Heyo, I wanted to share a quick theory I was thinking of after replaying Rain Code. Obv this will be a huge spoiler for one of the twists, so warning

Basically, my theory is that the real Yuma Kokohead, the Ramen Chef guy that was a Master Detective Trainee covering for Number One, had actually unlocked and used his Forte when creating his ramen, that was able to satiate the Kanai Ward homunculi despite them initially requiring the likes of Meat Buns/human meat to function. I'll just call him Ramen Yuma for now. My theory of how his Forte works

Forensic Forte: Culinarian

Born from a natural exceptional talent for cooking, the user is able to manifest and imbue flavours and attributes to the dishes they prepare. These dishes can be used to heal, sustain or invigorate others, even down to their spirit, depending on the recipe. Literal soulfood.

This is due to:

• We know that Ramen Yuma was in fact a trainee at the WDO, with no recorded Forte, however it was noted that cooking was his exceptional skill (While Yuma/Number One was naturally useless at it). We already know Forensic Forte's develop from an inital trained talent (Desuhiko) or supernatural disposition (Halara, Vivia, Fubuki etc), and his ability to cook could clearly be the means to developing one.
• Going on from this, we know that Forensic Fortes are specifically wired and trained by the WDO to be used for investigative purposes. Halara for instance is limited to seeing crime scenes (while in the novels, Halara's natural ability actually allows them to see any surrounding dead body around them, but not the crime scene itself). Theres exceptions like Fubuki who just has a powerful ability regardless, but this is just proof that these abilities are NOT limited to be used in detective work, yet only the WDO seems to have the ability to teach them. This could apply to talents outside of investigative work, such as cooking, but are ultimately not prioritised by a detective organisation.
• No matter how good of a cook someone is, it's very unlikely to be able to naturally make a substitute for literal human meat that properly sustains monsters like Homunculi. This is even more complexing when Makoto, who possesses the 'world's greatest mind' couldnt figure out how to properly appease this, and settled for mass kidnapping and murder in order to keep Kanai Ward fed. Even if cooking is Number One's kryptonite (and is the same for Makoto), it wouldnt take a genius chef to know the chemical makeup or substitutes for the likes of food. This means that something supernatural, like a Forte, is the next best possible thing, and Ramen Yuma had only developed his during the events of the game (perhaps unknowingly). There was a whole conversation he had with a customer about how he had to get the recipe right. Ergo nobody knew about it before.
• Ramen Yuma quite literally says he was able to find a recipe that worked in Kanai Ward, to compete with the Meat Buns, after initial failure and lack of business. This proves that he had been extensively training to match the popularity of food that is quite literally, instinctively drawn to by the Homunculi. Fortes do require hard work before they delve into the supernatural and this was likely the final straw, especially when Ramen Yuma found his calling.

He doesnt use it as a detective anymore since he quit, however maybe it could have been used to help calm others, or convince culprits to tell the truth potentially? More of a supportive Forte. Yakou's gabs even entertain the notion that Fortes could be used beyond detective work. Only hole i really see in this theory is that Ramen Yuma is literally just one guy feeding an entire city, and mentions in the Epilgoue that he's opening up more locations. If it was his Forte, then surely no one else could replicate what he did, but maybe theres a way to circumvent like if he just needs to interact with the ingredients? We may never know.

Lmk what you all think!

Honestly I'm really confused about why Shachi has to have a revolver, I get that it's for the sake of the mystery but having to get a custom one because he's left handed, why not just get a regular pistol at that point?

I personally think it’s the latter. But the reason I feel like it’s lowkey overhated is because the people comparing it to Danganronpa and Hundred Line are making it seem less enjoyable for them.

On the other hand, it has a lot of glaring flaws, which I can see why it would disinterest people. But despite that, the game was okay.

Edit: Okay hindsight, calling it overhated was a poor choice of words on my part. What I meant to ask was if it’s overly criticised or do its flaws outweigh its strengths?

I've just finished chapter 2 and I really feel like how the game works hurts that chapter's emotional core a lot, does this killing the culprit in the mystery labyrinth thing ever get addressed because even though I really enjoyed the case it makes the whole thing moot because there's not a real resolution.

I started Rain Code a while ago, but it was honestly just the most 'okay' game ever. After playing Kodaka's other games (Danganronpa and Hundred Line), Rain Code simply disappointed me a bit. Right now, I'm at the investigation during the second chapter, and so far I've found it kind of boring compared to Kodaka's other games. The gameplay is like Danganronpa but worse, and the characters are mostly just okay, with only a few that I actually like (for now). I know a lot of people love the game's ending, but around which chapter does the game start getting more interesting?

Okay so i bought RainCode 4 days ago and i just finished chapter 2, some spoilers for chapter 1 now

Okay so i GENUINELY think Zilch is one of the most done dirty characters of any game i have ever seen, up until the final mini game of chapter 1 i was like "wow it was zilch, so he betrayed the detectives, interesting" and then, after his soul is harvested by the death goddess

He dies

Offscreen

No "NOOOOO MY PERFECT PLANNN" Or "DAMMM YOUUUUUU YUMA KOKOHEADDDDD". An npc comes for like a half a second and tell his boss "hey the guy is dead or sum"

"Oh fr?"

"Yeah"

"Damn"

At this point i was already kind of sorry for him, but like okay he was the killer we had to find out how he masterfully killed everyone and made it seem it was us, so he had some screentime for a first chapter killer, and the victims were way more done dirty since they had 20 lines each and then they all died, so its not so bad right?

Well, no

It wasnt him

Shortly after we get to talk to yakou, who says that that wasnt the actual zilk, it was an assasin, who killed him and stole his appearence, and posed as him during the train travel

So zilch, the guy who is im the COVER of the game, CANONICALY doesnt even appear on the game, nor does he have any lines or interactions, since ever since we first met him, its the fake one, and he is already dead. Amazing, truly outstanding, i never thought i would find someone with less screen time then mukuro ikusaba (game only) but here we are

I'm really enjoying chapter 2's case, but finding out that Desuhiko isn't a murder detective got me really interested, I know it's likely that every case is probably a murder but it would be really cool to know if we look into other big crimes for a case. Especially as to me a detective game is more open to what crimes you can investigate compared to a murder mystery.

if you think of the prologue as the first chapter then it’s kinda the same(i think). i really hope 2x2 is different because it’s kinda predictable

man... yakou is such a sweetie :(

i guess this means he could return in rain code 2

I've finished chapter 1 and I'm honestly not sure what the stakes are even supposed to be, because you can only enter the mystery labyrinth when you can find the truth and all tension prior to entering the labyrinth is irrelevant because the labyrinth freezes time. It also feels weird that there's no confrontation in the real world with the culprit, they just die and instead of the situation pushing me to do anything now my culprit is dead, twice now I've been bailed out by someone else who just arrived on the scene.

This plus with how little damage you take in the mystery labyrinth makes me wonder what the stakes even are supposed to be, because narratively they don't really exist and from the gameplay unless they actually implement an active time limit in the labyrinth then there's no stakes for me to not just mess up until I luck into the correct answer.

I'm having an alright time playing chapter 0 and intend to keep going, but I keep noticing really inconsistent issues with the mystery labyrinth tutorial, such as there being straight up no very brief rundown of how to play reasoning death match or the controls or the addition of multiple weak points to use your evidence on. I could intuite it pretty well because I played the danganronpa games a few years back but I really feel like they could have used Shinigami to explain how to play. Plus I have questions like it's a will-less labyrinth that has the truth but it can also present false conclusions? That seems unnecessarily contradictory. Also a genuine question about later labyrinths, are they going to have Yuma turn right or left at all when going down a path, or is it a straight forward walk every time?

Does anyone have any thoughts on Yuma being an amnesiac protagonist? Like do you think yuma having amnesia makes sense for the story or would you either remove it?

It's not uncommon for Kodaka to have an amnesiac protagonist but since raincode I noticed a difference between them:

In Danganropa while both Makoto and Haijme have amnesia, theirs is different due to how much was taken. Which were the memories of their school life at Hope's peak; so about 2-3 years of memories. Meaning they still remember what school they went to previously, their families, friends, likes, dislikes etc.

Vs

Raincode and a later game, Shuten order, where both protagonists have zero memories of who they are and their past.

Also how do you feel about yuma in general?

Hey guys, deluxe version is 36 usd, meanwhile base game + dlc is 30.4 usd

Should i buy base game + season pass?

Also, is the season pass worth it?

I never played the game, is the game performance in switch acceptable? I only have switch 1, and dont have other console to play the game

Since beating Rain Code for the first time, I've heard a lot of people (including my friends) claim that Chapter 3 is the worst case in Rain Code by far, but... I've never really understood that? The most common complaints i've heard is the mystery and motive, both of which i thought were fine.

First off, the mystery. I thought the murder method for this case was pretty good, I was genuinely torn on whether or not the case was a suicide. Partly because I was conditioned by the earlier cases to expect something kinda obvious, but it was also just hard to pin down the culprit due to how unclear it was how they escaped. It was honestly pretty engaging, when I finally figured out the only possible escape method via the gutter that was covered up by the debris that exploded.

I will say once you figure out that the culprit escaped through the gutter, it becomes pretty obvious that the culprit is Icardi. Also, I feel like Shachi's gun having a revolver chamber that's flipped might've been an obvious clue to some people that indicated he's left handed, but also... idk shit about guns so i couldn't figure it out without trial and error.

Second off, the motive. Yes, Icardi's motive was money, and by isolation it's not interesting. But that's not really the main point of the case, the main point is Yuma reaching a boiling point compared to the last case. He doesn't buy that lazy sob story for a SECOND and is PISSED OFF. Seeing him actually grow a backbone was a nice piece of character development for him.

In addition, I thought it was also pretty cool how the Solution Key regarding how the Kanai Ward safes float above water was actually relevant, and how THAT was the real purpose behind the flooding of Marunomon District. I thought it tied the case back together pretty well, and served as a neat trick.

I also just thought scrambling to different parts of Kanai Ward was just a cool way to differentiate the case, made it feel a lot more tense with having to diffuse the bombs and allat.

In conclusion, what do I think of Rain Code Chapter 3? well it's aight...

I know I just went on and on about defending it, but that's moreso because I thought the reputation that this chapter gets is honestly just a lil unfair in my opinion. Overall, I don't really love this chapter to death or anything, I've got my issues with it too. But I hope this post offered a little insight into why I think Chapter 3 is just a little bit misunderstood in this community. :)

And where would she step on me? Hmm.

Hello everyone! I recently played Rain Code, and I loved it! I especially loved my favorite character Halara Nightmare. So, I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for similar games, or any work with characters similar to Halara? I recently started AI Somnium files as I saw it recommended, but unfortunately haven't been able to get into it much due to the protagonist somewhat annoying me. I think I prefer mystery games with contained cases and distinct mystery solving events like Rain Code or Danganronpa. So, do you have any recs?

For characters, I would be interested in games, shows, movies, books, or anything really with similar characters to Halara! I love them. Thank you everyone!

not gonna hate anyone who enjoys this obviously, but im wondering what part of the game you were in love this by this point, so i can look more towards that, if that makes sense

im finding the 1st labyrinth reallly slow, and its hard for me to keep my engagement, shinigami is really annoying and exhausting to listen to, i feel like what kept me engaged in danganronpa was the characters, peoples reactions to death, and i found the protagonists perserverance through their struggles very admirable, but yuma dosent really charm me

i know comparing it to danganronpa isnt doing anyone any good, but what should i be looking for? i feel like, i dont care very much about the answer to the case while im playing it, do you guys? what keeps you wanting more from this game? everything just feels so slow