@khoofia_pika said:
@charizard1605 said:
The second game is a far ballsier and better story, though. It at least actually bothers to clean up after its mess (and also cleans up some of the first game's mess), rather than just going, 'eh, f*ck it, we can't think of any answers to all these questions we've been raising through the course of the story, so we're just going to let it be.'
Also, hell yeah it was over the top. DanganRonpa is synonymous with over the top.
Sure, it's ballsier, but mostly it just rides on what DanganRonpa 1 already did. I think in terms of atmosphere, the first game absolutely knocked it out of the park, and the second game doesn't hold a candle to it in this department. Actually falls flat here. Then there's the sheer impact of the first game. Sure, it's unfair to criticise the second game for this, purely because it's a sequel, but DR1 just hits you right in the face so many times with its sheer brilliance at times, whereas in DR2, those moments are mostly more of the same.
Then there's the characters. Of course, this is purely opinion based, but I enjoyed DR1's characters much, much better. The only one in DR2 who comes close to being as interesting and well developed as Byakuya and Kyoko is Nagito (although Hajime is admittedly a vastly better protagonist than Makoto).
And I'm not criticising DR2's ending for being over-the-top. I'm criticising it for being too OTT, even by Dangan-Fucking-Ronpa standards. The last 30 minutes or so were a full on sappy, emotionally charged climax that took its narrative escalation to just a whole new level. I'm not saying I disliked it, I just felt that Chapter 6 was building up to an excellent climax with its mystery-thriller air, and the sudden tonal shift just sort of dulled the impact somewhat.
Well yeah, DaganRonpa 2 succeeds precisely because it rides off of what DanganRonpa 1 did, and subverts those expectations every step of the way. That doesn't make it inferior, it just makes it what it is- it's not a statement of quality, it's a statement as is. For what it's worth, DanganRonpa 2 does what it sets out to do far better than the first game did what it set out to do.
I agree the first game's atmosphere is far better than the second game's, a tropical island can never be as claustrophobic as a locked down building. But atmosphere is the only area where the first game wins, alongside maybe freshness.
I also find DanganRonpa 2's cast to be superior. Makoto doesn't hold a candle to Hajime, Chiaki is far better and easier to get attached to than Kyoko, and Nagito is one crazy son of a bitch. But eh, this is opinions based as you said, so whatever.
And I think the ending was too over the top too, but I appreciated that. I appreciated the constant escalation. I appreciated the constant 'no, f*ck you, literally everything you took for granted is wrong' the game pulls, first about the setting, then about the plots, then about the cast, then about the first game's cast, and then about your own character. It's pretty damn awesome, and I think it fit the tone of the game perfectly. I didn't think the impact of anything was dulled, either- I found that as the game slowly brought everything together, not just from the second game, but also from the first, I was in awe of just how tightly told the story is, and how well it was thought out too (even if the second game retcons a lot of the first).
I never wanted DanganRonpa 2 to be a mystery thriller, that's not what it was. The first game was that, and it more or less did that very well. DanganRonpa 2 was something else entirely, something far more primal, and it pulled that off with great style. It's a great story, an absolutely essential for fans of the first game (the vice versa is also true). In the end, DanganRonpa 2 also made me enjoy the first game far more in hindsight, because of how much of that game's mess it cleared up.
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