Board 8 > Tell me about Danganronpa

(+) Yeah! (+)

The only VNs I've played are the AA games, but I've heard good things about Danganronpa. All I know is that it's about a high school and there's an evil teddy bear. Is it good? Is it just a pure VN with no other gameplay?

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It is pretty close to AA with worse court segments and not fun mini-games shoehorned in.

Story and characters are great though and if you like AA you should like these too!

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Nobody likes the gameplay, everybody (who would like AA) likes the characters and story and stuff

1 is nobody's favorite but mine, everybody likes 2, and v3 is very polarizing (3 is an anime that comes between 2 and v3, sorta) Think the consensus is that spinoffs are skippable.

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it's similar to ace attorney in overall gameplay (other than having some first person walking around bits and social links between investigation/trials. and lots of bad minigames in the trials too), but it's more anime/over the top/chuunibyou in tone/story.
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It's a wonderful series that's on sale for super cheap a lot so you should def give it a whirl.

It's definitely more absurdist than AA which I think is a big part of the charm. Going into it blind and not knowing who is going to kill or be killed is a highlight of my personal gaming experiences.

I and many others think the first game is good but weaker than the sequels unfortunately, but I wouldn't say it's bad. Biggest issue is that about a third of the cast is just awful and none of the great ones reach the highs of the great members of future casts, but there are still standouts.

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It's dumb fun

Most important thing is to not take it seriously

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Also I don't think Ultra Despair Girls is, like....a terrible game. It's not great, but with the console version it's fine. Was definitely worse on the Vita like all video games are.

I mainly am just a big fan of the dynamic between the leads, which causes me to forgive a lot of the actual game parts that are not good.

Though there are definitely some story parts that are NOT GREAT.

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Nanis23 posted...

It's dumb fun

Most important thing is to not take it seriously

*looks at topic creator*

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Also UDG isn't bad per se but it's perhaps the most boring game I've ever played in my life. The story is boring, the characters are boring, the gameplay is boring.

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I can't wait to see the Anagram polls that Danganronpa inspires.

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Not going to try to pick a fight here or dissuade you from playing it but for what it's worth I love AA and I thought the first DR was very bad. Didnt play any more of them

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definitely worth a playthrough.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Also UDG isn't bad per se but it's perhaps the most boring game I've ever played in my life. The story is boring, the characters are boring, the gameplay is boring.

I really can't deny...any of that!

I just really like Komaru and Toko a bunch in it, and everything with just them is good. Hell, it made Toko actually earn her high character popularity ranking she'd had since DR1 which she absolutely did not deserve up until that point, but there's really not anyone else of real interest in the entire cast. Even the one who by ALL MEANS should have been a slam dunk.

Which...yeah combined with the mediocre gameplay should really just be a death sentence, but I just can't bring myself to hate it.

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obligatory 2 > 3 > 1

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May pick it up, then. I'm a little reluctant at 20 dollars for the first game, but it's been some time since I finished the AA series, so it may be worth it.

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3 > 1 > 2

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Anagram posted...

May pick it up, then. I'm a little reluctant at 20 dollars for the first game, but it's been some time since I finished the AA series, so it may be worth it.

Danganronpa 1+2 Reload is on sale for $15-20 all the time. I'm not saying the games aren't worth $20 individually (no issue having paid full price for them), but statistically the combo back will be on sale in no time.

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Oh and V3>=2>1

As you can see opinions vary plenty and you're not gonna find some overwhelming agreement in the order of quality.

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The mini-games are terrible in all 3 of them. Characters are too for the most part. I didnt really end up liking any of the games very much, but Im an outlier there I think.

Just pulled up my full character ranking document to see the cutoffs for number of primary characters I would consider great, OK, or bad.

I'm creating an arbitrary line from my list here, but it's looking like....

17 Great

22 OK

9 Bad

Even totaling them up just now I realized there is nuance lost there, but it at least give a basic impression of how I feel.

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im in the middle of 2 right now. 1 seems better to me so far but i hear 2 has a good ending so we'll see. Ive heard enough things about 3 that I doubt I'll ever play it. the game is basically AA but the anime is turned up to 11 and the gameplay is worse. not the biggest fan but its alright

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I can't imagine you being told anything about V3 that would cause you to write it off other than out of context spoilers from a biased source.

That game is fucking WILD.

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Danganronpa is badly overrated, especially the first one, but it does enough good things that it is probably worth playing if you're itching for more Ace Attorney-like content. It's a real love/hate kind of game - it's going to piss you off a lot but it'll do some exciting things along the way.

The Danganronpa series badly needed an editor.

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Would also strongly recommend checking out another game series that has a lot of fandom overlap, Zero Escape. There are surface level aesthetic similarities, though they're definitely very different, but that doesn't stop them from getting associated with eachother all the time due to a variety of ciscumstances (not to mention their respective creators have joined together to create a studio of their own).

Unfortunately Zero Escape has never enjoyed the same popularity as Danganronpa due to Japan itself rejecting it, but it has a decent sized following as well thanks to the western fandom.

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999 is definitely infinitely better than danganronpa 1 at least

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I finished the first one recently and I had a really good time. Then I played an hour or so of both D2 and Ultra Despair Girls and enjoyed both. You definitely wont be playing UDG for the gameplay as theres very little. And D2 seems just as good as D1 so far.
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They're fun, quirky games and the mystery of them makes them really enjoyable. Just don't take it seriously, as mentioned. It's all good, dumb fun.

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You should definitely stop playing UDG before you finish DR2 <_<;;;;;

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Bought it. Got to the cafeteria before my laptop died. Will continue later. Okay so far. I expect the fat kid to be the first to die, but it might be one of the several nervous girls.

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Paratroopa1 posted...

Danganronpa is badly overrated, especially the first one, but it does enough good things that it is probably worth playing if you're itching for more Ace Attorney-like content. It's a real love/hate kind of game - it's going to piss you off a lot but it'll do some exciting things along the way.

Yeah, DR is definitely an experience where the sum is greater than the parts.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

I and many others think the first game is good but weaker than the sequels unfortunately, but I wouldn't say it's bad. Biggest issue is that about a third of the cast is just awful and none of the great ones reach the highs of the great members of future casts, but there are still standouts.

Funny, sounds to me like you're describing the second game. (Character-wise, anyway.)

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Personally I would say the second game has 2 characters that are outright unbearable, but at least one of those is definitely on purpose. The other one is hated by most people as well, but they have a fanbase which I GUESS I understand.

As for V3, the character that Kodaka created specifically to be hated ended up being one of the most popular characters in both that game and the franchise, lol.

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Assuming that's the character I think it is, that's not a surprise. They were basically created in the mold of a character from 2, except that they were calculating and ruthless instead of batshit crazy.

And my take isn't really that 2 has bad characters, so much as it has bland characters.

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azuarc posted...

Assuming that's the character I think it is, that's not a surprise. They were basically created in the mold of a character from 2, except that they were calculating and ruthless instead of batshit crazy.

No, it's Miu. It's hilarious to think about how he could have ever thought that during the process, until you realize that maaaaaaybe Kodaka doesn't have the best stance on women if he considers Miu the worst character he could think of.

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If you decide to buy the games, definitely buy DR1+2 at the same time. That way, you're basically shoehorning yourself into playing the second game also, because the first one is some trash. Since you've got the AA series on the back of your mind, I'll give you my ranking of the AA and DR series' main games intertwined.

DRv3 > AA3 = DR2 > AA6 > AA5 > AA1 > AA2 >>>> DR1 > AA4

I've really, really come around on the later DR games lately. DRv3 in particular is an absolute masterpiece (and subversion) of storytelling.

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That might be my exact same ranking order.

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Yeah, if you enjoyed Ace Attorney, there's no reason not to give DR a shot. And yeah, if you want to do it on the cheap, wait for the quarterly Steam sale where Spike Chunsoft routinely slashes prices on their library to almost nothing.

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I would not at all equate AA to Danganronpa outside of both being murder mysteries. Danganronpa is a series where someone's enjoyment of it is predicated on how willing they are to overlook its numerous issues.

Will also agree with the assessment that it's more popular than it deserves to be.

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By the way guys, nobody really stepped over the line but just be careful when talking about Danganronpa and don't implicitly spoil anything or set expectations beyond what's asked for

KamikazePotato posted...

Danganronpa is a series where someone's enjoyment of it is predicated on how willing they are to overlook its numerous issues.

This is true of Ace Attorney as well
and frankly most things

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Hbthebattle posted...

This is true of Ace Attorney as well
and frankly most things

It's always pretty annoying how anti-Danganronpa people act like they are some how enlightened and are above the series and that somehow people who are fans are forcing themselves to endure. This just so happens to often be big time AA fans who feel like they have to get offended when the series get compared.

I love Danganronpa. V3 might be my 3rd favorite game out there. I totally get why the series doesn't work for some people.

I also love AA, also some of my favorite games. But AA4 and Great AA happened (going by reading through events and wiki diving here, unfortunately can't actually experience this one by seems it may be for the best), as well as all of AA2 before the last case. Not to mention the greatest sin which is Kenji 2 not being localized. It's not a sacred franchise.

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Dammit, this has the AA thing of examining a certain object causes everything to skip ahead before you can examine the other objects. I hate when that happens.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

It's always pretty annoying how anti-Danganronpa people act like they are some how enlightened and are above the series and that somehow people who are fans are forcing themselves to endure. This just so happens to often be big time AA fans who feel like they have to get offended when the series get compared.

I mean, this is just how I feel about the Danganronpa franchise, is all - I enjoyed the games, especially V3 which I think is very good, but the series is rife with problems that make it hard for me to recommend, which AA didn't do to me. Also, knowing Anagram pretty well, I'm pretty sure he is NOT going to like Danganronpa 1 - I could be wrong, though

Is there an actual reason why the blood is pink, or is it just a censorship thing?

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Anagram posted...

Is there an actual reason why the blood is pink, or is it just a censorship thing?

It's both a matter of Japanese game ratings but also a stylistic choice at the end of the day

Hot take-
UDG is fine (at least the PC version, idk about the PSP/Vita version with the shitty controls)
A solid 6/10 game

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Paratroopa1 posted...

I mean, this is just how I feel about the Danganronpa franchise, is all - I enjoyed the games, especially V3 which I think is very good, but the series is rife with problems that make it hard for me to recommend, which AA didn't do to me.

This wasn't particularly directed at your comment, but more with comments like KPs that imply the games can't be enjoyed without caveats.

I've been accused before of straight up lying about how much I like DR2 and V3 to try and convince people to play them.

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Danganronpa is good in its own right but Ace Attorney it ain't

Not to say I wouldn't put DR2 above some AA games (not sure I'd put DR1 above any of them and I definitely wouldn't put UDG above any), but they're good at different things.

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DR games are good and scratches the mystery itch pretty well. Definitely worse than Ace Attorney. If you thought Ace Attorney games were anime, hoo boy.

DR1 is definitely whatever, but it does a good job establishing the franchise and setting the ground for DR2 and DRV3 which are much better games.

I really wish we had more games like Hotel Dusk but on a case-by-case basis rather than 1-case-per-game aspect. There's a serious niche missing for mystery games that aren't anime.

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