Danganronpa 2 does a lot of things much better than its predecessor, but also does a couple of things slightly worse. Overall, I think its a great sequel that did its job as a murder mystery better.
- There were less characters in this that I hated. Everyone in Dangan 1 was a certified weirdo, but this cast comes across as humans with quirks instead of straight "This is my one and only character trait." There were also more characters competing with each other for the position of my favourite, whereas in 1, I only really liked Hina and Sakura.
- Nagito's existence alone earns the game half a star. Such a compelling and interesting character that really brings a new element to the story of a murder mystery.
- The longer trials are both a blessing and a curse. It allows more complex trials, but the extra complexity of most of those trials comes from an extra red herring or everyone umm-ing and aah-ing about fairly obvious evidence. Some of these trials are over 2 hours long. I'm tired, man.
- "Improved" hangman's gambit
- Trial 2 is my least favorite trial so far, as I was ninety percent sure of the culprit, only to find out that I was wrong and that the real answer was much dumber. But the game made it up to me, as I was then able to guess the culprit for the remaining trials (This is not a bad thing. The shock value still remains and it makes the player feel smart)
- On the topic of trials, some of the leaps in logic this game expect you to take are laughably bad, and I had to consult a guide at points, as numerous truth bullets could refute a statement, but only one fulfills the very specific line of reasoning that the game doesn't tell you it wants.
- The setting of this game is also generally better imo than that first, with better variety and cooler set pieces. Monomi was also an addition that won me over.
- The executions in this are so extremely massively underwhelming except for two.

An absolutely phenomenal game. I finally got to play this on a decent PC, and I am so glad I could, as this thing looked beautiful and was so much fun.
The combat is intuitive and dynamic, and is everything that FFXV was missing. Being able to switch characters whenever you want as well as issue commands to the members you are not in control of is the best mid-way point between the ATB system and modern action gameplay.
I watched a Let's Play of this whole game a few years ago, as I thought it would never come to PC, and there were a few sections in that that I thought dragged on for way too long and didn't need to exist. Actually playing those sections though, there's only one chapter that drags (And that level is Hojo's laboratory. All my homies hate Hojo's laboratory). All the sections don't seem as long, because the gameplay is so fun that it distracts from how far away the goal is.
This is also one of the best usages of summons in the series, because they actually feel as if they do something meaningful and are not a pain in the ass to activate.
The materia system is as good as it was in the original, even if I couldn't find the Enemy Skill materia. There's even some new materia sprinkled in there, all of which feel warranted and well-balanced.
I also cannot overstate just how cool this game feels. Everything is so cinematic and smooth. This was the second time I ever used photo mode in a game, and let me tell you I got some magnificent shots.
I only had two minor gripes with this game. The first was the sidequests. They aren't all that gripping to begin with, and the overall quality of the dialogue and character models dip noticeably during them. They were well-implemented into the narrative, and I didn't hate doing them, but they just felt as if I was watching a cutscene from Lightning Returns.
The other gripe is not actually with this game specifically and more so where Square might be taking the series going forward. This game is not just a remake but also a sequel to the original in a way, and I feel that a lot of players unfamiliar with the original game or Crisis Core may feel as if they have to go play all of those in order to understand these remakes. I honestly wouldn't mind if the trilogy is just a one-to-one remake of the original just with better graphics. I also didn't mind the new additions to this entry. I just do not want Rebirth to end up as some completely different game that looks nothing like the original just because fate has changed its course. Let me see all the dumb stuff from the OG, Square!

The DLC is fine, if a tad too long. I am way too good at Fort Condor, and Sonon is probably the slowest party member in all of Final Fantasy.

The story of this is really intriguing, but the gameplay is ass.
- Every enemy encounter is basically the same due to needing to destroy the shield with the torch first. Some enemies are just pure bs, such as the flying objects that track you when you run and dodge, and the taken that throw axes at you from a distance that makes them basically un-reactable. The bosses look cool, but your weapons basically collect dust during the fights, as they have to be destroyed just with the torch.
- Episode 3 has basically no bearing on the plot and needed to be removed entirely, as it dragged for so long for nothing.
- This is a fully functioning game with absolutely no performance issues whatsoever.

For once I managed to go into a game completely blind and i am so happy it was this one because it was absolutely WILD. A fantastic murder mystery that just kept on surprising me with how clever its writing was. My favorite part of the murder mystery genre is when the detective monologues to all the suspects about how the crime was committed, and this game lets me do exactly that.
Monokuma was also a delight (is that the right term to use in regards to him?) to watch. Funny while also inducing sizeable amounts of dread.
-1/2 a star for Hifumi being generally present.

Rightfully deserves its place as one of the best JRPGs of all time. Definitely has some flaws (every cave looks exactly the same, you are constantly running out of MP), but those issues are but a drop in the bucket compared to everything else.
The character work is absolutely top-notch. every character feels as if they deserve to be there, and each one has fantastic sprite work. Marle in particular was a highlight, with probably the best and funniest sprites I've seen in a game.
The dual tech system was nice, but I do wish it was more strategic rather than "this is the newest dual tech you unlocked so that is the one that will deal the most damage". If I had been able to move my characters around to line up particular line techs, that could have been interesting.
Exploration was fun, and the game is basically laid out the same way as Final Fantasy VI, where it is heavily linear up until a particular story point where you can then complete the rest of the side quests in any order.
The shorter length also helps this, as there is basically no filler, although it is unclear why the story suddenly shifts towards befriending frog for a few hours.
The extra dungeons in this version of the game are absolute trash and were an actual detriment to the game. Lost Sanctum was the laziest quest design I had ever seen. No I do not want to trek all the way up and down a mountain a seventh time just because some dumb creature wants a banana.

I started watching a LP of this ages ago, but then realised it was a metroidvania so stopped watching so that I could play it myself. This is a really well polished game that I am happy won game of the year. the action is so fluid and intuitive, and the fun type of challenging.
You can tell if a Metroidvania is good if I get hopelessly addicted to it until I complete it, which definitely happened here. It did drag a bit in the middle there, and some of the optional bosses (such as Former) were really dumb, but I think it all evens out. I would have liked it if Altered Items actually gave you a permanent ability or state boost or something rather than a pat on the back, especially considering most of them are not a walk in the park to cleanse.
Also, why does ground slam use up all of my energy? It isn't even that good of an ability.
Also also, Tommasi is the worst enemy in the game.

Better than the first game in literally every single aspect except the music. We still have the epic chase scenes, what I believe to be Ori's point of difference, while also listening to the criticism and adding some fun bosses. The bosses could have been a bit more difficult imo, as I got most of them first try because I had so much health I could just face tank. Shriek does look very freaking cool however.
In that vein, I think there are a few too many health upgrades to the point where the difficulty is trivialized. The combat has been improved though, and the skill wheel was a great touch that adds replayability.
However, I do very much like how they handled exploration in this game. In the first half you can display skill and do some small sequence breaks, and in the second half you are left to roam around the rest of the map in any order, which I very much appreciate. I hope other Metroidvanias are taking note. The locations are all distinct and apart from the obligatory desert area and snow area, each location is really unique.
I do think the music was a slight step down however, and had muddier instrumentation that resulted in less earworms. Other thing I didn't like was that the game tries to get you to cry again i very obvious ways, going "look how heartfelt our story is." But most of the story is presented up front without the player forming a connection to the characters first.

This is a very scuffed game. I'm sure that statement is nothing new to anyone, but I don't think this game is the worst thing ever. It has some great moments and, since I played it in 2023, is now actually a finished game.
- This game's open world is the reason I hate open worlds. You are forced to interact with it in order to actually be strong enough to progress with the story, but then interacting with that open world takes ages. 75 percent of the open world is also just grass and dirt.
- The story of this game is absolutely hilarious. Disconnected story events just happen in an order and you have to pretend to know why they're important or why that last thing is suddenly no longer relevant. The actually good stuff of the story only crops up in chapter 13.
- The best sequences in this game are when it is actually on rails. The open world actively detracts from both the tension and pacing of the story. But when I'm stuck on a train that's headed towards the imperial capital and the empire shows up and starts attacking, its cool as shit.
- The combat in this is dumb. I love my health bar meaning basically nothing against one hit from an endgame enemy. I played on Normal, I shouldn't need to have a million elixirs on me just because an enemy flinched and apparently hit me even though I was holding X. When the combat works its decently fun, but when it doesn't, it makes you want to pull your hair out.
- I also wanted to play as the rest of the party, but the only one that is even helpful is Gladio. Prompto sucks so much ass (sorry man) and dies at the drop of a hat.
- Those summoning cutscenes are sick though.
- Final boss was a joke.

I do love Metroidvanias, but I never really liked Ori's art style enough to try out the games earlier. From looking at it I got the assumption that it was either going to be an introduction to the genre or a very niche hard-as-nails platformer-heavy entry.
It's the former. I completed the whole game very quickly, as there is very little required backtracking, and is closer to a platformer than your standard Metroidvania. Most areas are only visited once, and backtracking only serves to get you more collectibles.
The movement is really fun, and I liked jumping and dashing about later in the game. The ability to use enemy projectiles as stepping stones was actually really cool and added a dynamic aspect to the movement.
This is the only Metroidvania that doesn't feature boss battles. That's a bad thing. It means I can get through the game by not displaying skills and instead by just spamming checkpoints and getting my health back. Those escape sequences scenes are VERY sick, and the coolest thing about the game, but still aren't a good substitute for removing a key feature of the genre imo.