I briefly covered my thoughts on each character on my previous Danganronoa reviews and I'll be doing the same here because like I also said before, if the characters in your visual novel are a fail fail fail after another then you've failed at one of the most important parts of the genre.
Doesn't matter how good the gameplay is if I don't give a fuck about the people I'm supposed to care about (with a tiny few exceptions), so without further ado in no particular order:
Kaede - A lot of people don't like her because of her plot involvement which is fair enough. However she is probably one of the only few Danganronpa characters I feel any investment in because not only does she have a personality unlike the last two blandos, she is actually a tiny bit nuanced which is a miracle for this series. All in all, despite being very different she is everything Chiaki should have been.
Shuichi - Has a cool friendship with Kaito and Kaede but that's about it. Just as boring as the two who came before him.
Angie - Why do people like this bitch? Her character is a complete joke spouting the same unfunny lines related to Atua which got old real fast for me.
Gonta - Not bad, not great. Can see why people like him (I mean he's wholesome) but that's about it.
Himiko - Ugh, I legit couldn't care less. I forgot she even existed until I looked her up. Not the worst character but just forgettable.
K1-B0 - Being a robot could have been interesting if the game did something with it. Without going into too deep into spoilers, let's just say he should have been in Shuichi's place. Outside of that, I couldn't give a damn.
Kaito - I like his enthusiasm and friendship with Suichi, some people don't like him which whatever, I don't care enough to defend him despite liking him. Has some dumb plot involvement which drags him down unfortunately.
Kokichi - Oh boy here we go. I love his voice acting especially later on and has some really funny lines, he is a very entertaining character. Otherwise, his entire ordeal confuses the hell out of me which is a no go in my book. I feel like the writers wanted my brain purposefully fried which can work but it shouldn't come at the cost of good writing. I admit I do sorta get his deal when I turn my brain off but it's the same as Nagito where I just don't know if I am invested in a good or bad way. Kokichi is better than Nagito however because the former is more funny.
Korekiyo - I fucking loved this guy (voice, talent, design, etc) until the game decided to ruin him.
Kirumi - Didn't get botched to the extreme extent as Korekiyo but the game pulls a massive ass pull with this one. Other than that she's decent.
Maki - I can't really say why I don't like her without spoiling so I'll just say the game expects me to sympathise but I couldn't care less.
Miu - Occasionally funny but dear god she makes me want to die sometimes.
Rantaro - He exists.
Ryoma - Although his concept is a bit too ridiculous, this game is already bonkers so I'll run with it. I actually like this guy and felt a bit bad for him. Also don't look up his beta design, worst mistake of my life.
Tenko - Same problems I have with Angie in that she repeats the same joke over and over and over more times than the fucking Jack White song. Her design is also full on rubbish.
Tsumugi - Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Monokuma - Funny at times even though his novelty has worn off for me at this point, but I did like the movie references in his theatre sections.
Monokids - Fuck these guys. Some of the worst characters in any video game I've seen. I cannot stress how much I despise these twats.
I have a ton to say about this game but since I only wanted to brush over the characters, I'll brush over the other stuff too:
- I'll give V3 this it definitely has the best gameplay and visuals in the series, plus I do like the addition of the casino and the extra stuff if anyone fancies it - adds more replay value to the game.
- The lie bullet mechanic is good on paper but I wish it was used more. It's paper thin obvious when you have to use them and the alternative paths are cool but really difficult to pin down when you can use them in those situations.
- This game when it came out should NOT have been £55 when it released, visual novels alone shouldn't be worth that much in my opinion. The pricing then was a certified Spike Chunsoft moment.
- I purposefully didn't go into spoilers because this review would have been wall after wall of text; V3 is memorable for all the wrong reasons. Unlike the first two which I pass off as forgettable, this game I class as the most infuriating one mostly due to the story than the characters but the latter make the former much more unbearable.
- The ending sucks full stop. I know many people who try to defend it which is fair enough as even I optimistically say that what they were going for could have worked but the execution of it just made it drag like a knee scrape on the pavement in slow motion. Constant word repetition, atrocious pacing and cringe worthy dialogue made the actual experience of the ending infuriating.
- Last and certainly not least, FUCK THE MONOKIDS (Except their theme, it's catchy).
In conclusion, if you like this franchise then more power to you, I wish I could still enjoy this series as I once did before. Alas, after playing better visual novels, characters haven't grown on me or left much of an impression on me at all, even the ones I like which is a shame. I'm just some chav on Backloggd posting opinions for me to look back on in the coming months to stroke my own ego or to see if my opinions change.
Moral of the story: I hate the Monokids.
Doesn't matter how good the gameplay is if I don't give a fuck about the people I'm supposed to care about (with a tiny few exceptions), so without further ado in no particular order:
Kaede - A lot of people don't like her because of her plot involvement which is fair enough. However she is probably one of the only few Danganronpa characters I feel any investment in because not only does she have a personality unlike the last two blandos, she is actually a tiny bit nuanced which is a miracle for this series. All in all, despite being very different she is everything Chiaki should have been.
Shuichi - Has a cool friendship with Kaito and Kaede but that's about it. Just as boring as the two who came before him.
Angie - Why do people like this bitch? Her character is a complete joke spouting the same unfunny lines related to Atua which got old real fast for me.
Gonta - Not bad, not great. Can see why people like him (I mean he's wholesome) but that's about it.
Himiko - Ugh, I legit couldn't care less. I forgot she even existed until I looked her up. Not the worst character but just forgettable.
K1-B0 - Being a robot could have been interesting if the game did something with it. Without going into too deep into spoilers, let's just say he should have been in Shuichi's place. Outside of that, I couldn't give a damn.
Kaito - I like his enthusiasm and friendship with Suichi, some people don't like him which whatever, I don't care enough to defend him despite liking him. Has some dumb plot involvement which drags him down unfortunately.
Kokichi - Oh boy here we go. I love his voice acting especially later on and has some really funny lines, he is a very entertaining character. Otherwise, his entire ordeal confuses the hell out of me which is a no go in my book. I feel like the writers wanted my brain purposefully fried which can work but it shouldn't come at the cost of good writing. I admit I do sorta get his deal when I turn my brain off but it's the same as Nagito where I just don't know if I am invested in a good or bad way. Kokichi is better than Nagito however because the former is more funny.
Korekiyo - I fucking loved this guy (voice, talent, design, etc) until the game decided to ruin him.
Kirumi - Didn't get botched to the extreme extent as Korekiyo but the game pulls a massive ass pull with this one. Other than that she's decent.
Maki - I can't really say why I don't like her without spoiling so I'll just say the game expects me to sympathise but I couldn't care less.
Miu - Occasionally funny but dear god she makes me want to die sometimes.
Rantaro - He exists.
Ryoma - Although his concept is a bit too ridiculous, this game is already bonkers so I'll run with it. I actually like this guy and felt a bit bad for him. Also don't look up his beta design, worst mistake of my life.
Tenko - Same problems I have with Angie in that she repeats the same joke over and over and over more times than the fucking Jack White song. Her design is also full on rubbish.
Tsumugi - Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Monokuma - Funny at times even though his novelty has worn off for me at this point, but I did like the movie references in his theatre sections.
Monokids - Fuck these guys. Some of the worst characters in any video game I've seen. I cannot stress how much I despise these twats.
I have a ton to say about this game but since I only wanted to brush over the characters, I'll brush over the other stuff too:
- I'll give V3 this it definitely has the best gameplay and visuals in the series, plus I do like the addition of the casino and the extra stuff if anyone fancies it - adds more replay value to the game.
- The lie bullet mechanic is good on paper but I wish it was used more. It's paper thin obvious when you have to use them and the alternative paths are cool but really difficult to pin down when you can use them in those situations.
- This game when it came out should NOT have been £55 when it released, visual novels alone shouldn't be worth that much in my opinion. The pricing then was a certified Spike Chunsoft moment.
- I purposefully didn't go into spoilers because this review would have been wall after wall of text; V3 is memorable for all the wrong reasons. Unlike the first two which I pass off as forgettable, this game I class as the most infuriating one mostly due to the story than the characters but the latter make the former much more unbearable.
- The ending sucks full stop. I know many people who try to defend it which is fair enough as even I optimistically say that what they were going for could have worked but the execution of it just made it drag like a knee scrape on the pavement in slow motion. Constant word repetition, atrocious pacing and cringe worthy dialogue made the actual experience of the ending infuriating.
- Last and certainly not least, FUCK THE MONOKIDS (Except their theme, it's catchy).
In conclusion, if you like this franchise then more power to you, I wish I could still enjoy this series as I once did before. Alas, after playing better visual novels, characters haven't grown on me or left much of an impression on me at all, even the ones I like which is a shame. I'm just some chav on Backloggd posting opinions for me to look back on in the coming months to stroke my own ego or to see if my opinions change.
Moral of the story: I hate the Monokids.