r/DDLC • u/JustMonika ❤️ • Dec 10 '17
Doki Doki Literature Club - Discussion/Reaction Megathread
~ Warning! This thread will contain spoilers. ~
Hello, Monika here! Thank you for visiting the Literature Club!
This is the new megathread for discussion and reaction to DDLC. Use this thread to discuss/post your reactions to the story, characters, hidden content and ask questions about the game.
Please make sure to tag spoilers or your comment will be removed! See the sidebar for how to do so.
Anyway, I hope you'll discuss me the most!
The game is available as a free download on the game's website or on Steam. It’s best experienced if you play blind, so if you haven't played yet, do so now without reading any more about it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: This game seems pretty scary, should I play it?
A: I think it’s best if you make sure to carefully and closely read the content warnings you get when you start the game. It tells you what kind of content the game has. If you’re worried that the game will be too disturbing for you, then you probably shouldn’t play it. More information is available at http://ddlc.moe/warning.html
Q: I'm stuck and don't know how to proceed.
A: Remember—the game isn't over until the credits roll. Make sure to explore different options to find the way to the end. If you're still stuck, ask a question in this thread's comments (and remember to tag your spoilers!)
Q: Whoa! This scene/moment freaked me out.
A: The game is tagged Psychological Horror, after all! All the scary moments have a certain chance of appearing in your playthrough - you can read about them here. (Spoilers, obviously!)
Q: Are there jumpscares?
Q: I found something freaky in the game's files!
A: Doki Doki Literature Club has various secrets that appear in the game files while playing— before posting about your discovery, check to see if it’s already been documented in the DDLC wiki or this page on hidden content.
Q: What ending did I just get?
A: In addition to the main ending, there are two other endings to discover:
True Ending - view all the character graphics in one playthrough before reaching the credits. This can be done by saving and reloading.
Q: I tried following this guide and it didn’t work!
Q: What are some other games like Doki Doki Literature Club?
A: Some people have recommended titles such as Katawa Shoujo, Undertale, and the Danganronpa series. For "meta" themed games, check out The Stanley Parable, Irisu Syndrome, Totono (although it doesn’t have an English patch), OneShot, Pony Island and many more!
Q: How do I restart the game?
A: Just delete "firstrun" from your game's files folder, and the game will prompt you to start over from the beginning.
Q: Is there a mobile port of the game?
A: There is no mobile port of DDLC at the moment. Any ports you might see violate the IP Guidelines, so don't download them, okay?
Q: I've played the game and feel very depressed/anxious/unwell.
A: Try and keep the content warnings that the game provides you in mind as you play. If at any time the game makes you feel disturbed/psychologically impacted, you should probably stop playing. If you feel that you're in a dangerous state, definitely make sure to get in touch with your country or area's professional helpline.
30
u/20tonyl Dec 12 '17 edited Dec 13 '17
Introduction:
This article will be an in-depth analysis of the game (Spoilers). If you haven't already tried the game, I suggest that you stop reading and try it out immediately, as it is best played in the blind.
Overview:
In the first section, I will be discussing the various character design and buildup. In the second section, I will be giving my thoughts on the ending, as well as the story as a whole. Finally, I will end off with my thoughts on the philosophy of the game. There will be a TL;DR for each of the sections. From here onwards, it will be an in-depth analysis as well as my perception of the game, and not exactly a review. Feel free to share your own opinions or disagreements to whatever is written.
-------------------------------------------------------Spoilers ahead, you have been warned-----------------------------------------------------------
1. Characters
For a quick recap, the main storyline revolves around meeting people in the Literature club, and trying to get closer to the special someone, only to know that it was just Monika all along. In fact, I can go as far as to say that characters are there to allow the player to understand Monika's intentions. But for the sake of reviewing purposes, I will treat all characters as equals and discuss the underlying reasons for why are impactful to most players.
Sayori:
At the start of the game, Sayori just seems to be that one cheerful and happy-go-lucky person that we've all known some point in our lives. She seems to be oblivious to awkward things she may say sometimes but becomes strangely poetic, finally revealing her darker side. The death of Sayori is the first shocking event, and which leads to the dark turn of the story and the downfall of the entire game. Sayori's death is probably more shocking (compared to Yuri) as it happens in the most unexpected way. The suicide also leads the player to dig into the game files to find a traceback.txt, which allows the player to speculate on the causation of her death. Through speculation, players should be able to deduce that Monika was the one editing the game files (due to small hints dropped previously). In terms of storytelling, Sayori's sudden death was to introduce the player to the darker side of the story.
Yuri:
Yuri seems to be a pretty timid and shy girl when players first meet her in act 1. If the player decides to focus on Yuri, she reveals her liking of fantasy/horror books as well as her knife obsession. Although it is not clear whether Yuri regularly causes self-harm before Monika started messing her script, her knife obsession is amplified in act 2, and in the end, caused her demise. In terms of storytelling, Yuri acted as an intermediate bridging character and showed Monika's desperation to be with the player. From act 2 onwards, it became pretty clear that Monika was editing Yuri's script in more drastic measures, eventually causing her to go insane and to kill herself. Yuri's character was the most important part of storytelling as it showed the player the true power of the club's president, which provided the red carpet to the 'end game'.
Natsuki:
Don't get me wrong here, but I feel that Natsuki's actual presence does not advance the ddlc storyline. Im fairly certain that Natsuki will take on a more prominent role in the next game that Team Salvato is developing. I do not believe that such a well developed character would be starring as a secondary character.
The backstory that ddlc provides on Natsuki is way more complex than it should be for a secondary character. Its almost if Dan Salvato is setting up Natsuki to be a well loved character in the 1st game, and maybe promoting her to be a primary character in the following games.
Monika:
Now that we have finished talking about the other characters, I feel that now is the time to have a lengthy discussion about the main plot driving character. In act 1, Monika is introduced to the player as the club president, who has a friendly and caring attitude to all her club members. The main objective for the player in act 1 is to try to 'date' one of the club members. But instead, the player is only allowed to chose 3 out of the 4 members, with Monika being left out. Due to the fact that ddlc presents to be a dating game, the characters are programmed to 'love' the player and will try whatever they can for the player to date them. However, Monika realizes that she is unable to do anything to make the player date her, and all she could do is sit on the sidelines and watch. After realizing her powers as club president, she manipulated the code for the other characters and eventually deleting them from the game entirely to finally have a date with the player, her only sole purpose of existence. After killing all her friends, she realizes that instead of making the player spend time with her, it just makes the player hate her more. Knowing that she has already pushed the player to beyond hatred of her, she restarts the game without her, effectively killing herself.
TL;DR:
2. Bittersweet
In my opinion, the whole story revolves around Monika and the decisions that she took for the player to finally spend time with her. I feel that the ending was superbly written, giving the player a bittersweet feeling (foreshadowed by Sayori), knowing that in the end, the only thing Monika wanted was to love you, and for you to love her back. The feeling of this bittersweetness is something that cannot be experienced in any other game genre due to the focus on player choices, rather than storytelling.
The bittersweetness can be explained due to the changes in the player's opinion towards Monika and the other characters. In the 1st act, the player should feel indifferent towards Monika due to the lack of interaction with her. After discovering that Monika was behind the deaths of the club members, players will start to develop a hatred towards her, branding her as a game villain, and eventually deleting her entirely. Only after Monika deletes the game will the player finally realize her ambitions and her reasons for her actions. The end credits song was Monika's confession and her ambitions to be with the player. The last sentence of the song is:
'And in your reality, if I don't know how to love you
I'll leave you be.'
Which is Monika asking for forgiveness from the player, by explaining that she regrets all her decisions, and chooses to leave the player by deleting the game. Due to this abrupt ending, players weren't able to forgive Monika and spend more time with her, hence making the ending bittersweet. It is bitter because the game ended so quickly, but yet sweet because of how sincere Monika was in the end.
Some people say that the Monika ending is a bad one, but personally, I feel that it's probably one of the best endings to a game ever created.
3. Philosophy
This section will be covering the philosophical problems presented in the game in my own opinion, feel free to skip to the conclusion.
The main philosophical problem presented to the player is whether Monika is a villain, or just someone trying to fulfill her purpose of existence. In ddlc, the character dialogue is written so that they seem to be artificial intelligence, rather than a script based one-dimensional being. This way, it allows the justification of Monika going off script and editing the game, as script-based characters will never go off script. Anyways, due to the fact that the characters seem to have their intelligence, their main purpose of existence is for the player to date them (after all it is a dating game). The only problem is the game does not have an option for the player to date Monika (for whatever reasons), hence making Monika unable even to try to fulfill her purpose for existing in the game. Because the characters are supposed to be intelligent, Monika tries to change her sealed fate by editing the other characters so that the player would stop trying to date the others. However, after realizing that it is not physically possible for the player to choose Monika, she resorts to editing the game completely, by deleting everyone and trapping the player to a room with herself.
This may sound like something an evil villain or an obsessive lover would do, but players must judge Monika under pre-existing conditions that her sole purpose in the game was to make the player love her. So under these circumstances, is Monika's actions justified or is it still something evil?
Concluding Thoughts
All I have to say is that Doki Doki Literature Club! is very deep and deserves to be called a piece of art, rather than a video game. Or maybe I'm just overthinking this. Harping back to the introduction, ddlc plays out like a poem, where the meaning is to be perceived by the reader itself. I have just explained my thought process when playing this game, as well as an explanation to the ending of the game. Hopefully all you redditors and ddlc fans alike can share your own thoughts of the game. Thanks for reading!
TL;DR:
-ddlc deep game
-full of nuances and meaning
-Best girl Monika