Like A Heartbeat

How did I end up playing Doki Doki Literature Club? Not only is it not an MMO but, on the face of it at least, it's not even the kind of game I'd normally be aware of. I must be aboout as far from the target market for a cute Japanese teen dating game - or even a visual novel about one - as it's possible to get. I've read the odd blog post, where someone I followed was playing one, so I was vaguely aware they existed, but I've never played one myself or thought about it.

It all started when I was on YouTube, watching a video I've already forgotten about some game more in my wheelhouse. Something in the suggested viewing down the side caught my attention for reasons I can't recall - maybe it was the word "Literature" or maybe I thought "Doki Doki" sounded funny. Maybe I even meant to click on something else entirely. Wouldn't be the first time.

However it happened, a few minutes later I was intrigued enough by what I'd seen to pause the video before I spoiled things for myself. I read a few of the comments. They piqued my curiosity even more but then I had to stop that too.

I've been a complete sucker for post-modern irony since the late 1980s. It can't get too meta for me. I love things that turn out not to be what I thought they were and even more than that I love being lost, at sea, struggling to work out what's happening. I love self-aware, self-referential, playful art and entertainment that takes no prisoners when it comes to explaining itself. This looked like it might be any or all of that.

If I sound vague it's because this is something that deserves not to be spoiled and honestly, even saying that is a spoiler. I imagine the best possible experience would be to have downloaded the game thinking it was exactly what it appears to be. Or maybe that would be the worst possible experience. DDLC is not to be taken lightly.

Since we've come this far, though, I'll try to open things out just a little. I guess it's obvious that, like Dr. Langeskov, DDLC is not a straightforward proposition. Oh, boy, is it not...

I downloaded it via Steam a few days ago. It's free. I played for about an hour, my first session. Nothing much happened. The characters were well-drawn. The writing was decent. It definitely seemed to be more of a visual novel than a game. There wasn't a lot to do other than click and read.

Next evening I played again. By then I was kind of hooked on the characters. I wanted to see what would happen next. Something was off, though. Behind the haribo-bright surface, little anomalies and oddnesses were starting to appear, a queasy, off-kilter feeling beginning to build.

Around the end of the second hour I hit a major decision point. I made a choice that had implications that unsettled me. I stopped to let it filter and went to bed.

This morning our internet went down. The estimate was at least three hours. I did some housework but then I wanted to play something. I have very, very few offline games to call on but I wondered if DDLC could work without Steam being able to connect. It could.

It took me another two hours to reach what is apparently known as the "best" ending, which I seem to have hit upon entirely by chance on my first playthrough. Geeez. If that's the best one I dread to think what the rest are like.

I fired up FRAPs at the start, knowing I might blog about it and I have some really excellent screenshots... none of which I can use because from the first five minutes everything went straight to hell. Any of those shots will give away more than I would have thanked anyone for telling me before I started so I'll have to keep them to myself.

Even with some idea of what to expect there were a couple of occasions where I swore out loud and a couple more where I just leaned back in my seat and stared. Having finished I feel a strong desire to play the whole thing through again right away to see where else it can go. And then again after that.

Or I might just watch some playthroughs on YouTube. It would be appropriate, given that's where it all started. Anyway, it was an experience. An intense experience. If this is typical of the standard of visual novels I need to try some more.

As must be obvious, I highly recommend joining the Doki Doki Literature Club but be aware of the potential risks. The game opens with an onscreen warning : "This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed" and they aren't kidding. The full warning contains spoilers but might be worth checking before you play, if you have any concerns.

Welcome To Mediah : Black Desert

In a move almost as unexpected as the return of Super Adventure Box, this week Daum, the licensee and operator of Black Desert in the West, dropped an entire expansion on us out of the clear blue sky. There seems to be some rumor going around that MMORPGs are stagnating or even dying off. It's things like this, or the upcoming massive free update to EQ2 , or the one Blade and Soul just got, or Otherland, just to name-check a handful of games in which I have a personal interest, that get these kind of rumors started.

Got to be, because nothing says "ded gaem" like continual development and a pipe full of impressive new content, does it?  Truly the Last Days are upon us.

Nevertheless, although all may be sunlight and rose petals this side of the screen, things seemed very different for my Tamer when she blew into Tarif at two in the morning. The sky was dark, the prospects sulfurous... but, here, let her tell the story.

In the usual way of things it was the middle of the night when I woke up. At least I was in my own bed, for once, safe at home in  5, Lynch Ranch, not bivouacking under a bush. The moon was full so, since everyone else was awake and working already (no-one ever seems to sleep but me - it's worrisome), I decided to set off straight away rather than wait for morning.

By luck I'd already been to the closed border with Mediah to the East a week or so back and for once I knew exactly where I was going. I left the horse at the stables because, honestly, I can travel faster without him and running is good for my stamina. Although, on the other hand, riding is good for my...riding...so it's a judgment call.

My cottage isn't that far from the new lands so it didn't take too long to get to the border. There wasn't much to see along the road, it being nighttime and all, but there was some evidence of the warming political relations between the territories (or whatever caused the border to open this time) in the steady flow of foot traffic and wagons heading back West to Heidel.

It was too dark to tell all that much about the landscape but I got the feeling that it was slowly changing, becoming drier, dustier. The thick undergrowth turned to scrub and the road to grit and sand. There was no sudden, jolting transition from West to East, just a subtle elision.

I stopped for a brief rest at a small village. Didn't get the name. Already the architecture looked odd and foreign. It felt like I wasn't at home any more. Not that I know where home is, since I woke up not knowing who I am, with that Black Spirit whispering in my ear. 

Ah yes, the Spirit. He's a wonder, that's for sure. I thought he was something only I could see, although every so often, when I arrive in a new town, some local dignitary with a third eye or psychic powers will sense him and have a fit of the vapors. That's going to get me into trouble some day, I just bet.

And then I came to Tarif. I hadn't meant to go there. I didn't know it existed. I was just following the road, hoping it went somewhere. Roads usually do, although in my experience they're as likely to end in a ruin full of orcs as a welcoming inn. The sky was beginning to lighten as I came to the town gates so I could see a little. What I saw almost made me wish for the darkness back.

Oh, I'm not saying anything bad about Tarif. Well, nothing worse than I'd say about Florin. I have a strong feeling it wouldn't be clever to say anything bad about either of them. I mean, I'm sure the local Shai have a sound reason for pulling a Black Spirit around on a handcart in the dead of night. There must be one, right? That's not something you do for fun. Is it?

I was so stunned that at first I just stood there and gawped. Then my adventurer's instincts clicked in and I slipped into the shadows. It was two in the morning so it wasn't all that hard. Tarif was mostly shadows. Maybe it always is. 

I followed the long-eared little deviant as he wheeled his cart through the alleys and back streets, the Spirit gibbering and mumbling in a skin-crawlingly familiar way. At one point we passed an open door and in the light that blazed out I could see candles laid out for a ritual. Objects were hanging motionless in the air. The ritual had probably already happened. Maybe that's how this Shai got his Spirit-in-a-Pot. 

As dawn came on we arrived in the main square. No-one seems to sleep here, either. The streets were packed with people, trading and chatting and floating. Floating in the air. Doing back flips. I was starting to freak but I hadn't seen the worst of it yet.

As the sun set the hills alight and the streets began to glow I noticed an Inn. It seemed quite upmarket, with tables on a terrace and food already laid out, so I sat on a bench to take stock and breakfast, not necessarily in that order.

I looked around for the Inn Keeper. Then I saw her. In a manner of speaking. I saw her portrait on the wall. Some townsfolk were chatting. Chatting to the picture. The picture that wasn't a picture of the Inn Keeper. The picture that was the inn Keeper.

About this time I decided I'd catch my own breakfast after all. I made my excuses and bolted for the riverside. On the way I passed a smuggler, a man of a race I didn't immediately recognize, although if all his kin have a nose like his then I shan't be having any difficulty recognizing them in future.

He was operating in broad daylight (well, almost) with no regard to the law, even though guards were everywhere in the town, clinking in heavy chain mail, armed with vicious-looking pikestaffs. I get the general idea of what goes on here, I think.

So, this is Mediah as seen from Tarif, gateway to the East. The locals tell me it's a quiet place, not like the chaos and confusion I can expect further on down the road.

I can't wait.

Smile! You're In Transylvania! : TSW

11:20 AM British Summer Time. Monday morning. The west coast of America is sleeping, the east just beginning to stir. I log onto the Arcadia server. It's Full. It was full all day yesterday and felt it. As we approach the end of the first, free month, the population appears to be doing better than holding steady.

Oi! You'll have that tree alight!

I will be re-subbing for at least a month. Were Guild Wars 2 not looming I'd probably take a longer option. I may yet. I'm far from sure I'll be done with TSW in just another four weeks, particularly if the monthly content updates appear as promised. Mrs Bhagpuss, I think, will not re-sub. Despite it being her interest that got us into the game in the first place, she finds it too depressing a world to want to spend much time in.

Vampire Fast Food

Depressing wouldn't be my choice of words. I'd go for grim. Also disturbing. I'm not a fan of the horror genre, never have been, but as a long-term consumer of science fiction and fantasy, in books, movies, comics and video-games a certain exposure to its tropes has been unavoidable. Little that I've seen in The Secret World has been unfamiliar but quite a lot of it has been mildly uncomfortable. A handful of images (like the one on the right) I'd probably rather not have seen at all.

The real-world setting sharpens up the emotional response as does the relative realism of the graphics. I've yet to see anything in The Secret World in essence more viscerally vile than the disjointed, dismembered dwarves hanging on meat-hooks in the Troll city of Grobb, nor a game concept more repulsive than the casual use of body parts of player races in the craft of Baking, but the difference is that the 1990s graphics and fantasy setting of Everquest dilute the force of the horror, rendering it whimsical and fey whereas in The Secret World it comes at you raw and undiluted.

Gnomes on a roundabout! This is what we want!

Which is not to say that The Secret World doesn't have a whimsy all its own. The whole game soaks in it. Every other character seems to raise an arched eyebrow or adopt an ironic tone. The clutter in every house and street could be an art installation satirizing How We Live Now. Even the ambient soundscape quirks the corners of my mouth. But it's a dark humor. Laughing into the night. Whistling to keep your spirits up.

For me, far from being depressing traveling through this world has largely been a joy. The New England zones were fascinating. The towns and hamlets were charming and attractive, the sunlight through the trees and over the water beautiful, the coastline begging to be explored. It made me feel that Maine, on which I believe it's based, would be a very good place for a holiday. The endless dimming Fog and the constant zombie attacks were wearing, though, and those bloody moths really put a damper on the whole holiday vibe. I think it's my least favorite region.

A CRT? When will these fey-folk join the modern world?

About Egypt I have only good things to say. The sun shines all day and the stars come out at night. The gold of the sands and the blue of the sky lift the spirits. The ruins are fascinating, the locals and the visitors all have compelling stories to tell and the monsters have the grace to die quickly when you shoot them. I'm not done there and I'll be happy to go back.

And then we come to Transylvania. What must the Romanian Tourist Board be thinking? If we take it (and I think we must) that Funcom have done a lot of research and made a great effort to portray their locations as close analogs of their counterparts in our not-so-secret world, Transylvania does not look like much of a holiday destination.

Visit Traditional Village!

People do go there on vacation. I sometimes sell them the guide books. Somehow I don't imagine Harbaburesti figuring in anyone's itinerary. Even without the ghouls using uprooted roadsigns to dig up the dead and half the cars overturned and set on fire, it wouldn't look very appealing, what with the litter and trash in the untended gardens, everything looking used and worn out and the factories pouring pollution into the streams.

Further on the prospects improve a little. The Shadowy Forest looks, well, shadowy and forested. The Carpathian Teeth are snowy and open. I plan to explore those a little over the next couple of days, now that I'm strong enough to do more than just jog along the main roads. I have high hopes for Transylvania.

A grim world it may be, but it's an enthralling and compelling one, too. I want to see as much of it as I'm able.