Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

My favorite entry in this franchise. It has my favorite cast of characters overall, but simultaneously has some of my least favorite characters. The cases and trials vary in quality, as is typical of this franchise, but the overall mystery at play is intriguing with an interesting conclusion.

The unexpected new environment. The masterpiece rival. And the end Hajime is superb.

generally an improvement in every way, with the fascinating metafiction of chapter 2 being a highlight. at the same time, some of the characterization and so-called "fanservice", while fairly sporadic, left a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste.

Where the first game had good enough mysteries to get you to overlook the time-wasting padding and the one-dimensional characters, this one doubles down on all the bad with very little to redeem it.

In hindsight, I think I like the first game more. I never got why people thought it was so much greater. The ending is a lot less satisfying (and dumber) than the first and some cases still aren't that great, sometimes even having genuinely dumb moments like no one not knowing what an elevator is in case 4. Still, I thought the cast was fairly likable and entertaining. It still had some strong cases like chapter 2, but the ending was irredeemably stupid.

Chapter 6 is complete garbage. The series is way better without the whole "Future Foundation" thing.