Looks like I'm coming in at the right time with the discussion over whether a VN can be traumatic. I'm putting this one down, probably for good. This is the darkest, most depressing thing I've ever read. I'm not even all the way through Ch.2 and I came on here and the wiki to see if things get better, and no. No they do not.
But that leads me to a question: to all of you who enjoy this, why? Genuine question, not a dig. What is it you get out of this? I'm genuinely curious as to what you DO feel reading these things. If anyone wants to weigh in, please do.
I just needed to get some thoughts out and now I'm going to go interact with the real world, which is shockingly not as dark as this VN, at least not as constantly. And that's not a sentence I ever thought I'd say.
Hi, first of all.
As I have said a few times already in this thread, I personally (no longer) play this game like a porn game, i.e. looking to strangle the ol' one-eyed snake. Rather, I treat this as something like a good book series or a TV show with many seasons. A complex and long story that I follow over a period of time.
Unsurprisingly, what I get most out of it is the same that I would from reading a book or watching a TV series: Entertainment.
I like to immerse myself in the world, try to understand the characters motives and personalities, experience the plot and character developments.
Given the nature of your message, I believe it is important to stress that I personally don't play this
because of the psychological horror content and heavy topics revolving around depression, death, pedophilia, guilt etc. but rather
despite it.
In the beginning of me playing the game about 3 or 4 years ago, I actually got thrown off it because of these really disturbing scenes and general atmosphere. I didn't sign in for that when looking for cute Koikatsu harem porn.
However, I still kept going despite all this, because the writing was really worth it.
But what do I mean by that?
Selebus is undeniably a very talented writer. Even the negative reviews on here usually state that. He is eloquent in his writing, the characters differ in the way they speak or the topics they bring up, conversations feel natural and logical, there is basically no porn logic or even any other holes in the plot that you would usually find in a game that is, after all, focusing on banging girls - and lots of them.
And here is the crucial thing for me: This is pretty unique. There is a very limited amount of games with that level of literary skill. And certainly not with that much content.
It's not only the writing in itself though, like the dialogues and the narrators etc. He has also created a weirdly believable world with its own rules and intricacies. Sure, some of it may be ultimately still fall under porn logic in a sense, like the fact that there are almost no men (i.e. competitors) due to some space war that is blatantly shoe-horned into the story. But overall, the world does seem alive, characters each have a backstory, they have lives besides being LIs for the MC, they interact with each other off-screen, have friendships, even changing relationships due to plot developments. Many of those things are often missing altogether in other games like this.
In general, Sel was able to create something on the level of a proper IP, comparable to a book series or anime, or whatever you would want to compare a Koikatsu porn VN to. Not that I am saying that he is the next Stephen King, but that he is miles ahead of the vast majority of writing talent that you would usually find behind such elaborate titles like "My New Daughter's Lover", "Royale Harem" or "Get Cucked, Nerd" (I just picked random titles from the Release page, apologies to the creators).
That is what I appreciate the most. And that is why I am able to stomache (no pun intended, since I haven't watched it still) all of the scenes without tossing the game aside for something lighter. Because most of the alternatives simply don't meet my standards in quality. Besides, especially now that I am replaying the whole game, I appreciate the "weird" and extreme moments more than I used to. Not in the sense that I am jacking it to Maya being crucified. But that I am understanding that there is a vast and intricate story behind all of these scenes, that they are not there solely to shock the player, but that they have meaning and that they might be explained at a future point in time.
Also everything that Moonflare said. One point of which I find is especially noteworthy: These topics are dealt with very rarely in any kind of media. At least realistically. Which is also understandable, entertainment media is not really supposed to remind you of the disgusting, depressing and straight-up traumatic parts of life. But delving into the topic and making you think about these things is, in my opinion, a valuable experience.
Disclaimer: All of the above only applies to people who are not overly sensitive or do not currently have any personal traumatic or depressive episodes, for which certain scenes might be a trigger.
Though this is already more or less warned about at the very beginning of the game by Sel, so I would assume anyone playing this game should be highly aware of that.
