WARINING: THIS HAS SPOILERS (But The Beginning Won't And I Wrote 'SPOLIER PART!' To Warn Anybody) :)
Honestly, I loved the game, in my opinion, this is one of the best fangans ive played along with Eden's Garden (though it's incomplete) and another and another 2. I loved how beautiful he art was and I loved every single character (except Zero, kinda disliked him, and yes, I cried when every body and culprit was found). The game development and character development was AWSOME and I honestly CAN'T believe this game is actually free. This fangame was definitely one of the BEST I've played and it isn't like any other I've played too. SPOILER PART! During chapter one, I was crying my balls off because Pandora and Art were like my favorite characters, though chapter one was a bit boring but I still gave the game a chance because idk it was cool so far ig lol. The second trial in my opinion was fire, the 'Discussion Commence' (I think thats what it was called) arguments were very smooth and I loved it. Though oh my gosh Ashley made me freaking cry holy sh!t- The third chapter, the choosing where to go with Lyle or Missy was cool and uh getting the 'BAD END' with Kanon going weep was actually very creative in my opinion, also going with the dying twice, coming back thing. When everybody died and Sei wanted to get the prize oh my gosh I was freaking out because the rest of the characters, I LOVED (especially Lyle, Missy, and Kanon). The trial had me confused but I understood it all (most) after the trial :). And to end it, I think the ending was very nice :) I'm glad the creator made this and put their efforts in making this game because it made me happy.
I absolutely loved the game! It was fantastic and I loved trying to figure out the culprits each time before the answer was revealed! Great storyline and easy to follow with surprises all the way through!
Well, I've been through this great novel and I want to say that it's just awesome! Thank you for making it possible! ^_^
For those who are deciding to install or not: install and pass, the game deserves it! You better not read on, as you might distort your impression.
Yes, the game is made on a simple engine ren`py and at first I was upset, because it immediately became clear that the same game mechanics and of course, graphics, such as in Danganronpa v3, will not. However, this was my first hypothesis before launching, and I was very surprised when in the first hour of play it was not confirmed! No, of course the same graphics were not, and all game mechanisms were either simplified or absent altogether, but - the game itself and how it was implemented in this engine is really striking in a positive way this word. Simple investigation mechanics and courts, the lack of voice acting, the sound in most of the game the same music as in the original parts of Danganronpa, the lack of video clips, simple in terms of implementation 2D art is more than compensated by, firstly, a really interesting story, secondly, a concise narration (no free times and other nonsense as in the original series), and thirdly, the setting itself! I also want to mention the new music I heard in this game, the selection of music from the original series, interesting differences in the storyline compared to the original. games (highlighted some of the details, which in my opinion, was not in the original), fLoAtInG-shaking letters (they really are perceived differently, I do not understand why this was not used in the original series), and of course, two bad endings, which are interestingly painted, and from which really poured emotions (not comparable to the humorous ending in the first original part of the series). In addition, I want to note the very design of the interface, the transitions from one chapter to another, the art, and most importantly - the very interest and emotion that the creator of the game evoked. All the other flaws, which could be caused by some inconsistency in the plot, short investigations and other things, really pale over how the idea itself was implemented and how it was perfectly realized on such an engine! And in the end, if anyone criticizes the volume that was in the original series and that here, guys, this is a fan game that is implemented for free, and that didn't have the same resources for implementation and developers as Spike Chunsoft. Also, there are really realized moments here that aren't in the original series (details like character signatures and others).
At the beginning of the game I didn't really like the content itself and the very simplicity of the first murder, the investigation, the trial. I liked the very details of the ending and how it was written, but the content of the ending itself, like many here, I didn't really like =D. No, certainly the ending itself is better than, for example, Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name." and compared to that, the ending of the game is perfectly well done and unfolded. Still, the question remains, "What happened to them next?" One user here wrote that the specifics of the Preservation Project and the outside world aren't important, what's important is that the ending makes you feel something. I agree with him in part, details on the project are not necessary, as well as to see, for example, visiting the "game graduates" Greenland and the corresponding pictures and narrative about it, but is the statement about the sufficiency of simply having a test of any feeling true? What if it is a tormented sense of understatement?
Of course, in such cases you can always say - this is the ending the author made, you just need to figure out your own version. But the problem is that whatever variants I made up, I still wouldn't consider it the true ending, because it is simply made up by me, in fact everything could be different...
In conclusion, I want to say that the simplicity of the details in the first chapter and the lack of a clear ending do not spoil the overall impression of the game. Again, the game is great and made me a ton of enjoyable experiences! Considering its non-commercial nature and excellent execution of the idea - the game deserves to be played.
English is not my native language, so I used a translator. If you don't understand something, write it in the comments, please :)
P.S - I think that the prototype of Ashley Westbridge is Applejack from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. Furthermore, the very word Applejack flashed in the novella as referring to the heroine. Mythridate, if this is true, or it's just a reference to the MLP universe - please write if my guess is correct, I'm very curious about that =D
I really enjoyed this project! The UI was gorgeous, the cast likeable, and the art wonderful. I also thought the workarounds for coding the trial minigames were executed well. Overall I definitely had a lot of fun with this game and I applaud you for accomplishing it all on your own!
(It's been a while since the game was released, but I also wanted to notify you of a minor bug in the ch4 trial that prevents you from hiding the text box. I just wanted to be able to see the full CGs, but that didn't interfere with my understanding of the story at all!)
I just finished the first trial, and I'll be honest right now, if the investigations and executions are really boring and dull, I'd rather play another fangame! the execution is very chatty! I can't understand what the fuck is going on! and I couldn't feel anything!
otherwise, art, trial mechanics, characters everything is ok! but just with this chapter, I felt bored beyond belief. I'm sorry, but nothing in this fangame makes me think of dangaronpa besides the trial and the ultimates. cuts the ultimate title, pink blood, music, monokuma files (what the hell, why the fuck is monokuma mentioned if he DOESN'T APPEAR IN THE GAME???), trial and "execution" and it's just another murder mystery game. I'm sorry for being rude. but I think I give up on continuing with this game, I was already bored, but the "execution" of the first chapter just spoiled the game for me, show don't tell is something that was not clearly thought of when doing these executions.
I believe that the developers of this game have the potential to tell a good story and make a great game. unfortunately, it won't be a dangaronpa fangame. I wish you guys luck but honestly this game doesn't feel like dangaronpa to me which is ok but there are a lot of things I didn't really like.
as a final note, I would give it a 6/10 or just a 5/10. You guys clearly want to do something original, but for some reason you felt like you were making a fangame of a game that clearly doesn't match the game you have in mind. I wish you luck with future games.
The first murder, investigation and trial can be really boring. I advise you to give the game a second chance and go through the second trial, it will be more interesting..
I don't know, I don't want to have to read a description of the execution three times in a row! I want to feel the anguish and despair of the characters! I know it sounds bad, but that's what makes executions good in the first place! I didn't even understand what was going on! it doesn't even look like they bothered to do a real execution! I didn't feel anything from running! I'm going to watch gameplays instead of spending my time with this game... sorry.
Does this game contain major spoilers for any of the official Danganronpa games? I want to play it with a friend but they haven't finished the series yet.
I have since finished the game and will answer my own question for anyone else it concerns.
This game contains no major spoilers for any of the canon Danganronpa game, and is a self-contained story. There are slight references that might be at canon Danganronpa characters, and some situations are similar to ones you'd see in Danganronpa, but anyone who plays this will not be spoiled on any events that occur in any Danganronpa game.
the game absolutely broke me, it's so good as the cast's so lovable, and seeing my favs getting killed off and the killers' motive made me sad and other killers' motives really intrigued me, but there some flaws here and there in the plot but overall, its really good and im curious about a lot of stuff, but I feel like there were a lot of stuff that didn't really get an explanation or like what others said, that there were a lot of things that didn't make sense, like the protag gaining the ability to time travel(?) or like Ashley shooting Cyrus immediately didn't make sense to her character. The protag's also really written well imo, as they did resonate with me a lot and that I think their reactions to everything are realistic to their character. The ending didn't really make sense though, as the ending kinda felt like a cliffhanger, and there could've been more to it. I really enjoyed this game and the cast, Art, Pandora and Echo being my personal favs, but I feel like this game could have a prequel/sequel game, as there a lot of things in the game to use in said prequel/sequel game, and to hopefully clear up many things and mysteries, maybe? but idk, its for the creator to decide, but it'll be pretty cool tho.
personally, I just finished the first trial and I already feel bored. I like the characters and art, and the story seems interesting. but unfortunately i feel like this game wants to be something nothing to do with danganronpa. the execution was very "what?" I blinked and it was over! this is not dangaronpa for me, the execution was tell don't show, and that was annoying, I didn't even understand what was going on because there were no visuals! just a static image in the background with a dialog box in the middle which was very annoying!
At this point I don't care about spoilers, because unfortunately, if the rest of the game is like chapter 1, I'd rather play ultra despair girls! I'm disappointed, I wanted to play it because of the art, but this game let me down, the investigation sucked too! it didn't even feel like a real investigation! I hope developers make games that don't have to follow a danganronpa pattern, because clearly they don't want to make a danganronpa. I'm not saying the game is bad, but as a dangaronpa fangame, I expected much more. the game would be better if it didn't have connections with danganronpa.
Ok, friend, we know you didnt like it thats ok but you dont have to spam like 5 positive comments just because you didn't enjoy it.
For the executions I get your point, but animating like 3+ executions would be extremely taxing to anyone. This is a really well made game with actual reasons to be linked to danganrompa (the ultimate students play a huge part on the plot) I feel like you came in here expecting a sequel to danganrompa instead of a fangame.
Its alright if you didnt like the game but replying like this to 4 other comments is just unnecessary and rude.
I've seen people talk about how the story was a bit rushed and things like that and, well yeah it may feel like it sometimes, but really playing the game I didn't really pay attention to it and it was still a great experience. It made me feel things (wether it was happiness or sadness lol) and I think it's all that matters ^^
The artwork/sprites are so appealing to the eye, I felt a deep yearning to get to know a lot of the characters better, however some of them I would quickly forget existed such as Lyle and Sei. The game leaves you wanting more as the ending is confusing, if not strange. I still love this game, I wish it did more. (Love you Forte, you are my favorite)
downloaded the game and looked through the files, but I can't find how to open the game. Did I do someting wrong? has anyone else had this problem? i really want to play this game looks so good :{
did you extract/unzip the file first? if you did that then you just open the folder and the game application should be one of the first things you see ^^
hate hate HATE this game. (affectionately) IT BROKE ME AND I CANT STOP CRYING. I DONT KNOW WHAT DEMONS POSSESSED YOU TO MAKE YOU WRITE SUCH A SAD STORY BUT YOU ARE LITERALLY SO EVIL ..... i am going to be thinking about every character for the rest of my puny little life you did so well. ESPECIALLY forte and lyle. man
sorry if this comment sounds incoherent btw its like 10pm i just finished the game n im super emotional </3 tldr? lapse solos
I can't go on, not because I feel sad about what happens in the first chapter, but because this chapter alone, left me disappointed and with a sour taste in my mouth. feels more like a game FORCED to be dangaronpa than a game that WANTS to be dangaronpa. i feel nothing for the execution which in my opinion sucks! this is not a run, this is a static image with text covering it all! I couldn't see the despair in the culprit, I couldn't see anything that was happening! the execution being described and not showing is what made me give up on this game.
the game can be good, but for me, this is not dangaronpa. is a murder mystery game with the title dangaronpa thrown into it. this looks nothing like dangaronpa, and I don't know the developers' intentions in making these decisions, but whatever it is, it shows that they wanted to make a murder mystery first and a dangaronpa fangame second. I wish them luck, but I don't think I'll continue to play the game.
Good work on your first full game release! I'm glad you pulled through.
I played the old version (the 2-chapter demo) back in 2020 so I was pretty excited to see that the full game had been released after two years! It lived up to my expectations presentation-wise - the improvements in artwork, interface, polish and overall gamefeel are astounding and you even had an intro developed! It definitely feels like something I'll pay for on Steam.
As for the story, I overall liked the direction it was going for, but I was left wanting more - much, much more. On one hand: the setting was super cool! The story felt distinct enough from the classic Junko-tastic Danganronpa fare! The characters were solid and served their roles in the story well! On the other hand: some plotlines in the demo that I really loved were removed, the [REDACTED] of Chapters 3 and 4 (players will know what I'm talking about) ended up almost completely unexplained, and overall the ending left too many cliffhangers to make me feel like the plot was fully wrapped up. Don't get me wrong - I still really enjoyed what was there! I just think that there's so much untapped potential to this game, and I would love to see you revisit it if you feel like it at any time in the future.
I honestly enjoyed the game, though! Pinky swear! I'm so happy that this game finally saw the light of day in its full iteration. Looking forward to your future works!
A lot of the sprites and artwork (including the UI) is very well done, and I liked how there were a large amount of CGs in this game.
The main backstory for the killing game was unique and interesting, and it managed to be different from the backstories for the official Danganronpa games
Bad points:
Most of the characters were boring in my opinion. I felt they lacked the charm and feel that made the characters from the original games funny or intriguing. Zero kind of acts like Monokuma, but just not as good. In my opinion, he lacks the wittiness that Monokuma had. With the way the characters are written in this game, the game didn’t make me feel like I was playing a Danganronpa game and instead just another generic murder-mystery game.
There’s barely any exploration for the Daily Life parts of the game. I barely get to see what most of the rooms are like before the murders happen. How am I supposed to get a feel for the murder environment if I don’t know what it’s like?
The investigation sections were very lacking. You’re mainly stuck investigating only 1-2 rooms, and even then there’s only 1-2 pieces of evidence that’s actually influential during the trial discussions anyways. While you are able to talk to the characters in the investigation, they don’t say anything important.
The class trial discussions are very rushed and unsatisfying. Having Zero just flat out tell you what to talk about during most of the first trial really takes out the suspense makes the whole discussion dumbed down (I know it's just the first trial, but since the game only has 3 class trials anyways, having one trial made just to baby you is a bad idea). Another problem is how there are no truth bullets for the Nonstop Debates; all you have to do is simply click on a statement and hope there’s something wrong. I guess it could be due to limitations for the game engine, but having no truth bullets really takes a lot of the thinking aspects away from this minigame. Additionally, I don’t like how the all the culprits just give up and admit they’re the killer once they get called out. Most of the killers in the original games usually put up a fight and try their best to defend themselves, which keeps the suspense going to the end. However, having the killers in this game give up easily just makes solving the mystery a lot less satisfying in the end.
Some of the story/narrative ideas just don’t make sense to me. For example, in the 2nd trial when you get the bad ending, why does the game tell you who the real culprit is? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep it a secret for when you try to get the good ending? Additionally, everything about the “time-travelling” ability that Echo had just makes no sense. What is the ability? Where did he get it from? Why didn’t it activate during the 2nd trial when he was going to be executed? It just felt like that plot point was thrown in as a really cheap way to fix plot holes or reduce the amount of discussions needed for the trial later.
There are some other minor things that I didn’t like, but these are the biggest issues with the game in my opinion.
I agree with all your criticisms! and apparently I was right, that's how it is for the rest of the game! I feel bored, I liked at least four or five characters, and I found the game nothing like dangaronpa. it's like the developers wanted to make a murder mystery game but named it dangaronpa to attract more players! the execution of the first chapter is what broke me, I give up! I don't want to play a game that makes me bored and I don't know how to use "show don't tell"! serious! WHY is the execution just a static image with text covering it all?? I read it and until now I have no idea what happened!! literally, WHAT HAPPENED???
the only thing i peopl is all luck and all the best to the developers! but this game was not what I wanted from something with the title dangaronpa on it!
Gosh, I'm actually in love with this fanproject. It's a lot more succinct than a normal DR game but I think it's perfect in what it sets out to do and what it wants to accomplish.
First, I just want to gush about the graphics because I've never seen Ren'Py used in such a creative and beautiful way before. Even just the daily life interface is really nice to me, this graphic design work is excellent and I don't think even Spike could have done a better job. Genuinely throughout the entire game when I got to unique segments I would go to whoever's closest and show them what it looks like because it was just so good to me.
The story was really nice also. It wasn't super long, which is kind of impressive given that this is a Danganronpa game, but I really did fall for the characters (especially Missy...) and the writing style was unique and charming. The protagonist I have mixed feelings on, since I found them a bit hard to connect with, but I think that's just because I have a completely different personality.
And now we get into spoiler territory.
I don't really understand griping about the ending? I thought it was pretty understandable and I was especially intrigued with the placebo effect thing. I think it was purposefully vague, much in the way that the original DR game was. The specifics of the project and the outside world aren't important. The important part is that it makes you feel something, and I really think it accomplished that. I don't want to get too into my analysis stuff, but I will just reiterate that I don't agree with the dissatisfaction most people are giving the ending.
And, to be honest, I only have two issues for this game. One being that Art does not feel as sympathetic as I think he's supposed to be? I enjoy that he regrets his actions, since it's rare for a DR character to do that, but I don't think it's properly explained until after the trial that he thought Pandora was suspicious and it was part of the reason why he killed her.
The other issue is the character's color palettes. I don't have any issues with their designs overall but a lot of their color palettes just clash or don't really work together and it's a bit distracting since the characters are part of what's supposed to make this hit so hard. That said, though, I don't think either of these flaws are enough to take away from what I genuinely enjoy about this game.
8/10 I'm going to rave about this to everyone I know now.
Must agree with the disappointment surrounding the ending as well, unfortunately, especially regarding the absolutely final scene. What happened there? That said, most of the praise stands as well. The only character I found wholly unsympathetic being the first murderer.
lovely game!! i grew to like a lot of characters!! like kanon, forte, and missy, very fun experience and had a lot of fun with the class trials and such, also i love the art style, its so pretty!! and spoiler
This was a really great game! I loved the music, the characters, and the turns the game took genuinely surprised me on several occasions. And I particularly loved Echo as a protagonist, although Lyle or Missy may be my favorite characters in this.
I do have one question though, and while there are no explicit spoilers stated in it, it should probably be spoilered because it is about the ending.
Spoilers
What exactly does the ending mean? Is there an actual answer right now or are you leaving that up for theorizing and speculation? Or did I miss something(because the upper ending token isn't showing up for me) and there's more and that's why I'm confused? Or is there going to be an update or sequel to this game and you're leaving it open for more in the future?
Fantastic game, a treat for fans of fan-made danganronpa! I especially loved the art. The ending seemed to leave itself open for either a continuation or maybe a simultaneously occurring story from another viewpoint; it'd be great to get more in the future!
I loved the character, the illustrations, and the story, I played all the Danganronpa's games and this can be a good game, but there are things that there are incomplete, as the strange ending, Echo's ability and some of the char. background story and I really hope for like a sequel that can explain more.
It was really good. Characters were interesting, but i just don't understand the ending. They went back to past? Were they catch? What happened to them? We didn't get any answers, or I'm just too dumb for this lmao
This was the best game I have ever played! As a beginner to Ren'py, I am amazed at how you managed to customize the entire game- I can hardly believe you made this with Ren'py!
this game had extreme amount of potential. art is amazing, pacing of first chapters was great, characters are great and dialogues are pleasant to read: game feels really complete.
the problem that after initial 2 chapters story is starting to go nowhere: it feels like two halves of the game are not connected at all, something broke there for some reason (author's interest loss while making? wish to finish earlier?), and it's really sad to see.
well, spoilers ahead:
1 and 2 chapters were made much earlier and released to the public. both cases had really interesting twist, like cyrus had two fake titles, that were revealed in different chapters, and it felt really unique and intriguing. his use of talent as information to make ashley ACCIDENTLY shoot was great. and later reveal of 6 additional character were mysteryous as well. and ummm, nothing of things i said are found in final version of the game
and in the final version of the game ashley shoots for no logical reason - it just don't correspond her moral and was never really explained
my initial thought was that cases was circumcised for the sake of global plot: maybe something changed for the better or cases was just meant to become simpler for some reason
and of course that's not the case: the ending was rushed, every detail revealed contradicted with information we had and make no story feel complete and true. it look like the creator changed their view on the story like myriad of times, but the result and last chapters we get just waste of its potential.
people in the comments already mentioned it, that story has extreme amount of details that contradicts with something or don't even have an explanation to begin with. it's even possible to add some more points, this list became really big for such short game
at the 3-ird chapter when we die at the bad end my mind filled with possibilities: canon became furious?? lyle killed us?? sei somehow rushed to our group?? getting this not specifed information was intriguing to continue story with other group. and oh god, things are already begun be questionable: what reason to give player some choice if it don't change anything at all - you still need to proceed playing in one route.
sei is killing like 3-4 people in a row and you think: oh my god, it's extreme, but okay, we all played danganronpa. there are three possibilities for story to continue, you think: you die, you play catch-up with sei trying to escape, or someone survived and you happily go to the court. then time is reversed and i felt extreme dissatisfaction: it was ABSOLUTELY for nothing. sei's motive for killing don't matches with anything later, zero's words are nonsense and we lost interesting way for the story to process. at the moment of time reverting happened, i hoped to see some good explanation for the reason of that and.... as you know it goes nowhere.... using information we got from unsatisfying game's ending we can think about hypnosis or something, but it is just bad
at the conclusion i would like to say: the game had so good potential and, in my opinion, author of this game is capable of creating something insanely good. but it feels like author is tired or something like that. i don't get it and it really-really hurts for me to think how good this game could be....
if it was possible to wait for another year or two to see this game finished with full potential, i would make this choice with no regret
The visuals are gorgeous, both in terms of quality and design. The dialogue and characterization are pretty darn good, too. Interactive elements (investigation and trial dialogue) are very basic, but it's fun they're included and impressively seamless.
The writer does a good job of creating situations that get your mind buzzing with intrigue and possibility. I personally go to Danganronpa for the murder mysteries, which were clearly not the focus here (each investigation uncovers ~2 pieces of evidence), but I had fun instead focusing on the overarching mystery, which definitely was a priority. Bizarre events, jarring revelations, and vague, tantalizing clues abound. I got totally sucked in. Then the ending happened.
Endings are hard, and I don't like to fault someone for not sticking the landing. But this ending revealed that there would be no reveal. Everything is either exactly as it appeared all along or completely unexplained. I felt like a dummy for trying to play along and piece things together as we went. The story is just completely incoherent. Here's a list of things off the top of my head that didn't make sense (spoilers):
Echo can time travel or something. This is never explained.
The trigger for Echo's time traveling is that they die. But there are two bad endings where Echo just dies. What makes these different is never explained.
Echo was in the game despite never having signed up for the program, which is set up as a big mystery. It is never explained.
At one point, Echo flips out like a computer and goes into binary and error code. This is never explained.
Sei and Pandora are given cards explaining they have allies on the inside (I think), and regardless are definitely suspicious. Bizarrely, Pandora starts showing hers to people, and Sei hides hers in a public room instead of just keeping it locked up.
The Program has a psychic, because psychic powers exist apparently. It is made clear the psychic needs to use a visual and an audio trigger to affect someone. At one point later, several characters are affected by the psychic without any sort of trigger.
Echo decides to exploit their power during a trial by voting for someone and seeing what happens. Instead of waiting to hear if the vote was right or wrong, Echo runs into the execution, and much is made of how the execution involved needles. Upon returning to the present, Echo procedes to use none of this worthless information, instead bringing up the rather obvious additional wound on the body they've known about since the beginning.
The game ends by replaying the first scene, but several details are different (Echo's ankle is broken instead of sprained; they get out of the car and call Ashley's house). None of this is explained.
The Program wants the best ultimates, and it's suggested the game is about weeding out the chaff. But the winners are immediately put into suspended animation tanks to run the subsequent games, where they waste away and die.
Several participants in the game were killed before it started. It's said Cyrus is responsible, but we still don't know why, when, or how they were selected.
Cyrus is suggested to not really be as evil as he was acting. This goes nowhere.
Gaea lets Pandora die, despite giving Pandora a card saying she was safe.
I feel I must reisterate: Echo can time travel or something, and this is never explained.
Towards the end, Zero "starts sounding different" and allows the cast access to secret areas. This is never explained.
I strongly suspect this is simply an unfinished project. There were two fake-out death discovery drawings which likely were originally meant to be real murders. Several intriguing details that really seem fruitful for surprising twists (Echo's mystery talent, Echo's mystery kidnapping, the fact that one character is a twin of another character, etc) end up going nowhere.
I don't begrudge the creator here; this is a huge undertaking, and I got to look at their lovely art for a few hours and spend time with some likeable characters. But it's the worst of both worlds to slap on a pat, baffling ending that either ignores the game's earlier mysteries or reveals there was nothing mysterious happening in the first place. It would have been better to release a literally unfinished game and tell the rest of the intended story to fans in a blog post. We understand how much work this is. We respect and appreciate your talent. But this release, as it is, makes the story trip over its own feet.
I was fairly engrossed with this game, but I have to say I'm left feeling quite unsatisfied. Spoilers...
After the 2nd trial, Echo suddenly has the power to snap back to the past with memories intact in order to circumvent bad outcomes. This power comes out of nowhere, is hardly questioned, and is never explored or explained. You'd think it would be revealed to have something to do with the Ultimate Memory title, but that just ended up being fake and unrelated.
Such a power is something that you base an entire game system around (as in the Zero Escape series, Raging Loop, Life is Strange, etc.), not something you throw haphazardously into a game already based on a wholly different system (of deaths actually happening and moving forward with the story despite that, i.e. Danganronpa).
And even besides that issue, the story ended up not making a lot of sense for me in various ways. Like, Echo literally witnesses Sei murder everybody in an alternate timeline, and still insists that she wouldn't resort to killing? How does that make any sense?
The rules for body discovery in this game are never explained, but it requires 3 people in Danganronpa, so it's assumed to still be the case here, yet then it shouldn't be possible for some of body discovery announcements to happen in the later chapters.
I also don't get why Pandora didn't seem to recognize the symbol of her twin sister's school on her note, or what the purpose of the note even was, since it claimed that she was safe, and yet nothing was done to actually protect her. And was it ever really explained why Echo was made to be involved in the killing game, or why so many of the planned pairings didn't happen? An organization with the technology and resources shown seems like it should be more than capable of abducting Ashley without Echo witnessing it, for example. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something.
The roster screen for each character shows up to three other people when hovering over the right side, but it doesn't indicate what this means at all. And I don't understand why everyone has a designated flower, or how that has to do with anything.
But the main thing that didn't work for me was that the explanation behind the killing game kind of fell flat. There were minor references to "despair," but not enough to think that it's an active threat to the world in the way it is for the main Danganronpa games. So it's hard to believe that there would be a whole organization of people so willingly involved in causing so many deaths just in the name of...some rather unclear goal.
Like, what was it all for, really? All they apparently used the winners for was to run more killing games. I never got a clear idea of what they were actually trying to accomplish. There was so much emphasis on ultimate talents benefiting humanity in the early chapters and with the motive questions, but that theme didn't really tie into anything in the end. There was no indication that I recall of any actual attempt to better humanity in any tangible way despite all the effort of conducting these killing games.
I still appreciate the effort made, and how this game is freely offered, but these issues leave a lot to be desired.
i believe that the characters on the sides of everyone's profiles(except kanon, i think??) are meant to be their closest friends, or the people they trust the most!! i'm not 100% sure if this is true or not, but it seems to be the most likely answer,,,
as for the flowers, i believe that everyone's flower seems to be associated with a flower meaning- i even looked them up myself!! a majority of them seem to be pretty accurate!! some of them don't make a ton of sense(lyle's in particular, though it may relate to his friend...), though that could just be because we looked at different sources :')
please be aware that i'm not well-versed in flower meanings(though i'm interested in learning about them), so some of these might be incorrect!! feel free to correct me :)
art - bouvardia: enthusiasm, versatility, the joy of life, celebrating life, happiness, and light-heartedness
pandora - daisy: new beginnings, rebirth, love, cheerfulness, beauty, purity, innocence, hope, fun, and affection
sei - purple hyacinth: sorrow, "i am sorry."a deep feeling of sadness and asking for forgiveness
kanon - marigold: power, strength, and light that lives inside of a person.also can represent positive emotions and energy, though this doesn't seem to match with kanon's character
echo - gladiolus: strength of character, remembrance, faithfulness, and moral integrity
forte - calla lily: the idea of life and fertility, and on the flipside, it's a well-known symbol of death. this might correlate to the comedy and tragedy masks, also being positive and negative opposites, linked by forte's theatrical ultimate
cyrus - snapdragon: deception (perhaps tied to the notion of concealment) strength, and graciousness. they were historically used as charms against falsehood
lyle - asphodelus: mourning, the underworld, death, peace after death. seems a bit ironic, considering... as said, it could be related to "his friend," who i'll keep secret for now for spoiler purposes. i'll talk about it in a separate message, if requested to
on other topics, aspholdelus is quite obviously linked to the underworld, so much as to be named similarly or after the greek middle afterlife: asphodel. it was made for people that weren't particularly good or bad- average people
missy - geranium: clever minds, ingenuity. as well as happiness, good health, good wishes, and friendship.the first two seem to fit missy best
ashley - white carnation:purity, sweetness, simplicity and genuineness. as well as "expressions of pure, wholesome love"
some of these flowers(the asphodelus, more specifically), don't have a lot on them, flower meaning-wise, from what i could find, so they might have additional meanings that i missed. let me know if you find any significant ones!!
you tricked me with the numbers zero repeated at the end. 6 digits?? i thought i was smart and immediately after finishing the game i went back to the padlock only to be greeted with nothing.
(NOT genuinely mad, just thought it was an easter egg and was wondering if you meant to trick us lmao)
i really like the game...it has a good plot, it isn't too difficult to follow...the only thing is that i wished the trials were in the style of the original serie and that they were longer...but overall i would highly recommend you to play this game
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SPOILER:
Can someone explain the ending, how Echo can go back in time, anything?
idk, im not sure either but also if you see this, mark it s a spoiler or something
My bad, thanks!
Actually, I think that there was not any travel to the past. In my opinion, it was just a reminiscence....
SPOILER WARNING FOR THIS WHOLE POST
Im gonna try so the spoiler is below the read more
Absolutely love the game! Im currently going insane about this set of numbers that Aki grumbled when he said "ready?"
I tried inputting them in the code for the testing room but nothing happened so Im scowering around to see what I can find
hello there
WARINING: THIS HAS SPOILERS (But The Beginning Won't And I Wrote 'SPOLIER PART!' To Warn Anybody) :)
Honestly, I loved the game, in my opinion, this is one of the best fangans ive played along with Eden's Garden (though it's incomplete) and another and another 2. I loved how beautiful he art was and I loved every single character (except Zero, kinda disliked him, and yes, I cried when every body and culprit was found). The game development and character development was AWSOME and I honestly CAN'T believe this game is actually free. This fangame was definitely one of the BEST I've played and it isn't like any other I've played too. SPOILER PART! During chapter one, I was crying my balls off because Pandora and Art were like my favorite characters, though chapter one was a bit boring but I still gave the game a chance because idk it was cool so far ig lol. The second trial in my opinion was fire, the 'Discussion Commence' (I think thats what it was called) arguments were very smooth and I loved it. Though oh my gosh Ashley made me freaking cry holy sh!t- The third chapter, the choosing where to go with Lyle or Missy was cool and uh getting the 'BAD END' with Kanon going weep was actually very creative in my opinion, also going with the dying twice, coming back thing. When everybody died and Sei wanted to get the prize oh my gosh I was freaking out because the rest of the characters, I LOVED (especially Lyle, Missy, and Kanon). The trial had me confused but I understood it all (most) after the trial :). And to end it, I think the ending was very nice :) I'm glad the creator made this and put their efforts in making this game because it made me happy.
I absolutely loved the game! It was fantastic and I loved trying to figure out the culprits each time before the answer was revealed! Great storyline and easy to follow with surprises all the way through!
Well, I've been through this great novel and I want to say that it's just awesome! Thank you for making it possible! ^_^
For those who are deciding to install or not: install and pass, the game deserves it! You better not read on, as you might distort your impression.
Yes, the game is made on a simple engine ren`py and at first I was upset, because it immediately became clear that the same game mechanics and of course, graphics, such as in Danganronpa v3, will not. However, this was my first hypothesis before launching, and I was very surprised when in the first hour of play it was not confirmed! No, of course the same graphics were not, and all game mechanisms were either simplified or absent altogether, but - the game itself and how it was implemented in this engine is really striking in a positive way this word. Simple investigation mechanics and courts, the lack of voice acting, the sound in most of the game the same music as in the original parts of Danganronpa, the lack of video clips, simple in terms of implementation 2D art is more than compensated by, firstly, a really interesting story, secondly, a concise narration (no free times and other nonsense as in the original series), and thirdly, the setting itself! I also want to mention the new music I heard in this game, the selection of music from the original series, interesting differences in the storyline compared to the original. games (highlighted some of the details, which in my opinion, was not in the original), fLoAtInG-shaking letters (they really are perceived differently, I do not understand why this was not used in the original series), and of course, two bad endings, which are interestingly painted, and from which really poured emotions (not comparable to the humorous ending in the first original part of the series). In addition, I want to note the very design of the interface, the transitions from one chapter to another, the art, and most importantly - the very interest and emotion that the creator of the game evoked. All the other flaws, which could be caused by some inconsistency in the plot, short investigations and other things, really pale over how the idea itself was implemented and how it was perfectly realized on such an engine! And in the end, if anyone criticizes the volume that was in the original series and that here, guys, this is a fan game that is implemented for free, and that didn't have the same resources for implementation and developers as Spike Chunsoft. Also, there are really realized moments here that aren't in the original series (details like character signatures and others).
At the beginning of the game I didn't really like the content itself and the very simplicity of the first murder, the investigation, the trial. I liked the very details of the ending and how it was written, but the content of the ending itself, like many here, I didn't really like =D. No, certainly the ending itself is better than, for example, Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name." and compared to that, the ending of the game is perfectly well done and unfolded. Still, the question remains, "What happened to them next?" One user here wrote that the specifics of the Preservation Project and the outside world aren't important, what's important is that the ending makes you feel something. I agree with him in part, details on the project are not necessary, as well as to see, for example, visiting the "game graduates" Greenland and the corresponding pictures and narrative about it, but is the statement about the sufficiency of simply having a test of any feeling true? What if it is a tormented sense of understatement?
Of course, in such cases you can always say - this is the ending the author made, you just need to figure out your own version. But the problem is that whatever variants I made up, I still wouldn't consider it the true ending, because it is simply made up by me, in fact everything could be different...
In conclusion, I want to say that the simplicity of the details in the first chapter and the lack of a clear ending do not spoil the overall impression of the game. Again, the game is great and made me a ton of enjoyable experiences! Considering its non-commercial nature and excellent execution of the idea - the game deserves to be played.
English is not my native language, so I used a translator. If you don't understand something, write it in the comments, please :)
P.S - I think that the prototype of Ashley Westbridge is Applejack from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. Furthermore, the very word Applejack flashed in the novella as referring to the heroine. Mythridate, if this is true, or it's just a reference to the MLP universe - please write if my guess is correct, I'm very curious about that =D
I really enjoyed this project! The UI was gorgeous, the cast likeable, and the art wonderful. I also thought the workarounds for coding the trial minigames were executed well. Overall I definitely had a lot of fun with this game and I applaud you for accomplishing it all on your own!
(It's been a while since the game was released, but I also wanted to notify you of a minor bug in the ch4 trial that prevents you from hiding the text box. I just wanted to be able to see the full CGs, but that didn't interfere with my understanding of the story at all!)
I just finished the first trial, and I'll be honest right now, if the investigations and executions are really boring and dull, I'd rather play another fangame! the execution is very chatty! I can't understand what the fuck is going on! and I couldn't feel anything!
otherwise, art, trial mechanics, characters everything is ok! but just with this chapter, I felt bored beyond belief. I'm sorry, but nothing in this fangame makes me think of dangaronpa besides the trial and the ultimates. cuts the ultimate title, pink blood, music, monokuma files (what the hell, why the fuck is monokuma mentioned if he DOESN'T APPEAR IN THE GAME???), trial and "execution" and it's just another murder mystery game. I'm sorry for being rude. but I think I give up on continuing with this game, I was already bored, but the "execution" of the first chapter just spoiled the game for me, show don't tell is something that was not clearly thought of when doing these executions.
I believe that the developers of this game have the potential to tell a good story and make a great game. unfortunately, it won't be a dangaronpa fangame. I wish you guys luck but honestly this game doesn't feel like dangaronpa to me which is ok but there are a lot of things I didn't really like.
as a final note, I would give it a 6/10 or just a 5/10. You guys clearly want to do something original, but for some reason you felt like you were making a fangame of a game that clearly doesn't match the game you have in mind. I wish you luck with future games.
The first murder, investigation and trial can be really boring. I advise you to give the game a second chance and go through the second trial, it will be more interesting..
I don't know, I don't want to have to read a description of the execution three times in a row! I want to feel the anguish and despair of the characters! I know it sounds bad, but that's what makes executions good in the first place! I didn't even understand what was going on! it doesn't even look like they bothered to do a real execution! I didn't feel anything from running! I'm going to watch gameplays instead of spending my time with this game... sorry.
Does this game contain major spoilers for any of the official Danganronpa games? I want to play it with a friend but they haven't finished the series yet.
I have since finished the game and will answer my own question for anyone else it concerns.
This game contains no major spoilers for any of the canon Danganronpa game, and is a self-contained story. There are slight references that might be at canon Danganronpa characters, and some situations are similar to ones you'd see in Danganronpa, but anyone who plays this will not be spoiled on any events that occur in any Danganronpa game.
SPOILERS ARE MENTIONED
the game absolutely broke me, it's so good as the cast's so lovable, and seeing my favs getting killed off and the killers' motive made me sad and other killers' motives really intrigued me, but there some flaws here and there in the plot but overall, its really good and im curious about a lot of stuff, but I feel like there were a lot of stuff that didn't really get an explanation or like what others said, that there were a lot of things that didn't make sense, like the protag gaining the ability to time travel(?) or like Ashley shooting Cyrus immediately didn't make sense to her character. The protag's also really written well imo, as they did resonate with me a lot and that I think their reactions to everything are realistic to their character. The ending didn't really make sense though, as the ending kinda felt like a cliffhanger, and there could've been more to it. I really enjoyed this game and the cast, Art, Pandora and Echo being my personal favs, but I feel like this game could have a prequel/sequel game, as there a lot of things in the game to use in said prequel/sequel game, and to hopefully clear up many things and mysteries, maybe? but idk, its for the creator to decide, but it'll be pretty cool tho.
personally, I just finished the first trial and I already feel bored. I like the characters and art, and the story seems interesting. but unfortunately i feel like this game wants to be something nothing to do with danganronpa. the execution was very "what?" I blinked and it was over! this is not dangaronpa for me, the execution was tell don't show, and that was annoying, I didn't even understand what was going on because there were no visuals! just a static image in the background with a dialog box in the middle which was very annoying!
At this point I don't care about spoilers, because unfortunately, if the rest of the game is like chapter 1, I'd rather play ultra despair girls! I'm disappointed, I wanted to play it because of the art, but this game let me down, the investigation sucked too! it didn't even feel like a real investigation! I hope developers make games that don't have to follow a danganronpa pattern, because clearly they don't want to make a danganronpa. I'm not saying the game is bad, but as a dangaronpa fangame, I expected much more. the game would be better if it didn't have connections with danganronpa.
Ok, friend, we know you didnt like it thats ok but you dont have to spam like 5 positive comments just because you didn't enjoy it.
For the executions I get your point, but animating like 3+ executions would be extremely taxing to anyone. This is a really well made game with actual reasons to be linked to danganrompa (the ultimate students play a huge part on the plot) I feel like you came in here expecting a sequel to danganrompa instead of a fangame.
Its alright if you didnt like the game but replying like this to 4 other comments is just unnecessary and rude.
(sorry to dodoc if you get notified)
yeah maybe... sorry for this spam.
I've seen people talk about how the story was a bit rushed and things like that and, well yeah it may feel like it sometimes, but really playing the game I didn't really pay attention to it and it was still a great experience. It made me feel things (wether it was happiness or sadness lol) and I think it's all that matters ^^
No Spoilers Review
The artwork/sprites are so appealing to the eye, I felt a deep yearning to get to know a lot of the characters better, however some of them I would quickly forget existed such as Lyle and Sei. The game leaves you wanting more as the ending is confusing, if not strange. I still love this game, I wish it did more. (Love you Forte, you are my favorite)
do you think sei has a minun and a plusle in addition to her carbink and meltan (and spectrier if its on her team)
downloaded the game and looked through the files, but I can't find how to open the game. Did I do someting wrong? has anyone else had this problem? i really want to play this game looks so good :{
did you extract/unzip the file first? if you did that then you just open the folder and the game application should be one of the first things you see ^^
Yeah! I did! Everything is where it should be...except for the game file
huh...not sure then, lol. redownload the file? are you downloading the right one, as in windows for windows etc?
hate hate HATE this game. (affectionately) IT BROKE ME AND I CANT STOP CRYING. I DONT KNOW WHAT DEMONS POSSESSED YOU TO MAKE YOU WRITE SUCH A SAD STORY BUT YOU ARE LITERALLY SO EVIL ..... i am going to be thinking about every character for the rest of my puny little life you did so well. ESPECIALLY forte and lyle. man
sorry if this comment sounds incoherent btw its like 10pm i just finished the game n im super emotional </3
tldr? lapse solos
I can't go on, not because I feel sad about what happens in the first chapter, but because this chapter alone, left me disappointed and with a sour taste in my mouth. feels more like a game FORCED to be dangaronpa than a game that WANTS to be dangaronpa. i feel nothing for the execution which in my opinion sucks! this is not a run, this is a static image with text covering it all! I couldn't see the despair in the culprit, I couldn't see anything that was happening! the execution being described and not showing is what made me give up on this game.
the game can be good, but for me, this is not dangaronpa. is a murder mystery game with the title dangaronpa thrown into it. this looks nothing like dangaronpa, and I don't know the developers' intentions in making these decisions, but whatever it is, it shows that they wanted to make a murder mystery first and a dangaronpa fangame second. I wish them luck, but I don't think I'll continue to play the game.
I'm just playing this because I don't have money and I can't buy danganronpa game
[MOSTLY SPOILER-FREE REVIEW]
Good work on your first full game release! I'm glad you pulled through.
I played the old version (the 2-chapter demo) back in 2020 so I was pretty excited to see that the full game had been released after two years! It lived up to my expectations presentation-wise - the improvements in artwork, interface, polish and overall gamefeel are astounding and you even had an intro developed! It definitely feels like something I'll pay for on Steam.
As for the story, I overall liked the direction it was going for, but I was left wanting more - much, much more. On one hand: the setting was super cool! The story felt distinct enough from the classic Junko-tastic Danganronpa fare! The characters were solid and served their roles in the story well! On the other hand: some plotlines in the demo that I really loved were removed, the [REDACTED] of Chapters 3 and 4 (players will know what I'm talking about) ended up almost completely unexplained, and overall the ending left too many cliffhangers to make me feel like the plot was fully wrapped up. Don't get me wrong - I still really enjoyed what was there! I just think that there's so much untapped potential to this game, and I would love to see you revisit it if you feel like it at any time in the future.
I honestly enjoyed the game, though! Pinky swear! I'm so happy that this game finally saw the light of day in its full iteration. Looking forward to your future works!
Here are my thoughts about the game:
Good points:
Bad points:
There are some other minor things that I didn’t like, but these are the biggest issues with the game in my opinion.
I agree with all your criticisms! and apparently I was right, that's how it is for the rest of the game! I feel bored, I liked at least four or five characters, and I found the game nothing like dangaronpa. it's like the developers wanted to make a murder mystery game but named it dangaronpa to attract more players! the execution of the first chapter is what broke me, I give up! I don't want to play a game that makes me bored and I don't know how to use "show don't tell"! serious! WHY is the execution just a static image with text covering it all?? I read it and until now I have no idea what happened!! literally, WHAT HAPPENED???
the only thing i peopl is all luck and all the best to the developers! but this game was not what I wanted from something with the title dangaronpa on it!
So far, I think this game is really fun.
I am in love again! missed this project lots
Gosh, I'm actually in love with this fanproject. It's a lot more succinct than a normal DR game but I think it's perfect in what it sets out to do and what it wants to accomplish.
First, I just want to gush about the graphics because I've never seen Ren'Py used in such a creative and beautiful way before. Even just the daily life interface is really nice to me, this graphic design work is excellent and I don't think even Spike could have done a better job. Genuinely throughout the entire game when I got to unique segments I would go to whoever's closest and show them what it looks like because it was just so good to me.
The story was really nice also. It wasn't super long, which is kind of impressive given that this is a Danganronpa game, but I really did fall for the characters (especially Missy...) and the writing style was unique and charming. The protagonist I have mixed feelings on, since I found them a bit hard to connect with, but I think that's just because I have a completely different personality.
And now we get into spoiler territory.
I don't really understand griping about the ending? I thought it was pretty understandable and I was especially intrigued with the placebo effect thing. I think it was purposefully vague, much in the way that the original DR game was. The specifics of the project and the outside world aren't important. The important part is that it makes you feel something, and I really think it accomplished that. I don't want to get too into my analysis stuff, but I will just reiterate that I don't agree with the dissatisfaction most people are giving the ending.
And, to be honest, I only have two issues for this game. One being that Art does not feel as sympathetic as I think he's supposed to be? I enjoy that he regrets his actions, since it's rare for a DR character to do that, but I don't think it's properly explained until after the trial that he thought Pandora was suspicious and it was part of the reason why he killed her.
The other issue is the character's color palettes. I don't have any issues with their designs overall but a lot of their color palettes just clash or don't really work together and it's a bit distracting since the characters are part of what's supposed to make this hit so hard. That said, though, I don't think either of these flaws are enough to take away from what I genuinely enjoy about this game.
8/10 I'm going to rave about this to everyone I know now.
Must agree with the disappointment surrounding the ending as well, unfortunately, especially regarding the absolutely final scene. What happened there? That said, most of the praise stands as well. The only character I found wholly unsympathetic being the first murderer.
lovely game!! i grew to like a lot of characters!! like kanon, forte, and missy, very fun experience and had a lot of fun with the class trials and such, also i love the art style, its so pretty!! and spoiler
WHY DID FORTE HAVE TO DIE DAMNIT QwQ
This was a really great game! I loved the music, the characters, and the turns the game took genuinely surprised me on several occasions. And I particularly loved Echo as a protagonist, although Lyle or Missy may be my favorite characters in this.
I do have one question though, and while there are no explicit spoilers stated in it, it should probably be spoilered because it is about the ending.
Spoilers
What exactly does the ending mean? Is there an actual answer right now or are you leaving that up for theorizing and speculation? Or did I miss something(because the upper ending token isn't showing up for me) and there's more and that's why I'm confused? Or is there going to be an update or sequel to this game and you're leaving it open for more in the future?
I just got the bad ending and let me tell you, I was not expecting that to happen...
Fantastic game, a treat for fans of fan-made danganronpa! I especially loved the art. The ending seemed to leave itself open for either a continuation or maybe a simultaneously occurring story from another viewpoint; it'd be great to get more in the future!
I loved the character, the illustrations, and the story, I played all the Danganronpa's games and this can be a good game, but there are things that there are incomplete, as the strange ending, Echo's ability and some of the char. background story and I really hope for like a sequel that can explain more.
Overall you did a good job<3
It was really good. Characters were interesting, but i just don't understand the ending. They went back to past? Were they catch? What happened to them? We didn't get any answers, or I'm just too dumb for this lmao
tbh i thought the ending was more like a flashback or smth
This was the best game I have ever played! As a beginner to Ren'py, I am amazed at how you managed to customize the entire game- I can hardly believe you made this with Ren'py!
does anyone know how to get passed the second investigatio
this game had extreme amount of potential. art is amazing, pacing of first chapters was great, characters are great and dialogues are pleasant to read: game feels really complete.
the problem that after initial 2 chapters story is starting to go nowhere: it feels like two halves of the game are not connected at all, something broke there for some reason (author's interest loss while making? wish to finish earlier?), and it's really sad to see.
well, spoilers ahead:
1 and 2 chapters were made much earlier and released to the public. both cases had really interesting twist, like cyrus had two fake titles, that were revealed in different chapters, and it felt really unique and intriguing. his use of talent as information to make ashley ACCIDENTLY shoot was great. and later reveal of 6 additional character were mysteryous as well. and ummm, nothing of things i said are found in final version of the game
and in the final version of the game ashley shoots for no logical reason - it just don't correspond her moral and was never really explained
my initial thought was that cases was circumcised for the sake of global plot: maybe something changed for the better or cases was just meant to become simpler for some reason
and of course that's not the case: the ending was rushed, every detail revealed contradicted with information we had and make no story feel complete and true. it look like the creator changed their view on the story like myriad of times, but the result and last chapters we get just waste of its potential.
people in the comments already mentioned it, that story has extreme amount of details that contradicts with something or don't even have an explanation to begin with. it's even possible to add some more points, this list became really big for such short game
at the 3-ird chapter when we die at the bad end my mind filled with possibilities: canon became furious?? lyle killed us?? sei somehow rushed to our group?? getting this not specifed information was intriguing to continue story with other group. and oh god, things are already begun be questionable: what reason to give player some choice if it don't change anything at all - you still need to proceed playing in one route.
sei is killing like 3-4 people in a row and you think: oh my god, it's extreme, but okay, we all played danganronpa. there are three possibilities for story to continue, you think: you die, you play catch-up with sei trying to escape, or someone survived and you happily go to the court. then time is reversed and i felt extreme dissatisfaction: it was ABSOLUTELY for nothing. sei's motive for killing don't matches with anything later, zero's words are nonsense and we lost interesting way for the story to process. at the moment of time reverting happened, i hoped to see some good explanation for the reason of that and.... as you know it goes nowhere.... using information we got from unsatisfying game's ending we can think about hypnosis or something, but it is just bad
at the conclusion i would like to say: the game had so good potential and, in my opinion, author of this game is capable of creating something insanely good. but it feels like author is tired or something like that. i don't get it and it really-really hurts for me to think how good this game could be....
if it was possible to wait for another year or two to see this game finished with full potential, i would make this choice with no regret
The visuals are gorgeous, both in terms of quality and design. The dialogue and characterization are pretty darn good, too. Interactive elements (investigation and trial dialogue) are very basic, but it's fun they're included and impressively seamless.
The writer does a good job of creating situations that get your mind buzzing with intrigue and possibility. I personally go to Danganronpa for the murder mysteries, which were clearly not the focus here (each investigation uncovers ~2 pieces of evidence), but I had fun instead focusing on the overarching mystery, which definitely was a priority. Bizarre events, jarring revelations, and vague, tantalizing clues abound. I got totally sucked in. Then the ending happened.
Endings are hard, and I don't like to fault someone for not sticking the landing. But this ending revealed that there would be no reveal. Everything is either exactly as it appeared all along or completely unexplained. I felt like a dummy for trying to play along and piece things together as we went. The story is just completely incoherent. Here's a list of things off the top of my head that didn't make sense (spoilers):
Echo can time travel or something. This is never explained.
The trigger for Echo's time traveling is that they die. But there are two bad endings where Echo just dies. What makes these different is never explained.
Echo was in the game despite never having signed up for the program, which is set up as a big mystery. It is never explained.
At one point, Echo flips out like a computer and goes into binary and error code. This is never explained.
Sei and Pandora are given cards explaining they have allies on the inside (I think), and regardless are definitely suspicious. Bizarrely, Pandora starts showing hers to people, and Sei hides hers in a public room instead of just keeping it locked up.
The Program has a psychic, because psychic powers exist apparently. It is made clear the psychic needs to use a visual and an audio trigger to affect someone. At one point later, several characters are affected by the psychic without any sort of trigger.
Echo decides to exploit their power during a trial by voting for someone and seeing what happens. Instead of waiting to hear if the vote was right or wrong, Echo runs into the execution, and much is made of how the execution involved needles. Upon returning to the present, Echo procedes to use none of this worthless information, instead bringing up the rather obvious additional wound on the body they've known about since the beginning.
The game ends by replaying the first scene, but several details are different (Echo's ankle is broken instead of sprained; they get out of the car and call Ashley's house). None of this is explained.
The Program wants the best ultimates, and it's suggested the game is about weeding out the chaff. But the winners are immediately put into suspended animation tanks to run the subsequent games, where they waste away and die.
Several participants in the game were killed before it started. It's said Cyrus is responsible, but we still don't know why, when, or how they were selected.
Cyrus is suggested to not really be as evil as he was acting. This goes nowhere.
Gaea lets Pandora die, despite giving Pandora a card saying she was safe.
I feel I must reisterate: Echo can time travel or something, and this is never explained.
Towards the end, Zero "starts sounding different" and allows the cast access to secret areas. This is never explained.
I strongly suspect this is simply an unfinished project. There were two fake-out death discovery drawings which likely were originally meant to be real murders. Several intriguing details that really seem fruitful for surprising twists (Echo's mystery talent, Echo's mystery kidnapping, the fact that one character is a twin of another character, etc) end up going nowhere.
I don't begrudge the creator here; this is a huge undertaking, and I got to look at their lovely art for a few hours and spend time with some likeable characters. But it's the worst of both worlds to slap on a pat, baffling ending that either ignores the game's earlier mysteries or reveals there was nothing mysterious happening in the first place. It would have been better to release a literally unfinished game and tell the rest of the intended story to fans in a blog post. We understand how much work this is. We respect and appreciate your talent. But this release, as it is, makes the story trip over its own feet.
I was fairly engrossed with this game, but I have to say I'm left feeling quite unsatisfied. Spoilers...
After the 2nd trial, Echo suddenly has the power to snap back to the past with memories intact in order to circumvent bad outcomes. This power comes out of nowhere, is hardly questioned, and is never explored or explained. You'd think it would be revealed to have something to do with the Ultimate Memory title, but that just ended up being fake and unrelated.
Such a power is something that you base an entire game system around (as in the Zero Escape series, Raging Loop, Life is Strange, etc.), not something you throw haphazardously into a game already based on a wholly different system (of deaths actually happening and moving forward with the story despite that, i.e. Danganronpa).
And even besides that issue, the story ended up not making a lot of sense for me in various ways. Like, Echo literally witnesses Sei murder everybody in an alternate timeline, and still insists that she wouldn't resort to killing? How does that make any sense?
The rules for body discovery in this game are never explained, but it requires 3 people in Danganronpa, so it's assumed to still be the case here, yet then it shouldn't be possible for some of body discovery announcements to happen in the later chapters.
I also don't get why Pandora didn't seem to recognize the symbol of her twin sister's school on her note, or what the purpose of the note even was, since it claimed that she was safe, and yet nothing was done to actually protect her. And was it ever really explained why Echo was made to be involved in the killing game, or why so many of the planned pairings didn't happen? An organization with the technology and resources shown seems like it should be more than capable of abducting Ashley without Echo witnessing it, for example. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something.
The roster screen for each character shows up to three other people when hovering over the right side, but it doesn't indicate what this means at all. And I don't understand why everyone has a designated flower, or how that has to do with anything.
But the main thing that didn't work for me was that the explanation behind the killing game kind of fell flat. There were minor references to "despair," but not enough to think that it's an active threat to the world in the way it is for the main Danganronpa games. So it's hard to believe that there would be a whole organization of people so willingly involved in causing so many deaths just in the name of...some rather unclear goal.
Like, what was it all for, really? All they apparently used the winners for was to run more killing games. I never got a clear idea of what they were actually trying to accomplish. There was so much emphasis on ultimate talents benefiting humanity in the early chapters and with the motive questions, but that theme didn't really tie into anything in the end. There was no indication that I recall of any actual attempt to better humanity in any tangible way despite all the effort of conducting these killing games.
I still appreciate the effort made, and how this game is freely offered, but these issues leave a lot to be desired.
i believe that the characters on the sides of everyone's profiles(except kanon, i think??) are meant to be their closest friends, or the people they trust the most!! i'm not 100% sure if this is true or not, but it seems to be the most likely answer,,,
as for the flowers, i believe that everyone's flower seems to be associated with a flower meaning- i even looked them up myself!! a majority of them seem to be pretty accurate!! some of them don't make a ton of sense(lyle's in particular, though it may relate to his friend...), though that could just be because we looked at different sources :')
please be aware that i'm not well-versed in flower meanings(though i'm interested in learning about them), so some of these might be incorrect!! feel free to correct me :)
art - bouvardia: enthusiasm, versatility, the joy of life, celebrating life, happiness, and light-heartedness
pandora - daisy: new beginnings, rebirth, love, cheerfulness, beauty, purity, innocence, hope, fun, and affection
sei - purple hyacinth: sorrow, "i am sorry." a deep feeling of sadness and asking for forgiveness
kanon - marigold: power, strength, and light that lives inside of a person. also can represent positive emotions and energy, though this doesn't seem to match with kanon's character
echo - gladiolus: strength of character, remembrance, faithfulness, and moral integrity
forte - calla lily: the idea of life and fertility, and on the flipside, it's a well-known symbol of death. this might correlate to the comedy and tragedy masks, also being positive and negative opposites, linked by forte's theatrical ultimate
cyrus - snapdragon: deception (perhaps tied to the notion of concealment) strength, and graciousness. they were historically used as charms against falsehood
lyle - asphodelus: mourning, the underworld, death, peace after death. seems a bit ironic, considering... as said, it could be related to "his friend," who i'll keep secret for now for spoiler purposes. i'll talk about it in a separate message, if requested to
on other topics, aspholdelus is quite obviously linked to the underworld, so much as to be named similarly or after the greek middle afterlife: asphodel. it was made for people that weren't particularly good or bad- average people
missy - geranium: clever minds, ingenuity. as well as happiness, good health, good wishes, and friendship. the first two seem to fit missy best
ashley - white carnation: purity, sweetness, simplicity and genuineness. as well as "expressions of pure, wholesome love"
some of these flowers(the asphodelus, more specifically), don't have a lot on them, flower meaning-wise, from what i could find, so they might have additional meanings that i missed. let me know if you find any significant ones!!
Omg I thought this was another demo I'm so excited!
ive been opening this game and always load on the part where zero showed up can you tell he's my favprite character :grin:
that asides this game is amazing
spoilers:
you tricked me with the numbers zero repeated at the end. 6 digits?? i thought i was smart and immediately after finishing the game i went back to the padlock only to be greeted with nothing.
(NOT genuinely mad, just thought it was an easter egg and was wondering if you meant to trick us lmao)
it hurt lots i enjoyed it a lot it hurts it hurts it hurts but i loved every second of it
i really like the game...it has a good plot, it isn't too difficult to follow...the only thing is that i wished the trials were in the style of the original serie and that they were longer...but overall i would highly recommend you to play this game