So, I've played "The Purist" mod, about a week ago, completed it (minus bad endings), and I have a couple of thoughts and, well, I guess you can call this a 'review' or something.
This is also my biggest 'review' that I ever wrote, so here's that.
This review, obviously, contains spoilers, but, I'll try to mask them off, but please be aware, that even if I do it, it may still leave some spoilers, so if you have not played the mod yet, then please, refrain from reading the review, and go and play the mod for yourself. I'm serious, it's worth your time.
A-a-a-a-a-anyway. Let's begin.
First things first, I will talk about the writing in the end of the review, firstly, I want to talk about the 'shell' of the mod, thus being, the new art, the new music, the new gameplay features (if there are any). I will also give out suggestions (if the team of the mod, or a possible mod developer is reading this) for what I think could be improved.
The new music.
It's really good. It sounds close to the initial style of DDLC, it sounds good, and it fits the mod and it's moments really good. It fits the dokis, it fits the mood, and it works really well to deliver more feelings towards the player. Which, I must salute the author of the tunes, thus being Matt Twigg, congrats, Matt, you've done really well.
For this part, I have no suggestions, the soundtrack fits, it's well-done, and in general, probably might be one of the best soundtracks for mods, with additional bonus points, for it being made from scratch.
The new art.
Firstly, and I don't want to come off as disrespectful and annoying, I feel like this mod doesn't have that much art, as it should have. I wanted to mention this, since the mod was in-dev for 10 months, which would suggest, that there would be quite a bit of new art. I understand that doing art (and the art of the level that's done in this mod) is very difficult, but that still feels a little bit disappointing. For example, I don't see any new expressions in the mod, let alone, sprite editing (well, excluding the new outfit/hairstyle for Sayori) I don't see why you couldn't picture Yuri's lesser cuts while describing it. But, expressions... They are lacking. In the routes, you could've put a lot of new expressions, thus making the mod feel more expressive, and make the player be more invested in the mod. New expressions could've been made not only by drawing from scratch, but edited using a tool, or a photo editing program from the other expressions.
The backgrounds, quite a chunk of them I've seen, but the new ones (I'm assuming, also drawn from scratch) look really damn good. I don't know if it was an Easter egg, but in, I recall, the Sayori route, when you get to a cafe, there's a poster with a Russian drink brand, thus being 'Хлебный Край' which is kvas [квас], me being Russian myself, that gave me quite a chuckle, but that could be also viewed as an 'atmosphere breaker' since Cyrillic text out of nowhere? The new CG scenes... They look real dope. They look really damn close to the original game, if not being even better at parts. The shading, the lines, the style in general, feels really well-done, and really polished. So, kudos to the artists! TL;DR - There's a lack of art, and looking at the dev-span of the mod, it feels mildly disappointing, but, the art that's in the mod, is really, really well-done. I was also pleasantly surprised, since the mod's BG quality, was always good, and I didn't see pixels, which made me really happy! Later in the mod, after playing through all routes, and learning that everybody likes the park, it became sort of old and funny to see the park being the place again, and on, and on...
For this part, I have a couple of suggestions:
-Please, add new expressions in the mods. They wouldn't do bad on you, only good, since it allows for a better experience.
-It's understandable that art is quite time-consuming, though, it would be really neat if there would be more art in more scenes of the mod, since the mod is quite long.
Well then. Now, let's speak about the mod's strongest part, that being the writing.
I want to say my doki 'preference', so you would understand to who I might be biased for, though, I'll try not to be biased, or to be as least biased, as I possibly can be. I like Yuri the most, but, that doesn't mean I hate any other doki, I like all dokis, but Yuri's the most, umm, relatable to me.
I also want to mention, that me describing the routes, might go to the art problems that I had with the mod, so even if it will be focused on writing, I may bring my points in the routes descriptions, just so it would be a clear example.
I also will not give a 'final score' or something like that, since I believe that's unnecessary.
So... Let's start with the Sayori route.
Sayori's route, is quite good. It deals with her character, the 'dating', and it's overall quite interesting to play through-out. But, I have problems with the choices the game gives us. Quite a bit of them, are obvious if they will give me the bad ending, and some choices seem rather unnecessary (like, when MC mentions about splitting the bill, but then we're still given the choice for some reason) It's a damn good story, that was quite interesting to witness... But, there's art lacking in some moments, namely, her expressions, you would expect her to have full-red eyes of salty water, but in reality, we get the stock expression with two little water dots, which looks kinda odd. I get that words are more powerful than pictures, but... Come on, some new art in important parts of the story, it's climax, and the 'juicy' parts, would be a really great contributor to the player's perception, which is a bummer.
But, what I think Sayori would want more, is to see the club members more often. After all, she would be more fine for 'platonic' love, than full-pledged romance, so I think she would want to hang out with her friends more often, here, I would've suggested making off-camera parts, with Sayori spending time with other friends of hers, and then speaking to MC about it, thus sharing the experiences, and be it bittersweet, be it something sweet. And, for crying out loud, she's a vice president, why won't she like, do some good choices?
I also really like the part where Sayori takes care of sick MC, it's a really cool idea, and it's just... Really interesting, and really clever. You see her evolving, you see her learning, you see her becoming better, and looking a bit more positive! It's a touching part, and I really loved it. I really did.
All in all, definitely a good route. Good writing, well-handled.
Could use improvement in: Sayori's friendship with the lit club, and her vice presidency. Adding new art and expressions.
Now, let's speak about Yuri's route.
This is a good route, that has, probably, one of the best portrayals of her character I've seen in the mods to date. She's shy, she has no self confidence, she's quite vulnerable, but still continues to be a sweet and a good person, and, Yuri's character is quite difficult to nail, but you've nailed it.
But, I don't think I like the idea behind the bullying and the e-mails. I find it quite cliché, though, it does a good job at moving the story, and giving it a culmination, which works fairly well, but I still find it not to be the best idea that could've happened.
The new art, is quite good, but, what is a minus, that MC doesn't really seem to care a lot about Yuri's ways of 'relieving', which, is lacking, in my opinion, it should've gotten more focus, along-side with the new art, (and maybe, near the ending, something sweet, Yuri showing us her cuts being nothing more but scars.)
I also think this was a missed opportunity, to possibly add more things that Yuri would like, and share them with us. That would go against making the mod as canon as it could be, but it would, I believe, add quite a bunch to the story.
This route also lacks in Yuri's friendship. We don't hear about them and Natsuki, yet, Natsuki is basically the one that saves us from fucking things up, which is a missed opportunity, for sure.
Oh yeah, choices in this route are also obvious. If the mod tells you to do something, then you do stuff as the mod tells you to do. Natsuki told you to give her time? Give her time! You've spoken about not being violent? Don't be violent! It's just... I don't know, doesn't really make the choices (once again) feel necessary, which, once again, isn't really good.
The bad ending I got (not doing like Natsuki told us), was very abrupt, and... Didn't feel really logical in the end as well. But, whatever.
Could use improvement in: Yuri's friendship with Natsuki. Adding new art and expressions.
Now, let's talk about my least favourite route, thus being, Natsuki route.
Of course, I might not like the route since I don't agree with the idea, or her character, but my review, is obviously a subjective piece of media, so I hope you can bear with me here.
I really didn't like Natsuki in this mod. She feels really unlikable, is quite often mean on MC, doesn't feel like she's grateful to him, and just... I dunno, feels like an annoying teenage girl. I get that she has problems, but... Holy shit man, I felt really bored and uninterested playing the route. I didn't skip it, don't worry, I've still fairly completed it... But... Dude, I don't think it's that good to the character.
It feels good when she decides to finally be a likable person, but before that... No. It's a secretive, idiotic girl, that doesn't know her place, it seems.
I suppose, I should say my head-canon, as to, why she's defensive. From her experience, her height, and stuff like that, she's viewed in school as an outsider, nobody would care about her, and people would laugh at her, especially for her "I'm not cute!" thing. But, the root of the problem for her to become defensive, would obviously be her father, but he wouldn't be abusive, oh no, he would be as you showed him in the mod, thus making Natsuki have troubles with showing affection. My viewpoint, is obviously different from the one that you're put in the mod, but I still think I could share it here.
Oh... And also. Time. It's a big factor in our life, as well as it should've been in the mod. What, a couple of months passed, and Natsuki is still cold to MC? That doesn't seem believable to me. A couple of months passed, and there's nothing to talk about? Not books? Not new manga? Not friendship? Quite a lackluster, honestly.
Expressions. What? You're tired of me bringing them up? I'm sorry... Though, I did have an idea. Natsuki could have a confused, sort of, lost expressions, with tears on her face. I'm pretty sure that'd make a good addition.
Now, let's talk about the good things.
Natsuki, near the end, becomes a good girl, she's rational, smart, and can say some really great things.
The way you wrote Natsuki's father, is outstanding. It feels so fucking refreshing to see Natsuki's dad as a person who gave up life, rather than some psychopath, or a rich criminal, or something. His character is well written, you can sympathize with him, and it's really well-done. The switch of him near the end, from doing things right to turning himself in, hurts, and you truly see how broken he really is.
And of course, the lovey-dovey ending. It's really charming, and really cool!
Could use improvement in: Natsuki's character (subjective, I might be wrong). Adding new art and expressions. <!
Fun fact: The mod didn't want to show me the new CG image, because my game was 'out of memory'... I don't know how, why, and when, and what, but I just ignored a couple of lines there, since I couldn't view them, but I could still continue playing regardless. After that, there were no issues. And this was the only issue I really had in the technical part. Don't worry, I did watch and see the image over at youtube, and well, the subreddit. So I didn't really miss anything.
Now, I suppose, the magnum opus of the mod, in quality of writing.
Monika's route.
So... I want to start off by saying, that, making Monika be not really interested in the player, can be viewed as a big mistake on her character, which, it is, but in the way the mod's written, and how it feels quite interactive with us and MC, it makes it sort of less of a problem in the end, and doesn't make the mod less enjoyable.
The beginning of the mod, and endings of the route, are followed by Monika's comments. With new expressions (which are well done, by the way, and the new space art outside of the classroom, is also really cool), which show her as she has no hope left, and she still remembers what really happened in the game. It's a really difficult path to take in modding, and, I believe, with Monika in mods, you can go two ways:
1) You erase her memory/start writing her off-character, thus making it easier to tell a story.
2) You make a story with her remembering stuff, and either trying to explain that to her, or, doing something else, bad or good.
I'm glad you've taken the second path, since it's not commonly used, and less often, it's done well. Which, the route, did do well, so it's really great.
Then, the whole route, I really like that the original game is also touched upon, the original story, vanilla, is re-written. It feels like, it's some sort of the act 4, we might have wanted, being a wholesome route, but then... It still goes to vanilla. The first day (or two, can't really remember correctly, sorry) is/are really neatly rewritten. It's interesting, and it's some fresh air as well. But, I don't understand the inconsistency that is there. Like, why in the first day, Yuri and Natsuki seem more agreeing, but later in the game, they're back being at default act one state, which, feels weird. (But I might've misinterpreted it, if I did, I'm sorry!)
During the festival, something quite interesting begins, giving us more engagements for Monika, and delivering a rather, bittersweet experience. I won't go in details, but it's a really well-written part, you feel remorse for Monika, and how she tries to hide her true feelings, by the thought that will never go away. And it's actually quite sad.
It's also really difficult, to just sit there, being unable to do anything, and watch desperate and mostly meaningless attempts of MC to make Monika feel better, and just in general, enjoy her time, while it lasts. It's a difficult to make feeling, and in this route, it shines.
In fact, the whole route is bittersweet. The ending, the buildups, the culmination, everything about this route is bittersweet, and I love it.
Every route before this one, is also bittersweet, but less than this one. This one's more emotional, more sad, and in general, is a more interesting route, it's a shame, that good parts, as one person from another game that takes place in Miami said, never last.
However, I feel like there could be a bit more wholesomeness, with Monika trying to talk with everyone, including the other club members, and MC all-together, which would either, evolve into something more sad, or make everything better. I feel like this could've been used, and made the route more touching, or more painful.
The amount of art in this route, and I'm sorry for repeating this over and over again, is lacking. There are no new expressions, but, the last CG scene, is really good, and that white-out effect at the end, that's just, really freaking cool and clever.
Could use improvement in: Adding new art and expressions.
And now. That being done, I want to point out something. I've spotted a writing inconsistency. MC is not a bad cook for Sayori, going as high as becoming her 'teacher', while for Natsuki, he's clueless as to what to do, and only eats cereal.
If that was (somehow) intentional, then... I don't know, it's really odd.
Now... This 'review' is finally over. I hope I wasn't too biased, as well as I hope I've written the review well enough, for it not to convey anger, or anything related to sadness. I also want to mention, that I have nothing against the authors of the mod, only a couple of problems with their product, so I really hope none of you guys would take this personally.
All in all, I hope you understand where I'm coming from, and I would like a response from the author for sure. If you want to continue talking about the mod (even though, I don't think there's anything left to talk about) privately, my discord is somewhere on my reddit profile.
Goodbye, thank you for reading.
Submitted September 01, 2018 at 09:21PM by mnwlundrscr https://ift.tt/2orciUS
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