Danganronpa Paste

Danganronpa BIG Pastebin

As a heads up, this pastebin has HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE DANGANRONPA GAMES. If you read on and are mad at me for spoiling things, this is 100% your own fault.

Danganronpa 1

So I’m going to start by saying that my feelings for Danganronpa have gone up and down as I’ve played through each game. I came into the series thinking I was going to get something similar to Ace Attorney, and after the initial first trial I definitely realized that was not going to be the case.  In fact, so much so that I ALMOST stopped playing entirely. I’m not going to lie, the execution of Leon really threw me for a loop, and made me feel really uncomfortable. I was use to my happy trial endings of each Ace Attorney game, where hope always won from the get go, and everyone celebrated with burgers. Going from AA to this was a big change and it almost pushed me away. I just didn’t like the idea of brutal murders of high schoolers being glorified in a video game. But I kept going after talking to a few of my buds that explained that there was a reason for it all, and that it gets better. I’m glad I pushed through, because my overall, I enjoyed Danganronpa 1.  I still think it’s the weakest of the 3 games.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

1. Motives

 The motives were really bad. It felt like it was pulled directly from a generic mystery novel. “Your biggest secret will be revealed!”  “You’ll get all the money you want” “Your friends and family are in danger.” When you compare these motives to the 2nd and 3rd game, you really start to see how bare bones and boring they are. The only motive that made somewhat sense to me was Mondo’s, but even that one was a head scratcher, because the guy didn’t really do anything to directly kill his brother, it was a bad accident! So why kill someone else to cover up the embarrassment of supposing kill someone after!

2. Trials/Minigames

The trials also felt really unpolished in so many ways. Some of the mini games were not explained well at all and felt like more trial and error. Like I wish some of the minigames had a demo mode where they showed you certain things, because it felt impossible to have a full understanding of what was happening for the first time in a mini game like “The Moment of Truth” Rhythm game. Now I’ll take some of the blame because I do tend to rush through explanations some times, but after talking to several others, it sounded like I wasn’t the only one to feel this way. Also, the minigames in general just felt like filler. A lot of the logic in the first game wasn’t that difficult ( I still got stumped in certain spots of course, but overall felt like they used minigames to cover up silly logic, or easy logic.) Not to mention, almost the entirety of the trials, Byakuya and Kyoko handhold you the entire time. I love these characters and I actually really like Makoto, but I felt like the handholding should have ended at no later than the 2nd case.

3. Early Game Characters
I want to start by saying that I really liked almost the entire cast of the late game characters. But man the early game characters were sooooooo boring/over the top. Sakura , Mondo, and Sayaka were the only three characters that felt like good characters to me. Sakura was a really strong character that had a ton of depth to her, and I really was sad to see her die. Mondo had some good character development, but felt like he died way too soon, and Sayaka got a lot of depth as a character, but even with that her motives for killing felt really meh. But outside of those three, everyone that died before the final 6 was pretty meh. It was hard to even feel sorrow for some of these characters dying because they were either overly annoying, or not fleshed out at all. Some of the only character development that happened for these characters came after their deaths, to which at that point I was more focused on finding the killer, then finding out why I should care about who died. Even Celestia, who had potential to be a good character, was so obviously putting on a mask.  And then you find out why she killed for the money, and any good traits she possessed as a character are thrown out the window.  IMO a really weak early game cast. I didn’t feel sorry for any of these characters dying other than Sakura.

THINGS I DID LIKE

1. Music
 I loved the music in this game. I’m not going to lie, I love the music in all the games, but one of the main reasons I kept going after disliking the first case so much was the music. Definitely some of the best music in a game, and every song felt like it fit each moment as I played through the game. Whether I was getting to know people, or about to pin the murder on someone, everything lined up. Loved it.

2. Late Game Characters
While I wasn’t a huge fan of the early game cast, I really enjoyed the late game cast. They all brought something different to the table. All of them had fleshed out character development (Hiro didn’t have much, but I still liked what he brought as a comedic relief.)  Byakuya was prob my favorite character of game 1. His arch was a bit predictable, but I enjoyed his transformation from someone who was playing the killing game, to someone who wanted to work with the rest of the team to end the killing game. Kyoko as mysterious girl that helps you along the way owned. I loved Hina being the positive character in the game. Her relationship with Sakura felt real, and I loved seeing her become a stronger character due to Sakura’s sacrifice. Makoto I thought was a good lead character, and I felt like the writers did a good job of making you feel like you’re in Makoto’s shoes. Even the Toko/Genocide Jack was something unique and while I wasn’t a huge fan of her for most of the game, I still appreciated that she brought something fresh to the table. At the end of the game, when you leave the school, I was rooting for these characters to succeed, and I wanted to see what happened to them.

Junko Enoshima

I liked her in this game. The twist with her was good, I thought going against her as the final boss was pretty awesome. Overall thought she was a great character in THIS game.

3. Setting

I really liked the school. It’s probably still my favorite setting of the three. Felt super easy to navigate and I felt like it fit the setting perfectly. Simple and clean, nothing crazy, and did its job. Something else that kind of goes with setting that I really liked was the self-awareness of the series. I really appreciated the game knew that it was super over the top anime and the tropes that came with it. It wasn’t shy of doing things over the top for the sake of doing it, and most of these things didn’t even feel overly forced.

4. Free Time
Free time owned.


Overall Thoughts

DR1 was a good game, but definitely the weakest imo of the entire series. Felt like I was playing through it to get to DR2 more than anything. I know my complaints seem louder than what I enjoyed, but I feel like a lot of my issues I had with DR1 were fixed in the second game.

Danganronpa 2

I’m actually not going to try and write too much about DR2 because I thought it was a masterpiece. I’m really glad I played through 1 so I could play DR2. I have very few complaints with the game. I loved almost all of the characters, there were few boring characters, and almost all the deaths got an emotional reaction from me (whether it was sadness or happiness.) Not only were these characters good, I’d argue that many of them were fantastic. Tanaka, Chiaki, and Nagito were all incredible characters for different reasons, and just a step above everyone else in the series.
The setting of the Island was really good. I wasn’t a fan at first, but it really grew on me as I progressed. The addition of Monomi was actually really well done and she felt like a character that had a reason to be there. The cases felt like they had meaning, and the motives made absolutely sense to me. Each case felt like it was pushing the story along and developing the characters at the same time. Most of these characters weren’t static, and they constantly changed. The music in general owned per usual. The game did a great job of improving the experience of almost all the mini games. All of the cases were really good, and even the weakest case (case 3) made more sense when you beat the game and find out whats going on with why the characters are there.

My only issue with this game were:

1.  Hangman’s Gambit v 2.0. and the Sword Mini game having ridiculous requirements to progress. Those 2 can screw off

2. Junko Enoshima. I really liked Junko in DR1 and DR3. I was NOT a fan of her at all in this game. The writer fully knew what he was doing with the game, and I get that’s part of the trope, but man it was not satisfying at all facing off with virtual Junko Enoshima. I felt like it lessened your victory against her in DR1, and also made me question if that was the last I had seen of her.
But yah I loved DR2. In terms of Visual Novels, I’d put it up there with 999 and AA3 and AA6. Had a ton of fun playing this game.

DRV3

Alright so time to drop my *HOT TAKE* on DRV3. I’ve been mulling this one over for a few days after finishing and my opinion of it has gone back and forth in terms of how I liked it. I’ll get to the ending and how the ending changed a few of my views on some of the issues I had early, but I want to break down how I felt as the cases were happening.

Case 1

This case made me so sad, to the point where I felt like DR1 all over again, and that I didn’t want to play anytime soon. Don’t get me wrong, this case was executed fantastically. I’m sure the writer wanted this response from the case, but man I felt like it hit way too soon.  Kaede owned. Rantaro felt like he had more story to tell (and technically he ended up telling it which lessoned the blow of him dying) I felt like the game really missed an opportunity with Kaede. Don’t get me wrong, Shuichi was a good character, but it just felt like a bummer going from a fresh character as a lead in Kaede, to generic ultimate detective that we had already seen in a previous game. It just felt like I was getting makoto 2.0. I know this is going to sound dumb after the ending of the game, but I definitely was in the “SOMEONE ELSE SHOULD HAVE DIED INSTEAD OF KAEDE” Camp. This was stung a lot, and I had almost no motivation to continue playing.

Case 2.

Looking back, the case wasn’t bad. At this point I was more so frustrated that it felt like so many one dimensional characters were staying alive, while characters that seemed to have some depth to them like Ryoma were getting killed off. I’m a little biased because the VA who did Ryoma also did Tanaka, so I was a big fan from the get go. But even so, I thought Ryoma could have a much better arc then simply giving up and dying. It just felt like a huge cop out. Kirumi also felt like a really cool character that could have been used more. Also the motive was so so bad. What a terrible reveal. It made her character so much worse, and just felt like a step back. I was feeling the despair a ton this chapter, as all 4 characters that died felt like we lost them too so on, while characters like Angie and Miu continued to be useless over the top one dimensional characters.

Case 3

This might be the worst case in the entire series imo. The only redeeming thing is that it axed two characters that I didn’t like at all. (Angie and Korekiyo) Even Tenko dying was meh. She got more character development in the last 10 mins of her being alive than the entirety of the rest of the game.  Like this case had so much potential! They could have killed off 3 characters! The could have had two killers and then one of the killers got to stick around and throw a huge dynamic into the mix for the final few cases. Instead we get the f’ing Seawsaw Effect and the most ridiculous motive in the history of Danganronpa. Not to mention the over the top Monokub jokes were starting to get way too much for me.  After having a character like Monomi in DR2, to going to the monokubs and their over the top humor felt like a HUGE downgrade. There was no story progression or development with the kubs, and I felt like it took away time from characters that could actually use some development. At this point, the only characters I really cared for at all were Maki, Kaito, and Kokichi. Everyone else was pretty meh to me. The Kubs felt like they just got in the way. I already have Miu, I don’t need more Miu’s in my life.

 At this point in the game I was super super done with it. The only reason why I kept going was because everyone said the game got better. I’m happy I continued but man this was a rough patch. If they had just swapped Ch2 and Ch3, and made the twist that there were two killers so that it gave more time for development of characters like Ryoma and Kirumi, I think my opinion of these two cases would have been very very different.

Case 4

Case 4 was good. I really liked what they did with Kokichi here. He was always batshit crazy, but I really feel like this chapter solidified him as a good villain. Gonta was always a nice and fun character, but again super one dimensional. I was sad to see him die, but he at least had a purpose of propelling Kokichi into Nagito status of crazy. I legit felt bad for Gonta in this case and I thought it was well executed. The new setting was nice in the virtual world, but nothing incredible. Bonus points for finally killing Miu. What a horrible character.

Case 5

Fantastic Case. The twist of not revealing who the victim was really really good. I changed my mind on who the killer was multiple times as I played through the case. They did an excellent job of hiding it and the payoff was really good. My boy Kaito went out a champ. Keebo finally got some plot development and we FINALLY found out something about Tsumugi. Overall one of my favorite cases in the series almost no issues with it.

Case 6

Initial Reaction
I hated it. Every comment from the “Audience” that they projected in the game was something that crossed my mind. I wanted an ending with closure. I wanted something that made me feel good. It’s just how I am with games. I like happy endings. I lost interest in the ending about halfway through the trial and if you watched the stream you could tell I was pretty done with the ending. I thought all the build up for a good pay off left me feeling like someone who got sucker punched. I had already had mixed feelings about the game before this trial, and the finale just kind of sealed the deal for me in terms of overall feeling. I don’t think I had ever felt so unsatisfied with an ending.

To top it all off, the way it’s written makes you feel bad for feeling like you got sucker punched. All of the audience responses were portrayed in a very negative and whiny light. I’m never a huge fan of games that make audiences reactions feel wrong. I mentioned this on stream and it seemed pretty split. A lot of my viewers were saying they felt the same way, while others were saying that the creator had no intentions of doing so from an interview. It’s hard to take the creator seriously though when every marketing tactic and discussion of the game was based on a lie, so what’s to stop the creator from lying about what his intentions were. Even if his intentions were good, they were communicated in a very poor way to where a good chunk of the fanbase feels jilted. It just seemed like a big F U to people who were big fans of the series.

Also, after committing to the whole “Real Fiction” and how important it was for the characters to all die so the cycle doesn’t continue, the game changes its mind and plants the seed of doubt that maybe the things that were said weren’t lies. Or were they! Or maybe they won’t! Like it just feels like a half-commit. The games have been known for having open-ended endings, but this one just felt lame. If you’re going to make a big META twist, stick to it, and don’t’ bail out some of the audience with an epilogue that just adds more confusion and even less answers.

DAYS LATER REACTION

After really thinking about the game as a whole, I have a pretty neutral feeling on the ending. I don’t really like it, but I don’t dislike it either. I do feel like the ending felt forced. They spent way too much time dragging on the reveal to the point where it honestly felt like a joke. But in general the ending wasn’t “Bad.” It just felt incomplete and not the send off of a series I really enjoyed. I never felt like the ending hurt the original universe of DR1 DR2, UDG + DR3. If anything, it protected that series as a whole and makes me feel good that the universe wasn’t dragged into this one’s story or prolonged. I just don’t really have a desire to play any new DR games they might release. Like where does the series go from here? If they make new games, what do they even do? I feel like as a viewer, my trust has been hugely broken in terms of getting connected. Again I see why some people hate this ending, and why some people like it. It’s an ending that makes you think about a lot of things. I get that is what he was going for. Games have an impact on how we see things in life. I just leave feeling like this message could have been communicated without nuking the series as a whole in terms of how we look at it.

Overall I liked DRV3, and a lot of issues of being so over the top made sense when you realize this is a series that is essentially on its last fumes that need to rely on gimmicks and tropes to keep the audience of this real world coming back. I think I would have just preferred a few more normal Danganronpas before the game “Jumped the Shark.”

I do want to take time to compare something that somewhat happens in DR2 and DRV3 that I think illustrates to me why DRV3 is just such a disappointment to me and a step back.

Fuyuhiko vs Himiko

I feel like these characters have similar archs. Both lose people that they are close to, and you could make the argument that both the people they lose sacrifice themselves in order for their characters to progress. (Peko kills so that Fuyuhiko doesn't have to, Tenko takes Himiko's place in the infamous seesaw effect death) But when you see how these characters progress after each moment, it's night and day difference. Fuyuhiko goes from the really angry mob kid who wants nothing to do with the group, to becoming a core player in solving the case and progresses in leaps and bounds. Himiko goes from being the really lazy emotionless magician who isn't really participating to the slightly less lazy magician who somewhat shows emotion from time to time while still not really changing. It's these type of comparisons that really hurt the game imo. Himiko grew on me and I hated her from the beginning, but it was more of a alright she's kind of improving compared to the complete transformation that FuYuhiko has in DR2.




Quick DRV3 Summary

Things I liked
- Maki, Kaito, Kokichi, Kaede, and Shuichi were fleshed out characters
- Music was good as usual
- Case 1, 4 and 5 were all solid
- Almost all of the mini games were fixed and improved
- Debate Scrum might be my favorite minigame all time. Simple and to the point. It felt good.
- Seeing the cosplay section and all my favorite characters get a few lines was really cool.

Things I didnt like

- Monkubs were bad and forced and added nothing to the story (Monodam was alright) (Their theme owned hardcore)
- Too many one dimensional characters  staying alive while characters with potential dying (Miu, Angie, Gonta,)
- Characters that showed potential but got barely any real development, or not enough (Tenko, Kirumi, Ryoma, Rantaro)
- The Tsumugi reveal was bad because she was so boring throughout the entire game. I didn't even care because she was just a wall flower the entire time
- Free Time got nerfed hard imo. Forcing the player to have to Gacha in order to get the first few encounters is so stupid. The other games allowed you to at least get a feel for a character in the first free time meetings to see if you wanted to pursue more info. This game requires you to roll for prizes until you get a few before you can even have your first meeting. Super frustrating
-Case 2 and 3 were not good overall and missed opportunities
- The over the top humor, while making sense based on the ending, was such a turn off for me. Didn't progress the story at all and just felt forced
-Pyschic Taxi Drive was a horrible minigame, AND they missed out on calling it Logic Drive. Unforgiveable. Not even pass to the center can save this minigame



Anyhoo thanks for reading my long rant on the series. I very much enjoyed streaming it, and I hope you don’t take my personal issues with the game too hard. DR2 will always be one of my favorite stream games, and the other 2 are definitely in meh territory.

EDITORS NOTE

I did watch DR3 The Anime. I liked it a lot. Made me feel uncomfortable in a lot of places, and was a huge fan of some of the fake outs, but  but overall was happy with the ending. Chiaki owns.