I loved the final set of twists in DR2 a lot more than in the original, and I feel, unlike the original, there was a pretty heavy amount of foreshadowing, which made the reveals more satisfying.
Also loved the world-building and the way it connected itself pretty intimately to the first game, while also creating a sense of their being a wider universe (which is important in UDG and the Danganronpa 3, where the wider context takes center stage).
In terms of individual chapters, I really liked the unique motive and (very emotional) trial in Chapter 2, the atmosphere and heavy foreshadowing of Chapter 3, the incredibly unique logic of Chapter 5's mystery, and the absurd yet epic scope of Chapter 6.
Chapter 1 was way better than in the original game, but definitely inferior to the first chapter of V3. Chapter 4... as I said, it was the only one that didn't really do much for me. I really liked the escape game sequence, though.
@Kidfried Sweet! Hopefully you enjoyed it enough to continue with the series. My goal has been to platinum UDG before going on to V3. UDG is quite good too, just very different from the first 2 mainline games. No trials and murders. It’s 3rd person shooting with some mild RPGish leveling, but mostly it is story driven like the other games. And it has Genocide Jack, so how awesome is that! 😜
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Wait...do people actually enjoy Genocide Jack? :')
And I will definitely continue this series. Don't know about UDG. 20 hours of a very average 3rd person shooter doesn't sound appealing... How must have is it?
@Kidfried Ha, ha! Yes. What’s not to like about a scissor wielding, dual personality, homocidal romance novel writer with a penchant for rich boys? I mean, she’s so relatable. 😂
But I definitely recommend the game for its story arc. It really fills in the gaps between the two games and it does so in a unique way with the 3rd person shooting mechanic. The shooting itself is average, I mean, it’s not Metal Gear Solid or Mass Effect, or even Uncharted as far as gameplay goes, but the other things it does are very good. I went in expecting a 6-7/10 average shooter, and was pleasantly surprised how good it is. Mostly because I’m playing on Vita, which has a dearth of good shooters anyway, so it fills a void. I’m not sure how well the game translates onto PS4 and I have a feeling it will probably feel clunky on it. Perhaps someone can comment who played it there. But it works on Vita, especially for the story. It just depends how much you want to explore the Danganronpa world and core concepts.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Kidfried UDG is weird. It looks like a third person shooter, but most of the shooting bits are very puzzle-y, and there are heavy VN elements to it.
It's not really necessary if you want to continue on to V3, but it's good for getting a sense of the wider Danganronpa universe beyond what is introduced at the end of DR2. And you'll want to play it if you're planning on watching the anime that brings the story of the first two games to a close, as characters from UDG show up in it.
@Th3solution Have you been platinuming all of the games? I'm working on the platinum for V3 right now and... let me tell you, it's work. There is a massive amount of extra content in this game. I've spent 30 hours doing postgame stuff and trophy hunting and haven't even scratched two of the bonus modes.
@Ralizah I platinum’d the first game, which wasn’t so bad. I found it fun to fill out all the report cards and learn more about each character and the bonus mini game where you build the monokumas was actually pretty fun. I have not done the platinum for D2. The addition of miracle girl monomi was more time than I could muster, so I didn’t even try and I sit at 58% trophy count on that game atm. UDG seems a much more obtainable platinum; I’m playing it really slow and I’m on the final chapter and hopefully I haven’t missed any collectibles but I may have to grind a little bit for monocoins and to hit the 1000 kills. If I missed anything, I’ll have to see if it is worth it to go back. It’s the old dilemma of spending an extra few hours for the trophy vs. moving on to more games in my backlog. I just enjoy these, so I put a little extra time, but it sounds like V3 platinum will be more effort than I have in me. I’ll see.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I platinum almost nothing else, as I generally don't like trophy hunting. But it's become a tradition that I don't want to let die.
It will have to if it becomes PS4/Switch only, though. I'm not buying the inflexible version of a game just for trophies.
The Monomi game isn't too bad, as you do just eventually get everything. UDG and its ton of tiny, easily missable collectibles is way more work. I think I had to play through almost the entire game three times straight to find them all.
@Ralizah I’m becoming less trophy obsessed due to my huge backlog, but I’m still pretty bad about it. As long as the hunt is enjoyable, then I’ll shoot for extra trophies. I get the same rush of accomplishment when I hear the trophy chime as I get when I defeat a boss in Bloodborne 😅. The good thing about the Danganronpa trophies is they are not inherently difficult, unless the V3 ones are different, but they require time and grinding. If a game has a trophy which requires a crazy speedrun, or completing the game on ultra hard difficulty, or doing something stupid like “defeat 10 enemies within 3 seconds while standing on your head, first using a grenade then a poison dart followed by C4 explosion”. I just don’t even try those types of trophies. But Danganronpa’s are at least reasonably possible to accomplish.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Yeah. Just wait until you play V3 and it asks you to S-rank the arcade games on "mean" difficulty.
It's called "mean" for a reason.
Upupupupupupupupu~
All of the other trophies are basically just down to grinding, though. I guess, in a sense, even these skill-based ones are down to grinding in the sense that if you throw yourself at them hundreds of times, you EVENTUALLY get them. I'll be seeing Treasure Hunter! Monolith in my nightmares for years to come, though.
Imagine playing a tedious puzzle game where you have to break colored blocks in groups hundreds of times over the course of, like, 2 weeks.
And then imagine listening to this music when you do...
I eventually got it, though. When I finally platinum this, it'll be my "proudest" one, I think.
@Ralizah Ha, ha! I kept waiting for the music there to change, but it’s the same little tune over and over. I’m sure you’re hearing that in your head all day long now. 😂
Well, thanks for the fair warning. I probably will just play the game like I played D2 — try to get the most out of it and all the trophies that come with delving into the game naturally and then save the grinding for later when/if I ever want to go back to it.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Putting aside the evil arcade game trophies, the grindy trophies mostly involve really involved bonus modes. There's nothing here like the Monomi game where you have to grind the same levels over and over in the hopes of getting a rare drop you need. There are two interconnected game modes, entirely seperate from the dating sim mode, that are so elaborate that they could be their own game (not a retail game, but definitely a $20 downloadable one). They're just stuffed with unique content. It's crazy how much post-game there is here.
I actually really enjoyed platinuming both Trigger Happy Havoc & Goodbye Despair! (or DR1&DR2). I did however, not like the monomi miracle girl minigame, not because it took me a long time, but I had basically gotten sick of playing the same levels over and over in search of one damn type of gear that it was hard for me to stomach. I found the dating sim and getting to know the classmates and strengthening bonds a blast and one of the highlights from the Danganronpa series in terms of characters that stay with you forever. I am currently about 95% finished with the trophies in UDG and holy smokes, you arent kidding about the difficulty of V3's insanely complicating Treasure Hunter Monolith. I still lack both the trophy for that and the Racing minigame. Luckily, V3 has way more depth and variety of game modes that encourage replayability so the grind doesn't feel so taxing. These games all have such an amazing cast that honestly, I find myself playing through them again in like 1-2 year gaps so I'm sure I'll platinum V3 by say next year, or maybe the next Danganronpa!!
Congrats and hope you enjoyed the game as much as i did. And to answer the question about how well UDG holds up on PS4, it does well but it also carries with it a bunch of flaws. The AI is so out of date and buggy sometimes, that you will fail your one shot opportunities simply because the Monokuma enemy sentry gets hung up on a wall or is running into a wall and doesnt have enough smarts to back up and redirect itself. Its just a few minor flaws such as this that really caught my eye, but other than that, really the only other drawback for me is the gameplay. Like everyone has already explained, this is a shooter. And I will admit, the devs are not the greatest at making this kinda game experience work. Its fairly easy however, and well worth it just for the characters and dialogue and the lore and backstory of the events from the other games. If you are anything like me, you will need to gather every morcel of info about this world as the tight lipped Kodaka will give. God, i hope he gets over the issues he is having with his attitude and outlook on the series and decide to give the series another shot!!
@jim_bob_89 Outlaw Run is very doable if you practice enough and learn the track. There is a bit of a luck element in terms of the monocub distribution (obviously, the more Monodams that spawn, the more like you are to hit 20,000 points), but I didn't feel like it was anything insurmountable. Oh, and when you do get good at it and consistently get A - S ranks, you'll never have to worry about casino coins again if you're wagering the max amount on mean difficulty.
Treasure Hunter! Monolith is... hell. I don't even think there's much of a skill component to it. You just have to hit your head against it hundreds of times until the gods smile down on you. So glad I got the trophy done and over with. When I go back to DRV3 to platinum it, I only have to worry about that insanely grindy board game and JRPG cycle. The hair pulling trophies are out of the way now.
@Ralizah
I've actually just recently been working on some of the board game trophies and can give ya little insight on the ones I have just recently completed. Ok, if the 2 I have gotten recently are the only 2 (and I think they are but not positive on that) then its really not too much effort involved. You do have to make your ultimate's strong enough and leveled up high enough to make it to Floor 50 under the game mode Monokuma's Test. It is a rpg-like system, a watered down one at the least, but as long as you keep drawing stronger and more special cards for your Ultimates, then you will have it in no time. Now, after Floor 50 is a pure nightmare and I ended up giving up on it after the 50th. The 2nd trophy I recall is (this one may take SEVERAL attempts or your first Ultimate-level card) one that will require you to complete all 3 years worth of the practical exam the Monokubs give to you at the end of each school year. It may not sound hard, but the 3rd years exam is no walk in the park, requiring you to survive 3 pretty tough battles back to back. But once you start drawing Ultimate level cards for your party members to take on Monokuma's Test, then winning all 3 years of exams will be a breeze, but like I said there is a steep curve till you get ready for that. But, anyways I may be wrong about those 2 trophies being the only 2 regarding these modes, but I sure as hell hope that Monokuma test mode doesn't require you to get past floor 65 cuz I wont be doing it if so. Its brutally hard to survive a single round from the enemies at that point, they're so tough!!
Ultra Despair Girls is great, despite how different it is in terms of gameplay. I liked the puzzle elements, and how disturbing the narrative became over the course of the game. And, of course, Toko and Komaru have a GREAT relationship.
Eh. I think it's better to play UDG first, considering that expands the focus of the series' lore, whereas V3... well, it does what it does in the final chapter that has made it such a polarizing game.
Finally started Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls last week. I'm now halfway through the story (I think), so now would be a great time to colle t some of my impressions.
Like:
There are more cutscenes than in the previous game and it's exactly what this game needed. Visual novels are well and good, but the animations are really well done and help bring the story to life. Often it feels like the cutscenes are a real reward too for playing, which is a nice feeling to have in a game that so often interrupts gameplay for dialogue. Also, I think some standout moments in the game so far, would have a way smaller impact without them.
The gameplay. I will be honest, I really dreaded playing this game for the first time, thinking I'd hate the shooting. Well, turns out, I actually like the gameplay mechanic a lot. It's not groundbreaking, nor the main draw of this game in any way, but it does what it needs to do.
Dialogue. So, this was supposed to be some weaker kind of game, right? Wrong. This game has a lot of character development and interesting moments. Even where the game drags on, or goes over the top, I feel like it somehow fits with the story more than previous games.
I think a problem the previous Danganronpa had, was that for tension sake all characters had to have the same amount of spotlight and growth. In my opinion, that resulted into the characters remaining flat stereotypes until moments from their death.
UDG has a lot less of that so far. I feel like characters develop within the short amount of time you spent with them. And to me it seems the characters are more than their main 'character trait', which I think earlier Danganronpa games were really bad at. Every time the nerd would be nerdy, the model would be arrogant, the strong guy wanted to fight, etc. That's less so in this game, and is a huge improvement over this game.
I even dislike Toko way less now.
The focus on childhood despair. The team took quite a risk approaching this subject, because it's difficult and more dark too, but so far it has been working out and has elevated this story for me a lot. That being said, it will of course depend on the latter half of this game, whether the writers have handled this super well.
Lore, it works really well.
Not feeling like you're spending a third of the game walking up and down the same school halls. So fresh.
Looks so good for a Vita game.
What I dislike:
Some of the dialogue is... bad. I just praised this game for being better than its predecessors, but that doesn't make this one good. I think most of all this game would just benefit from having less text. And to start with removing all the text where characters a) repeat stuff I already heard two times b) repeat the previous line literally, and c) declare what you can see on screen.
Also, just add an instant text setting in the options. Do other people read so slow? Me playing this game consists of constantly pressing O (to load the text faster on screen) and X (to skip to the next) in rapid succession.
Why can you only skip a cutscene after having read two lines or waited five seconds. I see this a lot in visual novels, and it makes no sense to me. (This is for when I replay parts for the better ranking)
Fan service. It detracts from the experience so much. I even prefer loot boxes over fan service.
Actually, it's pretty stupid we still call it fan service. I'm a fan too and I don't like it. So to me, it's a fan disservice.
@Kidfried You’re thoughts are right on target I think. Glad you’re enjoying it. The shooting mechanic is an interesting approach to gameplay — yes it’s shooting, but more of a puzzle solving type of requirement. Yet, you’ve still got to be able to hit the monokuma with the shot as it’s running toward you. The addition of Genocide Jack’s powers makes it fairly easy to get yourself out of a bind usually. She’s pretty overpowered so the game is usually not that difficult as far as combat is concerned - which is fine by me. The whole point of Danganronpa is the whacky yet strangely philosophical story. The combat does have a couple moments when it gets pretty tough later on though.
And yeah, and the fan disservice — I like that term. You’re probably not through the worst of it, but hopefully you can just roll your eyes and endure like I did. Sometimes it’s done in a funny way and sometimes it’s cringey, which is actually part of the desired emotion narratively I guess, but still something you’ll probably not care for.
But yes, the game is a great fit on the Vita. The simplistic shooting controls never feel too much for the little machine, and the puzzle-type of spin that the different bullets put on it make up for the lack of challenge that the shooting is. So it works on the handheld nicely. I would guess it’s still fun on the big screen, but I don’t think it quite translates into the experience it was originally intended for when played on PS4.
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