Its kinda funny, and with funny i mean frankly annoying that any discussion or jokes around robin always boil down to: Robin is such useless deadweight who drags the PC down and never does anything useful haha lmao.
Somehow boiling this characters conflict down to being a lazy, useless freeloader.
Because the PC can do it right? If the PC can, then why can't robin?
Like the PC isnt an exception to the rule. Literally going through the worst shit imaginable and still being able to get up and go on because theyre designed to be a roly poly toy.
Idk it just kinda crazy to me how many people are quick to disregard Robin, or reduce them to some kind of goody two shoes deadbeat when everyone's favorite babygirl Whitney (also Sydney, and to a lesser extent Kylar) isnt particularly useful either and actively pimps you out for money (which im not arguing to not be the case) Ig its just curious to me how Whitney can get away with repeatedly putting you in danger when Robins worst offense is - Checks notes - being another impoverished orphan whos depressed.
smth smth capitalism is deeply ingrained in all of us and primes us to only value "usefulness". This applies to everything - from plants, animals, people, etc. Things only have worth and are allowed to exist without active indifference, negligence or downright disdain, when it has a use to us humans or can deliver some kind of profit.
Robin is an essential part of the game. And i dont just mean gameplay wise (tldr: you need the levity and ease of interacting with a kind, normal person. Otherwise the horrors wont hit as much and you just end up getting desensitized and numb to whats happening).
The very same thing that the fandom seems to love faulting Robin for, is frankly what makes them a stronger character imo.
The explanation for why they dont do more is right there too. Its not like its some kind of ass-pull or unreasonable as to why they behave the way the do. (divorce yourself from the PCs POV for one second please)
Shit. for me its just regular depression, capitalism and other, personal stuff and I still struggle like hell.
And thats without 2000 A WEEK - sorry i feel the need to repeat this: A WEEK.
For some people thats MONTHLY rent (or rent plus food etc)- without continued, never ending, all encompassing rape, sexual assault and violence.
You cant tell me youd seriously think that youd be like the PC, if you were put into Robins shoes, or dol at large. I know for a fact that my ass would end up in a ditch somewhere.
Robin is a queer, (imo>) parentified 18 y/o (cough) with the flimsiest ""support network"" known to man. (Consisting of one (1) caretaker who seems to actively hate their guts, but is the only thin veneer of a safety network they have) In a town that quite literally eats orphans for breakfast.
It makes sense that they contain themself to their room, only work on the weekends or in the youth-ward and find escapism through their games. Looks directly at the camera. I know I would.
Anyways.
while were on the topic of Robin:
Its interesting how people are much more accepting and forgiving of their characters premise when they load in as a girl instead of a boy. Yes they get hate regardless, but from what I've seen people tend to be much less harsh towards a sweet, meek uwu girl robin and seem to -unconsciously or not - seem take much more issue with Robin when theyre a guy.
Just something to keep in mind, me thinks.
speaking off. I used 'girl' and 'guy' here, for ease of distinction, but Its very fascinating how many people, even Robin Lovers, seem to conveniently forget or actively ignore their - sighs- ""crossdressing"". Ill call it this, because thats what the game calls it. But personally? It just reads as Robin being some kind of genderqueer to me.
this whole thing turned out a lot longer than i expected.
Idk Robin is one of the- … if not THE character with the strongest morals in the game. (for better and for worse) and asking them to actively disregard and violate their entire worldview and all of their boundaries is legitimately such a death sentence for a character like Robin. (< paraphrased from a convo i had with the beloved @getinthefuckingcarkitten)
Theyre an impoverished orphan scraping by, doing what they can manage, floundering for peace and control and clinging onto the idea of true love due to the town they live in. Id be surprised if they have any hope for the future, if at all. With the only thing giving some semblance of happiness being their games and the other orphans.
between Robins strong morals, queer subtext, weird inferiority and superiority complex and madonna whore complex towards the PC they have a lot going on and are a pretty layered character.
its a disservice to solely write them off as - at best: vanilla bait and a stat management mechanic (which, tbf, they are) or a cute damsel in distress you can protect - to someone useless who only drags the pc down.
I really dont need anyone to love and worship Robin. I'm not even a Major Robin fan myself. I just have a passing interest in my friends interpretation of the character and some critical thinking skills.
(And an impressive amount of salt stored inside of my bloodstream<3)
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After playing this game a lot, most of the encounters have lost their thrill. So, I thought of a way to spice things up: an irl-nsfw run! What better way to keep things fresh than to add some real risk.
Rules below the cut:
Base rules:
Any time PC gets penetrated in the game in any way (oral, vaginal, anal) you use a dildo to do the same action to yourself.
You must keep this up for as long as the encounter lasts, doing your best to match your movements to what's going on in the scene (look at both narration and visuals).
If PC comes from penetration, you must get yourself off as well (only inside encounters though, you're safe once the scene ends).
No spamming your way through an encounter! Read through all the scene text while fucking yourself. Only pause to consider your moves.
Modify the rules as needed to make it fun for you ^^
Hard mode (at least 4 of these options):
Smallest body size.
Max sensitivity + lightweight.
No chastity belt.
No save-scumming or rolling back passages. Turn on iron-man mode if that's what it takes.
Turn on the in-game hard mode.
Start with the Beautiful or Lustful background.
Fully optional ideas:
Have several toys ready. This way you can act out group encounters, as well as designate certain NNPCs to specific toys! Maybe even have special toys like knotted or barbed dildoes for those encounters. Hell, if you've got a large collection you can match up the sizes with the in-game ones.
Get a partner to do the challenge with you. This opens up so many options.
Go for difficult feats. Losing all virginities to one NNPC, staying a virgin for as long as possible, the virgin birth feat, getting all museum items and special outfits, no fainting for 50 days, etc.
Gain all possible NNPCs as love interests.
Race to a million: earn 1,000,000,000£ in as few days as possible.
Modded DOL. Some mods (for example the x-change mod) have additional settings that can make the game harder as well as add variety.
So... you imagine DoL set in the early 2000s? ME TOO. Tell me more about that!
aaaaaaa yes I do!!!! (Sorry for the late reply haha. I kept forgetting to come back to this ask)
I think I started to feel that way pretty early on, since there's hardly any electronics around in game.
You don't have access to a phone yourself (which, admittedly makes sense as an orphan) but electronics get barely mentioned in general. (I'm guessing the true reason for it, is that it would be too much of a hassle to implement electronics as a mechanic in game. bc arguably you should easily be able to buy a phone or w/e later on, if dol actually took place in our time)
Named npcs often have phones to record you with (which I kinda forgot about tbh lmao) but unless in that context, phones don't get brought up at all iirc.
None of the named npcs ever ask you for your phone number and Social media isn't really a topic of conversation either.
The only Computers that I remember mentioned in game are Leightons, Mickey's, Kylars and the one you can check in the police station. (I don't remember if Bailey even has one or not.)
They are far and few between. They also all read as desktop computers to me and not laptops.
Hell, the only gaming Console to ever be a topic of interest, is Robins.
I don't think we hear of/see any handheld conosles at all. Even TV's rarely get mentioned.
Pop Culture, like manga, anime and games doesn't seem to be a big thing yet either.
All of that gives me the impression that most electronic is still pretty sparse and hard to come around and kinda reminds me of my childhood when those interests where still conisdered niche/nerdy and weird.
The few characters that have desktop pc's seem to be ones that had/have enough money (like Kylar, maybe Bailey?) to foot the bill, are either in a high enough position of power to own one (like leighton) or they're involved enough in shady business that they might have the resources to have their own equipment (Mickey).
tbf a lot of my reasoning can be argued against or easily explained away, but I think dol is infinitely more interesting as a game/story when it's set during the early/mid 2000s, where most electronics were still hard to come by.
Oh and last but not least: it simply makes for easier story telling haha. I think there would be way more ""plot holes"" you'd have trouble explaining away if it was set during modern times. considering how much digital surveilance we have nowadays.
Aside from all the examples I just brought up, dol just has that 2000s grime to me. It's so grungy and dank in it's vibes that it always reminds me of that timeframe. Just has that kinda clunky/kitschy charm to it.
(a more eclectic personal explanation is that the seasons in game still feel the way I remember them for my childhood. nowadays everything feels really out of wack thanks to global warming. Although I'm sure that people who are older than me would say the same haha)
to keep this already long post short(er lmao)
I'm gonna go into some headcanons under the cut; Basically which Characters have electronics and why:
Avery:
has an expensive af and extremely clunky looking (by todays standards) work laptop, that she sometimes lugs around.
Also owned one of the first mobile phones. Those really big and blocky ones. Maybe even had one of those phones that were built into cars.
However, I think shed be kinda annoyed by mobile phones*, even if she's extremely diligent in answering her calls. (the grind never stops)
*based on this comic from 1919 about pocketphones:
Mostly because she strikes me as someone who doesn't care to be overly accessible and also hates it when whatever shes doing at the moment gets disrupted by something else.
Alex:
Canonically has a phone in game. To me it's a landline phone.
They don't own much electronics beside it. They have no desktop pc and no mobile phone. (canonically the own a tv and I feel like they'd have a radio, maybe even an old record player)
Bailey:
It would make sense for them to have a desktop computer but I can't remember if they canonically (and with that I mean in game) do have one or not. I could see it either way tbh. As they strike me as a stubborn hard ass whos paranoid about electronics and quickly gets annoyed by it)
They only own burner phones aside from the official landline phone thats designated for "over the counter" orphanage business.
Eden:
Has an old ass radio and an extremely dusty burner phone that bailey gave them once. They don't own anything else
Harper:
has a mobile phone they got from Remy, it's purely for business. I don't think they have one for personal business. They own a pager though bc of the hospital. They probably have a desktop pc too if only for hospital stuff.
Kylar:
Has a Desktop pc, their parents footed the bill for that many screened monstrosity (tbf i dont know enough to remember if old pcs are even able to have several monitors connected to them or not). Probably had a mobile phone once. Whitney stole it. They own a few consoles but they prefer pc gaming (pc master race /j)
Some 2000s era games (with no consideration for an exact timeframe) that I think Kylar would be into are :
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines
American McGee's Alice
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 / Persona 3 Portable
The Urbz: Sims in the City
The Sims 2
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Robin:
No mobile phone, the only electronics they keep around (until they inevitably need to sell them for emergency money) are an old tv and a gaming console.
I have no concrete headcanons regarding the exact console and games unfortunately. (They seem to like superhero related stuff and I don't remember enough games that I associate with that direction of the top of my head)
Sydney:
Has access to a landline phone but thats it. they don't have a mobile phone. Maybe they got to look at/ try out a pc at Kylars house once upon a time, but I don't think Sirris has one themself.
I might be off with this but I could see Sirris being the one who bought a few early nintendo consoles like the SNES and Game Cube. Maybe even a gameboy.
Whitney:
I don't think Whitney or their family is particularly wealthy so all of the access to electronics that they got, is either through wealthier friends, bullying or stealing. They have a mobile phone and probably a few handheld consoles they nabbed off their victims (in secret).
