orenronen wrote:
Dangan what?Dangan Ronpa (or its slightly longer full name,
Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair) is a game for the PSP published in Japan by Spike on November 25, 2010. The publisher calls it a "High-speed Mystery Action Adventure". In reality it's mostly a Japanese-style adventure game, but there's some shooting in it. And a little rhythm game. Because of the platform and some of the subject matter, I doubt it will ever be localized for the west. But since it's one of my favorite games of 2010, I thought it's a shame people can't see it.
There is a
general discussion thread about the game and its sequel in Games. Spoilers are allowed there, so be careful.
So what is it about?I guess the best way to describe it is
Phoenix Wright meets
Battle Royale starring a masochistic teddy bear with
Doraemon's voice.Sounds good. What about the LP?Obviously, I will be translating the game.
This is a hybrid LP, though most of the time there will only be screenshots. Videos come in in two places: there are some cut scenes that can't be done justice with screen shots (there's one in the very first update!), and some of the action parts will get short videos to supplement the screenshots and show what gameplay is actually like. My guess is that it will be more than a month of updates before we even get there.
For the most part, this is a very linear game. If you played the Phoenix Wright games you know the drill - there's exactly one place to click at any given time that will trigger the next story event and advance the game. However, there is one part of gameplay that allows for some choice. It doesn't affect the overall story but it allows players to focus on the characters they like. I will open the decision to a vote once we get to that part.
Normal text is dialogue. Bold text is narration. Italic text is my own additions. The game is ridiculous, knows it, and doesn't really require snarky comments (it sometimes makes these snarky comments itself, in fact). This LP lets the game speak for itself, but adds supplemental information in many places. Information relating to the game itself are marked by the image of Monobear. Information about Japanese culture and translation notes are marked with a small Japanese flag.
About the translationNeither Japanese nor English are my native language, and as such I am not really in the ideal position to translate a game. That said, I did take some translation theory courses and my main fear is that my English prose just isn't good enough. Feel free to copy-edit in your head.
I don't think super-literal translations are a good thing, and I don't leave Japanese words in just to sound exotic. I don't mind rephrasing passages when it makes the thing sound better. This game is steeped deep in Japanese culture, however, and this isn't a localization (which means I'm keeping the honorifics, and you can't talk me out of it). Don't fear, though - there will be plenty of translation and cultural explanations.
Attention new readersI am currently in the process of editing the first half of the LP, fixing some translation problems and making the text flow better. I'm doing this gradually, so you may notice some small inconsistencies in style as you reach parts I haven't retouched yet.
Fan art policyIf you want to create something yourself, go ahead! I'm always happy to see original fan art from people who were introduced to the game by this thread.
However, because of several prior incidents, if you found some art or video on the internet and you want to post it, confirm with me first. You can PM me or send an email to
hopespeakacademy@gmail.com. Fan art often contains spoilers, sometimes subtle. In addition, I may be sitting on some art waiting for the appropriate moment in the story to post it myself.
A note for people who are not color blindBecause of the intricacies of the Japanese game rating system, blood in this game is colored pink. Rest assured, though, it
is human blood you will be looking at, and it doesn't mean our characters are secretly aliens or elves. If this bothers you too much, I suggest either reading this LP wearing red-tinted glasses or going on a nightlong photoshop color-correction frenzy.
One last thingThis game's story is as twisty as they come, and it's a pretty good one. I doubt anyone reading this played the game, but if someone did - :siren:
no spoilers :siren:. At all. Not even under a spoiler tag. Speculation is always welcome, though, and there's no need to tag it.
People who want to be surprised should also avoid looking for fan art and such on the net. It tends to reveal too much.
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