i thrust awake in a cold sweat beneath the quiet roof of my sengoku ranch. i remember that the deed is nearly complete - i'm on the brink of the backloggd alignment lock

the panting starts. then the puke; panicking over what i must do. i reflect on what has brought me to this point. the truth sets in

humans are given two choices in the fleeting existence they call life:

1. they rate kichikuou rance with a half star. completion status: abandoned. review roughly reads, "dont let rance fans near children" or, "i feel like a worse person for playing this". these people absolutely rule at parties and you should unconditionally take everything they say completely seriously

2. ten out of ten. reasons enigmatic. their thoughts may be more driven by seemingly sociopathic notions regarding how their life was changed by a fun strategy game with cartoon humor about a guy who does bad shit for women, money and power. there's a good chance these ones aren't getting invited to the aforementioned parties

this is where i forge my path; where i shall walk the road to dawn

...in all seriousness, i'm pretty amazed that something this meticulously detailed came from an eroge company - let alone in 1996. there are so many moving parts and interlinked events that it borders on overwhelming. tons of characters too - many of which you even won't meet because of how structurally dynamic everything is. seemingly whimsical decisions could have lasting consequences, be they positive or negative. it's all so thorough that looking up just about anything in a guide seriously compromises the overall experience

alicesoft's sheer fuck-it-we-ball energy is impossible not to respect here. they crammed every ridiculous idea they had for the series at the time into one sprawling what-if finale and somehow it actually worked. that said, since it's a rough summary for five games that at the time didn't even exist, the narrative feels a little rushed even though it clocks in at 40+ hours. definitely left me wanting a little more from the antagonists and world, but that's what the hundreds of hours worth in sequels is for, i suppose

look - if you think crassness is funny and you've remained skeptical of this series as i have for so long, i'd suggest considering it. if you're on the "i'd never play that shit" side of the spectrum, then you've already made up your mind and that's fine too

if you think this game's bad mechanically, however: skill issue, filtered and so on

here is a pdf that better formats/clarifies the in-game how to play section without any spoilers

Actually underestimated how dry and pointless this would be. I've been thinking a fair amount about dating/relationships and doing my own share and this still didn't strike a note with me--especially because you don't actually get left on read. The phenomenon of being left on read is so incendiary because for some folks text is where their thoughts and emotions can go unfiltered by meatspace, so for a love interest to go "k, not replying to that" can be pretty scarring. Yet the game is totally oblivious and uninterested in what its title phrase actually means, instead portraying cousin-who-you-text-annually-tier convos as some promising pen-pal romance instead of the banal drivel that it is. Not even cringe, because neither participants say anything remotely risky or potentially undesirable.

Sidebar: it's a personal pet peeve of mine when people pretend as if text is some alien & hobbled form of communication, and that nothing 'real' can form out of it. text-based friendships and romances have existed since dudes could put words on a page circa 4 millennia ago, pick up a history book.

Love the plot on the both micro and macro scale and the fact that this lets me roleplay as the misogynistic apolitical gamer I am is a true feat, not as big on the percent skill checks or seemingly random morale losses though. I also think there's some odd pacing barriers and tedium, with the shivers mural check being one of the worst. Zipping between the fishing village and the east side is also fairly annoying, and in general the game could benefit from a quick travel option for some key-locations. Also suffers a bit from the Planescape problem where people can just drone on and on about the most trivial bullshit or superfluous exposition.

All said however I do think this game approaches politics from a novel and interesting perspective, and is even more commendable for being closer to the political zeitgeist than whatever irrelevant WRPG/JRPG narrative is being deemed 'political' at the moment (see: Trails series). The relentless satire is funny, if a little repetitive, but is just a mask for the darker critique of convenient ideology at the heart of the story. The critique goes much farther than just a simple 'don't be dogmatic because reasons' platitude, and tries to demonstrate how being an ideologue disrupts your mental health, personality, relationships, etc.

In particular, the Fascist Thought seems pretty counterintitutive from a gameplay perspective, decreasing your morale every time you choose a fascist thought, but it's reflective of how mentally taxing being a fascist is, especially in a "thing" as blatantly left-wing and degenerate as Revanchol. The alcohol benefit of the Fascist thought seems like a cheap joke, but it's equally reflective of how the only way to maintain sanity as a Fascist is through intentional reality-disruption: i.e. constantly be drunk. The satire seemed too jokey at a first play-through but upon further inspection they're carefully considered, reflecting on what it's like to hold these beliefs both in the real-world and as a member of Revanchol. Politics is as important as it is banal, and is as universal as it is personal, and Disco Elysium really captures the contradictarory nature of all it.

However, if I had to give one substantial criticism, it's that the ending is too abru