By the end of Rain Code, I thought the game was pretty solid, with a ton of spectacle, a couple neat mysteries, fun characters, visual flair for days, and the music to match. That said, it’s far from perfect. Some scattered thoughts:
Up until the last two chapters the game is heavily hindered by strange pacing. I’ve always felt that of all things, DR did a great job of lacing intrigue through its episodic chapters, but here it feels very stop and start, either nothing is happening or they’re dumping EVERYTHING on you. The game starts fine, but chapters 2 and 3 in particular also feel very separate from the plot, with 3 maybe being one of the worst cases in any of Kodaka’s games despite an interesting premise. I saw a coke can on the side of the road, the culprit just really wanted a coke!
The full timeline of the game also feels strangely quick (unless I missed something that established it otherwise) and never really gives you the opportunity to bond with the characters in a significant way (I still liked them a lot though). I also think it’s weird that they place the Gumshoe Gab segments between Yuma arriving and the first proper case, I kept thinking that might be something plot-related but it never goes any further than that. Generally there is a lot less “this character needs to have funny input on the situation” and “I am going to be shocking and/or punch down for the bit” which is an improvement, but it still feels a bit overwrought and the balance isn’t quite perfect yet.
Thankfully the aforementioned last two chapters do a lot of the heavy lifting and tie the experience together well, though they kinda have the opposite problem that they start and don’t really stop. The last chapter in particular, while enjoyable, effective, and full of crazy setpieces, just kinda talks its mystery at you rather than providing you an interesting mystery to solve.
I think it's interesting that Kodaka wants us not to think about this as connected to Danganronpa, yet it feels very beholden to being an evolution of DR, and I can’t help but feel like I might be a bit more positive if it set itself apart a bit more. I’ve thought a lot about how this game could have been really interesting as a simple action game with proper camera control and maybe even a little platforming instead of the minigame format and constantly having to fight the awful angle that Reasoning Deathmatch puts you in. Maybe in a future game? Also dear god please drop the walk and talk segments or let me fast forward all of them. A general quality of life pass would be great. PLEASE.
Overall an enjoyable experience, not without its flaws but decent as a foundation for future titles should they choose to go that route. I hope they do.
(also please let uchikoshi have even a fraction of the budget they put into this, i think this is probably the most production spike chunsoft has ever put into a title lol)
Up until the last two chapters the game is heavily hindered by strange pacing. I’ve always felt that of all things, DR did a great job of lacing intrigue through its episodic chapters, but here it feels very stop and start, either nothing is happening or they’re dumping EVERYTHING on you. The game starts fine, but chapters 2 and 3 in particular also feel very separate from the plot, with 3 maybe being one of the worst cases in any of Kodaka’s games despite an interesting premise. I saw a coke can on the side of the road, the culprit just really wanted a coke!
The full timeline of the game also feels strangely quick (unless I missed something that established it otherwise) and never really gives you the opportunity to bond with the characters in a significant way (I still liked them a lot though). I also think it’s weird that they place the Gumshoe Gab segments between Yuma arriving and the first proper case, I kept thinking that might be something plot-related but it never goes any further than that. Generally there is a lot less “this character needs to have funny input on the situation” and “I am going to be shocking and/or punch down for the bit” which is an improvement, but it still feels a bit overwrought and the balance isn’t quite perfect yet.
Thankfully the aforementioned last two chapters do a lot of the heavy lifting and tie the experience together well, though they kinda have the opposite problem that they start and don’t really stop. The last chapter in particular, while enjoyable, effective, and full of crazy setpieces, just kinda talks its mystery at you rather than providing you an interesting mystery to solve.
I think it's interesting that Kodaka wants us not to think about this as connected to Danganronpa, yet it feels very beholden to being an evolution of DR, and I can’t help but feel like I might be a bit more positive if it set itself apart a bit more. I’ve thought a lot about how this game could have been really interesting as a simple action game with proper camera control and maybe even a little platforming instead of the minigame format and constantly having to fight the awful angle that Reasoning Deathmatch puts you in. Maybe in a future game? Also dear god please drop the walk and talk segments or let me fast forward all of them. A general quality of life pass would be great. PLEASE.
Overall an enjoyable experience, not without its flaws but decent as a foundation for future titles should they choose to go that route. I hope they do.
(also please let uchikoshi have even a fraction of the budget they put into this, i think this is probably the most production spike chunsoft has ever put into a title lol)
NOWITSREYNTIME17
11 months ago