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Finished Danganronpa AE: Ultra Despair Girls

All in all it's a pretty decent horror-adventure with 3rd person shooter+puzzle elements, set in the Danganronpa universe between the events of DR1 and DR2.

It manages to be the darkest entry in the series since the setting takes place during the actual Biggest, Most Horrifying blah blah blah where piles of bodies and blood litter the streets. This is what the Danganronpa universe is like when it's not being isolated to just ~15 students and their killing game and Class Trial shenanigans, though there are plenty of people out there who despise this game because of this.

While lacking the plentiful & colorful cast that the mainline games had, DRAE does what it could with its set of characters. The star duo Komaru & Toko have their relationship developed quite well 'cept with a few cheesy cheese throughout. What starts off as mutual survival buddies slowly transforms into genuine care for each other eventually blossoming into true friendship after some pretty tense trust moments. Toko was a pretty meh character in general from DR1, but DRAE successfully manages to make her likeable. Komaru herself is average with a typical normal-girl-becomes-badass development which for some reason warranted the game to give her movement animations an update once she woman'ed up >.>

The core five kiddies being the main villains... while they were extremely annoying as hell at first, over time I was able to take them a bit more seriously and appreciate their role in the story. I don't think the game ever labeled them as such, but I'm dubbing them the Lil' Remnants of Despair. Seriously, if these kids were able to create such a shitstorm I don't even want to imagine what the true Remnants of Despair were doing around the rest of the world ._.

And again, fk Nagito. That brilliant mother eff.


~~
As usual, Danganronpa excels with its climaxes & final confrontations, seriously these are always a joy to play through.

Monaca bringing Komaru to despair was nicely executed, especially with how the game repeatedly gives you the same end-game choice only to lock you into the 'wrong' one once Komaru gets Heroic BSOD'ed.

Also, the master plan of creating

Spoiler

The Successor, Komaru

was, all things considered, a pretty cool plan; just imagine how crazy things would get in the DR universe if Makoto had to deal with that. It would take the Hope vs. Despair battle to a whole new level (not really, but it would be better than recycling the battle amiright). 

And because we gotta have connections and tie-ins, the endgame animation cutscenes involving certain 'Kumas and a very special someone was a fantastic way to bridge this game with DR2.


~~
Highlights reel

Spoiler

Nagito is Three Steps Below Vomit in a Toilet.
xi1IUCQ.jpg (960×544)
...Da FK is up with your face yo

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Damn straight. 


Komaru vs. Tok- Genocide Jack?!
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IT'S KILL TIME!!! WHO ARE YOU KILLING?! ME? WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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This was a very hyped up battle for me ^_^


Shirokuma
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Here's my thought process on this character: 1) Beginning: Obviously a bad guy 2) Middle: Wait, he's actually good guy? 3) Blow up: OMG HE'S A GOOD GUY AFTER ALL 4) Post blow up: YAY HE LIVED 5) Ending: ...Well, shit, I got played ._.


Obvious Final Boss is Obvious

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This thing was soo obviously going to be the final boss. And it was a pretty fun final fight all things considered.


tOO mUCH jUNKO
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I doubt even the Ultimate Photographer worshipped Junko this hard... but who knows ._.


Sayaker...?
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...Too bad Sayaka's dead. Btw, I wonder how this game would be if Sayaka had Toko's role... Meh, wouldn't work huh >.>


But Thou Must

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NO! Don't break it! I'm tired of that looping bad end!

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FUHHHHHH


Pretty Nipples

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GIRL YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO BE MAKIN' COMMENTS LIKE THAT LOL

 

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Trails of Cold Steel arrived yesterday, so I've just started that. But also flu season arrived as well and I was too sick to play it properly yesterday. 

It's been pretty fun as I expected and the English voices aren't that bad either, almost on same level as Persona dubs. I think I'll just enjoy the game slowly trying to talk to pretty much everyone.

The only minor complaints I have are that the loading times are pretty longish and the text pretty small on Vita. Oh, and that they made the prologue dungeon a complete sausage fest. I know it makes sense that girls would team up with girls and boys with boys in orientation, but I still wanted to play as the girls... :amane: (I always use as many female party members as I can, only really cool male characters or balance reasons can change that)

I'll also try to challenge myself to take random screenshots of my experiences, inspired by Eclipsed stories. It looks fun, but I can't promise anything.  

 

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Just try not to take Screenshots during realtime cutscenes and whatnot if you find some good ones that you want to highlight, they'll detract from the gameplay experience :sachi: 

~~
Should be able to dedicate time to Trails in the Sky now, though since I'm also gonna try to play 9,9,9 it's a coin toss which one I'll stick with //canonlyplayonethingatatime

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2 hours ago, Shikomizue said:

Started playing Persona 4 about a week ago, thought it would be a good idea to not level up or explore until the last day and got stuck on the first boss. So I had to go back a week and am training for that boss.

Hahahaha quite the bad idea! P4 is a classic "you are gonna need to form" JRPG.

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The fox doesn't show up until a bit later. And it's a pretty bad value until you get a few s-link ranks for her. Yes, there's a social link with a fox. On your first playthrough, you'll take a couple days to beat each dungeon and that's fine. Take a third if you have to, even. You won't be maxing all of your s-links the first time around unless you really sperg out and follow some guides, and you shouldn't be concerned about losing days. That said, you also shouldn't really need to grind, as in running around just to kill monsters. As long as you're fusing new personas somewhat often, just getting to the end of each dungeon without skipping fights is enough to beat that dungeon's boss without much difficulty. Just don't forget to fuse.

edit: By first boss, you don't mean shadow Chie, do you? If you're struggling with that fight, then you probably just need to learn to abuse elemental weaknesses.

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3 hours ago, Decay said:

The fox doesn't show up until a bit later. And it's a pretty bad value until you get a few s-link ranks for her. Yes, there's a social link with a fox. On your first playthrough, you'll take a couple days to beat each dungeon and that's fine. Take a third if you have to, even. You won't be maxing all of your s-links the first time around unless you really sperg out and follow some guides, and you shouldn't be concerned about losing days. That said, you also shouldn't really need to grind, as in running around just to kill monsters. As long as you're fusing new personas somewhat often, just getting to the end of each dungeon without skipping fights is enough to beat that dungeon's boss without much difficulty. Just don't forget to fuse.

edit: By first boss, you don't mean shadow Chie, do you? If you're struggling with that fight, then you probably just need to learn to abuse elemental weaknesses.

Pffft. If I meant Shadow Chie then I wouldn't be playing video games, I'd be too disappointed in myself to even play.

I went into this thinking it would be quick since it's the first dungeon and all. Big mistake as I now know. Thanks for the tips, I'll be sure to take my time.

I'm also noticing there are a lot of people who've played P4 here.

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12 hours ago, Eclipsed said:

Just try not to take Screenshots during realtime cutscenes and whatnot if you find some good ones that you want to highlight, they'll detract from the gameplay experience :sachi: 

~~
Should be able to dedicate time to Trails in the Sky now, though since I'm also gonna try to play 9,9,9 it's a coin toss which one I'll stick with //canonlyplayonethingatatime

I don't think that's going to be problem. Most of the time I just forget I'm supposed to take screenshots, that's how in to Cold Steel I am.

I'm around chapter 2 and it's getting better all the time. The combat becomes more interesting as it gets more varied and story is starting to get going as well. I really like how slowly they handle the integration process between the students in Class VII. It's not just "let us all be friends" and I love it. The relationships and various factors behind them are delightfully complicated. 

The game looks pretty good as well. The location are really pretty and there's lot of thought put into little details. Good example is the following scenery shot from chapter 1, where a lone train passes by in the distance, accompanied by satisfying clatter of railways that really adds up to the atmosphere. 

Spoiler

Xoe2K5g.jpg

Also Laura is the best, but I don't have any good captions of showing her Lady Knight personality yet.

And the side characters, the other students of the Academy are really interesting bunch as well. Talking to random NPCs was fun in Trails in the Sky, but Cold Steel takes it to a whole new level. They all have such silly and interesting things to say. I keep finding new favorite NPCs all the time. 

Spoiler

gF7izHB.jpg

Becky, her charming Scottish? accent and her hilariously blunt personality.

hkc3g9N.jpg

Says the girl who gets lost in her own school.

zpDnv1q.jpg

Sara doesn't quite qualify as a random NPC, but she's hilarious anyways.

 

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7 minutes ago, Shikomizue said:

Pffft. If I meant Shadow Chie then I wouldn't be playing video games, I'd be too disappointed in myself to even play.

I went into this thinking it would be quick since it's the first dungeon and all. Big mistake as I now know. Thanks for the tips, I'll be sure to take my time.

I'm also noticing there are a lot of people who've played P4 here.

Well, P4 (P4G) is one of the best JRPGs that are around, so it's much of a surprise to see that most JRPG fans have played it, are playing it, or plan to.

7 minutes ago, Turnip Sensei said:

I don't think that's going to be problem. Most of the time I just forget I'm supposed to take screenshots, that's how in to Cold Steel I am.

I'm around chapter 2 and it's getting better all the time. The combat becomes more interesting as it gets more varied and story is starting to get going as well. I really like how slowly they handle the integration process between the students in Class VII. It's not just "let us all be friends" and I love it. The relationships and various factors behind them are delightfully complicated. 

The game looks pretty good as well. The location are really pretty and there's lot of thought put into little details. Good example is the following scenery shot from chapter 1, where a lone train passes by in the distance, accompanied by satisfying clatter of railways that really adds up to the atmosphere. 

  Hide contents

Xoe2K5g.jpg

Also Laura is the best, but I don't have any good captions of showing her Lady Knight personality yet.

And the side characters, the other students of the Academy are really interesting bunch as well. Talking to random NPCs was fun in Trails in the Sky, but Cold Steel takes it to a whole new level. They all have such silly and interesting things to say. I keep finding new favorite NPCs all the time. 

  Hide contents

gF7izHB.jpg

Becky, her charming Scottish? accent and her hilariously blunt personality.

hkc3g9N.jpg

Says the girl who gets lost in her own school.

zpDnv1q.jpg

Sara doesn't quite qualify as a random NPC, but she's hilarious anyways.

 

Love how Sara's almost always teasing and/or joking about her and Rean being lovey dovey.

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12 hours ago, Decay said:

The fox doesn't show up until a bit later. And it's a pretty bad value until you get a few s-link ranks for her.

Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone. The Persona 4 fox was female, in your mind? I had always been thinking of it as male, but not for any particular reason (I guess aside from the inherent bias from being male). For what it's worth, the Megami Tensei Wiki apparently doesn't make any call, consistently referring to the fox as "it". Granted, it's got a heart-covered red bandana thing (where I definitely didn't notice the hearts until I looked it up just now), but that could have come from anywhere; maybe it's a metrosexual fox.

At any rate, regarding the advice not to sweat losing a day or two: while that's fair, it causes me stress to knowingly be sub-optimal, so I always tried to clear the dungeons in a single day. But if you're not crazy like me (in that regard, at least) and that doesn't bother you, then yeah, it's no big deal to lose a day here or there.

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Shiko, welcome to one of the most memorable gaming experiences you will ever have. 

Also, need to farm? Lol what, I only farmed for two dungeons, and then again, that was just playing through the dungeon again once. Got me through everything on Normal. I hate grinding and I did not think that P4G made you grind at all. (dungeon sections were not very good overall until the last third

since dungeons gain emotional significance by then 

though) 

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1 hour ago, Funyarinpa said:

Shiko, welcome to one of the most memorable gaming experiences you will ever have. 

Also, need to farm? Lol what, I only farmed for two dungeons, and then again, that was just playing through the dungeon again once. Got me through everything on Normal. I hate grinding and I did not think that P4G made you grind at all. (dungeon sections were not very good overall until the last third

 

Hidden Content

though) 

Well, I have the original version, so maybe they're also different in that way.

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Early on in the game I made the sacrifice and forked out LOTS of cash just so I could finish the dungeons in one day. Probably not totally wise, but ...

1 hour ago, Eclipsed said:

Huh. Maybe I should join the P4G bandwagon huh :makina:

 

It's a solid dungeon crawler with dating sim mechanics. What more could you possibly wa-

... 

Oh, I see. Well, there's no erotica in it so you're out of luck.

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53 minutes ago, Funyarinpa said:

You better fucking do so ASAP. I thought I couldn't like JRPGs, P4G is the best game I played last year. 

P4 is the best game I played... well, I won't say EVER because I've also played Super Mario World, but man, I really love that game. Most hardcore weebs seem to like P3 more, I also loved P3, but not like I did P4. 

3 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone. The Persona 4 fox was female, in your mind? I had always been thinking of it as male, but not for any particular reason (I guess aside from the inherent bias from being male). For what it's worth, the Megami Tensei Wiki apparently doesn't make any call, consistently referring to the fox as "it". Granted, it's got a heart-covered red bandana thing (where I definitely didn't notice the hearts until I looked it up just now), but that could have come from anywhere; maybe it's a metrosexual fox.

I'm not entirely sure why I think of it as a female, it just feels right.

Here's a fanart of Funky Student riding Mysterious Fox.

1881390-fox.jpg

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12 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Early on in the game I made the sacrifice and forked out LOTS of cash just so I could finish the dungeons in one day. Probably not totally wise, but ...

It's a solid dungeon crawler with dating sim mechanics. What more could you possibly wa-

... 

Oh, I see. Well, there's no erotica in it so you're out of luck.

Dealbreaker. kk ty I'll hold off until later*

~~
Ye, reason I'm stalling p4g so much is 'cos I don't want to fall victim to "ITS DA BEST tHING EVERRRRR' and then crap on any future games I end up playing on my Vita. Let me have fun with my shat Nep games first, then I'll get to the good stuff :SmallKappa::Keepo::Kappa:~ jeez they really wanted to add more kappa emotes huh ._.

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Trails of Cold Steel is just too good. I have the "damn I like this game"-feeling going on all the time.

The main party members have their characters fleshed out and presented so well that you grow really fond of them, quite like in Persona. But on top of having awesome main characters the side characters and the whole world is really fleshed out. Too often in games it feels like everything revolves around you, but in Cold Steel there's this feeling that you're just one small part of the world. Whether it's new political movements, seeing your neighbors flirting every morning or listening someone from other class ranting about new radio program; it all adds up to this wonderful sense almost living game world.

Talking to every single character is really worth it. There's so many cool little details you'll miss if you don't. I learned my lesson in Chapter 2 when I realized I missed two chapters of Red Moon Rose. (I wanted to read them...)

Some scenery shots:

Spoiler

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The plains are so pretty... And riding with horses is so much fun.

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 And other random shots

Spoiler

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Bad life advice...

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and good life advice.

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This kid knows what's up.

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I'm not sure if liking Dogi is either good or bad taste. I could have at least understood if it was Adol, as he's quite the looker, but Dogi? To each his own, I guess. 

fnwtgTt.jpg

The 3D-models for monsters look surprisingly impressive.

 

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