LogFAQs > #951225456

Danganronpa 1 is a fucking mess. No aspect of the game is fun. Every character in the game treats the player like a 7-year old, and the trials themselves do so as well. While Ace Attorney trusts the player with their full inventory of evidence for every testimony in the game, Danganronpa 1 will trust you with 1 piece. Not even joking, just one. If you play on the hardest logic difficulty, it will begin to let you have 3 at a time, just a little more, as a treat. Its absurd how dumb DR1 thinks you are. It will play the exact same goddamn flashback 7 times in a matter of 15 in-game minutes. I KNOW WHO MUKURO IKUSABA IS SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY

And in general, DR1s plot gets in its own way too often. Case 1 is pretty neat, but ruined for English-speaking audiences. Case 2 is very contrived for no reason. Case 3 is abhorrent for every reason. Case 4 is about the only bright spot in the game, and then the ride tumbles off the rails toward the finish. Just a little bit, though. And the ending is necessary to prepare the player for what to expect in future titles. Unfortunately, understanding DR1 is a 100% prerequisite for continuing the series, despite being a 4/10 game on a good day.

Then we have Danganronpa V3. V3 was heading some very exciting places for a while. Then in one of the trials, I spent over an hour just mashing through text, rotating my hand in the air, trying to signal to the game that I get what its doing and Id just like to get on with it please. And it wouldnt let me. I only wanted it to be over, and DRV3 refused, mocking me for daring to enjoy the story it was relaying to me. After that session of playing the game, I was so upset that I turned off my VITA and I refused to even think about the game for a while.

But smack in the middle of the two, we have Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Somehow, the team was able to make a game that only majorly fucked up the Hangman minigame. Everything else could loosely be described as fun! Thats a plus!


But as is the case with most of the games in my top 20, it isnt primarily here for that. Its here because it weaves the most memorable tale in any video game Ive ever played. And the cases are oh so good. If theres one thing Danganronpa can hold over Ace Attorney as a series, its that it knows how to start off each game with a bang, as every games first case is just stellar. Then Case 2 plays at your heartstrings before the mild dumpster fire Case 3. But thats just the first half, and from there, the game goes at a pace that every Ace Attorney game can only dream of, as Case 4, 5, and 6 are nothing short of exemplary.

Gonna give this its own paragraph because its just that important. Case 5 is my favorite murder mystery in all of fiction. I cant even begin to go into why without spoiling the very basis of it, but fuck it is awesome.

And goddamn does this game's music slap. I have roughly 8 of this game's tracks on my main Spotify playlist. Speaking of its incredible Case 5, listen to this song in particular, and just try to not feel all pumped up to do some murder investigating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjbgj2V6-o0

With its ridiculous premise, its expertly-crafted murder mysteries, and crazy twists and turns, Danganronpa has become easily my favorite series to watch other people experience for the first time. Even Danganronpa 1, despite being an objectively bad game, is wildly entertaining, and still has this weird kind of charm to it that makes you want to see how others react to being put through the same gamut that you did. Its very hard to explain what I mean if you havent experienced it yourself. I have second-handedly experienced Danganronpa 2 a whopping fourteen times, and I could recall to you every playthrough Ive watched or read right now, because everyone has a fairly unique experience, whether its through getting attached to different characters, or being especially surprised by different plot twists. To me, the game is infinitely replayable in this way. Every few months, Ill get a new urge to check YouTube and see if anyone with any kind of following has decided to start up the series, so I can check it out.


And hey. If you havent yet, and youre up for something kinda weird, give the series a shot! If you do, make sure you hit me up on Discord, because I love love loooooove talking people through their time with it. Just dont do the same with the general internet, because Danganronpa is the single series that people love to spoil the most, and its not even a close race. Do not google Danganronpa, do not look up voice actors for Danganronpa, if you make the decision to start playing Danganronpa, you must basically swear off the internet until you are done because the fans just do not fucking know how to not ruin it for everyone else. I kinda hate that I consider myself part of its fandom sometimes.

Sometimes.

CHARACTER RANKING:
Nagito > Hajime > Gundham > Sonia > Chiaki > Ibuki > Fuyuhiko > Peko > Byakuya > Nekomaru > Kazuichi > Mahiru > Akane > Mikan > Teruteru > Hiyoko

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Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform
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