[Exploration/Scavenger Hunt] Yume Nikki

Description: Yume Nikki is an exploration game by Japanese developer Kikiyama. In the game, you play as a girl named Madotsuki. Madotsuki is a hikikomori (shut-in) who cannot go anywhere besides her apartment and accompanying balcony. However, she can go to sleep and explore the world of her dreams.

The goal of Yume Nikki is to explore Madotsuki's dreams and find 24 "effects", which have various effects on her appearance and abilities. These effects may be found simply lying around, or you may have to interact with an NPC or other object to obtain them. Once you've gathered all the effects, you can drop them off in the Nexus (AKA the door room), which will result in a change in the real world. I'm not going to spoil it, but this change is necessary to "end" the game. There is no dialogue in Yume Nikki, and no explained story. You have nothing but a vast dream world and your own imagination.

The dream world is vast, and you're likely to do a lot of wandering, as there is only one save point. This may be off-putting, but there is a lot to explore and discover, aside from the effects, and it's always exciting to run across something new. That said, this game is not for the impatient.

Madotsuki's dreams are...odd. The areas tend to have a surreal, creepy vibe to them, but there are nice areas are well. If you don't like creepy things, this game may not be for you. Nothing pops out at you in this game (except a certain secret), but the dreams will make you think "What's up with this girl?"

I highly suggest playing this game without walkthroughs, maps, etc. I ended up doing this a few times, and I feel that it tarnished the experience for me. Note, however, if you play this blind, you will most likely be playing it for a while.



Download: Here.

Cool concept. *downloads*

At first I didn't notice but now I know...

I enjoyed the game about a year ago, but couldn't get to the end without a walkthrough. It certainly is a unique game, but it feels somewhat unfinished (intentionally?).

Edit: LOLWAT

!!!

I don`t really get it. How to pass the darkroom area?

Bababa but I have to pass the darkroomarea to reach some of the effects, you know.
It`s a nice concept but a bit to cunfusing over all. To find the way trough the blockland was too hard for example. It`s to luck-nased at all.

Bababa but I have to pass the darkroomarea to reach some of the effects, you know.
It`s a nice concept but a bit to cunfusing over all. To find the way trough the blockland was too hard for example. It`s to luck-nased at all.

Yeah, it can get irritating, but it's to get you to focus on the atmosphere. It's not about rushing to the end. If you want to explore everywhere, try setting landmarks, or making a map. I'll add a link to some helpful resources in the first post-in case playing blind isn't working out. However, I still think it's better to just explore.

At first I didn't notice

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

where your avatar came from,

but now I know...

I enjoyed the game about a year ago, but couldn't get to the end without a walkthrough. It certainly is a unique game, but it feels somewhat unfinished (intentionally?).

I totally think it was intentional-to get the player to think, to come up with their own explanation for things. The nice thing about a game like this is people perceive things differently, and hearing the perceptions of others is a cool experience!

WTF.

I totally think it was intentional-to get the player to think, to come up with their own explanation for things. The nice thing about a game like this is people perceive things differently, and hearing the perceptions of others is a cool experience!

I agree, but I wasn't referring to that.

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

It's more about smaller things like health, which isn't used at all, money, and some effects which have some function, yet serve no specific purpose (like the Cat effect). Also, I think the version number of the game suggested a Work In Progress.

Yes, the game actually is still in a work in progress. The creator is actually trying to make the longest (and probably weirdest) games ever.

Really? Where did you hear that? I'd always heard that things such as health and money were there because Kikiyama used RPG Maker 2003, even though he/she didn't intend to make an RPG. By the way, the money does have a use. I thought the effects were just to add to the "dreamland" feel of the game, and to give the game a point, even though only a few of them have any actual use, gameplay-wise.

I wasn't talking about the health and money. I was talking about the version numbers.

Gah, I can't communicate today. Sorry about that. I was actually responding to an inquiry by AA about the health and money. I was wondering how you knew the game was still in development. Even though it is in version 0.10, I just sorta assumed that it was "finished", since it hasn't been updated in almost four years now.

since it hasn't been updated in almost four years now.

It has in Japan. I believe v0.4 is the most recent over there (though its in Japanese, so its even harder to understand whats going on).