An absolutely incredible experience from start to finish. Being a sequel to a game I already loved so much, I was really curious how they would handle things this time around to keep a fresh and unique experience while still keeping the same mystery and intrigue of the first game. How would they recreate the feelings of dread and mystery from the first game? How would they handle class trials differently? How would they write a sequel story whose foundational premise is so similar to the previous one? I think right off the bat the game it was clear to me that they really went all out in making this feel totally distinct and not just a repeat of what the first game did. In fact, the writers are SO aware of this that they straight up make fun of the first game out loud for the way it executed plot twists and story beats (which weren't even remotely bad in the first place) and then tease you that there is a lot more going on than you actually think.

I feel like right off the bat my issue with the characters from the first game was immediately fixed both in terms of overall writing and appreciation but also first impressions. And for the very small handful of characters I wasn't so fond of at first, they at least did grow on me later on through the story and free time events. It would be quicker to list the characters I wasn't as particularly fond of, so those would be Teruteru, Kazuichi, and Hiyoko (she's probably the only one who I didn't change my opinion on, but I also get it because she's the way she is on purpose). Everyone else in this game is either really entertaining, funny, tragic, incredibly well-written, or some kind of combination of those. My favourites of the cast are Fuyuhiko, Nagito, and Hajime. Fuyuhiko is a character I REALLY loved. His development as a person was probably my favourite in terms of which character's story I felt the most emotion to. Nagito truly established himself as one of the most insane stories I've ever seen. There's only so much I can say about him without spoiling. But there really is no character in fiction who does it like he does. He's truly one of the most unique, fun, and deep characters ever. Lastly, Hajime as a protagonist goes above and beyond what Makoto was in the first game. While I love Makoto's story for being more on the simpler side of things (as is the rest of DR1 compared to DR2), I can definitely say that Hajime is the character with more depth and twists that make him stand out a lot.

This time around the overall story was so much better than the first game. A lot of that is thanks to the much better cast and continuation of the story, meaning questions and aspects of the first game can be answered and expanded upon. Honestly it's a bit hard to say much about the story that I haven't already said in my review of DR1. My opinions on DR2's story is basically what I thought of DR1 but WAY better in every way. The last two chapters of this game are pure mindfuckery; at that point in the game I straight up could not stop playing until I rolled credits because it was so good. The game never lets down the suspense and intrigue one bit throughout all of it, and that's what made this story so special this time around.

I think I loved both DR1 and DR2's stories almost equally but I love them both for drastically different reasons. DR1 was more on the simpler side compared to the sequel, but that was sort of part of the beauty of it. It wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for how much they made me care for Makoto and Kyoko. The highs are very high, and the lows aren't even that low at all. It's an amazing story that is only held back by some annoying characters. On the other hand, DR2 takes all of what DR1 established and just makes it better and more impactful. In a way I guess it's kind of like the jump from Kingdom Hearts I to II, or God of War 4 to Ragnarok where the first game is fairly simple but not to a fault. And then the sequel comes in and ramps things up by a ton in terms of writing and complexity. Sometimes the latter can be a bit of a bad thing, because I actually think God of War Ragnarok removes the simplicity of the first game to the point where it kind of makes things worse. But thankfully that wasn't the case with DR2. It is perfectly fine as it is for the way it continues the story and improves everything the first game lacked. While I did feel more of an emotional impact towards the ending of DR1, it's undeniable that DR2's ending is just miles beyond the first game in terms of depth. And stuff like that is what I like to call "Cinema".

All around a very solid experience. The whole story was really well crafted and there was always so much intrigue going on that made me curious and try to piece bits of the plot together. But none of that would have been possible if it weren't for a handful of incredibly well-written, endearing, and entertaining characters. I'm talking about Makoto, Kyoko, Byakuya, Sakura, Celeste, Alter Ego, and the one and only Mastermind. They all made the story something I could truly care about, because I cared for them. Makoto's development throughout the game was really awesome to see unfold. As the main character I thought he was a great representation of the player going through all of this at the same time, and an incredible embodiment for the theme of Hope. Learning about Kyoko's story and getting answers about her was a contributor to a lot of my intrigue in the story. And overall her personality very nicely fits into the category of characters I typically love. Byakuya is an asshole, moving on. I thought Sakura and Celeste's motives and endings were super well-written and compelling. For Sakura in particular I didn't think much of her at all until chapter 4 where I really started to like her. Alter Ego is a character I was not expecting to find so endearing. It made Chihiro's character and circumstances during the story a lot more sad and overall it was just really hard to not like Alter Ego. And finally the Mastermind who I won't name. Despite not BEING there during almost the whole game, their presence was still around during the whole story. And the reveal and subsequent display of how insane and off the walls they were was an unexpected twist.

On the otherhand, there were some characters who were really annoying or straight up uninteresting such as Toko, Hiro, and Hifumi. The rest of the cast was either fine or didn't have enough content for me to form a real opinion. I won't go into why I dislike or don't feel anything towards those characters, all I have to say is that some are just gimmicky and nothing else, and some are just boring and forgettable. I think those specific characters who I wasn't super fond of ended up bringing the game down quite a bit for me, but not in a way that they ruined the experience.