Is Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen Worth It? - Video Game Review -

[@BloodKitten_]

i think the game worth it, though i would agree that some changes resulted in bad pacing issues due to them being forced to make it an eroge so it sell, i found the game worth my time and i do consider sailing the seas to get the original version with fan translation. meanwhile i think it is an essential lore dump since some characters show in the 2 other games, and while not all of the ones i recognized so far had sprites (halfway or so through deception) i did heard some femiliar voices that i know are not simply a returning voice actor just reading a random character.

[@Lytane]

That’s part of the reason I like the updated (kind of remake) prelude as it removes all of the explicit eroge and only has one relationship that matters to the plot. The problem with those changes is that his relationship with Eruru is sadder as he doesn’t really get with her so she feels second rate in the relationship. I’m still really curious to play the original (only seen parts of it) to see the extent of the changes. About half of the characters from prelude turn up in deception and the others in truth which made me happy, I like those characters a lot!

[@ChaolaoFueChi]

"That vampire, well... she wasn't sucking blood in the original" - Lytane Variety Show

[@Lytane]

One of the few jokes I've written in my scripts that wasn't a pun =)

[@AngeVNs]

Visual Novels had H-scenes LONG before 2000s, in fact VN started out as eroge. If anything visual novels going all-ages more often now is more unique/weird than the opposite of H-scenes "being added in"

[@mysticvitriol]

tho PttF is the 3rd one best in the series, I really like all 3 games. it is worth it because you can experience MoT to the Fullest. I started with MoD(just because I didn't know PttF existed) but I am glad I started with that. i would recommend people to start from MoD, then play PttF and then MoT. MoD to get them hooked on the series, PttF to explain a lot of stuff and MoT to tie everything together.

[@Lytane]

Most people like you started with MoD and I can see why a love of the series starts there, it's such a better experience and game. I also like (and hate) that PttF can be skipped so easily in order to start with MoD. I wish there was more tying the two games together. But for me going back to PttF after MoD would be so hard. The cliffhanger in MoD is just crazy and having to wait a FULL game in order to see what happens next is too cruel. So it's hard to say which order is best. The proper order, the english release order or (what fans call) the Flashback order like you suggested. You could even argue you could skip this game entirely and just watch the Anime!

[@mysticvitriol]

@@Lytane TL;DR- yes i agree; i kinda agree. true. I also faced the cruel decision of MoT or PttF after MoD. but I somehow managed. everyone said the PttF should be before MoT. so I just clicked the game and started playing. I quickly put MoD ending in the back of my head. so it wasn't TOO difficult once I started PttF. yeah, any order is fine as long as MoT is last in the 3 visual novels. also, I recently watched the anime for PttF and tho it is good, I would recommend people to play the VN instead. most of the Slice of Life scenes are gone. it is not a substitute for the VN, it is a supplement if one wishes to see cool action(IMO)

[@lordmartinak]

I've played the original in 2005 or something like that so I lived with the story for some time before MoD and what I saw at the end of MoD was a clever twist on the ending of the first game so I don't think I would enjoy it as much If I didn't know the first game ... I would probably still recommend to play the PttF first since I think it has better hook and pacing in the first half even though MoD has better second half - I don't think I would finish MoD if I played it first - I'm not saying it's bad, there is plenty of good stuff in there but it's looong and PttF is over by the time things start to happen in MoD since PttF is shorter

[@mysticvitriol]

@@lordmartinak kinda agree but I didn't find any thing in MOD that pushed me away from the game. I always wanted to come back to it everyday even tho I was in the section most people say is boring.

[@lordmartinak]

@@mysticvitriol the issue with MoD is that there are no stakes during most of it - in the first game we lived for a bit in the village and then the rebelion started which was tense and awesome - in MoD nothing serious is going on until you have to invade which is quite late in the story (even the war with "mongols" was pretty low-stakes) - even the romance wasn't there at all until the very end - and that is fine because the finale of MoD is the high-point of the whole series for me and the time we spent in that world and the amount of exposition leading to it is great contributor to that ... but I had no guarantee that the end would be so impactful and awesome and if it didn't it would be a lot of fun but wasted time at the end and the stakes were not there to keep me in - I think what got me through was curiosity what they will do with the stuff from the first game

[@Zorin1]

This was the game that got me into VNs and loved the series . Still don't know how to pronounce Uitsualnemetia.

[@mysticvitriol]

5:50 touka is such a badass.

[@Lytane]

She is! That’s why she is one of my favourite characters

[@banedeath]

So I put 85 hours into this game and liked it quite a lot. It had a few anime tropes that were annoying but were not rampant or overused. I personally liked many of the characters and Hakuoro/Hakuowlo was a good character overall. I am now 30 hours into mask of deception and am honestly very disappointed. Most of the characters are very unlikable (sp?) to my personal tastes (but Maroro has grown on me a lot!) and the main character Haku is very subpar compared to Hakuowlo/Hakuoro. Furthermore, the excessive use of bad anime tropes makes the story very hard to get into. I've thought of dropping it multiple times but people say they love it so I'd like to finish it. I'd personally say it's worth it to play prelude, but agree that the pacing was off in instances. As a novice strategy player, I was thankful for the combat system being the way it is. Though admittedly it is not likely to improve you skills at strategy much. The "vampire bird lady" scenes were VERY confusing until you mentioned the added then removed adult scenes. Kinda wish they'd just taken those scenes out all together. They added nothing but confusion. And with that, off to the review of the next in the series, good day to ya.

[@Lytane]

Holy damn, 85 hours! I know I put in quite a few as I went for the platinum but I don't think it was that much. But I understand why, the story and characters are interesting and fun to be around. 30 hours in should be close to the end of the game, but I'm not sure how fast or slow you play so who knows. The thing with the mask games, which I point out in the reviews I made is that Deception is more about the slice of life and less about the "plot" so it feels a little aimless for a lot of its runtime. Haku does go through a lot of growth over the game, especially after a Tatari ice level (I'm being vague in case you aren't there yet) and it's from that point on that he started to win me over. So there are cons to the game for sure, but it DOES tell a good story by the end. If anything, stick with it and if you still didn't like it by the end then forget playing truth. And most of the time when people say they live it, they lump both Mask games together as one huge story but forget like 2/3 of deception is just characters hanging out. Hahaha fair enough, the battles aren't too hard but if you do continue the series Deception ups the difficulty and Truth is even harder so maybe you will get better at this style of game! So the reason they didn't take that scene out is it DOES have some plot relevance. You are meant to ask yourself why is she doing this and what's it about. She is sucking the power out of Hakouo, for reasons. But it's still weird and without more of an effort with a rewrite it just is what it is. I hope you enjoy the other reviews and I'll see you there in the comment section!! 😄

[@banedeath]

@@Lytane I have just now finished the game, but I'll leave that comment on the next video. I play at a leisurely pace and grind free battles a lot for BP. I also ended up playing this game on normal but did the free battles on hard. On to the next review to compare thoughts!

[@johnthesilverwing2495]

love this series. just a question: will u cover MoD and MoT? maybe zan and zan2?

[@Lytane]

I love it as well! Took me a bit to get hooked but now I want more lol I have covered MoD and will do MoT (work life is crazy and I have a new baby so it's hard to find time, energy and motivation but that's all on me!) I also have recorded Zan but nothing on Zan 2 as it's all in Japanese and I can't understand a thing lol Have you played Zan 2?

[@MalaysianGov]

Thank you for the review! Really appreciate the thoughtful analysis of this game, and the helpful context around the series and its (slightly complex) history of Western releases. Cheers!

[@jackmanleblanc2518]

So the west is stuck with the censored version? Well that sucks. I know some disagree, but censoring is always bad when it comes to video games, in my opinion, tastefulness be damned. At the very least, they could give you a choice on which version you want to play.

[@Lytane]

Yeah pretty much, and while I have mixed feelings on censorship as I feel intent and reasons are complicated. I don’t know if aquaplus and leaf made the choice on their own or if it was influenced by others. If the only reason they put eroge into the game was due to outside influences or not. Those things to me matter in these debates. By giving you the choice on this definitive edition would be great but sadly it is not here, probably due to age ratings. The original is not too hard to emulate with an English patch so it isn’t impossible but it isn’t official either.

[@enymetouche2558]

"while this isn't a straight visual novel" so it.. isn't a visual novel then. Also the comparison to fire emblem is laughable, is that the only SRPG you know of? It's pretty similar to Rance 9.

[@Lytane]

Ahhhh well, in the west we have two types of visual novels. One that is a strict novel with little gameplay elements like choosing a dialogue such as Steins;Gate then we have the ones that have more gameplay like this. So yes, it is a visual novel but it’s the one with gameplay. It’s only confusing because in Japan this is called an adventure game while Steins gate is a visual novel, for some reason out here we put them together. I hope that clears up some confusion. Oh no, fire emblem is not the only SRPG I know of, but it is far easier to compare this to a popular and more well known series so people understand the comparison. While it might be more similar to Rance 9 (I haven’t played it) most people probably haven’t heard of the game so it wouldn’t be as impactful to my audience. Still, all that aside, have you played Prelude? Or are you looking to get into the series?

[@enymetouche2558]

@@Lytane It would be an SRPG regardless of how you or other people would "classify" it. It isn't a hybrid novel like something like Danganronpa, it's an SRPG with long stretches of dialogue. Kojima games are known for having long stretches without gameplay yet they aren't suddenly classified as a different genre. Just as tear ring saga can go nearly 30+ minutes of pure dialogue between chapters yet it's still an SRPG. It is pretty annoying that anytime anyone wants to say something is an SRPG they go "so it's like fire emblem" you don't really need to say that when you can just say the genre and show gameplay, people can definitely make their own conclusions.

[@Lytane]

Yes, it would be an SRPG, but games can have more than one classification and Prelude is a Visual Novel. It has all of the elements of them that is not just long story sections. Otherwise Metal Gear would also be a visual novel like you said. So things like, the slice of life sections, the dialogue choices, the style and delivery of the story, the elements such as use of eroge, CGs and more are reasons why Prelude would be a VN and Metal Gear wouldn’t. It is a hybrid game we’re 80% of this is the novel and 20% is the SRPG, that is why I wouldn’t classify this just an SRPG. The same is true for Danganronpa, the zero escape series, Ace Attorney and Death end Re;quest. Look at 13 Sentinels, that is a visual novel with RTS gameplay, but would you call that just an RTS game? No, it’s a hybrid as it’s more than one thing. I also agree that Fire Emblem is overused in the SRPG world but it is done so because it is popular. It’s like comparing things to Mario or Dark Souls. Sure, it’s been done a lot, but it does help the casual person understand what this game might be similar to. If you were telling a friend about a game and they asked what was it similar to, would you pick a game they haven’t heard of or go with the more popular one instead?

[@enymetouche2558]

@@Lytane Games can definitely be multiple genres, but not two mutually exclusive ones. If a game takes place completely in first person and is a shooter, it cannot be a first person and third person shooter. Visual Novels are called as such because they are.. novels. Novels do not have gameplay, though they can be little pick your own adventure stories. Hybrid novels exist because adding a puzzle or logic element or two like in Danganronpa or Ace Attorney isn't enough to actually make something a puzzle game, it's just an extension of the novel. Can't speak for zero escape, haven't played it but death end re;quest is an RPG first, and then arata's part is an extension of it, expanding on the story, that does not make it a novel. Yes, you would call 13 sentinels just an RTS just as you would Divinity: Dragon Commander, just because it has elements that supplement the gameplay does not equate it to being a novel. For something that's actually multiple genres, an example would be like Fallout 3 and the sequels, managing to be an RPG and a First Person Shooter, which AREN'T contradictions. In short, Visual Novels are books, you play Utararerumono, you do not play books. It would not fall under the categorization of "Visual Novel" Bad example on the fire emblem point though, I wouldn't go with a popular broad appeal game as a comparison, i'd compare it to something I know they've actually played. Also while Mario and Fire Emblem are actual comparisons if overused, nobody is actually non-disingenuously comparing dark souls to other games unless it's a "soulslike" and even then people have just started saying soulslike, the people who say stuff like "Crash Bandicoot is like the Dark Souls of Platformers" are just baiting for engagement.

[@Lytane]

@@enymetouche2558 Your very strict way of classifying a game is a little flawed. A game CAN be two "mutually exclusive" genres. First off, Strangers Wrath is a First AND third person shooter, it's both genres. Your example of Fallout is also a bad example because you can play the game in third person, and by your logic, that would make it a third person game. While I didn't play the whole thing in that way, people have. By your own arguments Danganronpa would JUST be a puzzle game, so would Ace Attorney as they aren't "Strict novels" and Zero Escape would be a puzzle game as well, they all have too much gameplay. The thing is like I said, in Japan they ARE a different genre, the adventure game but when those games came out here they are labeled as Visual Novel alongside games like Raging Loop, a game without any gameplay aside from making dialogue choices. To describe a game like Uta or 13 sentinels by the genre that isn't the the main focus comes across wrong. If I told someone to play this RTS game 13 sentinels and then they spent the next 40 hours reading and 15 hours in the RTS they probably wouldn't be happy. Same as saying, oh you like SRPG then play UTA but fail to mention that it's 80% novel. I personally think we should adopt the "Adventure Game" genre here to help differentiate the games so when World End syndrome and Zanki Zero come up they can be labeled better but at the moment "Adventure Games" are more typically point and click things like Grin Fandango or modern ones like Little Hope. And of course when talking to a friend you would try and accommodate to games they have played but if they haven't played ANY SRPG then you would use the most well known one as a base. If you were talking to someone you'd never met before that's probably the easiest comparison instead of something like Langrisser or Shining Force. It's like if I'm talking to someone new about JRPGs I'll start with comparisons to Final Fantasy before Lost Odyssey or Eternal Sonata. Lastly, soulslike has become its own sub genre now due to the way gaming has evolved just like metroidvanias did before them. So when talking about Hollow Knight its classification would be a Soulslike Metroidvania 2D Platformer, where I would compare it to Dark Souls and Metroid for the average person as they are much more likely to know what they are. I do agree though that people saying a hard game is soulslike just because it is hard is dumb and clickbait. I'm pretty sure I complained about that very thing in my Crash Bandicoot review.

[@nickjordan8996]

This game starts off as one of the most boring, horrible experiences I've ever had in gaming. It's so bad. Cringe level 9/10 after 2 hours in.