Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

I thought I knew what I was getting myself into booting up Danganronpa V3 the first time. And to be fair, I was mostly right. What makes Danganronpa tick is a very specific list of qualities that can't be changed without someone somewhere decrying it as "not a real one", so by this third main game (and fourth overall) not much has changed mechanically. As well, the same bombast and style are still present (read: right up in your face) so it may seem hard to differentiate this third game from it's two predecessors. The changes are there, however, in small tweaks to existing activities, new pieces of the signature "Class Trials", and in a story that's somehow so much zanier than the first two games that it leaves me in a position of wondering just how can they one up themselves. Can they even? Should they? Basically, it all comes down to that ending, and a what a ridiculous trip it is...

The core conceit remains the same for regarding the set up: you are one of sixteen high school students trapped in a complex resembling a school and forced to play a killing game overseen by Monokuma, a seemingly walking, talking stuffed bear. With the promise of being freed from the game if they successfully murder one of their classmates and get away with it, the students become paranoid, and give in to their worst instincts and feelings to try and survive when faced with a lifetime of confinement in the school. That, and the fear that if they wait too long, they may become a victim themselves. Also like the previous games, the students in question are all 'Ultimate' students, the best of the best at their given craft or talent, ranging from the Ultimate Magician, to the Ultimate Tennis Pro, to the Ultimate Astronaut. Starting off on the right foot, V3 features probably the best protagonist of the series to date, a character that's not just there to be the player surrogate, instead someone who actively grows and develops as the story progresses. Joining Monokuma for the first time are his "kids" the Monokubs, five colorful smaller bears that also help run the academy as well as the class trials.

The gameplay loop also remains largely the same, and this is mostly done through visual novel dialogue scenes. Every chapter features some plot developments to open up with, there's free time to spend with classmates and learn about their backstories, a murder will happen, you will investigate, there will be a trial, and finally more plot at the conclusion. It wasn't broke, it didn't need fixing. One feature I appreciate, even if I didn't actually use it, is that like the Silent Hill games there is a separation between action difficulty and the logic/puzzle difficulty. This comes into play during the Class Trials, the meat of the game as they are the only places where there is actual challenge and the possibility of fail-states.

The evidence collected throughout your murder investigation become 'Truth Bullets' used to shoot down false statements during the bulk of the trials. Thankfully, the ability to collect one statement from your classmates and convert it into a single use bullet for that debate has been removed and instead replaced with perjury, the ability to use your Truth Bullets to lie if it serves your needs to push the conversation where it needs going. This, in addition to being able to use your evidence to agree with others, keeps the debates from being the same thing over and over, even if they are very fun. Sadly, the mini-games are still here, and they still mostly suck. There's a bad Crazy Taxi knock-off, a tile matching game that's just a bore, a game where the class is divided into two teams and you must shoot down multiple arguments in a specific order, and, of course, Hangman's Gambit. For the life of me I will never understand how Hangman's Gambit keeps making it into these games, and who the hell thinks this is fun. Now the letters are obscured by darkness, with limited opportunities to illuminate the field so you can see the letters needed to spell word or phrase your trying to find and uggghhhhh! The clues are never enough to truly help you figure out what concept or word the game wants you to find without just blindly guessing on the first few letters until you can parse out the rest. With how fun and rewarding the contradiction spotting is in the Non-Stop Debates, as well as the manic and exciting new Mass Panic Debates where three people are talking over each other, the inclusion of these mini-games continues to baffle me. Especially with how arbitrary they usually are.

One more more small nit to pick: the audio quality of the base game. Even with the digital version of the game on Vita - already upwards of three gigabytes - there is an extra optional "high quality audio" patch to download that's an additional gig and half of space. Four and half gigabytes is enormous for a Vita game, and even the physical cart is going to need the patch because the audio, especially the voice acting, is garbage without it. Another technical note worth bringing up (although this is also something I never really used), it seems as though a lot of the touch functionality has been taken out of the Vita version. Maybe I'm mistaken, or it's in a menu somewhere, but the tutorials didn't mention them, and the few times I tried just to see didn't seem to do anything. If that's a factor, keep that in mind, but it wasn't something I particularly missed.

These small issues are noticeable, or stick in my craw due to the vendetta-like hate I've developed for them over three games now, but I can't stress enough that I do really like the game, and would easily call it my favorite of the franchise to date. This cast of characters is the best yet - with the best protagonist as mentioned above - and the story is interesting from front to back. And then there's the ending. The bizarre final chapter is sure to be the most divisive part of the whole package, possibly even to the point of turning people away, but even as someone who was not a fan of the way the first game ended, I can say that I loved it. Not every part of it, the investigation phase has some extra bits thrown in that were unnecessary, but the actual reveal of the obligatory third act twist is so deliciously insane I can't help but applaud Spike Chunsoft and the Danganronpa Team for going with it. In a way, there is an almost Black Mirror-like quality to the information it expects you to just roll with. I don't want to dwell on it for fear of saying too much, but when I was wondering how this game would set itself apart when so much of what makes Danganronpa Danganronpa is set in stone, this is what will define this third installment for years to come. And as such, maybe there shouldn't be more. Not to say I wouldn't play another some years down the road if it were to happen, but we don't really need another one. Although it certainly didn't seem like this was the goal going in, Danganronpa V3 could very easily serve as the coda to the series if it had to.

Small changes to quality of life stuff like making checking Truth Bullets easier can easily be overshadowed by the strength of the story and characters, but the easy way the game plays for how complicated and niche it can be to explain go a long way. Danganronpa V3 is as close to a perfection of the formula as we may ever get, and I'm thrilled to have had the ride and would happily see it called here. If there is ever to be more, however, I'd still very much be interested. Danganronpa is always a wacky, tense ride through a kaleidoscope of anime murder that nothing else really offers. As the third game, despite what Spike Chunsoft and NIS America might have tried to say, it's probably for the best that you've played the first two (and you should because those are good too). And if you have, I'd say there's no reason not to check out this one, as it is one of the best experiences I've had in games all year. And no matter what you think, it'll will stay with you after you're done.