So, has anyone tried... (Massive spoilers)

[Talithmara]

Obligatory filler text goes here, so anyone who mouses over by mistake won't be spoiled by my post. I mean, the odds of singling one of my threads out by mistake is low, but hey, I may as well do this because better safe than sorry, am I right? Spoiler tags don't work in mouseovers, soooooo....

*cough*

RIGHT THEN! I'm curious what happens if you try to manipulate DDLC via editing/deletion of character files, manually. I guess you could call this a hacking thread, except the story itself is so meta that these files are basically part of the story.

I've heard about what happens if you delete Monika early (and I mean like Arc 1 early; I don't know what happens if you do it during Arc 2 before you're supposed to) but I want to know what happens if, for example, you delete just Natsuki or Yuri or something. Does Monika have something in place for this? Does the story continue towards JustMonika as intended? Or does the Early Monika Deletion event happen for any meddling with the character files?

Furthermore, Monika made the characters more abrasive by editing them, right? I'm wondering if there's anything a player could do to any of the characters to change the flow of the story. (At least before Monika gets angry and changes it back.)

[HighCaliberTree]

It's a nice idea, but that's... not how it works. It's a fake editing. Monika doesn't ACTUALLY edit them.
Deleting them doesn't change the whole program per se, but the game checks if the files are in their correct locations, and uses boolean (if (monika.chr == false), for example, means the file isnt there) triggers an event. They don't count as code, so editing isn't going to affect gameplay.

I don't think deleting Yuri or Natsuki does anything in both arcs. I reckon they are symbolic rather than practical.

[Talithmara]

Thanks. I thought that might be the case, but considering how meta it all got, I was wondering. It'd be way too much work to give the player a lot of freedom, but yeah.

I wouldn't expect the player to be able to do much via editing, but I was curious about potential keywords (much like the poetry.)

[Zaxora]

Like HighCaliberTree said, it's a fake deletion. Notice how, when you delete Monika, her file appears in your recycling bin, but the others don't? That's because the files don't literally get deleted.

I am wondering though, what would happen if you copied the files and placed them back after Monika 'removes' them?

[Talithmara]

I was curious about that, myself. I'll try it next time.

[HighCaliberTree]

Originally posted by Zaxora - Twitch.tv/Zaxora:

Like HighCaliberTree said, it's a fake deletion. Notice how, when you delete Monika, her file appears in your recycling bin, but the others don't? That's because the files don't literally get deleted.

I am wondering though, what would happen if you copied the files and placed them back after Monika 'removes' them?

Nothing happens.

[HighCaliberTree]

The game already triggered the event, and more path changes arent programmed, so the game carries on till the end anyway.

[Zaxora]

Originally posted by HighCaliberTree:

Nothing happens.

That's disappointing, but great game nonetheless.
It's always fun when there's little tricks and hidden things.

[Talithmara]

Thanks for clarifying. Saved me a bunch of testing.

[HighCaliberTree]

Originally posted by Zaxora - Twitch.tv/Zaxora:

Originally posted by HighCaliberTree:

Nothing happens.

That's disappointing, but great game nonetheless.
It's always fun when there's little tricks and hidden things.

Didnt you get enough already? ;D

[HighCaliberTree]

Originally posted by Ranylyn:

Thanks for clarifying. Saved me a bunch of testing.

Youre welcome :D

[Zaxora]

Originally posted by HighCaliberTree:

Didnt you get enough already? ;D

Yes and no, it's been a while since I've played a game like this.
What's funny is that the 'second' part is less jumpscares, but the mood just creeps you out... (and let's not talk about >>>the eyes<<<).
Thereby, they pick up the story more.
Only thing I don't understand is: When you remove Monika on a new gameplay, Sayori goes crazy and hangs herself(?).
Why is this, why did they suddenly go like that...?
Is it because she is now the president, thus knowing everything?
But since it's a new walkthrough it's all new to her and she can't process it somehow?

Questions, questions..

[HypetheKomodo]

Game tries pretty hard to prevent you from copying Sayori when she...meets her fate.

One playthrough I tried to be clever and copy Sayori. The game responded by wiping my clipboard so then I no longer could copy Sayori's file.

I was pretty shocked by that.

Anyway, there's only one instance that we know of thus far where messing with character files has an effect:

After alone time with Just Monika, if you try to put her .chr file back into the game before starting a new game, she will give you a unique message and delete her file once again, this time for good.

Editing the character files seems impossible because they contain no actual data. As mentioned, it's just a simple check to see if they're there or not.

It would be neat (and terrifying) to just play God and mess with the characters throughout the story, but sadly that seems really complicated to do on ren'py.

[HighCaliberTree]

Theories say that the president is essentially the 'gamemaster'. Once you occupy the spot, you get flooded with all this new information about the game, who you are, what you're supposed to do and what you will do.
So she kills herself.
Because she says herself she doesnt want things to change. And they do. Dramatically.

[Zaxora]

Originally posted by HighCaliberTree:

Because she says herself she doesnt want things to change. And they do. Dramatically.

Good one.
So I guess it was overload and change...

makes sense.

[Blanners]

Originally posted by Zaxora - Twitch.tv/Zaxora:

Originally posted by HighCaliberTree:

Didnt you get enough already? ;D

Yes and no, it's been a while since I've played a game like this.
What's funny is that the 'second' part is less jumpscares, but the mood just creeps you out... (and let's not talk about >>>the eyes<<<).
Thereby, they pick up the story more.
Only thing I don't understand is: When you remove Monika on a new gameplay, Sayori goes crazy and hangs herself(?).
Why is this, why did they suddenly go like that...?
Is it because she is now the president, thus knowing everything?
But since it's a new walkthrough it's all new to her and she can't process it somehow?

Questions, questions..

This is my theory:
The President always ends up having knowledge about being in a game and are able to mess with the script if they wish. In Act 4, in the normal game without Monika, Sayori ends up being the president, but she doesn't commit suicide because she also has knowledge of everything that happened between Arcs 1-3 ("I know all the bad things Monika has done"), including the part where Monika elevated her depression so she would hang herself. So she ends up obsessed with the player like Monika was in Act 3 before she realized her mistakes (after you delete her), and she saves you and the club members from having to suffer over and over again by deleting everything.
Sayori almost immediately "goes crazy and hangs herself" if you delete Monika in the beginning because all she gains is knowledge that you aren't in a game, so her feeling of being insignificant is even greater, and she can't handle that. Monika even said she considered "doing it" some times, but she didn't because "it would mean I wouldn't be able to speak to you anymore" in a text file she puts in your directory in the middle of Act 2.