Stories that left you disappointed for a reason

[yourstalkeroutside]

‎I think it’s genuinely funny how some people see a wholesome, emotionally supportive environment and immediately conclude it must be 'fake,' 'sterile,' or only relatable to privileged white Americans. Apparently, if a story doesn’t revolve around constant dysfunction, cruelty, or unresolved trauma, then it’s suddenly unrealistic. Again that says more about your worldview than it does about the game.
‎
‎Our Life was never trying to be a gritty social commentary on suffering. It’s a comfort-focused visual novel built around emotional openness, healthy communication, and personal choice. The fact that the characters usually solve problems by talking things through isn’t bad writing, it’s literally the point. Not every story needs screaming matches, toxic relationships, or emotional repression to feel real. Some people actually enjoy stories where characters are kind to each other without needing a tragedy every five minutes to justify it.
‎
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I never said Our Life was a social commentary on misery, nor did I say that it needed screaming matches and toxic relationships. I said and I will quote my own self here

There's communicating like adults and a supportive environment and then there's having next to 0 issues and problems, everyone is happy with everything and there's nothing that can't be solved by talking out your feelings or waiting it out.

Because this is not true. Like it or not, life is 90% having issues and learning how to navigate it. A world where you don't ever face problems with others does not exist. From a writing point of view, it's a faux pas, since conflict is needed to drive a story along. It's not a depiction of an actual supportive environment, it's the sanitized and sterile idea of one. Supportive doesn't mean always agreeable. It means having people there who would always support your wellbeing even if it means being harsh and a little mean sometimes. Sometimes it isn't "I'm here if you need me", it's "WTF is wrong with you, and I'm not engaging in this crap until you get your **** together."

And the irony here is hard to ignore. You’re criticizing the game’s fans for supposedly being oversensitive and unable to handle disagreement while writing an entire rant because fictional characters were too emotionally available for your liking. You keep calling the game sanitized but what you really seem to mean is that the characters don’t behave with the level of bitterness or dysfunction you personally associate with realism.

Again. There's emotionally available and then there's always agreeing with everything. Our Life characters are the latter and I never said anything about them needing to behave with bitterness and dysfunction. I just said them agreeing with everything is a fantasy for people like you who think someone disagreeing with you is 'bitterness' and 'being dysfunctional'. Two different things.

At the end of the day, disliking the game is completely fine. Not every story resonates with everyone. But reducing it to 'white liberal fantasy' because it portrays supportive relationships is just an unnecessarily cynical reading of a game whose entire purpose is comfort and emotional sincerity. Some people don’t need misery to see humanity in a story

I've been on Tumblr for over a decade. I call it a white liberal fantasy because it is one. In fact, I originally said that it had 'more representation than story, the way Tumblr likes it.' My sanitized white liberal American fantasy comment came from another user saying that it's not all Tumblrinas that behave like this. Getting this pressed over that comment just means you're exactly the type of person I'm talking about when I mentioned that stereotype.

That's just a fantasy for sterile, sanitized people who ironically can't talk like adults or handle any problems because they feel that every little comment made is an attack towards them and that life should never ever ever inconvenience them beyond a simple argument (and that's a big deal because how dare others have opinions that doesn't match my own, they should agree with me and decisions 100% of the time). The type of person who have never faced a real problem or an actually unsupportive environment, but they've convinced themselves that their parents getting upset that they quit their job/dropped out of collage is 'abuse' and 'emotional damage'.

Someone who can't scroll away from a silly comment in a pirate forum and instead gets mad like the comment was personally talking about them and must reply to insult them and imply that they're just a bitter and angry person who can't handle a game where everyone isn't bitter and angry and 'communicate like adults'. Making up **** I didn't even say because you felt called out by a comment which to your own words, didn't even fit your description.

Says more about you than anything else.

Was this a clapback? It fell flatter than Our Life's writing.

Anyway, let's agree to disagree on Our Life having good writing. Because this VN is not worth arguing about.

 

[seneya]

I can't believe I'm defending Our Life of all things, I find it boring af. But...
People unwind by different means. Some read dark ****, as I do; some like cozy stories. Not liking a story/genre as fine, but claiming everyone who enjoys OL is "sterile and sanitized" is needlessly reductive. Otherwise we can claim that, say, everyone who enjoys power fantasy is an insecure jerkass harboring sadistic urges to trample and humiliate everyone who disagrees with them. Doesn't sound quite right, yes?
One type of fantasy is not better than another, they're just different. People read cozy stories to get away from irl **** for a while, that's all. Someone imagines themselves all-powerful & solving problems with a single flick of wrist, someone imagines a drama-free reality where everything can be talked out. Btw, talking things out IS the adult thing to do irl.

 

[LtheStoryteller]

Someone who can't scroll away from a silly comment in a pirate forum and instead gets mad like the comment was personally talking about them and must reply to insult them and imply that they're just a bitter and angry person who can't handle a game where everyone isn't bitter and angry and 'communicate like adults'. Making up **** I didn't even say because you felt called out by a comment which to your own words, didn't even fit your description.

Welcome to my world

 

[LtheStoryteller]

I can't believe I'm defending Our Life of all things, I find it boring af. But...
People unwind by different means. Some read dark ****, as I do; some like cozy stories. Not liking a story/genre as fine, but claiming everyone who enjoys OL is "sterile and sanitized" is needlessly reductive. Otherwise we can claim that, say, everyone who enjoys power fantasy is an insecure jerkass harboring sadistic urges to trample and humiliate everyone who disagrees with them. Doesn't sound quite right, yes?
One type of fantasy is not better than another, they're just different. People read cozy stories to get away from irl **** for a while, that's all. Someone imagines themselves all-powerful & solving problems with a single flick of wrist, someone imagines a drama-free reality where everything can be talked out.

And this is true, I must agree.
Buuuuut, also, yourstalkeroutside just commented about how they view the game. It's unrealistic and it's completely FINE to say that. Overly extra coddling, or whatever, and that's FINE.
Just saying that doesn't mean that they are personally attacking anyone, just pointing out what they noticed about the story, and why they think it's not good. You see that, say okay, that's how you see it, I think it's alright because I see it like that, and that's that. You agree to disagree, and that's IT. The problem is the one commentator above, just how the ones that like to be on my ***, with how they take personal offence at anything said. It gets even worse when they bring the need to have some moral superiority over everyone, but that's a whooole other topic that I won't go into here, since it would just be clogging the thread needlessly, more so than I've, or we've, already have

And here's the thing that actually undermines your whole point

The only thing that undermines my point is you trying to deduce what I use and how I use it, BUT! As I said to the Mis character, use the private messages to send me these, because as I mentioned before, I don't want to clog the thread, as was pointed out by someone, I forgot who

 

[LtheStoryteller]

GOAT **** honestly, and he released it. You can literally go here, and you can even find out about game release under that framework and how the money will be split(hint, he isn't CoG's stupid 75% Pre-tax cut)

Thanks for the info! I'll look into it

 

[seneya]

It's unrealistic and it's completely FINE to say that.

Yes, it's fine to say that. I was addressing the point where it wasn't just the game being called sterile and sanitized (which is fine), but the people who enjoy it - please do not move (or, rather, replace) the goalpost. It was a counterargument to that specific part.
Otherwise yes, agree to disagree, as everyone has different tastes in fiction.

 

[yourstalkeroutside]

Yes, it's fine to say that. I was addressing the point where it wasn't just the game being called sterile and sanitized (which is fine), but the people who enjoy it - please do not move (or, rather, replace) the goalpost. It was a counterargument to that specific part.
Otherwise yes, agree to disagree, as everyone has different tastes in fiction.

To which I will note the original context of the comment which was talking about Tumblr. Context matters here.

Basically this is what happened:

Me: Our Life is a mid game with more representation than story, the way Tumblr likes it.

Another user: I'm a Tumblr user and only a certain subset of Tumblr (White Americans) that likes it.

Me: Same, it's a sterile sanitized game for sterile sanitized people. A white liberal American fantasy.

Illiterate dumbass: Saying that it's a white liberal American fantasy is thermally online, I'm not white and American. How dare someone like a game where you live in a supportive environment.

Me: WTF no. (Explains exactly what I mean by it being a sterile, sanitized game and the exact type of person I was talking about)

Illiterate dumbass: (insert essay based on assumptions and things I didn't say)

Being attacked because someone thought I was talking about all it's fans is stupid. Being attacked because they clearly did not read the comment I was replying to and just made assumptions about me is even more dumb.

I never said that liking Our Life was bad or that people shouldn't enjoy it, I said that it was made to appeal to a very specific type of person. There's a massive difference.

 

[seneya]

I said that it was made to appeal to a very specific type of person

...and that was specifically the point I was addressing: that the type of person the game is appealing to does not necessary have to be a, quote, sterile and sanitized person. Regardless of it that person is on Tumblr or not.
To put it even simpler, I disagree that the game's target audience consists of sterile and sanitized people, and I outlined why I think so in my post.
I never accused you of saying that

liking Our Life was bad or that people shouldn't enjoy it

and I am not going to argue about what other users said, as my post has nothing to do with theirs.
f u Our Life you own me for this

 

[bosslady]

Not sure if this is the right place, but what are you guys reading? I saw some people mention Kindling or Adoriel Tears, are they any good? I'm in the mood for something with a childhood arc but that doesn't go on forever.

 

[yourstalkeroutside]

Not sure if this is the right place, but what are you guys reading? I saw some people mention Kindling or Adoriel Tears, are they any good? I'm in the mood for something with a childhood arc but that doesn't go on forever.

Kindling is good but is currently in the childhood arc and updates slowly so I don't think it's what's you're looking for.

 

[Mondy]

our life is an underwhelming game abt romancing a green haired mf, idk why this entire conversation was warranted lol. while I suppose no one is that mentally sterilized to believe that all human interactions flow smoothly and flawlessly with practiced smiles and compassionate nods. it does warrant me to wonder why some ppl seem drawn to games which reflect these sort of polished, flat, one dimensional dynamics that pose no friction or resistance, or even the slightest opposition, despite the latter never inherently entailing offense and actual contempt. it's just interesting to think about.

 

[seneya]

I'm in the mood for something with a childhood arc but that doesn't go on forever

I am trying to think of lesser known ones... Misplaced? Unsanctioned maybe? Uhh Pillars of Light too

 

[AGoldenExperience]

I've found current WIPs that are great. I think peoples standards are either skewed or they're worn out of the genre. Take breaks. Your mind doesn't need to be constantly reading IFs. Start reading IFs where the main focus isn't romance and look for less popular ones.

I actually meant to say bullying instead of 'making fun of' there but decided against it. No, the original parts of the thread didn't have people making fun of authors to the extent that people do now and never attacked other users favorite games to this degree. I mean, I could. There are a few games here and in the IF and VN space that are praised constantly but that I find extremely bland and sloppily made for profit but I'm not going to list any of them because people here would get offended and or start attacking the intelligence of the developers and the fans instead of just stating their opinions. You can list your opinions without belittling other people. That's lazy.

To address the first point, nearly every damn wip posted now has romance as a main focus one way or another, it has been that way for ages, and will be for ages again, most of the time the less popular IFs will always die out due to a lack of interest or simply burnout, especially if said IF has a Patreon, also, this is more of a personal experience but there's BARELY any interesting concepts that vary from the trend of the samey, tropey romance games, and all of the ones that veer off will usually have very little content and die out, this has been the experience for every single wip I've been interested in for the past year or so, the only remotely interesting one was Autumn Winds and it died because the author got terminal burnout, TLDR: the less popular wips will always die, also, I think you severely underestimate the amount of people who turn to IFs because they've been burnt out of everything else, I am, for example.







Also, I dearly desire the part said where people harrass authors specifically, all the criticism I've seen on the thread (which is fairly tame, by the by) is general and related to the overuse of the same five tropes (there's 4-5 IFs all related to the single Persephone-Hades romance, and only two of them don't reuse the same plot beat for beat, for god's sake) and I only remember the one time people called out the author of that one Ares MC wip for being weirdly stingy about one of her characters who seemed a bit Mary-Sueish (literally couldn't lose), so yeah, that's all, you're also not really helping anything by doing this.

 

[bosslady]

Wait, wait, can you please elaborate? I'm curious now!

and I only remember the one time people called out the author of that one Ares MC wip for being weirdly stingy about one of her characters who seemed a bit Mary-Sueish (literally couldn't lose)

 

[AGoldenExperience]

Wait, wait, can you please elaborate? I'm curious now!

https://god-syndicate-if.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F780129597835657216

The comment she's responding to is relatively tame and didn't warrant responding to (if it all) with blatant aggression, the tag below is also strange because it assumes a thing the dude(tte) never said, it's also plainly an opinion that they don't really demand anything in, also, besides that, the Tumblr of hers doesn't have many detractors that I could see so she's just being aggressive for literally zero reason.

 

[LtheStoryteller]

for being weirdly stingy about one of her characters who seemed a bit Mary-Sueish (literally couldn't lose)

Plot armour the strongest armour in the existence

most of the time the less popular IFs will always die out due to a lack of interest or simply burnout,

Pretty much, yeah, but I think that there's another point to be made here.
This is something that I'm truly trying to bring back, but the lack of interactivity, is what I think is making the if space more dull by the day. Where are the impactful choices? If I wanted to read I regular book, I'd just read a regular book.
I don't know why people think that linear stuff is good, especially considering they are dabbling into something that's on par with video game making.
So yeah, unless they play the Choices card, and the fact that *** sells and all that jazz, they offer nothing that would make people entertained or engaged, except the emotions they try to produce via romance.
It gets even better when the writer of the said work does not want to create something like that, but has to in order to appeal to the audience

you're also not really helping anything by doing this.

Precisely

https://god-syndicate-if.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F780129597835657216

The comment she's responding to is relatively tame and didn't warrant responding to (if it all) with blatant aggression, the tag below is also strange because it assumes a thing the dude(tte) never said, it's also plainly an opinion that they don't really demand anything in, also, besides that, the Tumblr of hers doesn't have many detractors that I could see so she's just being aggressive for literally zero reason.

Oh yeah, that's something that anyone can expect from the if community, in majority of cases. As far as I know, I have no beef with Morgan, and so this is not me hating on her, and am just using this as an example, but writers of Tumblr will react very strangely like that. They will answer aggressively for no reason whatsoever. Lash out just because someone even dared to say something that they don't approve of?????????? I mean, I get having your favourite characters, but why this level of aggression? But I guarantee you that the comments are even wilder (which is all exactly why I view Tumblr the way I do)
And people have the gall to say that I don't handle criticism **** outta here

 

[Glitch]

I'm in the mood for something with a childhood arc but that doesn't go on forever.

Short childhood arc:


* O, Your Heavenly Stars!

* God Cursed
* Dragon kin

* Honor Amongst Thieves

Still in the childhood phase:

* The Bastard of Camelot

* Tales of Wocdes

* Bladeweaver
* The Brightest Stars

* Guardian of Time

Special mention to the dead ones: Vendetta (I remember we could play the MC as a child in flashbacks, not really a full childhood arc, but let me mention Vendetta anyway), The Wroth Ode, and Children of Iseir.

 

[yourstalkeroutside]

So yeah, unless they play the Choices card

Choices wasn't even so bad (pre being sold to an AI company). A Courtesan of Rome and It lives series are still gems.

 

[LtheStoryteller]

Short childhood arc:


* O, Your Heavenly Stars!

* God Cursed
* Dragon kin


Still in the childhood phase:

* The Bastard of Camelot

* Tales of Wocdes

* Bladeweaver
* The Brightest Stars


Special mention to the dead ones: Vendetta, The Wroth Ode, and Children of Iseir.

---

I was hoping Johnny wouldn’t become too much of a pain in the ***, but it doesn’t seem like it is heading in that direction. I already expected him to be some kind of rival after reading his description and the fact that he’s Aphrodite’s fiancé, but it feels strange that the MC is always so confused and still hasn’t realized why anything they try on him fails, especially if you play as an MC who is knowledgeable about the Greek gods or does their own research on them.

Vendetta was such a good one... But also, aren't we a little grown in that one? I don't think we're a kid per se

Choices wasn't even so bad (pre being sold to an AI company). A Courtesan of Rome and It lives series are still gems.

Yeah, I was thinking more about the new choices ai bullshit. Old choices was really good, I forgot the names but the street racer one, and the pirate one were peak in choices history. Also, if you haven't played the fan made conclusion to the it lives series, I highly recommend it. It is amazing, unlike anything that choices can produce.

Oh, and also, what's your take on the whole Candlelight thing? The old Choices makers.
I find it to be the biggest money scamming bullshit, even though the story seems alright

Edit: I'm probably forgetting more titles and games from choices, since it's been years since I last saw and played the stuff, so yeah, don't mind my lack of recommendations xD

 

[AGoldenExperience]

Vendetta was such a good one... But also, aren't we a little grown in that one? I don't think we're a kid per se

I remember Vendetta, I enjoyed it a lot but I thought Ash was our actual cousin because the MC keeps calling his/her mom Aunt, was a bit odd.