bittersweet_ta plans to do

Holy shit dude. Wow. First off, I just want to state that I went into this mod completely blind. I was expecting a nice, wholesome, slice of life mod with a happy ever after. Boy was I wrong. This mod was devastating, I genuinely feel off and physically weird from experiencing the end of this mod. The ending was such a shock and disturbing event that came out of nowhere, and it’s just so poetic of an ending that builds on what happens in the Original DDLC game involving Sayori’s suicide. I was really loving the beginning and the first 3/4 of the mod. The saving Sayori intro was a good hook, and most of the mod was really cute wholesome moments with MC and Natsuki. So let’s leave the ending for the end of this review… Everything and everyone was written really well, and personally for me, They felt very true to their respective characters from DDLC. When Natsuki confesses to MC and they become a couple, it was such a cute and visual scene. As a matter of fact, most scenes were written in a very visual and descriptive way, i could almost see the game play out in my head like a movie, so props to the writers, good writing. The music was beautiful, I actually went out of my way to download each song manually into Spotify. The Radiohead covers really complement this story excellently, creating that solemn and unsure atmosphere when needed. The music enhanced what I was feeling in each scene. Wholesomeness, unsureness, awkwardness, and lastly despair and dread. The sprites and backgrounds were well made, I think everything was top notch… except some of the CGs… Some of the CGs were hand drawn and look really awful. The proportions are super off and look like a kid drew it, so I went out of my way and averted my eyes and covered the visual with my hand when a CG wasn’t helping or enhancing the scene… which was a majority of the hand drawn ones… but it didn’t make this mod bad for me, I just really didn’t like some of the CGs. Sayori is the best character in this mod, her character arc and her ending was super poetic, and seeing the aftermath of her failed suicide attempt slowly evolve her into becoming this nuanced and complex character was beautiful. The scene with her walking with MC during the night was neat, expanded on who Sayori was. Monika was an interesting character in this mod, she was lowkey a secondary antagonist with how she dealt with things involving Sayori, but it’s interesting seeing Monika have this sort of, people pleaser personality we’ve never seen before. She’s anxious and feeling terrible nonstop because everything around her is falling apart, and I thought her character was intentionally flawed, which was cool. Yuri was barely in this mod, so lastly Natsuki. She felt a bit more abrasive and hostile in this mod than the original game, but I wouldn’t say it doesn’t feel like Natsuki. Building up this cute relationship and crushing it underneath our feet using Natsuki’s flaws and issues was really impactful and genius. Ok. Onto the ending. In MC’s head, he saved Natsuki. He put her dad in jail and that’s all that matters. Natsuki and MC have a heated argument, but from this point, it just felt like this was a “rough patch” in the relationship. MC planned to apologize in the morning. As MC finally settles down, he gently opens the door… and Natsuki killed herself. Bro. MC was well intended and really did everything he could to keep Natsuki safe from her psychotic father. But Natsuki is flawed. She couldn’t handle her past trauma being brought to life, everyone knowing how abused she was. So she killed herself cause to her, she didn’t want to face a world where people knew about her child abuse. She took the place of Sayori from the base DDLC game, dying in almost the same way from strangulation. It was even more shocking and awful to see, considering this is my first time experiencing something like this since the first time I played DDLC. It even followed the same formula, a loud strong song that enhanced that despair and awfulness of the situation. Zooming into Natsuki’s lifeless corpse. The CG was disgusting and awful to even look at. Terrible. It’s just such a gut wrenching end to her character and a tragic and awful thing to happen. Not knowing anything of this mod, it really hit me HARD. That montage scene where MC sees flashes of Natsuki as he goes day after day after Natsuki’s suicide and her death being ingrained in his head was so sad. The music really elevated this, and to me, this was the most gut wrenching and impactful scene. Trying so hard to save your lover and it ending in the most vile horrible way, and you get to live on. Natsuki’s final poem and suicide note were awful to read as well. All of this leads up to the actual final scene of the game where MC jumps off the cliff in front of Sayori. After everything that happened to MC, it makes sense but doesn’t make it any easier to watch. And to kill yourself infront of your CHILDHOOD FRIEND WHO YOU SAVED FROM A SUICIDE ATTEMPT? Awful dude, just awful. The last thing MC thought before he died on impact was “Natsuki, I-“ … Fucking awful dude, what is this modern day Romeo and Juliet tragedy?!?! I still feel awful from the ending, but it’s beautiful how this piece of media can affect me like this, so props to this mod. I really enjoyed this mod and don’t regret playing it, despite the horrible dread I’m feeling. People can make captivating and impactful narratives based on just the characters and new original stories, and If you want to feel something, play this. In terms of DDLC mods, 9/10

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