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Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls |OT| Monokuma and Co.

BTA

Member
I'm still chipping away at this and just encountered something really frustrating while playing with Japanese voices. I just started chapter 3 and is it just me, or was one of the first cutscenes in it,
specificslly right after you reenter the tower after climbing down the huge ladder
, just not subtitled at all, even though they added English text on a note?

Please tell me this doesn't happen again. I'm already annoyed that they don't translate the boss names. I'm going to be really pissed if this happens near the end during a cutscene that's actually important.
 
I'm still chipping away at this and just encountered something really frustrating while playing with Japanese voices. I just started chapter 3 and is it just me, or was one of the first cutscenes in it,
specificslly right after you reenter the tower after climbing down the huge ladder
, just not subtitled at all, even though they added English text on a note?

Please tell me this doesn't happen again. I'm already annoyed that they don't translate the boss names. I'm going to be really pissed if this happens near the end during a cutscene that's actually important.

I believe that is the only cutscene without a subtitle. At least it's the only one I remember, though some of the videos use untranslated images which is annoying. But yeah, that's some real sloppy work from NISA.
 

jonjonaug

Member
I'm still chipping away at this and just encountered something really frustrating while playing with Japanese voices. I just started chapter 3 and is it just me, or was one of the first cutscenes in it,
specificslly right after you reenter the tower after climbing down the huge ladder
, just not subtitled at all, even though they added English text on a note?

Please tell me this doesn't happen again. I'm already annoyed that they don't translate the boss names. I'm going to be really pissed if this happens near the end during a cutscene that's actually important.

That's the only time it happens, and thankfully it's not an important scene.
 

jonjonaug

Member
Just finished the game. Now time to platinum it. Any place to rack up monocoins quickly?

The Siren Monokuma trap in chapter 4 gives you an endless stream of regular Monokuma type enemies to shoot down. But since you'll probably need to go through the entire game a second time to find all of the optional pickups anyway, might as well do that on Despair mode for the extra coins before attempting to grind out the rest.
 

Syrinx

Member
Last week I got stuck in Chapter 5 around the point you
enter Monaca's room. After checking it out and whatnot I went back and found the other secret passage, but only found a text piece and not a way to progress
. Did I miss something in there? I checked several times.
 

Waxwing

Member
Finished....it was ok. Definitely didn't give me the urge to play it compulsively like the mainline entries do. And the story, as a partial prequel, didn't really do anything interesting either. Here's hoping they find a way to make the third game similar in structure to the first two.

Glad we got a chance to have more Toko, though. Made it worthwhile.
 

ChrisD

Member
I got side-tracked during Chapter 2, just came back to the game yesterday.

Made it to that point in Chapter 3... I just don't know why that would be put in. Can definitely see what was meant earlier in the thread when someone said its the worst part of the game (I hope).

Like, this is Danganronpa, ridiculous things happen, the story is screwed up beyond measures. But that, that just comes across as poor taste.
 
Finished it yesterday and I found it to be decent.

The story was pretty barebones/straightforward tbh and the twists at the end were....ok. However I think that the plot is more about maturing and revolves around the 'what makes you adult' question and I felt that they gave interesting thoughts on that subject. The good and believable character development certainly helped.

Gameplay was good enough. Decent game, worse than the others regarding story and pacing yet fun in its own right. It's structurally very different from the others though. At the very least it made me interested in 3
 

ChrisD

Member
Past the questionable content, I can at least say Chapter 3's ending has me intrigued. I'm assuming this game takes place (DR1+2 spoilers)
during or just before 2, with the reference of a second generation Junko. But then you have Nagito out and about, so I'm actually a bit lost on exactly where it fits.

I'm sure it will be cleared up by the end of AE.
 
Past the questionable content, I can at least say Chapter 3's ending has me intrigued. I'm assuming this game takes place (DR1+2 spoilers)
during or just before 2, with the reference of a second generation Junko. But then you have Nagito out and about, so I'm actually a bit lost on exactly where it fits.

I'm sure it will be cleared up by the end of AE.

Well, we know for a fact from the beginning
the game takes place before 2. We just don't know when before 2. It could be immediately before or it could be months before.
 

ChrisD

Member
I just figured if any series would try to find a way to fit in the other possibility, it would be Danganronpa. Or Kingdom Hearts.

So I'm in this cutscene with Nagisa and the Dance sound is stuck. Hoping it'll go away if I get to a save and reboot the game. It's goofy for a minute, but not while listening to dialogue lol.


THE SOUND PERSISTS ON THE SAVE MENU
THIS IS ANNOYING AND GREAT AT THE SAME TIME


E: omg it's playing on the Main Menu. I'm dying.
 

BTA

Member
It's 3 AM here and I should be sleeping but I finished chapter 3, then had to stick around through the beginning of chapter 4 to get to the first save point so I could avoid that bug. Why did that take half an hour...

As far as the content, I expected to find it really gross and, yeah, I did. It sucks because I actually found all the kids for once (I only found one or two in the first 2 chapters) but messed up challenges so I got a C, and will have to replay it if I want that trophy, and I don't want to see some of that again. That
minigame was pretty bad as is
and the same goes for the incredibly unsubtle way
they kept hinting at what her backstory would be.
Then someone on the writing staff apparently
went "Hey, you know what be a smart idea? You know the character we're sloppily indicating was raped/a child prostitute? Let's trigger her. Twice. Oh, also, the first time, we should have her friend hit her till she stops panicking because it's edgy. That's handling a serious topic real well; good job team!"
How nice.

It doesn't help that immediately after that
the (welcomed, in theory) attempt to break up the formula gets us Nagisa's info dump at the start of chapter 4, and he's... a kid his parents made study so hard that they gave him IVs so he could keep going. Oh. Ok. Real serious. And before that, the guy whose neglect manifested in... a bizarre junk mask, or something. It's really hard to even start to consider their intent for chapter 3 when so much of the Warriors are being played for comic relief. It's a good idea in theory, showing kids rebelling against their parents for the horrible things they've done, but so much about the execution is a mess. And it's weird because a lot of the twists and such are pretty well paced in this, in my opinion? It's just that all the Warriors stuff is Edgy Infodump City rather than really trying to actually make you care before this point.
 

Corpekata

Banned
I just figured if any series would try to find a way to fit in the other possibility, it would be Danganronpa. Or Kingdom Hearts.

So I'm in this cutscene with Nagisa and the Dance sound is stuck. Hoping it'll go away if I get to a save and reboot the game. It's goofy for a minute, but not while listening to dialogue lol.


THE SOUND PERSISTS ON THE SAVE MENU
THIS IS ANNOYING AND GREAT AT THE SAME TIME


E: omg it's playing on the Main Menu. I'm dying.

Is it like a loud buzzing? Happened to me too, had to quit the game and go back in.
 
went "Hey, you know what be a smart idea? You know the character we're sloppily indicating was raped/a child prostitute? Let's trigger her. Twice. Oh, also, the first time, we should have her friend hit her till she stops panicking because it's edgy. That's handling a serious topic real well; good job team!"

For most of the stuff in chapter 3, I can see both sides of the argument, but this is one I disagree with the most. Redundancy aside, I actually thought it was well executed in the context of the series.
The triggering is there to show how monstrous Monaca is. Remember when Monokuma triggered Ishimaru with the time machine lie back in DR1? It's the same thing. Also, the punching thing was there because it's the opposite of gentle, not some kind of "calm down punch", but of course you can question Monaca's intentions there as well.

It's a horrifying and intentionally uncomfortable scene that works really well.
 
It's 3 AM here and I should be sleeping but I finished chapter 3, then had to stick around through the beginning of chapter 4 to get to the first save point so I could avoid that bug. Why did that take half an hour...

As far as the content, I expected to find it really gross and, yeah, I did. It sucks because I actually found all the kids for once (I only found one or two in the first 2 chapters) but messed up challenges so I got a C, and will have to replay it if I want that trophy, and I don't want to see some of that again. That
minigame was pretty bad as is
and the same goes for the incredibly unsubtle way
they kept hinting at what her backstory would be.
Then someone on the writing staff apparently
went "Hey, you know what be a smart idea? You know the character we're sloppily indicating was raped/a child prostitute? Let's trigger her. Twice. Oh, also, the first time, we should have her friend hit her till she stops panicking because it's edgy. That's handling a serious topic real well; good job team!"
How nice.

It doesn't help that immediately after that
the (welcomed, in theory) attempt to break up the formula gets us Nagisa's info dump at the start of chapter 4, and he's... a kid his parents made study so hard that they gave him IVs so he could keep going. Oh. Ok. Real serious. And before that, the guy who's neglect manifested in... a bizarre junk mask, or something. It's really hard to even start to consider their intent for chapter 3 when so much of the Warriors are being played for comic relief. It's a good idea in theory, showing kids rebelling against their parents for the horrible things they've done, but so much about the execution is a mess. And it's weird because a lot of the twists and such are pretty well paced in this, in my opinion? It's just that all the Warriors stuff is Edgy Infodump City rather than really trying to actually make you care before this point.

I agree with all of this and at the same time it's the biggest personal gripe I have with the series.

Although they attempt to deal with interesting psychological subjects the writers include these subjects in such a sloppy hamfisted manner so that I eventually can't take it seriously. The kids are a prime example of that. It is all show, no substance and merely there for shockvalue. A pity since they handled the character development so well - they are definitely capable of subtlety if they get their act together.
 
I agree with all of this and at the same time it's the biggest personal gripe I have with the series.

Although they attempt to deal with interesting psychological subjects the writers include these subjects in such a sloppy hamfisted manner so that I eventually can't take it seriously. The kids are a prime example of that. It is all show, no substance and merely there for shockvalue. A pity since they handled the character development so well - they are definitely capable of subtlety if they get their act together.

Yeah, I was a bit confused with Jataro. He seemed to have no real reason to hate adults. The cruelty he showed in Chapter 2 seemed out of place.
Either his mom had a mental disease that made her think he was ugly or she really was jealous that he was so beautiful ala Cinderella.
Every other child had a reason like
alcoholic abusive dad, dad who turned a blind eye to daughter getting groped, overly strict parents.
which made Jataro more confusing since he was comic relief.
Of course
Monica had no reason but she did not care about their plan, so I forgive her. Sucks her family weree terrible people.

DR1 and 2 had the same problem with Chapter 3.
 

Corpekata

Banned
Yeah, I was a bit confused with Jataro. He seemed to have no real reason to hate adults. The cruelty he showed in Chapter 2 seemed out of place.
Either his mom had a mental disease that made her think he was ugly or she really was jealous that he was so beautiful ala Cinderella.
Every other child had a reason like
alcoholic abusive dad, dad who turned a blind eye to daughter getting groped, overly strict parents.
which made Jataro more confusing since he was comic relief.
Of course
Monica had no reason but she did not care about their plan, so I forgive her. Sucks her family weree terrible people.

DR1 and 2 had the same problem with Chapter 3.

I mean, I'd probably hate it if
my mom made me wear a gimp costume all the time too. What happened to him was still pretty horrible, it just wasn't really rooted in reality like the physical abuse, molestation, and ridiculous high expectations like the other kids.
 

Jintor

Member
it's kinda a pity they reuse the DR1 music so much, the only themes I remember so far are the kid's theme and the title theme + remixes (YEAH YEAH YEAH... YEAH-YEAH-YEAAAAAH!)

hope there's more coming. Then again I didn't really remember all the DR1 stuff until I started listening to the OSTs obsessively
 

Rich!

Member
it's kinda a pity they reuse the DR1 music so much, the only themes I remember so far are the kid's theme and the title theme + remixes (YEAH YEAH YEAH... YEAH-YEAH-YEAAAAAH!)

hope there's more coming. Then again I didn't really remember all the DR1 stuff until I started listening to the OSTs obsessively

Yeah but the returning DR1 stuff are new remixes
 

Jintor

Member
well i just got to the first cutscene about 5 minutes into chapter 3 and i had to put the vita down and stare blankly into the distance for a while
 

ys45

Member
Finished the game , ending was okay but nothing that surprised me maybe I got spoiled by Danganronpa 1 and 2 in term of plot twist .

Overall, a good game that I enjoyed with a good story I was glad to learn learn the
origin of the Monokuma robots

What happened to
Kotoko
is horrible :(

Also should we expect to see more
Monaca
in a sequel ?
 

Tizoc

Member
So about one of the puzzle rooms in Ch. 5
which one has the monokuma kid I need to find to save the pink haired girl?
 

zakujanai

Member
About to start chapter 3 and find out what everyone seems not to like.

Story of the game seems designed for people who've not played the others despite the fact it would be really hard to make sense of without having played them.
 

ys45

Member
About chapter 3 .

To be honest I was not that shocked I mean I guessed from the start something like that happened to her as in the prologue or chapter 1 IIRC she says something about
pedophiles will not be allowed in their new world

The part where
she "torture" Komaru
was unnecessary and useless though and maybe a bit much .

And to be honest the game must be pretty niche because I was sure this part was going to get talked about on some gaming sites (or even news lol)


I hope she got her revenge on the fuckers who did this to her though
 

ChrisD

Member
Is it like a loud buzzing? Happened to me too, had to quit the game and go back in.

Not a buzzing, but the Dance Truth Bullet sound effect. It persisted throughout game, menu, and title screen until I did the same thing. It actually started out quiet, but by the time I reached the next save it had grown in volume to where it was covering the game's music quite well.
 

Jintor

Member
(Chap 3) I wasn't really shocked by the
whole sexual assault backstory
thing, it was pretty easy to guess. it was the juxtaposition with
Lil' Wheelchair repeatedly punching her in the face at the same time
that really weirded me out.

And the game, of course.
 

GoldStarz

Member
Yeah, I was a bit confused with Jataro. He seemed to have no real reason to hate adults. The cruelty he showed in Chapter 2 seemed out of place.
Either his mom had a mental disease that made her think he was ugly or she really was jealous that he was so beautiful ala Cinderella.
Every other child had a reason like
alcoholic abusive dad, dad who turned a blind eye to daughter getting groped, overly strict parents.
which made Jataro more confusing since he was comic relief.
Of course
Monica had no reason but she did not care about their plan, so I forgive her. Sucks her family weree terrible people.

DR1 and 2 had the same problem with Chapter 3.

He was emotionally abused
if you read Jataro's parents' book, it basically talks about how they told him how their lives would be so much better if he was never born and how they hate him for existing. Not that it's really hard to connect the dots there. The mask was to cover up any features that might let him gain self-confidence or love from others.
 

zakujanai

Member
I would Google this but I'm afraid of spoilers, what was Masaru's reason for despair? Didn't realise they had reasons until chapter 2 and
Jataro describes his abusive mother
. I just watched a scene at the start of chapter 3 that was creepy as hell (in a good way) that made it clear another warrior of hope has very good reason to hate demons, so I was wondering what Masaru's reasons were?
 

Joe Molotov

Member
I would Google this but I'm afraid of spoilers, what was Masaru's reason for despair? Didn't realise they had reasons until chapter 2 and
Jataro describes his abusive mother
. I just watched a scene at the start of chapter 3 that was creepy as hell (in a good way) that made it clear another warrior of hope has very good reason to hate demons, so I was wondering what Masaru's reasons were?

Alcoholic father that beat him.
 

zakujanai

Member
Alcoholic father that beat him.

Rganks, that sounds familiar actually. I sometimes get really bored during the overly long scenes and just start browsing the internet or watching tv while the scene plays out.

It's a shame that the game is swamped by so much unnecessary dialogue because there's some really dark subject matter lost in amongst it all. One thing I liked was finding am item in chapter 2 that made Komaru explain why she believes in ghosts. That's the kind of dark humour I want more of.
 
So about one of the puzzle rooms in Ch. 5
which one has the monokuma kid I need to find to save the pink haired girl?
Very right one in the middle I think.
The pattern is 1-1-3 for circling around. Best time to go for it is the 3 looking up.
You can also hide behind the kid to not be seen to make it easier, but I didn't realize that when I played.
 
Yeah, I was a bit confused with Jataro. He seemed to have no real reason to hate adults. The cruelty he showed in Chapter 2 seemed out of place.
Either his mom had a mental disease that made her think he was ugly or she really was jealous that he was so beautiful ala Cinderella.
Every other child had a reason like
alcoholic abusive dad, dad who turned a blind eye to daughter getting groped, overly strict parents.
which made Jataro more confusing since he was comic relief.
Of course
Monica had no reason but she did not care about their plan, so I forgive her. Sucks her family weree terrible people.

DR1 and 2 had the same problem with Chapter 3.

Well it's implied the kid has autism, so maybe that amplified the abuse?
 
My first copy of the game was in delivery limbo so i needed another and that another copy finally arrived. I've just passed the hotel in CHapter 1 and so far i'm liking it !!

FINALLY I CAN PLAY THIS GAME !!!
 

ChrisD

Member
Yeah, game definitely could've added one more Chapter, just to split off Chapter 4. There were countless points it could have done so.

I will say that, while I'm not actually finished yet, I'm uncertain there is any twist that can get me as much as 2's did. It's too late in the game at this point. So unless one of the writers said, "SCREW IT, GO NUTS!" it doesn't seem it will be the case.

And I'm okay with it, the game won't be bad even if there isn't a crazy ride waiting. But it really shows that this was a game made specifically for people who wanted to fill in more of DR's world, rather than... Errr... To be a game? If that makes sense? Like, even 2 could stand alone better than AE. In order to get much out of the experience here, knowledge of the source is paramount.

Really has me wanting to replay both mainline games afterwards. But going back and dealing with DR1 Toko? I'm not sure I could do it too easily after how great she is in AE.
 

Jintor

Member
Chapter 4 is a real slog so far. The alarm laser stuff is really obnoxious especially with the fact that it has a special unskippable cutscene every time you turn it on or off.

Handing in hit lists is also really goddamn stupid. Do you need a confirm every time I decide to open dialogue? How about when I choose which one to hand in? Why WOULDN'T I want to hand one in?!? (Don't answer if there's a legit reason and I'm being duped this whole time or some shit)

Also find the singing kid rooms can go fuck themselves
 
The discussion here makes me realize how poorly handled the discussion about child abuse is in this game.

Or is there anything substantial that I'm missing? I don't want to jump to conclusions but IMO the game does not discuss these topics but rather references them in an in-your-face manner. It's like the writers got introduced to these topics, were fascinated and decided do throw everything in one game without much thought. The discussions the Danganronpa games provide do not do the heavy subjects they handle any justice at all.
 
if there's a word i would use to describe danganronpa overall, it would be 'adolescent'

but it has its moments

I think that's my problem. Is this the right format to present these issues? I don't think so. That's why these games, while enjoyable, always came across as terribly pretentious to me.
 
This is not a comment on any specific example, but all sorts of artistic media draw on serious issues purely to service the plot without actually adding any sort of meaningful discussion or context to the subject matter.

While certain aspects of this game's narrative certainly could be improved, I think they did have some actually poignant moments in dealing with such a tough subject, mainly in the notes you find scattered throughout the city.
 

BTA

Member
This is not a comment on any specific example, but all sorts of artistic media draw on serious issues purely to service the plot without actually adding any sort of meaningful discussion or context to the subject matter.

While certain aspects of this game's narrative certainly could be improved, I think they did have some actually poignant moments in dealing with such a tough subject, mainly in the notes you find scattered throughout the city.

I think that's my problem. Is this the right format to present these issues? I don't think so. That's why these games, while enjoyable, always came across as terribly pretentious to me.

I'd say that in general, including these things (at all, but in particular) as plot points is making a statement about them, even if that's not intentional, and that's going to prompt discussion. By including these topics you take on a responsibility to handle them well, and that gets harder when you're not trying to individually make them the focus of the narrative. Danganronpa as a whole really does tend to aim for more than its writing can really pull off, but I'm generally fine with that as in the first two games it's resulted in some cheesy elements that turn them into the kind of stories that I happen to love. But here that took a turn, where they decided to go for something more complicated than just murder and didn't really seem to put in an effort in dealing with that change well.

I think some of the notes are fantastic, for what it's worth. But those also tend to be the ones that are about, again, just murder (though in a tragic parent and child context). It's mostly the Warriors, their backstories, and how rushed the delivery of them is (at least where I am now, early in chapter 4) that really bothers me about the game.
 
The discussion here makes me realize how poorly handled the discussion about child abuse is in this game.

Or is there anything substantial that I'm missing? I don't want to jump to conclusions but IMO the game does not discuss these topics but rather references them in an in-your-face manner. It's like the writers got introduced to these topics, were fascinated and decided do throw everything in one game without much thought. The discussions the Danganronpa games provide do not do the heavy subjects they handle any justice at all.

I think the (chapter 5 spoilers)
notes found in the kids' rooms as well as the notes left by their parents
are legit good discussion points, but other than that it's not really tackled with much subtlety.

And honestly, I do think there's value in portraying it in an in-your-face way becasue it makes the moments when it is handled seriously more effective, at least to me. But I also like drastic tone-shifts, so maybe I can't approach this from an unbiased viewpoint.
 

Corpekata

Banned
About to finish this and yeah, I kinda regret playing this. At least I had some foresight to buy this physical so I can resell it. I usually am too lazy with Vita games and go digital.

When I'd first heard of this I was worried it would be really light on story in favor of mediocre shooting. Instead it's really heavy on a largely boring story to support those shooting mechanics.

God I hope Number 3 isn't bogged down by trying too hard to tie into the overall "lore" of the story so far. It's becoming an albatross for the series.
 
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