Not kidding around, these are mega spoilers, don't click them:
I feel that this game basically demands to be compared to Danganronpa, so I won't feel bad about doing that.
Shinigami and Yuma are pretty good as the protagonists. I liked them well enough; no problems there.
The Mystery Labyrinths are way weaker as a climatic showdown than the class trials, and like, I don't hold this against the game, but they're clearly just stolen as a concept from Persona 5. Having to stare down someone who's desperately trying to lie his way out of it by shoving evidence in his face, while other people speculate about what's happening, is way more emotionally engaging than arguing with a psychic recreation of a corrupt corporate guy. And it doesn't help that all of the Amaterasu guys are just comically, pointlessly evil.
Having most of the killers and accused just be randos really makes them much more boring. The game really wanted me to care about the three high school girls, but we've heard them speak like four sentences each, and then they all die. The only case that works for me is Yakou's, but even that's damaged by the fact that he's basically already dead, and he isn't there to defend or explain himself, only the comically evil Yomi is. There's even one accused whom you never even meet, you just meet the guy's son.
The mysteries themselves are also way weaker and easier than Danganronpa's or Phoenix Wright's. I was expecting a lot of convoluted wacky murder schemes, and the only one that even approaches that is the Yakou case, which is unsurprisingly the best one in the game.
Once I realized that the detectives would never actually do anything important on their own, and were just there to facilitate Yuma's exploration and investigation, they just become a series of wacky characters with no point to them. The only exception is Vivia. Again, you compare this to Danganronpa or Phoenix Wright, where the non-protagonists actually go out and do stuff and have their own motives and may or may not be planning to betray you.
For how much time is spent driving home the idea that Kanai Ward would be destroyed by the awful truth of the homunculi, it's jarring that everyone just accepts it off-screen and it's no big deal and no one really cares that much. I laughed when Kurumi said the ramen guy makes food with "the nutrients we need to survive."
I hated the pink blood twist, but I know most people like it, so that's just me, I guess.
I didn't hate the game or anything, and I will play the DLC, but it definitely underwhelmed me.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig. Started: July 6, 2005