 |
| Well... atleast Shunya got her closure. |
Release date: 28-05-2026
Okay I won't lie but I kinda forgot about this game but I decided
to play it since I love the utaware series! not like I had anything else
I wanted to play so this game seemed kinda nice either way.
Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours
this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.
If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself.
Pro's
- Wraps up Oshtor and Shunya's journey.
- Enjoyable turn based combat system.
Grey Area
- First half feels rather bland compared to the last 80% of the game.
- The OP doesn't play upon starting the game.
Con's
- Game in general lacks polish; such as models/movement speed.
- Sidequests were uninspiring and mostly filler.
This game is a sequel to Monochrome Mobius which takes place
after the first utawarerumono game and before mask of deception.
I always thought Mono-mobius didn't really wrap up all there was to tell
especially regarding Shunya which this game actually gets to do!
The beginning of the game does start with a brief recap and slowlygets things going but it did feel a bit off since everyone was at lvl99.
combat certainly was no issue during the first two hours or so but I did
wonder when/if there would be a stat squish and there was.
If you never played an utaware game before this game is a terrible place to start
so you're better off either playing monochrome first or start from prelude of the fallen.
(I'm not one to gatekeep or anything so I like to give atleast two starter points.)
Speaking from my own experience it may be better to play Shunya's duology last.
---
Combat is the same as MM tho what I really like is that after defeating
a special mob in an area you gain the ability to 1shot anything there.
So long you attack them first, enemies also see you as a threat at that point.
 |
| This was actually really satisfying, Halu true MVP. |
This is great because it removes a lot of monotony from having to fight all enemies
you come across to level up again, Since 1hitting them gives exp and loot.
It gets even better on the overworld since you can just bump and KO enemies on your mount!
The stat squish already felt kinda harsh but the grind being eased was a relieve
since it wasn't hard to level up at all. Difficulty does ramp up around level 30
and fights can get difficult the higher you get. If you use your BP wisely
and don't forget to invest some into defense or HP it'll be fine.
The whole battle system relies on buffing yourself and debuffing your enemies or else
get wrecked LMAO. Shunya's the character who got ko'd the most but what else is new?
Munechika exists to patch people up and provide some buffs or extra DPS if possible.
Oshtor's the most balanced unit and Mika's purpose is to hit things.
We also don't have to unlock HP/MP recovery at savepoints anymore.
However I will admit that by the end of the game the area lord loop was a tad repetitive.
----
Side quests were kinda just there though... they were nothing unusual.
I felt like I had to do them since when I got thrust into a battle after meeting
Soyankekur I got my ass beat!😅💀 well there wasn't any dungeons before it
but when I reloaded I noticed new quests that had appeared. After I did
those I was able to handle the fight much better. So levels do matter!
The best side quest would have to be the one that unlocks Halu's final mode...
it also had me going why is this listed as a side quest?!
it was voiced & the story was strangely good.
The rest of the sidequests felt like unnecessary busywork which is such a shame!
I didn't even do a bunch in the lvl 70 range at the end of the game cuz I was burnt out of them.
---
Graphics; well the environments look fine and I am not one to complain but I did
notice the models can look like they miss a coat of paint however certain scenes
still looked good depending on the lightning in them so it wasn't too bad really.
The animations can be kinda stiff too but there were moments, especially comedic or
fighting were it was really well done so... I honestly don't see a reason to complain much.
Suppose after three years you expect more but aquaplus has never been one
to have graphics that were amazing. Except maybe the zan games although those
were by tamsoft and the graphics were on par to the neptune action games.
I find the graphics are decent but the environments were far better than the modeling
which reminded me of tears to tiara kakan no dachi. Okay enough rambling about this.
Music; was generally good and soothing to the ears, like I know from the series
it fit the mood and tone of the scenes well enough. Both OP and ED were great
however for some reason the OP didn't play when booting up the game.
----
 |
| I rather liked this town, even if its nothing unusual it reminds me of some edo era scene. |
to the max too fast you'll just zoom across the map at max speed. WeeU!
You can in fact walk and run slower but you really need to tilt carefully.
The areas are big so I didn't mind it being a turbo run that much
but the lack of polish was rather obvious here.
---
except a few endgame ones because I kinda burnt out on them and I just smacked
enemies in the final dungeon for some extra EXP. I don't think you need to be
higher than level 80 to beat the game. However I did almost forget we could
level the blacksmith but due to that I had enough materials and was able to get
some of the best weapons/armor upgrades with ease. No boss in this game really
forced me to dig into the weapon upgrade system, the weapons and armor you
can buy or find was more than enough to make it through. I thought it was overall
breezier than Monochrome Mobius which was a little tougher in my memory anyways.
Halu was around rank 70 which matches the level range I cleared with; 77-80.
---
because I remember being a little disappointed Shunya's case was unresolved
and a lot of the stuff on arva-shulan was not fully explored which this game does.
It had a strong start it did slow down and while it was nice to
have the crew back together I did get a feeling of is this really it?!
There were plenty of interesting bits it all just felt very low key and looking back
the first half of the game just felt rather bland to me and not much stood out.
I thought the majority of the game would take place in Arva-Shulan but... it didn't.
So I was kind of let down in the first half when we had to go activate a bunch of towers.
I personally was more interested in the villains and SUS twins but most of that was
reserved for the last 35% of the game and rather fast too. The villain group didn't have
that much build up that when it was time of their re-appearance I forgot about them.😅
Most things weren't explained very well till right at the end. It wasn't all bad though
I still think exploring the regions around Yamato is a real treat, I didn't even mind
going through the areas that much, even if the story was uninspiring at this point.
Mostly because the gameplay was excellent and if they nailed anything its that.
TL;DR
At the end of the day I think the story is OK but the first half could be better.
When the story got to the heart of the matter it was pretty good but that was 80% into it.As for the romance... I couldn't enjoy it as much as with Rias and Slade, Shunya and Oshtor
didn't even get that many moments that they weren't on my shipping radar till someone started
talking about feelings. I suppose they had no time/budget since there weren't a lot
of light-hearted CG's either. Having played the trilogy I could never fully get into it
since Shunya is never referenced. The way the story played out... it made sense though!
I do like the ending for the both of them, it was a rather bittersweet.
7/10
I did get the idea that they rushed to get this game out due to it being a little rough
around the edges but other than that if you want to continue Oshtor/Shunya's adventure
and love the utaware series I see no reason why not to get this at some point.
If you liked the OG trilogy but disliked MM or old school rpg's then it could be a skip.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some senile grandma rambles after the jump! I try to avoid major plot spoilers
but if you don't want anything at all then just stop reading here.
 |
| WHOIS. |
Not knowing they wrote BL.😂💀
Looking at Oshtor and young Maroro just makes me sad on the other hand...
---
Most CG/still images were for emotional moments so I was slightly disappointed
there weren't any for funny or light-hearted events. There were some opportunities in
the first half of the game... I got tired of seeing the Emperor&Honoka CG
reused like 9000 times. The artist probably didn't have enough time or budget issue
but I really missed some of the light-hearted CG events the series was know for.
I suppose if the graphics become even better than they are now they won't
need CG images anymore and AP definitely improved. We definitely didn't
need any action-packed CG's since the battle cutscenes were awesome. I mean it.
I do think AP suffered internally while making this game, they were bought by some company
and I don't think they even had the budget but whatever fanservice was there was nice.
---
In terms of story the game has a messy and largely unengaging plot till the last 20% of
the game and nothing is explained well right till the end. I kinda disliked how the last boss
had an hour of cutscenes in between forms, imagine dying to the second form because
you were careless and you can't retry because it will rewind till before the first encounter.
If you're going to do a long cutscene between forms then atleast make the player retry
but I suppose they really want to hit it home they're going for that old school vibe.💀
Atleast we can skip the cutscenes... so that's a plus.
As for the ending, I actually got teary-eyed? I wasn't bawling but yeah...
part of it reminded me of the lucky princess and the tragic knights so
if you played the final/secret route of that game its a lil bit like it but also not completely.
It shared a theme but LPTK was much sweeter. I barely even remember that game
but its nice something jogs your memory a lil. The ending here though had
a wishful bittersweet tone and I liked it, there's no fitting ending for the both of them.😊
Though it does rely on liking the you'll meet your loved ones again after death trope.
I don't think they could have done it any other way especially knowing Oshtor's own fate.
---
Characters
Oshtor.
We generally know him by now and I don't really got much more to say about him.
This was a story where he helped and got close to a girl as he became who we knew him as.
Sadly shit happened.
Also I think Monochrome Mobius already showed us quite a bit already and my
opinion didn't change he's still a cool dude who's just trying his best.
If there's anything new to him is that he isn't good with matters of the heart
and if he likes you then he will drink sake with you............ 😂💀.
Shunya.
There's more to her but the game didn't go into it unless they needed to
which was like 20+ hours which isn't fully explained till the end. 💀
If anything for the majority of the game I saw her like a sister rather than a potential love interest.
Oh no... Nekone has competition now! don't tell her about any of this!
Shunya's definitely part of Oshtor's family and the main plot makes that clear even if
they're not related by blood however at some point she's also kinda crushing on him.
I don't have an issue with it since their relationship is pure but... shipping Shunya with
Oshtor wasn't on my mind at all. I am generally a shippy person and love my RPG romance
however I always thought Oshtor was gay! blame the shenanigans and Maroro I guess.
Or maybe he became like that due to everything that happened... cursed. 
Anyway the moon is beautiful tonight! at first it was a bit awkward
since neither side gets it across directly yet they both do know how they feel
so after some events with Mayakowl, Oshtor was able to tell her how he felt.
On the flip side we knew how Shunya felt... for a while mostly thanks to Halu.
If I understood anything about it, is that you should talk about your feelings but they couldn't
find the right moment(is there one) and Shunya didn't want to bother him with it or make
the situation uncomfortable while they had things to do. Their heart to heart did happen
as said above but I thought it was still cursed because... well you know how it goes.
As I said I did like the ending since it was so bittersweet and its all thanks to the white one.
Mikazuchi.
 |
| BEST BOI! |
into a butt-monkey but there's a lot more to him than being a raging thunderbolt!
The duology did actively improve his characterization and he's not just comic relief--- or is it?!
 |
| Mikazuchi real farting hours. |
A little bit of both perhaps, my favorite scene was the one where he tried to cheer up Nekone.
Mikazuchi was the last one to learn his special move, I was like hmm everyone else has it but him.
They probably did this because it shows ''his'' left ear broken, courtesy of Vurai.
I'd say Mika is a humble brute, because he didn't want to get his blade dirty on Narakfala.💀
I already liked Mika in the trilogy and that did not change, maybe I like him even more now.
Wait why are all my screenshots of him in comedic context?!
 |
| No context. |
Well... seeing her in this duology its more like seeing her like how she
used to be: aka a cute healer girl rather than the badass shielder mommy she became.
She's there for everyone even if its not about her and while there were brief moments
that highlighted her personal struggles/worries about Fuyu, I won't say she had no
development but after certain events I can only say it made her stronger.
Despite that Munechika was still an unmissable part of the team but she just
felt so sidelined in terms of characterization and tbh its the least interesting.
Also while I think Munechika's new outfit looks great in the artwork, her model doesn't.
I suppose this was the case with older games... chara's have great artwork but models?💀
As I like Munechika's old outfit more, I wanted to change it back
but AFAIK I didn't see the option.😓
 |
| Classic. |
Halu the little critter is mostly the comic relief character of the game, his presence
often lightened the mood but I always heared Haku in him which made me sad.
I liked his story developments near the end and I got teary eyed during the final sequences
like this isn't Haku but he had all of his energy, I can't say more without
major spoilers but... I will miss this mascot chara. True MVP.
 |
| Drive by Halu. |
kinda made me like him?! unfortunately by then it was already too late.
Unlike Narakfala this guy completely does a 180 and gets a brain despite being
very ungabunga with only one working braincell, turns out he's not all muscles.
He truly was Asta and Naava's big bro! He also has the hots for Munechika
and she sorta accepts him but well it feels like he's done dirty.
If Oshtor ended up happy with this game then... maybe she met him eventually too.
Side note: I'd also love to ship Munechika and Mikazuchi but there's just no material
and they just stay as they're just comrades level. Friendly but nothing romantic.
---
Final Thoughts?!
I am grateful they even followed up on MM but I thought there wasn't much
new to tell, some of it is interesting but there were some parts that were a bit draggy.
I suppose its only natural because this is a midquel so the story is
essentially limited to cover anything between a specific time frame.
Storywise I don't think it actually got going till around the halfway point and before that
it felt like some kind of training arc redux. I understand that they couldn't have the reveals
untill they did since it would fall apart but there was some subtle foreshadowing.
The ingame reason for a stat squish was good but... it kinda did drag the game on
as did most of the side quests, just more work for Oshtor-san.
If there's anything I wish was done better, its the first half which was very business as usual.
IDK half of this game felt rather bland? I can forgive some of it since the gameplay was good.
I can't rate it higher than a 7/10 because at the very least Shunya gets proper closure
rather than her story being left on whatever the fork MM left us hanging with.
They even tried to have romance but... it may just be one of the most cursed RPG romances
i've ever seen. When it got to the point where I noticed it I was like omg why?!💀💀💀
Though by the time of the final chapter I thought it was rather sweet.
I think Utaware has cursed romances in general, I mean Eruru&Hakuoro eventually
got their happy end but Kuon&Haku? about as cursed as Shunya&Oshtor.
Tho at this point I am sure both Kuon and the white are fine........
 |
| Mikazuchi's expression was... relatable during this part. |
I have no idea what is next for Aquaplus, they're supposedly working on something
called project kizuna, I wonder if we will ever see Tears to Tiara again even if ported
(last seen on PS3...) but I will look forward to what they can cook up.
Next game I want to play is likely Kyoto Xanadu, I kinda want to check out
Crazy Chain too but only if I really feel like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment