Last Game You Played and What You Would Rate It Out of 10

[StillMcfuu]

Valheim - (early 9/10)
Its fantastic; from the building and crafting aspects, to differing takes on repair/wear mechanics, meaningful and fun exploration, interesting combat and varied encounters, beautiful graphics, etc...

Hard to believe an early release title is so polished.

[SavoirFaire]

Dragon Quest XI: the one on the switch. 9/10

Very enjoyable game, was pleasantly surprised with Act III. My first DQ game since the original on the NES. Didn’t try to chart new ground on anything but did what it did very well.

[Rustedsaint]

Little nightmares 2 on ps5
Eerie,kinda cute and full of oh shit moments
7/10

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen - 7/10 (good)

It's a visual novel/SRPG hybrid, like Sakura Wars. Or, a little bit like Fire Emblem... if Fire Emblem was 90% visual novel cutscenes that can go on for 5 hours without a single battle happening, and maybe 10% battles that each last about half an hour.

• + fun characters to be with

• + Overall good story*

• + Great art

• + radio drama-esque voice acting, very immersive.

• + minimal fluff scenes, for the most part

• + battle system is fun (namely chain attacks, directional defenses, zeal system where you balance spending zeal and keeping it capped)

• + Lots of QoL features that most other VNs and SRPGs lack.

• +/- soundtrack is overall okay. Has a couple standout pieces, but for a soundtrack that is like 100+ tracks, I can only really remember a handful of them. Low hit rate.

• - Dissonance between the serious romance subplot with Eruruu and the harem scenes where Hakuoro bangs the other girls. Makes him come off as a filthy cheater and betrayer.

• - Story falls apart in the last 2 hours.

• - Misuse of insert songs, using them at inappropriate points, greatly diminishing what would have been an otherwise very dramatic and poginant scene.

• - worldbuilding takes way too long for too little. We aren't even given basic things such as the name of the starting village, or a map that showcases the geography of the different villages nations.

• - PC port is lackluster, locked at 720p 30FPS and has screentearing on AMD cards.

Recommended.



Full thoughts as I played through the game (with pics):

Spoiler: 

I know barely anything about Utawarerumono. I that is a two part trilogy (look it up on TV tropes), and that it is generally liked by Trails players and JRPG players, and that's it.

From my quick 30 second google search, it seems that the game is very easy. Even the "hard mode" is still easy, so I will be playing on hard.

I also know that there was censorship, which sucks. I'm personally not bothered by it, but games should never be censored.


Just saw the animated opening. I'm getting early-mid 2000s low medieval fantasy anime vibes, like Inyuasha, 12 Kingdoms, and Seirei no Moribito.

Hakuoro was talking about the chemical composition of the soil. Hm. Maybe he is from a more advanced society.

Whoa, was there a timeskip of several weeks or something? Or are there dozens of offscreen villagers? That field is humongous! Well, I don't think that there are offscreen villagers. There is... Huskar, Eruruu, Aruruu, Hakuoro, the husband and wife, and the other three guys, so... only 9 people in this village. And we've only seen like 3 or 4 houses in the village. So 9 people were able to till all this land overnight? What?

Don't potatoes take like 110 days to grow? It sounds like Mororo are vegetables, so I'm guessing several weeks would have had to have passed for it to grow this quickly. Unless Mororo are magic vegetables that grow within a few days. I'm guessing Hakororo has been with these people for at least 3 months then?

Welp, I am using an AMD RX 580 and I'm getting screentearing when I run the game in fullscreen or borderless windowed. I don't seem to be getting screen tearing when I run it windowed, but it has the bar at the top. Borderless gaming gets rid of the bar, but brings back the screentearing.

The game is locked at a blurry resolution for the 3D gameplay segments. This problem is not present on the emulated version of the game.

The game seems to be mostly VN, with a handful of 3D segments, and I'm already two hours in, and I don't see a way to skip cutscenes, so I don't feel like starting over on an emulator and working back up to this point. However, I am considering doing so for the next two games.

Just finished the first battle. So far, as a fusion of a VN and SRPG, I think that Sakura Wars had more enjoyable moment to moment gameplay with the timed dialogue options, but I think that Utawareumono does the VN thing overall better. I like the way the voice acting is done, really makes you get a feel for Hakuoro as a person.

possible Mask of Truth spoilers?

Spoiler: 

While on my Steam library, I momentarily moused over Mask of Truth... and I think I saw a screenshot of a girl next to a modern school window? So was Hakuoro actually isekaied? Is that supposed to be the big plot twist? Huh. Well, I'm not really bothered. It wasn't hard to guess.

The Owlo is the ruler of this land, huh? I thought that this village was like independent. We hadn't seen any soldiers or heard of any government officials or a king or anything.

"Awww Yuzuha wants to be friends with Eruruu and Aruruu!" not going to lie; I'm predicting that the poor little blind girl is going to die for maximum drama. I'll be pleasantly surprised if that doesn't happen.




Oof. That hurts.

If that sound is Nunwangi's being eaten, well... that's sad.

... Really? You found out that your local demigod is weak to water, and now you're plotting to kill your deity? You guys don't sound like faithful worshippers or people who fear the divinity of the kami.

"Aruruu's and Hakuoro's baby" LOLOLOL

"Mukkuru looks upon Eruruu with pity" LOLOLOL

Was it Oboro who brought the food back? Since Yuzuha is apparently some high ranking noble, so Oboro is higher up the chain and ordered the food returned? Or did he use his ninja skills?

Yup.

Not going to lie; Yuzuha collapsing/fever looks like a hentai scene. Doesn't gel with the serious drama that is supposed to be happening. Also looks like she went from being 10 years old to like 20.

I'm guessing Benaw i was a person who fought against this kingdom and lost, and was given a chance to join the winning side.

Lemme guess; Eruruu is going to go with Wawangi, and then we're going to have this whole rescue arc where Hakuoro, Teoro, and Oboro infilitrate the palace to get her back, and then they're going to be stopped by Benawi and fight him, and then convince him to join their side. I can see it 100 miles away.

Seriously, they're making Hakuoro the chief? Aren't there at least 200 villagers? Surely there are elders from the refugee village, or something?

WHOA THERE they're jumping straight into revolution against the king? WTH. Guys, do you know that abysmal success rate of peasant rebellions?




Wait, where did we get armor for our men? Even if you can transmute iron, that doesn't mean you have men with the armorer skills to make it.

Wait, Eruruu and Sopoku came as well? What? This is bloody war!

Well, I'm 12 hours into the game, and thus far I'm a little underwhelmed. We've barely gotten any worldbuilding as to the geography of the world, or what is the current state of this kingdom, or who its rulers are, or even the basic name of "the city". It is very unclear what the size of Aruruu's village is. First it was was like 4 buildings and a dozen people. And then it's like at least a 100 people. And then we got refugees who were never mentioned again. And now we are storming a castle with like a whole army? What?

This is really weird. The first 10 hours of this game were a relatively grounded, serious low fantasy 2000s anime, like Seirei no Moribito, which I loved! But now it has turned into... a cheesy Fire Emblem game? Sasante and Wawangi just pulled off a silly Sakura Wars style combo attack, and we have happy Fire Emblem battle music playing.

I would love to add the Mask of Truth track, "Yuzutsu" (or "Yudutu", according to apple music) to my favorite's playlist on Youtube, but I can't find any such named track on Youtube. Also seems that the entire Mask of Deception OST was blocked? I hate copywrong! Anyway, not going to dig around more on youtube for fear of being recommended videos with spoilers in the thumbnails. I've set the track to the main menu music.

... 8 incoming knights? Sounds like diplomatic party to me.

... Except they have their weapons drawn and aren't trying to talk to us, so I guess they're just to just 8v200 us all?

Huh. Now that I think about it, Yuzuha's voice actor sounds like Shizuku MacClaine's. Bonus points for both of them being bedridden blind girls.




... No way Benawi massacred these villagers... right? It was the main army that did it, not his, right? Or bandits?

Ah, so he didn't. He's just pretending to goad a reaction out of Hakuoro.

I'm half way expecting this to be an unwinnable battle.

... Are you serious? We actually "beat" them? No way. They're holding back, right?

Mask of Truth spoilers

Spoiler: 

While on the Steam library, I moused over Mask of Truth... and it seems like it is set in a rather clean, medieval Japanese city? With paper walls/windows and all that. Perhaps I mistook that for the modern Japanese classroom I thought I saw.

It took us 16 hours to finally see a map.

An army of 1,200 is... surprisingly reasonable. I can't tell you how many times fiction tries to pull "and then an army of tens of thousands of soldiers showed up!" haha, no, logistics and economics doesn't work that way. So I'm rather pleasantly surprised by the "low" number here.
https://military-fantasy.com/2020/02...-and-manpower/
https://military-fantasy.com/2019/08...ion-of-gondor/

I looked up the Kurou and Benawi battle theme. Apparently it's actually the final battle theme from Mask of Truth. Um... if Mask of Truth is supposed to be the big climax of this two part trilogy, why has it been reused twice as a boss battle theme in the remake of the first game? That's... going to make it not feel special by the time I get around to the actual conclusion.

Also, lol the Japanese title for Mask of Truth is apparently a big fat spoiler.

ooooh is that a more upbeat remix of Yuzutu/Yudutu? Gotta find the name of that track and add it to my favorite's playlist. EDIT: It's called Hoshikage... but it's not on Youtube! Darn it

LOL Kurou and Oboro's spitting match

Took 20 hours for the game to finally tell me the name of another nation.

I'm guessing that Uitsualnemtia is more of a philosophy like Confucianism than a religion?

Oh wow, I thought that when you were able to pick between going to two different locations to read a fluff scene, that they were mutally exclusive. I was reloading my last save to view both of them. But apparently, one of them is optionally. The one with the "READ" label is mandatory, whereas the one that doesn't have the "READ" label when it is unselected (the "READ" label appears when you select it) is the optional one, and when you finish that you automatically begin the mandatory one. This was never explained. So... I didn't have to do reloading in the first place? I think that this should have been told to the player.

LOL he thought the twins were girls

Lol joke about feudal japanese lords being gay with their teenage retainers (hello Nobunaga Oda and Ranmaru!)




Wait, we have provinces? What are they? Seriously, we're 20 hours into the game and there has been very little worldbuilding in terms of basic geography.

Ah, how nice of the writers to once again acknowledge that logistics are a thing!\

Hm... I'm guessing that the contents of the booze exploded upon contact with the air? Some sort of pyrophoric substance?

That conversation with the Owlo of Kunnekamun was interesting. Also, a religious conflict that might actually be interesting? Holy crap. Well... I will enjoy it until it inevietbly turns into fighting god as the final boss. That part always sucks.

Lol Munto will be featherless

Lol chisel nightmare

lol yuzuha's kisses

Whoa, where is this "fire elemental" thing coming from? You mean, the elemental wheel isn't a game mechanic, but is canon? This was NEVER referenced before now.

... What? What do you mean "both of you calm down"? The girl is straight up hostile! Oboro just saved your life! There is no equivalence between them in any way. Do you really think reprimanding your savior is a good idea? Do you really think telling a would be assassin to stop is going to actually stop them?




... then you can't be trusted. Who knows if you're going to turn against the people of Tuskar due to some perceived slight. Seriously, kill her!

Wait. Kuuya is a girl?


Fuck, is Teoro dying?

THEY ALL DIED?!?!? (And Nuwangi's body hasn't turned up yet either). So... Hakuoro, Eruruu, and Aruruu might possibly be the only survivors from the village? Surely at least one or two people joined the army, or stayed to work in the city?

The melodramatic pop song is killing the mood. Should've just had the no music play for this scene.




... Seriously. Look. At. A. Map!

Okay, so we've captured Touka. That was a funny scene. HOWEVER... it feels very odd that barely half an hour ago, we had a depressing story sequence in which Teoro died and the whole village was massacred, and everyone who Eruuruu and Aruuruu grew up with is now dead, and the invaders died in vain... and now we are back to a happy fantasy land fire emblem tone. It's like the horrible tragedy never happened.

Okay... how many prisoners are we taking per battle? I know that we are idealistic good guys and all, but since they brought up logistics earlier... well. During the medieval period, very few people were taken prisoner during a battle. You need food to feed prisoners, and before the agricultural revolution, there wasn't an abundance of food. So every prisoner you took was a resource drain... and for what? In medieval Europe, only knights and nobles were taken prisoner, because they could be ransomed for a lot of money. Now, the Kingdom of Tuskar was apparently a small, rural region. It would also seem that the land isn't very fertile. So Tuskar has less food than average. Earlier in the game, Hakuoro increased crop yields for his village, but so far there is no indication he has done so for the other villages. So, again, there should be less than average food. So... we're putting the safety of the kingdom's citizens at risk by taking all of these prisoners? Seriously, where is all this food coming from?

That prison scene was sad.




fuck fuck

oh thank goodness he stopped himself




*sigh*




NNOOOOO have you not been listening?

... Huh, I just noticed that they appear to use white crystals for lightsources, instead of candles?

This piano track is quite nice. Adding it to my favorite's list. EDIT: It's called "Fumirul". It's also not on Youtube! Seriously. Isn't this supposed to be a somewhat popular series (for a visual novel/SRPG)? Why isn't the OST on Youtube? Or is it just constant copywrong strikes from Aquaplus?

Hm... is Camyu sprouting wings?




lol

lol the twins got oboro smashed

lol oboro drank it

lolol Eruruu and Yuzuha scene

Adding "Rekka no Gotoku" and "Senran" to my favorite's playlist... annnnd it's not on Youtube. EDIT: Found it! It's called "Tempests of War". Now I want a mashup of it with the Stormblood boss battle theme, Triumph.

Touka reminds me of Laura Arseid from Trails of Cold Steel. Cute, graceful, honorable lady swordsman with a baritone voice.

Oh wow, I just realized that Senran/Tempests of War is actually a battle remix of Yuzutu/Yudutu.




*head desk*

Is Camyu turning into a vampire?

Oh no she really is.

Hakouro, why aren't you talking to Uly about this?

Hm... Nuwangi's body still hasn't turned up yet. Has been brainwashed by the bad guys? Is he going to be used for the next false flag attack?

Oh, lemme guess: Genjimaru is going to show up, and Touka is going to meet him?

Also, btw, why is Karulau still walking around with a shackle on her neck? That's like... 20 or 30 pounds of iron on her neck? Well... I guess she does have super strength, but it really must make putting on and taking off her clothes difficult, as well as limit the range of her neck movement. And be generally unpleasant.

... Did... Karulau seduce Hakuoro? Did he give in and sleep with her? Really? I know that the original VN had a lot of hentai scenes and depicted Hakuoro as a womanizer, but so far the remake has tried to portray him as loyal to Eruruu. Not a perfect man - a sinful man who came close to giving in to his carnal desires - but I still can't imagine him cheating on Eruruu like this. Really makes him look like a spineless, cheating bastard.

So the rebels in Na Tuunk are losing, huh? I'm guessing Hakuoro is going to invade... and then Tuskar will have antagonized every other nation, so we'll have to fight them too. Every nation except Kuuya's. Maybe we'll forge an alliance with them? The biggest problem is that Niwe is probably going to invade while our army is in Na Tuunk.

Again, not fond of how Hakuoro isn't shutting down these aggressive advances by the women on him. Yes, the comedy harem scenes are entertaining in isolation, but they just don't gel well when earlier, the game had tried to seriously portray Hakuoro as committed to Aruruu, and struggling to remain a pure hero by not giving in to his carnal desires that night when he was drunk.




Wait... then what happened on that night? Did you guys REALLY only actually eat food? That's not what the game strongly implied!

Wait a minute... are we going to liberate Na Tuunk with just the dozen people we woke up in the middle of the night, as if we were going on a picnic?




Oof.

So... which girl hasn't yet made Eruruu feel jealous yet? Let's see... we had Yuzuha do it twice... Oly do it once... Touka do it... and now Karulau. So I guess we're missing... Eruruu getting jealous of Kouya? Can't wait until Eruruu finds out he's been secretly rendevouzing with the empress on moonlit nights!

Hello Soylent Green! Except people being turned into flowers, not canned food.

DON'T DO IT OBORO

Hm... did Dorry and Gurra save Oboro from a drink that had been poisoned? Is Kurou going to get poisoned?

... Or are Dorry and Gurra trying to knock him out with alcohol so they can drag him out before the ladies come on to him?

This "drinking with the prostitutes" scene has been going on for like... 20 minutes.

Wait, what? Kurou was faking passing out to setup the thief? Lemme guess; he went to Eruruu and had her concoct a drink that would line the inside of his stomach/liver with a protective coating so he wouldn't get drunk, and he was faking the whole time?

Don't intervene Kurou...

Darn it.

Well... that was a sappy ending. Kinda disappointed that we didn't get to put down any bastards, even after they accepted their fate.

I like the scenes with the girls - Aruruu, Camyu, Yuzuha, etc - but... cute loli daughters in anime and JRPGs and visual novels are a dime a dozen. Can Kurouru please get a shota son? Teach him to be an honorable man and the ethics of hard work.

lol Hakuoro playing with Touka's doll

LOLOL Touka flips out on Oboro




No, don't do it! You're loyal to Eruruu!

So... Pokemon breeding?




Lemme guess; you think of them as worse?

LOLOL this is what Karulau taught Touka what "love making" was




Lol Sakuya snuck past the guards pretending to be a mud monster?

Amazing how Mukuru didn't eviscerate Camyu on the spot for drawing blood from Aruruu.




... Kuuya. He's been with you for... how many years? He knows what you wanted done, how the villagers were to be treated, and yet he went ahead and butchered him. There is nothing ambigious here. Off with his head!

I find it hard to believe that Uly would try to kill her little sister - who she had been with for... what? 10, 13 years? - over a baby (that isn't even hers) that she has been with for... what? 2 weeks?

Are those freaking mortars I'm hearing whistling through the air?

LOLOL did Kuuya fire a cannon at Hakuoro's palace to get him to come?

I think they've hammered the "mother" thing way too much.

Kuuya, don't abdicate...

Damn it.

Well, now that Kuuya has embarked on a genocide spree, I don't see her surviving the game.

Um... why hasn't an anti-Kunnekamun alliance formed?




These Abu-Kamuh's appear to have really high attack, and so far I've neglected to level up my unit's defense values. Hm... this might be difficult. I also don't have Eruruu to heal, nor Aruruu's insane defense value to body block. Guess I'll try putting Benawi and Kurou in the front to body black and have everyone else item heal?


OOOOOOOHHH is Hakuoro luring the army into his capital, and then going to burn it with them trapped in it? Holy shit, if he does that... wow, mad respect!

RIP Mukkuru. Also, RIP Kunnekamun for killing a spirit beast, they've incited the wrath of the gods now.

Wait, nvm. Hakuoro is probably going to get PTSD and flip out and ogre mode/demon form the crap out of that mech.

Did he just turn into WarGreymon?

The skeleton looks like Summoned Skull from Yugioh... or the empty husk of Eren's titan from AoT.

They're talking about dinosaurs fossils and archaeology... is this taking place in our modern world? In the present day?

Annnnd I heard a train passing by?

Hm. Previously I had thought that Hakuoro had been isekaied from our world. Then the Rakshain thing happened, and I thought he was from that world. But now I think he was isekaied. So were the memories of the dead wife and child from the being he just merged with? Also, is the being he merged with the dark god of Kunnekamun?

Hm... this seems similar to the Camyu incidents, where only he remembers something happening. Perhaps this is happening in a shadow dimension? Or did reality/the timeline change?

So... is Mukkuru still dead? Or was that just a dream too?

*sigh* I HATE IT when Japanese fiction does that! When they do fakeout deaths. Urgh. Makes me less likely to buy the next time someone is supposedly "killed".

Is Dii the Light god?

lolol Yuzaha asked him. Also, what an inappropriate time for a crappy insert song.




Uh, doesn't your brother spend the most time with you?

Don't do it Hakuoro...

DON'T

damn it

So... he really did in Karulau and Yuzuha? *sigh*. I expected better from him.

It also feels bizzare that Hakuoro doesn't make any advances on anyone. Instead, the girls either have to aggressively rape him, or ask them to bang them. Feels... gratuitous? Again, that clash between how the first 20 hours of the game tried to present Hakuoro in a serious relationship with Eruruu... and then it fell back into generic harem stuff. That's... not compatible. Romance and harem are two different things, and trying to mix them up muddies the waters.

I don't have much to say about the Genjimaru defection scene other than it is really well written.

Lol I thought Uly's father was dying, but nope he's just napping.

*invades Kunnekuman, confrontation with Dii and Kuuya, capital is nuked*

Hakuoro, ask her if she remembers anything that happened right before finding you in the forest.




... This looks like broken panes of glass, and blocks of cement, and steel bolts and steel plates. Was this location built by people from our world? Or did they walk through a portal to our world?

And there is wiring and electric lights too.

And metal railing, and metal grates.

Is this some sort of lab where they were trying to revive the fossil?

Was Mutsumi Yuzuha or Camyu?




Camyu then.

Wait, is this a post-apoclayptic earth? Did WW3 happen, irradiating the surface? Did the survivors of humanity survive underground and try creating new mutations of humanity that can survive on the surface?

Hm... I've been able to use all of my party members for a while. I'm starting to feel like that this is the final dungeon/endgame sequence of events. Mind as well take my training gear off of my characters and equip their best weapons and healing items.

Is this going to be like Evangelion where the obselisks are actually computer containing the digitized consciousness of the old human race?

Don't say your name is "iceman".




... What? Just look at the humans before Iceman woke up. They destroyed themselves without his involvement!

What is up with the creepy flute in the final boss theme?

lol I can just one shot the final boss with Oboro.




fuck you

Weird to have another insert song as the true final boss theme.

Feels very out of character for Aruruu to be attacking daddy.

goodness gracious let's not say goodbye to all dozen party members please. Not to this stupid insert song playing

... can we get on with it please?

for goodness sake DON'T SING A SONG JUST GET ON WITH IT

Well the ending was way too melodramatic and went on for far too long.

Damn it HE CAME BACK? Way to undermine your ending, guys.

I was going to give it an 8/10 but they dropped the ball hard in the last act of the story. But the rest of the story was overall pretty good.

EDIT: Lol I just realized Nuwangi's body never turned up, despite that being a plot point that had been established earlier. Was this an aborted plotline?

[ParanoiD84]

Hell let loose, one of the best war games I've ever played and a amazing game so far for a early access game.

Teamwork based so you won't win any games if your squads are not communicating and working together.

But not as realistic as post scriptum or squad but a nice balance and the maps are huge and beautiful.

Also class based like medics and heavy weapon teams and most classes are only allowed a couple on each teams/squads only riflemen and some other are free to use for all. Also only one commander on each team.

You will die very fast too and there is no markers over players in enemy teams like in battlefield if you spot them so you need to acually see them running around. Also friendly fire so you will drop teammates very fast if not paying attention.

Best part only one sniper team are allowed on either teams with spotters too working with the snipers so one sniper and one spotter on each team, same with tanks you have one or two with tank crews.

Seriously it's intense as fuck you should see the bombing runs in this game best ive ever seen and the visuals and sound design is top notch.

9/10 so far and they will only keep improving it.

[RobertoCarlos]

Hades - 9.7/10

Nice to see a game live up to the hype finally.

Very addictive dungeon crawler. Insane value for its price tag, I wouldnt have minded spending more money on this considering it puts most triple A studios to shame in terms of utilizing its assets creatively. Insane replay ability and its just a well thought out game. Feels like experienced developers made this game after years of failures and they finally make a masterpiece. Glad I hopped on the train.

[Floofi]

Valheim [Really Good/10]

I'm only 18 hours in so it's still too early to give it a score, but I am having a ton of fun. Despite the semi-pixelated look, the environments look amazing and the soundtrack does an amazing job of immersing you in the game, whether it being a sailing on the high seas, navigating through a dark and misty forest at night, or crafting in your own player house. I've only killed the second boss so far as I am playing solo, but the sense of progression from a pants-less adventurer freshly dropped off in the world to a viking warrior feels great, even more so in multiplayer (so I imagine).

[JusticeGlory]

Valheim - 10/10

I've been having such a good time playing Valheim. I'm almost 50hrs in and spend most of my time building things rather than actually doing the progression. At first I thought the graphics style was odd but it's grown on me and the combination of pixelated graphics and newer tech lighting makes for some absolutely amazing screenshots. The roadmap looks exciting, with some new zones, bosses and building items. There are a lot of things that make Valheim super relaxing despite being a survival game; small things like you don't lose your crafting materials if you want to move a crafted item, you don't die from having not eaten, stuff like that. For the price I'd recommend anyone pick it up who has an interest in survival games.

[Toybox]

Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen - 7/10 (good)

It's a visual novel/SRPG hybrid, like Sakura Wars. Or, a little bit like Fire Emblem... if Fire Emblem was 90% visual novel cutscenes that can go on for 5 hours without a single battle happening, and maybe 10% battles that each last about half an hour.

• + fun characters to be with

• + Overall good story*

• + Great art

• + radio drama-esque voice acting, very immersive.

• + minimal fluff scenes, for the most part

• + battle system is fun (namely chain attacks, directional defenses, zeal system where you balance spending zeal and keeping it capped)

• + Lots of QoL features that most other VNs and SRPGs lack.

• +/- soundtrack is overall okay. Has a couple standout pieces, but for a soundtrack that is like 100+ tracks, I can only really remember a handful of them. Low hit rate.

• - Dissonance between the serious romance subplot with Eruruu and the harem scenes where Hakuoro bangs the other girls. Makes him come off as a filthy cheater and betrayer.

• - Story falls apart in the last 2 hours.

• - Misuse of insert songs, using them at inappropriate points, greatly diminishing what would have been an otherwise very dramatic and poginant scene.

• - worldbuilding takes way too long for too little. We aren't even given basic things such as the name of the starting village, or a map that showcases the geography of the different villages nations.

• - PC port is lackluster, locked at 720p 30FPS and has screentearing on AMD cards.

Recommended.



Full thoughts as I played through the game (with pics):

Spoiler: 

I know barely anything about Utawarerumono. I that is a two part trilogy (look it up on TV tropes), and that it is generally liked by Trails players and JRPG players, and that's it.

From my quick 30 second google search, it seems that the game is very easy. Even the "hard mode" is still easy, so I will be playing on hard.

I also know that there was censorship, which sucks. I'm personally not bothered by it, but games should never be censored.


Just saw the animated opening. I'm getting early-mid 2000s low medieval fantasy anime vibes, like Inyuasha, 12 Kingdoms, and Seirei no Moribito.

Hakuoro was talking about the chemical composition of the soil. Hm. Maybe he is from a more advanced society.

Whoa, was there a timeskip of several weeks or something? Or are there dozens of offscreen villagers? That field is humongous! Well, I don't think that there are offscreen villagers. There is... Huskar, Eruruu, Aruruu, Hakuoro, the husband and wife, and the other three guys, so... only 9 people in this village. And we've only seen like 3 or 4 houses in the village. So 9 people were able to till all this land overnight? What?

Don't potatoes take like 110 days to grow? It sounds like Mororo are vegetables, so I'm guessing several weeks would have had to have passed for it to grow this quickly. Unless Mororo are magic vegetables that grow within a few days. I'm guessing Hakororo has been with these people for at least 3 months then?

Welp, I am using an AMD RX 580 and I'm getting screentearing when I run the game in fullscreen or borderless windowed. I don't seem to be getting screen tearing when I run it windowed, but it has the bar at the top. Borderless gaming gets rid of the bar, but brings back the screentearing.

The game is locked at a blurry resolution for the 3D gameplay segments. This problem is not present on the emulated version of the game.

The game seems to be mostly VN, with a handful of 3D segments, and I'm already two hours in, and I don't see a way to skip cutscenes, so I don't feel like starting over on an emulator and working back up to this point. However, I am considering doing so for the next two games.

Just finished the first battle. So far, as a fusion of a VN and SRPG, I think that Sakura Wars had more enjoyable moment to moment gameplay with the timed dialogue options, but I think that Utawareumono does the VN thing overall better. I like the way the voice acting is done, really makes you get a feel for Hakuoro as a person.

possible Mask of Truth spoilers?

Spoiler: 

While on my Steam library, I momentarily moused over Mask of Truth... and I think I saw a screenshot of a girl next to a modern school window? So was Hakuoro actually isekaied? Is that supposed to be the big plot twist? Huh. Well, I'm not really bothered. It wasn't hard to guess.

The Owlo is the ruler of this land, huh? I thought that this village was like independent. We hadn't seen any soldiers or heard of any government officials or a king or anything.

"Awww Yuzuha wants to be friends with Eruruu and Aruruu!" not going to lie; I'm predicting that the poor little blind girl is going to die for maximum drama. I'll be pleasantly surprised if that doesn't happen.




Oof. That hurts.

If that sound is Nunwangi's being eaten, well... that's sad.

... Really? You found out that your local demigod is weak to water, and now you're plotting to kill your deity? You guys don't sound like faithful worshippers or people who fear the divinity of the kami.

"Aruruu's and Hakuoro's baby" LOLOLOL

"Mukkuru looks upon Eruruu with pity" LOLOLOL

Was it Oboro who brought the food back? Since Yuzuha is apparently some high ranking noble, so Oboro is higher up the chain and ordered the food returned? Or did he use his ninja skills?

Yup.

Not going to lie; Yuzuha collapsing/fever looks like a hentai scene. Doesn't gel with the serious drama that is supposed to be happening. Also looks like she went from being 10 years old to like 20.

I'm guessing Benaw i was a person who fought against this kingdom and lost, and was given a chance to join the winning side.

Lemme guess; Eruruu is going to go with Wawangi, and then we're going to have this whole rescue arc where Hakuoro, Teoro, and Oboro infilitrate the palace to get her back, and then they're going to be stopped by Benawi and fight him, and then convince him to join their side. I can see it 100 miles away.

Seriously, they're making Hakuoro the chief? Aren't there at least 200 villagers? Surely there are elders from the refugee village, or something?

WHOA THERE they're jumping straight into revolution against the king? WTH. Guys, do you know that abysmal success rate of peasant rebellions?




Wait, where did we get armor for our men? Even if you can transmute iron, that doesn't mean you have men with the armorer skills to make it.

Wait, Eruruu and Sopoku came as well? What? This is bloody war!

Well, I'm 12 hours into the game, and thus far I'm a little underwhelmed. We've barely gotten any worldbuilding as to the geography of the world, or what is the current state of this kingdom, or who its rulers are, or even the basic name of "the city". It is very unclear what the size of Aruruu's village is. First it was was like 4 buildings and a dozen people. And then it's like at least a 100 people. And then we got refugees who were never mentioned again. And now we are storming a castle with like a whole army? What?

This is really weird. The first 10 hours of this game were a relatively grounded, serious low fantasy 2000s anime, like Seirei no Moribito, which I loved! But now it has turned into... a cheesy Fire Emblem game? Sasante and Wawangi just pulled off a silly Sakura Wars style combo attack, and we have happy Fire Emblem battle music playing.

I would love to add the Mask of Truth track, "Yuzutsu" (or "Yudutu", according to apple music) to my favorite's playlist on Youtube, but I can't find any such named track on Youtube. Also seems that the entire Mask of Deception OST was blocked? I hate copywrong! Anyway, not going to dig around more on youtube for fear of being recommended videos with spoilers in the thumbnails. I've set the track to the main menu music.

... 8 incoming knights? Sounds like diplomatic party to me.

... Except they have their weapons drawn and aren't trying to talk to us, so I guess they're just to just 8v200 us all?

Huh. Now that I think about it, Yuzuha's voice actor sounds like Shizuku MacClaine's. Bonus points for both of them being bedridden blind girls.




... No way Benawi massacred these villagers... right? It was the main army that did it, not his, right? Or bandits?

Ah, so he didn't. He's just pretending to goad a reaction out of Hakuoro.

I'm half way expecting this to be an unwinnable battle.

... Are you serious? We actually "beat" them? No way. They're holding back, right?

Mask of Truth spoilers

Spoiler: 

While on the Steam library, I moused over Mask of Truth... and it seems like it is set in a rather clean, medieval Japanese city? With paper walls/windows and all that. Perhaps I mistook that for the modern Japanese classroom I thought I saw.

It took us 16 hours to finally see a map.

An army of 1,200 is... surprisingly reasonable. I can't tell you how many times fiction tries to pull "and then an army of tens of thousands of soldiers showed up!" haha, no, logistics and economics doesn't work that way. So I'm rather pleasantly surprised by the "low" number here.
https://military-fantasy.com/2020/02...-and-manpower/
https://military-fantasy.com/2019/08...ion-of-gondor/

I looked up the Kurou and Benawi battle theme. Apparently it's actually the final battle theme from Mask of Truth. Um... if Mask of Truth is supposed to be the big climax of this two part trilogy, why has it been reused twice as a boss battle theme in the remake of the first game? That's... going to make it not feel special by the time I get around to the actual conclusion.

Also, lol the Japanese title for Mask of Truth is apparently a big fat spoiler.

ooooh is that a more upbeat remix of Yuzutu/Yudutu? Gotta find the name of that track and add it to my favorite's playlist. EDIT: It's called Hoshikage... but it's not on Youtube! Darn it

LOL Kurou and Oboro's spitting match

Took 20 hours for the game to finally tell me the name of another nation.

I'm guessing that Uitsualnemtia is more of a philosophy like Confucianism than a religion?

Oh wow, I thought that when you were able to pick between going to two different locations to read a fluff scene, that they were mutally exclusive. I was reloading my last save to view both of them. But apparently, one of them is optionally. The one with the "READ" label is mandatory, whereas the one that doesn't have the "READ" label when it is unselected (the "READ" label appears when you select it) is the optional one, and when you finish that you automatically begin the mandatory one. This was never explained. So... I didn't have to do reloading in the first place? I think that this should have been told to the player.

LOL he thought the twins were girls

Lol joke about feudal japanese lords being gay with their teenage retainers (hello Nobunaga Oda and Ranmaru!)




Wait, we have provinces? What are they? Seriously, we're 20 hours into the game and there has been very little worldbuilding in terms of basic geography.

Ah, how nice of the writers to once again acknowledge that logistics are a thing!\

Hm... I'm guessing that the contents of the booze exploded upon contact with the air? Some sort of pyrophoric substance?

That conversation with the Owlo of Kunnekamun was interesting. Also, a religious conflict that might actually be interesting? Holy crap. Well... I will enjoy it until it inevietbly turns into fighting god as the final boss. That part always sucks.

Lol Munto will be featherless

Lol chisel nightmare

lol yuzuha's kisses

Whoa, where is this "fire elemental" thing coming from? You mean, the elemental wheel isn't a game mechanic, but is canon? This was NEVER referenced before now.

... What? What do you mean "both of you calm down"? The girl is straight up hostile! Oboro just saved your life! There is no equivalence between them in any way. Do you really think reprimanding your savior is a good idea? Do you really think telling a would be assassin to stop is going to actually stop them?




... then you can't be trusted. Who knows if you're going to turn against the people of Tuskar due to some perceived slight. Seriously, kill her!

Wait. Kuuya is a girl?


Fuck, is Teoro dying?

THEY ALL DIED?!?!? (And Nuwangi's body hasn't turned up yet either). So... Hakuoro, Eruruu, and Aruruu might possibly be the only survivors from the village? Surely at least one or two people joined the army, or stayed to work in the city?

The melodramatic pop song is killing the mood. Should've just had the no music play for this scene.




... Seriously. Look. At. A. Map!

Okay, so we've captured Touka. That was a funny scene. HOWEVER... it feels very odd that barely half an hour ago, we had a depressing story sequence in which Teoro died and the whole village was massacred, and everyone who Eruuruu and Aruuruu grew up with is now dead, and the invaders died in vain... and now we are back to a happy fantasy land fire emblem tone. It's like the horrible tragedy never happened.

Okay... how many prisoners are we taking per battle? I know that we are idealistic good guys and all, but since they brought up logistics earlier... well. During the medieval period, very few people were taken prisoner during a battle. You need food to feed prisoners, and before the agricultural revolution, there wasn't an abundance of food. So every prisoner you took was a resource drain... and for what? In medieval Europe, only knights and nobles were taken prisoner, because they could be ransomed for a lot of money. Now, the Kingdom of Tuskar was apparently a small, rural region. It would also seem that the land isn't very fertile. So Tuskar has less food than average. Earlier in the game, Hakuoro increased crop yields for his village, but so far there is no indication he has done so for the other villages. So, again, there should be less than average food. So... we're putting the safety of the kingdom's citizens at risk by taking all of these prisoners? Seriously, where is all this food coming from?

That prison scene was sad.




fuck fuck

oh thank goodness he stopped himself




*sigh*




NNOOOOO have you not been listening?

... Huh, I just noticed that they appear to use white crystals for lightsources, instead of candles?

This piano track is quite nice. Adding it to my favorite's list. EDIT: It's called "Fumirul". It's also not on Youtube! Seriously. Isn't this supposed to be a somewhat popular series (for a visual novel/SRPG)? Why isn't the OST on Youtube? Or is it just constant copywrong strikes from Aquaplus?

Hm... is Camyu sprouting wings?




lol

lol the twins got oboro smashed

lol oboro drank it

lolol Eruruu and Yuzuha scene

Adding "Rekka no Gotoku" and "Senran" to my favorite's playlist... annnnd it's not on Youtube. EDIT: Found it! It's called "Tempests of War". Now I want a mashup of it with the Stormblood boss battle theme, Triumph.

Touka reminds me of Laura Arseid from Trails of Cold Steel. Cute, graceful, honorable lady swordsman with a baritone voice.

Oh wow, I just realized that Senran/Tempests of War is actually a battle remix of Yuzutu/Yudutu.




*head desk*

Is Camyu turning into a vampire?

Oh no she really is.

Hakouro, why aren't you talking to Uly about this?

Hm... Nuwangi's body still hasn't turned up yet. Has been brainwashed by the bad guys? Is he going to be used for the next false flag attack?

Oh, lemme guess: Genjimaru is going to show up, and Touka is going to meet him?

Also, btw, why is Karulau still walking around with a shackle on her neck? That's like... 20 or 30 pounds of iron on her neck? Well... I guess she does have super strength, but it really must make putting on and taking off her clothes difficult, as well as limit the range of her neck movement. And be generally unpleasant.

... Did... Karulau seduce Hakuoro? Did he give in and sleep with her? Really? I know that the original VN had a lot of hentai scenes and depicted Hakuoro as a womanizer, but so far the remake has tried to portray him as loyal to Eruruu. Not a perfect man - a sinful man who came close to giving in to his carnal desires - but I still can't imagine him cheating on Eruruu like this. Really makes him look like a spineless, cheating bastard.

So the rebels in Na Tuunk are losing, huh? I'm guessing Hakuoro is going to invade... and then Tuskar will have antagonized every other nation, so we'll have to fight them too. Every nation except Kuuya's. Maybe we'll forge an alliance with them? The biggest problem is that Niwe is probably going to invade while our army is in Na Tuunk.

Again, not fond of how Hakuoro isn't shutting down these aggressive advances by the women on him. Yes, the comedy harem scenes are entertaining in isolation, but they just don't gel well when earlier, the game had tried to seriously portray Hakuoro as committed to Aruruu, and struggling to remain a pure hero by not giving in to his carnal desires that night when he was drunk.




Wait... then what happened on that night? Did you guys REALLY only actually eat food? That's not what the game strongly implied!

Wait a minute... are we going to liberate Na Tuunk with just the dozen people we woke up in the middle of the night, as if we were going on a picnic?




Oof.

So... which girl hasn't yet made Eruruu feel jealous yet? Let's see... we had Yuzuha do it twice... Oly do it once... Touka do it... and now Karulau. So I guess we're missing... Eruruu getting jealous of Kouya? Can't wait until Eruruu finds out he's been secretly rendevouzing with the empress on moonlit nights!

Hello Soylent Green! Except people being turned into flowers, not canned food.

DON'T DO IT OBORO

Hm... did Dorry and Gurra save Oboro from a drink that had been poisoned? Is Kurou going to get poisoned?

... Or are Dorry and Gurra trying to knock him out with alcohol so they can drag him out before the ladies come on to him?

This "drinking with the prostitutes" scene has been going on for like... 20 minutes.

Wait, what? Kurou was faking passing out to setup the thief? Lemme guess; he went to Eruruu and had her concoct a drink that would line the inside of his stomach/liver with a protective coating so he wouldn't get drunk, and he was faking the whole time?

Don't intervene Kurou...

Darn it.

Well... that was a sappy ending. Kinda disappointed that we didn't get to put down any bastards, even after they accepted their fate.

I like the scenes with the girls - Aruruu, Camyu, Yuzuha, etc - but... cute loli daughters in anime and JRPGs and visual novels are a dime a dozen. Can Kurouru please get a shota son? Teach him to be an honorable man and the ethics of hard work.

lol Hakuoro playing with Touka's doll

LOLOL Touka flips out on Oboro




No, don't do it! You're loyal to Eruruu!

So... Pokemon breeding?




Lemme guess; you think of them as worse?

LOLOL this is what Karulau taught Touka what "love making" was




Lol Sakuya snuck past the guards pretending to be a mud monster?

Amazing how Mukuru didn't eviscerate Camyu on the spot for drawing blood from Aruruu.




... Kuuya. He's been with you for... how many years? He knows what you wanted done, how the villagers were to be treated, and yet he went ahead and butchered him. There is nothing ambigious here. Off with his head!

I find it hard to believe that Uly would try to kill her little sister - who she had been with for... what? 10, 13 years? - over a baby (that isn't even hers) that she has been with for... what? 2 weeks?

Are those freaking mortars I'm hearing whistling through the air?

LOLOL did Kuuya fire a cannon at Hakuoro's palace to get him to come?

I think they've hammered the "mother" thing way too much.

Kuuya, don't abdicate...

Damn it.

Well, now that Kuuya has embarked on a genocide spree, I don't see her surviving the game.

Um... why hasn't an anti-Kunnekamun alliance formed?




These Abu-Kamuh's appear to have really high attack, and so far I've neglected to level up my unit's defense values. Hm... this might be difficult. I also don't have Eruruu to heal, nor Aruruu's insane defense value to body block. Guess I'll try putting Benawi and Kurou in the front to body black and have everyone else item heal?


OOOOOOOHHH is Hakuoro luring the army into his capital, and then going to burn it with them trapped in it? Holy shit, if he does that... wow, mad respect!

RIP Mukkuru. Also, RIP Kunnekamun for killing a spirit beast, they've incited the wrath of the gods now.

Wait, nvm. Hakuoro is probably going to get PTSD and flip out and ogre mode/demon form the crap out of that mech.

Did he just turn into WarGreymon?

The skeleton looks like Summoned Skull from Yugioh... or the empty husk of Eren's titan from AoT.

They're talking about dinosaurs fossils and archaeology... is this taking place in our modern world? In the present day?

Annnnd I heard a train passing by?

Hm. Previously I had thought that Hakuoro had been isekaied from our world. Then the Rakshain thing happened, and I thought he was from that world. But now I think he was isekaied. So were the memories of the dead wife and child from the being he just merged with? Also, is the being he merged with the dark god of Kunnekamun?

Hm... this seems similar to the Camyu incidents, where only he remembers something happening. Perhaps this is happening in a shadow dimension? Or did reality/the timeline change?

So... is Mukkuru still dead? Or was that just a dream too?

*sigh* I HATE IT when Japanese fiction does that! When they do fakeout deaths. Urgh. Makes me less likely to buy the next time someone is supposedly "killed".

Is Dii the Light god?

lolol Yuzaha asked him. Also, what an inappropriate time for a crappy insert song.




Uh, doesn't your brother spend the most time with you?

Don't do it Hakuoro...

DON'T

damn it

So... he really did in Karulau and Yuzuha? *sigh*. I expected better from him.

It also feels bizzare that Hakuoro doesn't make any advances on anyone. Instead, the girls either have to aggressively rape him, or ask them to bang them. Feels... gratuitous? Again, that clash between how the first 20 hours of the game tried to present Hakuoro in a serious relationship with Eruruu... and then it fell back into generic harem stuff. That's... not compatible. Romance and harem are two different things, and trying to mix them up muddies the waters.

I don't have much to say about the Genjimaru defection scene other than it is really well written.

Lol I thought Uly's father was dying, but nope he's just napping.

*invades Kunnekuman, confrontation with Dii and Kuuya, capital is nuked*

Hakuoro, ask her if she remembers anything that happened right before finding you in the forest.




... This looks like broken panes of glass, and blocks of cement, and steel bolts and steel plates. Was this location built by people from our world? Or did they walk through a portal to our world?

And there is wiring and electric lights too.

And metal railing, and metal grates.

Is this some sort of lab where they were trying to revive the fossil?

Was Mutsumi Yuzuha or Camyu?




Camyu then.

Wait, is this a post-apoclayptic earth? Did WW3 happen, irradiating the surface? Did the survivors of humanity survive underground and try creating new mutations of humanity that can survive on the surface?

Hm... I've been able to use all of my party members for a while. I'm starting to feel like that this is the final dungeon/endgame sequence of events. Mind as well take my training gear off of my characters and equip their best weapons and healing items.

Is this going to be like Evangelion where the obselisks are actually computer containing the digitized consciousness of the old human race?

Don't say your name is "iceman".




... What? Just look at the humans before Iceman woke up. They destroyed themselves without his involvement!

What is up with the creepy flute in the final boss theme?

lol I can just one shot the final boss with Oboro.




fuck you

Weird to have another insert song as the true final boss theme.

Feels very out of character for Aruruu to be attacking daddy.

goodness gracious let's not say goodbye to all dozen party members please. Not to this stupid insert song playing

... can we get on with it please?

for goodness sake DON'T SING A SONG JUST GET ON WITH IT

Well the ending was way too melodramatic and went on for far too long.

Damn it HE CAME BACK? Way to undermine your ending, guys.

I was going to give it an 8/10 but they dropped the ball hard in the last act of the story. But the rest of the story was overall pretty good.

EDIT: Lol I just realized Nuwangi's body never turned up, despite that being a plot point that had been established earlier. Was this an aborted plotline?

I'm reading this at the moment & while I disagree with some of your points, I can't help but be a tad disappointed with PttF. There's a limit to how much mediocrity I can deal with just because Mask of Deception/Mask of Truth are meant to be spectacular

The art really is gorgeous though. Some of the best I've seen.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I'm reading this at the moment & while I disagree with some of your points, I can't help but be a tad disappointed with PttF. There's a limit to how much mediocrity I can deal with just because Mask of Deception/Mask of Truth are meant to be spectacular

The art really is gorgeous though. Some of the best I've seen.

I'm about 15 hours into Mask of Deception. I'm enjoying it thus far, haven't felt bored yet (whereas there were times with Prelude where I felt bored), but I think that the first 15 hours of Prelude resonated with me more, what with the village life and the overthrow and governing the kingdom. I also think I preferred the cast of Prelude more, which was overall more mature, and had a wider range of ages. Whereas so far the cast of Mask of Deception is a bunch of kids. Ukon is great, though. Gameplay wise, I prefer Prelude's combat, but the inclusion of a speed stat has me interested. I'll try investing in speed over attack this time and see if it's worth it.

- - - Updated - - -

The other notable thing is that there is a little bit more worldbuilding in Mask thus far than in Prelude. In Prelude, we were never even given the name of the starter village, or the province it was located in, or the names of the other provinces, and so on. At least in Mask, we know the province we are in and its lord, and the names of a couple other provinces. But the worldbuilding is still pretty weak. Still sucks that the starting village was literally named "Highland village".

Also, the 3 minute scene where Kuon was shopping for food and she briefly describes where each fruit came from helped give you a broad idea of the world, which was nice.

Also, lolol at the sheer number of drinking scenes in this series. Everyone in Utawarerumono is a raging alcoholic, apparently.

[Toybox]

Keeping in tradition with the thread. Valheim? A solid 8/10 so far after 40 hours or so of gameplay with guildies. I can't tell you how many red flags were raised in my mind at the idea of another insanely popular open world survival crafter, but Valheim manages to make things a hell of a lot more entertaining than its rivals do, while also making them a hell of a lot less tedious. Currently a bowman residing in the mountains collecting silver

I'm about 15 hours into Mask of Deception. I'm enjoying it thus far, haven't felt bored yet (whereas there were times with Prelude where I felt bored), but I think that the first 15 hours of Prelude resonated with me more, what with the village life and the overthrow and governing the kingdom. I also think I preferred the cast of Prelude more, which was overall more mature, and had a wider range of ages. Whereas so far the cast of Mask of Deception is a bunch of kids. Ukon is great, though. Gameplay wise, I prefer Prelude's combat, but the inclusion of a speed stat has me interested. I'll try investing in speed over attack this time and see if it's worth it.

- - - Updated - - -

The other notable thing is that there is a little bit more worldbuilding in Mask thus far than in Prelude. In Prelude, we were never even given the name of the starter village, or the province it was located in, or the names of the other provinces, and so on. At least in Mask, we know the province we are in and its lord, and the names of a couple other provinces. But the worldbuilding is still pretty weak. Still sucks that the starting village was literally named "Highland village".

Also, the 3 minute scene where Kuon was shopping for food and she briefly describes where each fruit came from helped give you a broad idea of the world, which was nice.

Also, lolol at the sheer number of drinking scenes in this series. Everyone in Utawarerumono is a raging alcoholic, apparently.

I'll probably give it some time before starting it, but glad to know it's looking up a bit Only question is what do I read after PttF: Raging Loop, AI: The Somnium Files, or Totono...

I loved my alcoholics in Trails in the Sky, & I know you're a fan of that too Scherazard drinking guys under the table was always fun.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I loved my alcoholics in Trails in the Sky, & I know you're a fan of that too Scherazard drinking guys under the table was always fun.

Poor Olivier.

[StayTuned]

Valheim

0.5/10

Don't understand the hype at all. I don't mind the graphics. In fact, they're the only really redeeming part here because the atmosphere is kinda alright.

But all the rest is just shite mate.

Building is a horrendously convoluted mess, and the camera makes placing roofs a real pain.
You need to have a camp nearby to sleep in a bed, but your bed needs to be under a roof. A camp however cannot be built under a roof. Who the hell thought of this?

Combat system is mundane and basic at best. It tries to be like Dark Souls but ultimately it's just a semi-glitchy, clunky, painfully slow experience. It feels like your Viking is always just on some heavy meds.

The world is just freaking empty. I got to the 2nd boss before I quit, and all I saw were some skeletons and disfigured dwarfs. The wildlife consists purely of boars and deer, who constantly make monkey noises.

While convenient, the fact that repairs don't cost you anything is very immersion breaking. Make my gear more durable, but let repair consume materials. Instead, your gear hardly survives a longer trip outside of your base before breaking.

Inventory space is essentially a luxury commodity. On one hand, that's kinda nice because it forces you to think about what you want to carry with you. Then again, your inventory is taken almost 25% by your standard 1-9 slot gear, plus the three different food types you need to carry with you. And if you need to farm ores, you HAVE to bring a cart with you, since they weight a ton. Oh god, driving that thing around is so tedious and effed up as it can be destroyed by just walking over stones, or hitting branches with it.

This game has nothing.

[Mysterymask]

Guilty Gear Strive (Beta)
9/10 easily one of the best fighters around..knowing this series any story they have is going to be nonsensical and beyond any means of human understanding the characters and fighting is EASILY top notch enough there for a beginner to understand and so much for a veteran of the series to find more and more fun in this.

Not to mention the best damned rollback netcode I have EVER seen..now if only the beta worked more

[fatgunn]

A Way Out 6/10

Me and a friend of mine finally got around to playing this. I really liked the premise and the characters but was hoping it would be more puzzly than it was. Also I called the ending super early.

[francisbaud]

Valheim - 10/10

I've been having such a good time playing Valheim. I'm almost 50hrs in and spend most of my time building things rather than actually doing the progression. At first I thought the graphics style was odd but it's grown on me and the combination of pixelated graphics and newer tech lighting makes for some absolutely amazing screenshots. The roadmap looks exciting, with some new zones, bosses and building items. There are a lot of things that make Valheim super relaxing despite being a survival game; small things like you don't lose your crafting materials if you want to move a crafted item, you don't die from having not eaten, stuff like that. For the price I'd recommend anyone pick it up who has an interest in survival games.

I've been watching videos of Valheim and I can agree with you that the lighting is really good in that game, the world (during the day) is pretty shinny. What's amazing about that game is that it got developed in just 2 years by 5 developers (and according to their blog they were only 3 in 2019).

[StillMcfuu]

I've been watching videos of Valheim and I can agree with you that the lighting is really good in that game, the world (during the day) is pretty shinny. What's amazing about that game is that it got developed in just 2 years by 5 developers (and according to their blog they were only 3 in 2019).

The game does a fantastic job into creating "content" by giving you and your friends adventures to go on that are almost entirely player created.

I'm not saying that as a knock on the game, I love getting side tracked with sea serpents while sailing out with 5 friends to set up FOBs for more incursions into hostile territory. Recent adventures we still talk about is just scaling into mountainous regions to set up portals for easier access and farming. Having wolf pack swoop in on us and kill us, or get harassed by dragons, or my personal favorite, a friend attempting to mine a sleeping Stone Golem because he thought it was a new resource and not an enemy.

I'm nearing 80 hours on it, it's been out for about 3-4 weeks now, and I have a full-time job which I do on average 50 hours a week.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception - 7/10 (good)

The second part of the Utawarerumono trilogy (my review for part 1 is here).


REVIEW

• + Fun characters to hang with

• + Few lulls/stretches of boredom

• + Good battle system (not as refined as the one in Prelude, but still fun)

• + Great artwork

• + Good music

• - Inappropriate use of music that ruins a few scenes.

• - Poorly designed and unsatisfying final boss fight

• - Wasted potential of showing off how characters have aged after the 16-18 year timeskip from the first game. Does the Atelier/Trails thing where almost 20 years have gone by... and everyone from the first game looks almost exactly the same. Feels like a copout. Since this game was made in the 2010s, I imagine that the devs may have felt that by aging up the characters realistically, they might put off the otaku who don't want to see their teenage and loli waifus grow up. Thus, you wind up with stupid things where boys and girls from the first game who were teenagers... still look and act exactly the same almost 20 years later.

• - PC port is lackluster, locked at 720p 30FPS and has screentearing on AMD cards.

I didn't quite like the main cast of playable characters as much as the first game's, but they were still fun to hang with and the comedy was fun.

Whereas Prelude's story fell apart in the last two hours, I thought that the ending of Mask of Deception was fine. Not amazing, not bad, just fine.

Prelude has a problem where there were a lot of boring villains. The only good villains were Orikakan and the villain of the invasion arc in the latter half of the game. Here, I thought that the overall the villains were decent. I'm not in love with them, but they're at least a little bit interesting as characters.

Oh, one thing @Toybox : unlike Prelude, in this game the units have a visible speed stat, and you can spend points on them. Given my prior experience with the Trails series, speed is THE most important stat in these turn based games, so I decided to try investing all of my points into speed. Big mistake. I felt that dumping all of my points into speed didn't really give my characters that many more turns compared to the number of turns the enemy units were making. And since I didn't put stat points towards attack or defence, I started having real trouble during the last 1/3rd of the game. My characters wouldn't have enough attack stat, so they'd only tickle bosses, and my characters didn't have enough defense so they were usually one shotted. I got several game overs, and towards the end the battles were taking about 1-2 hours long each. The final boss battle was near impossible for me to complete, and that was even after I took the difficulty down from hard to normal. I guess that the progressively increasing cost of investing into the speed stat should have been an indicator to me that I should be raising each stat and being balanced. TL;DR: Don't be like me an dump all of your points into speed or you might not be able to beat the game!

Recommended. Play Prelude first, though.


Full thoughts as I played through the game (with pics):

Spoiler: 

Huh, giant monsters now exist in the setting? Previously the Kimamaru were the only monsters. So I guess it's a more stereotypical JRPG setting now.

Is the red blob monster another one of the cursed scientists?




More worldbuilding in just this one line in the first 40 minutes of Mask of Deception than we ever got in the first 20 hours of Prelude.

I wonder if Kuon has been visiting uncle Benawi, and that is where she picked up her lowkey trollish demeanor?

lolol did Benawi assign Kuon some math homework to do? Is Kuon trying to get Haku to do it for her?




Huh. I recall looking at the map of Prelude and thinking "gosh, this must be a small island, like Japan". So we're on the mainland continent, like China? Or on another Japanese island?

lol she's a perv/curious




lolol




Hm... different mask shape, and different eye color (Hakuoro's eyes were brown, right?). And plus, if Kuon is 16 now, then Hakuoro would have to be at least 36, probably in his 40s, and would be unlikely to still look like this.




Pre-modern cities were not laid out this way!

Hm... is this inn owned by Karulau?




Called it.




His eyes are somewhat obscured by his glasses so he might be evil. *Trails flashbacks*

wth Oshtor is Ukon?

Seriously, where does his beard and sideburns go? Does he cover them up with a skin mask? Or are the beard and sideburns fake?




Is he reading a light novel or something?

So... Haku has met Karulau and drank her sake, and is thinking that this is familiar. Is he a reincarnation of Hakuoro?

She figured it out right away, huh.

If Eruruu was "Kuon's mother", then... um... that's gotta be awkward. How did Hakuoro explain that one to her? "You're my wife, but... I banged another girl, who died. So we're going to raise her as the princess! And she is higher in line for the throne of Tuskar than your own kids!".

So... Atuy is joining the team. So that's... Kuon, Nekone, Rulutieh, and Atuy... four young girls. Hm. And the protag is like 16 or something. Definitely feels like a more stereotypical 2010s anime/JRPG/VN cast, as opposed to the original VN which had an overall older cast with a wider range of ages (still had 4 girls with Eruruu/Aruruu/Yuzuha/Camyu, but they weren't the main group like with Kuon/Nekone/Rulu/Atuy).

Also, calling it now: Yuuri is actually a girl.

Called it.

Also interesting how almost everyone in the party can has a heal ability. Haku, Kuon, and Nekone have heal abilities, and Rulutieh has a passive regen. I think Kiwru is the only one without any healing whatsoever. Also interesting to see that item heals apparently don't exist.




lol Nekone's psycho "I'm going to kick you to death" face




Hm... she has the same hair and eye color scheme as Touka... and her ears are hidden. Lemme guess; they're going to pull a Valkyria Chronicles twist and she's going to turn out to be Touka's daughter?

... What? But her eyes are purple, not blue!

lolol at the sheer number of drinking scenes in this series. Everyone in Utawarerumono is a raging alcoholic, apparently. Yes yes, I know that mead was safer to drink than water in medieval times, but... still it's a LOT of hard drinking scenes.

Quick note: there is some nice ambience in certain scenes, like the dogs barking in the background at night. Nice little touches.




...yeeessssss...

Not going to lie: I'm starting to get my hopes up for Rulutieh x Haku. Normally the best girl never wins, but... if Yuzuha managed to get Hakuoro in Prelude, then there is hope for Rulutieh x Haku. Just uh... don't be in relationship with Rulutieh and Kuon, okay Haku? Pick one or the other and STICK WITH IT!

Did I just hear the words "wakka-sama"? Could that be Gurra or Dorry? But Kuon is... what? 16? 17? 18? Dorry and Gurra would be AT LEAST 25 years old by now and wouldn't sound youthful like that. It is also highly coincidental that we have four people from the old crew - from another continent - all coincidentally in the same place here on this continent at the same time.




oh gosh, not another cartoon villain like sasante




LOLOL (wait, didn't this guy try to murder Haku, and rape the girls? And he's being brought back as a comedy/gag character? Lolol nobody ever faces consequences for anything in anime)

Haku is actually right. With the bandits having a headstart, the kids might never catch up to the bandits, and even if they did, they might be in a losing position if they follow the bandits into a hideout or other place where the bandits might have the advantage in terrain, equipment, and/or numbers. And during all that time, the storehouse would be unprotected.

I wonder if the man on the phone who was offering Haku a job in the flashback was Mizuchi (the scientist with a conscience from Prelude who helped Hakuoro and the experimental humans escape to the surface)

... Huh, Nosuri has blue eyes... red/purple hair, and Evenkuragan ears. Could she be Touka's daughter?

Is that Oboro's voice? Seriously, that's FIVE people from the old crew over here. What a coincidence! And isn't Tuskar on an island across a sea from the mainland Yamato is in? How is Oboro fast travelling back and forth? Did Tuskar invent airships or something?

Oh no... Rulutieh reads yaoi fanfics

Is Anju our Kuuya expy? Young girl emperess who is intrigued by the protagonist, sneaks out of her palace to meet with him, demands that he caters to her whims?

I'm guessing Oshtor is on the out with the Imperial family.

Lemme guess: the mysterious duo is Dorry and Gurra?

Hm... I remember seeing screenshots of the Mask duology where Haku appears to be wearing Oshtor's mask? Is Ukon forced into hiding, or killed, and Haku takes up the identity of Oshtor?

lol Nosuri springing up from a floorboard to help Anju with the "kidnap me to make Oshtor love me plan"

lol Ougi is getting in on this too. Maybe Oshtor is also in on this?

the twins are literally expies of dorry and gurra: talking in sync with the verbs changed, and trying to outcompete the other girls in offering up tea.




Wow, his harem is... what? A half a dozen girls now? Kuon, Rulutieh, the twins, and now Anju.

Just wanna say, that the Mikazuchi scenes are great. It's very hard to have a scene that is both "scary" and "comedic" at the same time.

Hm... the twin daughters appear to be the only other humans besides Haku, with no furry ears or tails or wings to speak of.




LOLOL Mikazuchi was the pervy candyman! He liked giving Nekone candy. Should've known. (EDIT: upon looking at Mikazuchi's portrait again... his right ear was obscured. Should've known)

Did Haku release the bugs? Or did the bugs release themselves? If Haku did... yikes he just killed a lot of people

lol black comedy at the bug tamers being eaten while Haku and Ukon are drunk and thinking its elaborate special effects for a show

Looks like Jachdwalt will be filling in for Derihourai in this expy of the deteour arc from the first game.

An army of 20,000 on short notice? And 40,000? Uhhh... talk about ridiculously huge numbers. They did well with Prelude keeping the numbers realistically small.

what a tragic waste of human life

This feels like a mix of Magi and GARO. Magi in that you have kingdoms where the kings hand out superpowered artifacts to their handful of friends who are promoted to generals, and gain superpowers. GARO in that using the power too much will turn you into a monster.

So Hamyana is the name of the island the first game took place on? Off the coast of the mainland?




No, they are a stasis chambers that failed one by one over thousands of years, the occupants hoping that they would be revived and saved in the future.

Nailed it.

Interesting how the Tatari are light aspected, rather than type-null like Haku or the red blobs in the first game.




"Don't go"?

It seems that the surviving humans were not unified, but were instead separate cells/colonies? Except apparently they had some relations or hold over each other, as earlier in the game Haku tried hacking into the Hamyana/Hakuoro/Iceman colony, but backed out, fearing he'd be caught, which means if he was caught there would be repercussions. Thus, could the colonies go to war with each other? Or was there some broad police stat over both of them?

Guess we're about to meet Benawi or Kurou. Things will get awkward if they meet Kuon. Well... I guess they already know because of Oboro's and the twin's visits.

And Ulthury (or Camyu?)

Okay. Seriously. It has been at least 16-18 years since the first game. Camyu should be in her early to mid 30s by now. WHY ON EARTH DOES SHE STILL LOOK LIKE A TEENAGER? Camyu is old enough to be Kuon's mom, and yet she looks to be the same age as Kuon!

Mukkuru looks to be the only one who has changed over the years.




lol

Oh no, is this Dorry and Gurra?

Yup. Also, lol looks like they aged up from being 10 year olds to 13 year olds. Shouldn't they be in their mid to late 20s by now? Kuon looks older than them!

LOLOL THE dad talk is coming

lol mustache




Wait, Dorry and Gurra wish they could be beautiful like the women? Or envy the male attention the women get?




Um... no.

lol Haku impersonating Oshtor to headpat Nekone

If Honoka is his sister, and then twins are Honoka's daughters, then... hmph. Lol. But what happened to their father?

Looking at the map... it seems like Tuskar occupies the entirety of the Yamatan island? So... what? Everyone else became provinces under Benawi or Hakuoro?

Getting Bleach vibes here, where you have the court of generals/captains prodding each other for allies and scheming against each other.

Haku's motives for taking the supplies makes sense. For the rest of the group? Nope. Why on earth would Nekone, Rulutieh, and Kiwru help aid in the conquest of their dear friend's homeland? Atuy might be somewhat amoral. I'd also imagine that Jachd - having lost his homeland to an invasion by the Uzursh - would be hesitant to help invade another poor sob's homeland, as he knew what it was like to be on the receiving end. And if Jachd is so ammoral as to just follow his friends wherever... that's precisely a reason for him to not help invade his friend's homeland. There is a cognitive dissonance where before, the invasion of Tuskar was being presently grimly, tragically, but now everyone is just going to casually help invade no questions asked. WTH?

WTH Kuon is going with us?

Sorry, I know "bonds of friendship" and all, but these people had up until this point been presented as very morally upstanding people, willing to do the right thing even if it meant costing their lives... and now they're casually invading her own homeland unprovoked "just because we're friends".

Isn't Jachdwalt a father with a daughter to take care of? WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU GOING TO A WAR ZONE!?!? This isn't even a defensive war. This is an invasion you have no investment in. If you die, you'll leave your daughter behind with no parents, no family to take care of her (if the rest of the gang dies with you too then there is absolutely no one left), and you'll have died in vain... for what? WHY?

Also, friendly reminder Kuon: you're loaning Haku your FATHER'S weapon. You know, YOUR FATHER, the legendary hero of Tuskar? The Owlo of Tuskar? His weapon he used to make Tuskar a great nation? The guy you loaned it to has just said that he plans on going to Tuskar and using YOUR FATHER'S WEAPON to kill your fellow countrymen, your father's subjects! Wouldn't you like to have that heirloom back?

This feels more like summer vacation than war.

There is a way they could have made this make sense with just a couple tweaks. Have it so that Kuon leaves for Tuskar, and the gang is worried about her so they follow her. That way you can have it so that the gang isn't deliberately picking sides or trying to get into the middle of a war. That way it makes sense for Kuon not to take her father's fan back. It makes sense for Jachdwalt to go because he's not intending to fight a war. And so on.

The Kurou mission was the first time I game overed and had to legit restart the whole mission. I'm glad that exp earned carries over.

Well that battle took three hours.

lol the ships at the beach left without us. I guess we beg Benawi to forgive us and let us rest in Tuskar.

I'm guessing Anju is being Nanamoed? A fake poison that puts her into a death-like trance? I know she lives to Mask of Truth.

This is supposed to be a serious scene where Anju is waking up from unconsciousness, but the way Anju is drawn... erm... it's the same problem with Yuzuha from Prelude. Also similar to Yuzuha in how she apparently aged up from being like an 8 year old to a 14 year old or something in the CG.

Sneaking into the palace via underground sewers/aquaducts is BORING. How about trying to sneak into the palace by crossdressing as ladies in waiting? Or using a hot airballon and crashing into the palace?

Spent two hours on the Vurai fight holy crap

Why do we have to seal him before he transforms? Why not rip the mask off his face?

lol are we really facing off against a god monster? Realistically we should all die to him in seconds.

oh, this is the final boss? Huh.




I might not be able to beat the game. During the last fight, Vurai's attack stat was so high, he was one shotting everyone except Jachdwalt, and even then Jachdwalt was barely hanging on with defense items AND defense buffs. Furthermore, Vurai's defense stat was so high, that literally no one except people with attack stats in the 50s were dealing any damage to him. Now the final boss Vurai has higher stats, and 5,000 HP.

I have been investing all of my BP into speed. Haven't touched defense or attack at all. I also didn't get much BP from the last battle, so I can't really raise attack or defense more than a couple points per character. And I'm not going to rerun old levels to grind, so... I guess I'll lower the difficulty from hard to normal.




Lol on normal mode his stats are only marginally less. Yeah this might actually be unwinnable no matter what. I'll try, but I'm expecting I'll have to watch the ending on Youtube at this point.

I was able to invest about 2-3 points into attack per character.

I have put Kuon in the center, with Jachdwalt in front of her, Ougi behind, and the two archers to the side of her. Those four have the highest attack stat. I'm going to have Kuon buff their attack stat up on her first turn, and then I'll see how much they can hit Vurai for. If they only tickle him, then I'll just youtube the ending.




lolol no this is impossible he just one shotted half of my party on his first turn




This is the most damage my unit with the highest attack stat can deal. Yeah lol we'll all be long dead before he reaches 75% HP.

annnnd OFCOURSE the boss has rebound! So each time I tickle him, his next turn moves up!

Blessed Ougi with his 1,500 damage chain attack!




Pictured: Ougi voicing my thoughts on this final boss fight.

And it lasted all of 39 turns, with everyone except Ougi, Jachdwalt, and Kuon dead. (OH PLEASE NO SECOND FORM PLEASE PLEASE NO SECOND FORM PLEASE STOP HERE)

Ougi MVP, carrying this fight and doing 90% of the damage to the boss. Huh, Oboro was the same in Prelude. I wonder if Oboro AND Ougi will be my MVPs on the final boss fight of Mask of Truth.

Well, that was an overtuned boss battle, and not the fun kind like Banner Saga 1's final boss pre-nerf. (Was I the only one who thought that the original difficulty of BS1's final boss was fine?)

I'm going to come out and say it: that was a bad final boss battle. He has huge AoEs, and you start the fight with your units bunched together, so you can't spread your guys out apart in time (even with me having invested almost all of my points in speed). So half of your group just dies and there is nothing you can do about it, and you're just trying to out DPS him as he picks off the survivors one by one. And it's all over in 3-4 minutes. That's not a fight that challenges me or forces me to think. This is not a climatic ending. And it's not fun. The second to last fight - the human form Vurai fight - was more entertaining. It was of suitable length to be climatic. It had dangerous adds you had to deal with. You also had to protect Oshtor. I had to strategize to win that fight.

Also, I will never stop saying this: god monster final bosses SUCK! The game should have ended with human form Vurai. Us beating god monster form Vurai makes no damn sense.

Lol Anju has been literally Kuuyaed.

Wait... are you guys going to leave Vurai's mask behind? It is technically the property of the Mikado... and therefore, Princess Anju. And since Vurai committed treason against Anju... it should be revoked. And then the Princess can choose to give the mask to one of her allies.

Mikazuchi really looks like a Bleach character.

The writers seem to love repeating themselves, saying "a storm is coming to Yamato/the winds of change are coming/a new era is upon us" 3 or 4 times within 5 minutes. It's annoying.

So... Nekone leaped off the carriage, and now she and Haku are running back towards Oshtor. Given that I've seen art of Haku wearing Oshtor's mask... I'm guessing they're going to see Oshtor biting it, and Haku will get the mask.

Also, the group is being separated, so I'm guessing we're going to have a reset in the next game where we spend the first half of the game getting the crew back together again.

The music really kills the scene. Should've had be silent and let the dialogue speak for itself.


Mask of Truth ending spoilers

Spoiler: 

I'm pretty sure I've seen an CG from Mask of Truth where Haku is smiling without the mask on as white particles float up, and there is a purple background behind him. Guess he dies like Oshtor too.

Where did Haku get Oshtor's clothes? They didn't stop by his house on the way out of the capital, and they didn't stop by a tailor while travelling to Enunkammu

[Poppincaps]

@Val the Moofia Boss do you have like a Youtube channel or something? If you don't I think you should make one. I think you make a lot of really insightful posts and you clearly have a lot of passion for video games, but I think most of your posts fall into TLDR category for the format that MMO-Champ provides. I mean you went through the effort of collecting images for the game, I feel like that effort should be spent on like a Youtube video or something.

[Ryzeth]

A little late to the party but.

Nier Automata: 9-9.5/10
Finally got convinced by friends to play it, since I found it on sale. The past decade or so I've struggled when it came to actually finishing singleplayer games; I always find some reason to start disliking it. This is probably the first out of about 40 or so that I've actually stuck with. Just finished the first playthrough, will do the other two/three over the next few days. The first ending was depressing so going to wait to do the others.

Overall I like the game a lot more than I thought it would. Their soundtrack didn't disappoint, either. Also the first singleplayer game I've played in a long time where the combat actually felt fluid. The perspective/camera changes were jarring at first, but you get used to it after a little while. Aside from that, I wish they explained the upgrades system a bit better, but that's about it.