Notepad's Little Opinion on Fabula Ultima in about 6 Minutes

[@yuki-chr]

I have yet to try the game in action, but i have to say that in the introduction the author says that the system is partially inspired by Ryuutama, not that it's trying to be its spiritual successor. The feeling i get from your review is that you came expecting it to be Ryuutama 2 and got disappointed because it wasn't. Not saying that the game is perfect or anything, but most of your criticism was on the lines of "Ryuutama was focused on this, Ryuutama has this" which I think doesn't really tell much about FU in itself. Another thing, the game seems to be a lot narrative and roleplay focused, which is probably why there is no battle map. Rolls are there to tell you if you can do something, but it's you who have to say what you want to do. Yes you have damage and HP and stuff, but it's there mostly to work as a baseline for narrating what happens.

[@nidhoggstrike]

For the most part, it sounds to me that your problem is what with Fabula Ultima is trying to do, rather than whether it does it well or badly. But your point about Ryuutama's battle maps and travel system being weird omissions seem like good points. Ultimately, I think I'm going to love this game as much as you hated it, but I'm still upvoting this review because those two points might improve my game.

[@kevinxsavagegm]

Battlemaps dont make sense in jrpgs aside from tactics stuff. 99% of jrpgs are just animated left vs right

[@nidhoggstrike]

@@kevinxsavagegm I feel like that has changed a lot over the years, and my favorite battle system(Grandia) always placed importance on positioning.

[@Erlooo_]

@@kevinxsavagegm just think of tactics games

[@ArakishiTokugawa]

Fabula points can be used to "force-change" the story as a player tho. Add details and so on (which may be over bearing for masters who need a precise ruleset to go by)

[@EduardoFuenmayor]

TLDR: You don't like this game because it is not Ryuutama

[@adzi6164]

0:59 if you are implying that the game requires you to pick a background for your character from a closed list, you are really off the target here... 2:28 I'm not sure if I really understand the criticism of the class/level system... There are many classes and you are supposed to have multiple, anyway, so the fact that classes have 5 skills each really isn't an issue. 3:09 "it's not Ryuutama" 4:46 okay, two points on top are okay... ...but again, this "tragic loss of Ryuujin" is nothing more than your Ryuutama bias. FU IS NOT RYUUTAMA. 5:01 ...the first point is, again, the Ryuutama bias. Although I must say, that, while FU does provide a hint of including something other in combat than exchanges of attacks, it requires the GM to set up everything for such non-standard combat to take place. Ryuutama, by providing the Battlemap, does make making such encounter easier... but it's really not necessary for a good game. Each class has few options... but you have several classes, so it balances out. A player does need to be a bit careful to not pick options that will be useless to them... but I don't think there are any real trap choices other than context-based, like a skill that won't see use because of the character of campaign, or taking a skill that requires putting multiple levels in it to have an impact, only to not level it up later. Slow progression with minimal payoff... that's YMMV. JRPG-only: yes. But it's hardly a flaw. FU is literally made to emulate jRPG. Bonds/Traits being tacked on: ...I've seen systems do this thing better, correct. But Bonds and Traits still either function, or at least don't ruin anything, although they really cannot match the beauty of the Karma mechanics of one Japanese TTRPG, Tenra Bansho Zero. FU is it's own thing... just because FU borrows from Ryuutama the idea of stats being defined by dice, and using two dice for tests, doesn't mean the game is modded Ryuutama.

[@ren_suzugamori1427]

This comment really looks like it could be turned into a commentary video.

[@MemphiStig]

It doesn't matter to me whether a reviewer does or doesn't like something. What matters is that they offer an insightful critique, and not just, for example, a thumb-thru of a rulebook while pointing out the obvious and not really saying anything. So I appreciate that you took the time to explain your perspective. I like what I've seen of *FU* but Idk Ryuutama, so I'll have to look into it too now.

[@Slo-Mode]

Cannot say anything about this game but I genuinely like clocks and think they can really add tension to a game when used correctly.

[@newironside]

>admiration and affection but not loyalty John Anime has more than one waifu

[@NotepadAnon]

The Harem must grow larger.

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

These two things didn’t get an official TTRPG but should. Ultima game series and Fabio.

[@proxy90909]

2:06 I knew there was something odd with that picture... Dang man

[@NotepadAnon]

Press F To Pay Respects

[@djn6962]

A JRPG/TTRPG in development, that shows a lot of promise is Last Arc: Tactics Analogue. Tactics is in the name and it is VERY focused on combat.

[@KaybeCA]

Hmmm, interesting. Myself, everyone I know who's read it, and every reviewer anywhere ever ... besides you ... seems to lavishly worship this new game. Hell, it even won gold at the Ennies. Still, it's certainly nice to see a dissenting review here and there. By the way, for reference, the one JRPG this game does NOT emulate is in fact FF14. FF14, being an MMO, has a ton of positioning elements to it. It's the single player console JRPGs, where battles are just the good guys and bad guys staring across from each other in a straight line that it tries to emulate. That's the reason why positioning doesn't matter. I've heard good things about Ryuutama so I'll buy that one too eventually. But that's not a JPRG in the traditional console sense. That's more of a wonderlust Miyazaki family friendly adventure. Different ball game.

[@bobzila522]

Sorta dumb comment but what was the ending song? I don't think the cyberpunk song in the description is right?

[@NotepadAnon]

AH BLOODY HELL THAT'S WHAT I FORGOT! It's Valse di Fantastica from Final Fantasy 15

[@slammurai6492]

Fellow Ryuutama enjoyer you dropped this 👑

[@Psy_Ro]

Have you done a video on 13th age? have just discovered your channel while searching for videos of fabula ultima, nad have been interested in the unique takes and niche

[@NotepadAnon]

I have not done a 13th Age video, mostly due to it being in that weird state of being "Semi-Popular" enough to do its own thing. Weird you're the third person to mention 13th Age today though. Perhaps it's a sign.

[@GarredHATES]

Do Sword World 2.5 another jrpg style ttrpg that could use some attention

[@NotepadAnon]

Got the book, just need to slap it in a case somewhere.

[@Chris3s]

@@NotepadAnon I just recently found it and would also be interested

[@icecrystal7965]

Respectfully, Fabula Ultima is Fabula Ultima, not Ryuutama They are two different systems, trying to do different things It's like saying Call of Cthulhu is a bad game because it doesn't play like Lancer It's ok to not like a system because it just doesn't provide what you happen to want, and it's ok to say that But saying a system is objectively bad, because it's aiming to do something you don't enjoy, is a stupid take

[@NotepadAnon]

What IS Fabula Ultima? That's the big question. Because whatever it is it isn't very good. Because it doesn't have any identity outside "A Shit Parody of JRPGs by someone who played 30 Minutes of Granblue Fantasy and watched a few videos on Final Fantasy 14." Is that it's aim? To be bland? Because if it is, it succeeds tenfold! So I'm forced to compare it to something that it shares its system with, a game with an identity, one that actually knows why it's doing what it's doing and doubles down on it. Because Fabuloso is trying to be "everything" it fails to be anything in particular. Because what it's aiming to do is convince people to buy the game with pretty art and enough of a system it surgically gimped to appeal to a wide market of people who will eat it up. And if you like it, then fine on you, but the only thing that Ultimax Buster really accomplishes is being a testament to the lowest common denominator. Also Call of Cthulhu and Lancer don't share the same system at all, it would be more apt to describe it like Maharlika and Lancer, because Maharlika is just Filipino Lancer and not as good.

[@barsotech]

@@NotepadAnon I’ll tell you what Fabula Ultima is. Fabula Ultima is love declaration for those who love both RPG and JRPG. Yes it’s not a secret that it was born ad hack of Ryuutama. But guess what? Fabula Ultima has the best balance’s System for NPC and the best Storytelling System. And the “Shitty Parody” as you called it won an Emmy Award for best game of the year. And after all this time you’re still the only one who speaks badly of it with poor reasons and these are facts not opinions. So for those who will read this comment, try it, or at least watch some session here on KZbin, but don’t give too much credits to reviews like this who doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.

[@NotepadAnon]

@@barsotech There's a part of me that admires you for actually telling me what Fabula Ultima is trying to do. Though a love letter falls flat when everyone is sent the same hallmark card.

[@barsotech]

@@NotepadAnon Yes, just like a bad review made by a bad “reviewer” and who is the only one who speaks badly of this game that I repeat won the Emmy Awards for best game. If you don't like it, that's fine, but at a certain point it's no longer a question of personal opinions but of facts. And the facts are that this game is liked, sells everywhere, and does what it promises.

[@bloodrunsclear]

John Anime: Fight Man should really be a real anime title

[@leonardoaquino3669]

I just recently discovered Ryuutama and Fabula Ultima, and I must say that it feels like Ryuutama is to Fabula Ultima, what OSR is to 5E... Simple in it's design, yet easy enough to add upon it, and muuuuuch easier to run and play! I'm glad I found out about Ryuutama after I noticed FU was a thing, because damn I would rather run something like homebrewed Ryuutama instead of FU anyday lol.

[@kyleranderson57]

Obnoxious.

[@ElwoodShort]

I’m confused are you reviewing Fabula Ultima or Ryuutama? I don’t think they are trying to be the same thing. Basically from this review my take is: “I don’t like this game because it isn’t Ryuutama”.

[@NotepadAnon]

As I've explained in a few comments, the main issue is that FU borrows a lot from Ryuutama (it being a hack originally) but as it developed it didn't expand any new ideas, but instead removed them in favor of worse ones.

[@ElwoodShort]

@@NotepadAnon hmmm, maybe I will look at Ryuutama as well then. Hopefully between the two I can make the right ruleset.

[@Jhakaro]

@@NotepadAnon It added an entire combat system with lots of class specialisation potential, something Ryuutama is extremely light on

[@stevemanart]

Over the last couple weeks since the microcase I've spent a lot of time looking at Fabula Ultima, and I have come to a final conclusion. It wants to be narrative-focused action adventure over the top anime combat, but it also wants to be based on Ryuutama. It doesn't do anything to justify its own existence, let alone its popularity in the weeb TRPG community.

[@NotepadAnon]

Oh it perfectly justifies its existence, and that is "look at our pretty artwork!" I HEAVILY doubt FU would have been a blip on the radar if it wasn't for the artwork and the "Hype" generated around it because of what it looks like.

[@stevemanart]

@@NotepadAnon So much effort was wasted on making the game side of it feel like it was trying to be a game I never really thought about it as an RPG art book like a weeb version of mork borg but yeah that checks out.

[@powerlucario]

So your mainn criticism seems to be that it's trying to be a JRPG and you don't wanna play that. Have you perhaps considered that is not an issue with the game but with you trying to make it fit into something it's not? I have never played the game nor do I have any stakes in it but this video told me nothing useful about it

[@NotepadAnon]

The issue with Fabula Ultima is that it's trying to be EVERY JRPG AT ONCE, and I want you to tell me, with a straight face, that Wild Arms, Final Fantasy, and Granblue Fantasy are the exact same thing. Combine that with a VERY light system, wonky choice of having no battle map, barely having a "Dungeon" System, and locking certain aspects of your character (your background / relationships) behind a metacurrency. All topped off with the fact it borrows HEAVILY (it's entire core system) from another JTRPG that does have a strong core focus, and my enthusiasm for the game dwindles heavily. I was hoping I could find something it IS and I just found things it was not.

[@powerlucario]

@@NotepadAnon I see, honestly this comment has been more enlightening than the video, and I have a better idea what to expect should I ever play the game, so thank you for responding candidly and without judgement. I wish you the best

[@Psy_Ro]

@@powerlucario Have recently played it, in a one shot it was really fun. If you are not looking for a one to one replica of a specific jrpg but the feel of turn based jrpg it is really fun.

[@eoris12]

Mean-spirited gate keeping review as usual. You should look at other reviewers and learn something of humility and kindness to developers. Bashing on a product like this serves no purpose. Wastes everyone's time. Yes, its not Ryuutama. Anything more? What about th3 class system? The villains? You just score points with hatred and that can only take you so far on the internet. If you wanna grow, you also have to grow up.

[@NotepadAnon]

Blindly praising something and clapping like a seal doesn't get anyone anywhere. The Class System is dull due to the fact its grounded in nothing and has to rely on the VERY BASIC system to function (but math is haaaard right?) The Villains rely entirely on a Special Currency to function because the game can't handle long engagements or anything remotely tactical. Doubled down due to the game being "ANIME" with everything having arbitrary status weaknesses because the devs played nothing but Granblue Fantasy and Final Fantasy 14 instead of any other JRPG in existence. But who cares, spend LE ULTIMA POINTS and now Cockozucker increases all his stats and you start thwacking him with sticks again as he teleports behind you because there's no map. You better hope you saved some Fabula Points to remember that you're a knight or your mass cerebral hemorrhage may be the death of you. You bought into it, that's fine. My opinion is different than yours. Understanding that other people have different opinions is hard to understand, but we're all growing together, eh?

[@eoris12]

@@NotepadAnon I didn't buy into it. Haven't even played it yet. But your review gave no reason as to your critiques. You don't like it because it's shallow... how is it shallow? Why? Is there a purpose to this? Is it intended for kids, perhaps? For quick and simple play? Is there anything to salvage? The art? The design? You see how your analysis is just minute? It offers conclusions without substance because your hatred is on the front line. It's your entire argument. You even state that the opposite of your review has to be the equivalent to "Blindly praising something and clapping like a seal." You can't even see the nuances, the greys, the yin in the yang. Your focus is to attack. Like a rabid dog. If I don't like it, then die! Or else it's just blind praise. We might agree or disagree in many things, but a review and a reviewer like yourself must be able to explain they 'whys'. Your focus is, even in your reply to my comment, a prime example of what I say. Hateful and childish bickering. Again, your hatred scores points for you now. Internet crowds dig negative emotion and give you views and likes. But you have so much more to offer if you would actually give a review. I have seen your stuff. You have a deep mind capable of great ttrpg analysis. Why not use it? Why so lazy?

[@NotepadAnon]

@@eoris12 I make these things quick because people don't watch the 6-Hour Rundowns of the Game I usually do. This is a summation, an opinion piece on something. I could go through every single aspect in this video, but then it's not really a "Little Opinion" at that point, is it? If you want a deeper look at it, then watch the VOD here kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYfPYqGsm8ehhNU. I come off as a bit hostile because once you get one of these long-winded comments saying the video is bad, you've seen most of them. So watch the full case file as I discuss it meticulously as to why I don't care for it. Or don't. I won't police you.

[@weskdance]

ive seen a lot of TRPG reviewers and you're the best so far, because it's way too easy to give a game lee-way for its efforts and all the pretty pictures they put in the book when the game itself kinda stinks. You're doing good work here, bc literacy for TRPGs is in really short supply

[@barsotech]

I totally disagree every single word of this review. Honestly If rather Ryuutama (amazing game) than Fabula Ultima I respect that but have you play even at least once? Hope you so, be cause if you don’t that will make low the quality of your review. I’ve mastered two campaigns and none of my players made a complaint. But I do, you should specify in yours next reviews that it is your personal opinion and make a review more objective and less “meme like”.

[@NotepadAnon]

Look at the description. I specify that it is my opinion. You can even read the title of the video, it may surprise you. But yeah, I don't care for FU, nothing about it really sang to me, it wasn't my cup of tea because it took away too much of Ryuutama and didn't add much to it. It's great if your players and you enjoy it, but I don't. Simple as.

[@black_flame_studios]

A review is arguably just an opinion piece in structured format. There is "objective truth", where you can pull out information and say "yes, this is well done" and "no, this isn't" even if you don't like it. But at the end of the day - your review is guided by whether you like it or not. I much prefer that over someone being dishonest and reviewing things positively because that's what the viewers, the advertisers, or the corpos want.

[@barsotech]

@Notepad Anon My bad didn’t read the description. And Sorry I don’t like this format of reviews. So you actually read the manual but you never play a single session, neither for making this video. You made this video for review it so you actually give a Judgement that you and your followers think that it is competent or serious at least without a complete view. Listen, I surely made a mistake by not reading the description and maybe I Missed a couple of words, but take a good advise, if you want to review properly a Rpg you must play it at least once. Otherwise you should talk about only of the Rpg that you really like, Simple As. I’m sorry for the mistake but that’s my though. Have a good day and Goodbye!

[@barsotech]

@Jeremy Renners I Cannot argue with that. But in The end you’re the client, you can watch a millions of this reviews for having a big picture of the Rpg but the truth is that sessions of game, live or online are the best reviews.

[@black_flame_studios]

@@barsotech After playing numerous games, you can get a feeling for how something will feel without having played the game Because unfortunately, most people base their reviews on how their GM ran a game, and not the actual quality of the game engine itself. So no, you can (assuming you've read plenty of game systems before) determine how things function without playing them yourself. Some things require you to see mid session if something's as clunky as you think, but many times things are easy to discern if they're going to cause problems mid play, or so on.

[@MrLizts]

Have you heard that fabula ultima won the ennie gold award for best game and silver on best product? I feel like you should at least give it more chance ^^'

[@NotepadAnon]

I don't know if you're memeing or serious. Both of which sadden me

[@MrLizts]

Not memeing actually, i read that some people gave flak about this video and that wasnt my intention. its a valid review and its framed as an opinion so i have no qualms on that. But the game won for a reason, so i am hoping it might give you some thought to give it a second look. 😁

[@sefatsilverlake3816]

Lil bro doesn't know how to use clocks 😭😭😭

[@stephenmorring3370]

Was enjoying until you dropped all the pointless profanity. What a completely useless way to turn off viewers.

[@NotepadAnon]

Well shit, it happens.

[@Amalvipls]

This is going to sound really bad, but I checked Fabula Ultima because I was feeling like I wanted ryuutama to have a little bit more meat and potatoes, but when I saw that the character sheet in fabula ultimate contained pronouns... No, I couldn't take it seriously or in good faith