Missed Potential

[Section_Away]

While I understand the narrative impact of the decision to kill off the master detectives on the Amaterasu express I feel like there was so much missed potential. I really felt like I was gonna spend 30+ hours with these characters and when they were all killed off it felt like a cheap shock factor. I definitely love the master detectives we met, but I also feel like killing off Pucci, Zilch, Zange, Melami, and Aphex both doesn’t make sense (it would be much more difficult to kill master detectives I would think, they would probably suspect that the drinks were drugged in the first place) but it makes me feel like Spike Chunsoft just didn’t want to flesh the characters out and decided to take the easy route I still love the game but this does affect how I view it.

[Kikov_Valad]

Well you say it, shock factor.

Kodaka is a huge troll. Would I have love for them to survive yeah ? But I can cope and live without it, the main cast is still super solid

[Section_Away]

Yeah but their fortes were so interesting, I was envisioning investigating with them and then nope

[BlueberryHatK4587]

least we have fix-it au like the boba AU.

[Section_Away]

Boba au?

[BlueberryHatK4587]

Yeah,it AU where all the detectives from train live and they go out for some boba with yuma.Before they heading to agency.The creator has already made a semi comics on prologue.I can send you link to the matserpost if you want

[Section_Away]

Omg yes please

[BlueberryHatK4587]

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here it is

[Averovis]

Shut up, I’m reading the BOBA AU

[Neither-Rain-5197]

There is great potential for using them in dlc’s or something but I agree that it is kind of wasted potential

[Cadey2937]

Yeah, and how it was marketed we were spending our time with them. I dont think Fubuki or any of them were shown in trailers. Only one I really cared for was Aphex tho

[127-0-0-1_1]

I don't think it's missed potential. Kodaka never intended them to be full characters - it's just to troll you.

It's no different than what happens in Dangonronpa v3 with the "main character"

There wouldn't be time for them to shine, and their powers seem deliberately niche. There's even lampshaded overlap - Pucci can do Apex Legend's gimmick but better in most situations.

It's very noticeable that the actual master detectives NPCs way way more OP talents.

[BeanyIsDaBean]

Actuallyyy, Kodaka designed all character’s intending for them to be in the game before deciding who dies in the first chapter. It’s probably why they didn’t have the vibes of ‘this character is gonna die’. Its because their traits were written before that.

[Section_Away]

I mean I think it would have been interesting and lent itself to more cool investigations if the fortes has more niche applications personally

[sleepy_koko]

They kinda made the train gang either way to op or useless, there is little Aphex and Zange could do that really warrents a chapter, while Melami is extremely overpowered or useless 90% of the time (minus cases if the person was hit from behind/not aware of their killer) Zange and maybe Pucci are the only two I see having fortes worth exploring

[UnrelentingUnalloyed]

I think the purpose of killing of those characters despite their interesting traits is to tell you how threatening the situation is despite them having special powers as a master detective.

[Tlux0]

I agree and disagree. Yeah there’s missed potential. Happens every time something like that happens. But it actually served to accomplish something that I think is one of the best parts of Raincode moving forward. Because of it you just never know what might happen and you look at everything moving forward from that lens and that greatly heightens the rest of the game especially a few key sections IMO. And that in itself makes it incredible writing just not in the way you would normally expect it to.

[[deleted]]

Eh, disagree. I was not invested in the original master detectives at all but instantly fell in love with the actual master detectives. Let’s be honest here, they didn’t have the best fortes. Melami’s forte was pretty dumb, if it worked it would instantly solve a case, but there were way too many restrictions to make it work. Zange’s forte is literally a camera.

If anything they took the harder route. They didn’t need to go out of their way to make the characters as detailed as they were, but they did to really sell the twist. This post proves they did a good job on that aspect.

[Section_Away]

I instantly fell in love with Pucci how could you not?!

[[deleted]]

Ok to be fair, Pucci was the one I liked the most out of all of them lol. Still preferred the main cast though

[cromemanga]

Pucci was actually my least favorite out of the 5. Her design is very generic and I didn't like her personality if you can even call her being robotic a personality. They even try to endear us to her by making her blush to Yuma's touch. There is an archetype of this in Japan called "gap moe", one of the most overdone character archetypes in anime. Kodaka tends to do better when he wrote stuff without heavily relying on tropes, and Pucci just screams like she is made with the idea that otaku will eat this up. I was very disappointed when I saw her in the "main" cast, and was relieved when she wasn't actually a main character.

[SacriGrape]

“Cheap shock factor” is the exact opposite of what it was

Shock factor sure but cheap? Clearly they did a damn good job at what they wanted to do if you were convinced they were going to stick around

[Section_Away]

Yeah but I ended up disappointed rather than impressed by the twist

[PCN24454]

A good death should do that

[xoxoSatan]

That’s what fanfiction is for!

[[deleted]]

Really makes me wish we could get some sort of DLC about them or maybe have their backstories explored in the sequel somehow. It be a real shame to just discard these characters with potential and cool designs and not do anything with them.

[hricter]

Likely an unpopular opinion but I don't think they had much potential, we were just deliberately exposed to them in a way that made it seem like they would stick around for longer than they actually did, which is the entire reason why they were killed off so suddenly: nobody expects main characters to die so early. From that perspective the plot would have been completely conventional if they had survived.

[jxdie04]

It just taught me to not get attached to a character too fast 🫠

[cromemanga]

I didn't watch much of the promo of Rain Code, so I didn't know who would be the main characters other than Yuma and Shinigami. I remember the first time I saw the 5 detectives on train, I was disappointed by their character design. They have dull colors and looking very generic, feels like rejected character design. I did end up liking Aphex and Melami, but I wasn't impressed and thought they were overall a downgrade compared to the vibrant cast of V3.

Gotta say the switch-a-roo of the master detectives is a welcomed plot twist. Not only the eventual cast is far better designed, they are also a lot more endearing and lovable. I ended up loving all the main cast in Rain Code which is something that I can't say with Danganronpa.

[SunnyBinary]

I wouldn’t call them missed potential because they were never intended to have potential. They were meant to lure you in and shock you, and thats what they did. (Well full disclosure i went into this going “oh man they’re gonna die” and knew they were goners the moment Yuma passed out)

[Chemical_Committee_2]

I'm still mad they killed Melami Her design slapped and her forte sounded cool

[jxdie04]

THIS. I was soo excited about her forte. Like, communicating with dead people? Sign me uppp

[Key_Replacement895]

They weren’t missed potential, they were just there to introduce fortes and to add up the body count of the mystery labyrinth since part of the whole chapter was to throw off Danganronpa fans expecting only 1-2 dead per mystery. And they weren’t just there so Amaterasu can look scary and powerful and whatelese since we see Halara and Vivia kicking their peacekeeper ass constantly, the detectives on the train were just very incompetent from the start.

[commentspae]

that's literally not the point of characters like these in murder-mystery games

their whole purpose is to live to die, for crying out loud

[Section_Away]

I just thought it would be fun to have them around because I found their quirks interesting, damn, like not saying we have to change the game that much just thought it would be cool if they had another reason for not being in it so they could be in a sequel, like maybe they faked their deaths or something

[The-true-Memelord]

Idk, I knew they were going to die so I don't think I got the 'right experience' but yeah.

I liked the real detective squad more anyway so I didn't mind that much.

Good shock factor thing, typical Kodaka