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fragments-of-despair · 10 months

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Done with Rain Code. And my thoughts are....conflicted. Not too negative, but still pretty jumbled, so everything I go over will be all over the place.

If you want my TLDR thoughts now: Is the game good? Yeah, I'd say it's good. Is it worth the $60+ price tag? Absolutely not. Base game is a solid $35. If all the upcoming DLC were included at the start or they filled the game more, then I'd say it would have been worth the $60 or higher price tag. It's a solid game, but it's better to wait to get it on sale or as a present for your birthday.

Anyway, spoilers below the cut. And it'll be pretty spoiler heavy, so this is your last chance to back out.

First, the twist: The good old "Soylent Green is People" twist. On the one hand, didn't expect it here. On the other hand, it's not the first time cannibalism appeared in something Kodaka worked on (I mean, we all remember what happened regarding Despair!Teruteru, right?), so I really shouldn't be surprised. And figuring out how they got the bodies made enough sense. Overall, it's an okay mystery to solve. But I honestly think in comparison to chapter 4, this was a bit of a let down. Maybe if we got more hints to it or something or maybe if they didn't just drop the idea of the homunculus in chapter 2.

Overall, okay twist. Okay mystery. Could have been better.

As for the characters that actually appeared were pretty solid this chapter. This was probably the best Shinigami was the entire game, and I really wish we'd gotten this quality of writing for her more consistently through the entire game. Her sacrifice at the end actually did start to tug on my heart strings, and this was the first time I actually believed she and Yuma had any sort of bond.

Makoto made for a solid antagonist at the end, and the reveal of Yuma being Number One and had taken someone else's identity was interesting in concept. But I am really disappointed in how the path there was set up. We get one flashback to when Yuma sees Number One for the first time back in chapter three, and I knew immediately that our Yuma was Number One because the memory didn't do anything to hide the fact. You could tell by the silhouette of Number One that it's the Yuma we play as. And because at that point we knew about homunculus research, Makoto's line when Yuma leaves the tower after their initial meeting made it obvious he was a homunculus clone of him. But I thought that overall, the interactions between Yuma and Makoto and the conflict presented was a solid 6/10.

Kurumi is a fine enough member of the cast and I like her well enough, but I just don't think she and Yuma had as strong a connection, and I really didn't buy the whole "aw, they're crushing on each other" aspect of their relationship. To be honest, I think Yuma had better romantic chemistry with Desuhiko of all people in comparison. Maybe if Kurumi was utilized in the story better, I'd have more to say, but really, she's just kind of there to drop plot points in our laps every so often. I wish they'd done more with her.

And as for the ramen shop owner reveal......

Honestly, the reveal of the ramen shop owner being the real Yuma Kokohead embodies the biggest issue with Rain Code as a whole. And that issue is the fact that the characters aren't properly utilized in the entire setting. You don't get to know them. You don't get to build meaningful connections. You don't get the chance to really remember them. I cannot tell you how many times I've gone back trying to find all the times Yuma said he interacted with this guy and all I can really find is the one time in the beginning where they bumped into each other.

What made Danganronpa work is that it's biggest strength is it's Characters. The Characters are the core that lead the story, and everything from the mysteries to the overall themes are carried on their backs. We get to know them and spend time with them, and as a result, we care about the story and the mysteries because we care about most of, if not all of, these characters. We care about them, so we care about what they care about.

With Rain Code, we care about maybe a small handful of characters, but that's it. We aren't given a reason to care about the victims. We aren't given a reason to care about the culprits. We do care, but that's more because the way the plot is written tells us we're supposed to without showing us why. It gets close with some (Kurumi during Chapter 2), and outright does wonders at it in other cases (chapter 4), but most of the time we're just told "you need to care about this now hurry up and get it done" (this is especially egregious in chapter 3).

If Rain Code were a bit more open-world/sandbox-esque, where we go around getting to know people and solving smaller cases before moving onto the major story cases, we could have had something incredible. I mean, we're part of a detective agency for crying out loud. They could have done something more with that concept alone. Imagine what we could have gotten if we took on multiple client cases, working with different detectives and slowly growing our stills before moving onto the major story cases. We could have had something so good.

And then there's the ending...…

I'm sorry, but if you're going to present a choice like "kill your clone and destroy the labyrinth" and "stay in the labyrinth and sacrifice yourself", you need to commit. Here, it doesn't matter which choice you make, Yuma just decides anyway to stay until Shinigami offers to break the contract and send Yuma back to the real world. As a result, the epilogue stays the same regardless. I get that it's supposed to be culminative of the themes and Yuma's experiences, but as a player, as a writer, such an ending doesn't work for me in this particular case.

I think it would have been more powerful if Yuma's choices were presented and you either:

Pick an ending, and have the epilogue reflect that ending, letting the players decide how the mystery should end based on how the player interprets Yuma's journey and reflects all of what he's experienced up until now. Then we can see the aftermath and where Yuma plans to go from that point forward, taking on the ideals he's gained as this amnesiac trainee detective.

Have the options be presented, being told these are the only options, and then Yuma cuts them all down saying "No, the truth is that we can find a better solution than this", building on the concept of finding the truth while also bringing happiness to others using said truth, like the game keeps bringing up. Despite being the only ending, it'd have more weight because it really does hold to the core idea that Yuma, the Detective, lives by.

The ending is fine as is, I guess, but it's honestly a bit of a let down in comparison to what it could have been.

Final thoughts: Master Detective Archives Rain Code, as a whole, is an okay came. It had great music, amazing art, and some really clever mysteries. However, the lack of proper character relationships, the racist sprites in chapter 3, the underutilization on the concept of Fortes and the detectives in general leave a lot to be desired. Killing off half the detectives in the first hour of the game I feel really hurt the overall story, and the fact that you don't get proper, smaller cases in which to get to know the extended cast hinders and instead are left to try and find little statues in a completely optional mini game/side quest to unlock the one-on-one feature took out a lot of the overall enjoyment for me. The quality of writing for some of the characters is amazing, but that quality did not extend to the rest, and that's disappointing.

I want to love this game. And if we get a sequel I hope they really work hard to flesh out the world and make it more robust, lean hard on the concept of it being a mystery solving game with more smaller mysteries to solve, and give us more meaningful connections to the characters that allow us to care about them on a deeper level.

But as it stands, Rain Code feels empty, and really needed more time to really simmer and build itself into something more. Had they taken the time to ask "how can we make this feel more alive?", I think we could have gotten one of the best games of the 2020s.

I like this game. But I don't love it. And I am very hesitant to recommend it to anyone who isn't already a hardcore Danganronpa fan.

Overall, Master Detective Archives Rain Code is just....okay. A solid C-. A 6/10. A fine way to pass a weekend if nothing else. If you can get it on sale, borrow a copy, or if you need to round out your list to Santa Claus, this will do you fine and will scratch just enough of that itch for mysteries or for Danganronpa-eque content. But I don't think it's worth the hype, the high price, or the energy if it's not immediately calling to you.

Maybe my opinions will change in the years to come, but right now, I don't think I'll be coming back to Rain Code anytime soon. Or if I do, it'd probably be for a major fic rewrite.

Well, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading. If you agree with what I said, cool. Glad we're in agreement. If you don't agree, that's cool too. This is just my silly personal opinion, and I'm glad you're able to form your own conclusions on the game based on your experiences.

Have a good day.

#master detective archives spoilers #rain code spoilers #MDA:RC spoilers

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fragments-of-despair · 10 months

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Finished chapter 4. I'll keep my thoughts brief. Don't worry. They're mostly positives this time.

Of course, trying to keep it vague enough, but spoilers ahead.

First, the positives.

This was by far the most interesting mystery out of the entire game. The intricacies, the careful planning, the mastermind reveal. All of it worked perfectly. Even when I figured out where it was going, I was still surprised and impressed with the overall solution.

Also, Vivia Twilight?

BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY BEST BOY

I adored his development this chapter and loved how his Forte and personal convictions and worldview influenced the investigation. I can't really describe anything about it without spoiling too much, but like, damn, he's worth the $60 price tag. I can see why the one side NPC fell in love. Vivia is just AMAZING.

Also, this was probably Shinigami's best outing. She was still her usual self, but she also met her match in Vivia, and the overall story really started getting to her in a way the other cases didn't. So when the culprit reveal happened and she reaped the soul, it made sense why it went the way it did. And I found myself getting a bit emotional over this culprit along with all the detectives.

That being said, I'm still rather disappointed in the lack of true comradery between Yuma and the other detectives, as well as the lack of character conflict between the Nocturnal Detective Agency and the Peacekeepers. Most of the characters still feel like they're just kind of there, especially the villains. And that leaves everything feeling rather bare bones without even scraps to nibble on.

It might sound weird, but I think what hinders this game is the fact that you don't really interact with anyone outside of the main mystery and the Gab mechanic, and that mechanic is easy to pass over if you don't find all the statues and don't actively go out of your way to find them all. If they had made Kanai World more of an open box to explore like, say, a Legend of Zelda or Assassin's Creed game, where you unlock certain cases and interact with certain characters based on certain conditions and are encouraged to explore the world, I think I would have found the emotional core of this chapter more hard hitting.

Give me side quests where you go undercover with Desuhiko more and master a relationship meter or something similar.

Give me side quests where you and Halara take on cold cases and you work on paying off your debt to them you incur in chapter 2.

Go on more adventures with Fubuki to unlock certain districts in Kanai Ward and learn more about the outside world.

Give me lore based adventures with Yakou and Vivia, who are supposed to have this strong bond based on the emotional core of this chapter.

And make it so that your choices can affect how you go through the Mystery Labyrinth in the main story chapter. Have the Master Detectives come with you and actually have them help more with the investigations in there because as it stands, the only ones who really justified being there were Vivia and Halara, but that had to do more with the story rather than the gameplay.

I really, really want to love this game, but overall it feels empty. It easily could have been an 80-120 hour game if given the time and resources, and I feel like it would be all the better for it.

Hopefully chapter 5 sticks the landing because from my understanding, it's the final chapter, and I'm really hoping that it keeps improving where chapter 4 left us.

Overall, if I had to rank all of the chapters so far from best to worst, it'd look something like this:

Chapter 4: The Imperfect Insider

Chapter 2: A Silent Curtain Call

Chapter 0 and Prologue: Massacre on the Amaterasu Express/the WDO vs Amaterasu Corperation

Chapter 1: The Nail Man Killings

Chapter 3: No Longer a Detective (Chapter 3 curse lives on)

To be honest, I think I would have gladly waited another two or three years for Rain Code if it were filled with more than what we got.

As of right now, the only reasons I would say to get this game as is would be because of Yuma, Halara, Vivia, and the music. Otherwise, it might be better to wait until it's on sale.

Here's hoping chapter 5 stays on the upward trajectory and sticks the landing.

#mod kakera posts #rain code spoilers #master detective archives spoilers #MDC: RC Spoilers

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fragments-of-despair · 10 months

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I ended up editing the sprites for a particular character that shows up in chapter 3 of Rain Code. Just to see if there was anything I could do to try and make the design less racist. But I don't think I'll ever share them. At least not without getting some honest and solid critique first.

If you've made it to or past that chapter, you probably know which character I'm talking about.

If there are any fans who are POC who would be willing to give me some honest critique of this edit, I'd greatly appreciate it.

#rain code spoilers #master detective archives spoilers #MDA:RC Spoilers #sprite edits

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fragments-of-despair · 10 months

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I'm going to keep my thoughts on Chapter 3 very brief. I do not have much good to say, and if one cannot say anything nice, it's best to keep it brief in this case.

I liked the interactions with Fubuki more than I intended.

I liked Shachi and the concept of the Resistance.

I liked the overall mystery.

But the lack of proper connection between Yuma and the Resistance as a whole along with the amound of racist character designs in this chapter do not endear me to it. It's still a step above Chapter 3 of Goodbye Despair and V3 in terms of quality mystery and gameplay, but on a personal level I cannot even consider putting it on the ranking board due to those character designs. I pray they get patched out because this is unacceptable.

Also getting really tired of Shinigami but she was amazingly the least offensive part this chapter.

#rain code spoilers #master detective archives spoilers #MDA:RC Spoilers

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fragments-of-despair · 10 months

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So brief thoughts on chapters 1 and 2 before I head to work. I'll try to keep it vague so as not to spoil anything major but spoiler tags will be included for blocking purposes. And I'll keep everything under the cut.

With that, here we go.

Overall, I think chapters 1 and 2 are a vast improvement in terms of overall story and the mystery element, and the implementation of the Mystery Labyrinth is a step up from Chapter 0. There's still some frame rate issues and the U.I. can still be tricky for those who have visual processing issues, but overall, it's a massive step up. And I'm loving the more diverse facial designs on some of these characters. Quite a few of the characters in Chapter 2 had designs that reminded me quite a bit of current magical girl/cute-girls-doing-cute-things series that have come out in the last 15 years, and it was a nice addition to the already stunning designs for the characters we have.

Vivia and Halara are my favorites in terms of supporting cast. And I am actually pleasantly surprised at Desuhiko. Not perfect (this is still a Kodaka work after all and there were plenty of times I wanted to punt Desuhiko), but let's just say still somewhat of an improvement to his predecessors in the "pervy guy" category. I also found Shinigami to be a bit of an improvement in chapter 2 when she had her pouting session. It both added to her character, and gave my annoyance meter a bit of a much needed break. She's probably my least favorite of the cast still due to her actions towards Yuma and her dismissal of his feelings, but I don't dislike her as much as I did in chapter 0. If she starts getting some level of character development or if this behavior at least eases somewhat in chapter 3 onward, though, she might skyrocket to one of my faves (much like how Toko did in UDG).

Kurumi Wendy is adorable, and Yakou is.....Yakou.

(Seriously I want to have more to say about Yakou but there's really not much I can say other than "I miss Yasuhiro Hagakure".)

If I had to point out one major criticism, its that I wish we got to know the characters more. Detectives, villains, case specific cast members. All of them. With how much so many of them were advertised, I'd expect something a bit more....I don't now, meaty? Even with early deaths in Danganronpa, we still got to know quite a lot about them even before their passing, and it truly felt like we were all part of a group or had some sort of significant connection. I know we're supposed to get DLC for Rain Code that expands on the characters, but I feel like we shouldn't need to wait on DLC to get more with these characters, you know? With the base game, pretty much everyone but Shinigami and Yuma feels disposable and unneeded. You probably could have cut the current cast in half and it wouldn't have changed much of the story. And from a writing perspective, that's the last thing you want people to feel with your cast.

Maybe it's just me, but I really wish we had more.

Final thoughts on chapters 1 and 2 are basically: I loved the mystery, I felt they were improvements, but there's still a lot lacking in terms of character interactions. Hopefully things improve in chapter 3.

#rain code spoilers #master detective archives spoilers #MDA:RC spoilers #getting better but wish there was more

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fragments-of-despair · 10 months

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So thanks to justonegamr uploading a really good let's play, I got to watch the entire first chapter/prologue of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. And I have some....thoughts. Nothing bad, really, just....some concerns.

I'll keep any spoilers under the cut and will tag this as "Master Detective Archives Spoilers", "Rain Code Spoilers" and "MDA:RC Spoilers", in case anyone wants to filter out tags.

With that one last warning, onto my thoughts.

To start: Positives!

Music: Once again, Masafumi Takeda is a Master Composer, and the soundtrack is one of the strongest he's put out so far. I enjoyed listening to the music and felt it did great at establishing the tone and I feel like it'll be the most memorable part of the game for many.

Art and Character Design: As with the music, the character designs by Rui Komatsuzaki is spot on as always and every single character looks fantastic. And the designs translated pretty well into 3D. For anyone who had worries given how UDG's models look in 3D, rest assured, everyone looks great in the Unreal Engine. On top of that, the setting is very vibrant and interesting, despite it all being mostly in one location for a good amount of the opening chapter. The Mystery Labyrinth is very colorful and creative and it was fun seeing Yuma explore. Shimadoriru did excellent work and I'm excited to see more of his art in the setting of Kanai Ward.

Player Character/Protagonist: I WOULD DIE FOR YUMA KOKOHEAD. I adore this little guy and I find him to be quite entertaining. If Wato Hojo from Process of Elimination is what would happen if you fused Hajime and Shuichi, then Yuma Kokohead is what you'd get if you mixed Makoto and Shuichi (or if you want to imagine a Naegiri child, that is also an apt description of Yuma so far). He seems to have an ability to let him feel when someone is using their Forensic Forte, almost like some kind of magical physical empathy.

I want nothing but good things for him. Protect Yuma Kokohead.

The First Mystery: Without going into too much detail, the way the culprit of this first case managed to pull off the murders was rather clever. I have family that has been working railways for decades now, and we've been train fanatics for years, so the car switch trick was definitely clever. Not the first time this trick has been used in mysteries. In fact, I'd say it's a classic in train-centric murder mysteries. But Rain Code's example was really good in that not only was it clever for the murderer, but also was good to help establish more about our big bad and give hints to the difficulty of the enemies to follow. Overall, a solid mystery.

Now for the negatives. Or rather......concerns......Okay, a mix of both really.

Last chance to turn away before MAJOR SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Gameplay and User Interface: From what I've seen this game is not going to be friendly for those who have vision issues. There were points where I was finding it difficult to read and that affected my ability to enjoy the investigative portions. And I'm watching on a small flatscreen TV I use as a computer monitor. Playing this on small screens is going to be hard for some, which I don't think was really taken into account during development. Aesthetically it looks fantastic, but unless you got really good vision or some super strong glasses, you'll probably have as hard a time as I did. (this will be especially hard in the Pirate Pop Up minigame that seems to be replacing Hangman's Gambit. We truly cannot avoid that game being hell, can we?).

Also, there were parts where, as I was watching, it looked like there might be issues regarding whether or not the controls will read properly. It looked like justonegamr should have managed to dodge some things but in the end, the game read that they didn't. I imagine a lot of it has to do with the font and the size of the hit box. Just know that if this was an issue for you in UDG, it might be a minor problem in Rain Code as well.

Also, there were points during the game that I thought that the concept of the Mystery Labyrinth was....for lack of better words, it felt very gratuitous at points. I think the story is trying to set up something with them, so I'll hold my full thoughts off until then, but with what we're presented with so far, it's pretty much coming off as "What if we took the trials of Danganronpa and made it a Persona 5 dungeon", and it isn't really working for me.

Oh yeah, Climax Reasoning is back. Forgot to mention that. It's....fine? I guess? I think it leans too far in the aesthetics and had trouble reading most of the questions and hints personally. It's kind of hard to top the Climax Reasoning from Goodbye Despair and V3......

The Rest of the Cast and Overall Story: Oh boy. This one is going to be a doozy.

I just want to say, before we go on, that what I am about to say is my personal thoughts and if you do not agree, no hard feelings. It's just my own personal silly little opinion and you're free to disregard it.

With that being said, I am severely disappointed in how Five of the Master Detectives that were advertised were treated.

I hope no one here were fans of Pucci, Zange, Melami, Zilch, or Aphex based on their designs, Character Profiles, and Forensic Fortes. Because they're all dead.

That's right. FIVE of our detectives are dead right now. What had happened was, Amataratsu Corp. hired a hitman to kill the detectives. And that hitman was Zilch. Or rather, someone disguised as Zilch. Or maybe it was Zilch. See, the explanation we're given is that there was a Master Detective named Zilch, but that he was killed before the others and his identity was stolen, while his body is stored on the train somewhere. The Imposter Zilch then drugged everyone, killed Pucci, Melami, Zenge, and Aphex by burning them to death, and then used Aphex's body to help fake his own death, before hiding in the control room in a blind spot and framing Yuma for the crime. The train car swap was done using a split track and a tunnel as well as leaving a car behind at one station (it was supposed to be five cars long but was four for the trip to pull off the trick), and having another prepared at the end point. The real Zilch is supposed to be on the car that was left behind on at the station.

But according to Shinigami, completing the Mystery Labyrinth and letting her reap the culprit's soul there kills the culprit. And the culprit looked like too much Zilch to make me believe it wasn't. Shouldn't it have looked more like the actual character? Or perhaps be similar to the Grey Man we see in the Climax Reasoning if they wanted to keep it more vague?

Also, throughout the prologue up until their deaths, it really felt like they were building up these detectives to be interesting acquaintances to Yuma, and I was looking forward to seeing how they'd all work together and grow. Aphex actually ended up being my favorite of the five because what little interactions we got were that impactful to me. So you can imagine my surprise to find all these detectives not only dead, but that Zilch (my second favorite) wasn't even the real Zilch. I wasn't shocked like I was when playing Danganronpa or going through Process of Elimination and finding these characters dead. I was left feeling hollow, frustrated, but mostly, I was disappointed. The hype around these characters and their talents was enough to get me hooked, and what little we got made me want more. But now we're not going to get anything. It's like being given a taste sample at Cold Stone only to be told that the ice cream you were offered was just taken off the menu by corporate and they're not allowed to serve it to you anymore. This is going to make a lot of people put down the game I think if they were hoping to investigate with any of those five and experience their Fortes in more interesting and dynamic cases, and I wouldn't blame them. If they bring them back somehow, it'll have to be pretty damn convincing because as things are now, they can't without making it feel like an asspull.

And as for Shinigami.......

I'm so sorry everyone, but I just cannot get behind her right now. She's a lot like if you fused Junko, Genocide Jack, and Ibuki in terms of personality, for lack of better ways to describe her. It was those three I was thinking of whenever she spoke or was on screen. But there's a reason characters like Ibuki, Jack, and Junko work, and a lot of that is moderation and balance. They're used moderately, balanced with the rest of the cast or with the character they're primarily spending time with. But since for most of the chapter she's your primary partner, that moderation isn't there. And there were so, so, SO many times I just wanted to hit her. I'm sure she's going to have a lot of fans, and there were parts about her that I enjoyed (usually when her behavior was more toned down and when she was not using Yuma's pain as humor), I know a lot of her actions are due to the mystery of the contract she made with Yuma and that will be revealed in time, but there were times where I wanted Yuma to just tell her to stop. And her talk about death and despair...... Yeah, as a Danganronpa fan, that's setting off a LOT of alarm bells. (I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this did turn out to secretly be a Danganronpa game given how she's being written so far).

If her overall character becomes more balanced or goes through well written growth, then my opinion will probably change, but as is, she's on the bottom of my list of characters I'm enjoying from this game.

Also, Yakou Furio is..... there. So yeah.

FINAL THOUGHTS (so far):

Between the characters we lost and the ones we still have and the rules of the Mystery Labyrinth, I'm really concerned about how the overall story is going to go. The game has a lot to do to earn back my trust after what happened to the first five detectives we met, and the writing is definitely going to need to pick up in ways that'll hook on the players who might consider putting this down after Chapter 0. The UI could have been better implemented and more accessable, and the future Labyrinths will need to really do something to justify their need to be included in the narrative going forward.

But the character designs, art, music, and Yuma alone make this game worth at least watching playthroughs of. And I do want to see Yuma's continued growth with the remaining detectives.

If you're a die-hard Danganronpa fan who just wants to have every part of Danganronpa Team's works in your collection, this game is worth a place there, I think. The Soundtrack especially is worth the price of the base game imo.

But if you're debating if you'll enjoy this game overall, I'd suggest waiting a couple of weeks for a more solid consensus before investing $60-$100.

As for Kakera's thoughts? Overall, I'm not mad. Just confused and disappointed.

#mod kakera posts #master detective archives spoilers #rain code spoilers #MDA:RC Spoilers #TLDR if you don't want to read the post and be spoiled:#i'm not mad just disappointed #and I hope it gets better

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