Gosh, I'm actually in love with this fanproject. It's a lot more succinct than a normal DR game but I think it's perfect in what it sets out to do and what it wants to accomplish.
First, I just want to gush about the graphics because I've never seen Ren'Py used in such a creative and beautiful way before. Even just the daily life interface is really nice to me, this graphic design work is excellent and I don't think even Spike could have done a better job. Genuinely throughout the entire game when I got to unique segments I would go to whoever's closest and show them what it looks like because it was just so good to me.
The story was really nice also. It wasn't super long, which is kind of impressive given that this is a Danganronpa game, but I really did fall for the characters (especially Missy...) and the writing style was unique and charming. The protagonist I have mixed feelings on, since I found them a bit hard to connect with, but I think that's just because I have a completely different personality.
And now we get into spoiler territory.
I don't really understand griping about the ending? I thought it was pretty understandable and I was especially intrigued with the placebo effect thing. I think it was purposefully vague, much in the way that the original DR game was. The specifics of the project and the outside world aren't important. The important part is that it makes you feel something, and I really think it accomplished that. I don't want to get too into my analysis stuff, but I will just reiterate that I don't agree with the dissatisfaction most people are giving the ending.
And, to be honest, I only have two issues for this game. One being that Art does not feel as sympathetic as I think he's supposed to be? I enjoy that he regrets his actions, since it's rare for a DR character to do that, but I don't think it's properly explained until after the trial that he thought Pandora was suspicious and it was part of the reason why he killed her.
The other issue is the character's color palettes. I don't have any issues with their designs overall but a lot of their color palettes just clash or don't really work together and it's a bit distracting since the characters are part of what's supposed to make this hit so hard. That said, though, I don't think either of these flaws are enough to take away from what I genuinely enjoy about this game.
8/10 I'm going to rave about this to everyone I know now.
Must agree with the disappointment surrounding the ending as well, unfortunately, especially regarding the absolutely final scene. What happened there? That said, most of the praise stands as well. The only character I found wholly unsympathetic being the first murderer.
lovely game!! i grew to like a lot of characters!! like kanon, forte, and missy, very fun experience and had a lot of fun with the class trials and such, also i love the art style, its so pretty!! and spoiler
This was a really great game! I loved the music, the characters, and the turns the game took genuinely surprised me on several occasions. And I particularly loved Echo as a protagonist, although Lyle or Missy may be my favorite characters in this.
I do have one question though, and while there are no explicit spoilers stated in it, it should probably be spoilered because it is about the ending.
Spoilers
What exactly does the ending mean? Is there an actual answer right now or are you leaving that up for theorizing and speculation? Or did I miss something(because the upper ending token isn't showing up for me) and there's more and that's why I'm confused? Or is there going to be an update or sequel to this game and you're leaving it open for more in the future?
Fantastic game, a treat for fans of fan-made danganronpa! I especially loved the art. The ending seemed to leave itself open for either a continuation or maybe a simultaneously occurring story from another viewpoint; it'd be great to get more in the future!
I loved the character, the illustrations, and the story, I played all the Danganronpa's games and this can be a good game, but there are things that there are incomplete, as the strange ending, Echo's ability and some of the char. background story and I really hope for like a sequel that can explain more.
It was really good. Characters were interesting, but i just don't understand the ending. They went back to past? Were they catch? What happened to them? We didn't get any answers, or I'm just too dumb for this lmao
This was the best game I have ever played! As a beginner to Ren'py, I am amazed at how you managed to customize the entire game- I can hardly believe you made this with Ren'py!
this game had extreme amount of potential. art is amazing, pacing of first chapters was great, characters are great and dialogues are pleasant to read: game feels really complete.
the problem that after initial 2 chapters story is starting to go nowhere: it feels like two halves of the game are not connected at all, something broke there for some reason (author's interest loss while making? wish to finish earlier?), and it's really sad to see.
well, spoilers ahead:
1 and 2 chapters were made much earlier and released to the public. both cases had really interesting twist, like cyrus had two fake titles, that were revealed in different chapters, and it felt really unique and intriguing. his use of talent as information to make ashley ACCIDENTLY shoot was great. and later reveal of 6 additional character were mysteryous as well. and ummm, nothing of things i said are found in final version of the game
and in the final version of the game ashley shoots for no logical reason - it just don't correspond her moral and was never really explained
my initial thought was that cases was circumcised for the sake of global plot: maybe something changed for the better or cases was just meant to become simpler for some reason
and of course that's not the case: the ending was rushed, every detail revealed contradicted with information we had and make no story feel complete and true. it look like the creator changed their view on the story like myriad of times, but the result and last chapters we get just waste of its potential.
people in the comments already mentioned it, that story has extreme amount of details that contradicts with something or don't even have an explanation to begin with. it's even possible to add some more points, this list became really big for such short game
at the 3-ird chapter when we die at the bad end my mind filled with possibilities: canon became furious?? lyle killed us?? sei somehow rushed to our group?? getting this not specifed information was intriguing to continue story with other group. and oh god, things are already begun be questionable: what reason to give player some choice if it don't change anything at all - you still need to proceed playing in one route.
sei is killing like 3-4 people in a row and you think: oh my god, it's extreme, but okay, we all played danganronpa. there are three possibilities for story to continue, you think: you die, you play catch-up with sei trying to escape, or someone survived and you happily go to the court. then time is reversed and i felt extreme dissatisfaction: it was ABSOLUTELY for nothing. sei's motive for killing don't matches with anything later, zero's words are nonsense and we lost interesting way for the story to process. at the moment of time reverting happened, i hoped to see some good explanation for the reason of that and.... as you know it goes nowhere.... using information we got from unsatisfying game's ending we can think about hypnosis or something, but it is just bad
at the conclusion i would like to say: the game had so good potential and, in my opinion, author of this game is capable of creating something insanely good. but it feels like author is tired or something like that. i don't get it and it really-really hurts for me to think how good this game could be....
if it was possible to wait for another year or two to see this game finished with full potential, i would make this choice with no regret
The visuals are gorgeous, both in terms of quality and design. The dialogue and characterization are pretty darn good, too. Interactive elements (investigation and trial dialogue) are very basic, but it's fun they're included and impressively seamless.
The writer does a good job of creating situations that get your mind buzzing with intrigue and possibility. I personally go to Danganronpa for the murder mysteries, which were clearly not the focus here (each investigation uncovers ~2 pieces of evidence), but I had fun instead focusing on the overarching mystery, which definitely was a priority. Bizarre events, jarring revelations, and vague, tantalizing clues abound. I got totally sucked in. Then the ending happened.
Endings are hard, and I don't like to fault someone for not sticking the landing. But this ending revealed that there would be no reveal. Everything is either exactly as it appeared all along or completely unexplained. I felt like a dummy for trying to play along and piece things together as we went. The story is just completely incoherent. Here's a list of things off the top of my head that didn't make sense (spoilers):
Echo can time travel or something. This is never explained.
The trigger for Echo's time traveling is that they die. But there are two bad endings where Echo just dies. What makes these different is never explained.
Echo was in the game despite never having signed up for the program, which is set up as a big mystery. It is never explained.
At one point, Echo flips out like a computer and goes into binary and error code. This is never explained.
Sei and Pandora are given cards explaining they have allies on the inside (I think), and regardless are definitely suspicious. Bizarrely, Pandora starts showing hers to people, and Sei hides hers in a public room instead of just keeping it locked up.
The Program has a psychic, because psychic powers exist apparently. It is made clear the psychic needs to use a visual and an audio trigger to affect someone. At one point later, several characters are affected by the psychic without any sort of trigger.
Echo decides to exploit their power during a trial by voting for someone and seeing what happens. Instead of waiting to hear if the vote was right or wrong, Echo runs into the execution, and much is made of how the execution involved needles. Upon returning to the present, Echo procedes to use none of this worthless information, instead bringing up the rather obvious additional wound on the body they've known about since the beginning.
The game ends by replaying the first scene, but several details are different (Echo's ankle is broken instead of sprained; they get out of the car and call Ashley's house). None of this is explained.
The Program wants the best ultimates, and it's suggested the game is about weeding out the chaff. But the winners are immediately put into suspended animation tanks to run the subsequent games, where they waste away and die.
Several participants in the game were killed before it started. It's said Cyrus is responsible, but we still don't know why, when, or how they were selected.
Cyrus is suggested to not really be as evil as he was acting. This goes nowhere.
Gaea lets Pandora die, despite giving Pandora a card saying she was safe.
I feel I must reisterate: Echo can time travel or something, and this is never explained.
Towards the end, Zero "starts sounding different" and allows the cast access to secret areas. This is never explained.
I strongly suspect this is simply an unfinished project. There were two fake-out death discovery drawings which likely were originally meant to be real murders. Several intriguing details that really seem fruitful for surprising twists (Echo's mystery talent, Echo's mystery kidnapping, the fact that one character is a twin of another character, etc) end up going nowhere.
I don't begrudge the creator here; this is a huge undertaking, and I got to look at their lovely art for a few hours and spend time with some likeable characters. But it's the worst of both worlds to slap on a pat, baffling ending that either ignores the game's earlier mysteries or reveals there was nothing mysterious happening in the first place. It would have been better to release a literally unfinished game and tell the rest of the intended story to fans in a blog post. We understand how much work this is. We respect and appreciate your talent. But this release, as it is, makes the story trip over its own feet.
I was fairly engrossed with this game, but I have to say I'm left feeling quite unsatisfied. Spoilers...
After the 2nd trial, Echo suddenly has the power to snap back to the past with memories intact in order to circumvent bad outcomes. This power comes out of nowhere, is hardly questioned, and is never explored or explained. You'd think it would be revealed to have something to do with the Ultimate Memory title, but that just ended up being fake and unrelated.
Such a power is something that you base an entire game system around (as in the Zero Escape series, Raging Loop, Life is Strange, etc.), not something you throw haphazardously into a game already based on a wholly different system (of deaths actually happening and moving forward with the story despite that, i.e. Danganronpa).
And even besides that issue, the story ended up not making a lot of sense for me in various ways. Like, Echo literally witnesses Sei murder everybody in an alternate timeline, and still insists that she wouldn't resort to killing? How does that make any sense?
The rules for body discovery in this game are never explained, but it requires 3 people in Danganronpa, so it's assumed to still be the case here, yet then it shouldn't be possible for some of body discovery announcements to happen in the later chapters.
I also don't get why Pandora didn't seem to recognize the symbol of her twin sister's school on her note, or what the purpose of the note even was, since it claimed that she was safe, and yet nothing was done to actually protect her. And was it ever really explained why Echo was made to be involved in the killing game, or why so many of the planned pairings didn't happen? An organization with the technology and resources shown seems like it should be more than capable of abducting Ashley without Echo witnessing it, for example. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something.
The roster screen for each character shows up to three other people when hovering over the right side, but it doesn't indicate what this means at all. And I don't understand why everyone has a designated flower, or how that has to do with anything.
But the main thing that didn't work for me was that the explanation behind the killing game kind of fell flat. There were minor references to "despair," but not enough to think that it's an active threat to the world in the way it is for the main Danganronpa games. So it's hard to believe that there would be a whole organization of people so willingly involved in causing so many deaths just in the name of...some rather unclear goal.
Like, what was it all for, really? All they apparently used the winners for was to run more killing games. I never got a clear idea of what they were actually trying to accomplish. There was so much emphasis on ultimate talents benefiting humanity in the early chapters and with the motive questions, but that theme didn't really tie into anything in the end. There was no indication that I recall of any actual attempt to better humanity in any tangible way despite all the effort of conducting these killing games.
I still appreciate the effort made, and how this game is freely offered, but these issues leave a lot to be desired.
i believe that the characters on the sides of everyone's profiles(except kanon, i think??) are meant to be their closest friends, or the people they trust the most!! i'm not 100% sure if this is true or not, but it seems to be the most likely answer,,,
as for the flowers, i believe that everyone's flower seems to be associated with a flower meaning- i even looked them up myself!! a majority of them seem to be pretty accurate!! some of them don't make a ton of sense(lyle's in particular, though it may relate to his friend...), though that could just be because we looked at different sources :')
please be aware that i'm not well-versed in flower meanings(though i'm interested in learning about them), so some of these might be incorrect!! feel free to correct me :)
art - bouvardia: enthusiasm, versatility, the joy of life, celebrating life, happiness, and light-heartedness
pandora - daisy: new beginnings, rebirth, love, cheerfulness, beauty, purity, innocence, hope, fun, and affection
sei - purple hyacinth: sorrow, "i am sorry."a deep feeling of sadness and asking for forgiveness
kanon - marigold: power, strength, and light that lives inside of a person.also can represent positive emotions and energy, though this doesn't seem to match with kanon's character
echo - gladiolus: strength of character, remembrance, faithfulness, and moral integrity
forte - calla lily: the idea of life and fertility, and on the flipside, it's a well-known symbol of death. this might correlate to the comedy and tragedy masks, also being positive and negative opposites, linked by forte's theatrical ultimate
cyrus - snapdragon: deception (perhaps tied to the notion of concealment) strength, and graciousness. they were historically used as charms against falsehood
lyle - asphodelus: mourning, the underworld, death, peace after death. seems a bit ironic, considering... as said, it could be related to "his friend," who i'll keep secret for now for spoiler purposes. i'll talk about it in a separate message, if requested to
on other topics, aspholdelus is quite obviously linked to the underworld, so much as to be named similarly or after the greek middle afterlife: asphodel. it was made for people that weren't particularly good or bad- average people
missy - geranium: clever minds, ingenuity. as well as happiness, good health, good wishes, and friendship.the first two seem to fit missy best
ashley - white carnation:purity, sweetness, simplicity and genuineness. as well as "expressions of pure, wholesome love"
some of these flowers(the asphodelus, more specifically), don't have a lot on them, flower meaning-wise, from what i could find, so they might have additional meanings that i missed. let me know if you find any significant ones!!
you tricked me with the numbers zero repeated at the end. 6 digits?? i thought i was smart and immediately after finishing the game i went back to the padlock only to be greeted with nothing.
(NOT genuinely mad, just thought it was an easter egg and was wondering if you meant to trick us lmao)
i really like the game...it has a good plot, it isn't too difficult to follow...the only thing is that i wished the trials were in the style of the original serie and that they were longer...but overall i would highly recommend you to play this game
Lapse is by far one of the best fanganronpas out there and you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not playing it. Admittedly a bit shorter than I'd hoped (~5 hours) but still a very high-quality game. Recommended for DR fans and non-fans alike.
Instead of the usual cast of 16 students, the game simmers it down to a total of 10 participants. In this new version, characters' sprites are cleaned, and background stock art are replaced with original works. I find the user interface very clean and immersive. A minor issue is that the student roster does not show up again when reloading the game. The game takes inspiration from Zero escape, and Ghost Trick: Phantom detective.
My experience with the game lay heavily on the story. Let's talk about the main character first: Echo Pine, the protagonist managed to make me understand and gripe at him a little. The idea of not having 'Ultimate' titles (a talent that one excels in) revolve around the characters true origin was a great idea but not expanded on. Sure, they sprinkled around exposition repeating the same lines chapter by chapter that 'ultimate titles aren't everything' until the main character says 'I know' - however, it doesn't feel like he understands it completely.
While both chapter 1 and chapter 2 are coherently paced. I felt like chapter 3 onwards to chapter 5 had an exposition rush. I think it's best to let the readers think more about the clues, instead of using Gaia/Eve as a dumping tool. Some of the bad ends really highlighted a lot for me, like the elevator scene with Sei and Ashley's bad end. I feel like they could have done a lot more creative choices within the game. The memory rewind was a really cool idea, although it was only used a few times. They could have done a lot more with the binary codes given out, I feel. Since that is also a part of the main theme in the game.
Overall the game's alright, and for a reworked game I can see the passion provided.
I just finished this game and it has literally become one of my all-time favorites. I've been keeping an eye out for it ever since you released the original first two chapters years ago and I have to say, the wait was worth it! The writing is so good and all the lore throughout just made my heart so happy! You did a great job here. Well done!
I first played this on its first released and I am SO happy that its completed and all, the storyline, the art, the editing in the intro is AMAZING and I’m really happy I played this early a long time back.
This. Was. Incredible. I have played this 3 times (not kidding lol) and every single time I noticed something new that clicked the story together even more! Well done. Seriously, this is a killer fangan and a genuinely enjoyable visual/kinetic novel. Everything was so slick and professional, the quality did not drop throughout the entire thing.
The art is so well done, it really looks like you have put a lot of time and effort into making everything look polished. Not only that, but the UI and gameplay shows this is definitely not your first rodeo. I'm so surprised you even include little 3d animations for some parts, and the trials look like danganronpa trials as well! For the first hour or so playing this I was fanning over how pretty everything looked!
The story is tightly written, dialogue excellent (especially the foreshadowing oh my god) I really like what you've done. Not going to include any spoilers, so just speaking generally- I enjoyed how the last 2 chapters turned out! You took things in a nice and interesting direction, things happened I hadn't seen in a dangan or fangan game before, yet you didn't take the story too far away from the realm of danganronpa. I really appreciate how you did that! It's refreshing to get a quality, short (compared to the official games) danganronpa story without all the mess of dealing with minigames, filler plot and monokuma segments. It was also so nice to have more time to be emotionally connected to all the characters this time around :)
I hope this game gets the recognition it deserves! Seriously, this is so solidly built that I feel like this is going into the fanganronpa hall of fame or something, it's just out of this world.
Super happy to see this game in full. Its clear even playing the prologue that a lot of work went into it over the last two years with all the new art and effects.
This fangan has some of the best design, technical prowess, and story flow that I've seen in any fangan, and I've played/read dozens. Diverging from the DR art style is a bold choice, but the chosen art style is very endearing. The backgrounds/UI design is also exquisite, and the grandeur of each location seems to blend in well with the simple yet eye-catching character designs. All the dialogue and narration was clear, concise, and easy to understand, and the flow between story events felt natural.
My only gripe is that the last two chapters felt unsatisfying. There were some topics left unexplained that I felt should have been clarified in order for the plot to be coherent. I felt like the resolutions to the mysteries left holes that make the earlier points of the story make less sense in retrospect.
However, my experience playing the game was still overwhelmingly positive, and I recommend it to anybody else who likes good mystery and emotional drama. One of the best fangans.
I loved this! I think this was a very well done fangame, and it's clear to see all the work you've put into the game over two years. I find myself wanting more!
I'll write here what I also wrote in the rating (mild spoilers):
The chapter 3 death was very unnecessary. Or it should've been executed way differently. Honestly, after chapter 2 everything went downhill for me. The And, like, not even a clear ending? This felt very unpolished and unfinished, and dare I say I prefer the 2019 version with only two chapters over this. Spent over 6 hours playing this just for it to leave a very sour taste. I don't know how it all went so wrong when it was so good before. Two years waiting and this is what comes out. Don't recommend it, sorry.
Maybe I'm just salty 'cause my favorite character died and none of the other characters seemed to care. Maybe it was because I was supposed to feel empathy or sadness for the character that caused it. Or maybe because it just didn't need to happen at all. Either way, I just felt very disappointed while playing this game. Anyway, I'm not trying to be rude- I just really feel this way very strongly.
you literally are giving not even constructive criticism because your favorite character died?? and after years of work, you hate the game not because of the graphics, or the plot, or the pacing, but because someone you liked died?? in a series about people dying??
I am INSANELY excited right now, and I can't wait to give your hard work a play! I'll be streaming it to my friends when it releases! Thank you so much for all of your hard work! ^u^
Я дико жду релиза. Я чувствую нутром, что игра выйдет невероятной! Искренне надеюсь, что КУЧА людей найдут этот проект и останутся с Вами и Вашими будущими проектами.
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I am in love again! missed this project lots
Gosh, I'm actually in love with this fanproject. It's a lot more succinct than a normal DR game but I think it's perfect in what it sets out to do and what it wants to accomplish.
First, I just want to gush about the graphics because I've never seen Ren'Py used in such a creative and beautiful way before. Even just the daily life interface is really nice to me, this graphic design work is excellent and I don't think even Spike could have done a better job. Genuinely throughout the entire game when I got to unique segments I would go to whoever's closest and show them what it looks like because it was just so good to me.
The story was really nice also. It wasn't super long, which is kind of impressive given that this is a Danganronpa game, but I really did fall for the characters (especially Missy...) and the writing style was unique and charming. The protagonist I have mixed feelings on, since I found them a bit hard to connect with, but I think that's just because I have a completely different personality.
And now we get into spoiler territory.
I don't really understand griping about the ending? I thought it was pretty understandable and I was especially intrigued with the placebo effect thing. I think it was purposefully vague, much in the way that the original DR game was. The specifics of the project and the outside world aren't important. The important part is that it makes you feel something, and I really think it accomplished that. I don't want to get too into my analysis stuff, but I will just reiterate that I don't agree with the dissatisfaction most people are giving the ending.
And, to be honest, I only have two issues for this game. One being that Art does not feel as sympathetic as I think he's supposed to be? I enjoy that he regrets his actions, since it's rare for a DR character to do that, but I don't think it's properly explained until after the trial that he thought Pandora was suspicious and it was part of the reason why he killed her.
The other issue is the character's color palettes. I don't have any issues with their designs overall but a lot of their color palettes just clash or don't really work together and it's a bit distracting since the characters are part of what's supposed to make this hit so hard. That said, though, I don't think either of these flaws are enough to take away from what I genuinely enjoy about this game.
8/10 I'm going to rave about this to everyone I know now.
Must agree with the disappointment surrounding the ending as well, unfortunately, especially regarding the absolutely final scene. What happened there? That said, most of the praise stands as well. The only character I found wholly unsympathetic being the first murderer.
lovely game!! i grew to like a lot of characters!! like kanon, forte, and missy, very fun experience and had a lot of fun with the class trials and such, also i love the art style, its so pretty!! and spoiler
WHY DID FORTE HAVE TO DIE DAMNIT QwQ
This was a really great game! I loved the music, the characters, and the turns the game took genuinely surprised me on several occasions. And I particularly loved Echo as a protagonist, although Lyle or Missy may be my favorite characters in this.
I do have one question though, and while there are no explicit spoilers stated in it, it should probably be spoilered because it is about the ending.
Spoilers
What exactly does the ending mean? Is there an actual answer right now or are you leaving that up for theorizing and speculation? Or did I miss something(because the upper ending token isn't showing up for me) and there's more and that's why I'm confused? Or is there going to be an update or sequel to this game and you're leaving it open for more in the future?
I just got the bad ending and let me tell you, I was not expecting that to happen...
Fantastic game, a treat for fans of fan-made danganronpa! I especially loved the art. The ending seemed to leave itself open for either a continuation or maybe a simultaneously occurring story from another viewpoint; it'd be great to get more in the future!
I loved the character, the illustrations, and the story, I played all the Danganronpa's games and this can be a good game, but there are things that there are incomplete, as the strange ending, Echo's ability and some of the char. background story and I really hope for like a sequel that can explain more.
Overall you did a good job<3
It was really good. Characters were interesting, but i just don't understand the ending. They went back to past? Were they catch? What happened to them? We didn't get any answers, or I'm just too dumb for this lmao
tbh i thought the ending was more like a flashback or smth
This was the best game I have ever played! As a beginner to Ren'py, I am amazed at how you managed to customize the entire game- I can hardly believe you made this with Ren'py!
does anyone know how to get passed the second investigatio
this game had extreme amount of potential. art is amazing, pacing of first chapters was great, characters are great and dialogues are pleasant to read: game feels really complete.
the problem that after initial 2 chapters story is starting to go nowhere: it feels like two halves of the game are not connected at all, something broke there for some reason (author's interest loss while making? wish to finish earlier?), and it's really sad to see.
well, spoilers ahead:
1 and 2 chapters were made much earlier and released to the public. both cases had really interesting twist, like cyrus had two fake titles, that were revealed in different chapters, and it felt really unique and intriguing. his use of talent as information to make ashley ACCIDENTLY shoot was great. and later reveal of 6 additional character were mysteryous as well. and ummm, nothing of things i said are found in final version of the game
and in the final version of the game ashley shoots for no logical reason - it just don't correspond her moral and was never really explained
my initial thought was that cases was circumcised for the sake of global plot: maybe something changed for the better or cases was just meant to become simpler for some reason
and of course that's not the case: the ending was rushed, every detail revealed contradicted with information we had and make no story feel complete and true. it look like the creator changed their view on the story like myriad of times, but the result and last chapters we get just waste of its potential.
people in the comments already mentioned it, that story has extreme amount of details that contradicts with something or don't even have an explanation to begin with. it's even possible to add some more points, this list became really big for such short game
at the 3-ird chapter when we die at the bad end my mind filled with possibilities: canon became furious?? lyle killed us?? sei somehow rushed to our group?? getting this not specifed information was intriguing to continue story with other group. and oh god, things are already begun be questionable: what reason to give player some choice if it don't change anything at all - you still need to proceed playing in one route.
sei is killing like 3-4 people in a row and you think: oh my god, it's extreme, but okay, we all played danganronpa. there are three possibilities for story to continue, you think: you die, you play catch-up with sei trying to escape, or someone survived and you happily go to the court. then time is reversed and i felt extreme dissatisfaction: it was ABSOLUTELY for nothing. sei's motive for killing don't matches with anything later, zero's words are nonsense and we lost interesting way for the story to process. at the moment of time reverting happened, i hoped to see some good explanation for the reason of that and.... as you know it goes nowhere.... using information we got from unsatisfying game's ending we can think about hypnosis or something, but it is just bad
at the conclusion i would like to say: the game had so good potential and, in my opinion, author of this game is capable of creating something insanely good. but it feels like author is tired or something like that. i don't get it and it really-really hurts for me to think how good this game could be....
if it was possible to wait for another year or two to see this game finished with full potential, i would make this choice with no regret
The visuals are gorgeous, both in terms of quality and design. The dialogue and characterization are pretty darn good, too. Interactive elements (investigation and trial dialogue) are very basic, but it's fun they're included and impressively seamless.
The writer does a good job of creating situations that get your mind buzzing with intrigue and possibility. I personally go to Danganronpa for the murder mysteries, which were clearly not the focus here (each investigation uncovers ~2 pieces of evidence), but I had fun instead focusing on the overarching mystery, which definitely was a priority. Bizarre events, jarring revelations, and vague, tantalizing clues abound. I got totally sucked in. Then the ending happened.
Endings are hard, and I don't like to fault someone for not sticking the landing. But this ending revealed that there would be no reveal. Everything is either exactly as it appeared all along or completely unexplained. I felt like a dummy for trying to play along and piece things together as we went. The story is just completely incoherent. Here's a list of things off the top of my head that didn't make sense (spoilers):
Echo can time travel or something. This is never explained.
The trigger for Echo's time traveling is that they die. But there are two bad endings where Echo just dies. What makes these different is never explained.
Echo was in the game despite never having signed up for the program, which is set up as a big mystery. It is never explained.
At one point, Echo flips out like a computer and goes into binary and error code. This is never explained.
Sei and Pandora are given cards explaining they have allies on the inside (I think), and regardless are definitely suspicious. Bizarrely, Pandora starts showing hers to people, and Sei hides hers in a public room instead of just keeping it locked up.
The Program has a psychic, because psychic powers exist apparently. It is made clear the psychic needs to use a visual and an audio trigger to affect someone. At one point later, several characters are affected by the psychic without any sort of trigger.
Echo decides to exploit their power during a trial by voting for someone and seeing what happens. Instead of waiting to hear if the vote was right or wrong, Echo runs into the execution, and much is made of how the execution involved needles. Upon returning to the present, Echo procedes to use none of this worthless information, instead bringing up the rather obvious additional wound on the body they've known about since the beginning.
The game ends by replaying the first scene, but several details are different (Echo's ankle is broken instead of sprained; they get out of the car and call Ashley's house). None of this is explained.
The Program wants the best ultimates, and it's suggested the game is about weeding out the chaff. But the winners are immediately put into suspended animation tanks to run the subsequent games, where they waste away and die.
Several participants in the game were killed before it started. It's said Cyrus is responsible, but we still don't know why, when, or how they were selected.
Cyrus is suggested to not really be as evil as he was acting. This goes nowhere.
Gaea lets Pandora die, despite giving Pandora a card saying she was safe.
I feel I must reisterate: Echo can time travel or something, and this is never explained.
Towards the end, Zero "starts sounding different" and allows the cast access to secret areas. This is never explained.
I strongly suspect this is simply an unfinished project. There were two fake-out death discovery drawings which likely were originally meant to be real murders. Several intriguing details that really seem fruitful for surprising twists (Echo's mystery talent, Echo's mystery kidnapping, the fact that one character is a twin of another character, etc) end up going nowhere.
I don't begrudge the creator here; this is a huge undertaking, and I got to look at their lovely art for a few hours and spend time with some likeable characters. But it's the worst of both worlds to slap on a pat, baffling ending that either ignores the game's earlier mysteries or reveals there was nothing mysterious happening in the first place. It would have been better to release a literally unfinished game and tell the rest of the intended story to fans in a blog post. We understand how much work this is. We respect and appreciate your talent. But this release, as it is, makes the story trip over its own feet.
I was fairly engrossed with this game, but I have to say I'm left feeling quite unsatisfied. Spoilers...
After the 2nd trial, Echo suddenly has the power to snap back to the past with memories intact in order to circumvent bad outcomes. This power comes out of nowhere, is hardly questioned, and is never explored or explained. You'd think it would be revealed to have something to do with the Ultimate Memory title, but that just ended up being fake and unrelated.
Such a power is something that you base an entire game system around (as in the Zero Escape series, Raging Loop, Life is Strange, etc.), not something you throw haphazardously into a game already based on a wholly different system (of deaths actually happening and moving forward with the story despite that, i.e. Danganronpa).
And even besides that issue, the story ended up not making a lot of sense for me in various ways. Like, Echo literally witnesses Sei murder everybody in an alternate timeline, and still insists that she wouldn't resort to killing? How does that make any sense?
The rules for body discovery in this game are never explained, but it requires 3 people in Danganronpa, so it's assumed to still be the case here, yet then it shouldn't be possible for some of body discovery announcements to happen in the later chapters.
I also don't get why Pandora didn't seem to recognize the symbol of her twin sister's school on her note, or what the purpose of the note even was, since it claimed that she was safe, and yet nothing was done to actually protect her. And was it ever really explained why Echo was made to be involved in the killing game, or why so many of the planned pairings didn't happen? An organization with the technology and resources shown seems like it should be more than capable of abducting Ashley without Echo witnessing it, for example. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something.
The roster screen for each character shows up to three other people when hovering over the right side, but it doesn't indicate what this means at all. And I don't understand why everyone has a designated flower, or how that has to do with anything.
But the main thing that didn't work for me was that the explanation behind the killing game kind of fell flat. There were minor references to "despair," but not enough to think that it's an active threat to the world in the way it is for the main Danganronpa games. So it's hard to believe that there would be a whole organization of people so willingly involved in causing so many deaths just in the name of...some rather unclear goal.
Like, what was it all for, really? All they apparently used the winners for was to run more killing games. I never got a clear idea of what they were actually trying to accomplish. There was so much emphasis on ultimate talents benefiting humanity in the early chapters and with the motive questions, but that theme didn't really tie into anything in the end. There was no indication that I recall of any actual attempt to better humanity in any tangible way despite all the effort of conducting these killing games.
I still appreciate the effort made, and how this game is freely offered, but these issues leave a lot to be desired.
i believe that the characters on the sides of everyone's profiles(except kanon, i think??) are meant to be their closest friends, or the people they trust the most!! i'm not 100% sure if this is true or not, but it seems to be the most likely answer,,,
as for the flowers, i believe that everyone's flower seems to be associated with a flower meaning- i even looked them up myself!! a majority of them seem to be pretty accurate!! some of them don't make a ton of sense(lyle's in particular, though it may relate to his friend...), though that could just be because we looked at different sources :')
please be aware that i'm not well-versed in flower meanings(though i'm interested in learning about them), so some of these might be incorrect!! feel free to correct me :)
art - bouvardia: enthusiasm, versatility, the joy of life, celebrating life, happiness, and light-heartedness
pandora - daisy: new beginnings, rebirth, love, cheerfulness, beauty, purity, innocence, hope, fun, and affection
sei - purple hyacinth: sorrow, "i am sorry." a deep feeling of sadness and asking for forgiveness
kanon - marigold: power, strength, and light that lives inside of a person. also can represent positive emotions and energy, though this doesn't seem to match with kanon's character
echo - gladiolus: strength of character, remembrance, faithfulness, and moral integrity
forte - calla lily: the idea of life and fertility, and on the flipside, it's a well-known symbol of death. this might correlate to the comedy and tragedy masks, also being positive and negative opposites, linked by forte's theatrical ultimate
cyrus - snapdragon: deception (perhaps tied to the notion of concealment) strength, and graciousness. they were historically used as charms against falsehood
lyle - asphodelus: mourning, the underworld, death, peace after death. seems a bit ironic, considering... as said, it could be related to "his friend," who i'll keep secret for now for spoiler purposes. i'll talk about it in a separate message, if requested to
on other topics, aspholdelus is quite obviously linked to the underworld, so much as to be named similarly or after the greek middle afterlife: asphodel. it was made for people that weren't particularly good or bad- average people
missy - geranium: clever minds, ingenuity. as well as happiness, good health, good wishes, and friendship. the first two seem to fit missy best
ashley - white carnation: purity, sweetness, simplicity and genuineness. as well as "expressions of pure, wholesome love"
some of these flowers(the asphodelus, more specifically), don't have a lot on them, flower meaning-wise, from what i could find, so they might have additional meanings that i missed. let me know if you find any significant ones!!
Omg I thought this was another demo I'm so excited!
ive been opening this game and always load on the part where zero showed up can you tell he's my favprite character :grin:
that asides this game is amazing
spoilers:
you tricked me with the numbers zero repeated at the end. 6 digits?? i thought i was smart and immediately after finishing the game i went back to the padlock only to be greeted with nothing.
(NOT genuinely mad, just thought it was an easter egg and was wondering if you meant to trick us lmao)
it hurt lots i enjoyed it a lot it hurts it hurts it hurts but i loved every second of it
i really like the game...it has a good plot, it isn't too difficult to follow...the only thing is that i wished the trials were in the style of the original serie and that they were longer...but overall i would highly recommend you to play this game
Lapse is by far one of the best fanganronpas out there and you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not playing it. Admittedly a bit shorter than I'd hoped (~5 hours) but still a very high-quality game. Recommended for DR fans and non-fans alike.
(Spoiler opinionated review)
Instead of the usual cast of 16 students, the game simmers it down to a total of 10 participants. In this new version, characters' sprites are cleaned, and background stock art are replaced with original works. I find the user interface very clean and immersive. A minor issue is that the student roster does not show up again when reloading the game. The game takes inspiration from Zero escape, and Ghost Trick: Phantom detective.
My experience with the game lay heavily on the story. Let's talk about the main character first: Echo Pine, the protagonist managed to make me understand and gripe at him a little. The idea of not having 'Ultimate' titles (a talent that one excels in) revolve around the characters true origin was a great idea but not expanded on. Sure, they sprinkled around exposition repeating the same lines chapter by chapter that 'ultimate titles aren't everything' until the main character says 'I know' - however, it doesn't feel like he understands it completely.
While both chapter 1 and chapter 2 are coherently paced. I felt like chapter 3 onwards to chapter 5 had an exposition rush. I think it's best to let the readers think more about the clues, instead of using Gaia/Eve as a dumping tool. Some of the bad ends really highlighted a lot for me, like the elevator scene with Sei and Ashley's bad end. I feel like they could have done a lot more creative choices within the game. The memory rewind was a really cool idea, although it was only used a few times. They could have done a lot more with the binary codes given out, I feel. Since that is also a part of the main theme in the game.
Overall the game's alright, and for a reworked game I can see the passion provided.
I just finished this game and it has literally become one of my all-time favorites. I've been keeping an eye out for it ever since you released the original first two chapters years ago and I have to say, the wait was worth it! The writing is so good and all the lore throughout just made my heart so happy! You did a great job here. Well done!
It's finally here! So excited to play this
IT HAS A COMPLETED VERISON NOW. CANT WAIT TO SEE MY PRECIOUS PANDORA AGAINN.
I first played this on its first released and I am SO happy that its completed and all, the storyline, the art, the editing in the intro is AMAZING and I’m really happy I played this early a long time back.
This. Was. Incredible. I have played this 3 times (not kidding lol) and every single time I noticed something new that clicked the story together even more! Well done. Seriously, this is a killer fangan and a genuinely enjoyable visual/kinetic novel. Everything was so slick and professional, the quality did not drop throughout the entire thing.
The art is so well done, it really looks like you have put a lot of time and effort into making everything look polished. Not only that, but the UI and gameplay shows this is definitely not your first rodeo. I'm so surprised you even include little 3d animations for some parts, and the trials look like danganronpa trials as well! For the first hour or so playing this I was fanning over how pretty everything looked!
The story is tightly written, dialogue excellent (especially the foreshadowing oh my god) I really like what you've done. Not going to include any spoilers, so just speaking generally- I enjoyed how the last 2 chapters turned out! You took things in a nice and interesting direction, things happened I hadn't seen in a dangan or fangan game before, yet you didn't take the story too far away from the realm of danganronpa. I really appreciate how you did that! It's refreshing to get a quality, short (compared to the official games) danganronpa story without all the mess of dealing with minigames, filler plot and monokuma segments. It was also so nice to have more time to be emotionally connected to all the characters this time around :)
I hope this game gets the recognition it deserves! Seriously, this is so solidly built that I feel like this is going into the fanganronpa hall of fame or something, it's just out of this world.
Super happy to see this game in full. Its clear even playing the prologue that a lot of work went into it over the last two years with all the new art and effects.
whoa this looks sick havent played yet but i bet its gonna be awesome
HELL YEAH!!! Been thinking about this project for like a year now. Glad to see it get here! Cheers to everyone involved!
IVE BEEN WAITING LIKE TWO YEARS FOR THIS IM SO FREAKING EXCITED TO PLAY OH MY GOD
This fangan has some of the best design, technical prowess, and story flow that I've seen in any fangan, and I've played/read dozens. Diverging from the DR art style is a bold choice, but the chosen art style is very endearing. The backgrounds/UI design is also exquisite, and the grandeur of each location seems to blend in well with the simple yet eye-catching character designs. All the dialogue and narration was clear, concise, and easy to understand, and the flow between story events felt natural.
My only gripe is that the last two chapters felt unsatisfying. There were some topics left unexplained that I felt should have been clarified in order for the plot to be coherent. I felt like the resolutions to the mysteries left holes that make the earlier points of the story make less sense in retrospect.
However, my experience playing the game was still overwhelmingly positive, and I recommend it to anybody else who likes good mystery and emotional drama. One of the best fangans.
I loved this! I think this was a very well done fangame, and it's clear to see all the work you've put into the game over two years. I find myself wanting more!
I'll write here what I also wrote in the rating (mild spoilers):
The chapter 3 death was very unnecessary. Or it should've been executed way differently. Honestly, after chapter 2 everything went downhill for me. The And, like, not even a clear ending? This felt very unpolished and unfinished, and dare I say I prefer the 2019 version with only two chapters over this. Spent over 6 hours playing this just for it to leave a very sour taste. I don't know how it all went so wrong when it was so good before. Two years waiting and this is what comes out. Don't recommend it, sorry.
Maybe I'm just salty 'cause my favorite character died and none of the other characters seemed to care. Maybe it was because I was supposed to feel empathy or sadness for the character that caused it. Or maybe because it just didn't need to happen at all. Either way, I just felt very disappointed while playing this game. Anyway, I'm not trying to be rude- I just really feel this way very strongly.
you literally are giving not even constructive criticism because your favorite character died?? and after years of work, you hate the game not because of the graphics, or the plot, or the pacing, but because someone you liked died?? in a series about people dying??
FRR its common that your favorite character dies in a series about people dying tbh 😁
You're complaining that your favorite character died...IN A F*CKING KILLING GAME. My brain can't even process the stupidity of people like you
Great work!! I throughly enjoyed the storyline and gameplay of the VN! ^u^ It’s quite interesting as well.
HOLY CRAP LETS GO, I'M HYPED
Just finished it, awesome game! So glad it got released!
i cant wait to play this! :D
I am INSANELY excited right now, and I can't wait to give your hard work a play! I'll be streaming it to my friends when it releases! Thank you so much for all of your hard work! ^u^
OH MY GOD I CANT WAIT IM SO EXCITED
Я дико жду релиза. Я чувствую нутром, что игра выйдет невероятной! Искренне надеюсь, что КУЧА людей найдут этот проект и останутся с Вами и Вашими будущими проектами.