Any interest in starting a Game Club for Doki Doki Literature Club in Japanese?

Japanese Language Reading
#1

Just yesterday, I played through most of the game (for a second time) with my friends in English, and I realized that playing this game in Japanese might be an interesting experience, if people are interested.

What is Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC)?

Doki Doki Literature Club! is a 2017 American visual novel developed by Team Salvato. The story follows a male high school student who joins the school’s literature club and interacts with its four female members. The game was incredibly popular and has extremely high ratings on Steam. This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.

Doki Doki Literature Club may not be suitable for you if you are affected by any of the following themes:

  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Self-harm
  • Abuse

How can I play the game?

The easiest way to play DDLC is through Steam, where it is available for free. (10/10 Rating on Steam from 120k reviews)

The game only comes in English, but it can be changed to Japanese by using this mod:

Example:

Screen Shot 2020-01-04 at 11.11.34 AM
Screen Shot 2020-01-04 at 11.11.34 AM1440×900 1.26 MB

I look forward to see if anyone is interested to play. Even if we don’t form a club, I would be more than happy if I could simply introduce people to this game.

Please give me your thoughts if you are interested. :grin:

16 Likes
#2

Spoilers for the game

I understand that you want to protect the twist but maybe add something like a hint to look at the Steam Community tags. Adding at least the implication that it isn’t what they might think it is can draw in horror fans that would hate the type of dating sim that Doki initially appears to be (if I hadn’t known upfront it takes a turn onto horror street, I would never have played to the point of the game dropping the pretence of being a dating sim - a genre I can’t stand to play). And it can warn the dating sim lovers that wouldn’t want to play a horror game. It’s a game that isn’t for everyone, both in the terms that many don’t like playing scary games, and it deals with themes that many wouldn’t want to be faced with while legitimately thinking it’s a dating sim. It’d be a shame if people download the game without looking at the tags because they go off your description, and then can’t finish a project they might be enjoying because they can’t handle the game that DDLC becomes. That’s just something that came to mind as I read your post - your call of course. ^^

Edit: The menu music will be stuck in my head until the day I die. Just saying the title makes me whistle it.

13 Likes
#3

I’ve seen through it in English, but - though it might be a bit beyond me right now - I’d be interested in giving this a try in 日本語

2 Likes
#4

You’re absolutely right. I changed my post a bit to reflect that.

3 Likes
#5

^^ :ok_hand:

I’m currently going through first light novel as a reading, but I’ll definitely keep this mod in mind, because it’d be interesting to go through the game in Japanese. So thanks for bringing it to my attention!

4 Likes
#6

i watched a walkthrough of this once when i was 12 and sayori’s death literally scarred me i stayed in bed for like 15 hours

5 Likes
#7

I’d try it, I like dating sims and being disturbed

9 Likes
#8

I’ll give it a shot but I can’t make any promises about being consistent with it. I didn’t realize there was a Japanese patch though so thanks! I’m so used to thinking of fan translations being from Japanese to English that I sometimes forget it also happens the other way around.

2 Likes
#9

Good to hear! :grin:

I think that I will create a separate post for just the book club, where we can see when to start and the pacing. There is a lot of text in this, and it will not be the easiest (as expected from a Visual Novel), so we might have to go slower than usual. I guess we will see when the time comes.

1 Like
#10

So I got the patch running no problem but now I see a warning in Japanese that it’s not for people struggling with anxiety or depression. As someone with both of these things, how seriously should I take this warning? I know that it involves depictions of suicide but I don’t know how these things are dealt with. Is it highly triggering for things like self-harm ideation (graphic descriptions of personal violence, etc)?

Edit: @DD_Owl it might be wise to add the game’s warning notice to the top of the thread https://ddlc.moe/warning.html

Higurashi and Umineko have these sorts of themes so it doesn’t immediately count it out for me but it comes down a lot to how they’re handled.

4 Likes
#11

Very, very seriously, in my personal opinion.

6 Likes
#12

So you think it would be too disturbing to someone like me to be worth playing then?

2 Likes
#13

@riya

Summary

I find that hard to say. The thing that you mentioned in blur is something that has affected my life, so I found the things that dealt with that having a gut-churnig realism to the mindset a person in that situation has.

Having said that, I enjoyed the game overall, and don’t regret playing it. But I was in as good a place as I tend to be, and I played it together with my wife, and our natural joking creates a levity I wouldn’t have otherwise had.

So I think that if you’re interested, and you’re already used to navigating difficult topics with other games, that you can be okay just being forewarned. Maybe my reply before was too dramatic, I find it hard to tell. Since the game also deals with the exact method that one of the people in my life chose as their out. So I have a bias, methinks. If you’re in a fragile place, maybe a bit too rough at points.

Sorry if I came across as dramatic. Wasn’t my intention. ^^ Hope you’re having a nice day!

6 Likes
#14

Thanks for letting me know. After talking about it a bit, I realized that it unfortunately crosses into too much dangerous territory for my mental stability. That’s a shame. If people want to try playing another VN together sometime though, I might be up to that.

Also, I’m really sorry that you lost someone that way :heart: It’s understandable to be upset by it when it feels so personal. It’s a topic that affects me a lot as well

6 Likes
#15

An interesting idea! I was kind of wanting to play this game and kind of scared to, so playing with others might help? Also depends on the time I’ll have available when this kicks off, of course. :sweat_smile:

So, I guess I’ll just follow the thread for now and see where it leads. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#16

Well, I have the game installed and the patch working, so I’m ready whenever!

I’m curious how we can coordinate group game play with a game that has (I assume) several paths… Is there a time system, so that we could play a set number of days? Or maybe by significant plot point? Unless people want to play at their own paces, no coordination, and just have a general discussion thread.

(My first) Poll?!

  • Coordinated play with corresponding forum threads
  • Own-pace play with one general discussion thread
  • Other??

0 voters

1 Like
#17

I was thinking more of a coordinated play through, only because the game takes like 6 hours in English to get through.

#18

I’m interested! I have played the game multiple times and I enjoyed it a lot. Playing it in Japanese will be definitely more difficult but I’m sure talking about it with you guys here will be fun ^^

2 Likes
#20

Sounds good to me. I know nothing about visual novels, though, so I can’t recommend anything. I’ll just wait until someone makes a recommendation :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes
#21

I’m interested as well! I am very much a beginner to reading in Japanese (it took me about 25 minutes to read the initial disclaimer when checking that the language pack worked…) but since I know the game pretty well, I’m hoping this is a good place to start. :sweat_smile:

1 Like