By Eu
New Dangan Ronpa V3 got released yesterday (January 12) in Japan! (˘̩̩̩▽˘̩̩̩)/ But I’m not-so patiently waiting for an English release, so I haven’t gotten the full game yet. For the time being, I played the trial, released last December.
In true DR fashion, Akamatsu Kaede wakes up in a classroom, not having an idea as to why she ends up there. Naegi comes up to her and introduces himself as Kaede’s senpai. First days won’t be complete without Monokuma (woah you’re still alive) summoning her to the gymnasium. On the way to the gym, Kaede meets the other students along with Hinata. I’m glad to see the new characters maintain the pesky and quirky attitudes of their senpais www. My instant favorite is Amami Rantarou, whose ability is not yet known. He seems to be chill about everything despite being locked up in a school in the middle of the forest (or is that forest in the middle of the school idek). I can’t wait to see how fucked up he gets in the main game. Ufufu (๑´ლ`๑)
The first killing happened and I loled seeing the crime scene, the crime itself, and the victim. If you’ve played the first game (which I assume you do xP), you’d recognize the scene from the get-go. Is Hagakure the most wanted in the “list of character I’d like to die” in the DR franchise? www IIRC, he was the victim in the DR1 trial version. And then now. Poor Hagakure www. (I was actually surprised he lived in the 1st game? Pretty sure he’ll be killed or something. Lol I digress.)
Monokuma got more minions. He has 5 Monokuma kids who call themselves Monokumas. I don’t know how vital their roles are gonna be. For now, I see them as annoying bunch except Monodam, who remains silent all throughout the game. His silence is like he’s silently judging the other Monokumas, it’s so sarcastic lol. But then again, it’s hard to gauge if he’s flat out ignoring them or what. Speaking of Monokumas, I kinda miss Monomi though.
The trial introduces some new features for the class trial. There’s the good old Non-stop Debate where you uncover things with the use of Truth Bullets. There’s also Bejeweled-like minigame where you match blocks so you can reveal the picture. Another is a Panic Debate where two characters explain their sides simultaneously. Had this been a full game and I’ll be stuck on this part (the trial’s quite forgiving for mistakes). I find it hard to concentrate with two statements thrown at me with all the noise going through in the background.
Logic Dive upgrades to a more funky and girly version called Brain Drive. It looks super posh! But I suck at driving so I keep on missing the letters needed to form the question orz. The last addition included in the trial is the Lie Bullets. Basically, you can turn a Truth Bullet into a Lie Bullet in a Non-stop Debate. Out of all the new mechanics, I had a hard time figuring out how it works. Kaede has to lie for the other party to slip up and create a gap in their statements.
The trial ends halfway through the trial and just when I was enjoying it. Before it totally ended, the Monokumas mentioned that if you have a save file of the trial, you’ll get a nice treat in the main game. I’m not sure if it will still work if you play the trial in Japanese then the full game in English. Unlikely, right? Siiiigh.
Anywho, I enjoyed the trial! I liked the new things it has to offer Seeing Naegi and Hinata with the new protagonist in one game (albeit trial) is also interesting. Somehow, I missed the previous characters. Hope they’ll make an appearance in New Dangan Ronpa V3!
