(Hey, it's my 400th log!)
Had a really great time with this. It's pretty incredible how much this game improves over the first. Story spoilers in the story section.
DR1 is cool, but the cast and especially the location leave something to be desired, only really kicking into gear in the final chapter and having some relatively tame trials. DR2 fixes the faults and improves on everything. The new setting is really interesting (not having to walk around is a plus) and has a great vibe as well as tons of variety, and the cast is PHENOMENAL. Seriously, Komaeda, Chiaki, Ibuki, Mikan, Gundham, Kazuichi, Sonia, all heavy hitters. There's only really one or two I didn't at least like. And Hajime makes for a much stronger character than Makoto did. Komaeda is the star of the show though, stealing every single scene he's in. Monomi and Monokuma are excellent as well though, made me laugh nearly every time they were on screen. The soundtrack is stellar too, Monomi's theme especially.
The only place this game doesn't improve is the minigames / trial games. They're all terrible. I hate hangman's gambit, I hate logic dive, I hate the sword one. The worst part with all of them is how they go out of their way to obstruct the actual narrative content. Logic dive is active so you can't think things through, the sword one actively punishes you for not mindlessly swiping the whole time, and the hangman's gambit just sucks. The logic of the trials is annoying as per usual - I know WHAT the problem with this statement is but not HOW you want me to challenge it - but that's fine, I expect it.
Story-wise, it managed to stay interesting the whole time. It balances two halves the whole way through, the evolution of the group dynamic and the character relationships, and then the overarching Danganronpa plot. The former is what holds up the first half of the game with fun interactions and interesting dialogue, etc, and then the latter takes over in the second half when the cast has dwindled and the player wants to know more about the meta stuff. I think it might take slightly too long to kick in, but it does its job well. The final chapter is excellent, weaving everything you want, both thematically and structurally, into one big explosive finale. I'm really interested to see where v3 picks up - DR2 itself doesn't exactly do too much, there's a lot of stuff here that's essentially just filling in gaps as opposed to really giving new information.
I will briefly say that this game has a pretty good trial 1 & 2, a solid 4 and a fantastic 5, but holy shit that trial 3 is downright awful. It kills multiple of my favorite characters all on the basis of a really dumb setup and features the worst explained and worst thought-out murder in the series so far. Previously I might've not solved the cases ahead of the trial finishing, but I generally followed the logic and had no issues when things were said and done. With DR2-3, I had questions the whole way through that the game just doesn't answer. The logic just doesn't work and the game skates over important elements. Some brief reactions below:
[SPECIFIC SPOILERS]
A) I don't think M is strong enough to strangle I with a rope, B) what was the murder weapon for H, C) how did she move H's body without there being blood everywhere, D) why was she capable of walking and moving and stuff with the high fever, all three of the patients were like fucked up but she's killing people and moving bodies?
[END OF SPECIFIC SPOILERS]
Putting that trial aside though, DR2 manages to be a lot of fun at almost all points and the sheer variety of locations and ideas makes it feel fresh the whole way through. Looking forward to either UDG or v3.
Had a really great time with this. It's pretty incredible how much this game improves over the first. Story spoilers in the story section.
DR1 is cool, but the cast and especially the location leave something to be desired, only really kicking into gear in the final chapter and having some relatively tame trials. DR2 fixes the faults and improves on everything. The new setting is really interesting (not having to walk around is a plus) and has a great vibe as well as tons of variety, and the cast is PHENOMENAL. Seriously, Komaeda, Chiaki, Ibuki, Mikan, Gundham, Kazuichi, Sonia, all heavy hitters. There's only really one or two I didn't at least like. And Hajime makes for a much stronger character than Makoto did. Komaeda is the star of the show though, stealing every single scene he's in. Monomi and Monokuma are excellent as well though, made me laugh nearly every time they were on screen. The soundtrack is stellar too, Monomi's theme especially.
The only place this game doesn't improve is the minigames / trial games. They're all terrible. I hate hangman's gambit, I hate logic dive, I hate the sword one. The worst part with all of them is how they go out of their way to obstruct the actual narrative content. Logic dive is active so you can't think things through, the sword one actively punishes you for not mindlessly swiping the whole time, and the hangman's gambit just sucks. The logic of the trials is annoying as per usual - I know WHAT the problem with this statement is but not HOW you want me to challenge it - but that's fine, I expect it.
Story-wise, it managed to stay interesting the whole time. It balances two halves the whole way through, the evolution of the group dynamic and the character relationships, and then the overarching Danganronpa plot. The former is what holds up the first half of the game with fun interactions and interesting dialogue, etc, and then the latter takes over in the second half when the cast has dwindled and the player wants to know more about the meta stuff. I think it might take slightly too long to kick in, but it does its job well. The final chapter is excellent, weaving everything you want, both thematically and structurally, into one big explosive finale. I'm really interested to see where v3 picks up - DR2 itself doesn't exactly do too much, there's a lot of stuff here that's essentially just filling in gaps as opposed to really giving new information.
I will briefly say that this game has a pretty good trial 1 & 2, a solid 4 and a fantastic 5, but holy shit that trial 3 is downright awful. It kills multiple of my favorite characters all on the basis of a really dumb setup and features the worst explained and worst thought-out murder in the series so far. Previously I might've not solved the cases ahead of the trial finishing, but I generally followed the logic and had no issues when things were said and done. With DR2-3, I had questions the whole way through that the game just doesn't answer. The logic just doesn't work and the game skates over important elements. Some brief reactions below:
[SPECIFIC SPOILERS]
A) I don't think M is strong enough to strangle I with a rope, B) what was the murder weapon for H, C) how did she move H's body without there being blood everywhere, D) why was she capable of walking and moving and stuff with the high fever, all three of the patients were like fucked up but she's killing people and moving bodies?
[END OF SPECIFIC SPOILERS]
Putting that trial aside though, DR2 manages to be a lot of fun at almost all points and the sheer variety of locations and ideas makes it feel fresh the whole way through. Looking forward to either UDG or v3.