Dysfunctional Systems: Orientation

Was looking forward to this when it first came out but upon seeing it for the first time I was put off. Art is nothing close to the first game and while the soundtrack is good it also doesn't come close the the first game. Sucks that the series was cancelled.

A surprise prologue episode for the Dysfunctional systems series, which seems to have come out of nowhere and is an attempt to give some backstory to Winter Harrison from Episode 1.
After a fully funded Kickstarter, the series was cancelled in 2015, so when I saw this on Steam I decided to give it a purchase as I enjoyed the first episode. I don't think disappointment even begins to cover this brief and tedious visual novel.

This game was created to attempt world building for the Dysfunctional systems series, however most of the game is sub-par in comparison to the previous release. The plot is joining Winter Harrison for her first week at Mediator school, the classes she attends and the people she meets.
It took me 81 minutes to complete this and in all honesty it felt much longer with how dull, monotonous and repetitive the story was. I appreciate the first 3 days of a new school a teen attends might not be the most thrilling on plot starts, however the most interesting thing about the episode is left toward to end and as quickly as the twist arrives, it is dashed with a rug pull end of episode screen looms over you.

In all honesty, most of the episode is a major downgrade from the previous episode; the writing quality, characters, art and soundtrack have dropped across the board. In terms of art, there is a moment at the beginning in the car ride to the school where you can see the talent of the artists behind them, but the rest of the art (until the woodland background during a run) looks to be nothing more than typical 'anime' style characters instead of the loving crafted semi-realistic characters we saw in the first episode.
The music is a continuous soundtrack throughout most of the game, with the odd addition of footsteps or world interaction - completely different again and gives the impression of a side project instead of a game the developers were truly hoping to make.
The writing doesn't even pass as world building; it is more akin to a dry info dump on the reader and they have to subject themselves to a lack of personality for the characters. A 180 from the impression of them we had built up on from Episode 1, and the supporting characters who were introduced as part of this prologue are most bland and unforgettable - the one exception is Margret and I am disappointed we didn't get to spend more time with her.

As much as I hated not recommending Episode 1, I would wholeheartedly tell everyone to avoid this instalment in the series. It is not worth the money and feels like a side creation in an attempt to appease the people who backed the Kickstarter - I do hope whatever project Dischan Media is working on will receive the full love and attention the first Episode received and they will return to top form soon.

A short kinetic visual novel. For the current price (75% discount), totally worth it, for the full price, maybe not so much.

So, this is an out-of-the-blue prequel to the previous Dysfunctional Systems VN (Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to manage chaos). Most of what it does is world-building.

Since it is a kinetic VN, there is no branching, hence the replay value is nonexistent.

Art is serviceable, but not great. Music is not annoying but not particularly memorable either. Writing is a little stilted compared to the first installment, but it's fine for what it is (i.e. exposition dump). The philosophy it kind of tries to push is slightly annoying, but probably that's the point since it gets subverted by the end.

Overall, this is at the same time encouraging and disappointing for the fans of the first installment. It's a mediocre kinetic VN set in an interesting multiverse, but here we mostly get to see the boring parts.

Overall, if you're interested in anything I described, it's a fine 1.5-2 hour read. But it's not something you'd really want to read unless you're somewhat invested in the first game in the series.

This does make me hope that other (hopefully more interesting) installments will happen eventually, so I'll give this a slightly begrudging thumbs up.

The story is quite an interesting premise. Really short, 2 hours for me and I take my time with games, so a $5.00 price point is kind of up to you if it's worth. The interface looks quite pretty.

Despite the disappointment of the cancellation of the Kickstarter-funded Episode 2 of Dysfunctional Systems I have a great deal of respect for Dischan choosing to scrap what they felt was a substandard followup and hand out refunds rather than push 'something' out the door and make us all suffer, if only more game devs/movie execs/authors were so discerning with regard to their intellectual property.

Long after I'd given up hope of ever seeing more of Winter Harrison outside of idle daydreams, here we get a prequel salvaged from the ashes- yeah, it's short (I took about 90 minutes to get all the way through and check out the extras) but it holds together well, basically scratching that itch that's been niggling for years. At first I missed Saimon Ma's art; DS1 and Juniper's Knot are still probably the two best looking VNs I've ever read, but I quickly grew to like the new look too, while Kristian 'Combatplayer' Jensen provides another great soundtrack which is a generous bonus.

As a standalone product it's a neat, if low-stakes read, but it you liked DS1 I'd say it's an easy choice to check this out too; and the world can always use a VN that isn't about waifu-chasing or robot-space wars. Looking forward to the next one!

The art in this is cringeworthy. I thought I could read this VN without having an aneurism but this is so far from Doomfest's style for episode 1 that I might as well have bought it as a book. But I can't, and here we are, with a derpy feeling prologue due to the art that overbears everything else, not to mention the story lacks the necessary vibe of a school slice of life. Please, if you ever actually finish episode 2, make sure at least some semblance of the art direction from 1 comes along with it.

I have high hopes for Ep2 because Doomfest/Softmode is returning, but as with the refunds that could easily change...

The story is well enough, though it feels very much tacked on to Episode 1, like a leaflet or magazine about the world that she's part of, the kind of people they are, and how they see the people of other worlds. There's some minor tie-in to the troubled relationship that Waverly has with Winter (per Waverly's Ep1 internal monologues), and introductions of characters not seen in Ep1. Overall, it doesn't add anything that readers wouldn't already get from Ep1, which I do recommend.

I recommend this game for the €1.30 I spent on it. It took me exactly 90 minutes to play through this game (no choices so little replayability), so if you want you can just refund it afterward. The game is fairly enjoyable, however, and introduces some new characters. The art is different, but after five minutes you're used to it. Quality OST and dialogue as always.
If you've enjoyed Juniper's Knot and especially Dysfunctional Systems 1, and this game is on sale, then go for it.

As others have pointed out, being a prequel this KN lacks the big conflict that would mark a story normally (like in ep 1). That being said, I liked it. The characters were interesting. Some of the ideas it tackles were fascinating. This is like bread before dinner: enough to sedate my appetite but not fulfill it. I am looking forward to the next VN.

This is tough.

Learning to Manage Chaos was an amazing, ground-breaking game. And then the developers had that bit of a Kickstarter disaster. I am not sure if Orientation counts as a game on its own, or even if it's consistent with what was already established in Learning to Manage Chaos. However, if buying this means a possibility of something like Learning to Manage Chaos happening again then I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The art is a complete and utter failure. It's too painful to even look at.

LtMC was really beautiful, but Orientation is sub-average and doesn't match the established asthetic. Winter looks like a complete moron, grimacing and blushing like an vacuous moeblob reject, the new characters are very poorly designed and don't fit in at all with the themes established in LtMC. I was really pleased to see Dischan return, and especially when they published Jupiter's Knot on Steam, and I got really excited when I saw a new Dysfunctional Systems release, but I am viscerally disgusted by the new art.

It's like sticking a Saturday morning kid's anime character in a Rembrandt. Either is fine on its own, but together they're just bad. Additionally, the quality itself is poor. The very first image you see when starting is Winter's face with bizarrely mis-proportioned features, staring cross-eyed at a mouse on her forehead. It's way too much to take in. It just looks bad.

Sorry. I feel like going any further with Orientation would only ruin LtMC for me.

:(

If you haven't played the "original" episode, Learning to manage chaos, this is going to be a tough sell. What this episode is, in essence, is salvaging kickstarter funded assets of an ultimately abandoned "proper" episode, and making it into something that furthers the plot ever so slightly and gives the fans something to chew on. It's not much, but I give it a good rating because it breaks that failure state and is an inspiring indication that we may yet se more of the good that once was.

In context, this prequel is something I, as a reader/player of Episode 1, absolutely needed to satisfy much of the craving Episode 1 left behind.

From the beginning, Dysfunctional Systems engrossed me with intriguing world-concepts and memorable third-dimensional characters. Orientation builds off Ep1 in a way that satisfies much of my curiosity about Winter's home-world/plane. To keep it short, if you enjoyed Ep1, then you should buy Orientation.

Although it is short, I am ecstatic to see this story get a proper expansion. My enthusiasm will spike-higher if more episodes are created in the future. For the time being, I am finally happy with what we-readers have been given, and I would love more.

PS: If you are wondering how long Orientation takes to read, I would say about 2 hours on average. Unfortunately, I am slow with reading-and-comprehension, so I took a little over 3 hours to complete it.

A very short kinetic visual novel (took me 1 hour to finish) and a prequel to Learning to Manage Chaos. To be honest, I think you really need to get the first game to fully understand (maybe even like?) this prequel. I think that it can be somewhat boring and confusing to new readers so make sure to play the first game.

Dysfunctional Systems was already a “dead project” when I first got into it. The first chapter was good, and I was very sad that the next episodes were cancelled. Time passed and one day I saw that Orientation was going to be released. From what I read on the developer’s blog it seems that they’ve decided to finish this story. That’s great!

Well, back to Orientation. I liked the previous art style better, but this one is good too. BGM was amazing even for such a short title. About the story… It wasn’t that great. I feel like this was made more to “tease” the DS fans for the next chapters. I also found this prequel a bit expensive… Maybe waiting for a sale would be a good idea.

5/10. I only recommend it if you really enjoyed the first chapter and feels like getting more DS material. Even so, it’s not so exciting like the previous game and it’s about Winter’s days at her school. That’s basically it. I also loved Jack’s hoodie. It was adorable lol

pretty good. very interesting content, but it didn't strike me as as introspective and insightful as ep 1.
either way, do recommend, as a followup to episode 1 (as in, to be read after it, even though this comes first chronologically). Do not read as a standalone work, as it is nothing but world-building

First a little background, some time ago Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos was released. The game was short, it wasn't great but it had potential.
Then kickstarter happened, they funded the project (next episodes) and ultimately the whole thing crashed.
Now, we have another release, this time a prequel.
Is it good?
It's disappointing. The art is completely different from the Learning to Manage Chaos. It's Inferior. It lacks the Japanese look, futhermore the characters designs look somewhat...lacking.
The plot, characters, writing are uninspiring. Some people from Learning to Manage Chaos return, some new ones are introduced. But will you care about them? No. Does this world features finally a solid foundation? No. Yes, we get to know few new bits about this world but it's still not enough.
Furthermore similarly to Learning to Manage Chaos the game is short.
Sadly the only really good part of the game is the music. CombatPlayer did once again a good job. Then again even this part is inferior compared to Learning to Manage Chaos. One can dream about another track as powerful as "Cado Astrum".
While I'm all in for supporting western made visual novels I can't recommend this.
After Learning to Manage Chaos an improvement should have happen, instead we got a step backwards.

I'll start off by saying I was a huge fan of episode one of "Dysfunctional Systems" when it first released. I loved the entire presentation, the whole concept of its sci-fi elements and plot, and how the characters are pretty interesting and how they interacted with each other. I should also mention that I was a huge fan of Dischan before the incident and their announced closure in 2015.

In short, I think "Dysfunctional Systems: Orientation", or episode zero, is pretty good on its own. Its presentation is just as good as episode one, the art style though new is consistant throughout and easy to get used to, and the writing (which I found to be the weakest part) is pretty consistant across the board. The only strong part about the writing would be how each character interacts and bounces off one another through dialogue. At its weakest, you are forced to sit though info dumps in a classroom lecture setting for a pretty heafty portion of the VN.

When brought together with episode 1, it's hard for me to believe that this takes right before the events that happen in episode 1. There is a large gap of time between the main character Winter's activites of her first week of school to her 2nd time traveling to another planet. The new cast of characters in this episode are very interesting and have potential to be good characters, but only one is in episode one and her presence is barely there. It begs the point: why does this VN exist? It's not long enough to set up the events of episode 1, and it fails to bridge the gap between the two episodes.

In closing, would I recommend this? Honestly, if you're a new reader to this series I would advise you to wait until episode 2 comes out. Currently, there is no timeframe of release and, given Dischan's track record, it may never come out at all. It pains me to say this because on release I thought "Dysfunctional Systems" had the potential to be a great visual novel. I would only recommend it if you already have some investment in the series and have read episode one before because it's just more of the same. I've been burned more than once with Dischan, so I have to give this one a thumbs down.

Read my full, in-depth review here: https://kupowrites.wordpress.com/2017/07/27/visual-novel-review-dysfunctional-systems-orientation/

"Dysfunctional Systems: Orientation" is a compact story about Winter's first days as a mediator student. And it's not much more than that. It broadens the readers understanding of the rules and the setting of "Dysfunctional Systems" and teases a plot that will probably be relevant in upcoming episodes.

As for the art. The coloring of the images is excellent, but the drawing quality itself is somewhat inconsistent.
e.g. Winter's concept art looks fantastic but this somehow didn't translated to well into her sprite and CGs.

That said, I'll recommend "Dysfunctional Systems: Orientation" to anyone interested in good Visual Novels, but I also have to say that you'll need to play "Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos" first or right after, to make it worthwhile.

Dischan is a developer I place a good amount of trust in and I know what I've to expect of them. Their Settings are fresh and thought-provoking as "Cradle Song", "Juniper's Knot" and "Dysfunctional Systems" proof.

As a fan of Dischan since the initial Cradle Song demo, I'm pretty biased here, but I enjoyed Orientation. Another reviewer summarised my main gripe - Dischan has a lot of potential and has sort of written themselves into a corner with a prologue episode that doesn't add much to the main story. I can see where things are being set up for future exploration, however, and I'm interested in seeing where that goes.


The main story of Orientation mostly suffers from being a bit detached from the main story of the rest of Dysfunctional Systems, but it's a charming little slice of life that works to explore the setting and characters (particularly their mindset) a little more. The writing is believable, though some characters can be inconsistent, which in a character focused VN is important.

The art is a mixed bag. Some of the models look rushed and have odd anatomy, while others are well made and show a lot of attention to detail. Backgrounds, however, are great and show a good understanding of conveying information without being distracting. The music is simple but that's precisely why it's nice.


Overall I'd recommend Orientation to any fans of Dischan's prior work, and I'd also recommend any of their prior work to anyone. Juniper's Knot especially was a great kinetic novel and I feel like if the team can achieve such a tightly written KN, they can pull it off in the future with more Dysfunctional Systems episodes. It's good to see such a promising studio getting back on their feet.

A short but good prequel that goes further into the world Winter is from as well as the character herself. Introduces a handful of new, likeable, well written characters and I'd say the music is as good as the first games. Most of the art was done by Rtil who is an amazing artist but I also really liked the first episodes art, still deciding which art style I like better.
Hopefully we'll see more from Dischan.

It's... quite good for the price. A bit short, with a few story discrepancies, rushed parts, but good nonetheless.
The departure of the main animator from ep1 is the main flaw of this kinetic novel. Still, I would recommend it for people who have been following Dischan for a "long" time and want to see more from the studio.

Steam users, if you are not familliar with the works of Dischan, this is not recommended for you. This product is the prologue of an already-existing series that also already had the drawback of being extremely short for the quantity of story it wants to tell. Make sure you play episode 1 and/or see playthrough videos first to see if it floats your boat.

Overall this product is 6+/10. The music and the story are excellent, but the art and the format are subpar compared to what we have been "sold" in the last products. The potential is there for a 9/10 episode 2 and I can only hope it will go well.