Mar 30, 2018
I remembered Dream Daddy exists, and how much I’m invested in the Small family, and how I am never going to write that thing about cycles and breaking them in that family.
seen from Mexico
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seen from Japan
seen from Malaysia
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seen from Malaysia
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
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seen from Ecuador
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seen from United States
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seen from United States
seen from China
I remembered Dream Daddy exists, and how much I’m invested in the Small family, and how I am never going to write that thing about cycles and breaking them in that family.
Briefly on Robert and Val in Robert’s good ending
Personally, I was deeply appreciative of the way they approached and framed Robert and Val’s relationship. I know it’s possible some may take issue with Val’s decision to “patch things up” with Robert. People who have been hurt aren’t obligated to forgive the people who hurt them. Generally, I agree with that sentiment, but the way Val and Robert’s relationship is written, it felt respectful to both Val and Robert, in ways they needed to be respected.
I generally find it objectionable when someone who was hurt is pressured into forgiving someone who has hurt them. Especially when the one who hurt the other does the pleading for forgiveness. Generally, I find it objectionable when the one who was hurt is presented as sluggish to forgive.
But, here, it felt to me that Val’s decision to reach out to her father comes entirely voluntarily from her side. She says she got tired of being angry for years: “That kind of bitterness... it poisons you, I think. I’m too young for that.” To me, Val’s decision is mostly for herself. She personally believes that holding onto this will hurt her, and it isn’t something she’s doing to assuage the burdened soul of her father.
At the same time, Robert never seems to pressure her for forgiveness, and he gives her the space she needs. Well, much of it is coming out of his self-loathing—but I appreciate that this self-hatred didn’t come with badgering the hurt party for forgiveness. My experience of this storyline in other media, there is badgering. Hell, Robert doesn’t even understand why anyone would do as Val does: “I have no idea why she’s even bothering to contact me now. I know I’m just gonna fuck it up like I always do.”
And, well, one of these days, I’ll go into Robert’s vices and his long struggle with recovery and self-improvement, and systems of support and cycles of neglect, but for now, I genuinely appreciate that the game takes the route that once he is pushed into taking the hand Val is extending, encouraged that it is possible to get better despite his repeated failures, Robert genuinely takes it to heart and takes the chance Val is giving him very seriously. It would’ve been belittling to Val if Robert was offered this patch without him continuing to make the efforts, and I was deeply relieved when Robert acknowledges he has a lot of work to do.
That’s, I think, what sells the ending to me. Robert is presented as feeling deep guilt, despite this Val makes the choice to patch things up entirely on her own, and then Robert starts to make the very sincere effort to undertake a difficult process of reparation and recovery. Even more so, Val acknowledges: “Me and him, we got a long way to go. You don’t erase decades of neglect in a week.” The game directly acknowledges that Robert and Val’s relationship will need lots of work, years of work. And that felt to me to be most heartening, the acknowledgement that this (and Robert’s recovery, but that’s an aside) will not be fixed in such a short time. And that felt properly respectful to the kind of hurt Val was put through.
I keep misspelling Dream Daddy as “Dread Daddy” and, frankly, that just sounds like something to call the cult ending as actual canon / demon hunting AU of the game.
How is the writing in Dream Daddy, a dating sim, better than the writing in Republic Commando, a five novel series supplementary to one of the largest media franchises in the world?
Lord, it's genuinely so fucking irresponsible how the DDADDS fandom just goddamn throws that word around casually as if it's got no burden and it isn't associated with extremist politics.
me: I think I'll play that Dream Daddy game. I think it'll be fun, but I probably won't talk much about it. me, later: Robert Small has taken over my life. I will not talk about any other character anymore.
Frankly, I’m super suspicious of people who draw Craig Cahn as very feminine or androgynous looking, especially when other characters aren’t portrayed as such (ruling out stylization), given the long history of how people view and treat Asian men.
Frankly, I’m very bored at how many white dadsonas there are in DDADDS RP.