Pretty emblematic finish for the game, for better and for worse. Some interesting storytelling and twists that weren't alluded to well at all beforehand, strong writing when the game is focused on the right stuff, terrible pacing, fantastic music and presentation, and some bizarre character decisions that don't really make a whole lot of sense. Quite a bit to unpack here.
The Homunculi twist is a mixed bag for me. The positive is its cleverness: I was dead on about the blood being off, but it's still a cool twist that I can't blame anyone for missing. The reveal behind the purpose of the rain, the nauseating secret behind the meat buns, the isolation of Kanai Ward, it all comes together incredibly well in a way that Danganronpa finales never did, so credit for that. However, the pacing of the reveals was dreadful, mostly because they were immediately obvious once you got the requisite evidence. They're too heavy handed with how information is doled out, and the end result was Kanai Ward's mystery being pretty much solved before I even stepped foot outside of the factory. This was a problem throughout the entire game, but it's even more apparent here considering everything was building up to this.
There's also the fact that the Blank Week Mystery makes basically no sense when you really think about it. Granted, that's kinda the norm for Kodaka, but the finer details completely undermine it ever potentially happening. What happens when the sun goes down? What if there's a cloudy day? And how were all of the dead corpses, bones, and blood cleaned away without any of the Homonculi noticing? And how was Kanai Ward repaired so quickly into a functioning state again? Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but even a couple seconds of thought kinda undermine the whole thing.
I did like the Number One twist quite a bit though, that one felt much more appropriately built up to. Should've seen it coming, all things considered, but it was still an effective way to cap things off.
Speaking of said buildup, they really did a terrible job of it. Most of the game is spent running around doing completely unrelated tasks and having to deal with the Peacekeepers stupidity, only for everything to be unceremoniously dumped on you at the end of Chapter 4. And then just like that, you're magically whisked away to exactly where you need to be, and the mysteries are spelled out as blatantly as they possibly could. It's a more satisfying conclusion compared to the Danganronpa endings, but Danganronpa also did a much better job at building up towards their respective finales, and as a result I found it to be a weaker conclusion overall compared to DR2 and DRV3, even though the ultimate mystery itself was stronger than both.
The handling of characters was also incredibly bizarre, mostly for the Master Detectives. Why on earth were they not part of the finale? It's not like they knew anything about the Homunculi either. They already felt pretty empty as characters (with exception to Vivia, although that was more a product of his character development being saved for so late in the game) and their absence here only serves to make them feel like even smaller footnotes. Halara in particular, who's smack dab in the middle of the boxart and was built up to be a compelling partner for Yuma, somehow ended up being the least relevant Master Detective of the four survivors, which is inexcusably bad on Kodaka's part. I guess Kurumi gets a bit more credit for at least being present, but she contributed nothing to the final chapter either, so I dunno what to say about her either.
On the plus side, the trio of Yuma/Shinigami/Makoto all shined here, and that was nice to see. I still think Yuma could've used some work, he strikes me as too much of a Makoto knockoff still, and of course Shinigami still has her moments where you wanna bash your head into a wall. But overall, they ended up being compelling protagonists, so credit to that. Makoto also gets brownie points for being such a strong antagonist, he easily clears any of the main Danganronpa antagonists (not counting the "rival" characters, in which case DR2 and DRV3's are both better). Compelling and sympathetic motivations go a long way, and its refreshing after how unambigiously evil the Danganronpa masterminds were.
Bonus note, but the final battle with Makoto was badass as all hell. Terrible action choreography has been a staple from Spike Chunsoft, but they knocked it out of the park with this one.
I also gotta mention them again, but my god were the Peacekeepers pathetic. I was anticipating some sort of conclusion for them, but nope. They've surpassed Saturday Morning Cartoon levels of ineptitude, and the handling of some of them is downright comical. Swank, Seth, Guillame, and Dominic could've been removed from the game entirely and not a single thing would've changed, and even with all that extra fat cut off the main Peacekeeper duo of Martina and Yomi would've still been terrible. Talk about a huge whiff, they stand out as a pretty blatant low point across all of Kodaka's games.
So, overall, my thoughts on Rain Code are pretty mixed. I did still like the game, but it's hard to ignore how many flaws there are scattered across the board. I think it shows just how much of a crutch the unique Danganronpa setup was, because without it, a lot of Kodaka's writing tendencies are exposed in a rather unflattering light. Still, given that a sequel seems inevitable based on the potential of the ending + the positive sales, these are some of the changes I think they should make:
- There needs to be stronger buildup for the mysteries, both in terms of individual cases and the overarching ones. Rain Code is too willing to throw you into a new mystery on a whim with little to no introduction, and as a result its hard to get invested in any of them. The Homunculi/Kidnapping/Blank Week was a cool plot point, but it's hard to really care when 95% of the information is dumped onto you at the end of the game and then immediately resolved right after. Same goes for the individual cases themselves, too often you meet the suspects once and then you're thrust into the murder right after, with no time to get to know them or talk to them. Ace Attorney has done this quite well, so it's certainly not impossible.
- Speaking of Ace Attorney, I need to amend my comparison from earlier. There's obviously still quite a bit of Ace Attorney DNA here, but Danganronpa had it too. The more accurate comparison is the less-heralded spinoff, Ace Attorney Investigations, and I think that's where Master Detective Archives needs to look for inspiration. Investigations 2 in particular did an excellent job of balancing its greater mysteries with each individual chapter, and it did so without wrecking the pacing. But most importantly, the Investigations franchise made the very smart decision to abandon the regimented structure of Ace Attorney proper, splitting the investigation and trial segments up into smaller chunks and fitting the gameplay to whatever the situation needed. That would go a long way in solving the Mystery Labyrinths: chop them up into smaller, bite sized chunks, and intersperse them throughout each investigation.
- For one, mysteries can be doled out in a more natural pace, and the investigation itself can be more informed based on the information you've already acquired. Maybe you investigate the crime scene, solve some sort of mystery based on the info you gathered, and use that info to decide where you need to investigate or who you need to talk to next. That way, everyone can stay on the same page; you aren't jumping 10 steps ahead of the protagonist, who's incapable of making basic deductions because the game won't let them solve anything yet. It also promotes more interactivity with the important characters of each case, as you'd be able to exit the Mystery Labyrinth and confront characters in the real world instead of leaving them behind entirely once you enter the labyrinth.
- If they're willing to tweak how the Labyrinths work, splitting things up could also lead to more characters entering the Labyrinth, depending on the situation, and create some interesting setpieces and/or puzzles depending on who you bring in. You could also use Fortes to potentially interact with the Labyrinth from the real world, which would be cool.
- Mystery Shadows would be much more appropriate, because they could directly coincide whenever the Peacekeeper/rival show up. Investigate a crime scene, once you're done a Peacekeeper shows up, and you enter the Mystery Labyrinth to solve the current issue at hand and get them to back off. Much better way of pacing everything.
- Don't abandon your main cast on a whim. Let the Master Detectives stay relevant to the story, even if they aren't the focus of the chapter. It was so blatantly obvious who the Detective of the Day was in each chapter, and that needs to be fixed to at least some degree.
I'm gonna give Rain Code a B- overall, because despite there being a littany of issues, I did still enjoy my time with the game. It was a much messier transition for Kodaka than it was for Uchikoshi when he started Somnium Files, but there's still a lot of room for potential, and I am cautiously optimistic for the next entry. If Danganronpa 2 was anything to go by, we could be in store for quite a substantial improvement.
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