Current Events > Just finished DanganRonpa for the first time *1st game spoilers ONLY*

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm making this topic because LostForest has moved onto dagnab romper 2 in their thread. I'm gonna hold off on the second game until it's on sale, mostly because I'm moving and partially because I'm already a tight-ass.

Be warned, DR1 spoilers will be unmarked. Please don't go beyond this game because I am planning to play the rest.

So - I liked it a lot. I love gaudy, excessive things, and DanganRonpa is nothing if not excessive. It's like if Ace Attorney was set in a Persona game, and everything's on crack. I love how colourful the designs are, literally and figuratively.

The one downside to the game - and this might sound douchey as fuck - is how easy the cases ended up being. Case 1 was a worker, I didn't know anyone's names and I was gunning for Byakura. Case 2 was basically everything awful in the world coming to pass. Case 3 and onwards became pretty straightforward. That was good because I felt empowered as I was playing and it let me get better at the actual gameplay - I actually got good at the rhythm game portion. But it was also kind of cumbersome when it was clear that Sakura killed herself.

The one big complaint I have is that the final class trial is way too long. The exposition is tiring and the switching tones of Junko was really jarring. I was already hitting burnout, I had a really long play session the previous night and the words were starting to lose the voices if that makes sense. DanganRonpa only just overstays its welcome. Only just.

My favourite case, despite the burnout, was Sakura's one. It dragged, but the emotional shit was on point. I don't care what any of y'all motherfuckers say, Aoi and Sakura loved each other. They should have gotten out together.

Another downside is that I was around Tumblr when DanganRonpa got big, so Junko's memeification clued me into the greater mystery. Mukuro's corpse clearly had her red nails, so I thought if nothing else Junko's corpse had been desecrated. Not the game's fault, but still hindered things.

I have some stuff to say about the characters.

First of all, Chihiro. I don't think a lot of thought was put into the character. They transitioned to living as female because they were sick of being called weak "for a boy", and presumably lived publically as a girl before coming to Hope's Peak. This decision reads like Chihiro going "I'm so weak I might as well be a girl", which is kinda sexist, and it feels like they didn't think of the trans angle in service of having a big shocking gender twist that comes out of nowhere for the sake of having a big shocking gender twist. That's kind of ass-backwards, and I think it was done at the expense of Chihiro's character rather than in service of it. Not intentionally, but that's what it ended up being.

I can somewhat see Chihiro's story as someone who decided to transition, but then realised that they were treating the wrong symptoms of their unhappiness (because personal issues tend to be co-morbid with other personal issues and you usually don't get it right on the first try), and they decided to detransition when they realised what they wanted to do - they crystallised. That's one way to interpret Chihiro's story.

The issue is that the framework to tell that sort of story isn't really built, because the gender angle comes so far out of left field at the end of the trial and it ends up turning Chihiro into this set of talking points that overshadow who they were when you knew them. It feels like a cheap twist that derails the trial to talk about Chihiro as this shocking boy in a dress. It's only after they die and are robbed of their own voice that this facet of them comes out. And this bothers me because I really fucking like Chihiro.

The person you know the entire game, before realising their birth gender in a petty twist after their murder, is so far removed from the talking points their character brings up after they've died. I think the gender twist was a huge disservice to Chihiro's character, though I wish it had been addressed before they died. I love the idea, but I don't think it was done in a positive way and whatever it was trying to do falls totally flat.

Next, Byakura. I didn't like him for most of the game. I thought he had a great moment right at the end, being the last of the Togami bloodline, but I don't go for the petty, bitchy tsundere characters of either gender.

Hifumi made me laugh out loud a handful of times with his voice clips about 2D vs 3D. He's a gonk and a bastard, but I'd love to see him and the group living their school lives. Very much a low-tier character, but man you can't beat him.

I thought Hiro would end up being the mastermind. He's the only character you can't find initially during the last investigation and he keeps running away from you before Monokuma pops up to taunt you. But again, Junko being memed years ago tipped me off to it being her. Otherwise he's just annoying and boring.

So someone mentioned in LostForest's topic that people like to do character tier lists. Here's mine, off the top of my head:

1. Aoi
2. Chihiro
3. Kyoko
4. Mondo
5. Sakura
6. Taka
7. Sayaka
8. Makoto
9. Celeste
10. Toko
11. Junko
12. Hifumi
13. Leon - only because he doesn't have much screen time, I love his design
14. Yasuhiro
15. Byakura
16. Mukuro - again, because she has so little screentime.

I'm gonna play School Mode, and when I'm settled into my new place I'll start playing the second game. It was a solid 7/10 game - great mystery game, incredibly stylish, but it only just manages to overstay its welcome and the cases begin to feel very see-through by the end.

MrMallard posted...

13. Leon - only because he doesn't have much screen time, I love his design
.

Yea, it was dumb to get rid of the best designed character so early.

Good to see you had a good time with it

The last case is always a long one, so in future I'd recommend taking a break if necessary, it can really wear you down

The future games turn up the anime shenanigans to 11, worth bearing in mind. They're also vastly better than 1, to the point where in some ways it feels like a tech demo (though still a very good one)

Kajagogo posted...

Yea, it was dumb to get rid of the best designed character so early.

I read that Leon and Sayaka were the templates for the male and female characters, so the team got sick of going back to them when they wanted to make a new character and decided to kill them off first.

Leon looks like a Nomura character. Reminds me of Reno from FF7 or Axel from KH.

teep_ posted...

Good to see you had a good time with it

The last case is always a long one, so in future I'd recommend taking a break if necessary, it can really wear you down

The future games turn up the anime shenanigans to 11, worth bearing in mind. They're also vastly better than 1, to the point where in some ways it feels like a tech demo (though still a very good one)

If there's any franchise that should dial up the anime shenanigans, it's DanganRonpa. I heard the term "maximalist" recently from the director of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, and that's been on the forefront of my mind as something I'm very into. The first thing that came to mind about this game was "maximalist". This game throws everything at you. If it gets wilder than this, I'm gonna be really happy.

And yeah, I'll keep the length of the final case in mind. I'll pace myself better next time, it was fine until I began binging multiple cases lol.

MrMallard posted...

heard the term "maximalist" recently from the director of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, and that's been on the forefront of my mind as something I'm very into. The first thing that came to mind about this game was "maximalist". This game throws everything at you. If it gets wilder than this, I'm gonna be really happy.

Then you're definitely in for a good time

Honestly, Toko's breakdown into openly horny sadomasochist was one of the most upsetting parts of the game. Like damn, I get that she's partially a serial killer, but that shit was really upsetting.

Did you see the bad ending?

The Chihiro thing is something that will be debated for the rest of time, unless DR1 randomly gets remade. There's an absurd amount of discourse around that character and their gender. I've seen them called a cis male, non binary, and trans by different people. Sadly, the way the character was handled just wasn't the best, even though they're one of my favorites for the first game.

Regardless, stan Sakura, she's iconic.

teep_ posted...

Did you see the bad ending?

I did see the bad ending. Felt really fucking weird, but I think that's the point. Apparently the team didn't think about how Toko died in that ending, so one of them said that she exploded. I feel like it'd have more to do with Byakura plowing Aoi though, something really sad.

dotsdfe posted...

The Chihiro thing is something that will be debated for the rest of time, unless DR1 randomly gets remade. There's an absurd amount of discourse around that character and their gender. I've seen them called a cis male, non binary, and trans by different people. Sadly, the way the character was handled just wasn't the best, even though they're one of my favorites for the first game.

Regardless, stan Sakura, she's iconic.

Oh yeah absolutely. It's just such an unfortunate sort of baggage that overshadows who the character was, and it felt like a cheap and lurid twist that robbed the character of their voice on the topic. I get that it's a hot button issue, but for as much as I genuinely love Chihiro, the way it was done in the game is such a shitshow and I hate that.

Sakura is fantastic though. A part of me views her as something of a gag character, but this is an over the top caricature that the game builds up into such a fantastic and fleshed out character. I love Sakura.

Seriously, my headcanon is that her and Aoi fell in love. The game teases at that in that sort of classic L-Class way, where it isn't actually them being gay but just teasing at how close they were. But man fuck that, these bitches gay. Good for them, good for them.

Junko is hot as fuck. Execute me mommy

Irony posted...

Junko is hot as fuck. Execute me mommy

I like her freckles at the start of the game.

Also the real Junko's fratbro mood is fucking hilarious.

MrMallard posted...

I did see the bad ending.

Now think back to how Hiro said that Makotos's kids and his own kids would have the same mother

and yes, Junko and her moods were a highlight for me. I think it was one actress who did all those voices, and if so then mad respect

teep_ posted...

Now think back to Hiro said that Makotos's kids and his own kids would have the same mother

I saw that in LostForest's topic, lol

Most people say, including me, that 1 was the worst of the 3 main games but still really good. One of your complaints, about how the cases are too easy, is the biggest improvement in 2 and V3. Even case 1, the tutorial case, you likely won't know the culprit until shortly before the intended reveal. And in some cases you might not even know who it is when the characters tell you to pick the culprit. Every case is also much longer and more complex than any case in 1, so they started doing intermissions in the middle. Even if you did guess the culprit early on there will still be many twists. It also assumes you've played the 1st game in that your first argument of case 1 has like 3-5 bullets, they don't ease you into the mechanics as harsh as 1 did where you had a single bullet for half of case 1.

teep_ posted...

I think it was one actress who did all those voices, and if so then mad respect

2 actresses, Erin Fitzgerald and Amanda Celine Miller.

Fun fact, Amanda also voices Toko, and Erin voices Genocide Jack.

MrMallard posted...

I like her freckles at the start of the game.

Also the real Junko's fratbro mood is fucking hilarious.

That was Mukuro Ikusaba, The 16th student, lying hidden somewhere in this school. The one they call the Ultimate Despair... Watch out for her.

Man, I can see why people hate on Hiro, but his ability to survive all the way to the end through pure stupidity is kind of amazing and endearing to me

The funny thing about original mystery game franchises is that the first game is almost always a proof of concept, with the second game and beyond building on the framework of that game to greater acclaim.

You guys are saying that DanganRonpa feels like a tech demo compared to the next two games, and despite DR1 being really good, it pales in comparison to later games.

I would say the exact same thing applies to Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright.

Because Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a masterpiece all of its own. The music, the atmosphere, the story and tone - immaculate. I only had the first game for a long time, and it bugged me when people would say "it's not as good as the rest of the games" - because it's a very strong standalone game, and it felt like a mark of disrespect.

But come Diabolical Box and Unwound Future, and honestly - yeah. Somehow, the next two games only get better from there. The last puzzle in Diabolical Box is genius in its simplicity. And I had a hard time accepting the GUI change-up in Unwound Future, but that game is amazing when you get used to all that. Those first three games are absolutely GOATed, but the first game - as tight as it was on its own - is a bit smaller and more contained than the next two games.

And then you have Phoenix Wright, where you go from a strict 5 heart health meter to a bar that gets whittled down depending on the severity of your actions. And the writing in the second game - sans that circus level - is a step up from the first game as well.

Every mystery game needs a proof of concept, and that usually means building the gameplay systems in the first game and expounding upon the writing in the future games. Phoenix Wright and DanganRonpa are both very new concepts for the time they were released in, with DanganRonpa being a more fast-paced, kinetic and stylish update on Phoenix Wright's investigate/trial style of gameplay.

I haven't played AA but I'd disagree with you regarding Layton. While the 2nd/3rd games were great, the first game did feel like a full fledged game to me at the time (and the twist in the first one is one of my favourite of all time). When I say DR1 is a tech demo, I mean primarily in terms of gameplay mechanics/QoL stuff. The other two are a lot "smoother" to play. Does that make sense?

how is the game? Is it good?

I like 999, ghost trick, and of course the ace attorney series.

What system to play it on if its good I have a ps4 and switch and vita

Noumas posted...

how is the game? Is it good?

I like 999, ghost trick, and of course the ace attorney series.

What system to play it on if its good I have a ps4 and switch and vita

It's excellent. While it's fairly different than AA/GT in terms of general atmosphere (it's reasonably close to 999, though definitely darker) it overall has a lot of the same "feel" in that it has a bunch of really interesting characters doing interesting things that you get out of AA/GT. Basically if you are at all into those sorts of games liking Danganronpa is pretty much a shoe-in. And if you really are desperate for trying out something that largely hits the same notes but is free (thus the barrier for entry is just your time) you can try Your Turn to Die ( https://vgperson.com/games/yourturntodie.htm ) because it is basically just a fan Danganronpa in most aspects (it has minigames and branching paths, of which Danganronpa doesn't have either).

Chihiro is not trans. Any interpretation of him as trans would make his depiction transphobic. He is just a crossdressing boy. Kazutaka Kodaka wanted a case where your assumption of the victim's gender is flipped on its head, and everything else weakly follows from that. It's why all of the characters immediately switch to male pronouns when they find out he's male. There is absolutely no thought put into him beyond the purpose he serves in the story. DR1 is atrocious for many reasons, and Chihiro is perhaps the best possible embodiment of why.

Noumas posted...

how is the game? Is it good?

I like 999, ghost trick, and of course the ace attorney series.

What system to play it on if its good I have a ps4 and switch and vita

The first game is good. You'd be happy regardless of the platform, it's an upscaled Vita port. Gameplay is fantastic, doesn't change based on hardware as far as I can tell

The switch collection has all 3 main games as well as extra content

teep_ posted...

The switch collection has all 3 main games as well as extra content

Nice. Is there any reason to get the ps4 version or is switch the way to go?

Noumas posted...

Nice. Is there any reason to get the ps4 version or is switch the way to go?

You can play the PS4 version on a PS4.

That's pretty much the only reason to care about which platform you get it on.

Noumas posted...

Nice. Is there any reason to get the ps4 version or is switch the way to go?

It looks and runs better on PS4 I presume