I can definitely agree that it sticks too close to the series conventions when there are many ways it could have deviated and done it well.
I cannot agree with your comment about Kaede dying being a waste. She most certainly was too charismatic. There was Ryoma asking Rantaro to kill him, and after he refused, there was never ANYBODY considering to kill anyone else until Kaede killed Rantaro herself. They were all going to die in less than a day, and nobody was going to commit a murder. Kaede was too good a leader. Also, Shuichi is a far better character than Kaede could hope to be, but that\'s neither here nor there.
I don\'t agree here, either. DR is a murder mystery where students kill each other and then a trial happens where you try and solve it. There are ways that it sticks too close to the formula, but this isn\'t one of them. The outline you listed is just the premise of the game. That\'s like Ace Attorney not having a trial every case, and having the arrest of the killer not be the end of the case. It doesn\'t make sense.
I do actually agree with the things you bring up in that fourth paragraph, ESPECIALLY that first bit. It would have made for some very interesting dynamics, having someone who killed a member of the cast continue living amongst them, especially since that rule was made this game, but then it never goes anywhere.
<DIE THE DEATH> <SENTENCE TO DEATH> <GREAT EQUALIZER IS THE DEATH>
I agree that it's a waste to kill off Kaede, a main character who's a departure from previous protagonists- it would have been more interesting to have her live long enough to learn from her mistakes and deal with people repeatedly dying on her watch. Additionally, it seems as though Shuichi more or less uses Kaede's death as a crutch for his character development. Here's hoping the next game does a better job on this regard.
I also don't like the combination of the First Blood perk and the time limit, since it seems to be pushing too hard for a murder in the first days, and more or less forces Kaede's hand (not to mention creating plot holes regarding why Kiyo didn't kill someone). The first two games' first motives did a good job of forcing the more vulnerable students to their breaking points without going too far.
I actually disagree with Kiyo living being a more interesting plot twist. In the second game, Fuyuhiko caused Mahiru's death (even if Peko was the one who killed her), and much of the later game involved him trying to make amends for what he'd done. In Kiyo's case, I can't see him or the others developing in any meaningful fashion if he'd lived. If anything, Kiyo would have been a good example of how some students don't need Monokuma's motives or even graduation to kill.
Leave a Comment:
Doesn't Take Advantage of Opportunities
Looking at this game, I think that my biggest problem with it, even more than the controversial ending, is that it feels like there are so many points in the game where there was a wasted opportunity to do something truly different and new in the series. Be warned that this review contains unmarked spoilers.
The first waste is also the worst in my opinion. Kaede dies and Shuichi is the lead. Perhaps in hope of having a great twist, the writers took the positive, energetic girl and had her be a well-intentioned killer, making the POV be an uncertain boy supported in some way by the actions of a more confident girl. Something already seen in the first two games. I've heard the argument that Kaede would have been too charismatic, but given how afraid and dispirited the group was after the first failed escape attempt, I see no reason why it couldn't be a strong story about struggling to regain their confidence during the murders.
Next is the trials. Some new features are fairly fun, but the Lie option that was touted so much really doesn't feel like it's great, and after the first trial I didn't feel like there was often a good reason to use it. The trials themselves feel like it's following the formula the first two did. Some free time, some event clearly about to be a murder, murder and trial. No chapters without, say, a trial but some other danger, no chapter where the trial was anything other than the chapter's climax.
A lot of the characters don't feel like they're used to their full potential. One trial has the possibility that the team might be forced to live next to a murderer, but instead you just have to prove he committed two murders. Angie presents the issue of a religion forming and cracks splitting the group in two, but after that chapter the faith completely disappears, it didn't even feature in the trial and it feels like Angie's religion and her position in it is treated disrespectfully (and this is from an atheist). The Monokids might as well not exist for all the impact they make in the game, the possibility of new villains who might have different interests from Monokuma just briefly there and then gone.
On the final trial, I actually wouldn't say it's a waste so much as not set up well and if they didn't intend for the audience to feel like it was the target, they really should have handled the matter differently. And ironically the game where one is supposed to stop the trials and get away from the story is the one where they still largely kept the game to the past. But to be fair, I will admit that the investigation for the last trial is a place where they show creativity, though one that could use some refinement to avoid getting killed off so easily.
I wouldn't say absolutely don't get it. Some characters are interesting, some trials are still fun, the extra postgame content is fun (if not well explained). But it's definitely something to get on sale and not go in to find the evolution of the series.