Ending of Act 1 discussion/implications [SPOILERS]

[PandaBear]

I didn't really see where the game was going until Act 2's massive forshadowing. I had to sleep before I could get to that point, and had these ideas stirring around until I got to the game's actual ending.

I did Sayori's route first, and denied her confession. I saved first just to see what would happen...was an obvious bad ending lol. I think I actaully made Act 2 worse for me since I wasen't sure if it was me screwing up that caused Sayori's "deletion" or wheather my choice didn't matter there. Since it deletes saves (very importent!), the whole part about the protaginist saying "this isn't a game it's real life etc" and then having your saves deleted was actually somewhat insightful as to suicide affecting friends/family in real life. Plus I obviously can't double back and see if I just made a wrong choice or if it's all linear. They did a great job deleting saves to mess with people - especially vetern VN readers.

Obviously in Act 2, she "never existed", but the player knows she did, so I was thinking the game was maybe going for "the feelings of suicide on the player, ala the girl he connected with being gone etc". A part of me assumed that she probably dies either way, otherwise the "horror" would never trigger if the player always makes the right choices (even by luck).


TLDR: At one point I was assuming DDLC was making commentary against people purposefully seeking bad endings by instead deleting that character and your saves, leaving only regret for your poor choices.

[HypetheKomodo]

A good portion of the time, Monika's antics are focused directly towards the player, both in attempting to make them dislike the other girls, and to make them feel like they're not in control.

Sayori's death is the first of many things directed towards the player, making them feel helpless to stop the tragic end and then wiping the saves to make sure you can't go back to make things okay. Monika even rubs salt into the wound by saying, "Technically you COULD have saved her, but it's only partially your fault." during one of her monologues.

Then the player gets to witness just how miserable things become when Sayori is erased from the script to make it worse.

[PandaBear]

Originally posted by Flustered:

A good portion of the time, Monika's antics are focused directly towards the player, both in attempting to make them dislike the other girls, and to make them feel like they're not in control.

Sayori's death is the first of many things directed towards the player, making them feel helpless to stop the tragic end and then wiping the saves to make sure you can't go back to make things okay. Monika even rubs salt into the wound by saying, "Technically you COULD have saved her, but it's only partially your fault." during one of her monologues.

Then the player gets to witness just how miserable things become when Sayori is erased from the script to make it worse.

Here's the thing though - Sayori dies not matter what. People ONLY have this issue if they select "lets be friends" on their first playthrough.

Not gonna lie, but if I accepted her confession and she dies anyway, the game woulden't have hit as hard. It was my attempted save-scumming to see all the endings that had the greatest effect. I didn't "select all the proper choices" for the good end yet lol, and wanted my save back.

if I accepted her confession (I was tailoring my choices/poems to her), then I would have just accepted the saves being deleted and Sayori dieing as part of the script, not me "making a wrong choice".

[EverBreath]

The player's choice doesnt matter in that case,you didnt screw up,and Sayori dies anyway(that is too bad as I really love Sayori and also did Sayori's route)
But keep going,if you get to the good ending,you'll get a surprise!
If you wanna replay Sayori's route,just download the whole game again.

[HypetheKomodo]

Not true! Keep in mind what Sayori says: It really, REALLY hurts to have people care about her. That's the main thing driving her actions. She is sacrificing her own happiness so others can be happy.

In all honesty, the protagonist saying, "I love you and there's no way you can love me more" likely does more harm than saying that he's her best friend. That's why Sayori seems so pained even though she thinks this is what she wants: It hurts her that much that someone cares so much about her.

This is ESPECIALLY true if the player hasn't been going down Sayori's route, because it means that it's just a blatant lie.

The trick with that choice: They're both basically the two worst possible choices in that particular situation. A good one would be "Let's try to get you professional help for your chronic depression", but Mr. Macho Protagonist is always like, "Well it's up to ME to save the situation!"

Certainly a major theme in DDLC: There's no good choices.

[PandaBear]

Originally posted by Flustered:

Not true! Keep in mind what Sayori says: It really, REALLY hurts to have people care about her. That's the main thing driving her actions. She is sacrificing her own happiness so others can be happy.

In all honesty, the protagonist saying, "I love you and there's no way you can love me more" likely does more harm than saying that he's her best friend. That's why Sayori seems so pained even though she thinks this is what she wants: It hurts her that much that someone cares so much about her.

This is ESPECIALLY true if the player hasn't been going down Sayori's route, because it means that it's just a blatant lie.

The trick with that choice: They're both basically the two worst possible choices in that particular situation. A good one would be "Let's try to get you professional help for your chronic depression", but Mr. Macho Protagonist is always like, "Well it's up to ME to save the situation!"

Certainly a major theme in DDLC: There's no good choices.

When she was saying her heart hurts/jeliousy for Yuri's curves, it was obvious she was into Protag. The protag basically denied her and her confessions about mental illness etc by saying "lets go back to the way things were before". Saying he loved her would have meant he'd at least be there for her in an close fashion through her good and bad days. Also to the other guy, I already finished DDLC. These were just my post-Act 1 impressions.

[HypetheKomodo]

This is true, but that concept was terrifying for Sayori. That's why she's feeling hurt even when she's being embraced by the protagonist. He certainly didn't help matters with things he says to Sayori after due to him being clueless about depression.

It certainly helps for the short term, don't get me wrong! However, I believe it's implied that the concept of having someone love her so much made her feel much worse.

It's a choice with a lot of implications, and it's certainly not a fun time picking between the two!

[Alexios]

Nothing will make sayori happy in the first place because her depression was so baad. Medical depression can also occur WITHOUT ANY REASON. There is nothing "you" can do, save for sending her to a hospital (which is absurd if the devs give that option).

Depression is a difficult problem to treat and psychotherapy alone may not be enough.

[Io]

The thing is ... What does Monika say to Sayori before it? I think she said "You will suicide tomorrow no matter what happen, if you not did that your love one will die for exchange!"

[Alexios]

Originally posted by Unfair Bot:

The thing is ... What does Monika say to Sayori before it? I think she said "You will suicide tomorrow no matter what happen, if you not did that your love one will die for exchange!"

Who knows? Better check that suicide screen once more and you might realize "what she said" doesn't matter.

[HypetheKomodo]

@Omnisc

Yeah, that's why the choices given are basically the worst, but it's certainly intentional: The protagonist has absolutely no idea what depression is, and is only obsessed with impressing these anime babes.

He says and does many things prior (even when Sayori is telling him that she has chronic depression) that certainly didn't help. Will admit I got pretty mad at him when he said, "I feel like I've been betrayed as your best friend."

Depression is a complicated beast, and that's why Sayori isn't happy even when she's seemingly getting what she wants. In trying to get the protagonist to love her, he also has to care about her, and I don't think there's a thing she doesn't want more than that when her depression becomes too much to handle.

@Unfair Bot

I think it's safe to assume Monika was saying things like, "The world would be happier if you disappeared" and similar things. Sayori probably took all these words in and believed them, convincing herself that this was the best course of action.

What was actually said is unknown, but with Monika's explanation and Sayori's words and poem, I think that's what happened. Of course, it ends up not mattering when Monika decides to be a bit more blatant with her actions, but she was trying to handle things with a bit of tact up to that point.

[Io]

Originally posted by Omnisc:

Originally posted by Unfair Bot:

The thing is ... What does Monika say to Sayori before it? I think she said "You will suicide tomorrow no matter what happen, if you not did that your love one will die for exchange!"

Who knows? Better check that suicide screen once more and you might realize "what she said" doesn't matter.

Originally posted by Flustered:

@Omnisc

@Unfair Bot

I think it's safe to assume Monika was saying things like, "The world would be happier if you disappeared" and similar things. Sayori probably took all these words in and believed them, convincing herself that this was the best course of action.

What was actually said is unknown, but with Monika's explanation and Sayori's words and poem, I think that's what happened. Of course, it ends up not mattering when Monika decides to be a bit more blatant with her actions, but she was trying to handle things with a bit of tact up to that point.

I'm really interested about that topic so I created one. http://steamcommunity.com/app/698780/discussions/0/1485487749772505887/