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 {6} ABOUT THE GAME... We Know The Devil is a horror visual novel released on September 12, 2015 on Date Nighto, a site for hosting dating sims that are played in-browser on a desktop or mobile device. It was later released on Steam on February 15, 2016. You can play it for yourself at datenighto.com before this LP spoils the whole dang thing for you, but yknow if you're still here that's cool. It's $6.66 which is a great price both economically and spiritually if you ask me (the Steam version's an option too but that one's $8). You can also get the soundtrack for $4 at https://aleclambert.bandcamp.com/album/we-know-the-devil-ost WKTD stars this trio of troubled treens, named GROUP WEST:  shy shy Venus ♀,  tomboy Jupiter ♃, and  meangirl Neptune ♆.They have one last week to soldier through at a lovely Christian summer camp in the Midwest. For one night though, they must stay together at an abandoned cabin in the woods to be on watch for the devil, who could be anywhere and everywhere. It has strong LGBT themes and touches on teenage alienation, repression, and how some friends grow closer than others. Won't say much more than that for the story. The game keeps a strong and unique aesthetic that easily separates it from other visual novels or dating sim-like games. It features black and white illustrated character designs in Mia Schwartz's rough style, character-driven writing from Aevee Bee that's both ambiguous and affecting, photographic backgrounds of rural forest locations shot on disposable camera for those Blair Witch vibes (taken by both Schwartz and Bee), and an 80's synth-heavy harsh noise soundtrack by Alec Lambert. The end result lays that spooky ambiance on thick like you'd imagine it'd be going for, but anchored with a significant love for kids like those of Group West, and has moments that ought to get you nostalgic in some way for camping or hanging with your teen friends or something similar. {6} ABOUT THE CREATORS... - AEVEE BEE (@mammonmachine) is the editor-in-chief of ZEAL, a webzine w/ essays and comics on games. and comics. - MIA SCHWARTZ (@mightyatom NSFW sometimes) does art and comics, including Strawberries, published by Rigged Books in 2013. She also did the album artwork and is partly responsible for. um. this - ALEC LAMBERT (@aleclambert) is a electronic noise musician from Queens. The link to the WKTD soundtrack is from his bandcamp, where his other music can be found. {6} ABOUT THIS LP... I don't care for dating sims or VN's but this is one of my favorite games of last year. So that you can see for yourself why I love We Know The Devil, I'll be showing the game off in screenshot LP format and keeping it soft on commentary, as WKTD has a heavy mood throughout that makes it pointless to chime in constantly and there's not much to explain for the gameplay of a visual novel. The only narration I'll be doing is describing sound effects and background noise in brackets, though Tindeck and Soundcloud links will be provided for most of the SFX in addition to all the music, which you should listen to always because the soundtrack's great. Commentary I DO make, whether little quips on what's happening or explaining how some things in the LP will play out, will be in italics. At several points in the story, the player has to choose which two of the three characters will interact further, and these choices affect what kind of ending you get. I'll be showing off what happens with all of these choices and every ending, and I'll let the thread decide which choice is best for at least the first playthrough.  Spoiler policy is DO NOT SPOIL ANYTHING!!! Using spoiler tags here and there is OK but I do not want to see an entire discussion of black boxes. ========== U P D A T E S ========== FIRST PLAYTHROUGH: 6 PM 6 PM (cont.) 7 PM 7 PM (♀ + ♆) 8 PM 8 PM (♃ + ♆) 9 PM 9 PM (♀ + ♆) 10 PM 10 PM (♀ + ♆) 11 PM 11 PM (♀ + ♆) 12 AM 12 AM (♃ + ♆) 1 AM 1 AM (♀ + ♃) 2 AM 3 AM 4 AM 5 AM SECOND PLAYTHROUGH: 7 PM (♀ + ♃) 8 PM (♀ + ♃) 9 PM (♃ + ♆) 10 PM (♀ + ♃) 11 PM (♃ + ♆) 12 AM (♀ + ♃) 1 AM (♀ + ♆) 2 AM 3 AM 4 AM 5 AM THIRD PLAYTHROUGH: 10 PM (♃ + ♆) 2 AM 3 AM 4 AM 5 AM FINAL PLAYTHROUGH: 7 PM - 10 PM 10 PM (♀ + ♃ + ♆) 11 PM - 2 AM 3 AM 4 AM 5 AM ========== E X T R A S ========== Thirteen Rules: Why Mammon Machine Cares About Worldbuilding by Aevee Bee Interview with Aevee Bee on WKTD SPOILERS Postmortem on We Know The Devil, written for ZEAL by Aevee Bee SPOILERS A buttload of analysis on the game by the thread SPOILERS Fan Art SPOILERS
Flac fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Mar 27, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 05:19
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 [MUSIC: Greenhouse]This is the startup screen + the music. Nothing special to say about the options and doing credits first is illegal so let's dive in  [MUSIC: Growing Poppies]We're sunburned and bug-bitten and behind us is the devil, every annoyance of summer nipping at our heels. Being in the Summer Scouts sucks incredibly. The cabins are stuffy, the beds are gross, the counselors only sing about jesus, and they won't let us have a transformation sequence. We can't wait until a week from now when the three of us are home in our beds, we won't have to think about what we do or don't deserve, and we can leave cleaning up the devil to someone else.  [SFX: Someone trips and tumbles on the ground.]   ♃: Ow. ♃: Oh. Totally. Totally fine. ♃: Ow. ♀: Are you sure, it looked so bad... ♃: Nahhhhhhh it's nothing. It's okay. ♃: I totally...totally promise I am still alive. ♀: Okay... ♆: Don't fall asleep with a concussion. If you do, I'm calling 911. ♃: Haha I won't. ♆: Do. Please. Take me with you.Laughing off a head injury isn't all that Jupiter's good at; she has the best grades in class, and coaches make her starter on whatever team has the most pressing need for someone who can do sports. She's a perfect role model, except for how she always misses the winning goal and she always blanks on the last question. She leads when no one else wants to, which is always.     ♃: Are we late already? ♀: I think we left pretty early? ♃: We've been walking for a long time, though. ♀: I don't think so? Maybe. ♀: Not that long. ♀: Well, not too terribly long. ♀: I guess it's been kind of a while. ♃: We're not late already are we? ♆: Absolutely. It's 6:06. ♃: Whyyyyyyy. ♀: Oh no. ♆: I told you so. RestingWitchFace: Another week. Fml. This is the worst Idiot<3Jerkface: I will pray everyone dies RestingWitchFace: Stop giving me false hope ♃: We're close. I'm pretty sure. We have to be. ♀: It's fine as long as we're not the last one there, right? ♆: It is utterly assured that they are already there because they did not have to do any of the complete bullshit we just did.RestingWitchFace: Im genuinely sorry for my horrible life. Idiot<3Jerkface: Happy hunting lmao RestingWitchFace: Fuk u Neptune didn't tell us because she was too busy talking with her friends and doesn't care how much trouble we get into. Or maybe she didn't want us to worry for as long as we didn't have to worry. Neptune is very kind or possibly super mean and hates us. But that's okay. She's really funny. Neptune looks in no way like she's supposed to be here. But that's why she's here, of course. For a moment she's about to say something but it catches in her throat and she coughs instead.   ♃: Where? ♀: See? That light. ♃: I don't see anything. ♀: It's right there...?   Next update, we find out if the kids arrived too late. Flac fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Mar 16, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 05:19
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If this thing's twist is what I suspect it is, this is going to be really goddamn interesting.
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Jan 22, 2016 05:34
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Just bought this based on the first section. It hits just the right flavour of creepy for me. Looking forward to what other people think.
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Jan 22, 2016 13:18
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[SFX: The flame of the bonfire crackles softly in the background].png) .png) .png) .png) The face of true horror in WKTD: a jolly camp counselor with a surgically attached Diglett for a head.  I didn't hear y'all swearing, did I?.png) .png) .png) Hahaha. Sure you weren't. ♀: We promise! Oh I believe you. I dunno about the rest, though. ♀: Ah. Um.Venus smiles in that way that makes everyone there want to punch him a little, but that's all that it takes for them to forget we were even late. Venus can smile and laugh nervously through anything, and the rest of us are invisible for as long as we can endure the secondhand embarrassment. Sit down everyone. It's a terrible blend; termite-eaten wood from abandoned churches, dried daylilies from the sides of country roads, singed wire from burned out radios, dubious apologies, ashes of monsters of the week. Gross. Venus sits with his legs crossed, taking up as little space as he can, which is at most not very much. Neptune remains mercilessly fashionable, watching the other groups like they're the entertainment. Jupiter pulls her legs up and rests her chin on her knees. She's bad at posture. But she is good at being comfortable. She likes the security of holding her whole body. There's a perfect balance of usefulness and liability to the young for which the summer scouts are the most perfect solution. Everyone having a good time? No one is, or has much enthusiasm to fake it. I said, is everyone having a Good Time? But the captain can be motivating. I SAID, is everyone HAVING A GOOD TIME? And doesn't quit until everyone's at least put effort into faking it. .png) .png) .png) This is bullshit. That's more like it. Still a little quiet in the West. ♆: Fuuuuck him. ♃: *Snort.*.png)  [SFX (but also music kinda): The bonfire captain plays a little ditty on his guitar.].png) How does Captain Diglett have a tremolo effect on an acoustic guitar that isn't plugged in anywhere?? Maybe God is his effects pedal. He must feel like he needs to give the sermons since he's in charge, but we know the counselors wish they were somewhere else as much as we do. You know, I wasn't the most popular when I was a kid. I got in my share of fights, but I had a couple of guys I was best friends with and we stuck up for each other. Whenever my parents asked if I wanted to bring one of my friends somewhere, I'd say, "I wanna bring both of them." I thought I was doing this great thing, not holding one of my friends over the other. But secretly, I thought one of them was kinda annoying. And he kinda was. He whined and wouldn't go along with us sometimes. I felt pretty bad about that, so I tried to be an even better friend to make up for it. I thought if I could work even harder, I'd be able to make up for him. But actually, I wasn't helping him at all. You wouldn't have thought it, I wouldn't have thought it, but in the end he was the one that got in deep, deep trouble. I probably could have stopped it if I'd told him to cut it out and man up instead of basically doing the opposite. Some friendships you can keep up. The rest you gotta leave up to god..png) .png) .png)  ♆: Good one Jupiter, but there is no mercy in this world. ♀: It's our last week at camp and they haven't sent us there yet. ♆: And that loser has it in for us so bad. ♃: Maybe we won't have to go. I'm feeling optimistic this time. ♀: ... ♀: ...Why? ♆: Yeah why? ♃: Uh. Because....png) .png)  ♃: drat ittttttttttt. ♀: Oh no. ♆: Told you. ♆: Don't worry guys. I hear hardly anyone ever dies.
Flac fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Mar 16, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 21:00
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Who did the art for this game, a three year old in alcohol withdrawal?
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Jan 22, 2016 21:25
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I'm baffled by this... is there meant to be a narrator or is it just omniscient? I thought this was a girl scouts thing but Venus is a guy? Someone bought this after the first post because it hits the right creepy notes?? Like in what way??? I'm gonna stick with the LP I think because I want to know where on earth this is going. If you say it's a good game I guess I believe you... e: it has LGBT themes, is Venus ftm transgender? Because my god if so his portrait and his name and symbol (!!) could not be worse. Is he mtf transgender with insensitive pronoun use from his pals? It could honestly go either way! eating only apples fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 21:46
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I have no high hopes, but I gotta say I'm really curious too.Flac posted:It's a terrible blend; termite-eaten wood from abandoned churches, dried daylilies from the sides of country roads, singed wire from burned out radios, dubious apologies, ashes of monsters of the week. What am I reading
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Jan 22, 2016 22:11
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Without getting into if Venus is considered a boy or girl, I think the big issue first off here is that I'm not sure who the narrator is. I almost want to assume it's Neptune because we're privy to her text messages and all, but the narration gives insight into both her and Jupiter, which then made me think this is told from Venus' perspective, but then he gets addressed too during the second update. Is there a fourth, unseen person holding the metaphorical camera? Or... if this was more clear it would be interesting if all three of the teens were narrating, with each one chiming in to fill in in gaps before another continues off. That aside, I'm curious to see how this turns out. That the camp counselor is wearing a cowrie shell necklace makes me chuckle, since from what I remember of the Bible camps I went to in my early teens it's fairly accurate to say they wore stuff like that all the time. EDIT: Also, I wonder what's with the Sailor moon refs. Not the names of the teens, but they mention Transformation sequences and monsters of the week, which seems bizarre here.
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Jan 22, 2016 22:41
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TKMobile posted:Is there a fourth, unseen person holding the metaphorical camera? yes and they are the devil. i am a prophet Kinu Nishimura fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 23:06
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As intensely appalling as the counselor art is, my immediate response, because I've spent too much time with artsy poo poo, is that he's meant to be loosely sketched because he's not relevant to the central drama of the three kids. The art style is just too different.
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Jan 22, 2016 23:37
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quote:We can't wait until a week from now when the three of us are home in our beds, we won't have to think about what we do or don't deserve, and we can leave cleaning up the devil to someone else. Unless there's something really weird going on with one of Group West, it's just a confusing first-person omniscient narration with no indication of who it is at any given point.
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Jan 23, 2016 00:11
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At first glance I thought the counselor's necklace was a line of stitches from when his head was sewn back on.
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Jan 23, 2016 00:15
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I've got a feeling this is one of those games where nothing will make since until suddenly everything does, and the reaction will either be "Oh, oh poo poo" or "Oh, gently caress, really, ugh". I'm very much on the fence right now.
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Jan 23, 2016 00:19
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this game is really, really drat good the "twist", such as it is, is all right. definitely more of an "oh poo poo" than a "gently caress, really?" things will make much more sense by the end, whichever we hit first the narrator is basically the main characters as "us". perspective does move around a bit, but only between the three of them. Flac, are you taking voting on the story branch stuff at all? not that i've any super strong opinions on which paths to take first, just curious
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Jan 23, 2016 01:21
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Maybe it's just that I've been listening to the Night Vale podcasts lately, but I'm really getting kind of a Night Vale vibe here, like everybody's just kind of pissed about having to meet the devil because first you've got to lay out the bloodstone circles and then you've got to file the Devil Contact Preparation Forms with a vague yet menacing government agency and after all that he'll just show up and talk about his last vacation. Like people don't talk to each other about what the devil tells them! But no, you've got to sit through all that, and then there's like three hours of awkward silence while he tries to come up with something else interesting to say. It's just not worth the effort.
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Jan 23, 2016 03:15
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Tollymain posted:Flac, are you taking voting on the story branch stuff at all? not that i've any super strong opinions on which paths to take first, just curious Oh yeah definitely for the first playthrough. In fact I should have mentioned it in the OP so I just did that lol TKMobile posted:That aside, I'm curious to see how this turns out. That the camp counselor is wearing a cowrie shell necklace makes me chuckle, since from what I remember of the Bible camps I went to in my early teens it's fairly accurate to say they wore stuff like that all the time. THOSE WERE COWRIE SHELLS oh my god. I thought he was wearing a chain necklace. That's so much better Ilustforponydeath posted:Who did the art for this game, a three year old in alcohol withdrawal? https://twitter.com/mightyatom/status/690700492037623808
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Jan 23, 2016 03:25
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I'm in for this. I might buy it, it seems that perfect level of indie hokey I can manage before it gets impossible to put up with.
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Jan 23, 2016 03:34
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Flac posted:Oh yeah definitely for the first playthrough. In fact I should have mentioned it in the OP so I just did that lol nice also, some part of me just assumed that was like, a barbed wire tattoo? even though that doesn't make a lot of sense in the context of the story 
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Jan 23, 2016 03:40
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We Know The Devil was by far my favorite game from 2015 so it's cool to see an LP of it!
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Jan 23, 2016 04:18
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.png)  [MUSIC: The Sirens].png) .png)  ♆: He's just an upset puppy. ♃: He'd have been less mad if you hadn't been texting the whole time he was yelling at us. ♆: The captain will live. ♃: I thought he was gonna knock it out of your hand for a minute. ♆: HA. God. I wish he would've.  .png)  ♀: What? ♆: Don't zone out, do you want to die? ♀: Sorry...I thought I saw something. ♀: This diode shattered, can you pass me a new one?Jupiter climbs up the pole to pass a new crystal to Venus. Neptune keeps watch, but actually she's mad because fixing the sirens is stupid and menial and there's no reason they should have to do it. Neptune refuses to participate unless we're cutting corners.  ♃: Here Venus. ♀: Oh no. ♃: What? ♆: Oh look who it is. [MUSIC: Summer Scouts].png)  Hey. Hey.Group South's dialogue is presented as if they're a single unit, like the same person said "Hey" three times. So you could think of it as one member saying something and another repeats some of what they said and another repeats the phrase they repeated. Or you could assume they all speak in unison and said the same thing three times, which is funnier to me. .png) .png) .png) Group South doesn't really look the same, but we can't remember their names or tell the difference between them. Which is super mean of us. No wonder they hate our guts.  You guys got the lake sirens. We got the forest sirens. You guys got the lake sirens. You check your own sirens. You guys got the lake sirens. You should leave..png) .png) .png) .png)  That's what he said. Venus must have heard wrong. That's what he said. He said Venus would screw it up again. That's what he said. Venus sucks and should go home immediately.Group South does everything perfectly and is the loving worst. The best kids in a camp for bad kids are absolutely certain to be the loving worst. .png) ♀ + ♆ / ♀ + ♃ Here's our first choice! These are presented a little differently than in other dating sims/VN's; there's no dialogue or text to solidly put them in context of the story or suggest you're part of the action, just straight to the point as "hey which two do you want to hook up in this situation". For this first playthrough I'll be giving this and all preceding choices to the thread till we get an ending. Plus one more choice after that. So this time be sure to cast your vote either for Venus and Neptune or Venus and Jupiter! or be cool like me and use unicode: ♀ + ♆ or ♀ + ♃ Flac fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Feb 18, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 05:12
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This is intensely weird and I dig the music. Venus + Jupiter, please.
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Jan 23, 2016 05:31
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Venus + Neptune Dunno why Venus has to be involved here, but these assholes need an epic burn delivered straight to the face, and Neptune is clearly our sickest burn-smith.
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Jan 23, 2016 05:37
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I forget which choice I made for this one on my first playthrough, but Neptune's pretty cool so I'll vote for ♀ + ♆.
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Jan 23, 2016 05:44
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Venus and Neptune! I only played through this game once and enjoyed it well enough, but I never got around to playing again. The tone of this game is really well done, and I find the art quite charming actually. The music is neat too. Genuinely unsettling in some places.
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Jan 23, 2016 05:44
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Venus and Jupiter, because Neptune is already in a committed relationship with Uranus.
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Jan 23, 2016 05:49
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I'll go for Venus and Jupiter
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Jan 23, 2016 06:32
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There's too much telling and not enough showing and I'm still not sure if that's a style choice. Still, interesting.
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Jan 23, 2016 07:08
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♀ + ♆ because it's the first choice
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Jan 23, 2016 08:53
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I'd been looking at picking this up for a bit, but the LP finally pushed me into buying it. It's... something. Something I liked, though. It'll be interesting watching the thread reactions.
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Jan 23, 2016 16:42
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i love group south shirt guy
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Jan 23, 2016 17:00
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Venus + Neptune also I really wish I had a shirt with my face smiling smugly on it.
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Jan 23, 2016 17:13
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hmm Venus and Jupiter
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Jan 23, 2016 17:16
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Wasn't expecting to see an LP of this game here, but hey it's a nice surprise! It's a Good Game. e: also group south owns
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Jan 23, 2016 18:46
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♀ + ♆ ..When they say Fix the sirens, I hope they mean, like actual PA system sirens which I could buy being every-rear end-where along a summer camp. For a moment, the talk of crystals and diodes made me thing they were jury rigging something together to deal with Siren monsters.
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Jan 24, 2016 02:54
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I think they're sirens to warn about monster attack. Campers aren't allowed transformation sequences (the obligatory panty shots don't mesh with the camp's christian aesthetic) so they're unusually vulnerable.
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Jan 24, 2016 02:59
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"...Magical Girls go to Christian Summer Camp, but aren't allowed to henshin, so there's tons of monster warning systems in check they have to maintain," sounds like some of the best worst fanfiction the internet can offer.
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Jan 24, 2016 03:03
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i think it's safe to say there is nobody at this camp capable of a proper magical girl transformation
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Jan 24, 2016 03:07
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I was honestly considering doing an LP of this game until I saw you were just now. This is an amazing, amazing, excellent game that's worth all 666 pennies of its asking price. Definitely voting Venus and Jupiter here. For reasons.
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Jan 24, 2016 03:46
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Tollymain posted:i think it's safe to say there is nobody at this camp capable of a proper magical girl transformation Story of my life, man.
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Jan 24, 2016 03:52
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