Monday, 16 December 2013

Dark Souls Boss Profiles: Bed Of Chaos



Bed Of Chaos
HP: 1
Skills: Arm swipes*, Arm Smash, Scythe slash, Fireball rain, Flame pillars*
Souls: 60000

Difficulty: 2.5/5
Times died on 1st playthrough: 5



This is actually one of the most annoying fights in the game depending on how you trained yourself mechanically while playing it. You may be good enough to dodge incoming attacks from both Ornstein and Smough, or you may be able predict and counter every attack from The Four Kings, but nothings ever prepared you for the Bed Of Chaos. This is the first boss in the game that requires you to do nothing but dodge, run and jump. Fortunately for you this is the only boss in the game where you can make progress even when you die, but unfortunately, its also pretty damn cheap, because you'll be falling to your f**king death more than you will be actually dieing from its attacks. Practicing jumping before attempting this one, or you WILL rage.



Chop chop chop the branches.

There's really not much to this battle other than being a great wood chopping festival. During the entire fight you'll be running around to the 2 chop points, trying not to get hit. The attacks from the boss themselves aren't too devastating at first, but as you get rid of the 2 limbs at the 2 chop points, the boss's attacks become a lot more ferocious. When its 2 limbs are down, the entire boss room makes you feel like you're playing Touhou.


Arm Swipes* - The boss swings its arm horizontally, trying to hit you. These do moderate damage at best, but will knock you quite a ways back. This is a very cheap attack to deal with when there are a lot of holes on the floor, you'll EASILY get knocked into a hole and get killed. This happens even when you're blocking, so dodging them is the way to go.

Arm Smash - The boss smashes its arms on top of you, doing heavy damage. 

Scythe Slash - Every time you destroy one of the chop points, a scythe will spawn on the boss and it'll start slashing you with it. Its vertical but has a path of flame that appears behind it as an aftermath. Easy to dodge.

Fireball Rain - When both chop points are down and the boss has 2 scythes it'll start using this to flood the arena with mini danger zones. The fireballs alone don't do too much damage but can disrupt your footing.

Flame Pillars* - Rings of flame appear below your feet and will explode into deadly pillars after a few split seconds. Dodge away. These are especially dangerous when you're on your way to destroy the core of the Bed Of Chaos, there's nowhere to run or dodge in this situation.



The entirety of this boss is like a mini stage, think of it as "Dark Souls"'s answer to Dragon God from "Demons' Souls". The moment you enter the boss room, the boss starts to attack you. Your job is to get rid of 1 limb by chopping the branches around it and then chopping off the main root, then run to the other limb, get rid of that limb using the same method. Finally, a hole will break open at the central floor, opening up a branch that leads to the core of the boss. Jump onto the branch, enter the path, go pass even more branches, then hit the core once to defeat the boss.


The start of the battle is the easiest, as it only has its arms to swipe and smash you. These are easily avoided, and there are no obstacles on the map. Defeating the first limb will cause the room to begin collapsing. The floor will start to fill with holes, which falling down will mean instant death. A scythe will spawn on its back, gaining it access to a new attack, Scythe Slash, which should pose no problems as of yet. Its arm attacks get more dangerous, especially the swipes, since it has a good chance to knock you down into the holes. Note that your progress for the boss is now saved, so if you die and come back, the limb you just destroyed will remain so.


Back tracking to the start of the boss room without dieing will be quite a feat, and when you finally do so, you can make your way to the second limb. More holes will pop up, so be careful not to get swept into them by the arm attacks. Once you take down the second limb, your progress is saved once again, and the boss will spawn another scythe to attack you with. Dealing with 2 scythe attacks can be rather dangerous, so you can start to be wary of them for now. The map will also start spawning more holes than before and it will be VERY easy to loose your step and fall to your death now. It also gains 2 attacks, Fireball Rain, which will probably be slightly annoying, and Flame Pillars, a highly telegraphed move that hits for huge damage. Make sure you roll away from these while you can.


When you see this, its time to haul ass before the fire comes.

Your final step is to get back to the start of the boss room, and the central floor will crumble, revealing your path to victory. Jump onto the branch (I failed here so many f**king times), and start to haul ass. Because as you cut down your path to the main core, the Flame Pillars will still try to reach you. Take too long, and you'll receive damage from the pillars, either heavily damaging you or killing you. Once you are at the end, the core only needs one hit to take down.


With this, I've covered all the soul lords. Its time to end the game....to the Firelink Shrine! Talk to Frampt (or Kayle, if you decide to side with the Dark stalkers), and present all the soul lords to the lord vessel to open up the path to the Kiln Of The First flame, the final area in the game. Oh yes, the Bed Of Chaos gives you 60000 souls.


Peace.

Sunday, 15 December 2013

Yume Nikki

Gamespot Score: n/a

My Score: 8.5


(+) Pros: - Vast world for you to explore, - Behind each door in the dream world lies completely different and varied worlds, - Can be scary, creepy and ridiculous all at the same time, - Freedom to explore the areas at your own accord with no restrictions or hand holding, - Plenty of item effects change the gameplay drastically, leading to Easter eggs and plenty of hidden events, - A lot of content overall, with the time taken to find all items added in.

(-) Cons: - Story and ending is purely speculation based, - You may find yourself going in circles if you have no clue what you're doing.

Gameplay time: 10-20 hours (more if you want to do absolutely EVERYTHING in the game)






When it comes to pixel horror games, I've probably already played the best that the genre has to offer...that's what I thought before playing "Yume Nikki". I never did expect it to be better than "Ib", which was a masterpiece of a game, but I also never expected it to top other great games in the genre like "The Crooked Man" and "The Witch's House". However, that was not the case. "Yume Nikki" was different, WAY different from ANY of the pixel horror RPG maker games that I've played. Its massive, its overwhelming, its dark, and you'll never know what awaits you behind a door. There is no hand holding whatsoever, and you're thrown into the fray right off the bat, you will soon feel desperate trapped in the world of Madotsuki's dream, but you'll also feel intrigued. Intrigued to explore another area that you've yet to discover. This is "Yume Nikki", this is the very definition of the word "Dream", because you'll never know what's in there.


Story? Pah, there is no story in "Yume Nikki", which is another awesome and unique thing about it. Other pixel horror RPG maker games have always had deep stories that tried to engross you, but "Yume Nikki" is different. It depends on its MASSIVE world to suck you in, which it succeeds in doing. But because the game eventually ends, there clearly is something going on, just that the game doesn't explain anything WHAT-SO-EVER with text, so its highly speculation based. You just have to know, you're playing as a girl known as Madotsuki who's eternally trapped in her dream.


Welcome to Madotsuki's room.

The game flow of "Yume Nikki" is ridiculously simple, though you'll spend a lot of time trapped in this game flow. You start off in Madotsuki's room, and there's only 2 things you can do. Either you play on her NES and get a stupid mini game, or go to sleep and dive into her dream world, the meat of the main game itself. While in the dream world, your purpose is to visits the many different realms in the nexus, the center of the realms, and look for items. Looking for and finding all 24 items will  officially mark the end of the game, and you can choose to either end it, or continue exploring the realms of your own free will. The world is massive....like, ridiculous for a game of this genre. Its bigger than any of the pixel horror RPG maker worlds that I have experienced...without a doubt.


So the world is huge, so what can you expect of this huge world. Having a huge world in itself would be a demerit to the game if there was nothing to look at, or if the game itself had pretty boring or repetitive environments. Well, in Madotsuki's dream world, in the nexus area, there are 12 doors to 12 different realms, and that goes without saying, that there are 12 different locations in this game. 12 locations is a big deal, and to make it even more ridiculous, these 12 locations are different from one another, and as you explore deep into them, you discover even MORE areas from within these initial 12 realms. There's a door that leads to a forest, one that leads to a snow area, one that leads to a completely dark area, one that leads to some disco floor, etc etc. There's a lot to see, and there's more to see beyond these areas, which makes exploring the dream world exciting and fresh as step into each new door.


F**k the Numbers world. Why? I hate math.

"Yume Nikki" is classified as a pixel horror game for a reason, because for real, there are plenty of creepy moments in the game. Just look at this image above of the numbers world, if you ask me, I wouldn't want to go into that door. There are plenty of disturbing imagery in this game that can just be downright shuddering. There are no plain jump scares, but there are plenty of moments that just make you go "f**k this place", and you'll find yourself skittering away quickly. Its all in the atmosphere, and its easy to find yourself creeped out. There is no way to die in this game, but the Toringen serve as enemies that chase you all around. These are disgusting looking bird women that just want you gone...and well, honestly you'll just run like the wind when one's after you.


As mentioned earlier, 12 realms that open up into more areas that all link with one another sounds like an insanely big world, which it is, mind you. The beauty of "Mirai Nikki" is that the game never holds your hand. From the start it just throws you off into dream world, and you're left to fend for yourself, in front of 12 intimidating doors. You'll never know when to enter a door, hell, you won't even know where to go to find items, you'll get lost, you'll feel despair, and you WILL be hitting F9 COUNTLESS times to get yourself out of the dream world. But that's also part of the experience, you get to go where you want, see different things, adapt to the area, go to new areas and see new things, and much more. There's no knowing where you'll end up or what you'll find, and that is just exciting in a way.


What da fark?

The purpose of the game is to collect items within Madotsuki's dream, and there are 24 items overall. Items, when used, will grant a special effect to Madotsuki. Only 1 item can be used at a time, and the item effects vary greatly from one another. Some are purely there to change the visual around Madotsuki in some stupid way, but some are essential in opening new paths to exploring new places. Items like changing your hair color are just to change your look, and items like the Cat item will turn Madotsuki into a Cat girl, then USING the effect of the Cat girl Madotsuki will attract enemies to her. Then there are those items that allow you to change the environment drastically, like the Umbrella which magically spawns rain to put out fire, or Yuki-Onna, to make snow fall. Most of these items may be used for fun, but some of them are needed to get other items or unlock secret Easter egg events which are pretty awesome (I love the Mars event).


With the time frame you will need to get used to "Yume Nikki" as a game overall, you'll find yourself to have invested a lot of f**king time into the game if you decide the play the game without any help or guides. You'll take a good 4-5 hours getting into all 12 realms and seeing what they have to offer on the exterior, you'll take a couple hours more to find your first handful of items, you'll take another couple hours to actually memorize the layout of the realms, then from there, you can start mapping out these areas and start looking for the items that are really hard to look out for. I took a good 12 hours plus to find all the items WITH help online, and about another hour more to look for all the weird ass Easter eggs, once again, WITH the help of a guide.


If I had a dream of walking down an endless flight of stairs
with hands reaching out of nowhere, I'll shit myself.

Its hard to find anything bad about "Yume Nikki", being the game that it is. For one, the most obvious "negative" about the game is the fact that it doesn't have an obvious story to tell. You can piece things here and there together, but again, its all speculation. We'll never know who Madotsuki is and what kind of end befell her, its all speculation, there are a ton of theories on the Yume Nikki Wikia, but then again, take it all with a grain of salt. Another thing is the fact that you'll get lost SO easily. If you're a hardcore gamer, you won't mind this so much, but many people will resort to an FAQ really quickly, because its so easy to get lost and the game never holds your hand AT ALL. You could say that this was the first "Hard" pixel horror RPG maker game I played.


"Yume Nikki" is definitely one of the most unique and interesting experiences I've had in awhile. Its hella weird, its ridiculous, and I haven't seen anything like it in the realm of pixel horror RPGs. If you thought you've seen it all, you've never seen "Yume Nikki". Even if you're a fan of the more story driven, puzzle based experiences, this is still one you have to try for yourself.





Happy gaming!






Opening Songs
OP 1 - Dimension Tripper (Nao)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Neptune Sagashite (Afilia Saga)

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Episodes: 12



So, you know, being a typical closet otaku I've always took interest in the "Neptunia" franchise. Cute anime girls, weird skimpy outfits and magical girl esque transformations? Man these 3 things combined were almost enough to pull me to buy the PS3 games. However, the key word is ALMOST, because I was quickly dissuaded by the sub par scores the game got. It didn't even do that well on famitsu, FAMITSU! However, that didn't mean that I had given up all hope on the franchise. Despite it being sub par as a game franchise, I still wanted to discover the world of "Neptunia" (because, you know, the girls just looked too moe, and I saw tons of "fan service" images online), and that just meant that a huge smile was on my face when the animation was announced. This review is coming out of a guy who has NEVER played the "Neptunia" games, so keep that in mind. If you're into the core fan service anime like "Senran Kagura", you should already know what to expect with "Neptunia", because that's what it is.



See this cast? You know what you're getting yourself into.
"Dimension Tripper" from Nao is a pretty average song to me, but it fits as "Neptunia"'s opening theme so well that its not even funny. The entire feel of the song just fits the entire sci-fi theme that the anime has going, and you have this semi-high pitched pop tune that just makes everything go so smoothly. The ending song is better, in my opinion. Its "Neptune Sagashite" by Afilia Saga, and its a petty slow-mid tempo song. However, it speeds up a little bit and sounds pretty good, a far mark above the incredibly high pitched voice cutesy song that I had in mind.



Rating: 7.5/10



I know what many people will think going into "Neptunia", but I'll tell you right now, as an anime, its not that bad. In fact, I kind of liked it for what it is. The story isn't the anime's strong point, but what can you expect from an anime like this, it was pretty obvious from the get go that we were going to get a pretty sub par story at most. Everything else though, is on the higher end. The characters were super moe and pretty damn likable for the most part, except a small few (Blanc's twin sisters and Pische), and they vary greatly in personality, which keeps the show entertaining. The comedy is alright, you'll get a few easy chuckles out of the cheesiness that's present here, and the animation is quite solid. The fan service is honestly well done. Not only did most of the fan service segments feel, you know, "fan service"-y, but they were not over exaggerated. They were ridiculous (the eggplant scene was surprisingly arousing, lol), but not over exaggerated. And come on, the 4 goddesses getting bondaged by wires was pretty sexy.


HOLY TITS....need some help, Miss?


The story centers around 4 goddesses and their 4 governing nations. For a long time, wars have been fought by these 4 goddesses over share energy, a common resource that all the nations needed. However, one day they got tired of the fighting, and the 4 goddesses signed a truce, a peace treaty to end all wars and have share energy shared among the 4 nations. Neptune, the protagonist, is one of the 4 goddesses. Normally, she's known as Neptune, a lazy, easy going girl that likes to play games all f**king day like a hikkimori (me). As a goddess, she is known as Purple Heart, an elegant woman with purple hair, armor and a deadly long sword. As Neptune though, she has been playing too much games, and as a result, her people don't think too highly of her, which caused their respect for her to take a dip, which in turn caused Neptune's nation, Planeptune, to receive decreased share energy. To regain that lost share energy, Histoire, the navi behind Planeptune's share system, kicks Neptune and her sister out of the office and tells them to go do some work, which leads to some drastic situations.


As far as heavy fan service animes go, I think I'll take "Neptunia" over most of the other ones that I've watched before. Good fan service can be subjective, but I like how "Neptunia" was felt as an overall experience. The future similar animes with character casts having nothing but big busted females should take a note from "Neptunia" in appealing to the general male otaku demographic.


Peace.


Opening Songs
OP 1 - Birth (Eri Kitamura)


Ending Songs
ED 1 - Waranai Melody wo Utaidashimashita (Mikako Komatsu)


Genre: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Psychological

Episodes: 12


Very few anime get to move me to the verge of tears. As I said though, VERY FEW anime did, that means I got emotionally moved by anime quite a few times before, not that its surprising or anything. "Angel Beats" and "Anohana", just to name a few. "Sunday Without God" is going to be another one of those. Another one of those anime that feels unique, awesome and different, then it smacks you with an overly emotional moment and you cry at the screen. Yes, "Sunday Without God" is awesome that way, and you'll be pulled in by its strange and cruel world. A world so disturbing that you can't help but want to learn more. In fact, I'm yearning for a second season already, because its been quite awhile since I got so intrigued. "Sunday Without God" has a lot of potential to become  one of the better anime franchises out there, especially with so much hate on where anime is headed in general. The uber moe protagonist seems off-putting, but sticking with "Sunday Without God" will net you one of anime's finest experiences.


The feels...

The opening song gives off a very choir heavy feel at the start, and I listened in from there all the way. Its "Birth" by Eri Kitamura, and its definitely a very captivating song. However, this draws a lot from personal taste, I like songs with epic choir segments, and "Birth" has a mix of an anisong tune in there too. And it definitely fits an anime with the name "Sunday Without God". The ending song just fills me with nostalgia for no apparent reason. The song name is "Waranai Melody wo Utaidashimashita" by Mikako Komatsu, and once again, it fits for an anime like this. The song itself though sounds like something NirlLis (is this how you spell it?) would sing, you know, the group that did one of "Eureka Seven"'s opening themes.



Rating: 8.5/10



This is an easy recommendation to anyone who wants to look for a nice anime that different from what's available out there. As mentioned at the beginning, the uber moe main character might immediately put some people off, but deep within there's a lot of darkness, despair, emotion and innovation. "Sunday Without God" is like a blend of many different genres, and its hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of anime it is. The entire cast is pretty likable, though you'd have to put up with Ai's (the protagonist) annoying main character mindset for a little bit, and you'll grow to like them pretty quickly. The setting and lore of the anime is respectably well done, and there's a lot that you, as a viewer, will want to know. What's more, the different story arcs of the anime massively differ from one another, and as Ai is thrown into different situations, you get to see how the anime adapts to these new sections pretty well. Its a bizarre journey, to say the least.


Well, this is true...

The story talks about Ai Astin, a young girl grave keeper whom is a contradiction to the history of the world. 15 years ago, God abandoned the world, and turned the entire cycle of birth into nothing. Since that fateful day, no human has been able to reproduce whatsoever, turning the world into a pitiful state. As a result, humans can only be of age 15 or more, Ai is 12. Also, humans are unable to die since that fateful day, which gave birth to the meaning of "the dead". They are like zombies, but instead, when a human dies, they retain their sanity, and are aware of themselves being dead. But however, being dead people, they should not be allowed to roam the world, and as such, God created the grave keepers, a third party that involves burying dead people and helping them stay "truly dead". Ai is a 12 year old grave keeper...which is nonsensical when the facts of the world are taking into consideration. One day, a man known as Humpine Hambart intrudes on Ai's village and kills of its residents, and Ai is thought the truth of the world she lives in...


"Sunday Without God" is one of the more under appreciated anime of 2013, as far as I know. People know that its a great show, but not that many people know of it. Its shows like this that distinguish it from what the mainstream media thinks about anime (more bluntly, blood, action, boobs and romance). "Sunday Without God" throws you into a world of uncertainty and mystery. While it ends on a rather high note, it still manages to make the series as a whole very emotional to bear. Hell, you'll start feeling it on episode 3. I hope there's a season 2, because this anime has a HUGE amount of potential.


Peace.

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Danganronpa:Trigger Happy Havoc

Gamespot Score: n/a

My Score: 9.0


(+) Pros: - Amazing cast of extremely diverse characters, - Excellent cases that will challenge the minds of even the most methodical players, - Well padded game-flow and sequence for each chapter, - Incredibly in-depth investigation gameplay mechanics, - Class trials are intense as all hell and involve multiple interesting gameplay mechanics to function, - Wrapping up an entire class trial overall feels satisfying and sometimes uneasy, - Solid soundtrack during the majority of the game.

(-) Cons: - You need to play on Malicious difficulty to get the full experience.

Gameplay time: 10-20 hours





Okay, so ever since I've finished the game, I wanted to do the review for "Danganronpa". Why? Because its so damn amazing, one of the sleeper titles of the PSP. It never saw the light of day for a US  release...until next year where they'll be doing an enhanced port to the PS Vita. But me? Luckily I didn't have to wait that long, because the folks at "Project Zetsubou" (http://danganronpa.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/release-danganronpa-english-translation-v1-0/) did a KICKASS English translation patch of the game. Of course, I was among the fortunate folk that got to play the game in English, and holy F**K was I blown away. High school murder investigation PLUS badass court room action? Hell f**king yes, this was the game for me. If you ever thought the "Phoenix Wright" games were badass, you apparently haven't seen "Danganronpa", because ever since I've played this game, no other game has made me felt as badass. From now on, OBJECTION should be changed to SORE WA CHIGAU (You're wrong!)!


If you've read my review for the anime, you should know the gist of it. I've played the game before watching the anime, so in retrospect, this review should have come out first, but oh well. The game centers on Makoto Naegi, Super Duper High School Luckster, one of the super students sent to be enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy, a prestigious academy that only accepts the best of the best into its doors. All students enrolled here have a special ability or lineage, which earns them their title, such as Super Duper High School Swimmer/Idol/Fighter etc. Naegi's title was Luckster, meaning that he is super lucky, which is probably the most useless talent out there, even he considers it so. However, despite that, he comes into the school with high hopes, only to black out the moment he steps into its gates. When he awakes, he finds himself trapped in the school with no way out, along with 14 other students. The school's headmaster Monokuma appears, and explains a deadly game to the students. The only way to leave the school is to kill someone....



Yeah right.

From the very get go you'll find that the game's cast of 15 students is incredibly diverse....right during the introductory sequence you'll see some....interesting faces. Needless to say that this is part of the game's charm, everyone is so different that you'll want to invest time into knowing them more. Of course, you'll grow to like the individual characters of the game (yes, even Togami guys, his time will come) over time, and their camaraderie as students will grow on you. Celes is a two faced "ojou-sama" character, Fukawa is a delusional book worm, Ishimaru is a leader figure and Oowada is a friendly gangster kind of guy. These many different characters will pretty much make you want to discover more about them.


Of course, since this is a game about murder investigation, it goes without saying that the previous paragraph I just wrote about the characters will be very contradictory. Murder, this word speaks for itself. The characters that you took time to learn about and like will be murdered...OR, they may be the ones doing the murdering, taking the life of some other student that you care so much about. There are 15 students and a total of 6 cases. The trial system goes so that the murderer will be executed if convicted during a class trial. So that means that, give or take, there will be a murderer and a victim for each case, which means at least 12 people will die. That's devastating, no? I'll leave it to you to make out the most of my statement (assumption is key in this game).



Evidence, make sure you have them sorted out!

The act of murder in the midst of the characters you love is bad, but it gives birth to such excellent cases. Rivaling or even besting the cases from the "Ace Attorney" series, "Danganronpa"'s cases are pretty much what Hope's Peak Academy is all about, despair. Many times, you won't know what the flying f**k is happening, and you'll just be mindlessly collecting evidence, trying to cluelessly piece together what you can find and seek a solution, but the game denies you that right. Its really hard to see the outcome and circumstances of all the cases, and when the case finally sheds the truth, you can do nothing but nod in awe at how brilliantly it was all written out. The last 2 cases especially, are so brilliantly mindf**king.


That being said, the game is not just about murders only. There is a proper sequence that the game follows so that it can inflict despair on you. First, there's a short period between each murder that allows the story to progress. Here, characters get to know each other, spend time with each other, making futile efforts to escape Hope Peak's Academy without having to abide to the ridiculous rules of murder, of course, to no avail. They bond with one another, and the game even gives you free time periods to choose to hang out with any of the game's characters that are still alive, allowing you to learn more about them and deepen your friendship (you know, like in dating sim games). You can even give them gifts and stuff to further deepen the bond between yourselves.


The words of a true naive protagonist on the very first case....

Then the game smacks you in the face and throws that all out the window by abruptly killing off a student. Whether or not that was the student that you liked or had hopes on, it doesn't matter. If they die, they die, that's how it is. And even if they weren't the one found dead, they might be the murderer, and if that was the case, you'd have to convict them at the end of the class trial, which also spells death for them. Its a beautifully f**ked up sequence, really, and that's why its pretty awesome to play through. When a student is found dead, the game throws you into investigation mode, which has you running around Hope Peak's Academy, looking for clues about the murder and getting testimony or advice out of your other friends that are still alive.


Investigation plays out a lot like "Ace Attorney" games, only there's cool ass music in the background. You loiter around the murder scene and any suspicious areas, inspecting the areas with your trusty cursor for anything that might catch your eye, be it a blood stain, a disarranged set of bottles or even a slightly torn piece of cloth. These pieces of evidence add up to your ammunition, which is basically evidence that you get to use during the evident class trial. The game really allows you to investigate to really deep ends, like inspecting a body up or item up close to look for any clues. 


Its time to get serious!

Then when the time comes, Monokuma throws all the students in a class trial, a mini courtroom that allows the students to debate against each other, using their thoughts and gathered evidence as weapons. It is here that the students will compare facts with each other and convict the most suspect-able culprit. If the students deduce correctly, the rightful culprit will be executed, but if they deduce wrongly, the students themselves get executed and the culprits goes free, as the sole survivor of the school. The class trial breaks down into several phases, and all of them are equally intense. Non-stop debates feature the students all throwing in a piece of their mind, adding into the heated discussion. Your job as Naegi here is to listen to the theories that all the students put out in rapid succession, then select through your ammunition (your evidence, as mentioned earlier). If you find a statement contradicting to your ammunition, its time to prove some errors!


Some points of the class trial require you to even piece out a word or phrase, those this segments are really easy. Then there are parts where you have to calm down an agitated student through the MTB (machine gun talk battle). This segment plays like a rhythm game, where you listen to the beat of the student's claims and proceed to fire at their speech bubbles. Then there's the incredibly badass climax logic segment which usually plays at the very end of a class trial. This one involves you arranging a manga strip to re-layout the events of the murder, as the finishing blow to the culprit. And needless to say, wrapping up an entire class trial, feels epic and satisfying as hell...with a bit of uneasiness inside. You just convicted a classmate to his/her death, whether or not they deserved it. Most of the time its justified, but seeing a character that you may like or have taken interest in die just makes you sigh. 


Oh yes, the ost, it f**king rocks. There's no words needed, just give it a listenhttp://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4ktq2pWONtJ7o5pLZyWJc88nttIzMKx. Great music play just at the right time, making the entire game an ear-orgasmic experience.


Ah, Togami you and your smirk never fail to make you look cocky.

I can think of no rightful flaw in the game, other than the fact that it might be too easy at times. If you don't play on Malicious difficulty (the hardest difficulty mode in the game), the solutions are almost always spelled out to you in a class trial, or at least, heavily hinted. Not that it hurts the experience too much, but I just feel like its proper to solve and find out the solutions to these cases yourself. On a higher difficulty level, you are allowed less screw-ups (you actually have a timer and health points for a class trial), and you have to choose solutions from a much wider set of evidence, making the ticking timer actually a menacing thing for you if you don't do anything. Other than that though, the game isn't too mechanically demanding, its just a matter of quick thinking and problem solving.


"Danganronpa" might just be one of the best games I've played on the PSP. I may or may not get the port on Vita when it comes, seeing as I've already played the game through once, played the final 2 cases TWICE, and watched the anime. If it has new content, I may consider picking it up, just as I'm going to pick up "Persona 4:Golden", but otherwise...I just want the second game. After this first game, I feel like I've triggered something stupidly addictive within me. I call this "Danganronpa fever", because this franchise is just mind-blowing. I love it.




Happy gaming! May you be filled with despair!