Recent reviews by CodeErr

This game has absolutely captured my interest right away. If you're a fan of Kodaka's previous works, like Danganronpa, I'm sure you'll enjoy this game as well.
It has great characters, the same great artstyle, music, and writing you'd expect from this team at this point, and just keeps you going with good gameplay and intrigue alike.
I'm looking forward to seeing the massive story through to the end and even experiencing what kinds of different endings there are to experience.

I think after the recent changes I can finally in good faith say I recommend this game.

Full disclosure: Even though I'm part of the XB Vanguard program, that won't be affecting my review of the game.

So, why was I not comfortable giving a good review up until now? The explanation is simple: The gacha system.
Pre-patch, the amount of gacha currency obtainable in the game was next to none, but after the change you're now able to earn enough for a pull simply by doing the 3 daily quest, which can be done in like 5 minutes. On top of that, the amount you can get from the quest book was multiplied 8-fold.

Another slight critique I sadly still have is the amount of story that was cut from the early game. Compared to the Deadly Demo and *especially* compared to the Closed Beta, Chapter 0 has been shortened significantly. I know these changes were made to allow people who were eager to get to the gameplay/gacha to get there as quickly as possible, but it's a sad change for those of us who actually do play for the story. It is also a change that could have been avoided if they instead simply didn't remove the skip button.

Now, with the complaints out of the way, what is it that makes me wanna suggest this game to others?

For one, I'm in love with the character artstyle which is basically taken straight from the team's previous works. Same goes for the music. So if you're a fan of the Danganronpa series or even some of their newer IPs like Master Detective Archives or The 100 Line Last Defense Academy, then I cannot suggest this game enough. The pixel art used for the overworld is also very pleasing to look at and feels fun to navigate.

In a similar vein, the story, while kinda wacky at times, has serious stakes. It does a good job of balancing its humor with the more serious moments. At one moment you're laughing at silly gags, at another you're mourning the death of a character. That's right, character deaths are a thing in this and since there's even an in-universe explanation for how a playable character doesn't need to actually be around in order for you to add them to your team, that means nobody is safe.

The gameplay honestly feels really nice in my opinion. The puzzles in the overworld are very straightforward and need no explanation, but are still fun little things to do as you encounter them. The combat on the other hand is obviously more in depth, but still very easy to understand after you've done a fight or 2 with any given character. The only real complaint I'd have to bring up about the combat is the removal of individually charging ultimate attacks for the characters in favor of them using the Tension Gauge for their ults. In order to activate your equipment, you need that gauge to be as full as possible making you kind of have to choose between ultimate attacks *or* good equipment. Other than that, the counter and dodge mechanics feel very responsive and rewarding, the animations look really clean, and unleashing ults and chain attacks feels very satisfying. And when it comes to XB, they really knocked it out of the park in all aspects.

As for the world and characters, there's a lot to be seen here. While your understanding and appreciation of TRIBE NINE would probably benefit from having watched the anime by the same name (which takes place 2 years prior to the game), it is by no means required, but still a worthwhile watch in my opinion. The futuristic version of Tokyo this game takes place in is really well crafted and has plenty of areas to explore and things to do (and that's with only 2 cities currently available). The characters all feel fun and unique both in terms of personality/looks and their gameplay with fantastic voice acting on top. And even if you can't get all the characters you want in the gacha, you can still choose from plenty of others to find a playstyle you like. It's easy to get at least one character you like, because re-rolling your account is super easy, barely an inconvenience, since upon re-starting the game allows you to skip the intro and places you right at the point you unlock the gacha.

Overall, while the full release was off to a bit of a rough start initially, I honestly think there's a lot to this that many people will be able to enjoy if they give it a try.

I only ever heard good things about this game and it seemed fun so I decided to give it a go. Here's how it went...:
-spawn as NTF
-go down elevator
-surprise 096
-death
-spectating for a while
-respawn
-entire spawn area overrun with SCPs
-instant death
-more spectating
... I really need to git gud
Still a fun game though!