CLoM » Yume Nikki, Part Zero

Yume Nikki, Part Zero

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So where can you go to read someone dissecting Yume Nikki — possibly the best game ever made. FACT — and showing you exactly what is so great and amazing about it? Well... lots of places actually. There is a slightly sparse wiki about Yume Nikki, and a dedicated imageboard, and a japanese forum I haven’t looked at. There are also dozens (I’m not joking) of fanmade sequels in production, a whole sea of fan art, thousands of words of extra-canonical speculation, and random posts on dedicated blogs all over the web. But dammit, none of those things were written by Mei. The world needs a Yume Nikki resource that was written by Mei. Even if the world doesn’t want that, that is what it’s getting, because I am Mei and I make these things happen. There is only one person who embodies the final arbitration of what Mei might or might not write, and that person is me. I mean, because I am Mei myself.

So since I am bored, and a completely mental fan, I am going to compile as much information as I possibly can. I will do this in the form of a Log. Obviously, I am partly doing this because of the tiring nature of my other longterm projects (playing that videogame mod, talking about Hornetman16, dissecting Atlas Shrugged, being a hypochondriac), so this could be seen as procrastination. Do not worry though: I estimate that eventually I will have so many projects happening at once that the older ones will seem easier and more appealing to me. In this way, everything will get finished even if I am actively avoiding finishing them. I think.

It made sense before I said it.

SECTION 1 - "WTF IS YUME NIKKI?"

What? Why the hell would you even say that? That's so rude, go away now.

Loser.

Anyway, Yume Nikki is an awesome freeware RPG game thing, which has rudimentary art and exactly zero gameplay. It is amazing and fantastic. You can't do anything except walk around and look at things, which is amazing. You get lost all the time, it's not finished, and it hasn't been updated for about five years. It makes me feel warm but also makes it difficult to get to sleep. It's the only game I know that can depict a human personality convincingly. As far as I'm concerned, it renders an entire genre of gaming obsolete. Not by technical supremacy or overall excellence, just by knowing something important that everyone else missed. This game is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

I may have talked myself into a corner here. Um. Anyway.

Luckily, even if you don't know what I'm talking about, there are only a handful of things you need to know about Yume Nikki.

1. Your name is Madotsuki!
2. Madotsuki won’t leave her bedroom.
3. Madotsuki has strange and chilling dreams that make up 99% of the game.
4. Madotsuki is hidden by this spoiler link at the end.

It is a heartwarming tale of social phobias and loneliness. Hooray for that. This summary might have seemed a little brief, but really these four points are the only things you can be sure of in the game. There’s no talking, no actual backstory, and nothing you can read except Madotsuki’s name in the savegame menu. And that is only there because RPG maker requires a string for that. The main point here is that there is not much to read. Really, there is nothing you can do except wander around Madotsuki’s subconscious and look at things. Or, other times, you can wander around and try desperately not to look at things. Both are appropriate in different situations.

I could have added a fourth point, which would have been “Madotsuki plays the famicom”, but I feel like I owe it to you not to mention that. It doesn’t really seem to be on the same scale. It would be misleading to suggest that playing the famicom is an important part of this game. It sort of really isn't.

SECTION 2 - "SO WHAT'S TO WRITE ABOUT?"

Yume Nikki is intriguing in two extremely potent ways.

1. It provokes irrational fear.
2. It provokes the human desire to explain irrational fear.

Point 1 is written about everywhere. Point 2 is what really intrigues me. If I really do eventually make this a full series of Yume Nikki exploration I will explore both these points equally, but point 2 is what will make the series unique. So far no one has written about Yume Nikki's emotional impact in an analytical, external way. I could do that. ^________^

But not right now. Right now I am just writing an introductory thing to test the waters. I still need to think about what order to tackle things (all the dreams have paths into each other, which means progress is seriously non-linear) and how much emphasis to put on theorizing and canonicity. I also need to think about whether or not anyone except me seriously wants to read this. Although I will not think about that for too long before ignoring it again. This is Cunning Log of Mei, not Cunning Log of People Who Aren't Mei. Think about it.

FOOTNOTES IN CLoM? NOW I'VE SEEN EVERYTHING!

--23:59, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

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I have never heard of this before, but I would like to hear more. Tetronian ^{you're clueless} 00:01, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Jesus Christ that was quick. Incidentally I am incredibly pleased that I managed to get the post in one minute before midnight UTC would have passed. I should do more posts that technically occur on the day they belong to. TVTropes has a great page about Yume Nikki here [1]. I think that's where I found it originally. If you are interested, you should consider just playing it as soon as possible rather than learning all the "fun" parts from other people. Mei (talk) 00:07, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

I went to your user page only to find that you had posted a CLoM entry within that very minute. Lucky me, haha. I am very tempted to play it, although I'm not sure if I can find the time. But I will follow your posts on it of course. Tetronian ^{you're clueless} 00:15, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

So all round this was a pretty serendipitous post. ^______^ Mei (talk) 01:04, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

If you're busy, it probably would be better to just read about it. Unless you were destined to be a Mental Fan like me, it'll probably even out about the same. Less scary, though. Hehe. Mei (talk) 01:04, 8 April 2010 (UTC)