Pretty solid for a fanganronpa. Highlights and critiques below. Some minor spoilers.
But, uhhhhh, Lapse 2 when?
Things I liked:
-The first investigation being super short. “Here’s two clues! Good luck assholes!” It finally answers the question of “What happens when the killer doesn’t do an over elaborate murder plan?”
-Art style is good. It’s soft and pleasant. I like the art deco theming to the UI; it meshes well with the luxurious mansion.
- Trial 2 was hype as fuck.
- I’ve always thought that putting in bad ends where the player character is a victim would make Danganronpa more interesting. This game has proved that this is true.
-Lyle’s Roster portrait. I recognize a lot of the items on it.
-Lyle in general is a pretty great character.
-All the characters are great. Forte, Lyle, Missy and Eve were my favorites.
-Hope/Despair were talked about like a normal person would talk about them; as opposed to the over the top anime way the main series tends to do.
-The plot is slowly advance throughout the entire game, as opposed to the main games’ having massive plot dumps right at the end.
Minor Critiques:
-Some conversations change topics to quickly; most noticeable when the original topic was important to the situation. This is really only true for the prologue and chapter 1.
-Some motivations and reasonings are shallow/unclear.
-I like Zero Escape references, but the Chapter 3/4 thing was a bit much. In fact, I would out right call it bad.
-Investigations and trials could be fleshed out/expanded a bit more. This probably sounds little weird after I praised investigation one for having only 2 clues, but all of the trails could stand to have a bit more too then and/or tangential clues removed.
Lingering questions (These might seem minor, but this is a mystery game: every stray detail counts):
-Why was Echo so paranoid about Ashley walking by herself to her house, despite the walk being short and mundane?
-Why does no one question/worry about the fact that they were abducted and brought to the mansion? They all just go with it until Echo gets electrocuted for trying to leave for reasons other than being abducted. Same for the bracelets; did no one try to remove them?