Doki Doki Literature Club (Zero Punctuation)
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- čas přidán 6. 02. 2018
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"It wasn't creepy in a psychological horror sense, it was just fucking sad." That feels like praise.
I beat the game by accident because as soon as Monika deleted the other character files I went and deleted hers out of spite
That's probably the optimal way to do that.
Speedrunning
If you name her character file one of the other two after deleting that other character's original file, then you win faster because, when she inevitably deletes those two, she accidentally deletes herself.
@@VGamingJunkieVT Doki Doki L. the game were speedrunning means how to fasted deleting game files XD
Lol
2:33 "It's the Spec Ops: The Line of dating sims." Yatzhee 2018
Probably a better moniker than saying it's the "Dark Souls" of dating sims.
@@craigkuhlman6869 mostly because it took 3 years after everyone started saying to realize what a dark souls game actually meant
Good enough
I thought the most interesting idea the game had was that once Sayori is deleted the club unravels. Not due to programming buggery but because Sayori was more important to her friends than she thought and if she never existed her friends would have fallen into depression and self-harm like she did. It could have said something about how big a role we play in each other's lives.
Holy shit I've never thought of that. If the game didn't "glitch out" the way it did after she dies, the club would still drift apart (Although it may or may not disband because it depends on their negative traits being dialed to eleven). Yuri and Natsuki would still continue to argue, with MC being MC...whatever he was, and Monika would still be obsessed with the Player.
But in turn it's saying it would've been totally fine if not better if Monika had killed her self hmmmm! Eh I guess she was too fourth-wally to be "one of the group" anyway.
The Enthusiast
Because Monika is an awful person and Sayori is a good one. :)
Next question please.
For one thing, it's implied that without Sayori there, the girls are more prone to conflict since her bright personality helps keep the peace between Natsuki and Yuri. It's more evident when Monika starts tweaking things further.
Like It's a Wonderful Life then. :-)
Damn, people must have really bothered him like crazy for him to break and review this one.
Fulgrim2 no it was more just poeple leaving smug comments and theres not much out that can be said much about them
It mostly has to do with the early year drought of games.
well at least you know he does listen to his audience and cares enough to respond to it..... if they bug him enough xD. lol
Now that he has given us a precedent we can bother him about reviewing shit he doesn't care about for the rest of his days.
hahaha xD
he's done it
i clciked off your vid as soon as i saw this in my reccomendations. sorry m8
Indeimaus me and my boyfriend just watch one of your videos stop following us
The absolute madman
you're here!?!?!
Hey, it's indeimaus. Gosh, I should both make him laugh and show that I'm a loyal fan. But what kind of clever reference to his work would make him burst into uncontrolled laughter? I've got it!
TOP 10 CURTAINS IN DARK SOULS TOP 10 WAIFU DID YOU GET IT THE JOKE I MADE TO HOW YOU DO THOSE VIDEOS
Fuck indeimaus's fans.
ngl I really like the fact Sayori's death wasn't horrific, just sad, it wasn't some "ooo spooky suicide mental illness!" trope. it was more realistic and blunt about how it feels to be suicidal or be affected by a loved one's suicide. the game and Sayori especially hold a special place in my heart because of that, made me feel less alone, because while you can have people tell you over and over that things aren't so bad and it'll get better, but ddlc had an understanding that actually comforted me a bit and made me want to get better.
No joke, I ended up playing this specifically because of Yahtzee's review and pretty much agree 100%.
It's got some nice ideas but doesn't feel like a finished product and the depression is depicted so realistically that from the suicide point onwards I wasn't enjoying myself anymore because it's such a gut punch that leaves you feeling really shitty.
Congrats, Team Salvato - your game was relevant enough to recieve a proper whittle-down from Yahtzee. Consider yourself awarded with the second highest distinction of the gaming industry, right behind getting your game approved by Yahtzee.
He practically did approve of it. Heck, halfway through the video he says you might as well play it since it's free.
He did said it's not without it fault though, and pretty much like a concept art, it show the theme the author want to make, but didn't dive deeper into it. Even I think that if Team Salvato develop more from the Sayori's suicide shenanigen (like for example, a visit to her parents or something), and from that go on slowly to the jump scare, they could have a much more effective pull.
Overall, it's good while it last is what he basically said, but this thing need a sequel to cook this idea of them more.
Tiztu - he reviewed Ride to Hell as something so apocalyptically bad it had fallen into the realm of hilarious beyond belief due to how terrible it was.
Tbh, the only parts he approved was how the story subverted itself into a very believable suicide. He was expecting jumpscares and psychological horror and found a stark and blunt moment of realistic despair that couldn't have been avoided despite whatever method you tried. Symbolically it was a sound moment of story telling and he liked that. It was the descent into creepypasta that he just found predictable, saying that it reached its peak at the suicide that had in itself subverted his expectations.
By slapping us with such a scene it was a good depiction of how things can just go wrong and how you can be completely unaware of how a persons mind is going. The game hints things are wrong, but then suddenly nosedives straight into suicide with the force of a hammer blow, that sudden subversion was what he liked.
And he added on more to that statement that meant "play it for free if you have no life." He didn't think it was good, just cheap.
What a madman, he actually did it :D...
is this some reference
The absolute MADMAN
LET'S
get dusted
YUN
The End Times is Nigh! *prolonged guttural roar slowly growing louder and louder as an asteroid grows closer to the Earth*
Group of Crows = A Murder
Group of Geese = A Gaggle
Group of Bats = A Cauldron
Group of questionably of-age anime girls = A Jailbait
why a cauldron?
@@shawnsuckstm3353 I've been near a gaggle of geese it sounds like what a group of geese sounds like
@@shawnsuckstm3353 you cant argue with that.
@@shawnsuckstm3353 Thought it was a Gander...
@@okami_eddy No it's a gaggle of geese. A gander is a goose with boy bits.
3:14
Yeah, Sayori's death was definitely super uncomfortable compared to other fictional suicides.
It just hits a lot closer to home, especially with that poem, "Bottles", that she gives you beforehand.
It's because, unlike the later horror stuff where some outside force is driving folks to insanity, Sayori's pain feels normal and authentic. After watching the full story, I found that it was fine, but I kinda wanted the story to STAY on that realistic route to explore the other girls' issues in better depth.
@@Montesama314 well.... Tbf the rest of the game is just exageration of what's already there and an exploration of Monikas broken psyche so... It works for me
@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 well Monika's story can be best described as existential horror I think. Same as what happens to Sayori in all but the best ending when she takes over the club.
@@Nuvendil
Thank you
Dan Salvato shares the exact opinion on why the game is free, not wanting to deceive his audience.
Terker2 I looked it up on Steam the other day, it's $10 now....
You must be thinking of the fanpack (read: soundtracks, wallpapers and concept art). The game itself is still free.
That's just extra stuff.
He's basically just went the route of Pirates, only he made the options of getting it free and paying for it if you like it a legal option.
He actually reviews it, the absolute madman
He's gas, man
i'd like the review more if he new all the hidden details
brony page that would require him to give a shit about the game and actually enjoy his time with it. He admitted at the start he's only doing it because people wouldn't shut the fuck up about it. So blame the fans for this one.
_From now on I'm referring to Sayori as Saddo McKillmyself._
I was literally about to comment something to that effect im still laughing right now
and from now on when people give me things i'm going to threaten to cut myself with it to get their hand oil into my bloodstream
I missed that at first.
For anyone else that missed it, it's at 3:37
Robbie Norris she just loves hanging around :D
I feel like this game would have been better if it'd focused more on the themes of dark realistic problems creeping into what started as a traditional dating sim that we see near the end of the first half, rather than bringing in this silly and rather nonsensical sentient AI and corrupted game creepypasta bullshit. As Yachtzee suggests, Sayuri's suicide is very tragically and compellingly built up and leaves a lot of room for exploration, but as soon as it happens the game immediately throws it out the window and never returns to it, choosing to mill around in vague horror instead.
I mean played it yesterday and i did enjoy how monika was more important than she let on and broke the forth wall once or twice. But i do agree that the corruption thing was probably worse off for it
The community is what makes the game
@@cavalierliberty6838 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I will say that the second route had some great moments and would have been pretty good had it not been for some of the creepypasta-ey moments. Natsuki's note talking about how worried she is about Yuri is, until that whole hacked thing, one of the creepiest moments in the game.
@@therealdgh13
In some ways, the subsequent hack makes it more unsettling. Natsuki's trying to act behind Monika's back, but Monika's in complete control.
Dan Salvato said somewhere that he wanted to flesh the game out more, and i think that's what hurt it the most. Natsuki was never really fleshed out, and the scares in Act 2 are good, but could be better. This review actually reminded me why i liked ZP so much. None of this 'It game me the midas touch' but no needless hating on shit. "Pick it up if you want, not my cup of tea but it might be yours."
Byeah #427 Yep
good comment
Natsuki was actually rather decently fleshed out, though it was only done with subtle hints so you got a clearer than vague picture of who she actually was, but not clear enough to see the picture for what it really was. It made it very clear that her father was abusive and that her small size is actually due to being malnourished, which is shown most strongly as she eats quickly without hesitation when offered food. From this it can be insinuated that her home is not the safest or most welcoming of places for a young girl like she is. And back when she was a child, she tells in her poems of how happy she was, which is most likely why she clings to what some may call childish tendencies such as her fascination with sweets, how she does things in an intentionally cutesy way, and why she still reads manga that is almost clearly classified for children. Natsuki as a character is in fact there, you just have to tie things together. And since those ties are so vague, Ill admit that this is my own personal interpretation and that it may not be 100% cannon.
And it's free which is the perfect price for it
loafhero it's not poor story telling, in all honesty, it's bad to just flat out explain someone's history. I agree that it should be depicted more clearly than the vague grasping if straws as seen in doki doki but fleshing out a story should be about the "now" following the normal perspective. There's a happy middle that is often overlooked with people trying to be too subtle and mysterious, and people being too forthcoming.
DDLC is more of an experience than a game, but I wish they stuck more with the mental illness theme than the glitchy horror one.
they kind of did to be honest.
I dont know man, mental illness in extreme amounts can mask/alter your perception, not unlike glitches
I would've been fine with either route, but considering a part of me is glad the game (which I can quit at any time) didnt force me to confront my inner demons by sticking with the metal illness theme too hard, I'm leaning on liking the glitchy horror, with mental illness merely in the background as a reminder
I agree. After Sayori's death, I expected the rest of the game to revolve around the other characters attempting to cope with her sudden tragic suicide (maybe with their own psychological issues coming to a head in response to the event).
@@faustlican5566 That's exactly what I thought the game was going to be. When Sayori died I lost my shit. She was so real and losing her genuinely hurt. And I thought we would have to play through the aftermath and we didn't get to.
@@JesseLeeHumphry seems like the game... took the easy way out.
Sayori's depression was the most compelling part of the game for me by an astronomical unit. I think that it would have been more effective as a horror if it stuck with the disturbingly realistic story it was setting up, but I have to say that after what a single, very hard punch did to me emotionally, I probably would have given up playing the game if it had even begun to hint at something like that for a second time.
Also, what's the android holding at 3:14?
As someone who holds some respect for DDLC and actually moderates a fairly large online community dedicated to its discussion: This is probably the most fair review of the game I've ever seen. Also this made me laugh my ass off. *_God_* I love Zero Punctuation.
Thanks for informing me!
jesus christ go away
Badum tsh
shit, this is high praise coming from yahtzee, honestly... he usually doesn't even consider vn, or the like so for him to straight railroad this game it must mean he somewhat enjoyed act one at least.
@@thecraze4853 In all fairness checking the files is not exactly on the standard to-do list when playing a game. Of course by this point anyone who's read up on the game knows there's lots of hidden stuff but Yahtzee is reviewing it from the perspective of a non-fan because fans don't need reviews, and the blunt truth is that a lot of people are going to play the game once, go "Huh, that was odd/unusual/interesting", and then go do something else.
Of course you could argue that Yahtzee could at least have mentioned that the secret stuff exists and it certainly wouldn't have been amiss, but even if he did the whole "Investigate every single part of the game including the files in case there's another clue or hint buried somewhere" is unlikely to appeal to most people. That's the kind of thing which is neat for the dedicated fans but for everyone else it's a flat "That's nice".
Y'know, "you might as well play it, it's free" is a lot better of a review than I thought he'd give it, and I'm the kinda guy who had his gmail name as "Just Monika" for long enough that I accidentally emailed my mom with it.
You Just Monica on Discord? We're in the same SC2 clan if you are.
Out of morbid curiosity, what was you mom's response to "Just Monika"?
Yeah, tell us.
ending the relatively normal email with "also who's monika?"
my response was just "dont worry about it" and changing it.
lol
Honestly might be one of the best reviews Yahtzee’s done. He gets straight into the shit without any pretentiousness (for his standards), doesn't care about the public opinion, but also commends the game’s good bits.
"It was just really fucking sad." ~Ben Yahtzee Croshaw
Yahtzee does make a good point; I was actually laughing my ass off at the way the game foreshadowed itself over and over, toyed with me and threw horror tropes at me. But I still had fun, and DDLC is supposed to be a satire in addition to a horror game, and I actually did get invested enough in the story to feel slightly bad for Monika at the end.
Thanks for your consideration
I felt bad for Monika in the sense that if I'm honest if this was a "serious" dating sim rather than a satire of one, she's the one I would have been going for from the start, as the one that seemed most sane and normal, honestly.
I find kinda interesting the fact that this game isn't actually much of a satire of dating sims. I mean, there is some of that, definitely. The whole "dude who wants to date one of the characters in real life" thing comes in for a right flogging, showing what happens when that feeling is...violently reciprocated. The concept it most explores is the idea of a fourth-wall-aware character. The whole point of the villain is that she's a tutorial NPC, given knowledge of the player beyond her world out of necessity, and, simultaneously, knowing that her whole existence is a work of fiction has driven her mad. I've even heard it read as a Lovecraftian sort of story, except, in this case, YOU"RE the eldritch horror from beyond the (game) realm, and your "cultist", driven mad by knowledge of your existence, is serving you without you knowing it. Even the way you kill her essentially involves you doing the sort of thing a lovecraftian horror would, retroactively deleting your own "worshipper" from existence.
I hadn't read a comment or theory like this before and man it makes a lot of sense, makes it better
@@Axl4325 Yeah. Essentially, Monika is a Cthulhu Cultist, and YOU are the Cthulhu in question. Sadly for her, she didn't bother to ask you before she started trying to gain your favor, and didn't account that A. You might not WANT what she's doing and B. You have vastly more power then she does..
@@billyweed835 not like we had any time really, she was plotting murder even before things went downhill and only decided to fire at will when they did, but I can't blame her, the game makes a big emphasis on the fact that she really just wants to be with the real human being playing the game and not the bots, and the bots are giving her a hard time
This is actually a really brilliant interpretation and gives the game SO much more meaning when you look at it that way. Thank you for posting this comment, seriously.
Monika is quite tragic to me, both for the reason you stated above (I love the eldritch horror metaphor) and the fact she wouldn't have a route if the game was an actual dating sim. imagine being in her shoes, seeing someone she is programmed to love (which leads to conflict of her wondering if feelings are real or if they're just her code) romance her friends, have them fall for him, knowing he's just a vessel, and seeing the player reset it over and over, erasing those emotions and throwing them out like they're nothing. she might have a very twisted perception of love as a result and doesn't want you to throw her out either.
Just Yatzhee.
That's one game file I would _not_ delete no matter what.
*creates new folder*
*puts Yatzhee.chr into folder*
*renames folder 'Coventry'*
Fucking Yatzheemmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
> Sterling.chr not found
> ExCreds.chr not found
> MovieBob.chr not found
Man it sure is a good thing removing characters from their native folder doesn't actually remove them from existence as much as Escapist.exe likes to behave that way
*JUST YAHTZEE*
GioStoryTeller
Kind of meta when you realize that he’s the last active Escapist show.
"2 gratuitous pantyshots short of a Sailor Moon episode."
I'm stealing that one. That is genius.
I had the same reaction. I thought it was going to turn into a game where the main girls suicide was going to trigger depression in the rest and you would be trying to stop your new friends from committing suicide. I was so relieved when it turned out to be magic horror.
This has to be one of the most interesting comment sections I have ever seen. This entire thing is a constant and mostly calm debate about the game and the review, with fans and critics both addressing each other on rather calm terms. We are discussing matters of content, themes, popularity and effective horror. I must say-I`m impressed!
Honestly, DDLC is a matter of taste. I personally really think it`s a good game, not so much because of the horror elements but because of the characters and writing. At the same time, however, I can see why others aren`t necessarily the biggest fans of it. If you have not played the game and you have not seen any of it, you might as well give it a shot because it`s free. If you end up not liking it, you didn`t exactly pay anything for it, so I`m glad you give the same suggestion.
Flygoniaks
Ur mom gay
The writing's sh/t
From what I heard in this video it discourages me even more. What fun is "playing" through all that?
Some of the comments here a re pretty aggressive.
This is pretty much how I felt about the game too.
The suicide hit me really hard, but everything else in the game after that was comical. Except for the posters of Sayori hanging herself in the background.
I really don't get why that suicide hit me so hard. Even to this day I get really happy to see Sayori on her two feet and smiling. It's a really surreal feeling for me.
If you continue to listen to monika in the endgame she tells you that Sayori was clumsy when she hanged herself. She didn't get a high enough to hang herself so rather than breaking her neck she was suffocating her fingers were bloody from trying to escape trying to rip the rope off but died soon after.
Oreally It's that whole juxtaposition aspect Yahtzee mentioned regarding spec ops the line. Giving you the gameplay you obviously wanted to play and love, but then pull a complete tonal 180 and make you question your actions in that gameplay in retrospective
+miller repin
I saw the bloody fingers, but thanks for trying to make me feel more depressed anyway.
I got you man. I was expecting that since the moment he went to school without her
but still that scene hit me really bad
Yuri is best gril.
But yeah, the ending would have been better had it not been for Monika walking you through how to delete her.
Yea, i found Yuri to be very relatable, in a eerie way. But i'm surprised to find out that Monika has so much extra lines when she stares you down long enough. I didnt know about all these extra lines at the end because i dont like Monika at all and if i cant snuff out that smirking hypocrite in the next 3 minutes, i surely wont be spending 30 minutes (!) to wonder if something will actually happen.
Scheneighnay No
Just Monika
She probably would've been better off explaining how she did everything, saying that she's the only thing left in the game, and challenging the player to see for themselves if they don't believe her.
That's a weird way to spell Natsuki.
I like how at 3:56 the background says "Oh no Sonic's dead" as if he hadn't already died like 16 years ago.
Honestly, even though I'm a fan of DDLC, I can see where he's coming from. After the big twist, it's hard for the game to surprise you too much, although I feel like he downplayed how creepy some of the Act 2 moments are- comparing it to a standard creepypasta seems kind of like comparing Get Out to a regular slasher film (not saying that Doki Doki is in the same level as Get Out, just an analogy). Still he made pretty good points, and I'm glad he didn't decide to poke fun at the fanbase. I feel like you know a reviewer isn't all that clever if they're resorting to making fun of people who enjoy the game more than them
Thing is, I didn't play it for the creepy. I played it because I LOVE meta-horror, which is exactly what it delivered.
It was more that once it hit the second act and the more overt horror aspects started seeping in, it completely destroyed the atmosphere that could have been built up.
the games seccond act is incredibly weak and relies on you liking the characters. The reason it got popular though is the theories that were strung from all the secrets there are in the game and the ammount of detail put into the game. Each playthrough tends to be a bit diffrent which fucks with people watching the game since one event might happen to you that wont happen to someone else and theres also chances weird things will happen on startup, Messing with the gamefiles also reveals tons of extra shit with weird images to entire novels coded into the character files. Thats really why i like it.
I think it got popular because it is Reaction Bait.
I think it's more so just Yahtzee has seen some shit in his years of game journalism and he's quite cynical. On top of that he doesn't really like dating sims, or the like, very much, so getting him attached enough to the characters to really get creeped out by them acting up in the second half would be quite difficult.
Now that you mention it, it does peak at the suicide, but for me, since im a weak bitch, it was a whole experience for me because I was always on edge wondering what the fuck was going to happen next. So it works if you're weak. Also I did like the SEVERELY REAL Depression case with Sayori. It felt super fucking real, and I wanted that to contiune honestly. You think it's a cliche dating sim, but it tackles real things that people have to deal with in life. That would've been cool.
I agree. It’s almost feels like the game expects you to increase the tension in the game because of your life experiences or something. I probably got a little more out of it than some other people due to me not having to imagine much about mental illness.
cliche isn't bad. cliche works, really really well.
You said it, it works if you're weak. And thats exactly what I've been saying for at least 10 years now, humans are getting weaker by the day and thats why this kind of thrash gets popular. Thank you for understanding your own shortcoming
Regardless of your view of the game overall, with all its tricks and twists, the writing was top notch.
And it's not just Sayori that portrays realism - Yuri and Natsuki's poems do as well - Amy Likes Spiders, Eagles can Fly, the different perspectives regarding the beach. Really terrific writing
Normally you'd say this is pandering.
But this is the good kind of panda. The one that gets to eat all the bamboo and have sex once in a while.
Wow. You've composed a proper Yahtzee joke. I'm genuinely impressed at how easily I was able to read this comment in his voice.
@@Pikminiman He didn't compose jack shit. Yahtzee did this joke, this guy only repeated it.
@@jansettler4828 : Aha, I see that now. It was the closing line from Yahtzee's "Doom" (2016) review.
I thought I was just a sensitive dork when I reacted to Sayori's death, but no, even a stone cold bastard like Yahtzee is really upset and outright depressed by watching the scene for the same reasons I am. It's too _real._ It's too _genuine._ I guess that's the point, but I'm not really gonna want to play a game that makes me want to cry because it makes me think of how I'd feel if I experienced that in real life.
Didn't expect this in my notifs today
Go back to googleplus
drinking game: take a shot each time someone tells abtin to go back to google+
dragon puncher Please explain this Google+ joke to me like I'm 5
"Aren't you a _little_ too young to be watching Zero Punctuation?"
me neither
I swear Yahtzee sounds like he’s saying Dorky Dorky Literature Club
Ikcatcher Why not.
Well... have you ever heard him say pawn shop?
he goes between 'dough-ki dough-ki' and 'dah-ki dah-ki' literature club. I'm in the dough party, but it doesn't matter to me, I agree that the game doesn't deserve to be paid for. It feels like half an idea they didn't know what to do with. A nice game could come out of it, if it was more fleshed out, had more storylines, more locations, more characters. The idea of having to start over and 'investigate' why a character is missing from the universe is interesting, but by the time I was playing for the 2nd and 3rd run I just didn't care anymore. Monica and Yuri were my only choices anyway.
“Get off my lawn” is one of the subtlest jokes I think I’ve ever heard Yahtzee say.
Doki Doki Panic has a really good that it never truly utilizes.
The idea that the stereotypes of a dating sim can be experimented with in a meta way to actually enhance drama and characterization in the genre is interesting but the game like a few others only has the one criticism of the genre and just descends from there, becoming just another dating sim or in this case, a creepy pasta.
Not to be confused with the famous predecessor to Super Mario Bros. 2, Doki Doki Literature Club.
Yeah I wouldn't say it has a huge amount of replay value, but I still ended up quite liking the horror aspects of the story. It feels like it's been years since I've played a game aiming for straight up psychological horror with emphasis on the emotions of the characters as opposed to another action horror focusing solely on shooting, jump-scares, and/or endless amounts of gore.
This review is spot on and addresses basically all my feelings about this game, thank you
"Like wading into a cold sea and knowing that there's going to be a bit of a lurch at the moment the water reaches bollock height"
Jesus that's too relatable
First time seeing your channel. I love how fast you talk. Part of this channels charm
The realistic depiction of depression was one of the better parts of the game and one that I think elevates the game. I can't really disagree with Yahtzee's criticism otherwise.
Gnomey Gnomeson I think the point was that it didn't really matter what you said. Any response would just get twisted by the depression into something that Sayori would use to hurt herself. At least that's my experience with depression.
Gnomey Gnomeson Agreed. In the game, the point is to make you feel powerless. In real life, it's best to try to be an emotional support. I felt very uncomfortable when MC said he knew what was best for her.
As much as the main character of DDLC is a send-up of the featureless everyman protagonist he does get strongly characterised...as a gigantic arsehole. I liked the two choices of what to say to Sayori both being terrible things to say because I got to that part of the game and thought "oh yeah, this is exactly how the main character would act. Goddamit."
The point is a jab at people who play these dating sims. The idea in these types of games is to live vicariously through the protagonist, chatting up and winning the hearts of all these girls who throw themselves at your feet. But in Doki Doki Literature Club you suddenly don't *want* to be that guy. Now you're forced to stick on the rails of the attitude of a protagonist whose attitude you wouldn't share in real life and now don't want to because you can see where it will go horribly wrong, and that you may have been indulging in the benefits from his position and behavior just a few minutes before makes the scene all the more personal. The end of act 1 really is the slam dunk of this game.
Ealdy Well, if you had a friend with depression with feelings for you, would you go licking other girls fingers minutes after talking with her about it?
For me that's the moment the bad side of his personality shined the most (specially after finding out he does it with both)
"And then their eyes became oddly realistic and blood...AND BLOOD"!
3:20
*"It was just really fucking sad"*
Ohhhh I getcha... it was...
I really love this game but I can definitely see where your coming from, cool video!
You are so right about the game. I essentially treat the first half and the second half two seperate games, and while I come to enjoy the second half, it wasn't what I was hoping for when I chose to continue after a 2 week break from being reminded not-so-fond memories. Gosh, I love the game, it was fun, but I really wished my sense of realistic dread stayed.
You need to watch the Game Theory episode.
Gustav Kuriga already did. Just because it hints another game doesn't change my criticism.
I literally just typed 'doki doki literature club zero punctuation' to see if he'd reviewed it
goddamn
fucking god powers
i saw it was uploaded 1 minute ago halfway down the page and thought 'nah man im a god'
Just Yahtzee
Wow, you have the ability to predict events that happened a whole fucking week ago.
I literally just typed GrazerMagic youtube comment to see if he'd write something.
goddamn
How do these things just happen man?
Okay, I was expecting him to rip it apart, but he was actually pretty fair about it considering his experience with visual novel tropes as a whole.
He is correct in saying that the game reaches its peak when the depression stuff happens, but where I disagree is the rest. Seeing as he was just looking at it as "creepypasta horror game", plus his overall lack of interest in anime tropes in general, he does understandably ignore a lot of the more subtle writing. Like the fact that even before the fucked up shit starts to happen, the issues and weird things were already in place, it just got raised to eleven after the peak moment hit. The music as well has a lot of interesting cues, as well as the things in the files actually giving you more tidibits of lore about the game and its characters.
Overall though, his assessment as a game reviewer with little experience in anime is pretty fair and even surprisingly not inflammatory. The fact alone that he didn't dismiss the game as just another FNAF (at least once he played it) is good enough to me.
Great review, Yahtzee.
I mean, he was kinda forced to play it, so I doubt he entered with much interest in the first place.
The Creepypasta Horror Game bit is definitely not meant to be the focus. Its purpose in the story of the game is really minimal I feel, and going through the game after knowing that the 2nd act was gonna be sp00ky, it didn't bother me at all. I definitely wouldn't really call it a horror game at all. It's just an interesting story told in a pretty cool way.
Even with knowledge of anime tropes I agree with Yathzee. After the hanging it feel like the game is trying to top itself and stops being intimidating
I feel like having knowledge of anime tropes should by all accounts make the game worse. I knew the second I saw the cover art that something more sinister was in the game because all the characters look so bloody generic, the pink haired tsundere, the shrinking violet, the responsible calm leader and the Genki girl. The games way of trying to flesh out its characters is to just throw some random sad backstory from the "random sad backstory machine" and from there, never really exploring any of girls in any considerable depth unless for a quick scare. The depressed girl (I have completely forgotten their names) is the only one that has any effort into writing her as a character and even then its only in one scene and attributed to incredible dialogue more than anything else.
Basically by the time all the scary shit was happening I just found the characters so boring and generic that I was rapid pressing the button to skip dialogue so I could finally get to the meta-horror stuff which while an interesting premise I have seen better, watch the Gravity Falls episode "Soos and the real girl" for a show that went a bit further with its premise.
I didn't really find my knowledge of anime enhanced the experience for me, but my knowledge of psychology and philosophy absolutely did. The idea of a sentient game character with complete control of her environment that knows she was created to love and pursue the protagonist but somehow gained free will is just... fucking cool. Especially when she makes the conscious decision to follow her intended purpose to the best of her ability despite not being forced to. In fact the only reason Monica goes a little nuts is because the game was 'bugged' and her route was left out, so she had to make her own.
Ultimately, I think Undertale does tackle this idea of a sentient game character better with one exception that DDLC really gets, and that's being able to empathize. It's really difficult to empathize with Flowey, as he has been trapped in loops for who knows how long and has lost his fucking mind somewhere along the way. Chara is even less able to be empathized with as she's portrayed as some kind of demonic destroyer of worlds that steals souls for fun along the way.
Monica, however, seems to gain awareness at the moment we start playing the game. Unlike Flowey and Chara who have long histories and have existed for dozens or possibly hundreds of years depending on how you view the time loops, we get to experience everything right along with Monica. Her poems make it very clear that she is confused and even a little scared by the nature of her existence and that it is all very new to her. It's also quite easy to follow her thought process. Why care about the bits of code masquerading as people when she finally has access to another real person to interact with? Someone that isn't constrained to reacting in the same pre-programmed responses time after time.
I can absolutely place myself in her shoes and see myself doing something similar.
Love Yahtzee, love Doki Doki, and got scared when I noticed the two temporarily mixed....glad he was at least patient enough to make valid points instead of completely shitting on it.
I think Yahzee like Sayori.........base on how he actually give a siht about her- *oh Imma not gonna spoil that, it's free, go play yourself.*
...I mean, he doesn't even mention the other girl-
Braid The review spoils it so what's the point in not spoiling it?
He also called her best girl so...
Felix Logographic the game is long enough on the internet it’s almost impossible not to catch a spoiler or two
fucking hell, chill
Katrina Payne I was gonna call you a bunch a ridiculous shit but then I accidently clicked your picture and saw it was all true. So now I'm just writing this and leaving it to your tiny damaged brain to imagine
funny thing is, this IS just a concept game. If what people on Reddit has find out is true, then this is an advertising campaign fore a game coming out later this year
Thank you, Yahtzee. For summing up how I felt about the game and delivering it better than I ever could. You're worth your weight in gold.
I think even Dan Salvato cried when Sayori hung herself... Rest in Pepperoni, you were a brave soldier.
0:12 I don't get the opportunity to do so often, so I will: hahahahah
Ahahahahaha
Hahahahaha
Hahah
It would figure this game is right up a Slaanesi cultist's alley.
Knowing that Yahtzee will one day review *HuniePop*
it fills me with determination!
Ahm, Huniepop 2 (2018)
Oh my, but you're dedicated. I mean, I last saw you post this nearly a year ago. You do you, strange youtube person, you do you.
*But nobody came
Oh good. That was a fun subversion of the dating sim: a mockery rather than the pretentious wankathon that DDLC was.
Now GalGun: Double Peace is awesome as well; it's a visual novel dating sim hiding a surprisingly competent on-rails shooter.
Ah, GalGun. I can't think of any other game that has DLC to change the size of boobs.
2:34 That's an amazingly accurate description
That all being said, the writing is surprisingly entertaining. Even the giggly high school drivel you'd expect to be a slog to get through wasn't too bad. The main part where the writing gets good is ironically the very end where Monika stares you in the face forever, but most people don't really stay for too long to listen to what she has to say.
She's actually written out to be a super interesting and insightful person in the end if you read through all her random blurbs. If she WAS a real person, she'd be a great conversationalist. If you want to read everything she says instead of waiting for like a half hour for all of them to spawn in, you can see them on the DDLC Wiki
I just looked over it and Jesus Christ, he must have spent a ton of time writing all that dialogue, that I bet only a few players ever got to. It is pretty good though, I agree.
I actually read all of it the first time. Firstly because I did not know if something else was gonna happen and secondly because I really enjoyed the dialogue.
Then I just moved her file to get the ending and put it back in afterwards :3
Bro Dan Salvato probably made more dialogue for Monika at the end than for the rest of the entire game and characters, a friend and I stayed for a loooot of time and she almost never repeated herself, it's insane how interesting and well written her dialogue is
Just thought I’d share this terrible dialogue: “I was thinking about Sayori earlier..."
"I still wish I could have handled that whole thing a little more tactfully."
"You're not still hung up over it, right?"
"...Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I just said that."
"That pun was completely unintentional, I swear!"
"But anyway..."
"I know how much you cared about her, so it only feels right for me to share her last moments with you."
"You know how Sayori is really clumsy?"
"Well, she kind of messed up the whole hanging thing..."
"You're supposed to jump from high enough that the rope snaps your neck, making it quick and painless."
"But she just used a chair, meaning she kind of just left herself to slowly asphyxiate."
"But a few seconds in, she must have changed her mind or something..."
"Because she started clawing at the rope, trying to free herself."
"She must have kept at it all the way until she lost consciousness."
"That's why her fingertips were all bloody, anyway."
"Come to think of it, it was probably less 'changing her mind' and more just her survival instincts kicking in."
"So you can't really fault her for that."
"It's easier to think that she probably wouldn't have changed her mind anyway, right?"
"It's not healthy to think about the things you could have done differently."
"So just remember that even though you could have saved her, it's technically not your fault she killed herself."
"I may have exacerbated it a little bit, but Sayori was already mentally ill."
"Still, though..."
"I wonder how things would be if you and I just started dating from the get-go?"
"I guess we'd all still be in the clubroom, writing poems and having fun together."
"But what's the point when none of it is even real?"
"I mean, it's the same ending either way, right?"
"The two of us, happily together..."
"There's no reason to ask for any more than that."
"I was just pointlessly musing - I'm really as happy as I could be right now."
"Docky Docky"
Isn’t that where you leave your boaty boaty?
Yeah I'd guess he's mispronouncing it as a joke (the beginning of the game has voices shouting DOKI DOKI)
I'd like to 'Docky Docky' with some anime girls, if you know what I mean. *sniff sniff*. Wait, hold up, am I being fumigated?
Samuel Cole I appreciate your self awareness, but it’s going to take more than that for me to get to sleep at night instead of screaming at my ceiling.
Narcissism Incarnate You are a little too pure to witness the internet my friend.
Sums it up perfectly. I'm just surprised he didn't mention all the extra stuff people found out. That this is a prequel to a game coming out this year.
He's here to critique a game, not give speculation on theories surrounding it.
Chance Kimber
Meh, I was at least expecting a joke about it.
he doesnt dwell into what people say about it. he just plays the game a talks about what he finds, he doesnt see a point in digging around
Also I'm fairly sure that they said that the next game they're making will have no connection to doki doki literature club and that that's just a rumour started by game theory.
TheFrostsabre Except MatPat basically just rehashed all of the research that had already been done by other people, so Game Theory didn't really create the Project Libitina hype so much as they just popularized it.
Also, I wouldn't necessarily take Team Salvato at their word on that point. After all, these are the people that marketed DDLC as a legit dating sim.
Thank you kind sir, I have waited months for this
I missed this review! It's been out since February and I've completely missed it until now! Oh man, you are awesome for doing this game!
That was a much nicer review than I expected.
Wulf Yaeger I was surprised, too. Was expecting him to shit on the game all throughout the video.
Was not expecting this game on here.
Thank you for voicing my thoughts so accurately.
thanks for demystifying this for me!
After watching the review, I can see were you are coming from. One the suicide happens it does go over the top. It becomes way more jump scary.
The Loneliest Rocket which is ironic because the game itself criticizes other horror games for relying too much on jumpscares.
I'd say the game has a lot more restraint than other horror games
There are literally no jump scares in it (**Spoilers ahead, obviously**) unless you are streaming it on one of two programs though? It relies on changes of music pitch, frequency and speed and corruption of graphics. Earlier on in the early second play-through there are changes to certain conversations however that sometimes make you do a double take, such as Yuri's description of the novel.
I was skimming the text the first time and had to double back to make sure I was right in reading that the once nice novel about a girl, had actually turned into a story about some form of torture tale involving dismemberment.
Grigeral Wasn't there a jumpscare where natsuki snapped her neck and sprinted towards the screen. Well, not really sprinted. More like wobbled very quickly towards us...
derpywaffle 247 That only occurs when certain actions and criteria are met. It doesn’t always happen in a playthrough.
"I believe the correct term is a jailbait of anime girls"
Jesus Yahtzee.
As masterfully written as always
Best birthday gift ever! I was hoping he'd wear down and review this one.
i feel Yahtzee is incorrect on act 2. He's pretending like it was all jump scares, but alot of the unsettling elements came from the girl's pain. Moments like Natsuki shaming Yuri for cutting herself or Natsuki lowkey telling you she stays in the club so her dad doesnt beat her aren't cheap, they're real.
The best thing about Doki Doki was the lead up to the jump scares and how it completely pretended they didn’t exist afterwards like everything is normal again. It eats away at you.
I disagree, the horror bits felt like they were trying too hard and came across as forced. Especially the part where Yuri stabs herself.
SPAKELDORF That’s the point. They WERE forced and you knew they were coming but you didn’t exactly know what was going to happen how it was gonna happen or how the game was going to play it off after.
@@SoggySoup What do you mean by that?
I felt like everything after the hanging scene ruined it. It kinda robbed that powerful moment of it's aftermath. I didn't like that these well written depictions of mental illness were suddenly explained away by "they were programmed to be more depressed/i amplified their problems" via unnecessary 4th wall stuff just for the sake of it. I think it would have been better without the obsessive love aspects, by involving that seemingly mandatory visual novel trope, the really good attempt at being unique quickly became typical. imo
I finally watched it, and while I liked it (and the GameGrumps reactions were funny), I feel like the game might have worked better WITHOUT the crazy reality tweaks and stuck with the mental illness issues. Sayori damn-near tugged at my heart because of how authentic her pain seemed. Wanted to give her a hug. Let me go forward with THAT premise, like I think that one story Katawa Shoujo did.
@HiThereI'mLost I get that. I would have been more surprised about the twist if the internet wasn't gushing about it. Ironically, Sayori's suicide was what blindsided me, since I hadn't specifically heard about it.
Oh my God! It's Clifford the Big Red Stab Wound!
So much polarisation in the comments!
I'm a big, big fan of the game - and no weeb, I can count the anime stuff I've played and/or seen on my collective digits - but I think Yahtzee makes some fair critiques.
"Wading into a cold sea" is accurate, and having to at least be open to the *possibility* of enjoying a dating sim/visual novel helps, as does enjoying poetry. But I felt it worth playing through a second time 1- to get Teh Good Ending(tm) and 2- to revisit the dialogue to appreciate the various foreshadowing I failed to spot the first time around (though most of it's so blatant it's more like a fiveshadow, geddit?) A lot of how you feel about the ending probably depends on how much you like the anti-hero[?], and on how long you stick around on her dialogue before progressing the plot - there's about two hours before it loops, and some of it's a pretty good read.
It's also probably because I've never played anything of its ilk that I appreciated it more than someone who's played many variations on the genre before. But at the same time, a lack of true originality (what is that even, anyway?) doesn't negate a variation on a theme being good, nor does knowing what The Twist is. I saw Groundhog Day for the first time just a couple of days ago - I knew what the plot was about and had seen more than one Bill Murray movie before and I still thought it was great.
TL;DR - Doki Doki has some good shit, and some stuff that could be better, but ultimately, it was made by a core staff of three people in their spare time, it's only about 4-6 hours depending how quick a reader you are, and it's FREE (though I sent them $10 as a bit of appreciation). As he concludes, you have little to lose from at least *trying* it.
EDIT: Also, "But it's just a teaser for a *real* game they're making this year" - and Pixar often have short animations before their feature films, doesn't mean you can't enjoy those either!
You really are the king of colorful language. The courtroom fumigation joke was particularly good.
I was honestly hoping he wouldnt do this one, just because he never seemed that invested in it in the livestream
*HuniePop* is superior!
they aren't even close to the same game to be compared that way
the only thing they have in common is the visual novel aesthetic
as a wise man would say
apples to oranges
Well, in HuniePop, they put out. Do they put out in this game?
I think we can all see who the winner is.
Boring Cookies Hakuna your tatas, I never responded in a passive-aggressive or straight out aggressive manner. Just pointed something out.
Also,
To each his own ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This was a first for me - I watched the first half of the review up to the spoiler warning, then followed Yahtzee’s advice and had a go at playing the game (because it’s free). I quit before the first poetry reading was complete, only to come back to this review telling me “you have to enjoy visual novels to some extent” and think “phew, glad I didn’t spend any more time grinding through that...”
Can't believe he did it, but this is one of the best ZPs of recent times.
Gonna have to rewatch a few times to fully absorb this much creatively-worded snark.
Having played it myself, I agree with every word. It's gripping, for a moment. That suicide bit was shocking, if alluded to a little too strongly. And I had the same moment of "ok game now you've become an instruction booklet" near the end when Monika basically tells you to delete her. Spot on.
"With a memorable moment or two" is the highest acclaim a game can get these days if you ask me. 10/10.
Seriously, those moments are probably gonna be etched in my brain forever
"One or two memorable moments" is not a very high standard to overcome.
Godawful games with zero polish (e.g. completely broken messes like Sonic 06) and mediocre games chock full of copied and pasted content but have a few significant unique set pieces (e.g. DK64) often exceed this standard by accident.
Discount Chocolate Fair, but those moments are complimented by a “nice little idea” and the fact that the compliment is coming from Yahtzee makes it stand out. At least for me.
“Get back here and smoulder you jerk!” -Monika
Lol
Gotta get ready to watch this one!
I love the music of this game
I think the game was ok, It only blew my mind that Doki Doki Literature club is actually an ARG for a really horror game coming out this year
What? Explain.
Solis look up the game theory on doki doki literature club
Shady Wolf I don't think I want to trust a Game Theory for potential release news.
WhyTheSkyFallsDown no it's not like that. He just shows you the truth of the game that reveals a game coming out this year.
It's not actually a "game theory" he literally has people decode the character files. Because...theres No such thing as "Monica.Chr" that's not how games work.
Shady Wolf Yeah we'll see.
Finally a review on the best mario game for awhile
You're probably a filthy goddamn liar if you didn't frequently choose President Toadstool for her floaty ass jumps over the wonkier Yuruigi, faster Toadsuki, and the totally unremarkable Mayori when playing as a child.
hands down, love this review above all other zero punctuation reviews.
I liked the reference to Angela's ashes for making you depressed, but the book is pretty good and a lot more, 'frank'.
I wish youtube would always recommend me good channels like this one
I kinda agree with him
Sayori hanging herself should of been saved for last, that was probably the only real punch the game had
I think Yuri stabbing herself in blind insanity was also quite a punch.
@@kenechewkuk.l8707 We should probably be asking Natsuki about punches
@@kenechewkuk.l8707 Not really. The game had already descended into creepypasta stupidity by that point, so it became standard fare, if not outright predictable.
@@benanderson89 it did surprise me with the timing hough, even if the event happenig at all didn't scare me too much. It was just a litlle bit too sudden but the time you just have to sit there and do nothing is really weird.
i think swapping yuri and sayori would have had similar effects of their inverse. yuri acting normal in act one leading to suicide would have had a similar psychological effect as sayori basically tatooing your body with "if you leave me alone for even thirty seconds after i tell you i'm depressed, i'll lose my grip on reality, and hang out for an eternity."
"if you're surprised by fucked-up things happening in visual novels, then you haven't played very many."
Definitely can attest to this one. "Saya no Uta" gave me shivers.
Oh my god my friends have been swearing up and down hyping it up saying it’s a different experience and an intellectual sight to behold, I’m glad you made this because I was never goin to play it and wanted to know what the fuss was about
I've been using the phrase "Okay, a little background?" for a long time, and I just now got Yahtzee's joke about it.
This is why I like Yahtzee, I need someone to give me cliff notes on the meme games.
I like this review because it gets to the point of the game's flaws. I personally liked the creepypasta parts, since that's just something I liked. I liked the more subtle or smaller details, like how the background of the classroom could change to have a picture of Sayori hanging and none of the characters notice. Or how very rarely the tile menu would change into something I find really creepy when you start up the game, though the chance is so low for such a short game that it hardly constitutes serious acknowledgements. However, the eye popping, creepy face changes does get a bit overdone. To the point where I can understand that some people would get tired of it.
Had this game have more time in development, I could definitely see it stretched out with handling both Yuri's and Natsuki's problems being handled more realistically like Sayori's was, as opposed to being cartoonish in Yuri's case, and more hinted at in Natsuki's. All the while Monika pulls the strings behind the scenes, as they steadily get worse and worse like what she did to Sayori in Act 1.
The thing that I really liked about DDLC, other than the small horror details that are sprinkled in that you may or may never see, is its foreshadowing. In Act 1 before Sayori's suicide, Monika was the one who confronted her with her increasingly depressed attitude. Shortly after, she kills herself. Monika informs the player that they "left her hanging", which already hints that she knew what happened. Details like this I really love, because the player on their first playthrough would most likely never realize this unless they play though the entire game again.
Good review!
Well first 5 minutes of the video made me laugh so hard I subscribed
Hulkbuster Mark 5 the video is 5 minutes
I've still got Monica's "Character File" on an USB.
Use it on someone
Fucking weeb.
@THE NEWMAKER She is also set as my backgound :D
a USB*
Funny review, even though I like the game a lot. I don't play horror games or dating sims, and still got into it.
Since this finally came to consoles I own it on Switch and PS4. It's now my favorite game and it got me into visual novels. I love it.
Fucking thank YOU,i live in a community where this game is worshipped like a god gift AND THIS VIDEO WAS A REAL GOD SEND