This review contains spoilers
I think the last two chapters are good but the first few sadly are not. The first chapter was a good trial but the impostor sadly had no bearing on the plot which just seemed like cheap fan service / unnecessary red herring. The second chapter and trial were both bad and long (I think this was the longest trial in the game). The third chapter was terrible as well as the crime and the trial. The fourth chapter tried to be interesting but only because of how confusing the funhouse was; it failed to actually be interesting sadly. The fifth trial and crime and plot was probably my second favorite in the series up to this point and was a great twist killing two characters I wholeheartedly thought would be survivors and doing so in a fantastic way. The ending is a little too out there for me.
Character-wise, I have mixed feelings. Although Nagito and Hajime shine as developed characters, many characters lived for several chapters without anything at all. Nekomaru lived to chapter 4 without getting any sort of personality or development apart from pooping (and his absense in chapter 3 was odd). Soda and Sonia both stalled in development as the game focused on their love triangle. Fuyuhiko's development was extremely front-loaded. I'm not going to pretend like characters who die early should be fully developed, but some of them (Mahiru, Ibuki) didn't even get anything post-mortem, (not even in the confession) unlike Chihiro from the first game. I think Mikan is SO FUCKING ANNOYING and I felt similarly about Gundam (thank god he died). Hiyoko is one of the only genuinely funny characters that this game has ever produced and to kill her off as soon as she was getting the ball rolling on development is sad. Of course, Nagito is a gem and I liked Chiaki and Hajime is certainly more interesting than Makoto.
It was fun to play this with my friends but it doesn't really hold up compared to the first game. Something about the trials felt a lot worse, and the lack of despair from the cast really made them (and the murders) seem low stakes and just another part of the game, not part of the story.
Character-wise, I have mixed feelings. Although Nagito and Hajime shine as developed characters, many characters lived for several chapters without anything at all. Nekomaru lived to chapter 4 without getting any sort of personality or development apart from pooping (and his absense in chapter 3 was odd). Soda and Sonia both stalled in development as the game focused on their love triangle. Fuyuhiko's development was extremely front-loaded. I'm not going to pretend like characters who die early should be fully developed, but some of them (Mahiru, Ibuki) didn't even get anything post-mortem, (not even in the confession) unlike Chihiro from the first game. I think Mikan is SO FUCKING ANNOYING and I felt similarly about Gundam (thank god he died). Hiyoko is one of the only genuinely funny characters that this game has ever produced and to kill her off as soon as she was getting the ball rolling on development is sad. Of course, Nagito is a gem and I liked Chiaki and Hajime is certainly more interesting than Makoto.
It was fun to play this with my friends but it doesn't really hold up compared to the first game. Something about the trials felt a lot worse, and the lack of despair from the cast really made them (and the murders) seem low stakes and just another part of the game, not part of the story.