I joined Warframe back in 2014, when it wasn't the horde shooter it was today where you were bullet jumping all over the place and blowing damage sponge armies of mobs, but when it was closer to Left 4 Dead where you fought a handful of enemies in small rooms and you had limited mobility (Zephyr was a goddess back then) and the mobs had small health pools but they were very dangerous, and where a single charger knocking you down was very bad. There are a ton of events happening all of the time back then and the game was being constantly updated. Nowadays, the game is barely updated once or twice a year and we pretty much don't have any fun events anymore. The Second Dream got me interested in the story, but since then they only release a 2 hour long main quest once every 2 to 3 years now. Lost interest over time.
Tried new Jupiter Hell update, Wizard master tried got really buffed up, came to Summoner with four security bots at my back, it was hillarious. Even if on couple of levels the RNG tried to fuck me over hard.
I'm playing some indie game out of Poland called Cyberpunk 2077. No epic game crashing bugs yet, but I'm only four hours in. I'm hoping to explore the full depths of transcendent transdepravity in this game but most of the romance options seem to be as horribly developed as the sex scenes themselves. More wholesomely as a filthy casual, sometimes I'll play Rocket League on the Playstation as well.
Just bought Morrowind on Steam and installed the Morroblivion mod to run it in Oblivion. The reason being that I never played Morrowind back in the day (my computer at the time couldn't handle it) and when I saw it on sale for only a few euros I thought "what the heck" and went for it. I like it so far!
Minecraft Anarchy Server. (Won't say which) I got away from spawn awhile back, and with my bro we have looted a base here and there, we have adopted a policy of logging out immediately if we are spotted because we are playing vanilla and only have iron armor making dealing with high strength mobs difficult, to say nothing of players in fully enchanted and leveled armor with hack clients.
I am currently playing the Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen, which is a remake of the first game. 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.
The series had been on my list for a long time. It's hyped up by r/JRPG and gamefaqs as the best game ever along with Trails in the Sky. I think that those two places are rather echochambery, and their obsession over Trails made me suspicious (hey, I love Trails too, but it's not the best thing ever like they claim), so I was sorta suspicious about Utawarerumono.
I'm about 30 hours in... and it's pretty good. Not holy shit amazing, but really good. I'm leaning towards giving it an 8/10, but that might improve once I reach the ending.
So far it has avoided one of my major gripes with visual novels: too much meaningless fluff. In the VNs I've read, like 50% of the game was just meaningless fluff that didn't develop the characters, or worldbuild, or advance the plot. You could cut out like half the novel and nothing would change. But so far, almost every scene in Utawarerumono has been worth it. There are a few fluff scenes here and there, such as the comedy scenes, but they are hilarious and I'd keep them in anyway.
Currently playing on hard, as the "normal" difficulty is actually braindead easy. I haven't wiped once on hard yet; I'd say if you've never played an SRPG before you will be perfectly fine starting on hard.
I am playing the Steam port. The game itself is good, but I wish that the port was better. I'm getting screentearing (because I'm using an AMD card?) but it's hardly noticeable, even during the handful of 3D battle segments. The 3D segments are locked at 720p (I'm pretty sure that an emulator won't have that problem), but I got used to it after a while and it's not bad.
I've been writing down my thoughts on the game as I go along, with a few screenshots (kinda like an old school forum let's play) and I'll post it once I finish.
Recommended.
EDIT: The soundtrack is great! Added several tracks to my favorites playlist. Also, whenever Tempests of War starts playing in a scene, I get HYYYYYPPPPPEEED!
After dying over a dozen times... on the tutorial level, I've concluded I'm not skilled enough for it. Seriously how hard is actual gameplay when the tutorial level is beyond my ability to survive?
After dying over a dozen times... on the tutorial level, I've concluded I'm not skilled enough for it. Seriously how hard is actual gameplay when the tutorial level is beyond my ability to survive?
In my experience FPS rogue likes are generally made for the type of people that think the hardest difficulty on most mainstream FPS games is just too easy.
I have finished Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen - 7/10 (good)
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.
+ 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.
Full thoughts as I played through the game (with pics)
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?
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, 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
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. Military of Westeros 1 – Organization and Manpower Military organization 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.
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?
... 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.
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.
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 knew 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.
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?
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.
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?
The usual games I'm playing - Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact. There's The Division 2 but I have had zero motivation to play that for quite a long time now.
There's also Black Powder Red Earth, a turn based isomatric tactics game, where you lead a 4-man SF squad through various neighbourhood, hitting targets and exfiltrating.
