mad about muv luv alternative again

"Why are you mad about muv-luv alternative. What is that" you may ask

muv-luv alternative is the highest rated visual novel on VNDB, a crowdsourced website for visual novel fans to categorize and rate them. it's the sequel to two other games: muv-luv extra, and muv-luv unlimited

"muv-luv extra" starts off as a lighthearted parody visual novel. it's very over the top and anime. boring schoolboy who has like 6 women in love with him, including a childhood friend who's insanely rich and bought out the surrounding city so she can live next to him. etc

it's pretty standard fare, which is the whole point. you have to beat a couple of the routes to unlock the next step, "muv-luv unlimited"

the same schoolboy wakes up in an empty house surrounded by miles by the devastation of war. he walks until he reaches a military checkpoint

at which point he discovers he is in an alternate universe where aliens invaded the earth in the 1960s and proceeded to wipe out most of the population, and humanity is barely hanging on. all the love interest characters from the first game are here, they're child soldiers now

it's pretty fucking cool actually! it goes from this slapstick parody shit to deadly serious sci-fi drama, it does a good job of establishing a setting and characters then uses the wackiness to contrast against something darker and more sinister. very good tone.

it's not without its problems - it still has anime horny in it, including these ridiculous flight suits they have to wear to pilot their mechas (did i mention there are mechas)

they get less skin-colored ones later, ostensibly this is to Increase Their Teambuilding. Yeah

but for what it is, it's surprisingly compelling. it does a good job of establishing a hopeless world and the way that humans find hope regardless

ah, i forgot to mention. the biggest change in this universe: his childhood friend is missing. no one knows anyone by that name.

without saying too much, muv luv unlimited ends on a cliffhanger. muv luv alternative, the sequel, starts with the protagonist being determined to find out the truth behind his childhood friend's disappearance and the alien invasion.

it's also WAY higher budget.

it is, without a doubt, one of the most impressive vns out there, as far as how far it stretches its budget, it has a shitton of unique CGs, it uses the sprites and visual effects in a really unique way to simulate things like combat.

So you're probably waiting for the "But."

so, this is a pretty good game, so far. aside from a lot of like, little anime bullshit i've had to suffer. like the first game isn't very good and is full of fanservice. the stupid skin-colored plugsuits. i bore through it, because everyone told me it was A Very Good Game

the worldbuilding is very choice. i'm into it at this point. i even managed to bear past the weird horny around the little psychic girl. have i mentioned this visual novel - being, you know, THREE of them - is incredibly long and a huge time investment to get through?

you know it's about to get real fucking shitty when i drop one of these:

(heavy sexual assault cw for everything below this point)

SO ANYWAY AT THE TAIL END OF THE GAME THERE IS AN UNSKIPPABLE TENTACLE RAPE SCENE THAT GOES ON FOR LIKE 3 MINUTES AND FORCES YOU TO HEAR THE LOVE INTEREST MOANING AND TALKING ABOUT HOW SHE ENJOYED IT AND THAT'S WHY SHE'S ACTUALLY IMPURE AND THE MAIN CHARACTER SHOULD HATE HER

I REALLY CANNOT EMPHASIZE HOW COMPLETELY OUT OF LEFT FIELD, AND DISGUSTINGLY VOYEURISTIC IT IS, WITH MULTIPLE CGS, SHOWING HER BEING ASSAULTED BY THE ALIENS, WHO BEFORE THIS POINT HAVE NEVER BEEN SHOWN TO HAVE ANY KIND OF SEXUALLY AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN ANY WAY?

UNSKIPPABLE

AND THEN HE TAKES THIS WOMAN, WHO HAS BEEN EMPHASIZED UP TO THIS POINT TO BE HEAVILY TRAUMATIZED NOT JUST BY THE RAPE BUT BY OTHER FUCKED UP SHIT, AND IS LIKE, "it's ok i love you" AND HEALS HER BY HAVING SEX WITH HER DIRECTLY AFTER RECOUNTING HER RAPE

BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES.

THIS IS AT THE TAIL END OF THE GAME.

AND NOBODY WARNED ME, NOT ONCE, IN ALL THE MANY RECOMMENDATIONS I GOT TO PLAY MUV LUV ALTERNATIVE. AND WHEN I SAID "WHAT THE FUCK", PEOPLE WERE JUST LIKE "oh yeah that part sucks. um keep playing!"

(steam blows out of my flared nostrils)

i had sat through so much, suspended my belief through so much horny anime bullshit

only to get fucking slapped in the face by like, the iron greave of horny anime bullshit

god i cannot describe to you the sense of betrayal and anger i felt. it's been like 8 years i'm still mad

the scene is LITERALLY there for the player to jerk off to. they decided "this game doesn't have enough porn in it. i have an idea: why not have an unskippable, excruciatingly long and voyeuristic rape scene, while the heroine narrates about how much she secretly enjoyed it."

that is the whole reason it's there. because the game only had like one other sex scene and they decided it needed more. that's the reason.

because they decided their hypothetical players jerking off to rape was more important than... i don't know, literally ANYTHING else?

god, i'm so fucking mad about it, i'm so mad i was subject to this, i'm so mad about muv-luv, it's like i got homestucked twice, the absolutely ludicrous time investment and amount of reading involved, except homestuck at least didn't spit so brazenly between my eyes

anyway! that's why i'm mad about muv-luv alternative, all these years later. and that's why i hate visual novels despite being a visual novel fan.

reminder again: highest rated visual novel on vndb.