Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, which was published by Nippon Ichi Software America back in February 2014 stood out as a defining moment in the Murder-Mystery genre of gaming. I had honestly grown tired with the number of games which would drag you around a game world like a dog on a leash and leaving you very little room to actually do the deduction work for yourself. With an interesting storyline, memorable characters and a distinct “Class Trial” system, it was a game that surprisingly found itself stored on the memory card of my PS Vita long after I had Platinum’ed it for the purposes of a review.
It turns out that I was not the only one that loved the game, with rave reviews from other media outlets and Nippon Ichi Software America fast-tracking Part 2’s release for the PlayStation Vita. But when comparing the first game against Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, it becomes clear just how much potential the first was missing, and how much Spike Chunsoft had been able to improve and add during the development time for the sequel.
In a similar scenario to Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair follows a new group of 16 “Ultimate Students” who find themselves trapped on the mysterious tropical paradise of Jabberwock Island. With no memories of how they got there, they are taken under the wing of their “magical girl” teacher Usami in hopes that they will be able to collect Hope Shards through their interactions with one another. In true Danganronpa style however, this quickly changes as Monokuma makes a reappearance. Successfully defeating Usami in battle, he manages to turn what was initially a means of generating hope between students into a battle between hope and despair… as students are offered the same ultimatum as before. A student can only leave the island by successfully pulling off the murder of another classmate. Should they succeed and not get caught, they get to leave the island while everyone else is “punished” (aka. executed). Should they fail and be identified by a majority of the student body during the “Class Trial”, then they alone will be executed while the others get to live another day.
Each of the game’s five primary chapters each surround the events preceding and following the murder of one of the students, usually taking about 3-4 days in-game to complete. While there are a few similarities shared between the games of Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair, each case is completely unique. It is clear that a lot more effort was put into constructing these cases, often making them much more complex than anything done before. When coupled with improvements made to the Class Trial system, the complexity added to each of these cases translates into a much more memorable and structured storyline/experience.
One of the systems that still remains poorly integrated in terms of storyline is Danganronpa’s equivalent of a social link system. During the few days between each murder case, protagonist Hajime Hinata is able to interact with the surviving students through a series of gift giving until his relationship with the character reaches a certain level – where he is rewarded with a Hope Shard and a small set of dialogue. Despite all sixteen characters in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair being unique and holding distinct abilities/personalities, these “social link” dialogues don’t hold much weight, and unlike Persona 3/4 don’t have much in terms of closure once they are completed. This is only a minor issue in comparison to the weight of the main story, which with a combination of eccentric characters, solid mystery and a strong use of video game tropes, leads to a narrative which managed to keep at least my own attention for hours on end.
Class Trials are significantly longer and more challenging than in Trigger Happy Havoc, to the point where they actually throw in an interval half-way through with a complementary reminder to save your game lest (for example) your battery runs out. One of the few systems that remain unaltered in the trials are “Non-Stop Debates”, where characters begin discussing a particular aspect of the case, with key text highlighted. Using metaphorical “Truth Bullets” which take the form of different pieces of evidence, Hajime can shoot down a part of the discussion that a piece of evidence relates to. While Trigger Happy Havoc only allowed the player to shoot down a statement that doesn’t match the evidence, players are also able to shoot down phrases in blue to “consent” or agree with a hypothesis made by another character. It is particularly well used when presenting players with both orange (Potentially Contradictory) and blue (Potentially Justifiable) text in the same non-stop debate. Provided you aren’t playing on the easiest difficulty level, the debates are also complicated by “white noise” that can block your bullets and requiring you to silence the comments of other characters first so Hajime can get his voice and opinion known.
Non Stop Debates are complemented by a traditional compilation of mystery systems, where you must present evidence to rebut / support someones claim or alternatively identify the person behind an act / the murder. This is done by either a simple multiple choice, visually presenting evidence through the menu or going through the circular arrangement of characters to identify an individual. There are also a couple of occasions earlier on in the game where the player is presented with an image of the crime scene and asked to identify a particular element of it that is important to the debate. These are the bare basics anyone would expect from a murder mystery game, and thankfully they have not screwed either up by seeking to be ambitious.
Trigger Happy Havoc featured a number of other mini-games that occasionally appeared during the trial to help identify an element important to the case or otherwise shutdown another characters argument. All systems have returned in this sequel, although most have received a major overhaul. The major one would be the Hangman’s Gambit, where using knowledge of the trial so far and a few hints in the text, you must shoot down letters to make a word much in the same vein one would do so in the classic game of Hangman. This has changed to be much more challenging as players are no longer provided with any letters as a starting point. Rather than simply shooting down letters, players are now also required to pick up letters scrolling across the screen in various directions, and must match up pairs of letters (before they crash into mismatching letters) prior to adding them to the keyword box. Despite initial impressions, as not all the keywords are obvious from the start and letters can start appearing on-screen en masse, it is more challenging than it sounds. Also returning is the “Bullet Time Battle” mini-game under the new name “Panic Talk Action”, which has been made slightly easier and requires you to construct evidence from four word-parts rather than presenting a piece of found evidence.
In addition to the returning mini-games, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair also features two new mini-games that make an appearance from the very first trial. The first are rebuttal showdowns which occur whenever another student finds an issue with a claim made by Hajime. Using the directional keys or the X button, the player is required to slice up statements made by the other student until weak spots are shown, which can then be refuted. In all honesty this was my least favourite system, as it pretty much involves slashing almost every statement until a valid weakspot appears, with little strategy required. The second and more impressive yet illogical inclusion is the “Logic Dive” game. In order to break down part of a case, Hajime collects his thoughts through a snowboarding mini-game through his mind. You are likely to lose more of your influence gauge from falling off the course/crashing than incorrect answers, but the goal is to make your way through the tubular course while answering several questions through influencing the snowboarding route.
The new additions to the Class Trial system in addition to significant improvements made to the returning features results in a much more fulfilling experience from start to finish. Do note however that the difficulty has received an added boost and the easiest difficulty setting felt somewhere in between the Mid and Hard difficulties in the first game, with less spoon-feeding of the right responses.
There were several bonus additions to this game, including the Dangan Island: Huge Panic at the Heart – Throbbing School Trip? which retains the annoying “School Mode” system from Trigger Happy Havoc and action-game Magical Miracle Girl Monomi which highlights Monomi/Usami taking down the bosses used to keep the students out of certain sections of the island. The most significant, to me, bonus inclusion in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair was the light novel Danganronpa If: The Button of Hope and the Tragic Warriors of Despair. Written by Ryogo Narita who wrote Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, this is a “what-if” tale describing what would happen if Makoto found the escape button from the Monomono Capsule Machine and just so happened to save a fellow student from being impaled by the Spear of Gungnir. Fully localized, this was an interesting inclusion in lieu of other manga/light novel releases in the Danganronpa franchise not receiving a localization to this date.
I was more than satisfied with what Trigger Happy Havoc provided earlier this year on the PlayStation Vita, and would have been more than content with another experience similar to it. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair exceeded my expectations in almost every area, with Class Trials that are more complex than before, a more structured storyline that doesn’t simply leave you for several in-game days with no plot progression and some extra bonuses that are worth around dedicating an extra couple of hours for. I would not be remiss in saying that Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair has been one of my personal favourite games on the PlayStation Vita to date.
Now the question is…. will NIS America decide that there is enough of a fanbase to acquire and localized Danganronpa: Another Episode which launches in Japan later this month.
