not even knee deep. It does not deconstruct how it comes to exist but rather comments on its existence, which is fine but doesn’t leave a lot to take away.

So what anecdotal interactions poison the game for me? It is that it has massively poisoned talking about VNs and the Western reaction to VNs as a whole. The game is definitely pointing at a very particular subgenre of VNs, but its popularity has created a vacuum of using the game as a point to how “all VNs are bad” and how ridiculous the genre is. Yes, people can sometimes be dumb and stupid, as can I, but I’ve seen it happen EVERYWHERE.

I’m not an expert on VNs (in fact I’ve only started recently to delve into the genre with games like Umineko, The Silver Case, and Nekojishi), but it’s insane how much DDLC has colored VN’s image that the games themselves have been not at all what’s expected. I don’t even… know of any game DDLC is really pointing out here. In the end, it feels like it has a blanket “VNs bad” side to its conversation around the medium where the tropes it is subverting in its runtime a mainstay more for anime as a whole rather than VN dating sims instead. Am I missing something? Maybe I need to play more VNs.

Trust me, it’s not that there aren't bad VNs. I can go to fucking TOWN on Nekojishi for its disgusting moments with its true ending and in the end having zero to take away from other than… the tiger guys are adorable.

The biggest struggle comes from where, when I enjoy a VN (or when other big friends of mine do), it’s tough to recommend, because the image that DDLC has created in popular culture casts a big enough web to catch SUVs. There are other barriers to entry such as price and it not being as “video game” as other genres, but this to me has been the biggest barrier now.

My hope is to understand where I come from now when I say “Fuck DDLC”. It’s partly the game but way more because of the culture that surrounds it.

At least it’s free.

It's a pretty awful port. There's a fight in which there's a neutral monster character, and for some reason, after completing the game once on any save file it replaces his main weapon with a gun. Actually, it replaces his entire gear set with Plenair's. Not sure why this happens. As a monster character, when he tries to use the gun, the game crashes. You can get around this by having one of your character's lifting him every turn. This is probably the most egregious issue with the game, but there are a lot more. You're probably better off playing it on PS2.

For a Disgaea game, it has a decent story. You really should be able to skip cutscenes, considering that there's no "post-game" state and you immediately replay the game upon getting an ending.

It's lacking in post-game content compared to later Disgaea games, but getting to the post game is nice and easy due to easily accessible good grinding stages (CoO3 and Demonhall Mirror are both a 3x3 grid) and the ease of obtaining statisticians (I HATE FELONIES I HATE FELONIES). It's probably the best experience you'll have with a Disgaea game (out of the ones on PC) other than maybe 5.

I wrote this with people who have already played another Disgaea title in mind. So I didn't go over the game itself much. If you're here, you probably already know about the core gameplay loop of disgaea. The lack of a cheat shop really hurts it (especially because you have to pass enemy bills), but other than that I have no real complaints.

Thorny, vantablack comedy, dripping with its own caustic bitterness. Successfully defines the difference between the pain of intentionally pressing your thumb against a sharp edge and someone else doing it. However, some incredibly clear moments bleed through the cacophony and will probably stick around in my mind for some time. Even a single character like Anri herself will probably cause me to collapse at some point in the near future - looking forward to that.

It might not yours, but Hello Charlotte 0/3 evades my rating scale. It's the messiest shit I've played... ever? To confine it to one conclusion would do a disservice to it, but most importantly to me. I need time with this.

edit: time's up, 5 stars.

pretty fucking slow all things considered

thing is theres only one real stage worth checking out here and its the first one. after that you either get some bullshit like labyrinth zone or some nice but ultimately not standout stages like spring yard zone

and then you get some just totally audacious shit like scrap brain zone act 3 which i refuse to believe is a level that humans made jesus christ (the rest of the zone tho is, again, nice and fine but not particularly standout)

i can sorta (?) why it kicked off sonic so successfully into where he is today but i just dont get anything out of it like 2, 3, or hell, even cd. fine game for its time but not worth playing today when you have 2 and 3 right there for you.

tl;dr: just play green hill zone and go on with your day

sonic the midgehog

Forget Omori, forget To the Moon, forget OneShot, forget Lisa: The Painful or Yume Nikki.

This. THIS is the TRUE masterpiece of RPG Maker games.

You can fight Shell Dan of the "Huge Boom Hypnosis" and tell him "Your show sucks!" to which he will respond...

Zucchini.

For real though. This game is far from amazing. The OST is very avant-garde to say the least and art style is just as "unique" plus the gameplay is very bare-bones and there's a ridiculous amount of typos, but all in all I still enjoyed it due to all the comedic pop culture references and story which takes the piss out of capitalism and corporations in a very humorous way.

Would recommend if you want a short comedic game you can finish in about 4-5 hours.

Oh and you can use a skill called "Pay to win" and just give your enemies money to lose.

After all. It's just business.

🎵drugs drugs🎵 AYO TURN THAT SHIT UP CHARLES” And I am still wondering who is Charles????

In the world there are 7.4 billion people, but also in the United States there are 2.4 million people named Charles. So now that we’ve narrowed it down lets look at Orlando, Florida where Dream lives. Out of the 2.4 million Charles’ there are only 700 living in Orlando Florida and out of those 700 there realistically could only be 7 people he could be talking about because there are around 100 regions where Dream could be in that another Charles could be in and out of those 7 people the average white male (Dream) in this case only interacts with in a day is 4 so there could only be about 2 Charles he is talking about and the average human usually knows 3 Charles in there lifetime which leads us into this endless math loop so chances are he saw a Charles at some point whilst outside (unless hes scared to go outside haven’t seen the light in ages) then his brain remembered the name and when going to think of someone to use whilst tweeting he said Charles From the True Realm.

(8-year-old's review, typed by his dad)

I wish this could go up to TEN stars

It's VERY fun, and you get to explore and build, kill enemies and gain xp so you can enchant your weapons with loads of different enchants and there's a bunch of mobs and different dimensions, and even the Warden which is a different boss and the ally which is pretty cool that it can hold up items and give them to you in that world and the Deep Dark Biome which is SPOOKY, and Chest Boats which is a boat with a chest inside it and it is very fun and there are thousands of blocks and millions of items and tons of crafting recipes and even unobtainable items like the Debug Stick or the invisible item frame and also Hardcore Mode! If you die then you lost the world forever. Game Over! And the only thing that you can do about that world is spectate it, so that means you can like watch it.

And overall, I think Minecraft is a very good game.

(8-year-old's review, typed by his dad)

WADDLE DEES ARE CUTE!!

WADDLE YOUR DEES AND DEE YOUR WADDLES!!!