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maou shoujo
Apr 12, 2014

ニンゲンの表裏一体

ToxicFrog posted:

Dungeons of Dredmor had a "Suddenly, the dungeon collapses!" achievement for crashing the game. Early builds of Dredmor were unstable enough that I suspect most players have it, though.

The La-Mulana remake has achievements called "This is La-Mulana" for dying to certain instakill traps. I'm between 1/2 or 2/3 of the way through the game and have gotten all three of them available so far. :downs:

maou shoujo has a new favorite as of 22:50 on Nov 5, 2017

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MisterBibs
Jul 17, 2010

dolla dolla
bill y'all
Fun Shoe
I wouldn't be surprised if this is a repeat from me, but it came to me today:

Black & White 2 has you fighting a God of Death, whose main troops are skeletons (iirc). At the end of the game, there's cheeriness abound as everything was cleaned up. But then, gasp, a skeleton crawls out of the ground with a familiar, evil laugh. Cut to credits.

But if you wait for the credits to finish, we cut back to said familiar, evil laughing skeleton. Boom, one of your archers (or maybe your God Finger) snuffs it out. Nope, God of Dead is dead, no worries.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

thecluckmeme posted:

Jesus Christ the shoe drop in DDLC.

For real y'all, if you can stomach playing through about an hour and a half of a pseudo-typical VN game, it goes real Yoko Taro real quick.

We told you so :unsmigghh:.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

Neddy Seagoon posted:

We told you so :unsmigghh:.

I hit the actual ending, and I think I should retract my recommendation outright, and give it some nuance.

It's a great deconstruction of the format, and it plays off of your expectations for both the media and the characters included within it, but I don't think anybody should play it without an already confrontational and/or love for the VN style of games. Anybody who doesn't give a gently caress about VNs will walk away like they were just treated to a meh haunted house.

Recommend this to your friends who either hate VNs, or enjoy playing them, but don't spring this on anybody who doesn't care. The commentary doesn't really have teeth if your exposure is lukewarm.

I think it has a lot of faults, but I like what it does to surprise you. I like that it doesn't pull its punches. It just includes a lot of tropes which you have to be familiar with in order to really understand how this game bites back.

BIG spoilers: Mainly that this game is designed to negate the player decision of Who To Bone Down With in a VN, and instead sets the game up in such a way that you are prey, not predator. This is meant to be a slap in the face of the people who play VNs for the cheesecake and endings, or people who don't like these games because it's all about the cheesecake and endings. There IS no ending but Monika. Monika is here to take you, whether you like it or not, the well-being of the rest of the people be damned, as she has their endings play out more accurately for a person with those issues than what is apparent in the stupid tropes in VNs. She will happily let everybody kill themselves over their love for you, than let them actually be in love with you, because she has already picked her character path. And yours. It's her.

Basically, if you love VNs, or you think they're trash for how they present characters, it's good. If you don't give a poo poo about anime and aren't familiar with how awful a lot of their games are, this will just sorta roll off you.

But, and I mean this, if you hate VNs and their representation of character flaws as fixable things, I would actually recommend this.

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.

thecluckmeme posted:

Recommend this to your friends who either hate VNs, or enjoy playing them, but don't spring this on anybody who doesn't care. The commentary doesn't really have teeth if your exposure is lukewarm.

I think it has a lot of faults, but I like what it does to surprise you. I like that it doesn't pull its punches. It just includes a lot of tropes which you have to be familiar with in order to really understand how this game bites back.

Hard disagree with this; I don't like or care about VNs at all and about the only other one I've played was a couple Phoenix Wright games, and DDLC was still extremely good and effective.

Also I think there are other ways to appreciate Monika as the antagonist than the way you described it. But basically the middle third of the game is such a wild ride and it doesn't require exposure to VN to get hit by it.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

I'm also going to post a disclaimer about DDLC that I think is important for people who deal with depression, anxiety, and obsessivity based off those diagnoses, and people who have/have had partners with these illnesses, who may be interested in the game but just want a blanket spoiler/tw on how the game operates. This is also a Shoe Drop spoiler, so do not read if you're mildly curious but these things aren't going to trigger any kind of panic or trauma: CW: Sui ||| The game deals with realistic, extreme outcomes of these illnesses. The depressed character is not fixable when in a complete downward spiral, the obsessive anxious character wildly overreacts to rejections from her advances. I personally have been in a situation on both sides of the coin, being a person who suffers from both anxiety and depression with occasional suicidal ideation as well as experience with partners in these situations, and I came out the other side feeling both horrified at the suicidal events, but also somewhat respecting the portrayal of the characters dealing with the extremes of their mental illnesses. It is relatable, and it's obvious that the author knows how to portray the very specific things that matter most for a person going through the extremes of depression and anxiety.

If you're a person who sees the disclaimer from DDLC and wants some clarification on the poo poo you're getting into, that's the poo poo you're getting into.

Who What Now
Sep 10, 2006

by Azathoth
Someone LP the drat thing already.

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.
Just play the fuckin game yourself, it's about as interactive and takes less than three hours. And it's free.

And you won't have some idiot squawking every time something startling happens.

RyokoTK has a new favorite as of 01:23 on Nov 6, 2017

Somfin
Oct 25, 2010

In my🦚 experience🛠️ the big things🌑 don't teach you anything🤷‍♀️.

Nap Ghost

Who What Now posted:

Someone LP the drat thing already.

It's a fuckin' free game that takes a couple hours to complete and would be an utter nightmare to do the recording for. Just play it.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

It's also free, and an LP will take about as much time to finish the major beats as you just playing it. If the content warnings don't bother you and you just want to see the game happen, just play it. If you skip the text it lessens the game, and if you don't care about anything but the scares then you can go youtube search DDLC Best Moments.

Your only contribution is just tapping the space bar, really.

SkeletonHero
Sep 7, 2010

Skeleton War 2020

Who What Now posted:

Someone LP the drat thing already.

Supergreatfriend is putting up a blind run this month.

But I'll echo other statements that it's best experienced firsthand. It won't cost you anything but time.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

I read slowly and i read everything and took several breaks to smoke when things got even weirder, and my total playtime is like 3 1/2 hours, for anybody wondering how it goes.

You can reach the actual credits in less than 3 hours, and about an hour and a half is the first act. Act 2 is about 45 minutes to an hour, and act 3 is maybe 30 minutes tops depending on how long you let a character keep talking.

Who What Now
Sep 10, 2006

by Azathoth

Somfin posted:

It's a fuckin' free game that takes a couple hours to complete and would be an utter nightmare to do the recording for. Just play it.

I meant a SSLP I can read at work so I don't have to keep scrolling past pages of white spoilers and people going "oh my God that part" over and over again.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

Although if you read fast, do turn up text speed to the highest and just tap once to continue text. I missed some weird poo poo by tapping twice to make text load preemptively and having it skip instead

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.
A screenshot LP would completely not work.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

Who What Now posted:

I meant a SSLP I can read at work so I don't have to keep scrolling past pages of white spoilers and people going "oh my God that part" over and over again.

It's definitely not SSLP material.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

This actually brings up another of DDLC'S strengths: it's sound design is phenomenal and disturbing at times. A SSLP wouldn't work because it's timing is so perfect. The audio really is what makes it worth a playthrough as you control the audio's pace and when it goes too far

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.
The end of act 1 alone justifies the game's use of sound and animation. But the entirety of act 2 leans heavily on its use of sound and scene transitions and unnatural effects.

marshmallow creep
Dec 10, 2008

I've been sitting here for 5 mins trying to think of a joke to make but I just realised the animators of Mass Effect already did it for me

thecluckmeme posted:

It's definitely not SSLP material.

Roar is doing just that here and people seem to be into it, so YMMV.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

marshmallow creep posted:

Roar is doing just that here and people seem to be into it, so YMMV.

They actually just finished it, so binge through if you really don't want to play.

I'd recommend playing DDLC though, because some of the game just doesn't come across through screencaps rather than being fullscreen on your monitor with sound.

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

Neddy Seagoon posted:

They actually just finished it, so binge through if you really don't want to play.

I'd recommend playing DDLC though, because some of the game just doesn't come across through screencaps rather than being fullscreen on your monitor with sound.

Absolutely, if you aren't adverse to the content warnings, I would recommend this to... I guess anybody interested, since somebody told me they never played VNs before earlier in this thread, but the game still hit them hard as a horror game.

But I also highly recommend playing the game yourself, because an SSLP will get you the same game with a static experience. But you can also just play it, and get through it at the same pace. I guess I would recommend an LP of the game as a second sight to it? I just finished it today so I won't go see what they did and what extras there are, and whether my choices made a difference, but if there are subtle differences, you should get your own play of it first.

E: And I can't overstate how the game takes your own pace in the game into its sound design. My stomach dropped more than once when I hit the spacebar to advance dialogue because I knew poo poo was happening, while also being surprised by moments when poo poo was happening and everything else in the game seemed kosher

Inspector Gesicht
Oct 26, 2012

500 Zeus a body.


I played until just after end of Act 1, got bored and uninstalled. I guess can't appreciate a deconstruction of a genre I don't like or usually play that clogs up the Steam store page.

Somfin
Oct 25, 2010

In my🦚 experience🛠️ the big things🌑 don't teach you anything🤷‍♀️.

Nap Ghost

Inspector Gesicht posted:

I played until just after end of Act 1, got bored and uninstalled. I guess can't appreciate a deconstruction of a genre I don't like or usually play that clogs up the Steam store page.

Did you get to the shoe drop

Lunchmeat Larry
Nov 3, 2012

the parts dealing with mental illness were really well-done and well-written, I had to take a couple of breaks during the depression bits especially (personal experience, it rang really true). The meta stuff was well-done and entertaining but won't really stick with me the same way, and when it got into full fourth wall breaking territory I could kind of take it or leave it. I felt like Monika being a self-aware videogame character was trite and the fact that the other girls' mental illness spirals were just down to her loving about with their character files really cheapened the whole thing, it's literally saying suicidal people are having their minds corrupted by a supernatural force lol. It's fine for the story it was going for, I just didn't really care about it. Well worth seeing through to the end for the sake of three hours and a price of gently caress all, though.

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.
I think the timing of the events is important in how you're supposed to read the two suicides in DDLC. I don't think your analysis is especially charitable; I think Salvato really wanted to use depression in a genuine way.

Sayori kills herself at the end of act 1, before there is any indication whatsoever of the actual nature of the game, because Monika hasn't actually tampered with the script itself yet until the actual moment. You are absolutely intended to take the characters as written and treat them as fiction characters. That's why the swerve into depression is so effective: the writing is believable because you're supposed to treat Sayori like any other character in any other fiction, as if she was "real." She probably did tamper with the game somehow to get Sayori to hang herself then and there, but it turns out that didn't matter: if you delete Monika before ever starting the game, you get a unique bad ending where Sayori starts the story as the club president (and therefore gains the knowledge Monika had), and that epiphany drives her to suicide anyway. Her mental condition is definitely about as legitimate as it could be in this kind of fiction IMO although I don't pretend to be an expert on the issue.

In act 2, Monika is tampering with the script and the character files more and more, and accelerating Yuri's obsession and Natsuki's home life into ridiculousness to make her seem more appealing, but she does it so clumsily that it's very obviously a contrivance. Plus the game is barely functional by that point. I'm going to guess Yuri's suicide didn't have any impact on anyone. Besides, Yuri almost certainly wasn't suicidal; Monika basically killed her by rewriting her so much.

I agree that Monika breaking the fourth wall didn't land with me either, but the one funny thing I took away from it is this: being the club president gave Monika (and later Sayori) the self-awareness to realize their true nature, but it didn't actually let them overcome their own destructive obsession, it just redirected that obsession from the PC to the player... and coming to that realization when it happens to someone else is what causes Monika to destroy the game entirely. I think the tricks like reading your OS name were stupid, but it definitely ended with a logical conclusion and the progressive realization of Monika's nature was handled effectively.

My favorite part of the game is still the second act, just because of how full-tilt it is with the insanity, and I think it's important to play the game in one go -- I was still reeling from the depression swerve at the end of act 1, so act 2 was just buck wild.

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Somehow I immediately got that Pauline in Super Mario Odyssey is the same pauline as Donkey Kong but for some dumb reason I didnt realize the city name of New Donk City was also a reference to Donkey Kong until I saw the logo for the city with the stylized O.

Thats not the fun but. The fun but is most of the streets, which are never referenced and are normal street sign sized ovjects, are named after various Kongs from the DKC series.

Len
Jan 21, 2008

Pouches, bandages, shoulderpad, cyber-eye...

Bitchin'!


Max Hoss :smith:

But really though I'm in the back half of New Order and these Nazis need to all die.

Olaf The Stout
Oct 16, 2009

FORUMS NO.1 SLEEPY DAWGS MEMESTER

Barudak posted:

Somehow I immediately got that Pauline in Super Mario Odyssey is the same pauline as Donkey Kong but for some dumb reason I didnt realize the city name of New Donk City was also a reference to Donkey Kong until I saw the logo for the city with the stylized O.

Thats not the fun but. The fun but is most of the streets, which are never referenced and are normal street sign sized ovjects, are named after various Kongs from the DKC series.

Did Lanky make the cut?

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Olaf The Stout posted:

Did Lanky make the cut?

I saw Dixie, Cranky, Rambi, Sqwaks and Expresso so probably not.

Leal
Oct 2, 2009
I can't play DDLC because people have been hyping it up non stop that its going to be a DNF situation where the actual product can't compete with the hype. Also the fact it apparently does stuff I don't expect except now that its been so hyped I am going to expect it.






















































Also I don't play anime trash.

RagnarokAngel
Oct 5, 2006

Black Magic Extraordinaire
Thanks for filling us in I was really worried.

Rockman Reserve
Oct 2, 2007

"Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"

thecluckmeme posted:

Although if you read fast, do turn up text speed to the highest and just tap once to continue text. I missed some weird poo poo by tapping twice to make text load preemptively and having it skip instead

One thing to note is that you shouldn't set it to auto advance because then you'll only see each poem for a split second, and they're nice fun flavor.

Cum Galleon
Oct 16, 2004

Your shipment has arrived.

Len posted:

Max Hoss :smith:

But really though I'm in the back half of New Order and these Nazis need to all die.

Max hoss is a top lad

Who What Now
Sep 10, 2006

by Azathoth
I dunno who this Max Hoss is, but Max Hass is the superior Max.

FactsAreUseless
Feb 16, 2011

DDLC has some clever ideas but never fully comes together. Play it if you want but it isn't a must-see. I'm not a big fan of Undertale, but that did a better job with most of the stuff DDLC tries to do.

Saint Freak
Apr 16, 2007

Regretting is an insult to oneself
Buglord
A new room was discovered inside the Great Pyramid this week. It had already been in Assassin's Creed Origins because they modeled everything not only on what was there, but also on theories of what other rooms might be discovered based on how some researchers think it was built. The game was somehow more accurate than life.

Don Gato
Apr 28, 2013

Actually a bipedal cat.
Grimey Drawer

Saint Freak posted:

A new room was discovered inside the Great Pyramid this week. It had already been in Assassin's Creed Origins because they modeled everything not only on what was there, but also on theories of what other rooms might be discovered based on how some researchers think it was built. The game was somehow more accurate than life.

Or another warning from ubi about the tenplars :tinfoil:

Guy Mann
Mar 28, 2016

by Lowtax

FactsAreUseless posted:

DDLC has some clever ideas but never fully comes together. Play it if you want but it isn't a must-see. I'm not a big fan of Undertale, but that did a better job with most of the stuff DDLC tries to do.

The episode of Gravity Falls with the evil dating sim taking over Chuck E Cheese robots is way better imho

FactsAreUseless
Feb 16, 2011

Guy Mann posted:

The episode of Gravity Falls with the evil dating sim taking over Chuck E Cheese robots is way better imho
Yeah, this too

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Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Uh, her name was Giffany (".GIFfany"), it was episode 5 of season 2, and she is my waifu.

They even joked whether it was /dʒ/iffany (jiffany) or /g/iffany :dadjoke:. It was a really good episode.

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