MAMIYA - DoomsDayDreams DLC

[h3](Review for DoomsDay Dreams only.)[/h3] DoomsDay Dreams (which I will abbreviate as DDD) is an acceptable—although not exceptional—conclusion to the story of MAMIYA. Much of the excellent presentation from the first two parts of the story (FallDown and Downfall) carries over to DDD, but also slightly worsens in some aspects. The stock-yet-well-curated nature of the soundtrack persists with many of the songs returning in DDD, but some new inclusions dilute its high quality. In particular, a few new overbearing electronic songs and songs with vocals were so distracting that they often made it difficult for me to focus on reading when they would play. On the other hand, the visuals in DDD continue to be stunning, although there were a few lackluster CGs, and the new sprites for some of the characters were somewhat incongruous with their original sprites. Overall, DDD's presentation, while still great, is not as consistent as it was in FallDown and Downfall. As for the story, DDD continues from the cliffhanger ending of Downfall with the protagonist rebounding from its shocking events. Following a brief prologue, the story branches into two halves—DayDreams and DoomsDay—that each focus on an interconnected story between Ryou & Keito and Minato & Haruki, respectively. (Each character has their own route within these interconnected stories as well.) Given that DDD is as long as FallDown and Downfall combined, these routes were an opportunity to explore and fill in some of the glossed over details about the four members of the main cast. However, the results of that were mixed, and the splitting of the cast took away many of the group interactions that made the first two parts of MAMIYA so enjoyable. DayDreams—Ryou and Keito's story—retreads much of what we already knew about them from MAMIYA's first two parts. There is a new plot with new events happening to them,—and it does contain some emotionally wrenching moments—but it doesn't reveal much new about their personalities or the struggles they went through. They simply get over them by the end of the story, apropos of nothing. Fortunately, DoomsDay—Minato and Haruki's story—does expand on their backstories and personalities. We learn a lot more about both characters' personal lives and some small details about them that were mentioned but not fully explored in previous sections of MAMIYA. Haruki's route in particular employs a motif that, when repeated at emotional high points during his story, made his route so much more impactful. All in all, the conclusions to both Haruki and Minato's stories develops much more naturally and is much more satisfying than those of Ryou and Keito. Finally, the ending to DDD—and the story of MAMIYA as a whole—kind of just happens; I found the conclusion to the story acceptable, but it felt lackluster compared to what I was hoping for. After finishing all four character routes, the true route unlocks. [spoiler]It begins with a twist that felt like it came out of nowhere and was only included to ramp up the stakes for the final route. But, taking the twist as a given, the way it's resolved is done well. There's also an alternate ending that unlocks if you gather all of the bonus scenes in the extras menu, and I thought that ending resonated much more with the overall themes of MAMIYA. Although, I think some combination of the true ending and the alternate ending would have made for the best possible conclusion to the story.[/spoiler] In conclusion, DoomsDay Dreams presents a fine, if somewhat lacking, conclusion to MAMIYA. Its characters are as great as ever, as is its presentation. Although the latter is marginally worse than in the first two parts of the story, and DDD's writing leaves not a lot, but at least a little to be desired 7/10

Essential DLC, practically a sequel, concluding the original story and adding a number of enhancements to the original content. Don't purchase the main game without this.

The highly anticipated conclusion and it did not disappoint! It surprised me with the twists, it gave me goosebumps from the reveals, it made me cry seeing the story of Ryou, Minato, Haruki, and Keito come to an end. And the art, omg the art in this game is absolutely B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! Kenkou land have truly outdone themselves.

My review of the 2021 version of MAMIYA, to preface: https://steamcommunity.com/id/suminomiyas/recommended/1394930/ First thing to note: DoomsDay Dreams does [b]not[/b] carry over your save data from the initial release. This isn't to say I don't recommend playing the 2021 version first, because I most definitely do—I find it's a smoother and clearer experience than in DoomsDay Dreams, and they cut a couple of lines I really liked (for reasons I completely understand, from a writer's perspective, but I still miss them)—but just be aware that you can't use your old data in the game with DoomsDay Dreams installed. All that aside! I found that most of the changes to MAMIYA associated with DoomsDay Dreams to be immensely positive. It wrapped up the characters arcs incredibly well. Huge fan of the new beginning sequence, too. The creator's vision remained clear throughout; the writing was beautiful and I cried a lot! I was greatly relieved to find that the skip button does, for the most part, actually work correctly now, and the introduction of the music box was a welcome surprise as well. I do have my quarrels with the new choice system, though. While I am definitely pleased without the amount of worlds it allows us to peer into and I'm certainly not complaining about their inclusion, I found that most of the "bad" endings feel [i]very[/i] abrupt, if not completely out of place. These endings, too, often felt completely disingenuous to Natsume's character—and he's my favorite, okay? It made me feel bad for him... If I were going to play the game again from the start, I'd choose to use a guide and only pick the "correct" choices the first time around, and then revisit those "bad" endings once I'd finished that arc. That's my recommendation to you, too, if you haven't played DoomsDay Dreams yet! Though again, this isn't necessarily a complaint—I imagine if you're more accustomed to visual novels and their mechanics than I am, those endings will probably be less blatantly jarring for you. Now, my opinion of MAMIYA remains as positive as it was before—it's even higher now, actually, but I wouldn't necessarily say that I came away with the idea that it's about kindness this time around. It's about kindness, but it's also about the desire to love and be loved, and the intimacy of violence, and the nature of reality and human society, and so much more. With the addition of DoomsDay Dreams especially, MAMIYA is [i]dense.[/i] The game balances character and theme [i]exceptionally[/i] well; when it comes to stories, I tend to go in theme- and world-first, but for others who are character-driven, it certainly won't disappoint. I spent so much of my time in DoomsDay Dreams crying. Just bawling, staring soaked and messy into my blurry computer screen. I can't say for certain that MAMIYA will move your heart, because we're different people. But it moved mine, in a way I can't possibly describe. If that's something that the MAMIYA from 2021 made you feel, DoomsDay Dreams will likely make you feel it all the more. I can't recommend it enough.