Of the glorious trinity of VN Trilogy games (Ace Attorney 1-3, Danganronpa 1-3, Zero Escape 1-3) Which is your favorite?

[Starlatine]

Ace Attorney is consistently good
Zero Escape had two flawed but okayish games and a "what the fuck where they thinking" third one
Danganronpa is bottom tier trash in my opinion. I regret ever booting it up and listening to the person who said "its totally like ace attorney that you love trust me"

 

[Jedi2016]

I really need to play these some time. The Ace Attorney trilogy goes on sale for half off all the time on the Switch eshop. Should just pull the trigger.

 

[MisterZimbu]

Zero Escape is a clear third, and I didn't even hate ZTD that much.

It's tough to decide between Ace Attorney and Danganronpa. Ace Attorney is more consistently good, but Danganronpa has higher highs (amazing aesthetic, atmosphere, twists, and case 5 of DR2) and lower lows (everything else about DR2). I'd give the edge to Ace Attorney.

 

[Weltall Zero]

No need to be rude.

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No need to derail the thread with annoyingly pedantic corrections, or acting like you're graciously dropping the matter while still having the last word, either, but did that stop you?

 

[.exe]

Ace Attorney is the most consistently good. Zero Escape 3 just catapulted itself into a ravine while while self-immolating and ingesting a copious amount of narcotics. Danganronpa... I couldn't get into it. The theming probably. Dislike.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

No need to derail the thread with annoyingly pedantic corrections, or acting like you're graciously dropping the matter while still having the last word, either, but did that stop you?

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I believe in the thing I said and I said it because I think the title of this thread should be changed. Other people agreed with me and other people disagreed with me, and they continued the conversation because it was interesting to them. I stopped it because it was going on too long.

You're just being an aggro jerk about it and derailing the thread even more than I was. At least my off-topic thing was about the content of the thread, what is you being mean to me about?

 

[Weltall Zero]

I believe in the thing I said and I said it because I think the title of this thread should be changed. Other people agreed with me and other people disagreed with me, and they continued the conversation because it was interesting to them. I stopped it because it was going on too long.

You're just being an aggro jerk about it and derailing the thread even more than I was. At least my off-topic thing was about the content of the thread, what is you being mean to me about?

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I also believe in the thing I said, which is that you derailed the thread to make it about something only you care about.
I also think you were being a jerk about it, especially to the thread creator.
But either way, this side conversation has gone on long enough, don't want to spend too much time making things off topic, so I'll leave my input at that.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

I also believe in the thing I said, which is that you derailed the thread to make it about something only you care about.
I also think you were being a jerk about it, especially to the thread creator.
But either way, this side conversation has gone on long enough, don't want to spend too much time making things off topic, so I'll leave my input at that.

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I didn't derail the thread, I made a comment that the thread called these games the wrong thing and people began discussing it, and then I stopped it for being too off-topic for too long. If you actually stop responding then that's good on you, because you shouldn't have continued to go off topic just to be mean anyway. You did the same thing I did, only instead of it being about the thread's content, it was about you getting some zings in on a stranger you decided you disliked.

 

[SmittyWerbenManJensen]

Wow. I should really play Ace Attorney if they're that much more memorable than the Zero Escape games.

 

[Kupo Kupopo]

You know "common sense" is just another name for hindsight bias, do you? :) From your own link:

Since the Age of Enlightenment the term "common sense" has frequently been used for rhetorical effect, sometimes pejorative, and sometimes appealed to positively, as an authority. It can be negatively equated to vulgar prejudice and superstition, it is often positively contrasted to them as a standard for good taste and as the source of the most basic axioms needed for science and logic.[8] It was at the beginning of the 18th century that this old philosophical term first acquired its modern English meaning: "Those plain, self-evident truths or conventional wisdom that one needed no sophistication to grasp and no proof to accept precisely because they accorded so well with the basic (common sense) intellectual capacities and experiences of the whole social body."[9] This began with Descartes's criticism of it, and what came to be known as the dispute between "rationalism" and "empiricism". In the opening line of one of his most famous books, Discourse on Method, Descartes established the most common modern meaning, and its controversies, when he stated that everyone has a similar and sufficient amount of common sense (bon sens), but it is rarely used well. Therefore, a skeptical logical method described by Descartes needs to be followed and common sense should not be overly relied upon.[10]

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congratulations on making a philosophical mountain out of a response to a survey regarding video games. those years of education have obviously really paid off...

none of this, btw, changes the accuracy of my original observation: that the ace attorney trilogy will demolish any other visual novel trilogy when placed head to head. it continues to be as correct an assessment now as it was when i wrote it...

 

[RPG_Fanatic]

Between those three, I have to go with the Ace Attorney Trilogy.

The first three Ace Attorney maintains a high level of quality, with a story that is just connected enough to still allow each game to stand on its own. Also the third game is the best of the first three in my opinion, ending the trilogy on a high note.

While I love the Zero Escape series, I feel the quality of the series drops each game (both the first and second game are great). I still haven't played much of Zero Time Dilemma.

Danganronpa is more consistent in quality, but I feel retreads to much each sequel to match up to Ace Attorney. Also, it leans harder into the more problematic of Japanese media compared to the other two series as a whole.

 

[convo]

AA is good stuff and i still hope for more for these characters and i never played Danganronpa despite having the first 2 games on the vita for years, i just haven't gotten around to it.
Zero Escape got me feeling and having more thoughts on the other hand, i enjoy disliking these characters because some of them aren't meant to be geniuses but obsessed maniacs like straight up bad people. It's a certain kind of story about futility i'd need to write a blog post about or something and it goes beyond the contents of these games but that's why i like it and keep thinking about it.

 

[Weltall Zero]

congratulations on making a philosophical mountain out of a response to a survey regarding video games. those years of education have obviously really paid off...

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There is no mountain other than what you're making of it right now. You used circular logic to justify your argument. You don't need years of education to point that out, just "common sense".

none of this, btw, changes the accuracy of my original observation: that the ace attorney trilogy will demolish any other visual novel trilogy when placed head to head. it continues to be as correct an assessment now as it was when i wrote it...

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It's also an assessment that we now have empirical proof of, as opposed to your own gut feeling. You know, the entire point of polls or any other kind of data gathering.

 

[Gala]

Ghost Trick by far. And it is a shame that it doesn't get ported to modern systems.

 

[Kupo Kupopo]

There is no mountain other than what you're making of it right now. You used circular logic to justify your argument. You don't need years of education to point that out, just "common sense".

It's also an assessment that we now have empirical proof of, as opposed to your own gut feeling. You know, the entire point of polls or any other kind of data gathering.

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i'm sorry it upsets you that, when it comes to the obvious, 'you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows'. anyway, you now have 'empirical proof' of the obvious. that this provides you with a degree of comfort, i suppose, can only be a good thing. be at peace...

 

[Sorel]

Hotel Dusk, thank you.

 

[ScoobsJoestar]

One good case at most? That's some insane hyperbole if I've ever seen it. I could name at least three each, and 2 and V3 both have at least one case that are better than even the highs of AA and ZE.

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It's not hyperbole, it's my opinion. I don't think the first game has any good murder mysteries. The tricks aren't original and have been done better in murder mystery literature from both western and Japanese sources. The second game has one case I liked, maybe two. The third game had the best murder mysteries in my opinion, and in hindsight I actually liked three to four cases there. The first one I disliked all the cases with no exception.

 

[Taruranto]

DR1's murders are fairly predictable except maybe the very last one. DR2 is when they finally got their stuff together and provided some pretty interesting cases, especially the infamous case 5. DR3 had some fun ones, but the overall motives felt way weaker.

 

[Tolby]

The Infinity series got me into VNs as a whole.
Still waiting for a translation patch for 12Riven. Maybe someday...

 

[ScoobsJoestar]

DR1's murders are fairly predictable except maybe the very last one. DR2 is when they finally got their stuff together and provided some pretty interesting cases, especially the infamous case 5. DR3 had some fun ones, but the overall motives felt way weaker.

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I think motive in DR is always going to be weak because by definition the characters are being artificially forced into murder mysteries and wouldn't normally murder people if not very, very pushed into it. So the motive is generally "Well, okay, makes sense I guess" but rarely super interesting. Thematically works though, I suppose?

They did improve the quality of their mysteries as they went on for sure. DR3 also gets a shoutout for having the only final case in the series that didn't make me zone out in disinterest. In hindsight though, I think the fact that I wasn't super into DR1 and 2 made DR3 better for obvious reasons lol

 

[Hieroph]

AA1 and 3 are some of the best games ever made. And AA2 is pretty great too.

 

[Whowasphone]

9) Zero Time Dilemma
8) Ace Attorney
7) Justice For All
6) Danganronpa 2
5) 999
4) Danganronpa 1
3) Trials and Tribulations
2) Virtue's Last Reward
1) Danganronpa V3

Danganronpa > Zero Escape > Ace Attorney

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Your ordering is impeccable. Furthermore, Danganronpa 3 is a banger of a finale, more than I can say for zero time dilemma... I didn't feel so disappointed in the conclusion of a vn trilogy since corpse party.

Only thing I would change is putting 999 in 2nd place

 

[Whowasphone]

Muv Luv is an exceptional trilogy but for my vote the best is the all in one of Fate Stay Night/Unlimited Blade Works/Heaven's Feel
Yeah I know it's all one game but each route is so full of excellently written character development and intense action/drama/romance/horror that by the time you've finished all of them you will have played a trilogy.

Incidentally, Fate Hollow Ataraxia is an excellent follow up to the original game/trilogy. Even if it is considered a fan disc

Hmm I guess if you throw in Fate Extra you do have a full trilogy of separate titles in the same canon 🤔

 

[Whowasphone]

At last, something the whole thread can agree on! :)

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Thank you... The semantic argument is neither revelatory nor constructive

 

[Whowasphone]

Ghost Trick by far. And it is a shame that it doesn't get ported to modern systems.

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I still have that on my DS backlog 😳I need to get to that

 

[icecream]

But none of these are visual novels..?

 

[Whowasphone]

Hotel Dusk, thank you.

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You're a man of culture 🏆

 

[Deleted member 8852]

Ace Attorney, I would have voted Zero Escape if the third game in that trilogy wasn't so shit.

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

I love all three but i have to go with Zero Escape, VLR is just so damn good.

9) Zero Time Dilemma
8) Ace Attorney
7) Justice For All
6) Danganronpa 2
5) 999
4) Danganronpa 1
3) Trials and Tribulations
2) Virtue's Last Reward
1) Danganronpa V3

Danganronpa > Zero Escape > Ace Attorney

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This would be my ranking as well, i'd just switch V3 and VLR and therefore it's Zero Escape > Danganronpa > Ace Attorney

 

[Korigama]

Both trilogies of Ace Attorney are better than the rest. Nonary should have never been a trilogy and Danganronpa was problematic throughout the series.

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Even with regarding AA2 as the weakest of the original trilogy (while also having one of the best cases in the series) and resenting AA4 about as much as VLR, this is how I view Ace Attorney and Zero Escape following my experiences with those games. 999 never should've had direct sequels, and anything that came after should've been conceived as spiritual successors at most.

But indeed, all three of those franchises are hybrids, ADV games with VN elements rather than proper VNs (minus ZTD, which isn't a VN at all).

 

[LordHuffnPuff]

Thank you.

I am so sick of seeing these games described this way. I'm enjoying Chaos:Child right now and the gulf between that experience as a true visual novel and these games is massive.

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Yo Chaos;Child is great. I came into this thread debating if it was worth pointing out that none of the games in the OP are visual novels and was glad to see it had already been done for me.

Spoiler

Also I think none of them are very fun.

 

[theosmeo]

probably gunna have to go with ace attorney, ZE would win if it were more consistant but ztd really poisoned the trilogy, i still think vlr is stronger than any ace attorney.

Danganronpa is a little better paced than ace attorney but the stories got incredibly predictable and also it cannot go more than 5 minutes without being creepily horny about a high school girl or incredibly gruesome and dark for just no reason at all

 

[Korigama]

Yo Chaos;Child is great. I came into this thread debating if it was worth pointing out that none of the games in the OP are visual novels and was glad to see it had already been done for me.

Spoiler

Also I think none of them are very fun.

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Coincidentally, I just started Chaos;Child myself after checking out a walkthrough of Chaos;Head to get up to speed (the latter I'm still hoping will get an official localization someday, especially now that even Robotics;Notes and its sequel are coming, leaving C;H as the only mainline Science Adventure game not to leave Japan even as the very first).

Spoiler

I'm probably also one of the only people who liked C;H's true ending much better than S;G's.

 

[LordHuffnPuff]

Coincidentally, I just started Chaos;Child myself after checking out a walkthrough of Chaos;Head to get up to speed (the latter I'm still hoping will get an official localization someday, especially now that even Robotics;Notes and its sequel are coming, leaving only C;H as the only mainline Science Adventure game not to leave Japan even as the very first).

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There is, sitting on a hard drive, a full english localization of Chaos;Head NOAH, that for legal reasons isn't going to see the light of day any time soon. There are some issues about that game specifically that have made bringing it to the west a snare.

That said, the original non-NOAH Chaos;Head is... very rough. I find it hard to recommend to anybody other than completionists or true SciAdv enthusiasts.

 

[Korigama]

There is, sitting on a hard drive, a full english localization of Chaos;Head NOAH, that for legal reasons isn't going to see the light of day any time soon. There are some issues about that game specifically that have made bringing it to the west a snare.

That said, the original non-NOAH Chaos;Head is... very rough. I find it hard to recommend to anybody other than completionists or true SciAdv enthusiasts.

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I still wonder how much of it is related to voice acting contracts, and how much is related to licenses for figurines featured.

Vanilla C;H worked well enough for me, but Noah is definitely the one I'm hoping finds its way over somehow.

 

[Rats]

I bounced off 999 pretty quick, and I barely remember it.

Danganronpa has great high points but very low lows and wastes so much precious time with the long-winded inanity of its writing.

But OG Ace Attorney is the GOAT. I love every last thing about those games.

 

[Zippedpinhead]

VLR is the absolute best game up there,

however DG and PW are far more consistent with their stories than the Nonary games + ZTD.

not having beaten Trials and tribulations really hurts. It's the only game of the 9 I haven't.

 

[Richardbro]

Zero Escape had the highest highs with 999 and VLR.

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Yeah I can agree there, they are definitely in the top 50 games ever made and wowed me more than Pheonix wright did.

not having beaten Trials and tribulations really hurts. It's the only game of the 9 I haven't.

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You really should, its the most difficult game in the series and the 5th case is incredible.

 

[LiquidDom]

Ace Attorney is the best series in my opinion, Danganronpa I'd put 2nd as I haven't played the third game yet but I think I like those two games overall over all 3 Zero Escape games combined. Zero Time Dilemma put a damper on that series a bit for me, but I still love the first two.

 

[UshiromiyaEva]

Ace Attorney is one of my favorite trilogies of any game franchise ever, it's really hard to say how much of that is nostalgia at this point but they're stories I cherish deeply. I think ZE is also an amazing series with a misguided final entry but there was still some good elements in it (I enjoy the escape room gameplay anyway so ZTD still delivered on that in some respect). My vote goes to AA but that comes with the caveat that 999 and VLR are really really quite amazing and I don't think my vote should diminish that.

DR on the other hand I peaced out on after the second case of the first game, I really don't know if it's something I would enjoy if I kept at it but it does make me feel bad for having missed out on something a bunch of my friends have clearly enjoyed more than I have.

 

[ffvorax]

Equal, I cant choose.
Or at least I have to say that AA and DR are equal on my heart.

 

[Jubern]

Like many people I feel like AA is the only one that went well the whole way. I still remember finishing AA3 for the first time and how happy I felt about it.

Zero Escape 3 was a mediocre disappointment that I honestly don't feel like talking about and while I enjoyed Dangaronpa v3 it totally jumped the shark in a really strange way... + the actual Danganronpa 3 - that is, the anime - was utterly terrible.

 

[Mr. President]

999 is the best individual game but Ace Attorney is the best trilogy.

 

[Feep]

I would rather a 9 10 4 than an 8 6 9.

Nonary for me.

 

[Kaloskatoa]

Yo Chaos;Child is great. I came into this thread debating if it was worth pointing out that none of the games in the OP are visual novels and was glad to see it had already been done for me.

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yeah, I don't have a problem with people thinking all of those are visual novels, thats fine. Its when they make a poll trying to define which of those is the holy trinity that kinda bothers me.

Like, if someone says "Avatar: the last airbender is a great anime" I wouldn't be bothered at all, but if they made a thread asking "whats the best anime of all time: Avatar: the last airbender, Spongebob or She-ra?" then it would be very silly.

 

[Wakawun]

Haha glad to see Ace Attorney creaming it.