After finally finishing Raincode I kinda want to just get my thoughts on the game out; going chapter by chapter because holy shit it's a lot and I have so many thoughts.
Spoilers under the cut
Chapter 0
Looking back this case was a really solid start and really help set the tone and how ruthless Amaterasu corp is. Fake Zilch was a great killer though in hind sight there are a few plot holes. Specifically with the Zilch homunculi we find in the factory and him being on the train he would be exposed to sunlight. Though with the limited size to the windows and Zilch's clothes covering most of his body I can buy him not having stepped in direct sunlight.
Also the Doyleist vs. Watsonian reason for the bodies being burned is pretty interesting. Zilch needed to make Aphex look unrecognisable and Kodaka needed there to be no large amount of blood to be spilled so as to not tip the player off about the pink blood. Simple mystery that does a good job introducing the game mechanics.
Also shows how early everything is being set up, with Yuma's blood on the door being red.
Chapter 1
First off Helara, excellent companion. What's her gender? Detective. What's in her pants? A picture of a cat. Do you want to know what's not in her pants? the 5,000,000 shien you owe her. Her ability is pretty interesting and I love how its mechanics are incorporated into solving the mystery, with the tipped over paint can.
Certain locked rooms were easier to solve than others. Personally I found the gallery room the most difficult to do and it's the only one I actively needed the game to spell out for me.
I like how each murder pretty well telegraphs how each room was done and how it eliminates each church goer.
I was able to call the gallery murder being a copy cat. I think what tipped me off was the paintings being used instead of the dolls.
In this case I saw the first corpse and thought "Wow, so glad the wacky Danganrompa bright pink blood has been brought back! I guess the blood being red was just to show it had dried, or a mistake that slipped through."
...
"Does she know?"
Chapter 2
Kurumi you will always be famous, to me. God speed to you and the sequel that was set up for you at the end. "I may be immortal but I'm not that patient." Iconic. Same voice actor as Framme fire emblem. I love her.
Generally I don't tend to like the token pervert characters but Desuhiko has the cringefail charm that I love. Khoi Dao gives an excellent performance and really made me like Desuhiko in spite of my dislike of his archetype.
Now the case itself was really good. Kurune, Yoshiko, and Waruna all working together to kill Karen because she killed Aiko and got away with it was excellent. You can really see Kodaka is enjoying not being bound by the restrictions of the killing game. (Almost) Every mystery in this game could not have been pulled off in a Danganrompa style killing game, it's really great.
The ending of this case where we kill three high school students did leave a bad taste in my mouth and I had to put the game down for about a week. Though at least it did feel like something of a mercy kill.
Chapter 3
As usual chapter three is the worst one. Easily the weakest case and it's not even a close. The murder method feels like one that could be done in a killing game, like they needed filler so they pulled out a draft of a case where Asahina was the culprit and tweaked it a little bit to fit the setting.
It does not help that it is really poorly paced (Ironic considering the abilities of your companion) running around planting the bombs, then immediately going to diffuse them with a zero escape style mini game, combined with the fuck ton of qte's in this chapter made it really tedious.
Icardi was the worst culprit with the worst motive and the two peace keepers from this chapter were so forgettable that I don't remember their names.
Sucks even harder that his plan would have never worked since he would have left Kanai ward and immediately gone berserk.
Fubuki was easily the bright spot in this case. Her powers being so broken and that being what helped her get into Kanai ward in the first place was pretty interesting. her knowing that her powers are a crutch and what she thinks gives her value on the team was very interesting. I loved her clashing with Shinigami in the labyrinth, carrying this chapter on her god damn shoulders.
Chapter 4
Crying in the club about this one. Yakou you're my sad little meow meow who did everything wrong.
Yakou tanking the poison gas and relying on the detectives' fortes to get past the security and into the doctor's lab was such an inspired choice. I pretty quickly deduced that the killer had just face tanked the gas. Of course because Yakou was already at deaths door I began to go into the denial stage. Telling myself that the gas needed half an hour to take effect but the security logs said the system was turned off an hour prior to Yuma obtaining the logs.
Vivia going after Yuma with a box cutter in the mystery labyrinth as Yakou was just unresponsive behind them... I'm surprised I was able to see my switch screen through all of the tears.
I thought I couldn't hate Yomi more after what he did to Electro. I was wrong. Seeing Vivia get angry at Yomi when we were released from the labyrinth. He should have shanked Yomi with the box cutter.
Chapter 5
Another chapter with whack ass pacing though it is a final case so that's pretty common.
Should've known the bodies were fake were Halara supposedly dies second when it would obviously be Vivia. (Desuhiko is still dying first). Coalescence being used to mimic the handwriting of the other master detectives was pretty neat and while being something we weren't shown it makes sense as something it can do.
The pink blood. Oh boy the pink blood. I don't think I'm ever going to shut up about this. Yuma yelling "Blood being pink is obviously strange!" left me staring at the screen, slack jawed. What a twist that could only hit with the three Danganrompa behind it. So excellent, I'll forgive all this cases' pacing issues on that twist alone.
Getting chased through the abandoned village by past victims and culprits was really frightening. Waruna, Kurune, and Yoshiko jumping Kurumi was really horrific. Fink the Slaughter artist being dead felt a little anti-climactic. Yakou giving Yuma the disk was a really great moment.
Shinigami's goodbye was really emotional. I loved her very unserious attitude so her being serious, telling Yuma how much he means to her was really good.
over all a solid 7.5/10. Without chapter three, 9/10. really good game.
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thirteen update 🍂 🎹 🏠 👻
chapter 2: November
chapter summary:
She was in a good mood. If she was ever going to take it well, it would be now.
“Maman, what if I went to school this year?”
excerpt:
“Heh.” Adrien flicked a finger beneath his chin and strutted the length of his bathroom floor, glancing at himself in the mirror. He twirled a rose—a red one, one he’d grabbed from the vase downstairs—between his fingers and then presented it to the mirror with a flourish.
“Haruhi!” he declared, “the spring of my heart surges upon the sight of your fresh smile, my love. My heart beats at the command of your drum! Your face is the fierce longing of my soul, and I present to you now this token of my lavish, undying—”
A sharp knock clicked against the bedroom door and Adrien froze, his hand still passionately hovering over his heart.
“Adrien?” Nathalie’s voice called, and Adrien—true to character, if he did say so himself—startled so hard that he slipped and fell onto his butt on the tile.
“Yeah?” he called, hastily pulling himself up and trying to find a place to set down the rose.
Nathalie peeked her head through the bathroom door and took him in, his rumpled hair and the too-small blue blazer he’d saved in the back of his closet for occasions such as…this.
“You have a guest,” she said flatly, and Adrien could not for the life of him figure out whether she was making fun of him.
She left before he could decide, and then it was only a matter of seconds before his bathroom door was thrown all the way open and a blonde ponytail bobbed into view.
“Adrikins!” Chloé crashed into him, wrapping him up in a hug that nearly knocked him over again. “It’s been way too long. You’ve been neglecting me. Aw, did you get me a rose?” She plucked it from his hands and then scrunched up her nose. “Ew, is this real?”
“As real as the current that springs from the well of my heart,” Adrien invented, and Chloé frowned at him like he’d just spoken Greek. “Nevermind.”
She looked him up and down and scrunched her nose up even more. “What did you do to your hair?”
Adrien frowned at his reflection in the mirror and pushed his hair further over to the side.
“I was trying to make it look cool.” He’d been trying to make it look like Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club.
“It looks like you just rolled out of bed.”
read on ao3
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