Well these are just my personal thoughts about the game and when I look back
it might have been the best game I played all year despite its cliffhanger.
Tokyo Xanadu comes close but eh... that one honestly had one too many cliches.
TL;DR 8/10
Story is a bit slow at first but it takes its time to introduce everyone and sets the stage
for its inevitable sequel because this game Utaware2: Itsuwari no Kamen is designed to
bridge the gap between the first Utawarerumono game and Utaware3: Futari no Hakuoro.
This game might have SRPG elements but don't buy the game for that because
you'll spend more time reading than in battle, sadly the SOL part is going to be an absolute
hit or miss this game much like falcom's kiseki series is very slow in getting to
the good parts, if you can stand it and have played/watched the original then go for it.
This is the general outline of the story:
Violette has to leave her sheltered life behind since she is the candidate
to become substitute Reine aka french word for Queen because the world
needs grace and she's the only one who can do so.
The knights don't want to go along and don't trust her cuz of the absence of a Reine/Queen
all this time so Violette has to come to their countries and have a fabulous talk with them
like the ye olde french nobels did as it the only way to get grace so she can give it to the world
which is already quite drained so it won't perish, all in all this sounds promising right?
TL;DR this is a Kusotoge (maybe that is too harse) with way too much dramatique
and mystical mumbo jumbo, theres not many characters for a story set on such a grand stage.
If you want to get it don't fall for the synopsis or the pretty art, keep your expectations low
if anything the characters might save it for you and well I did like atleast two routes.
It doesn't fail being at what it tries to do, the gothic style and despairing plot is good
but most happy endings aren't satisfying for what you have to sit through which was pretty boring.
This game did not at all feel like it was an otome game to me, infact it feels more like a theatrical play.
I kid you not, this is all I can remember no... want to remember from this game. Sorry if this sounds like a complaint/rage post but I just have to put it out there.
Anyway here are the pro's and con's if you don't care about my rant.
Pro's
- The setting and story is interesting at first sight.
- Art and Music
- The guys/characters are still likeable despite the weak story.
- Seiyuu did a wonderful job.
- Setting.
- Heroine, I liked that Vio is selfish... enough to know what she wants and takes it.
- Leon was moe.
Did I push it with the pro's? lol.
Con's
- Story is rather weak and fails to keep the reader interested at times.
- Most love endings are not satisfying.
- Ravir system.
- Too many bad ends.
- The locked route was not satisfying. (It also didn't have the true end revelation I was hoping for.)
My expectations were too high for this game, I didn't enjoy most of it at all, I'd love to
someday replay it because sometimes I think its better than what people make it out to be
and its not that bad but yeah... I agree there's too much ''negativity'' which believe it or not infects others. I ended up ranting about things I usually do not care about out of shear
frustration that is the game system, feel free to ignore the rest of the review.
Gothic fantasy can be an interesting genre but only if they don't make the story a complete mess.
Too much drama, a paper-thin plot to waste your time away, the prologue specifically
while it had this nice feel of introduction I couldn't keep my attention to it at all, I mean
Leon was cute and most guys were charming but the introduction went on for far too long
and not much was even going on till the end of the prologue.
Later all the talk of glass made my eyes glaze over... pun intended.
Honestly I never expected this to a 3rd rate gothic fantasy, I was expecting this to be
a fun yet serious story but sadly the plot never took itself serious in my eyes.
The Ravir system was draining me of my energy too... probably one of the worst systems
ever next to wand of fortune! hey its also the same dev team.
I know they try to emulate what french nobles used to but in a VN this is just boring...
ATLEAST the art was good, despite me raging about this game
I would love a FD that make the endings in this game more worthwhile or an AU FD would be nice.
Violette as a heroine is great she knows what she wants and takes it but
the way the plot was told made me shake my head way too many times.
Still she was a cool heroine who kept her head high and I sorta
appreciated her being selfish but it felt like such a waste in the end...
I don't hate dramatic games but Ravir was such a drag and most of the endings weren't satisfying
or like Orpheus for example it end in such a way to only make you wonder wtf is even next.
Also I don't mind if people die in games but the way it happened in some routes! sigh...
Characters ★★★☆☆
Art ★★★★★(A saving grace.)
Scenario/plot. ★★☆☆☆(Too much mystical mumbo jumbo... and drama)
Music★★★★☆ (Good.)
System ★☆☆☆☆ (Stressful and too many bad ends...)
Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆(What did I expect? too much that's what.)
So you may like this game if:
Gothic fantasy is your jam and like the insanely pretty art.
Do not mind the game being a mine field of bad endings.
Like the utsuge type of visual novels where the outcome may not be perfectly happy.
Do not mind certain things just not making any sense.
TL;DR
I liked this otomege for what its worth, its story is nothing special but if you
can get passed the long loading and minigame its quite fun, like a game should be.
The higher the difficulty the bigger the maps get and Pro is literally a fricking maze with
too many locked doors. Easy and Normal are doable and Hard is okay... I guess. The difficulty trophies are BS though, you have to like sit through the common route of Blanc,Toujou and Itsuki's(maybe Ayame sorry I forgot) on EVERY difficulty and there are four. Thankfully both the escape and hunting minigames during the actual route can be done through chapter select, still a pain to platinum and there are only a few who managed to do it, I raged quit twice but when I came back I was one minigame away from completing pro difficulty(lmao) so I only had Hard left. I can't really recommend this game... story's average if anything.
Pro's
- Semi-interesting story based on red riding hood.
- Most guys are likeable.
- Romance was decent but kind of cringy in some route.
- Guys are Yandere but this is mostly reserved for bad ends, though some of it
can be seen during normal play, atleast to me the best ends were satisfying.
Cons
- Heroine is sorta stupid.
- Game is rather short.
- Minigame is a bit unforgivable, aka its difficult at first because no good tutorial.
- Long loading for minigame.
- Lag during minigame.
- BGM while some can be creepy like the one during the minigame but overall its forgettable. Btw the BGM during the minigame doesn't loop after 30 sec it just ends.
More rambling and possible spoilers after the jump.
