[NOTE: THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME]

I finished Danganronpa V3 about a week ago and wanted to know what the rest of the community thought about the game. I have a lot of thoughts about this game and don't necessarily want to write about everything in this game, so here are a couple of main thoughts I have.

First off, the first class trial was a hell of a thing. Maybe it was because of how obvious the first class trial was in Trigger Happy Havoc, but I was going into the trial pretty confident Shuichi was the killer who was trying to frame Kaede. The subtle clues Kaede was plotting the murder while you were controlling her, having all of the marketing show her as the main character, and the way they seamlessly switch the game's focus from Kaede to Shuichi was great. Overall this is probably one of my favorite class trials in the series, because of all of that stuff around the edges and one of the better subversion of expectations I've seen in a game.

The third trial with Angie and Tenko is probably my least favorite in the series. I know they were going for something meta with Danganronpa 2, by having another third class trial with two murders, but why did they have to do it yet again? Besides that predictability, the third trials also seem the most removed from the motives and the larger themes of the game. Like going from Kaede and Kirumi and their motivations to Korekiyo, who basically just turned out to be a serial killer, felt like a step down. I also had some trouble processing some aspects of this case. Like how they made a big deal about how nobody could have killed Tenko because it was dark (couldn't the killer just be hidden under the floor boards before the room was darkened?) and how Korekiyo set up the murder in front of three other people (like nobody saw him pull out and then hide away the sickle?). On top of that, I completely forgot about the lying mechanic during this trial, so at some point I had to brute force my way through every combination multiple times, before looking up a walk through to figure out what I was missing.

Besides how the third trial just felt clunky and didn't have a great payoff, I thought the rest of the trials were really good.

Going into V3, I knew to expect some kind of crazy with the ending, but I can honestly say I was not expecting that. It was especially surprising for somebody to finally say "Danganronpa" in one of these games. I haven't heard any thoughts about the true nature of Danganronpa or the "V3" in the title, but I kinda loved that ending. To be honest, a part of that is because I thought about how this might be my last Danganronpa game. I sincerely love these games, but for whatever reason the despair part of this game was getting to me. A lot of my favorite characters were killed fairly early on, and I was definitely getting this "I've done this type of thing before" feeling while playing it. That's not to say I found any part of the game boring or uninteresting, but rather it felt like my excitement for this franchise has piqued, and it felt like this should be the ending. So by the time I got to the sixth trial, and they revealed this was the 53rd killing game, everybody on the outside world got off on the hope and despair aspects of the game, and the only way to end Danganronpa was to stop playing the game, it was simultaneously a crazy, meta ending, but it also scratch that itch I had about how it was probably time for Danganronpa to end. And if one were to truly end a franchise, that is certainly one crazy way to do so.

I haven't made up my mind on how to rank the franchise. Right now, my gut says:

1. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
2. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
3. Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Although I still really like it, I think Danganronpa V3 may be my least favorite game in the series. As I mentioned previously, pretty much all of my favorite characters (besides Maki) were the first to die. If some of those people made it to the end, maybe I would like this game more. At the end of the day, I really liked how they ended Danganronpa V3 and hope Team Danganronpa works on something else going forward. Similarly, I am also a big fan of the Zero Escape games. However, I feel like there is only so much you can do with crazy stories like Zero Escape and Danganronpa. Since they basically pulled a BioShock Infinite at the end of this game, it seems like this is actually the end of the series(?).

Anyways, what did you guys think of this game?

Agreed completely on the first trial, I thought I had it all figured out with Shuichi, and was fairly shocked at the switching main characters twist. It was simultaneously really cool, but also a little disappointing given that I thought Kaede was a well written and funny protagonist. Honestly I remembered thinking the "YOU are the one who committed a murder and you just didn't see it as the player" bit was something they were going to do with Danganronpa 2, but it still floored me here.

The second trial was a fairly by the numbers Danganronpa class trial, but I enjoyed the convoluted, but not insanely incomprehensible aspect to the way this murder played out.

The third trial was my least favorite by far as well. I actually was surprised that they killed someone else after the investigation had started, and they did get me GOOD with that fake out death scene of Kokichi, I remember shouting NO WAY ARE THEY KILLING HIM THIS EARLY! But yeah I was completely lost on how Tenko's murder could have possibly played out, and thought there was no way that it could be korekiyo because of how obvious of a suspect he was. Then when he was found out as Tenko's murderer, I once again assumed that he couldn't have been the one who got Angie, because again, it would be so obvious. I also really liked the idea of Korekiyo still being with the group and being a known murderer who had not received any kind of Comeuppance, and seeing how the group dynamics would change, so a disappointment that he was the culprit.

Fourth trial was also one of my favorites, I just loved the concept of it. The virtual world was very cool and a fun concept for the murder. This was also the most sad I have ever felt at the end of any trial, even worse than the end of the fifth in Danganronpa 2.

The fifth trial was pretty fun as well, though I remember being stumped in a number of different parts of this trial. The whole Exisal "who's the victim, who's the culprit" setup was quite fun as well.

The ending/6th trial was probably the best of the entire series. I remember thinking the past games had some good ending twists but never really felt like it stuck the landing, this one did such an excellent job with closing things out. It takes some real confidence and commitment to go with an ending like that, but I really think they pulled it off. When they first revealed the whole thing was fake and completely broke the fourth wall, I was laughing hysterically. loved seeing the old characters return with there voices except for poor Hajime/Johnny B. The shift away from the traditional hope/despair stuff was definitely necessary, as well as separating this story from the Hope's Peak one. I do think the pacing in this trial was bad at times, especially at the very end, they could have found ways to shorten things up. But overall, easily the best ending to any of the Danganronpas.

If I were to order the series, (I just played one and two on the 1.2 reload version, so they're all pretty fresh) I would go:

1. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

2. Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

3. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

I actually have a lot of the same feelings about V3 that you mentioned above.

I heard a lot from fans, who played the Japanese version, that the ending ruined the game for them but honestly I loved it. While the ending was happening I kept thinking: this super meta Turman Show style ending is practically making fun of how the series has become so reliant on mind-bending twists while also doing some commentary on how it is impossible to keep a series like Danganronpa going indefinitely. I felt that the 3rd chapter was a very by the numbers Danganronpoa mystery as well but after the ending I started thinking if that was intentional, like the game was trying to point out that if the series kept going on forever it would just start repeating itself. The game even draws attention to the fact that they are doing the double murder thing again and even does a fake-out where you think its become a triple murder when you see Kokichi in a pool of blood. I thought the ending really put the whole game into a different context, just like a good twist should. Honestly the only thing that could ruin the ending for me is if Spike Chunsoft actually does make another Danganronpa game after this, it would deflate the ending's impact completely.

Also, on a different note, was I the only person who liked Miu? I was really bummed out when she died in the chapter 4.

I know the ending to the game was/is considered pretty controversial. A very love it or hate it. With, as I expected after playing it most people who disliked it feeling like the game developers were pointing fingers at the players, which I didn't see at all. (Given the last 'boss fight' was you literally fighting the audience). I have read, and can see the point of, a few people with more nuanced reasons for disliking the games ending via it simply being a bit too much. Too meta, etc.

Personally, I main-lined the last two chapters late at night and early into the morning hours, and by the time I got to the ending, I was I think in the perfect head-space to get an absolute kick out of the whole ride. I 'got it' right when I was suppose too, ala the "do you want to save?" screen got me actively wanting to hit no, etc. I had to be in a loopy adrenaline fueled brain-state to get there? But I was, so it was great.

Honestly for me V3 ranks above the other two games, easily. Which goes pretty much in order, V3, 2, 1. The games got progressively better as the writing got better. I pretty much had the murders figured out all the way through the first game save maybe 1 or 2, often before the trial even started. Lessening the impact. It was about 50/50 for 2, but I liked that cast way more in general so I was invested in seeing them pull through, and the fact they all make it out at the end made me happy. (Thus I was cool with the Hope Arc from the anime) .

V3 though? Maybe I was just dense, but there were multiple twists in ever case I did not see coming until the characters in the story started to piece it together. The entire play-through for me was a joint venture, I felt like I was solving the cases right along with the cast and it was a great feeling. The class trials felt like real mysteries to uncover and, in general played out a lot more fun. The driving mini-game can burn in a garbage fire, but other then that I had very few complaints about the game over-all. It also helps that I honestly didn't expect there to be a mastermind this time, so when it came back around to providing one..well I didn't see it coming. That too might have helped my enjoyment of the game.

I will say I agree, they killed off some of the better characters in V3. I think the game would have benefited greatly if we'd had a surviving cast of 4 or 5 instead of the 3 we end up with. Or maybe its just that aside from the two obvious leads, the mage-girl (names, I can't remember them) was not the cast-member I'd have chosen to let live? More then a few people come to mind I'd have rather see more from/have survived to the final act. Kebo's death at least I was totally in favor of, cause the foreshadowing "why don't you blow your core!" "Thats a cliche!" for me happen at the start of my final play-through of the game, so to have it paid off in the same session was gratifying.

Frankly, I just hope we get another game like this in the next few years. Not nearly enough good mystery/detective games IMO and this really scratched that itch for me.

Loved it. I personally found D2 a step down from D1 in nearly every way (the cast, the setting, the cases, the weird fanservice, the very very bad trial mini-games) and this game fixed all of those for me. Probably my favorite overall cast of the bunch.

The twist of the first trial was very cool, emotional, and unexpected (so much so that I chose literally everyone as the culprit before Kaede.) At the same time, the fact that the main series' first female protagonist was a fake-out rubbed me the wrong way. I probably would have preferred it if their roles had been reversed (though that might have been less emotionally impactful, because, eh, Shuichi) or if another girl had taken over for Kaede.

I thought the final case was brilliant. After the insane reveals at the end of the first game, it felt like there wasn't much left they could do to surprise the player. They did an admirable job expanding the story in further games, but the impact was definitely lessened. I definitely felt that with all the little story reveals in this game, that they were kind of interesting but that it partly felt like they were just going through the motions. So instead of risking disappearing up their own ass, they just threw all that shit out the window. It's completely nuts and I'm sure it pissed off a lot of people invested in the plot, but yeah, I thought it was genius.

Currently working on getting the platinum, and hoo boy, it's a lot more work than the previous two games.

@lentfilms: Yeah, Miu was one of my favorite characters. By the time I reached the fourth trial, I thought "Well, at least we still have Miu. Also, I'm liking Gonta more and more"...and then they were the next two people to die!

Generally I liked everybody enough or they had their own standout moments, but for me (and I assume most people) I have a tier list of characters for each game. For V3, basically all my top tier characters were dead. With the first and second game, the survivors felt like the people who should be there at the end of the game. On the other hand, when it got down to the last characters and Himiko, Keebo, and Tsumugi were still alive, I couldn't think about how a lot of the more interesting characters were out of the picture too soon.

@clagnaught: I actually thought the surviving D2 cast was the most random. Fuyuhiko made sense, but Kazuichi? Akane? Sonia? I mean, I quite liked Sonia, but they really felt like some of the more one-dimensional characters of the bunch.

@spunkyhepanda: Yeah Kazuichi is a really odd man out, but from what I remembered, I gravitated towards the rest of the cast.

Honestly probably my game of the year beating out Yakuza 0, Persona 5, BOTW and all of the other great games this year. I felt such a strong emotion during the first trail when they did the reveal of who the killer was. The ending was also incredible, probably my favorite ending from any medium. Literally was the MGS2 and Nier Automata levels of crazy. Kokochi was amazing too, what a strong character.

I fuckin' love the ending of this game so damn much.

I hate Kokichi more than any character of the last few years, maybe. Tentatively. He sucks.