#i still cant quite wrap my head around wtf i just experienced but holy fuck

[spoofenshmirtz]

alright. ok. i’ve calmed down enough to talk about drv3 now. definitely a lot of spoilers under the cut so don’t even think about looking if you care about spoilers

overall impression: holy fuck.

just. holy fuck.

alright, for real, the game starts off really fuckin’ good with a super strong ch1. the “the killer was you all along” reveal as well as protag switch was done SUPER well, the hints sprinkled throughout the chapter that kaede had something going on immediately fit together like pieces of a puzzle. i also really liked that the layout on the student handbook immediately changed with the protag switch, something i only noticed because i’m a spastic saver. it was really good and i understand now why kodaka’s been so proud of it for so long, stating it’s his favorite case that he’s written so far. it was really well done and i was delighted.

then, chapters 2 and 3 were kind of... less satisfying. i don’t know if i’m just slow and didn’t really understand the reasoning behind everything, but the culprit reveals kinda fell short and their motivations were... less interesting than any other culprit’s. i did think it was funny how obviously there was gonna be a locked-room mystery in ch3, what with the sudden access to a room that could only be locked from the inside, but it was kind of easy to figure out. i will say that the only execution that had me in tears was kirumi’s, for the simple reason that she TRIED SO HARD and her struggles were rendered completely meaningless when it turned out the outside world she struggled so hard to reach wasn’t accessible. it seriously pained me to watch someone who tried so hard not be able to reach their goal, for some reason. it really affected me.

ch4 really picked it up again, though. i really felt for gonta who had to accept that he’d committed a crime that he had no memory of. i think it might even be my favorite case of the entire game. it’s also the case that really solidified kokichi’s place as my favorite character in the game. it’s ALSO the case where i feel like the lying gimmick was done the best, since in every trial there is at least one point where you’re required to lie, and the previous lies had kind of fallen short imo. ch1 did it alright enough - i don’t really remember the lie you were required to tell anymore, tbh - but in ch2 and 3 it kinda felt like the game was trying to make you feel bad for telling a lie you were required to tell. i didn’t take any of the opportunities to lie willingly, mostly because my brain isn’t wired to figure out where lying would work or not and figuring out the truth is just the easiest way to solve things for me, so i don’t know if the game treats you the same in those cases or not, but when the game’s just pointing at you like “haha you lied! and everyone believed you!! don’t you feel bad??” it just doesn’t hit home imo. but in ch4, where you’re lying about kokichi’s lie to his face, it just feels so SATISFYING. like, this is the character whose lies have been twisting everything around all the time, and using his own lie against him that way just feels good. like, kokichi, i love you, but come on.

ch5 was interesting in its own way, too. your own theories on what happened kept getting thrown around throughout the trial in a way that made you doubt the truth up until you actually saw it for yourself - that kaito survived and that kokichi was the victim - and the conclusion was satisfying in its own way like that. i also really liked kaito’s execution, what with him dying before it’s actually finished. it was a sort of bittersweet moment; on one hand, it’s sad that he died, but on the other, it was a great victory that he died before the execution was finished, thus beating monokuma at his own game... kind of?

ch6...

ch6.

i just beat it and i honestly still don’t know what to think.

on one hand, the entire last trial was RAVING. INSANE. i’m only feeling so drained right now because it was so crazy. i’m really glad my flatmate left so she wouldn’t have to be exposed to my bouts of crazed laughter over just how absurd everything is.

on the other, what the fuck? what? how? who gave you the right

for serious, that ending was so weird and unexpected. i mean, it’s brilliant? but i’m also still extremely lost in all the lies and truths and what’s real and what’s not.

like, i’m just. i don’t know. it’s so crazy i can barely put it into words.

for starters, i’d kind of jokingly thought to myself stuff like “what if tsumugi’s the mastermind, wouldn’t that be crazy”, but i never.... actually..... expected it. to happen. it was just so totally and completely out of nowhere, but still made perfect sense. so revealing her as, actually, the mastermind just kinda... broke me? and i just sat there laughing at the ceiling for probably a solid minute.

second, acknowledging danganronpa as fiction just.... wow. i never, ever, in my wildest dreams, would have expected that. like i can’t BELIEVE kodaka did that. it’s GENIUS but i never would’ve expected it.

third, JUNKO. KODAKA. SERIOUSLY. YOU JUST FUCKING HAD TO. people have been joking about this sort of shit for YEARS and you just UP AND FUCKING DO IT.

but, okay. the insane points isn’t what really gets to me. it’s the LIES. the knowledge that EVERYTHING’S BEEN A LIE. or, has it? how much is lies and how much is the truth? i already figured in ch5 that the flashback lights may not contain the truth. at least when everyone started thinking that kokichi was a remnant of despair. i didn’t believe it for a second, mostly because my understanding of the nature of the remnants of despair has been that they’re a leaderless group, only kept together by the common desire to spread despair and carry out junko’s will.

so, the personalities and memories of all the characters were all lies. right? everything they were was part of their new, written, fictional personalities that they received through the fake memories from the flashback lights, right? the world of danganronpa is fictional, right?

i think i lost my train of thought. i swear i was going somewhere with this, but the lies are still twisting around in my brain.

actually, maybe i can figure out something from this. tsumugi’s comment on being a “cosplaycat criminal” just really bothers me. my overall impression’s been so far that people in dr are the most genuine when death is almost upon them, which leads me to believe that maybe, maybe there is something behind that comment. since it’s one of her last lines before getting executed by keebo. it’s been a pattern i’ve noticed in many other characters’ deaths, what with junko dropping her cheerful facade seconds before getting crushed to death in dr1 and nagito dying with a fearful expression (which i still continue to interpret as him regretting choosing death for whatever reason, reasons i have multiple theories on but no confirmed answer).

anyway, my personal theory is that tsumugi may be a copycat criminal basing her crime entirely on a fictional setting. inspired by danganronpa, she chose to infiltrate the next season and set up an actual, real killing game within the fictional setting, involving all the previously willing participants. the watchers, made out in-game to be cruel and indulging in despair, may be completely unaware of the fact that the people dying are dying for real.

ok this has gone on long enough. the twist ending was just so twisty, i’m still trying to untangle it in my brain and figure out what’s truth and what’s lies. it’s absolutely brilliant but also so crazy and insane that i can’t really wrap my head around it. hopefully some days’ recovery (and free time events and dating minigames) will put my overheated brain at peace.

long story short, it’s a really good game, but also infinite times more crazy than the previous titles. kodaka’s really gone all out in the “what can i get away with doing” department and it really shows. i can’t help but wonder if kodaka meant for the finale to call out the audience for being cruel and reveling in despair but hey, he’s not wrong so, y’know. also i’ve heard he really got to do stuff he’s dreamed of doing in danganronpa games before, which i suspect is referring specifically to the themes of “you were the killer all along,” the locked room murder (i don’t really think nagito’s murder-suicide in sdr2 counts as it’s pretty clear throughout investigation that his wounds are self-inflicted), a culprit who’s unaware of their own crime and the unknowable victim/culprit. at least those are all themes that i figure must’ve been a lot of fun to come up with and write.

it’s just. it’s crazy and insane but it’s so satisfying. i have started considering the sdr2 ending to be a bit anticlimactic, what with the whole “everybody lives” message (which feels cruel when you consider that the deaths in the first killing game, where the participants just happened to be involved, really died, while the participants in the second killing game, who were all followers of junko, were allowed to live), but this ending is just... mad. three survivors out of 16 and an open conclusion, similar to the conclusion of dr1, where you don’t really get to see what the outside world is like at all.

okay i seriously need to stop rambling i don’t even know what i’m talking about anymore. i very much enjoyed my time with this game, is the bottom line. i’m gonna make a screenshot compilation of some of my favorite screenshots now, probably