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Review of doHna:doHna -Issho ni Warui Koto o Shiyou-

SubjectdoHna:doHna -Issho ni Warui Koto o Shiyou-
Dohna Dohna ~ Let's Do Bad Things Together
ByHelpfulness: 1
Vote: 5
killah-kheem on 2022-09-25 last updated on 2023-05-10
ReviewI didn't think a visual novel of all things would end up being one of the worst examples of ludonarrative dissonance I've ever seen.

This is the first Alicesoft game I've ever played, and I'm definitely impressed by their quality. I'm probably gonna check out some more of their games because of that. However, if this is indicative of how all of their games are written, then I really don't see why games like Rance are so beloved and rated so highly.

It's clear that this game is going for a simple, breezy cyberpunk adventure with some fun, likeable characters, and on paper that's done really well. The visual style is fantastic, fitting the setting really well, and coupled with how much CG variety there is, as well as the battle animations, its one of the most visually appealing eroge I've seen (soundtrack is amazing too). The episodic structure, alongside the scenes you get when you choose to spend time with your party, makes for good pacing. I never felt like the story was dragging on or anything (there was only one instance where I had to stop and farm to level up my characters a bit, though that was probably due to me not playing the game very strategically). The plot itself is extremely simple and by the book, but it's like comfort food. Not the kind of thing that'll stick with you forever, but it's done stylishly. You even have your late game plot twist.

The biggest problem with the game, however, is that the gimmick it chose to go for in regards to its ero elements totally undermines the kind of fun adventure vibe it's going for. How are you supposed to be rooting for your characters and hoping that they beat the big bad evil corporation when what you're doing is almost equally as fucked up. It feels like the H scenes and the main story scenes were taken out of different games. The characters barely address what they're doing, and whenever they do, they either treat it as casually as if they're talking about going to get dinner, or they give out some flimsy excuse about how "they've got no other choice". Yeah, no, I don't remember when human trafficking became the only profitable criminal activity in the world. And the way they justify it is by showing every random citizen in the story that's not in the middle of being raped, as twisted assholes who have no empathy for anyone else and only care about not being dragged away to the gulag. It makes the entire experience feel artificial, like none of these characters are actual characters but just excuses for porn, and pulled me out of every character moment or epic fight scene.

And y'know, it's not like I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I've got no problem with including these kinds of fucked up fetishes in an eroge. I would have been alright with it if it just made me play as an awful person with no excuses attached, or if they axed on making the protagonists the good guys and had the villains be the ones doing the evil things. But this kind of wishy washy experience, where they have their cake and eat it too, just lowers the impact of everything.

Well, despite all of my complaints, I don't regret playing Dohna Dohna. If nothing else, it was a very well made porn game. I just wish it could have been a bit more than that.
1 point
#1 by lemonov
2022-09-27 at 17:19
< report >> However, if this is indicative of how all of their games are written, then I really don't see why games like Rance are so beloved and rated so highly.
It's not. Play Rance, starting with 01
#2 by killah-kheem
2022-09-30 at 19:21
< report >Yeah, I'm kind of assuming that's not the case. I can't imagine it would be so beloved if it was like this. I'll go into it with an open mind.
#3 by zany25
2022-12-10 at 03:28
< report >the dissonance is definitely the main weakness of this game for me, like you said it's breezy, it's bright, it's cute, and the consensual h-scenes with the party IMO are plenty strong to hold most of the game (you can keep the lose/capture humiliation bonuses for the crowd that likes that, I can't seem to find an alicesoft game that doesn't have rape in it--but at least in evenicle the protagonist isn't a rapist and in rance his... "conquests" aren't really overly traumatized by it, ((at least in what I've seen so far)) but the trafficked prostitutes clearly ARE traumatized in some of the stories in this game.)

but the protagonists trafficking with just sort of a shrug "is how it is" attitude is kinda odd, I think some of the prostitute heroine scenes could've been implemented differently somehow, like you said by having the protags be more outright evil or by having the villains orchestrate them or something if they're supposed to be cut-and-dry good guys.

but eh, what can you do when eroge does it's eroge thing sometimes (sometimes I just give up). On the upside Kukichiyo's scenes were... really good.Last modified on 2022-12-10 at 03:29
#4 by pure-spirit
2023-06-11 at 03:41
< report >>It's not. Play Rance, starting with 01

Ummm... Rance 01 starts with the main hero raping his slave as one of the first H scenes. The pain from her being dry is played for laughs.
#5 by lemonov
2023-06-11 at 15:10
< report >Congrats, you figured it out. And doHna doHna is a game where you manage a brothel. Go play a console RPG or something, what are you doing here in the first place?
#6 by pure-spirit
2023-06-11 at 22:34
< report >i was pointing out Rance is no less transgressive than Dohna Dohna. You implied otherwise. maybe read your own posts before getting sarcastic.
#7 by flvbycjctnheheh
2023-06-12 at 05:46
< report >@4 The difference is that there's no dissonance in Rance, he's like this in the plot scenes as well, not only in the ero-scenes. But yeah, if the reviewer was bothered by rape, then he should avoid playing Rance. As to answer his question - not everyone is SJW, especially in the anime community and such, so most people aren't bothered by fictional rape and the Rance series has a lot of good things to love.

Also, I disagree with @1 about starting from Rance 1, it has shit ratings, why would you waste your time on it? I started the series with Sengoku and didn't miss anything too important, then later I played Rance 6 and, likewise, nothing from the previous games was necessary. And because they are meh by themselves, I'd recommend ignoring Rance 1-5 unless you play remakes. Kichikuou is the only old Rance game worth playing, it has gameplay similar to Sengoku (or rather vice versa) and decent enough plot which inspired Rance X.Last modified on 2023-06-12 at 05:47
#8 by lemonov
2023-06-16 at 06:35
< report >#7 I recommended to start with Rance 01 (2013), not Rance (1989).
The rest of what you said is pretty much nonsense, since the series is written to be enjoyed linearly. SR is the only exception as it's a stand alone setting, and even then it's followed up by Rance Quest which is an anniversay title which brings back every classic character and follows up on plenty of old plot points. Not to mention IX which builds upon lore from IV and is a soft remake of Mamatoto, with X being a grand finale to the entire series, referencing pretty much every single AS game not even limited to Rance. Considering how little you know about the series, it's hilarious to me how self confident you are about making those wild claims about what is essentially a continuous narrative about adventures of one great man. Kichikuou is a collection of ideas reused later in the entire series, by the way, not just Sengoku or X.
#9 by flvbycjctnheheh
2023-06-16 at 18:05
< report >@8 I played all games from Rance 6 onwards (including X), and I don't feel that I missed anything of importance by completely ignoring all prior games. What little tidbits of the old games I could've missed I already received from Kichikuou anyway.
I decide if I should play something mostly based on the ratings and for all older Rance games and even their remakes the ratings are abysmally low, other than Rance 3 remake (which I tried but didn't complete because the gameplay is meh). Why would I need to bother myself with mediocre works just because they have some plot relevance to much better games? I consider anything with less than 7.5 as not worth my time, and some of those games have a rating below 7.
#10 by lemonov
2023-06-17 at 02:08
< report >What a sad life you must be living then.
#11 by flvbycjctnheheh
2023-06-22 at 05:25
< report >@10 Lol. Why would I waste my precious time on subpar games or other fiction? When I can use it on some universally acclaimed masterpiece. So having a sad life is a more fitting term for those who waste their priceless time on mediocrity.Last modified on 2023-06-22 at 05:26
#12 by lemonov
2023-06-22 at 10:38
< report >Have fun existing as a slave of society and never forming your own opinion on anything that's not sociallly acceptable enough bub. Don't think there's a point in arguing further.
#13 by flvbycjctnheheh
2023-06-24 at 17:37
< report >You sound edgy AF dude, chuuni much? Most normal people have a similar pattern of emotional response, so unless you have some sort of mental deviation you will, in general, like what most others do (at least when it comes to fiction). Sure, sometimes I can dislike something that most people like, but almost always the reason is that I notice some sort of plot hole missed by the general audience.Last modified on 2023-06-24 at 17:38
#14 by lemonov
2023-06-24 at 21:26
< report >Playing games regardless of mass opinion is not a mental deviation. I'm sorry you are unable to recognize this concept lol
#15Post deleted: Are we done now?