Current Events > I'm playing Danganronpa for the first time.

(+) Yeah! (+)

BakonBitz posted...

Passed Chapter 5 I'm guessing?

lol yep.

Chapter 5 was solid. Sad to see Chiyaki go, she was one of my favs, but I also figured out she was the traitor a good while back so that wasn't much of a shock.

I will say, and I missed it in the first game too with Sakura; what exactly did either of them actually DO as the Traitor? Like, they keep using "Traitor" as a buzz word/scare tactic for the group, but what did either of them actually do to sabotage anyone? Like, I guess Chiyaki was feeding Monomi information or something, but Monomi already seemed more than able to keep tabs on everyone on her own, why did she even need a "traitor" in the first place? Same with Sakura, I know she was SUPPOSED to make the first kill of the game, but she didn't. Other than that, what else did she do that was actually traitorous?

I will admit, I've been stoned for like, 80% of the time I've been playing this series, but even still, I feel like I'm missing something important, cause it doesn't seem like the traitors have really actually DONE anything.

Also shout out to Nagito for his batshit fucking crazy plan that... worked? Didn't work? Who the fuck knows, but it kicked shit into gear either way, well done you crazy bastard.

Stopped last night right at the title card for chapter zero, will probably try to play at least a bit more today.

You are cruising through this

Sakura was going to kill someone if no one else did, but ended up not having to since the others did that just fine on their own. Junko had her rival held hostage and blackmailed her.

Yeah I never understood what Chiakibeing a traitor even entailed.

I thought DR2 was very clear about the traitor moniker is for, but I don't really wanna say to avoid spoilers.

Yeah, there's more stuff coming.

I think in SDR2's case, the traitor moniker was just meant to scare the participants.

Also I wanna talk about Nagito's plan but I'll wait until you're finished.

Bump

Yeah TC, it's definitely worth waiting until the end and you have a clear picture of things before you pass judgement

Gonna be super busy the next few days, so probably wont be able to play much till like, Monday. If peeps are interested in keeping this bumped for me, I'll def return Monday to give my thoughts on everything, hopefully I'll be able to beat it Monday or Tuesday.

Safety bump.

Bump

JKwaffle posted...

if peeps are interested in keeping this bumped for me

We are. Clearly. :)

Up

I need to stop coming back to this topic just once per week. Stuff that Ive missed out on

Im not a fan of Soda at all. He ranks very low for me.

2-5 is arguably my favorite case in the series. When the victim was first revealed, and the manner of the kill was revealed, I was floored. Between Nagito being the victim and Chiaki being the killer, I lost my two favorites from this game in a single case.

I always took it that Sakura was a traitor simply because she had a deal with Monokuma at one point, even if she never followed through. She was going behind the backs of her classmates, so that gave her the label (Id agree that she wasnt a traitor though, as she ever took any actions against them).

JKwaffle posted...

but even still, I feel like I'm missing something important, cause it doesn't seem like the traitors have really actually DONE anything.

In the first game Monokuma presented the presence of a traitor to cause mistrust, to make each in the group look on the others as potential enemies.

The_Popo posted...

I always took it that Sakura was a traitor simply because she had a deal with Monokuma at one point, even if she never followed through. She was going behind the backs of her classmates, so that gave her the label (Id agree that she wasnt a traitor though, as she ever took any actions against them).

I guess that's a reasonable take. I think part of it too is I love Sakura, she's probably my fav from thie first game, so the whole traitor thing and subsequent hate from the in-game characters felt really weird when she didn't actually DO anything.

Thank ya'll so much for keeping this bumped. Was at DragonCon this weekend, tons of fun, but now I'm super exhausted lol.

Gonna try to hit it up tonight, but if I don't I'm also off tomorrow so should for sure get some good play time in then.

Man, chapter 6 sure does get real fucking weird and trippy.

Don't think I'll know how I feel about this direction until I finish the game and know everything.

Alright, the time has come for (assumedly) the last class trial of the game. Let's do this shit.

Since I'm reaching the end, I guess now is the time to discuss the next step.

Am I good to just buy v3 and jump straight into it? Or am I gonna be super lost without doing some of the other side material?

I went from 2 to V3 and didn't have any problems

Just bear in mind it starts a new arc

V3 is enhanced by knowing the others, but can be played on its own fine.

If you want the DR1 and DR2 storyline finished you need to do Ultra Despair Girls then the DR3 anime.

Hmmm... I think I might just jump into V3. I'm reading a lot of people online say to skip UDG, and it seems like the anime is pretty meh too. I might read some summaries on the two, but I think next up on the agenda will just be skipping to V3.

And... We're done. I have officially beaten Danganronpa 2.

Holy shit everything went batshit by the end. But honestly...

I loved it.

There were several moments throughout the game where it came dangerously close to losing me, but by the end, they managed to tie everything back together in a way that made it all just... work. The "It was all a video game all along!" trope could have easily made things feel dumb and silly, but they presented it in a way that felt earned, and even made a lot of the silly stuff in the early parts of the game a lot more understandable in retrospect.

I think I might still enjoy the first one more overall, but I can still enthusiastically say that I loved 2. It had some insane twists and turns, but somehow managed to make them all tie together and work. Good shit.

I also like how they brought Junko back in a way that, for the in-game logic at least, made a lot of sense, and didn't feel too forced.

Just like last time, I'll do a ranking of the characters in 2.

But first, Imma buy V3 and get that installing. Let's keep plowing through this series, friends.

Glad you liked it in the end, I got a bit worried for a second.

Azardea posted...

Glad you liked it in the end, I got a bit worried for a second.

Out of context, some of the individual moments, especially early on, just felt really out of place compared to the first game. But once the context was there, it all added up a lot more.

I think the game does definitely take longer to get into than the first game; In the first game, I was hooked by chapter 2. In the second game, it wasn't till Chapter 4 that it really got its hooks into me, but once I was in, I was in.

Overall, I'd say that I think the second half of Danganonronpa 2 might be stronger than 1 in its entirity, but the first game is better as a whole than the second game is as a whole, if that makes sense.

2 I think has more characters I would call my favorites than the first game did, but it also has more characters I hated in this one as well. I think it's fair to say that 2 manages to have much higher highs than the first game, but also much lower lows.

Alright, here's my rankings for the students in this game. As I said before, 2 had some of my absolute favorites of the series so far, but also had some of my most hated characters.

• 1 Gundham Tanaka
• 2 Chiaki Nanami
• 3 Nekomaru Nidai
• 4 Nagito Komaeda
• 5 Hajime Hinata / Izuru Kamukura
• 6 Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu
• 7 Sonia Nevermind
• 8 Ibuki Mioda
• 9 Akane Owari
• 10 Byakuya Togami Ultimate Imposter
• 11 Mahiru Koizumi
• 12 Peko Pekoyama
• 13 Hiyoko Saionji
• 14 Mikan Tsumiki
• 15 Teruteru Hanamura
• 16 Kazuichi Soda

From 10 down to 16, I'm honestly pretty "meh" or outright hate everyone in that grouping (Mikan, Soda, and TeruTeru were especially grating.) For clarification, I think Teruteru was probably overall worse than Soda in terms of just how creepy and gross he was, but Soda wins out on least favorite because I had to deal with his creepy, whiny ass the entire. fucking. game. At least I didn't have to deal with Teruteru anymore after Chapter 1.

The top 9 tho were all fantastic, especially the top 6. Hajime and Fuyuhiko both grew on me immensely. First half of the game I found them very annoying, but by the end, they got so much growth and there were so many cool twists with them, they earned all of their character development.

And god damn, don't get me started on Gundham and Nekomaru. Just two weird as fuck bros who were fucking badass, and probably cared about their classmates more than anyone else with only a couple possible exceptions.

Gundham's final speech before he died is the only moment in either game where I genuinely teared up.

I think after I beat all 3 main games, I'll do a combined ranking of all the students in all the games, but as of right now, I think Gundham is my favorite character in either of the games I've played so far. His Four Dark Devas of Destruction must have used their powers of darkness to brainwash me, cause I fucking love that absolute weirdo.

Since you said you won't be watching the anime, and how highly you view Gundam and Neko, here's a non-story plot spoiler 2-minute scene you should see:

https://youtu.be/_eH_hljbEDQ

Oh shit, almost forgot to talk about Nagito and Chiyaki.

Nagito might be one of my all time favorite secondary antagonists. Dude ended up being so fucking batshit, but also so calculated and conniving in his own fucked up way. His plot to kill everyone except for the traitor after realzing that EVERYONE ELSE was a Remnant of Despair? The fact that his plan WORKED, and the only reason it didn't is cause the "traitor" herself, Chiyaki, turned herself in once she realized what Nagito had done? The fact that Nagito's plan was so calculated that that was really the only way for his plan to fail?

Chapter 5 as a whole was absolutely insane, in the best way. I'm having trouble deciding if I prefer chapter 4 or 5, cause both involved all 4 of my favorite characters at their aboslute best, respectively.

Smiffwilm posted...

Since you said you won't be watching the anime, and how highly you view Gundam and Neko, here's a non-story plot spoiler 2-minute scene you should see:

https://youtu.be/_eH_hljbEDQ

lmao, that's fantastic.

now that you've finished the second game I can share my thoughts on chiaki the whole "traitor" thing is that all the other characters are part of the despair side, and she's the only one who isn't and is trying to fix them. so she's not really what the player might see as a traitor but her entire point is to secretly oppose the other characters and help toward getting them to become something else

kirbymuncher posted...

now that you've finished the second game I can share my thoughts on chiaki the whole "traitor" thing is that all the other characters are part of the despair side, and she's the only one who isn't and is trying to fix them. so she's not really what the player might see as a traitor but her entire point is to secretly oppose the other characters and help toward getting them to become something else

That makes a lot more sense tbh. Cause in the moment it feels like a really out of nowehre label to put on her, but with the full context of the game, that tracks.

Alright friends. Just booted up V3. Let's do this shit.

If you are gonna skip Ultra Despair Girls, but youre a bit interested in what exactly happens in it, I recommend the RECAPitation video on YouTube. You can watch it at 1.5x speed and get a full recap in like 20 minutes. Here is the link, if you are interested (spoilers for the entire show and game within them, obviously):

Ultra Despair Girls

https://youtu.be/PSeAKckdOm4

As for the anime, as it was mentioned a while back, Danganronpa 3 (not V3, which is the game you are about to play) Is split into 2 arcs the Future Arc (an entirely new story) and the Despair Arc (the story of the cast of Danganronpa 2 and what exactly happened to them while at Hopes Peak).

If you are going to skip it but are interested in a few details about the Despair Arc, go ahead and click on this spoiler. In the Despair Arc, it shows the story of Gundham, Mikan, Nagito and co. during their time in school and how they become the Remnants of Despair. Chiaki was actually a real student in that class, and she was appointed as sort of the representative leader of their class. Everyone loved her. Junko ends up using the Ultimate Animator at the school to create subliminal messages to brainwash people who tune in to watch the live broadcast of Chiakis execution, as they are all watching in horror to see if their beloved leader will survive the execution. And her execution is more of a labyrinth with multiple death traps. To be honest, its more of a torture session than an execution - say what you want about the animes, but the real Chiakis death was the worst to watch, IMO. In the killing games, the others mostly had quick deaths. Chiaki suffered.

If youre interested in seeing the video of what I described above, click on this tinyurl link for the YouTube video (I didnt wanna post the actual YouTube link, as the thumbnail contains a spoiler):

https://tinyurl.com/48erp3hm

Honestly, I'm gonna say that while you can go into DGR v3 with no issue, I'd probably at least give UDG and Danganronpa 3 (the anime) a chance afterwards. I just recently went through both with my partner, and neither are particularly bad - the former serves as a bridge between 1 and 2 and does a lot to rehab Toko as a character, at least IMO, while the latter is just a nice way to flesh out some things and wrap up the story, especially after 2.

Edit: Wow, my timing is fantastic... yeah, just listen to Popo here. Plus, the Despair Arc also shows a bit more about The Tragedy and everything that led up to it, if you wanted more specifics there.

You can definitely skip the anime version of 1, though, that was pretty miserable.

Twogami is way too low on that list. But otherwise solid list. Gundham absolutely great, Nagito is very divisive. I absolutely love him.

Jesus christ, wasn't expecting an immediate chase sequence with giant mechs.

Fuck it, 2 prepped me for the weirdness, let's dive right in.

JKwaffle posted...

as of right now, I think Gundham is my favorite character in either of the games I've played so far.

Based. Gundham is absolutely amazing. He and Chiaki are my favorites by far.
And yeah, that's why chapter 5 is considered as highly as it is. So fucking good.

Anyway, enjoy V3. Hearing your thoughts on that will be fun.

This new "Slapping objects in rooms" mechanic is really weird, but also strangely addicting.

slap all the objects

as for all the other stuff you've posted about 2, I don't want to inadvertently spoil so I'm just gonna wait until you've beaten V3, since imo it's even stronger of an ending

Oh man, I think I'm gonna love Gonta. He's so sweet.

Really interesting cast already, curious to see how everyone's development goes.

V3 is the best IMO. Also Kirumi best girl.

I think V3 might've ended up being my favorite of the series, so I think you're in for a treat. Some of the trial revelations they've done were devastating to me.

Gundham and Chiaki are my favorites, as well!!!

But I do love me some Miu and Gonta Honestly, I liked a lot of V3s cast

LinkPizza posted...

Honestly, I liked a lot of V3s cast

v3 is the first game where everyone is a character instead of just like 3-4 people

Oh man; I am loving this so far.

I feel like they're taking a lot more time with this first chapter than in the past games, and it's really paying off. Rontaro was a surprising but very interesting first victim. Got to the Intermission of the class trial (I've got work early in the morning, unfortunately.) And if this turns out the way it seems to be leaning towards, this will be the ballsiest intro case yet.

Loving the characters and their group dynamic so far as well.

Out of curiosity: is V3 longer than the other games? Or is it just this first chapter? Or am I just tripping that it feels longer (in a good way ) ?

JKwaffle posted...

Out of curiosity: is V3 longer than the other games? Or is it just this first chapter? Or am I just tripping that it feels longer (in a good way ) ?

Pretty sure it is. I remember it being longer my first time and every let's play of the series I've seen V3 always had more videos.

JKwaffle posted...

Out of curiosity: is V3 longer than the other games? Or is it just this first chapter? Or am I just tripping that it feels longer (in a good way ) ?

It felt longer to me personally but I also wasn't measuring my playtime hours. I also felt really burnt out by the time I got half-way through the game, but that may just be my hangup.

Kimberly posted...

It felt longer to me personally but I also wasn't measuring my playtime hours. I also felt really burnt out by the time I got half-way through the game, but that may just be my hangup.

Hmmm; that's kinda how I felt halfway through 2; it wasn't till Chapter 4 that things felt like they were picking back up and felt exciting again.

I guess we'll see how I feel later on; so far I feel like it's had one of the stronger intros, but there's plenty of game left.

Oh it is hands down a super compelling intro. Easily my favorite for the trilogy.

Yeah, I have plenty of issues with V3, but it has by far the strongest first trial IMO.