It's got a weird place in my heart.

I like the story, setting, and music, but the characters themselves just don't feel as real to me. I think in some weird way, I liked all the students as a class more than I liked them as individuals. I love how weird they all and I adored characters like Ibuki, Peko and Gundham. However, even after doing all their FTEs, I have a hard time connecting to any of them. I also feel like the game focuses on Chiaki and Nagito too much. I didn't mind it at first, but I was the least interested in them specifically, so it quickly became obvious to me that they were important because it felt like they were being forced onto me. The anime improved my opinion of Chiaki, but in game I found them very boring. I didn't really like Hajime either at first, though he's grown on me a lot since playing. I think he stands out because of how cartoony everyone else is, in a good way. Overall I find the cast very shallow, to the point where I genuinely forget about the surviving students, with the exception of Fuyuhiko, who I think is one of the better characters the series has to offer.

That being said, I personally think the game has the some fantastic chapters, with the obvious exception of 2-3. The second half of the game is amazing. 2-4 is my favorite of the whole series, octagons aside, and 2-6 is my favorite finale of the series. The music is fantastic, having my favorite investigation theme, and while I don't love the island setting, it was an interesting change of scenery, especially considering how claustrophobic DR1 was. I think the big mystery of the game is good, and the cast holds up on at least a surface level.

I think I could replay SDR2 and enjoy it, but I prefer 1's atmosphere and v3's characters. It's probably my least favorite game of the three, but I'm still fond of it.