Wow I can respond to your months old post because this is where I got!
To catch up, after playing through 2 (which has grown on the longer I’ve sat with it as one of My Favorite Games Ever along with the first one) my basic stance was: Ok, no idea where they’re going to go with this one but I’m extremely curious and the worse case scenario I can think of is probably at least going to be a good time.
All the mechanical changes are really good! The minigames are all the best they’ve ever been! I like that difficulty doesn’t eliminate all the twists and elements from the trial and just makes them a bit easier! The new version of Hangman’s gambit doesn’t seem like hell! I might eat all my words later!
(I’m going to assume if you’re reading these you’ve played the first two games because you should play this series in order. Beware spoilers for everything.
So first trial itself:
Summary
So straight up I knew the twist going in. Sort of. But somehow I’d got my wired cross and thought she was either the first victim, or she was killed after the first trial. So the turnaround in the middle still mostly got me.
As much as I was disappointed that the series first girl protagonist…was a red herring, I’m just…kind of going to assume these games are going to do something fucked up and after the trans shit in the first game? Well this seemed like small potatoes for me.
And I actually like dweeb detective. I like that he’s got a bit more personality than the last two protags, and the foreshadowing of him being the protag was cute. Like the girl never did the usual reaction animations both previous protags did, and when he took his hat off and revealed the requisite hair ‘fwip’, I couldn’t help grinning a bit.
The reason this one actually really got me was that both, there’s a billion questions raised here (the secret door, what’s the murder victims deal) that still haven’t been answered, and that since I thought The Ultimate Pianist wasn’t going to bite it in the tiral I didn’t even think to pay attention to her suspiscious behavior leading to a rare case where I figured it out basically along with the other characters. I do think it’s a little unfair how they did this since you have to accept she did a thing you really should have seen her do but…eh the twist was worth it, IMO.
I will say…this has extremely third installment in a horror franchise vibes. The people involved know what they’re doing, they’re trying to subert your expectations after the surprisingly good second installment, and this one feels like it exist to meet market demand. Maybe I’m liking it because I always got the impression it was ‘the weak one’ and I’ve managed my expectations? I dunno. It’s breezy, entertaining, and I really like the cast, especially the Ultimate Astronaut and Ultimate Tennis player for some reason. I’m fully expecting to be heartbroken when one or both of them is a victim/murderer.
What’s going on? Well, I know this is in theory ‘a new story’ and isn’t supposed to be a direct link to hope’s peak besides being in the wider Danganronpa continuity. At this rate my assumption is: the world DEMANDS ultimate blood because it’s extremely entertaining to watch, the greater philosophical conflict is meaningless in the scheme of things because the CROWDS WANT MORE, and it’s time to watch the kids eat each other alive basically. It would fit well with the ongoing themes of the series, and the second games intense call-out for it’s own fandom in the form Nagito and his demand for ‘hope’ which is just watching his ‘friends’ die to experience the catharsis of victory. Maybe this is a world of Nagitos the new crop of ultimates are trapped in?
Anyway, I’m enjoying myself a lot so far even if I’m worried it’s ultimately going to be a little shallower than before, but the core game has never been better so…yeah I’m on board.