Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos

Series will never be finished

Unfortunately, this visual novel series had a lot of potential that was squandered when the devs decided to leave this first episode without a sequel. There's also a prequel, but the devs have moved on to other projects.

It has a great soundtrack though, which is included for free as MP3 and FLAC files when you buy the game.

DISCALIMER: I'M RECOMMENDING THIS GAME FOR DEVELOPERS TO INSPECT AND LEARN FROM, NOT FOR THE CONSUMER TO PLAY.

Dysfunctional Systems is a perfect example of how even though you might have a great idea for a game/VN, despite how well you're sure it'll sell, the actual execution behind producing the game is just as important as the quality of your idea for it.

DysSys had a lot of potential, really a lot going for it. The development idea of the universae was suppsed to be a trilogy, similar World End Economica (a VN series you should buy over this, since yunno it's actually finished).

However, although the Kickstarter raised what could have been enough money to last the development of the game, the developers suffered from poor money and management decisions, which ended up causing all thier capital to dwindle away.

So although the characters were well-written, dialouge was witty and interesting, the universe felt very well fleshed out with room to grow, and great soundtrack to boot, no one got to experience where this story actually went.

However, failures can hold great lessons to learn from.

If you're looking for a VN to play, STEER CLEAR.

If you're an aspiring developer, espcially one for VNs, I recommend picking this up to check out how well a story can be written with giving the user some choice over some decisions that hold weight, without killing yourself on producing a million and one endings.

I also recommend reading into the story behind the development of this game to learn the mistakes that wer made in the mangment of the team when producing this game as well.

And as I said above, if you want to deal with the heartbreak of falling in love with a dead series, be my guest.

This is a fantastic short story and a brilliant concept for a visual novel with great art and a wonderful soundtrack.

From what I understand of the story there is what seems to be a perfect society (I believe they refered to themselves as "Earthen") that monitors and mediates with other less advanced sentient societies on different worlds. I'm unsure to the scale but some worlds shared a "plane" which I assume could mean a galaxy or even a universe. The utopia the Earthen live on is a complete mystery which is positively intriguing.

I purchased this some time in 2014 during a sale and played through it yesterday(aug 30 2017) and was sad to find there was no continuation of the story due to, from what i've read to be, a mismanaged kickstarter.

I can't recommend the series as a whole since it's likely the continuation isn't coming but I'm going to leave a positive review on the game's own merits and as if I'd played this on release.

edit: better sentence structures, added date

The game was interesting and unique, although short I loved playing it, if your a fan of visual novels you will like this game. As well as this the music as amazing, I have all of the music for this game downloaded and I listen to it all the time. Overall a good game a great experience to play especially for so cheap. The only sad part is no next chapter will be made because of a mismanagement on the devs side :(

Interesting story. It really is a shame Dischan went under, I was looking forward to a sequel. I'm not sure how it would have worked out though with the artist who did this one leaving. I didn't like the early art for the second one nearly as much. Not much point in buying this here - you can pick it and it's soundtrack up for free on Dischan's website, under downloads: dischandotco It's definitely worth the bandwidth if you ask me.

Interesting premise, compelling opening to a story, however, it will always be an unfinished series. As, I believe, the developer for this series shut down, this game series has been discontinued and there will not be another installment. Such a shame as this had potential, but the fact it will forever be an unfinished story is the reason I cannot reccommend it.

This is a painful review to make because on the one hand, the game's story is really interesting and somewhat engaging like a typical Visual Novel would but without having to resort to overused tropes and makes it clear that it has it's own identity from the get go.

But on the other hand, there's no following story because the dev team fucked up hard and tried to be a fully functional studio like Telltale Games is by comparison and produce several titles following after this. The sad truth is, there was no form of planning or meetings being held consistently. The studio filed bankruptcy some time after this title was released. The management was abyssmal, to say the least...


Onto the game, it has a very good soundtrack, one I still enjoy hearing to this day, the art style is nice to look at even if bleak at times for dramatic effect (well used and impactful I might add) and the dialogue is quite mature, despite being very one sided for a pretty good chunk of it, it doesn't feel draggingly long like in other games and is actually well written enough if you are into untraditional VNs. The included encyclopedia like feature is however not useful for most of the story aside from it's introduction. It is wasted effort and could have been made much more relevant if they bothered with it a little more than to just add an entry every now and then for plot purposes, which is to it's detriment. The amount of work put into the encyclopedic portion of the game is respectable but ultimately laughable if you take out the important bits that relates to the plot which, again, were used to introduce the player to its function/presence.

"Should you play this game in my opinion?" is the last question left to be answered; as of right now, no.
The end is a cliff hanger into the next volume that will never come. If, by some miracle, this gets a reboot/revival by the original creator and owner of the copyright and is actively working on developing the sequel, then I will revise my judgement of this first game and give it a recommendation, but unless things start moving again for the development of just chapter 2, stay away from this and save some money for an actually finished game.

AT A GLANCE

• Game Name: Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos
  
• Original Release: 2013
  
• Genre Tags: Visual Novel; Sci-Fi; Anime; Story Rich; Great Soundtrack
  
• My Overall Grade: A-
  
• Estimated Playtime (Campaign): 2-5 hours
  
• Multiplayer Aspect: None
  
[*] Recommended To: Established fans of the genre; Those intrigued by the genre; Aesthetes; Strong narrative advocates; Visual novel buffs

REVIEW

Dysfunctional Systems Episode 1: Learning to Manage Chaos is a Western-made visual novel from Dischan Media available on Steam it features features two distinct endings, unlock able bonus art, an animated opening video, and a jukebox of in-game music.

I stand on a neutral ground for this visual novel. Meaning yes i do recommend it but to a certain extent. (Go to the bottom for reason of standing on a neutral ground)

The Story

Audio and Visual elements

Reasons for a neutral stand

To sum up

Unfortunately this game ends feeling rather hollow and there will not be any episodes left to follow it. There's good things in here, but I suppose if you're willing to play for a visual novel you best put your dollars in a more finished project.

While it has an intriguing story and good visuals, I sadly cannot recommend this game because the producers of the game mismanaged their funds and are not continuing the trilogy. This leaves us with an uncompleted story and even the choices you make in the game don't effect the overall result.

Great artwork, soundtrack and story, but since it has been cancelled and they won't be finishing the story, I don't think I should recommend it. It's like buying an incomplete game. I think if it's on a sale, you should take a look at it if you really feel like it. But still, it is an imcomplete story in the end.

It's unlikely to get the sequel it's set up for, but the novel itself is fantastic! Such a gripping story with its own charm to storytelling. Worthwhile purchase, but as a victim of circumstance, not a worthwhile investment. Of course I'll never lose hope that someday we'll get a sequel; I loved the novel that much! Characters, development, morality, suspense, emotion, relatibility, all present and accounted for!

I just finished this first episode and I must say it was absolutely fantastic! It's been a long time since a VN I've played had a story that was so engaging and held my interest so much. I mean, the art is very well done, the music is excellent and the story itself is something that's rather unique and it was very well written to top everything off.

I could go on and on about how great this visual novel is. But like others, I can't, in good conscience, recommend anyone purchase this game.

You see, after finishing this first episode, I raced to the forums to see when I could expect the next installment to show up. Alas, I found the message, dated over a month ago, stating that Dysfunctional Systems was no more and that future episodes would most likely not see the light of day. I still hold a small hope for that one miracle to happen though.

So, while you may feel free to ignore my (and others') non-recommendation and purchase this game, you will still be receiving an excellent piece of writing and an excellent game in general. Just don't expect any more, at least for the time being.

Let me preface this by saying that I really, really enjoyed Dysfunctional Systems. However, I cannot in good conscience recommend this for many people. Let me explain.

Firstly, what I did like about Dysfunctional Systems. While very short, the story is extremely compelling in terms of the writing, and especially the premise, which is very unique and one of my favorite aspects. The interface is very slick and polished, and the art and character design is fantastic. I absolubtely loved my short romp through the world(s) of Dysfunctional Systems, and I sincerely wish I could spend more time in that world.

Unfortunately, this brings me to why I ultimately cannot recommend Dysfunctional Systems despite its fantastic setting, storywriting, and art direction. Dysfunctional Systems was originally created with the intent of being a 3 episode series, which was funded through kickstarter. However, Dischan, the creators of Dysfunctional Systems have confirmed the cancellation of the release of the next installment of Dysfunctional Systems, and have put the entire series on indefinite hiatus, and most likely permanent cancellation.

I cannot recommend Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos because the entire VN was clearly centered around the notion that it fit into a greater story, and the endings of Learning to Manage Chaos are clearly structered around this assumption. While Learning to Manage Chaos is a great story for what it is, it does not work very well as a standalone story.

If you are willing to play what was suppossed to be the opening for a greater story, then go ahead and get Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos. If you feel like you will be dissapointed by the notion the story is incomplete, then please avoid this title.

It's a pity really because I really did like the premise and setting of Dysfunctional Systems.

TL;DR: Since the developer has abandoned the project and the remaining episodes will not be made/released in the foreseeable future I wouldn't spend your money on this. Its story is incomplete and will probably never be completed. In the end by paying $5 for this you'll have 1.5 hours of prologue that is, in itself, not nearly enough to leave you satisfied.

Update: As of July 14th, 2015 Dischan Media has officially shut down. Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos will not be reinvigorated.

Game review:

Dysfunctional Systems is a visual novel about, as the title inclines, the managing of chaos. The premise of dysfunctional systems revolves around an organisation in some technological utopia that sends meddlers to other worlds to solve their problems and reclaim order. It's an interesting concept, but it's not too different from what we've seen before. That said, it doesn't mean dysfunctional systems has no potential, in fact it has loads of potential. Too bad none of that really matters.

The story is basically an introduction to the universe and it's characters. We get to see the main characters do their jobs as meddlers in a world that is having diplomatic problems. Things escalate, I won't spoil anything, I'll just say that: it's way too short to develop anything outside of a prologue to the other episodes. Yes, there is a story in it, no you're probably not going to cry over it. It isn't insanely good and it isn't bad. At best this will leave you wanting more, where the problem of an abandoned project reels in again.

Even if an incomplete story wouldn't bother you, this first episode leaves too much to be desired and too many questions to be asked. The game is way too short to accomplish any real world building, something that is so important when your game is literally about travelling and meddling in the affairs of other worlds.

The characters, focusing on the two main ones, consist of your basic grumpy teacher and stubborn student. That's not to say the characters aren't enjoyable or not well written, they share some funny and touching moments. It's just that the game is simply way too short to develop any character properly. Thus we are left with... again, nothing special.

Then there are the choices, which are very important to get right when you make something in this medium. It is unfortunately something dysfunctional functions had a serious lack of. The entire game basically has 1 choice. 1 choice in the entire thing. After this one choice dysfunctional systems might (depending on what you choose) present you 2-or so more rather confusing choices. Too bad none of these matter. At all. The only difference is that you'll be getting a different achievement.

Something I can praise dysfunctional systems about is it's amazing art and music.
The art, although perhaps a bit repetitive at times, looks amazing, there isn't a whole lot of animation but that's alright, in the end I wasn't expecting there to be any. The UI is really good, everything fits together nicely and I actually enjoyed reading the few codex entries there were, as bland as they may be. As for the music, it was very nicely done. You won't have the same track looping every other sequence or anything like that here. Good stuff, Ill probably end up listening to it more in the future.

The real reason you shouldn't buy this:

After all that I do feel the need to honestly say that Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos is not a bad visual novel at all, at least, as a prologue. Sure, it doesn't hit all the good spots and the lack of choices is pretty disappointing. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily bad. It does it's job as a prologue - it gets you excited for more whilst giving a basic introduction of the universe.

The real reason you shouldn't buy this is because the developer abandoned the two sequels that were originally planned. Reason? Financial problems and a lack of motivation. The development team did a poor job of financing the funds received from the kickstarter campaign. People have lost a lot of their trust for the developers, and righteously so, it was one big mistake after another for the dev team and the death of Dysfunctional Systems as a result of that. It's a real shame, I would have liked to see more from this.

So, in the end Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos gives us a 1.5 hour prologue of a story that will probably never be made. Whether you are willing to spend $5 on that is your choice, but I personally wouldn't recommend it.

tl;dr: 6/10 - Pretty good but really short.

Full review:

Dysfunctional Systems is a visual novel that attempts to portray the idea of a utopian society using their advanced magic dimension-tripping technology and superior history and intellect to help guide other planets in subtle ways -- managing their "chaos". However, Episode 1 presents itself as more of a teaser than an actual iteration in a series due to its short length (two hours is more than enough time to rinse this out), lack of choices and minimal explanation of who or what is really happening in the utopian society.

Given that the start of the game (and store page) makes a point to mention how "Your choices affect the story" theres a distinct lack of any choices to be made. Which is doubly odd as the game takes care to give you a codex with which to keep you up to speed with the world and current trends or plot devices. This may be a personal qualm but I expected it to come in to some use when it came to "managing the chaos" of the world, such as reading it granting an insight into how to take action, but instead the sole decision you get to make in this title has but four resolutions resulting in two endings that you make through a series of choices that are mostly red herrings. This makes the codex feel rather unwarranted as everyone always explains themselves in enough detail such that reading it is a waste of effort.

The writing itself feels quite contrived: characters and, in this episode, countries presented are almost painting-by-numbers in their given role. I mean, who hasnt heard the one about the gruff, old mentor with a plucky, slightly rebellious voice-of-reason apprentice. Or the one about the two large nations stuck in a [cold] war over a third, smaller independence.

That being said, credit where credit is due, the game does look lovely. The UI is clean and distinct, backgrounds are nicely detailed and the character portraits display many emotions in a variety of poses. Most of all it feels consistent -- portraits dont just sit on top of the background but instead fit in, general colours and tone do well to make this.

I can only really hope that future episodes really expand on what I would only really call an extended teaser here.

UPDATE: A sequel was kickstarted, then cancelled. You'll find no closure in this game. Just a lot of unfulfilled potential

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I like VNs and all, but with this game you're essentially buying a prologue. In fact I'm pretty sure that the Steins;Gate prologue was longer than this entire game. It's so short that even at such a small asking price I can't justify in my head wanting a VN that serves as merely an introduction to the main cast. Here is your protagonist. This is her mentor. Getting to know them? Good! TRAGEDY! Oh no something bad happened in the first 45 minutes of the game. That was tough- hey look at this cutie pie. Do you like her? Good! Game's over! See you next time! Roll credits.

I need more to go on than this, I don't decide if I like a show after the first episode and I can't decide if I like a visual novel after the first chapter. But if I absolutely must, then no - it's not good enough.

One out of five Lennys
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This game is so engaging if you like to be challenged on moral decisions. The political dilemmas and agendas and the issues that plague humanity are experienced from the innocent point of view of a child.
Playing as a young girl on what was supposed to be a simple 'shadow' lesson of following an experienced mediator, suddenly having "xxxxxx xxxxxxx" thrust upon you, and being forced to make choices with little knowledge and no experience.

This is a visual novel... That means lots of reading. Do not buy this game if you can't rest your WASD fingers long enough to get to know the story.

Just going to add in here for anyone who skims over long reviews, since mine is the first shorter one, please, if this game, or genre interestes you, Kuro's review (above) has a link to a kickstarter page for the next 2 episodes, it's active until March 24th, please consider helping out to get the rest of this story done!