I spent middle and high school surrounded by Danganronpa fans, during the peak of its popularity. I played and loved Zero Escape. And yet, somehow, I managed to completely avoid this game, almost all spoilers, and the apparently radioactive fandom this has apparently spawned.

I'm so glad I did.

Going through this blind, without any outside biases clouding my judgement, was a phenomenal experience. Even the things I did know through osmosis were obscured enough within the actual plot that even finding out how said things would be revealed was still great. It also made all the deaths hit that much harder.

The gameplay is great, like a more active, dynamic version of Ace Attorney, oozing with style and personality. All the mysteries were a blast to piece together, and none were so out-there to make a reveal feel bullshit. And, I must admit, while I was never crazy about the art style from what I'd seen online, I was very surprised how good it looks in game. Stills really don't do it justice.

If your only exposure to this game is from people saying "cringe" and nothing else, I highly implore you to try it for yourself, removed from all that. I'm very happy I gave this a shot as an adult without bias, because it really is something else.

god fucking hell man i have so much i want to say but i have no idea how i can even put it into words

unlike the last serious review i did, the words just cannot come to me as i am typing this because what xc3 means to me is a bit beyond words

every aspect about it (with only slight exaggeration) is made for me from the story with problem some of the best (and most left-leaning) writing of the entire series (from what i have played), to the characters all just being incredible with none of the main 6 feeling lacking or even anything beyond fantastic and all the heroes being pretty good at the very worst to on the level of the main characters as well, to the villains in particular who help shape the theming of the entire story so so perfectly with none of them feeling like they do not fit and some of them even having some great character writing in their own right, and to the gameplay, that somehow, even with the massive world that the game presents, never felt boring or repetitive in the slightest and yes, this includes every part of the gameplay

from the combat, the exploration, the hero system, the sidequests, and even the fucking menuing are all the best they could ever be with only some slight minor problems (enemy debuff resistance is way too high and i wish you could respawn at unique monster statues and also sometimes i do not think the menu should have its own music lol)

this game probably could of been better if given more time especially with certain bugs many have found out about but to me, as it is now, this is my favorite game of all time and i have the highest of hopes for this series' future after it

stunt on those hoes, takahashi.

EDIT: thought i might add to this my thoughts on future redeemed because i am not stat padding my account and it's just an absolutely beautiful addition in every way. this game truly understands the beauty of life in that even if many want to hold back our future, the human spirit will always break through and stop such a thing, even if it takes 1 year, or 1000. the gameplay also was incredible. i loved the addition of the enemy/item encyclopedias because they make my brain go ooooo but even if the combat was way simpler than base game, i still had lots of fun. i'm so glad rex double spinning edge is still so broken.

the mysterious quadrilogy within the atelier series is possibly the closest one could ever experience an identity crisis while playing video games. but at the same time i utterly adored every game before this one for how ambitious they were and for the amazing characters every game brought. so going into this i did expect a lot and i can thoroughly say i was not let down at all.
obviously i have my small gripes like wishing there were more cgs and vocal songs like there were in the previous mysterious games but as a whole, this game is overflowing with passion for not just being apart of the atelier series, but also for being a game in general. even more so than previous entries honestly.
the gameplay mechanics are absolutely on point here with a lot of ideas being taken from previous entries (the tetris-esque alchemy from the mysterious games, a similar quest-reputation system to ryza 2, gathering minigames which apparently were from the mana khemia games, etc.) and the nods to both sophie 1 and firis are really really cute and enjoyable.
i loved the entire cast through and through and the story was great too. obviously, it isn't too deep or anything with what it says but i really do appreciate the messages about dreams a lot and the continued message of showing empathy and happiness that the mysterious games are known for is amazing here too.
one last complaint tho is that playing on the hardest difficulty (when you first start playing the game) can cause a couple fights feeling kinda bs, particularly the final two fights but not only did the final boss slap hard still, a majority of the fights in this game are really really good.
anyways yeah perfect video game, 10/10, the atelier series does it again.

also when the final line had "mysterious journey" in it i popped off.