Endless Mondays Dreams and Deadlines

Make that four games in one weekend haha, I recently finished Endless Mondays Dreams and Deadlines and I have to say, really enjoyable experience. I’m glad I played it with the overtime update as well, since I felt that the overtime update really added a lot to the experience (even if I did take a break before playing it haha).

First off, as is usually the case in the VNs I play (since it’s what attracts me at first!) the visuals and ost are really charming! All the character designs are cute and I’m already a big fan of pixel art so that’s an added benefit for sure. The dialogue is funny and snappy, and the overall length of the game is the right length so that I felt that everything they wanted to convey was conveyed, while not being long enough that it felt like it dragged.

And boy oh boy, did I feel like it conveyed what it wanted to convey. First off, a respectful “ow, how could you hurt me like this” for having mock Jira and Slack in your game. That hurt. A lot. In addition, a lot of the work culture discussions REALLY hurt me on a personal level. They did a good job at nailing a lot of those aspects, even if the bosses were a little over exaggerated. But the corporate slogans, the soulless work, the office culture, everything… reflected my current working situation a little too closely haha.

Skye especially was a character I felt that I could relate with. Hana too, to an extent, but Skye talking about her passions really struck a chord with me. Working in the tech field myself I often found myself thinking about whether this was ever something I really enjoyed. Do I really enjoy programming? Do I find meaning in my work? And ultimately, the answer is not really. This is where I felt overtime did a really good job with exploring the reasons why we work, the poster about affording food with your paycheck resonated with me.

Every time the characters talked about chasing their dreams and passion honestly those conversations really got me. This blog that I started was sort of a way to help my creative juices flow and be more analytical because it was something that I noticed I was losing. So in that sense, I am sort of doing that?

But when they talked about writing a story that leaves an impact on the world, something that carries their message, that’s something that I’ve always wanted to do haha. I’ve always wanted to write a story, make art, or do something that inspires someone else. People often ask me if I’m happy with what I work on, and unfortunately the answer is pretty much no. I wouldn’t really recommend my company’s products to anyone in fact haha. Ultimately, much like the cast of the game, I’m here because I need the money to enjoy my life through my hobbies.

That’s why it extra hurt when Skye talked about potentially rejoining the company just to make money. Because I knew that if I quit my job, I’d be in her shoes exactly. I read another yuri manga similar to this, Throw Away the Suit Together, which was another series that talks about this. Quitting my job to do what I really like is a great idea and all but… at the end of the day we as humans need money to live! Alas.

Of course though, the overall situation for the characters ends up mostly positive (except Hana, though I want to believe in her too!). The game did what I think was the intended job at least, and it actually… did inspire me to want to resume work on an old project of mine. Sadly for me, I’ve tried art (multiple times), but found that my skills were sorely lacking, but I’d like to work on something that aligns more with my skills and passions nonetheless! Will I post it here? Probably not, but if you can somehow connect that with this then congrats! Or if you found this after I made that project, then also congrats?

One thing I didn’t even talk about was the AI commentary! I think this is something a lot of people who are working are dealing with at the moment, and I think the game pretty much nails it on the head with how I feel about it. Losing that human connection really sucks the soul out of things that I enjoy, and much like the Himawari-san post I made, it’s something that I’m scared will happen. I do think there’s still good uses for AI, and being in the tech field, there are ways to use to process work and data in ways that humans aren’t as good at. But for creative aspects, I think it’s soulless to leave it to an AI that is devoid of the human touch.

Anyways, this was a lot more introspective and ranty than talking about the game itself. I think that’s a clear sign of how much it resonated with me, and as a result how much I enjoyed it. If there was anything I’d “dock” for it, it’d be that I wish travelling to old areas didn’t constantly repeat the same dialogue. Was a bit annoying every time you’d go to the main office area and then travel from there elsewhere. Otherwise though, great time!