Board 8 > Zelda plays Danganronpa for the first time (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

MrSmartGuy posted...

Congrats, you made it through the worst case in the series! All uphill from here, baby!

2-3 is probably worse, honestly.
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2-3 is second-worst. It's pretty close. Definitely the two weakest cases in the series.
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2-3 is fine (and at least way more challenging than 1-3) if you're exclusively focusing on the whodunnit. It's the whydunnit that leaves a real sour taste when that one's over.
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Can we not go down this rabbit hole, like we do in every single playthrough topic? I was avoiding using spoiler tags for a reason. We can (and have already multiple times in other DR topics) discuss why cases are good and bad some other time.
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Good call! Not like we're ever short of chances to discuss this stuff, I suppose we should resist derailing what's been a very fun topic thus far.~
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That said Zelda, if you end up enjoying DR1 I highly recommend playing DR2.
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I wholeheartedly second that. DR1 was the birth of a really cool idea, but they just didn't really know how to execute it at all. DR2 is where they really get to fine-tune the idea to where the characters and mysteries are way more intriguing and interesting, and the game is MUCH better because of it.
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I didn't mind 2-3, other than the nudge that Monokuma gave to start the whole affair.

I also didn't think 1-3 was awful. I thought it was obnoxious when it was playing out before the trial. I also didn't think everything about it was immediately obvious, even if the primary culprit was suspicious from the get-go. Certainly not any worse than "11037," though, which immediately told me who the killer was.

Overall, I enjoyed DR1 more than DR2. The complexity of the trials was higher in DR2, the character motivations are more real, and the scenery was (mostly) nicer, but I still feel like I enjoyed DR1 more. I certainly liked the characters better. Kyoko and Byakuya are way better than <REDACTED> and <REDACTED>, and nobody else on 2's cast was really more than just a background character for me.
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can you just stop, please?

I can forgive 11037 honestly just because it was the first case.

It's not like Phoenix Wright cases don't literally tell you who the culprit is at the start of the case with regularity (especially early on)

11037 is something that is less obvious for a Japanese audience than an English one
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I was about to say it wouldn't be because there wouldn't be Kanji for "Leon" that the game would have been using. Then I remembered that, as I understand it, Kanji for names is fucking bonkers and they just sort of right whatever they want with no way to tell what you're actually supposed to call them, so you're probably right.
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kevwaffles posted...

Well, Mondo's would have been the actual worst if Byakuya hadn't saved the narrative conflict by being a world-class douche.

Mondo kind of made it challenging enough because the "e-handbook breaks with heat" was impossible to guess. And there was not much more linking Mondo to the case.

And Byakuya's thing made the case insane. My favorite one so far.

Dark Young Link posted...

That said Zelda, if you end up enjoying DR1 I highly recommend playing DR2.

I brought all three in a steam sale so that's probably a given.

kevwaffles posted...

I was about to say it wouldn't be because there wouldn't be Kanji for "Leon" that the game would have been using. Then I remembered that, as I understand it, Kanji for names is fucking bonkers and they just sort of right whatever they want with no way to tell what you're actually supposed to call them, so you're probably right.

I think you misunderstand- 11037 is still the clue in Japanese. That its upside down English and not numbers is obvious to an English speaking audience but not to a Japanese speaking one.
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Hbthebattle posted...

kevwaffles posted...

I was about to say it wouldn't be because there wouldn't be Kanji for "Leon" that the game would have been using. Then I remembered that, as I understand it, Kanji for names is fucking bonkers and they just sort of right whatever they want with no way to tell what you're actually supposed to call them, so you're probably right.

I think you misunderstand- 11037 is still the clue in Japanese. That its upside down English and not numbers is obvious to an English speaking audience but not to a Japanese speaking one.

I guess the whole thing with Kanji being bonkers explains why Japanese Sayaka would write her killer's name in a foreign language, which is something I've wondered ever since I found out 11037 was the clue in the Japanese version.
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1-3 is definitely the worst chapter, but 3-4 is right down there.

2-3 is awful, but it at least has SOME redeeming qualities compared to those two.
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_SecretSquirrel posted...

Hbthebattle posted...

kevwaffles posted...

I was about to say it wouldn't be because there wouldn't be Kanji for "Leon" that the game would have been using. Then I remembered that, as I understand it, Kanji for names is fucking bonkers and they just sort of right whatever they want with no way to tell what you're actually supposed to call them, so you're probably right.

I think you misunderstand- 11037 is still the clue in Japanese. That its upside down English and not numbers is obvious to an English speaking audience but not to a Japanese speaking one.

I guess the whole thing with Kanji being bonkers explains why Japanese Sayaka would write her killer's name in a foreign language, which is something I've wondered ever since I found out 11037 was the clue in the Japanese version.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at. I figured the numbers were still the clue in Japanese because there is a lot of dialogue about those numbers in the investigation.

For example, if you've seen Death Note, Misa incorrectly identifies Light's name as being "Moon" at first because she reads it in Kanji and it's literally the Kanji for "Moon".
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Hiro's burger was abducted by aliens. That clearly means it had pork in the mix! Huh... okay.

4th floor of the school unlocked. But for some reason the game is adamant about blocking the 2nd floor of the living area. Strange.

There is a locked room named Data Center, and the room behind it shows a Monokuma face on the map. This is totally where the Mastermind is, isn't it?

Another mysterious photo from the past. By the way, last session I wanted to write about flashback bullets and I had forgotten what they were called, so I typed "danganronpa memory bullets" on google. The results showed a bunch of pages relating to what looked like plot critical stuff. I guess because of the word "memory". There really is a memory erasing plot, isn't it?

I want to tell Kyoko about Sakura, but the PLOT demands that I don't. Now she's mad at me. It's not my fault, it's this stupid game! Geez.

"Breaking down a locked door is now prohibited" Crap. Looks like we'll have to find a Small Key first.

Deadly poisons will be provided to you for a healthy visual novel environment.

AI finished the research, but didn't reveal that much, except there was a "Tragedy", and the headmaster is involved with current events. Calling it now: the headmaster is Kyoko's father.

Toko just had an orgasm in the middle of the dining hall. She is somehow being a serious match to her GJ self in the competition for who is the weirdest. Girl's got issues. Wonder if she'll ever get a flashback or something.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I want to tell Kyoko about Sakura, but the PLOT demands that I don't. Now she's mad at me. It's not my fault, it's this stupid game! Geez.

That was probably the dumbest thing the game did. If you're going to make me do something dumb, don't give me a choice and then say "You can't pick the smart option." Just have Makoto do it on his own.

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ZeldaTPLink posted...

google.

nooo don't ever do this. And stay the hell away from wikis as well

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DeepsPraw posted...

ZeldaTPLink posted...

google.

nooo don't ever do this. And stay the hell away from wikis as well

Fair point lol

Free time. I talk with Hina and Hiro again. Not much here. Random banter, skill points, yada yada. Someone die already.

Monokuma dumps Sakura's spy status, just like that. Now that's a nice possible motive: betrayal. I'm guessing the only reason he even recruited her was to throw her under the bus at some point.

Sakura leaves to fight the Mastermind. Then night time announcement. Monokuma appears on the screen and I'm halfway expecting Sakura to show up in the screen and tear the bear apart with her teeth. I can only dream.

Free time. Against my expectations, the game lets me hang out with Sakura. Gonna do that since it doesn't seem she isn't making though this chapter alive. I give her boxing gloves and she likes it... but no new skill/points/report entry? Meh.

The ones left are Kyoko (who probably still won't talk), Toko (not interested, bring GJ) and Byakua. So let's go with the later. Turns out he's a top tier stock trader, so the kid isn't just inherited money.

Someone screaming. Body time?

Okay, time to guess the next victim. Kyoko is obviously out for now. Byakuya is killer material, he's not going down as a death fodder (unless it's like the last chapter). I had this theory that one of Hina or Sakura was going to kill each other, but after the traitor reveal, I think they already had their drama moment. Toko needs to be dealt with and she's been hinting at a troublesome family so maybe this could be her moment of limelight, but I would still like to see GJ make an actual kill. Hiro being still alive goes against all common sense. He's an idiot and kind of boring, so maybe the game finally decides to off him now that he's had his moment as a main suspect in the last case.

Hiro feels like the most obvious. Either him or Toko. But let's go with him.

It's GJ, stabbing the hell out of Hina. You guys are all worried about Sakura and forget there is a fucking serial killer living among you.

Sakura just went berserk. I now fear for GJ's life.

Alter Ego wants to connect to the network, risking his life. Others are worried, but thinking about it, is there something better for him to do? He's a program stuck in a computer, in a building where everyone who knows him is probably going to die, and the only person who really undderstood him is already dead. I'd say let the thing go down in flames if it wants to, maybe it will end up saving the day (or turn into an evil AI, but that would be awesome too).

Chihiro had an useless death, but he created the best version of himself before going down.

Oof. Sakura is dead. So much for fighting the Mastermind.

Hina keeps repeating it's one of Hiro, Byakuya or Toko. That makes me want to suspect Hina again.

And it's a locked room murder? Nice. This case looks promising.

So I did see the death flag on Sakura, but I guess I ignored it because I wanted the victim to be unpredictable. Meh.

RIP Sakura. You were very badass.

The Free Time guides are safe on the Wiki EXCEPT for looking at the schedules, if you're like me and don't feel like guessing at that shit.
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Also don't look at how many times you need to give them stuff before you max out, because that's also a spoiler. They fixed that in DR2. There's enough free times in chapter 1 to max out anyone.
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azuarc posted...

Also don't look at how many times you need to give them stuff before you max out, because that's also a spoiler.

True, but also irrelevant at this point. Mainly people that went out in the first 2 cases have anywhere between 2-4, whereas most everyone else has like 5-7. However even that's not strictly true. There is at least one character with only 4 that is still very much alive at this point.

azuarc posted...

They fixed that in DR2. There's enough free times in chapter 1 to max out anyone.

Actually there's one shy of maxing anyone out in Chapter 1, because why make it that easy. Of course by DR2 I said fuck it and started replaying FT sections for anyone "lost" so I could actually have some skills to use.
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I did not do so well when it came to picking friends in DR2 free time. Because you have to befriend them 5 times, my first choice lived until the end, and then everyone else seemed to drop right before I finished them. Since you only get rewards for finishing the sequence, I finished the game with, I think, 2 skills. =x
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Yup, that's why I said fuck it in DR2
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I admittedly liked GJ's logic for not being the killer back during the Chihiro trial. "I'm a murdering psychopath, everyone knows I'm a murdering psychopath. If I killed anyone I would be the most obvious suspect ever"
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You can buy skills in DR2 though
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I'm kind of sucking with skills too. They come very slowly. I guess the only way of maxing them out is replaying chapters?

If so I think I pass.

I play on Easy because the mini-games are basically all trash in the series. No regrets

Logic Difficulty: Mean
Action Difficulty: Kind or Gentle
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swordz9 posted...

I play on Easy because the mini-games are basically all trash in the series. No regrets

I didn't know how good I had with Magatama and Perception until I lost them.

Hbthebattle posted...

You can buy skills in DR2 though

I must have missed that.
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ZeldaTPLink posted...

I'm kind of sucking with skills too. They come very slowly. I guess the only way of maxing them out is replaying chapters?

If so I think I pass.

You can replay just the sections up until Free Time skipping text as needed and then jump back to certain spots. I think DR1 doesn't give you as many spots to go back to, though, so it's not as worth it.
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I've never felt skills were worth actually trying to get in any DR honestly

Unfortunately, it took until V3 for them to give you an option to skip straight to free time on chapter select.

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Investigation time.

Ok, the murder weapon is obviously poison, and in 90% sure it's the candy Hina gave to Sakura. Question is if Hina herself poisoned it or someone else.

Or the protein drink, I guess. But it is on the glass shards of the window rather than under them, which suggests it was added recently. Misdirection?

Hiro is hiding a candy wrap.

...

Is it really Hiro this time around? He seems too dumb to make a plan like this, but it's hilarious for him to be set up two consecutive cases.

Poisonous looking vial of poison broken on the floor spilling poison everywhere. If they wanted us to think it wasn't done with poison, that's a very sloppy job.

Dieing message about Toko. This is the 4th case and the 3rd one with a dieing message. At this point I'm halfway expecting them to double subvert it and have Toko be the killer cuz why not.

Ok so it's one of Toko, Hiro or Hina. My money is on Hina. There isn't much more to her character after Sakura goes down, I feel.

Monokuma now speaks emoticons. They are called emoticons, not emojis, and XD is one of them. We are back in 2005.

He also speaks dancing kirbies. Somehow.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

He also speaks dancing kirbies. Somehow.

(>*-*)> <(*-*<)

Hiro is lying about candy like an idiot. And now he's lying about seeing the dieing message. But the case is basically starting with him as the main suspect, so it's probably not him who did it.

Oooooh now this really feels like a Fourth Case. The defendant thinks he did it!

Poor Hiro tried to kill a super saiyan with blunt damage. Obviously that didn't work.

Toko: "Until two seconds ago, you were claiming you killed her!". lol true.

Omg Toko totally made the second hit to the head, didn't she? Except it didn't work because it's fucking Sakura. Everybody tried to kill her, but only one was smart enough to use poison. Hina or Byakuya? I want to believe it's Hina so Byakuya gets saved for the end of the game, but maybe he just decided to do it now.

My guess is that the footprints will point to the killer. Except that's the sloppiest thing ever so it will be a set up. Maybe Hina sets Byakuya up, and her claim that one of the three did it will actually have meaning after all.

"I think the fact I don't know proves that I didn't kill her, thank you very much!". Love you, GJ.

Two bullet battles and now two hangmen's gambits? Uuuuuugh.

Hina confessed.

But still doesn't explain how the hell the room was locked. It's Byakuya, isn't it?

Byakuya's goose is being cooked and he can smell it. Sorry bro, but you're not a match for Kyoko. You may think you're smarter than all those losers, but she is a pro.

"How can you know something I don't know?" Poor Byakuya.

HOLY SHIT, suicide? Wow

It seems like Byakuya's distress is just because he's an arrogant jerk and is mad that someone besides him solved the case. Amazing.

I guess there will be no execution, unless Monokuma is a huge dick. And that explains how this game seems to have too many chapters.

So Sakura killed hrself to stop the murders and save her dojo. Such an awesome character. You'll be missed, Sakura.

And Hina tried to set everything on fire because she blamed the others for Sakura's death. Poor Hina. That's way more tragic than anything I could have predicted.

REVOLUTION! We will no longer play your shitty game. I'm still doubting this will work, but those kids have guts, man. Wonder what Monokuma will do now.

Noooooo Alter Ego! Yep, that plan was totally not going to work. Damn, Monokuma, you're a dick.

Kyokoads me to what looked like a scouting mission. Wonder what she learned from it. And we got a reveal of 16th student's name.

Ok, this was a cool case. Probably the best one so far. I managed to see all the set ups coming, but suicide was unpredictable.

Now the plot is turning interesting, because I think those kids really mean it about dropping from the game. I mean, are they wrong? This game's chances of survival are pathetic, as all the previous cases have showed. It might be a better option to just try and break the game. The question is how.

WIll Byakuya really play ball, though? And GJ? Maybe they'll not.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

So Sakura killed hrself to stop the murders and save her dojo. Such an awesome character. You'll be missed, Sakura.

This is why Sakura is my favorite character from 1.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

And we got a reveal of 16th student's name.

If that's the scene I'm thinking of, get used to hearing it.
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That was a pretty great idea of Sakura's. "Can't have a murder trial if I took away your murderer. Screw you, bear"
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Congrats! You made it through the best case in the game! Uh, no hills from here on, I guess, because the rest of the game is still quite the ride, so keep on enjoying!
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1-4 is the strongest case in DR1 for a reason
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