Current Events > Started Danganronpa 2 *Spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

I read the explanations of why 2-3 is bad and I get it and even agree with most of it, but I honestly kind of love it regardless. Certainly my favourite of the dreaded 3rd cases of any of the games. I like it a heck of a lot more than 2-2 which I just found obnoxious. I'll never say the despair disease isn't an awful asspull motive of no interesting value until the end of the game where it gets a little more fleshed out, but it's still not good. But I just love the unfolding of the trial going from timid Mikan to batshit Mikan. I also didn't realize it was Mikan because I got hellbent on a tiny detail telling me it was Soda, so I guess I didn't have the exasperated feeling of just going through the motions of getting to the point where we point out the killer that we've known since before the trial even began. I genuinely think Mikan is the best character realization in the game so it's just enjoyable to tango with her beyond flaws in the case itself. Honestly my biggest issue with case is how omnipotent Chiaki is for no reason in the investigation but then doesn't just come out with it in the trial. How the fuck did she know to investigate the projection room?

rip Mechamaru

The Funhouse's architecture sure is complicated

RIP Gundham, you magnificent bastard

I love case 4 a lot.

BurmesePenguin posted...

I love case 4 a lot.

I liked it except how hard it was on the eyes

Oh, I played it last a year or so ago and I still have strawberries burned into my retinas.

hockeybub89 posted...

RIP Gundham, you magnificent bastard

my favourite DR quote is one of his

"a shepherd dressed in his Sunday finest still reeks of lamb!"

I admit, I didn't see this one coming. The guy came across so goofy that I never expected he'd do this. I didn't believe it at the time.

Actually got all the way into the 5th Class trial intermission last night

Nagito did the old "detonate a real bomb to fool everyone into thinking your fake bombs are real" trick and then stabbed himself a bunch of times. Classic Nagito! Case closed, everyone else lives!

Or maybe not because there was no cause of death in the Monokuma file. God damn it.

Here we go.

Amazing case

Case 5 is my favorite. Without going into details, everything about it is extra.

Also, I like how in chapter 4 they introduce Sakura's suicide and the parallels between cases. Those two facts gave me a little hope that one of these cases might end without a death, seeing as game 1's case 5 technically had no execution. I'll just leave it at that.

Nagito: "I am bleeding, making me the victor"

This might be a little spoilery, and I might even be too late, buuut...

After the fifth trial, I highly recommend going around checking out everyone's cabins (as in, interacting with the doors). There's a little detail that really left an impression on me when I saw it~

God fucking damn it, Nagito.

Poor Chiaki.... whatever construct she is.

At least she got the heroic sacrifice, like Sakura.

This game definitely had bigger gut-punch blackened than the first game.

Oh shit things really are getting trippy

Case 5 was devastating. I admit I went in not expecting who the killer was, and even entertaining the idea there wasn't one. But no, in reality this was all a set up for a heart breaking reveal and a tradegy. The shift in the case where everyone tries to figure out the trick, to despairing over the fire grenade reveal, to actually fighting back to defend the killer who actually revealed themselves is a great moment.

This game has the benefit of using your knowledge of the last game to set things up, but putting that aside I like this moment after the trial. Game 1 trial 5 ended with friends coming together to fight the mastermind. Here? You have few clues and you've lost your best mystery solvers in one case. It's a stark difference.

Made it to the graduation ceremony last night, but I'm sure it will take hours so I had to stop.

I guess I'm in virtual reality? Future Foundation put me in there with the help of some old friends, and Ultimate Despair infected it with a virus?

And I knew Nagito was connected to Junko! Honestly, something about his appearance always gave me that vibe.

LearntoRead posted...

I admit, I didn't see this one coming. The guy came across so goofy that I never expected he'd do this. I didn't believe it at the time.

And then he was like "I defeated Nekomaru in a mutual fight". Yeah, I liked him but I thought he was all bluster up to that point.

We're all Ultimate Despair???!!!

I don't think this is a universal thing, but I love the twists in chapter 6. After every chapter framing this class as a group of kids who'd sacrifice and defend each other, you find out that they're all terrorist cultists. It's quite a departure from the last game.

I'm still not sure what will exactly happen if we exit the program, but the old gang is here and Hajime actually is an Ultimate!

I would have been better off not knowing someone in the class apparently tried to have sex with a corpse though...

Super Saiyan Hajime!

I think Hajime gets some flak for being a boring protagonist, but it pays off well in this last chapter regardless. His breakdown, his revival at the end, and Johnny Young Bosch finally getting to emote are all rewarding moments after everything they've been through

I think throughout Hajime is less boring than Makoto. His internal monologue is a lot less basic if you look into it.

LearntoRead posted...

I think Hajime gets some flak for being a boring protagonist, but it pays off well in this last chapter regardless. His breakdown, his revival at the end, and Johnny Young Bosch finally getting to emote are all rewarding moments after everything they've been through

I liked Hajime, but yeah the end really made him shine. I'm glad hope won, I think. That Chiaki stuff was so sad, but nice.

I thought it was funny how Junko was like "You can't just get the convenient miracle ending in this game!" and the game still did exactly that. Interesting subversion.

Guess now I need to watch the anime?

hockeybub89 posted...

Guess now I need to watch the anime?

I've never heard anyone say they like it, but it is the conclusion of this story arc. If you want to play Ultra Despair Girls it comes between DR1 and 2, so it would be before the anime in the timeline.

Yeah, the anime gets a lot of flak, and I won't say it's undeserved, but if you wanna see the DR story through to the end, you do kinda need it. There's the DR1 anime, which is literally just the first game but in anime form (so you can skip it if you want), and then DR3, which is the conclusion.

Just a note, DR3 is split into two separate arcs, Despair and Future, and it seems like the intended way to watch it is to alternate episodes. (So one episode from Future, one from Despair, etc.) I initially watched them separately (all of Despair, then all of Future), and then alternated on rewatches. Alternating lets you see some interesting parallels between the two arcs, but their respective stories are probably easier to follow if you binge Despair, then Future. Just...keep your expectations low.

...but before you do all that, I highly recommend Ultra Despair Girls. I do think the flak it receives is undeserved. It's totally different gameplay, but still interesting in its own right, and a look at another side of the DR universe. It's not strictly necessary, but it does answer some questions left behind by the first two games, and it gets a whole episode in the anime that you appreciate better after playing it~

another one of my favourite lines in the series:

you're Izuru Kamakura you're Izuru Kamakura you're Izuru Kamakura you're Izuru Kamakura you're Izuru Kamakura you're Izuru Kamakura

I bought UDG when I bought the rest of the series, so I'll do that next

Probably gonna pause to play Spider-Man 2 and get back into Baldur's Gate tho

I feel like I would like this series since I love Ace Attorney and as far as I know these games are kinda similar, but I just cannot get over the art style and voice acting.

I still need to play UDG, so I'll jump back in if/when you play V3

I look forward to the UDG thread. Seeing peoples' reactions to it is... something.

SF_Okami posted...

I feel like I would like this series since I love Ace Attorney and as far as I know these games are kinda similar, but I just cannot get over the art style and voice acting.

What's wrong with those things in Danganronpa?

BurmesePenguin posted...

I look forward to the UDG thread. Seeing peoples' reactions to it is... something.

My sister liked it and we've had similar takes on the other games, so I think I'll enjoy my time.

SF_Okami posted...

I feel like I would like this series since I love Ace Attorney and as far as I know these games are kinda similar, but I just cannot get over the art style and voice acting.

The dub is horrendous, stupendously impressively horrendous but the sub is great. So unless you're one of those people who says they refuse to have the original voices it shouldn't be a problem.

I play in Japanese with dubtitles (sadly), but I don't see a problem with the dub in any of the games beyond a character or two. What's the issue.

The dub is fine, MuscleRobo is just a huge weirdo

hockeybub89 posted...

What's wrong with those things in Danganronpa?

In text based games, I generally dislike voice acting in general. I prefer to just read whats going on. One-liners are fine, such as what Ace Attorney or Zelda does, but full sentences and stuff turn me off.

Also the art style is wayyyyyy too anime for my liking. I generally am not an anime person

Final student rankings (EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL)

16. Teruteru
15. Mahiru
14. Ibuki
13. Hiyoko
12. Fat Byakuya
11. Mikan
10. Kazuichi
9. Nekomaru
8. Sonia
7. Peko
6. Akane
5. Gundham
4. Nagito
3. Hajime
2. Chiaki
1. Fuyuhiko

Your ranking is wrong. It's actually

16) Akane Owari (worst character in the franchise)
15) Teruteru Hanamura
14) Fatogami
13) Ibuki Mioda
12) Peko Pekoyama
11) Sonia Nevermind
10) Hiyoko Saionji
9) Nekomaru Nidai (rating lower cause Mechamaru is annoying)
8) Chiaki Nanami
7) Gundham Tanaka
6) Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu
5) Mahiru Koizumi
4) Hajime Hinata
3) Kazuichi Soda
2) Nagito Komaeda
1) Mikan Tsumiki

But it's okay to be wrong. Some people, all people mostly, even say I'm wrong. But that's silly.

Oh, are we sharing our DR cast rankings?! I've always wanted to participate in this! Ahem...

16: Teruteru
15: Nagito
14: Hiyoko
13: Peko
12: Akane
11: Hajime
10: Gundham
9: Mahiru
8: Nekomaru
7: Fuyuhiko
6: "Byakuya"
5: Kazuichi
4: Sonia
3: Chiaki
2: Ibuki
1: Mikan

BurmesePenguin posted...

Your ranking is wrong. It's actually

16) Akane Owari (worst character in the franchise)
15) Teruteru Hanamura
14) Fatogami
13) Ibuki Mioda
12) Peko Pekoyama
11) Sonia Nevermind
10) Hiyoko Saionji
9) Nekomaru Nidai (rating lower cause Mechamaru is annoying)
8) Chiaki Nanami
7) Gundham Tanaka
6) Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu
5) Mahiru Koizumi
4) Hajime Hinata
3) Kazuichi Soda
2) Nagito Komaeda
1) Mikan Tsumiki

But it's okay to be wrong. Some people, all people mostly, even say I'm wrong. But that's silly.

It's crazy to me that this is quite literally the reverse of mine give or take a few middle placements, lol. Although that isn't to imply Akane is my favorite in the whole series, that's my girl Toko.

I'll start by saying I'm not trying to change minds. It's just video game opinions.

But if Mikan didn't murder two people and give us a brief insight into what having your school memories back looks like, I'd have her even lower. They give her something to do with a couple autopsies, but all she does is cry and get used for super cringy fanservice. I get something in her life made her that way, but just not enough there.

She's more of a character than Mahiru or Ibuki though. Mahiru briefly existed and then died and the game made it sound like she was such a big part of the group. She was... nice to Hiyoko? That's all she did. Ibuki was at least quirky.

Are these ranking taking everyone's Free Time events into account?

I'll say that I probably put more stock in design when evaluating characters than most. Hajime aside, I think my top 5 (so top 4?) is easily the best character designs in the game, with Tsumiki being a clear winner. It's so sleek, it perfectly encapsulates her. Her skillset and also her clumsiness. I love the hair. She also by far has the best sprites in the game. It's perfection. But genuinely I think she's funny and interesting to listen to and her character dynamic with other people than Hiyoko, as little of it as there is is great. The Hiyoko thing is also funny. Hiyoko is funny. that's just a disrespected fact. I'm also a sucker for when characters actually use their talents in the game rather than it just being a backstory/personality thing, which happens way too rarely, but Tsumiki gets it on with that.

I'm not really a fan of the fanservice involving her. I don't hate it and think it diminishes anything, but it's not why I like her.

But also yeah, nobody should feel a need to agree. I tend to have out there views on these things. I still haven't convinced anyone that Turnabout Big Top is a great case, even though it is.

mario2000 posted... Are these ranking taking everyone's Free Time events into account?

The ones I've done, sure. I actually haven't done Mikan's yet >_>

Have you played UDG or watched DR3 at least? Akane isn't a great character by any means, but worst in the franchise is a bit of a stretch.

Akane's issue is that she was originally planned to be the rival character but then they created Komaeda and Akane had nothing to do after that so she's just kinda there.