#ynfg theories

[gingeredmink]

i don’t know if you’ve posted something like this before, but what are your general headcanons about ynfg protags? like their ages, personalities, etcetera. i really like hearing about other people’s interpretations ^^

thank you for giving me an excuse to use this again hehe

I've probably posted something like this in the past but honestly memory is so bad these days I've completely forgotten and as you said, it's fun hearing others interpretations and stuff!

Sorta umbrella generalization is I think most are quiet, shy, soft spoken people. Outside of a few exceptions [Uro for example, she just comes off as a more loud and vibrant kind of character]. Maybe it's the ambience or lack of dialogue but a lot of the games make me feel like the character has a more somber/quiet personality.

A lot also feel like the outcast, always in their head and not really paying much attention to the world around them [either something happened that made them want to shut outside out or they suffer from ostracization and it's a coping mechanism for loneliness]

More for individual characters under cause long

Mado's kinda the poster child for this. Think she's around 16 or so and she became a shut in due to a mix of depression in general and it being exacerbated by experiencing trauma that caused her to snap or distance herself from her remaining friends [Car accident, loss of a friend, something like that.] She grew up playing weird little collectathon/pixel games and she's more interested in funky sorta characters than usual normie stuff her peers prefer, so she doesn't really connect much to those around her and focuses on fantasy more than reality.

Urotsuki [really young adult, maybe around 23-25?] feels like the, "I don't have much in real life but I can be myself and have lots of friends online." sorta character. People aren't intentionally mean to her per say, but she's weird and often doesn't feel like she fits in. Parents are sort of the same in that their main problem is they were distant and not there for her when she needed them.

Admit I am a sucker for this sorta stuff, but adore the idea that she went through a rough patch of self-value issues [was put off from being herself due to being weird, doesn't fall into the conventionally attractive type and had issues with image due to it, ect] but eventually overcame them and is now one of those loud and proud to be herself and very aggressively supports other weirdos around her because she doesn't want others to go through that type of people. She still has her skeletons, having an on-off issue with substance abuse and tendency to get excited and overstep boundaries.

Fluorette [Young adult?] comes across as a sort of lost child that just wants to feel like she belong somewhere. She has personality and such but doesn't fit in with those around her, and her humor can sometimes make her come off as a delinquent which results in her feeling more out of place.

Sometsuki [16-ish?] feels really similar to Mado in that she doesn't really connect much to those around her and prefers to spend her time alone. Can't explain why but feel like she has a bit more of a pessimistic outlook stemming from anxiety [she's afraid of messing up and being looked down on so she's reluctant to try things due to feeling like she's already failed kinda deal.]

NEVER SEE HER MENTIONED ENOUGH BUT I feel like Yayoi from Nobetsu Maku Nashi would be one of the more chill, sort of calm happy dreamers. [i am so heartbroken that the dev deleted because god i wanted to learn more about her so bad.] Sonoko from -1 is similar, though with a bit more of a depressed undertone. Both also young adults.

[making-sense-of-oversomnia]

Theory: Is Friend #4 Tyran from Mesonoxian?

Don't take this one too seriously

Tyran is the protagonist of Mesonoxian, the first Yume Nikki fangame made by Oversomnia's creator Wamby. However, it's no longer being worked on and most of the content from it has been moved into Oversomnia, as stated in the v0.1 Devlog.

The Bestiary description for friend #4 has Irving note that he is perhaps "no longer in his own dream." I've theorized in the past that Junction Space (where friend #4 is seen) is a place where dreams are linked together (this friend goes through a green door which is heavily implied to be representative of Irving's dreams, Irving then feels like his dreams are not his own, etc). Could this description be a nod towards the blending of the two dream worlds both in-canon and in real life with the content merge? Irving is "not in his own dreams" because some of them literally WEREN'T his at the start...

There's also the fact friend #4 and Tyran look rather similar to one another.

Blueish black hair, sweaters/jackets with a white stripe at the top and subtle checkerboard pattern towards the bottom, a single stray hair pixel in the top left, etc...

There's even a few visual similarities between the Junction Space bedroom and Tyran's bedroom in Mesonoxian. The main one that stands out to be me though is the circular blue rug in the middle of the room. They event have the same sideways L shape -- just flipped.

There's even similarities between the second room of Junction Space and the rest of the house. A sliding glass door leading outside, and different wood paneling for a kitchen space (to the left in Oversomnia, mostly obscured by the triangles, and to the right in Mesonoxian, again reinforcing this idea that the space might be flipped).

Even Outback Roads, the world Junction Space is located in, is an area that was in Mesonoxian first.

Hey, there's even serpents in Mesonoxian too. What are the odds.

That said, my gut instinct says it's probably just a reference or coincidence... The Junction Space event has been in the game since the alpha versions prior to the content merge, after all... Sometimes ya just wanna reuse content, and there's nothing wrong with that either!

[shed0kryptz]

u know wat. pls ask me about 2kki. i want to discuss 2kki. worlds, endings, effects, characters, theories, whatev. come on down fellow 2kkis ask awayyy

[loving-n0t-heyting]

I watched reservoir dogs. The first tarantino i had ever seen

It felt more like a stageplay script than a movie script. The single, mostly visually unremarkable setting for most of the action; the protag-less ensemble cast; the way it mostly relies very much on actor performance plus character devt and very little on scenery or camerawork. I gather it has in fact been adapted as a play several times? If you had shown me it without added context i would have assumed it was the other way around

Wow that sure was a lot more homoeroticism than i was expecting

I truly struggle to inhabit the criminal honour culture morality all the characters presuppose when talking to one another. If you put this high a premium on honesty and plain dealing then why are you conducting armed robberies as yr profession?? Why does gur eng pbc fgneg ncbybtvfvat ng gur irel raq sbe orvat n eng pbc jura fheryl riragf bs gur ynfg 1.5ue qrzbafgengr gung gur grnz ur jnf vasvygengvat qrfreirq vg nf pyrneyl nf nalguvat pbhyq? Inscrutable

Mr pink is ofc entirely correct thst tipping is a bs institution and none of the others in the conversation do a good job of actually explaining why individually unilaterally choosing to forego tipping is not a useful corrective

Why is steve buscemi so attractive? If you described his appearance and speech in theory or drew me a caricature i would not predict it, and yet!

[ynfg-review]

Yume Nikki Fangame Reviews: .flow

Website | Wiki | Play Online

.flow was released by lol in 2009, and features the technologically induced dreamstates or memories of a girl called Sabitsuki. The game was last updated in 2019, and has a full set of effects and three endings.

Atmosphere: .flow is grungy, industrial, and dripping with gore. This is a game about decay, where crunching mechanical sounds and strange drones follow you through the abandoned rooms of back-alley hospitals with bloodstains on the floor. .flow evokes some of the whimsical surreal feel of Yume Nikki, but combines this with more realistic representations of eerie environments. It has quite a lot of variety in the vibes of its worlds, but the cohesion of its themes and repeated imagery prevents this from feeling incoherent.

Exploration: .flow is a sizable game, although many of its worlds are small in comparison to those of Yume Nikki or 2kki. It has fewer dead ends, and is harder to get lost and stuck in than many YNFGs, so it’s easy to go on a long meandering journey without having to turn back. Rather than wandering through vast, atmospheric areas, the heart of .flow is in the passages and connections between spaces, which often have implicit narrative associations.

Art: Much of the game has a muted, dark colour palette, which normally wouldn’t appeal to me but which works extremely well for the vibes it’s trying to cultivate. There are a few brighter and prettier areas with some lovely pixel art, and these have even more of an impact when they’re surrounded by drab greys and rusted metal corridors. All of the gore and horror art in the game is really effective and high quality – definitely where lol’s pixel art style shines the most.  

Storytelling: .flow has the strongest environmental storytelling of any YNFG I’ve played. Whilst retaining a lot of ambiguity and room for the player’s imagination, it builds a picture of the protagonist’s life story from her birth itself. Multiple NPCs recur throughout the game, and the endings provide a lot of food for thought. There’s nothing quite like sitting down late at night to read decade old .flow theories on obsolete forums.

Horror and CWs: This is unambiguously a horror game. It brings together Yume Nikki’s surreal body horror style with some pretty in-your-face gore and a lot of medical imagery. Nevertheless, the areas which I find most unsettling aren’t always the ones with the blood and chasers. It’s a great game for haunting, uncanny environments.

 As well as the gore and medical horror, .flow comes with a hefty content warning for depictions of (horrific) pregnancy, suicide, and sex work. There’s an area relating to the latter which is pretty heavily sexualised in imagery and sound design.

Best thing about it: The encroaching horror that builds with the subtle implications of the narrative. The final ending is a great payoff (whilst still leaving most of your questions unanswered).

If you like… Ethel Cain, exploring abandoned buildings, the poem 'Tulips' by Sylvia Plath.

[vermilionangel]

I figured I should put this here since I post almost solely ynfg stuff anyway and it'd get drowned out in my main, so I'm putting my hallucigenia hc/theory/whatever stuff here its very long but the short version is that Aya is a very protective mother with very little self worth

-Aya is aines mother, with Aya working at a theater that had various plays. I'd put Aya at 28 and aine at 7~8? -Each role in the theater is represented by the effects from older versions, with Aya sometimes filling in various roles when their usual actors were unavailable(this is why she's able to collect them despite them varying wildly in appearance). when she wasn't standing in for others shed usually play the role of indigo or red -aines father is the guy who gave you the purple effect(I'm calling him Murasaki for now) in older versions. hes immature for his age and doesn't take things seriously, which is why you find him spinning around and why his effect would mess with your movement -Murasaki actually does fine as a dad despite his personality, its just that both him and Aya were often busy so they'd let aine wander around and play in the theater as long as she didn't disrupt anything -aya has had a doll named Rusia(its the doll you find in the circus that the indigo effect made you look like, its name comes from the file name for the big picture of it) since she was young. she feels embarrassed over still being attached to it, but it means too much to her for her to be willing to get rid of it. indigos appearance is directly based off of rusia -aya does not have the best sense of self worth. she feels better when shes performing bc shed prefer to pretend to be anyone other than herself, and this is why her dream self looks so different than how she actually does(more on that in a bit) -aine is a very...creative kid, making stories based off of the theaters plays. bc said plays were often dark this would be reflected in her stories, and they form of the basis of a picture book she made in a spare journal titled "Hallucigenia". Hallucigenia contains drawings of various locations that aine imagined, and these locations are the basis of the dream worlds -aya is very protective of aine and wont hesitate to get physical if she feels like aine is being threatened. this is why she has multiple weapon effects, and it also leads to: -aines right arm was lost in an accident where heavy stage equipment was accidentally dropped on her. Aya flew into a rage over this and attacked the person who dropped it, killing them. she had been performing the red role that day, which is why red used to be the weapon effect -aya got put in jail for this and murasaki had to take care of aine in her place. the stage equipment accident made him very wary of letting aine back in the theater so he'd often leave her home alone while he was at work(this is why she spends the game cooped up in her bedroom) -aya was occasionally allowed visitors, and aine was one of them. she felt bad for Aya due to her not having anything to do, so she gave her Hallucigenia to read -while Aya appreciated the gesture, it was just a picture book made by a kid, so it wasn't exactly the most entertaining thing. still, it was all that she had available, so she got into the habit of daydreaming while going over the pictures, imagining herself exploring them -dream Aya(who im going to refer to as Indigo to make this less confusing) was born from Aya having a hard time imagining herself in her daydreams. indigo is essentially her ideal self, someone who can actually handle things and isn't as much of a wreck as she had become in jail. her appearance and name come from ayas time performing the role of indigo, and Aya has started to form an unhealthy obsession with her -aine still remembered most of hallucigenia, and often dreams about the locations in it. this is why she shares a lot of ayas dream worlds, but not all of them- her memory isn't perfect -aya will never admit it but shes still a bit of a chuuni at heart lol

[valentinemesis]

of rust and smiles

[caffeinated-clutter]

Not so much a theory but a concept for Debris/Mikan Muzou that seems interesting to play with, might be a bit stretched and winded.

Spoiler warning for Debris ending

In Debris Tatsuki is struggling with a physically abusive household plus bullying at school but doesn’t want to turn out violent like those around them. Through the game they are struggling to hold themself together [as shown by the numerous events of them breaking apart/dying]. Lefia represented their ‘childish’ wish to stay innocent, and her putting away the toys in the boxes and closing the book is a sign they’ve finally let go and ‘closed the book’ on that dream per say. The final sign is them killing Lefia and coming across their own corpse in the ending, showing how in a sense they’ve killed off that part of them by giving in.

After this you get a scene of them meeting the chaser girl at the park followed by them walking together in the street. Tatsuki stops and drops the book [again, them letting go], kills the chaser, then runs off screen followed by a black screen with sounds of static and the stabbing noise when killing the chaser [not sure what the last one was. could’ve been a laugh or choking]

Having snapped and turning to violence resulted in becoming emotionally cold, landing them in the wrong crowd and in a gang of sorts. Trying to avoid being caught for their childhood crimes they changed their name and appearance. Having little to no regard for others and only finding companionship with other gang members they go on to commit numerous other crimes without regret. Until one incident results in the death of a little girl that reminds them of Lefia, causing all the memories of them trying so desperately to stay innocent to come back and realize in horror they’ve became the monster they feared.

The guilt and shame from this drove them to turn on their gang and isolate themselves, refusing to leave their room and be tormented by nightmares.

This is where Mikan Muzou begins.

tl;dr: Soutarou is older Tatsuki.

[pestoanchovi]

i sprited some of the AI generated ynfg protagonists!!!! 

my theory things about some of them are the second one is like blind or somethig, and thats why their eyes r like that, and they live in a really cold place and thats why they r all bundled up . my other thing is for the fourth one, i thought the thing in thr background just lookd like a backpacs, so they r just a little creature that just carries a huge backpack everwhere, the other 2, i dunno but i really like how the sprites 4 those came out. (they r from https://twitter.com/autumnusgrimm/status/1469536876122021888?s=20 btw !!!)

[dinoburger]

come to think of it I'm not sure if that ask I got a while ago was referring to YNFGs being "auto-biographical" in the sense that people can literally just use them to express their dreams or like a dream diary, not that you can deduce authorial intent from them

I'm just so. used to edgelords who DO think of it as the latter in the Yume Nikki community. LIKE THE POINT IS. IT'S. INTERPRETIVE.

like as much as I hate the "Madotsuki rape theory" it's still a totally valid interpretation. but that's all it is, interpretation, you can't assert that this is 100% what Kikiyama wanted you to read it as no more than any other theory.

I've also like, had people complain for the same reason, because they assume that everyone who follows the transgender Madotsuki theory wants to absolutely assert that on every interpretation which is not fucking true either admit it you just wanted to complain about trans people finding comfort in something

*COUGH* but I genuinely don't think anyone expects everyone who follows Yume Nikki to explore it through the trans lens and tbh. it's like if someone wants to do that and personally connects with that interpretation, they probably have a better idea of what they're doing and how to handle that with the appropriate nuance than someone who is doing it reluctantly or doing it for other reasons.

or like.

anyone who wants to make Koronba's whole deal into some fantastical thing, or a murder mystery, or is just really weird and fucking invasive about it. the guy was going through Some Shit, jesus christ, even if they're not around anymore it's still upsetting to see how probing an audience can be towards a creator and their willingness to dissect them as entertainment.

I complain about this shit enough, but it never stops being. irritating.

[cobalt-memori]

i dont think im that good at undestanding ynfgs meanings or stuff like. for example i know yn is about loneliness and it has dark themes on it but for me theyr just silly dream people going around dream worlds and being silly its hard for me to think of the actual meaning of the game... makes me a little sad because i cant have cool theories like other people or stuff like that but its ok im happy w my silly thoughts

[gingeredmink]

WARNING FOR SELF HARM AND LOSS OF LOVED ONE

HAD A HORRIBLE DEBRIS CONCEPT,

Lefia was Tatsuki’s sister/twin, the two were really close and loved fairy tales and dressing up together but one day Lefia dies in an accident or fire and Tatsuki broke and couldn’t move on. They would read their old fav stories, sometimes share clothing like they used to [their fav bandana was fav because she got it for them]. possibly even had a plush that resembled her that they slept with every night just to try deny that she was actually gone. This fucked up his mental state so much he refused to outside for fear of being reminded, or worse yet bullied for being disillusion, that she was gone.

She was also always the one to console him when he was being bullied or berated/harshly scolded by parents, “You’re not an idiot Tats, its okay” and stuff and without that they turned ended up turning to self harm and isolation.

[gingeredmink]

while we are on the topic, what's your interpretation of what happened during the endings of Mikan Muzou? 👀

Soutarou was taking life stuff pretty hard, it really got to his head [am so sorry, am a horrible person for this ｡◠⸜⸝◠｡]

obv spoiler warnings

Brief general theory about Soutarou: He was in some way involved in the death of the girl seen on in the slums [refuses to use more violent/gross effects in her area + the two knew each other based on there being childlike chalk drawings. Theorize she was the child of the woman that appears in the ending; one possibility is the two were a couple and thus the little girl was Sou's daughter.]. This haunts him and he has a guilty conscious [jail area, 'binding effects' such as the chains and case] which is why he refuses to go outside, or is afraid of facing the consequences of his actions.

Ending 1: He finally gets courage to go outside. Not a whole lot going on with this one.

Ending 2: Same as 1 except when doing so is confronted by someone that makes him break down.

Ending 3: Gonna be honest here, have absolutely no idea what to make of this. He is confronted while attempting to leave, panics, and tries to escape punishment by jumping [either by suicide or maybe hoping to make fall and get away as he seems hesitant, leaning more towards first one tho]. The woman had tracked him down seeking revenge for the little girl and ???? am thoroughly perplexed by this one. Since the woman doesn't have a weapon maybe she tried to help him but he snapped, 'swallowed his guilt', and went on a rampage hence tentacle things. Dunno, watched it several times and it's just, "Um, what just happened??????" every time.

True Ending: Same for 3 except this time the woman is truly coming to make sure he's dead and pays for crimes.

Interesting thing to note is while the bgm in Debris have more creative names Mikan Muzou's is mostly just "oto". Except the song that plays for the ending is titled Salvation which really makes it stand out. Believe it is named this as Soutarou is absolved of guilt and can rest as is crimes are paid for, granted it did cost his life. It could also be the woman finally feels relief for same reason.

irrelevant but in Debris's bgm folder there's a 4 minute long song called kaiteiremix thats a remix/mix of the underwater songs and it is really good. Salvation is 2:24 and also a good song, it really fits Soutarou's character and the overall mood of the game.

[gingeredmink]

ALSO thoughts on the hospital?

Sooooo for starters LOVE THE HOSPITAL AREA, ITS SUCH A NEAT AREA . Also the clones event is one of favorites, it's so bizarre and unnerving and am really intrigued by it and just love it [granted miiiiiight be into medical aesthetics considering am into menhera n that kinda imagery. and might just be a weirdo]

Kinda messy/more throwing around notes [yes am going through and re-visiting areas cause am like. that.] than an actual coherent thought

First off there's the weird backgrounds for the connection to the hospital [according to terminal are titled 'mouth' and 'tear']. Think it could mean Tatsuki has a distrust of/views doctors as manipulative?

Nother thing is the room you start in is titled 'Isolation Ward.' [might be nothing other than names to make coding easier but still wanna note it]

Not entirely sure how to word this but it doesn't give off the usual hospital feeling that other games with them do, might be due to walls being yellow instead of white and abundance of chairs.

Obviously feel like something traumatic happened to Tatsuki at one. The clones event [terminal says room's titled Decay] maybe being them going through multiple near death experiences at one or just the fear of dying while in a critical state at one. Also possibly something like a fever dream or delirium induced by state or medication. Since there's the two bodies in hallway of alt hospital could be that they saw someone else die and got scared they would as well.

There's also the odd doctor that changes the menu and not any other staff around so maybe during stay the staff treated Tatsuki poorly and came off cold and distant or neglectful which lead to Tats having a distrust/dislike of doctors.

note: the terminal is a Linux thing. It's a text based interface that's used to run the games and stays open while game is open. bad at explaining things so here's photo of it 'running' game with game window next to it

know nothing about rpgmaker development and am essentially kinda guessing based on what it spits out.

[gingeredmink]

also hesitant to believe this one given tats is awake during the true end but it could symbolize that like. panic induced fucking up your own life type thing, cutting off their coping mechanism, cutting off their friend, running away without a plan

but if that were the case, I still have no idea what the mouth is supposed to mean-

Thing about that is if they were awake then how could there have been the corpses of them and Kubi in the field? Personally took that bit to be more of a rep of what's going on in Tat's head/their mental state and part after to actually be in real world.

Ooh never thought of that. Really like that take, it's super interesting! Can see it working well with idea that the glass effect and events of them getting shattered is showing how they're falling apart/failing to keep it together so they finally just snap. though damn, given the noises after the screen goes black think it did not go well for them at all.

DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS UP WITH THE DAMN MOUTH BUT AM SO BOTHERED BY IT. IT COMES OUT OF THE BLUE AND IS JUST???? Hi quick question WHAT THE HELL? WHAT DOES IT MEAN??? It'd be different if it were the usual creepy smile but it looks like their mouth is torn/messed up?

[gingeredmink]

ooooooh how come you think the chaser is a genuine friend? since she shows up places where tatsuki seems to find comfort/friendship (purple princess, before lefias room) I thought she was probably someone who kepts tatsuki away from recovery, esp since with purple princess, the princess gets trapped with thorns and tatsuki gets surrounded by chasers, I figured that means she had sort of extorted the both of them to cut contact

Would say am more 50/50-ish but go back and forth. Like believe both equally but also lean more towards one at times if that makes sense. For a while mainly thought she [calling her Kubinashiko/Kubi for convenience and thats name on wiki] was someone that pretended to be nice but was emotionally manipulating Tats.

Think it's mainly due to all the places she's in make her come off as lonely, like her sitting in the faces canal and spot underwater. The underwater one especially since she herself is looking down and isolated. Probs need to double check this but feels like she's more often than not on her own/away from other npcs, thus the connect due to loneliness thing. Course this could also be a sign of her trying to isolate Tats by always having them away from others.

Huh, didn't realize chasers in that event were Kubi. Always thought they were the lil black guys running around area and that it was supposed to be the princess getting tired of Tats and cutting them off; the princess herself was a case of friendliness is a face. Esp with how the princess's face gets covered if you use the upside-down effect. That's a really good theory though °◇°!

not entirely relevant but when going back to check noticed the purple princess smiles when you have the beast effect active which is kinda interesting since thats the scare npcs effect. course she smiles at the mouse so maybe she just likes animals heh. before this thought she was just smiling cause uh ratsuki's cute [she's right and she should smile]