I really wanted to like this game. Big fan of the series, but man, this one just isn't good.
Spoilers below. Read at your discretion.
The first thing that stood out to me was that the game's pacing was incredibly slow. The setup to me felt so much longer than it did in any of the other games, despite the fact we've been through the same thing two times before (and why would anyone start at the 3rd game?). Not only that, but you go through the same intro *twice* - and now, I'm sure it probably has something to do with the story which gets explained much later, but why should I care? I'm being put through the same "Oh my god we've woken up and we're trapped and my memories are gone!" twice in the *same* game - and it wouldn't be a problem if it was actually interesting or fun to play through.
The cast in this game is significantly less interesting than the cast in the previous ones. You immediately identify the same character archetypes from the previous games. Now, some of them did seem fun and interesting. Gonta, Miu, Himiko, Ryoma, were really fun in their presentation, backstories, and dialogues and had some interesting interactions with the other characters. The rest fell pretty bland, fell flat, or became immediately repetitive.
And I was especially really excited to play as Kaede. Playing as a girl who knew her Ultimate Talent and had a bubbly, hopeful personality was interesting. And I especially really wanted to see how the game handled Kaede and Shuichi as a duo. It made me think of Makoto and Kyoko from DR1, and I really wanted to see a dynamic like that with the genders swapped. I liked seeing Kaede help Shuichi believe in himself a bit more, come out of his shell, etc - and also it was interesting to see how Shuichi would also return the favor whenever Kaede would lose hope herself when she couldn't keep up her positive attitude. It felt like a really engaging character dynamic. And that's the thing - it was the only thing happening in the game that actually felt compelling.
And so the game's "crazy twist" is that she's the culprit behind the first murder. Now, I'm all for a good twist, subverting people's expectations, etc. But when you sacrifice one of the few characters I was actually invested in, I just straight up lost interest in the rest of the story. You don't start out playing as Shuichi, so it feels weird to continue the story as him. The literal protagonist of the story has died and you're now playing as a side character. It also felt like such a slap in the face for anyone actually excited to play as the series's first heroine.
And the thing about Shuichi, is that he's just another archetype. Insecure, average teenage boy who is kind of an outcast. Never seen that before. And you might say, well - Kaede's not that interesting either. She's just a preppy, sorta klutzy schoolgirl. Also not very original - and sure, that's true. But they excelled as a duo. To me, DR1 has a slow build to Makoto and Kyoko's duo - and with DR2, Hajime and Chiaki's duo has a similar dynamic, but not as explicit either. It felt really sweet to see Kaede and Shuichi working so closely from the get-go, and their relationship and dialogues made the game interesting when they were interacting with other characters.
So of course, Kaede (whom you've been getting primarily attached to thus far) gets executed gruesomely, and you're now left playing as this side character. Not sure why I wanna keep playing.
And that's besides just how clunky playing the game actually feels.
I had never found a Danganronpa game's trial so boring and unfun until I actually played the first trial in this game. There's a rhythm minigame that just straight up sucks. You're introduced to a new lie mechanic that isn't used in a particularly interesting way. The debates would go from painfully obvious, to so incredibly obtuse that I almost had to brute force what to do. Kaede's initial reveal as the culprit is sprung upon you when you have to choose her as the killer - and by that point, it's not really apparent that it's her. The player has more reason to suspect Shuichi, who had access to the cameras - but it's not him, since you spent the last 30 minutes debating to the rest of the cast that he was innocent. No, instead, you're supposed to realize that the main character is an unreliable narrator, and just choose her as the culprit.
I'm all for it if this reveal was actually engaging, but it just wasn't. It felt so boring. Lost one of the few interesting characters and character dynamics, got stuck with the rest of the boring cast, and it felt like the game just slaps you in the face.
