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What Is Love Without Tragedy
- Notoh
- 05/21/2015 05:23 PM
- 3696 views
Prelude
Before I start reviewing, I would just like to say that this is my first review. I apologize in advance if there are any mistakes, and I will correct them if any are present. My goal in this review is to give constructive criticism to the developer of the game, and to give some insight to any players who find an interest in it. If there are any major spoilers revealed in this review, they’ll be hidden with the hide feature. Without further ado...
Introduction
Dear Mariko is a very short and quite simple RPG Maker horror game that has three very contrasting and almost contradictory endings. Each ending takes about five or so minutes to get, and depending how sharp you are, the whole game can be completed in ~15-30 minutes. For myself, it took me about 15 minutes to get all three endings. I even replayed it a few times to see the endings again, which took about 30 minutes altogether. I wanted to try to soak up all of the information I could, especially so I could try comprehending what the initial developer wanted to achieve or give as a message in this game. However, what I got though was me trying to pick up the bits and pieces of the information. I must say that this game had some really good ideas, however, a good chunk of them were executed poorly with confusing dialogue and an obscure main character.
Story
Score: 2.0
In this story you follow the main character, who is unnamed, and is presumably Mariko herself. It is revealed she returns to a particular home where she comes home to see her boyfriend Darien. She unexpectedly finds a letter on the ground in which it is revealed that her boyfriend is leaving her due to a stalker that he claims is “crazy” and a “monster”. Depending on what decision you make here, you either get the basic ending, or two different endings that’ll either go over your head or just make you glare at you computer in confusion.
If I was Darien I’d take Shinku over Mariko any day. Gotta get my yandere fix! Dear God, Help Me XD;
Endings
1. Normal Ending
Now this ending was probably the best, and made the most sense until you got the others endings. I can say that I appreciate this ending the most, mostly because Shinku just leaves without hesitation and that’s it. That’s the end. While this would be alright... if she was ACTUALLY Mariko herself. But she’s not. Which is why this one is completely dismissable and confusing.
2. Bad Ending
Hmm... I have so many questions! From reading the posts on the game page, it seems as if Mariko wasn’t breaking the door open, but rather just the shaking the knob. Which is fine. But why the heck is she carrying a knife so freely? I understand that you said she uses it for protection. But literally. Her portrait is her carrying a knife! I mean understand that you wanted her to look, well, like the stalker, but this essentially can confuse the player when the major plot twist happens.
Another thing that I noticed was when she read the letter she made extremely distorted sobbing noises. You’d think the stalker would be making these noises, but instead she doesn’t. And again--I understand that the developer wanted to make Mariko look like the stalker when she comes home, but I think it needs to be refined up a bit to the point where it doesn’t confuse us when we see the true ending.
3. True Ending
This is where, well, it gets a bit messy. When I saw the ending I didn’t get the text, but right away I understood that Shinku was the crazy-psycho-bonkers lady. This is alright in itself, but why put so much effort in to make Mariko look excessively psychoneurotic? I think you would’ve been better off making her look normal like Shinku and just making her seem very anxious/paranoid because of her not seeing Darien or because of Shinku herself.
The sequence where you get the knives and kill Mariko is actually very intense. I enjoyed the intensity of it, but the I didn’t quite understand who was speaking when the letter was rehearsed again. I did get though that Mariko was killed because of Shinku, and initially Shinku being the stalker. The plot twist would’ve been amazing if it was carried out in a better way.
While the story itself had some great ideas, there were a lot of plot holes and issues with the endings. There are definitely are some high points in the game as well, with the peak in the game being extremely intense.
Gameplay
Score: 3.5
This section will be fairly short, as the game was very short and it’s obvious that the gameplay wasn’t the focus in this game. The game was more of a visual novel--but that’s not bad as the majority of horror games don’t have a lot of gameplay elements besides puzzles. Yet here wasn’t really any puzzles in this game--it was mostly just the game handed at you and you, the player, going through the initial events in the story.
Is this bad though? No. For ~15-30 minutes of the game that is there, it is not necessary to have an extreme amount of gameplay. I did, however, like the little foreshadowing touches to the game. They were very faint, but when you added all of the pieces together it made sense. I can very much appreciate little things like that and I think a lot of other players can relate with me on this as well.
Graphics
Score: 4.0
The graphics were actually quite nice in this game. I really like that you had original art and cutscene graphics. However, I was sort of turned off when I saw a link on the bottom right corner of the snowflake image. Besides that, I think the sprites, cutscene graphics, and portraits are all very well done and put together.
One of the things I would have changed though would be the map area. I’d pretty it up a bit more, maybe even use some parallax mapping. Especially since the whole game is only in two rooms.
Sound
Score: 3.0
The sound was actually pretty good for the amount of game time it had. It did a good job of making it sound more intense, especially when you see “her” in the game. The voice acting for “her” was also quite nice, however sort of misplaced in my opinion.
Most of the time in the game there wasn’t any music from what I can remember. Just ambience, I believe.
Conclusion
Final Score: 3
This game wasn’t a bad a game, however it did have a lot issues with the story which is a big turn off for me personally. While there was nice things added like foreshadowing, (Which is rare in RPG Maker games from what’ve seen.) custom portraits, and a plot twist, there just needs to be some polishing up a bit and then it’d be a very, very good game.
Photo Credits: Kylaila and Kirroha
Posts
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Of course, hun! I look forward to more of your games!
And... I do have to ask. Are yandere characters a trend in your games? ;)
And... I do have to ask. Are yandere characters a trend in your games? ;)
author=Nedras
Of course, hun! I look forward to more of your games!
And... I do have to ask. Are yandere characters a trend in your games? ;)
Not really, I just decided to do something Charon-ish for kicks and giggles. :P I do like having morally ambiguous female characters who can be pushed to extremes and do some extreme things, but seldom are they actually stereotypically yandere, because as fun as they can be, they can tend to get boring after a while.
author=Kirroha
Not really, I just decided to do something Charon-ish for kicks and giggles. :P I do like having morally ambiguous female characters who can be pushed to extremes and do some extreme things, but seldom are they actually stereotypically yandere, because as fun as they can be, they can tend to get boring after a while.
Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yanderes can be poorly done sometimes--and usually don't have an excuse to be crazy other than the "Welp, i just like to kill because shock value hurdy hur hur."
While a character being pushed to an extreme is more emotional... and has a better impact on the player/watcher/etc.
author=Nedrasauthor=KirrohaYeah, I see what you're saying. Yanderes can be poorly done sometimes--and usually don't have an excuse to be crazy other than the "Welp, i just like to kill because shock value hurdy hur hur."
Not really, I just decided to do something Charon-ish for kicks and giggles. :P I do like having morally ambiguous female characters who can be pushed to extremes and do some extreme things, but seldom are they actually stereotypically yandere, because as fun as they can be, they can tend to get boring after a while.
While a character being pushed to an extreme is more emotional... and has a better impact on the player/watcher/etc.
I have to agree actually-
Welp, even though this game is kind of typical yandere since it's just meant to be a short, creepypasta-esque one, but I shy away from these types in my longer games where I actually bother to develop a proper backstory.
One thing I find pretty cool is to see the difference between a classic Yandere and a modern one - a classic one would be one who is originally sweet and is pushed to extremes and becomes crazy, while a modern one is the kind who alternates between sweet and crazy. Interesting to see how these kinds of stereotypes develop.
author=Kirroha
I have to agree actually-
[hide
Welp, even though this game is kind of typical yandere since it's just meant to be a short, creepypasta-esque one, but I shy away from these types in my longer games where I actually bother to develop a proper backstory.
One thing I find pretty cool is to see the difference between a classic Yandere and a modern one - a classic one would be one who is originally sweet and is pushed to extremes and becomes crazy, while a modern one is the kind who alternates between sweet and crazy. Interesting to see how these kinds of stereotypes develop.
Aah--honestly I think Mariko looked more like a modern yandere than Shinku did. Maybe Darian was dating two yanderes at the same time? ;)
I actually liked Shinku's character. If you ever do a remake (or a prequel) of this game you should consider making it longer with some sort of explanation as to why Shinku is why she is. I'd totally play that :P
I also started playing your demo for Mica: Apoptosis. Really liking what I'm seeing currently!
author=Nedrasauthor=KirrohaAah--honestly I think Mariko looked more like a modern yandere than Shinku did. Maybe Darian was dating two yanderes at the same time? ;)
I have to agree actually-
[hide
Welp, even though this game is kind of typical yandere since it's just meant to be a short, creepypasta-esque one, but I shy away from these types in my longer games where I actually bother to develop a proper backstory.
One thing I find pretty cool is to see the difference between a classic Yandere and a modern one - a classic one would be one who is originally sweet and is pushed to extremes and becomes crazy, while a modern one is the kind who alternates between sweet and crazy. Interesting to see how these kinds of stereotypes develop.
I actually liked Shinku's character. If you ever do a remake (or a prequel) of this game you should consider making it longer with some sort of explanation as to why Shinku is why she is. I'd totally play that :P
I also started playing your demo for Mica: Apoptosis. Really liking what I'm seeing currently!
Heh, the 'official' explanation is just that there was some time lapse between the introduction monologue and the current Mariko, during which Mariko found out about Shinku, and broke psychologically from being repeatedly harassed and stalked (which is why she is carrying a knife everywhere). Any theories are welcome, though. :P
And yeah, I'm actually really determined to release Mica: Apoptosis, though I think the plot is getting pretty convoluted! And I'll certainly consider the Dear Mariko prequel thing. :D
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