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[SolarKnight]

IMPORTANT
IIRC the patch was made for the The Best version of the game, get that one to make sure you won't run into any issues.

Since the Let's Play of this game made me a fan of it, I figured this translation patch deserved its own topic.

What is Dangan Ronpa?

What is Danganronpa?
Danganronpa–developed and published by Spike and first released in Japan for the PSP on November 25, 2010–is a unique kind of adventure game. Described by its creators as “psychopop” and “high-speed action mystery,” Danganronpa takes your typical whodunnit mystery and straps it to a rocket, fusing puzzle-solving with real-time action elements inspired by shooting and rhythm games–and it does so to incredible effect. But novel gameplay isn’t the only thing Danganronpa has going for it: with music composed by the amazingly talented Masafumi Takada (killer7, God Hand, No More Heroes); a full roster of bombastic, eccentric, and shamelessly irreverent characters; and an intricate story clocking in at just under 1000 pages and jam-packed with twists and turns, there’s more than enough to keep you engrossed from start to finish.

Set in a private school in modern-day Japan known as Kibougamine Academy, Danganronpatakes fifteen “Super Duper” high school students and pits them against one another in a game of life or death. Just moments after stepping through the doors on his first day, the protagonist–Makoto Naegi–finds himself struck with a sudden bout of nausea and dizziness. He collapses, to wake up nearly an hour later in an unfamiliar, empty classroom, with thick, immovable iron plates over each of the windows.

Remembering he was scheduled to meet up with the other new students, Naegi steps out into the eerily empty hallway and searches for the entrance hall. There, he finds the other fourteen new transfers standing around a monolithic metal contraption–resembling the door to a bank vault or a military facility–sealing them in. Two large guns with cameras attached hang from the ceiling. Not quite sure what to make of the sight, and nothappy that they appear to be stuck inside the academy, the fifteen introduce themselves to one another, and Naegi learns he’s not the only one who lost consciousness when he stepped through the gates. As they finish, the television on the wall flickers on, and a half-black, half-white robotic bear called Monokuma orders everyone to assemble in the gymnasium.

There, he explains the situation: everyone’s trapped inside the school, for life. The only way to escape is to murder one of the other fourteen students and get away with it, at which point the “villain” will “graduate” and be allowed to leave. After a murder is committed and the body is discovered, the students will be given a short amount of time to perform an investigation–examine the crime scene, gather any evidence left behind, interview witnesses–after which a Class Trial will be held. During the Class Trial, the students will discuss the information they gathered, debating their conclusions and attempting to determine who the culprit is. At the end of the trial, each student casts a ballot for who they think the “villain” is. If the majority of students select correctly, the “villain” will be executed, and everyone else will be allowed to resume their lives within the academy. But if they’re wrong… everyone except the “villain” is executed, and he is free to leave, all by himself.

Faced with a declaration so outlandish and preposterous, many students express disbelief at Monokuma’s words, but as one student points out, the veracity of his claims isn’t what’s important. Unusually calm and composed, Byakuya Togami says, “No, the real problem… is whether someone here, in this room, took him seriously…” The gymnasium goes silent, and, as Togami’s words echo in everyone’s minds, the curtain rises on a harsh, unforgiving game of trust and betrayal, of friendship and rivalry, of life and death. Will their hope of escaping with their lives prevail, or will they be crushed, one by one, until nothing but despair remains?

(from the translation team's website)

The Characters

(Note: The "Super High School Level" terminology is the one commonly used right now, however the translation team is using "Super Duper High School ________" instead. I would've used that too but I don't know what the final titles are yet.)

(From left to right)

Makoto Naegi
Super High-School Level Luck
Voiced by Megumi Ogata

Kiyotaka Ishimaru
Super High-School Level Hall Monitor
Voiced by Kosuke Toriumi

Touko Fukawa
Super High-School Level Literary Girl
Voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro

Sayaka Maizono
Super High-School Level Idol Singer
Voiced by Makiko Ohmoto

Leon Kuwata
Super High-School Level Baseball Player
Voiced by Takahiro Sakurai

Hifumi Yamada
Super High-School Level Doujinshi Author
Voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi

Aoi Asahina
Super High-School Level Swimmer
Voiced by Chiwa Saitou


Chihiro Fujisaki
Super High-School Level Programmer
Voiced by Kouki Miyata

Kyouko Kirigiri
Super High-School Level ???
Voiced by Youko Hikasa

Junko Enoshima
Super High-School Level Fashion Girl
Voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi

Mondo Oowada
Super High-School Level Gang Leader
Voiced by Kazuya Nakai


Sakura Oogami
Super High-School Level Wrestler
Voiced by Kujira

Byakuya Togami
Super High-School Level Heir
Voiced by Akira Ishida

Yasuhiro Hagakure
Super High-School Level Fortune-Teller
Voiced by Masaya Matsukaze

Celestia Ludenberg
Super High-School Level Gambler
Voiced by Hekiru Shiina

Monobear/Monokuma
The Headmaster of Hope's Peak/Kibougamine Academy
Voiced by Nobuyo Ōyama


Gameplay

Short version
It's similar to the Ace Attorney games with its own twist + a little Persona 3/4

Longer version
The game's chapters are divided in 3:
-Free Time
Similar to Social Links in the Persona series, you choose one of the characters to socialize and bond with. If you give them gifts that they like, you will be treated to more of the characters' story and also receive new skills for the courtroom segment. The story progresses in between Free Time segments, and eventually a murder will happen, which leads to...

-Investigation
Investigate the school and question the surviving characters to gather evidence for use in the next segment.


-Class Trial
The surviving characters will debate between each other to find the murderer and you must point out the contradictions in their statements. Unlike the Ace Attorney series however, the conversation keeps moving and won't wait for you, but most importantly, you must literally aim and shoot at the statements with your evidence (well, not literally for the characters themselves). There will also be other forms of gameplay like rythm minigames and shooting at letters to complete the word that you are looking for. At the end, you will be timed and graded.


Where to get

Tutorial for acquiring the game legally

Link to the patch and how to apply it

Screenshots (taken from Gamefaqs)

Also, a very important spoilery petition to all of you that will play and discuss the game here that's related to a main plot point of chapter 2.

Spoiler

Please for the love of god keep all discussion about Chihiro's gender civil

 

[Byronic Hero]

It's similar to the Ace Attorney games with its own twist + a little Persona 3/4

Stop. You sold me.

I don't need to know anything else. Downloading the patch now. Hopefully I'll get the game some time next week.

And to think, I was just going to watch the anime when it started coming on. Shame on me for almost missing out on this.

 

[Squire]

Would be kinda funny if Aksys is actually localizing this.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Glad to see the patch finally released, I've been wanting to play this since it was first released. Hopefully my copy will arrive in the post soon.

 

[Matt Attack]

Totally mentioned I was looking forward to this in the fan translation thread yesterday. Talk about a nice surprise!

 

[Jamix012]

I am supportive in that this gives people the chance to play DR but wary because it might slightly discourage the localisation of the Vita remakes.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

The Best edition added a bunch of extra artwork, tuned the controls, and fixed a few other problems with the original release of the game, so you’ll need the newer version of the game.

This was of huge interest to me. Normally I avoid the "The Best" editions because of the squished artwork.

Is there a listing anywhere of games that have been improved or changed in some way for their rerelease on the psp in japan?

 

[Torraz]

How much of the game is voiced?

 

[LuchaShaq]

I am supportive in that this gives people the chance to play DR but wary because it might slightly discourage the localisation of the Vita remakes.

I love the style/what I've heard about the game. Would be there day 1 for a vita port/remake with translation.

 

[BluWacky]

This is going to sound rude, but... this has traditional gameplay in it? It's not just mashing X through slow-scrolling verbose text boxes to get to the occasional choice? If so, what kind of stuff is there?

 

[Midou]

This... sounds awesome. Will look into it.

 

[Capell]

I've heard many good things about this game, tempted to buy a copy from Play-Asia.

Does it work with PPSSPP? It's been a while since I last booted up my PSP, I'm not even sure if it's still functioning.

 

[zerokoolpsx]

Ace Attorney with a little P3/P4 in a whodunit murder mystery? Yeah, I'm interested now.

 

[AtomskEater]

This is going to sound rude, but... this has traditional gameplay in it? It's not just mashing X through slow-scrolling verbose text boxes to get to the occasional choice? If so, what kind of stuff is there?

It's kind of hard to explain, but this video shows a bit of it.
http://youtu.be/nt4PZZwlrq4?t=4m35s
I don't think there are any spoilers, as the demo has a different culprit and victim from the regular game, but just in case!

Basically a large part of the game is indeed reading text boxes. The investigation stages are more like point and click adventures, and the trial stages are composed of several mini-games. One involves shooting at statements with evidence bullets that point out a fallacy. These can get tricky later on, as they introduce things like obstacles partially obscuring your target. There's an anagram mini-game where you shoot at letters to spell out a word. There's a rhythm mini-game... probably others I'm forgetting.

It's not a system I've seen in other games, but it is something different to just watching text scroll.

 

[I should be doing hw]

Does it work with PPSSPP? It's been a while since I last booted up my PSP, I'm not even sure if it's still functioning.

Yeah, I'm curious about this too.

 

[Danj]

I'd heard of the related anime but didn't know anything about this game. Might have to see if I can pick it up sometime, it looks interesting.

 

[Holmes]

I'm glad this is out. I'll wait it out a bit, just to see if the Vita collection ever gets released in English. Otherwise, I could just play this instead.

 

[Atolm]

Yeah, waiting for a Vita announcement here, otherwise I'll play this.

 

[cj_iwakura]

How much of the game is voiced?

All of it in story sequences, far as I can tell. When you're walking around, it's not.

This is going to sound rude, but... this has traditional gameplay in it? It's not just mashing X through slow-scrolling verbose text boxes to get to the occasional choice? If so, what kind of stuff is there?

You have direct control of the character and can walk around in the school to talk to people.

There's a demo on the blog last I checked.

 

[RooMHM]

Is there as much handholding as in the demo ? Those bold yellow words look quite out of place to me.

 

[Jucksalbe]

Thanks for the info. The game sounds great, ordered it right away.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Oh no, this is the "Super Duper" translation group.

Ugh.

 

[Aeana]

Oh no, this is the "Super Duper" translation group.

Ugh.

What does that mean?

 

[cj_iwakura]

What does that mean?

He's probably griping about this not being the same as the Something Awful translators who did a different spin on it.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Going to check it out, thanks.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

What does that mean?

There are two translation patches going on. This one insists on translating "Super High School Level" into "Super Duper."

All of the students have some kind of special skill, and they're given a purposefully long and stodgy title (ex. "Super High School Level Good Luck") to reflect the upper class prestige of the school. This group has tended to translate it in a flavorful fashion that kind of changes the feeling (ex. "Super Duper Luckster").

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

I like the way the artist plots the layout for the characters; their actions encircle and frame them very well.

 

[cj_iwakura]

There are two translation patches going on. This one insists on translating "Super High School Level" into "Super Duper."

All of the students have some kind of special skill, and they're given a purposefully long and stodgy title (ex. "Super High School Level Good Luck") to reflect the upper class prestige of the school. This group has tended to translate it in a flavorful fashion that kind of changes the feeling (ex. "Super Duper Luckster").

I don't think they ever announced they were doing a patch, they just translated it as they were LPing it.

 

[Crash Station]

Is this the same scenario as the upcoming anime? Wondering if I should play this first.

 

[dramatis]

This is going to sound rude, but... this has traditional gameplay in it? It's not just mashing X through slow-scrolling verbose text boxes to get to the occasional choice? If so, what kind of stuff is there?

So you know how Phoenix Wright has find the contradiction and present evidence to refute the statement?

Dangan Ronpa has that, but in a more interactive way. The evidence is loaded onto 'bullets' (how many depends on the difficulty of the case/question), and while everyone is giving their two cents in a roundtable discussion about "what the weapon is", "what does this piece of evidence mean", "what time did this happen", there will be words highlighted in yellow that you can shoot your evidence at. You have to aim using a shaky reticule, and there are skills you can equip to make this section easier.

On occasion there will be minigames in the courtroom. Final confrontations play out in a rhythm game lol.

There's also a "dating sim" element, as you can spend time with one of the other characters at a certain time each day. This is supplemented by a gift-giving element that is tied to exploration and a gift machine where you purchase gifts.

Very stylish game. The second one is even more stylish.

Is this the same scenario as the upcoming anime? Wondering if I should play this first.

Anime will probably adapt only main story and maybe certain parts of the 'dates' with other characters. Suggest you play. If you want to avoid being spoiled, you can try playing alongside the anime.

 

[Aeana]

There are two translation patches going on. This one insists on translating "Super High School Level" into "Super Duper."

All of the students have some kind of special skill, and they're given a purposefully long and stodgy title (ex. "Super High School Level Good Luck") to reflect the upper class prestige of the school. This group has tended to translate it in a flavorful fashion that kind of changes the feeling (ex. "Super Duper Luckster").

And how did the other one do it? Because if it's "Super High School Level Good Luck," that's like, not even English.

 

[SolarKnight]

I've heard many good things about this game, tempted to buy a copy from Play-Asia.

Does it work with PPSSPP? It's been a while since I last booted up my PSP, I'm not even sure if it's still functioning.

ブリート人 ‏@ritobito 49min
To those who can't interact with anything in the first room: that seems to be an emulator issue and sadly, not much we can do about it

Not sure if all emus have issues or just certain ones, but looks like the answer might be "not really" for now.

And how did the other one do it? Because if it's "Super High School Level Good Luck," that's like, not even English.

It's Super High School Level Good Luck vs Super Duper High School Luckster and things like that, they're both ridiculous really which is the point.

 

[suzu]

Awesome.

Not sure if I'll bother with it anytime soon or ever (maybe the Vita version if they ever bring it over...), as I've read through the entire Let's Play only a couple of months ago. lol

 

[cj_iwakura]

Not sure if all emus have issues or just certain ones, but looks like the answer might be "not really" for now.



It's Super High School Level Good Luck vs Super Duper High School Luckster and things like that, they're both ridiculous really which is the point.

The latter actually sounds like a title.

 

[Aeana]

It's Super High School Level Good Luck vs Super Duper High School Luckster and things like that, they're both ridiculous really which is the point.

Gotta say that after looking into how it's used in Japanese, the latter is definitely preferred.

 

[SolarKnight]

I won't disagree, but "Super High School Level ______" is what the current fanbase knows and is used to so I'm sure "Super Duper High School _____" will be met with some resistence.

 

[Busaiku]

All of it in story sequences, far as I can tell. When you're walking around, it's not.

Is it comparable to Virtue's Last Reward?
Or more/less?

 

[SolarKnight]

Kind of. Most of the voice acting is in the trials since those are fully voiced.

 

[Durante]

Not sure if all emus have issues or just certain ones, but looks like the answer might be "not really" for now.

Apparently the game reads from the framebuffer (using the CPU) to implement some of these UI features. This would need writing back the rendered result to (emulated) video memory. The real challenge is figuring out when to do that (because it's a rather performance intensive operation and shouldn't be done too often).

 

[Madison Paige]

Is it best to play this completely blind or is there a walkthrough that I should follow so that I can get the most out of it? I'm one of those people that absolutely loathes missing content in a game. In a lot of games I will sit there and talk to the same NPCs over and over just to make sure that I haven't missed a single line from the script.

 

[dramatis]

Is it best to play this completely blind or is there a walkthrough that I should follow so that I can get the most out of it? I'm one of those people that absolutely loathes missing content in a game. In a lot of games I will sit there and talk to the same NPCs over and over just to make sure that I haven't missed a single line from the script.

Go blind for first run. You can replay chapters by selecting them from main menu, and saving is available pretty much all the time, so it's easy to load.

 

[AtomskEater]

I like the way the artist plots the layout for the characters; their actions encircle and frame them very well.

I really adore the style and designs of these games. It's also interesting to see the "beta" designs of the characters they used for the game pitch.

 

[Taruranto]

This sounds great, but only one chapter? Damn :/ I'm kinda tempted to wait for the full patch.

 

[SolarKnight]

Is it best to play this completely blind or is there a walkthrough that I should follow so that I can get the most out of it? I'm one of those people that absolutely loathes missing content in a game. In a lot of games I will sit there and talk to the same NPCs over and over just to make sure that I haven't missed a single line from the script.

You don't need it, but I don't believe there are any walkthroughs other than kindof the SA Let's Play.

This sounds great, but only one chapter? Damn :/ I'm kinda tempted to wait for the full patch.

This IS the full patch.

 

[meltingparappa]

I know this is super popular, but is it LIFE CHANGING like 999?

 

[Jucksalbe]

Just played through the demo and loved it. It's probably gonna take a while until the game arrives here, but I can't wait.

 

[Taruranto]

This IS the full patch.

Now I'm mildly confused.

So chapter 2 is the second game?

Nvm: I'm an idiot and read it wrong, sorry :C

 

[DeadRockstar]

Just followed the guide to CFW my PSP. I thought I'd updated the firmware past the point of being able to do that, so I was happy to see the latest firmware can be modded now.

Looking forward to playing through this when the game arrives.

 

[NotLiquid]

I know this is super popular, but is it LIFE CHANGING like 999?

Not really. But the characters are easily as awesome and drive the plot spectacularly. It's worth the experience.

Just played through the demo and loved it. It's probably gonna take a while until the game arrives here, but I can't wait.

Prepare to get thrown through a loop when you play the actual game. The game does some things differently for the demo to preserve the element of surprise, and in a good way.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I don't think they ever announced they were doing a patch, they just translated it as they were LPing it.

They announced that they were doing a patch, retranslating a bunch of the early stuff, and had an artist translating all the graphics.

It also helps that their translation wasn't stuff like "I am Naegi Makoto-san and I was selected for Kibougamine Academy and am now struggling with Monokuma-sama."