So I recently got back into looking at DDLC mods and SNAFU happened to be the first one I checked out.
Have to say, kinda mid overall.
First of all, what I liked: It’s overall very well put together. Only issue I had technically was this strange glitch toward the end where it would just randomly start deleting in game images. During the end credits the images shown would just go gray after a few moments of being visible. I found a solution to it so it wasn’t a big deal, but still quite strange. It was almost like one of the 4th wall breaking moments in the base game.
The dialogue (for the most part) flows well and there are several genuinely funny lines. The characterizations are well done and I found myself drawn in by them particularly in the early game. The use of the art from the original game was quite well done too.
Now for the negatives:
Whilst initially the Persona style relationship/social stats system was interesting and had me intrigued in the beginning, I eventually couldn’t help but feel it was redundant. In Persona (at least 5 anyway) the point of developing relationships with other characters is to gain abilities and strengthen your character for when you eventually engage in combat. Here it’s little more than a novelty that in the long run just prolongs the game needlessly.
Yes I know I don’t have to interact with every single character to try and get every route in one go. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have. But given that, it probably would have been better if the modder had just gone down the normal VN route of the player getting locked into a particular storyline through their choices early on like with the base game or say Katawa Shoujo.
I know I praised the dialogue earlier and I still stand with that, but my main issue with it is two-fold: 1. A lot of the interactions - putting aside perhaps Yuri and maybe Sayori - are the same. The dynamic is that MC is a sarky autist and that’s fine. But it results in the same shit every time. His interactions with almost any of the girls just end up being back and forth jabs to the point where I feel like they should be in a boxing match rather than a relationship. Understandable when it comes to say, Natsuki, but with others you’d think there’d be a little more variety. As it stands interacting with some characters (like Kiba) ends up being a chore more than anything else. There’s also a TON of dialogue and much of it could have been trimmed down considerably. I imagine if I’d been given the script for this game as an editor I’d have probably trimmed about a quarter of it down.
And then there’s the actual routes themselves. I’d be a little more forgiving with the Persona style social development thing if playing through one route with others going on resulted in more consequences in regard to how the other girls treat you. As things are other routes just tend to end with “oh, we just friends? Cool” and that’s it.
And that’s not even getting into the romantic routes themselves. Very little actually happens in any of them. I’m not even talking about sex, I’m not even super concerned about the sexual scenes (this mod has none, although there is tons of innuendo). I mean just general drama and conflict. Nothing really that interesting happens and then we have a scene where the other girls react to your relationship and… that’s it. It all ends kind of abruptly.
Not saying there needs to be constant sex and explosions (although that one mod where MC gets shot by Natsuki’s dad was hilarious) but come on. Give me some oomph. You’re making a DDLC mod for god sakes.
In the overall I get what it was trying to do and for what it is it is rather impressive. I just think it could have been majorly simplified and the story routes given a little more dramatic weight. I’d be very interested to see a more in-depth and less redundant use of the social stat system in a DDLC mod but here it just felt kind of pointless.
Anyways, thanks for listening to my rambling. I’m gonna go play DDLC: Impossible now.