- Dec 13, 2018
- 7,748
- 19,529
10s across the board for this one.Mean parents, prostitution, and drug use (you forgot the Ep 4 Quinn Tommy heroin scene) are conflicts and plot devices. These elements can and are in any genre. Doctor Detroit was a hilarious comedy with prostitution, abusive parent (Mom), and drug use, and it isn't considered "dark" by any stretch of the imagination. "Dark" is a genre, like "westerns," "action," "romance," "sci-fi," "situation comedy," "drama", or "musical." "Dark" is a mood, an atmosphere, a theme that is grim and borders on the thriller and horror genres. The (rather brilliant) game City of Broken Dreams is a great example of the dark theme. If you want to SEE what the dark genre looks like, play this game, or watch shows like Dark Matter, or Space Above and Beyond, Blade Runner, or Escape From New York for some Dark Sci-Fi, or just about any Tim Burton movie. The Adams Family movies are dark comedies, etc. I'm reasonably sure you would not suggest that BADIK share the genre of these movies. BADIK has more in common with Glee than Blade Runner!
BADIK has not a single shift in theme so far up to Episode 5 and has remained true to its format. It is currently firmly a romantic sex college drama with strong comedic elements, with crime, intrigue, romance, betrayal and other interesting dramatic subplots. But there is yet to be the grim, dread, fear, terror, depressed mood, perpetual darkness, constant rain, and similar elements that make stories dark. These elements emerged (in the form of psycho-horror) in a sudden splash in AL act 3, which had been a romantic/sex drama up till that point. This was intentional on the part of the writer. He was going for shock value and subverting expectations by suddenly derailing the theme to something utterly dark. It was a gamble but in the end, it didn't work. It was sudden, emotionally violent, and painful (as intended). The characters you had come to care about were suddenly made to suffer brutally before your very eyes where moments before you were smiling and enjoying the romantic tension and humor. Shocking changes that, as one player put it "as I was forced to watch." Many people were very put off by that.
Of course there are conflicts going on in BADIK. Conflicts must be present to form a series of words into a story. Something bad happened to Ashley at the AnO party. Something's creepy with Bella. And other conflicts. None of which has to change the entire genre and theme of the story. That is the concern.
If City of Broken Dreams suddenly turned into a light hearted family friendly comedy in the 3rd act, you can be sure, people would be pissed.
I agree wholeheartedly that this game having "dark" elements doesn't mean it has to resort to killing off a character or even causing any of them some sort of physical pain. There's plenty of examples in fictitious stories where there are high stakes with dark elements and possible grave outcomes, but the story is also generally light in tone and all the major characters emerge unscathed, and this game could easily be one of them and very likely will be.
Sage being in her 4th year could add to her relationship drama because, while she could start a relationship with the MC if she finally breaks things off with Chad, it might only last for the rest of the year because after graduation she's likely to move away from B&R to find work. So, having potentially just come out of a messy break-up with someone she's been with for years, would she want to enter into a relationship with someone she may have to move away from later?Think about it:
1) When Rusty started DIK, she's already there, maybe as HOT prez, maybe not.
2) DIK is around for at least 2 years, given logic and calculations, based on number of members and conversations. Which means MC joined DIK in the 3rd year of DIK foundation.
So she is either in her 3rd year or 4th year.
She might feel something for the MC, but in order to not feel heartbreak should she move away, she'd continue to keep their relationship casual even though she really wants more, and this inner conflict would be the source of some drama and friction between her and the MC.
Maya being conflicted and doing things that make her seem a bit all over the place don't put her in the same camp as Leah. She's an 18/19 year old girl who's still unsure of herself whilst also trying to cope with some heartbreaking developments in her life as well as feeling some strange new feelings for someone of the opposite gender when previously she's only ever liked girls, or at least one girl. She's a bit of an emotional mess, yes, but she's certainly not crazy like Leah.The issue with M&J is that their interlinked situation draws up a natural comparison between their actions up to the reveal.
Josy's dialogue reveal to the MC that she is in a relationship, she does like you and she will eventually choose either option. The nature of her (scripted and unavoidable) interactions with the MC is that you are both willing to initiate contact and pursue each other i.e She phones you on the first night but it's MC who suggests the second date.
With Maya you never have a moment of clarity but are left swinging from the extremes.
You have the whole 'honesty' conversation where you have to commit to it but she won't until you prove yourself.
I have a boyfriend, I don't have a boyfriend.
Cuddle up to me on my bed but don't fall for me.
Going to grind you, get you abducted and effectively raped by another woman but I'm a sweet innocent thing, here's a kiss now back to your side of the room.
Maya is definitely 'complicated' and if that's your area of interest then fair enough but Leah scarred me the last time around (AL) so I'm sticking with the more interesting straight shooters of Sage and Josy and even the dull but hot Jillian.
People like that need emotional support, not to be shunned and treated like a leper just because she made some poor judgements which, again, come down to both her age and her emotional state at that time. I feel heart sorry for someone like Maya and the "lie of omission" doesn't bother me in the slightest as it wouldn't have changed anything even if she had said she had a girlfriend.
What hurt the most, for me, was the feeling that, instead of potentially just losing one girl that you like, it felt like you were now losing two at once. You were now faced with having not 1, but 2 love rivals who also happened to be characters that you were interested in, so it was a strange mix of emotions between heartbreak, uncertainty, and even a bit of hope, but then being forced to watch their first hook-up stung because it felt so much more emotional and intimate than anything they'd done with the MC.
I'm still not completely over all that and I was honestly dreading that moment in ep 5 when you see them go into a room together as I thought that we'd end up seeing them half-naked on the bed making out which would have re-opened that wound a fair bit. Fortunately DPC didn't do that, probably because they knew not to rub salt in the wounds of some people, and I'm hoping going forward that DPC can give players some greater reassurance through M&J interactions that there is something real between them and that this relationship can work.