What are you playing?

[Eclipsed]

Finished Al Somnium Files 

Overall a pretty satisfactory murder mystery with plenty of pseudoscience thrown in to keep you from being able to *logically* deduce the truth behind the murders until they literally spit out the secret behind said pseudoscience at you some 80% of the way through the VN. It's definitely not like Danganronpa/Ace Attorney where you can figure out the culprit early on/throughout; you'll have to wait until nearly the end for this one to learn the truth. Still was very entertaining just going through the motions though.

First off, I have this BGM playing on repeat as I type this. Glad Spike Chunsoft was able to come up with another catchy interrogation theme~

Let's get the introductions over with. In Al Somnium you play as (first name) Date Kaname, an amnesiac (go figure) police officer/detective/agent of Metropolitan Police Department's (MPD) secret elite Advanced Brain Investigation Squad (ABIS). The ABIS have access to a highly classified technology known as the PSYNC (PsychoSYNaptic Neurological Connection(?)) system, our main pseudoscience plot element machine that allows one individual designated as the PSYNCer to connect and neurologically dive into another individual's- the PSYNCee's-subconscious in order to find the secrets hidden within their "Somnia", or dream realm.

So I thought this VN would have a pretty straightforward formula akin to, say, Danganronpa, which had a basic flow consisting of 1. Murder happens 2. Gather evidence 3. Solve the murder through class trials. Rinse repeat for 6 Chapters. Al Somnium would do the same: have a murder, gather evidence, then bust the perp through PSYNCs, rinse repeat right?! LOL NOPE!!! Instead what you basically get is a narrative where the once the first murder happens, you then go on a massive wild goose hunt chase only to always be a step behind and playing catch up wondering who the eff the killer is for nearly the entirety of the story. The further you go, the more bodies pile up, and instead of finding answers, you'll only pile on more and more questions. I'm making this sound like a bad thing, but I think it was actually pretty well done and effective at keeping you engaged purely on the WTF IS GOING ON, I NEED TO KNOW!@# aspect.

Date is missing his left eye, which is instead replaced by an ABIS provided advanced artificial intelligence eye-ball dubbed Aiba (clever right?). Aiba serves as Date's main investigation partner/companion- she's the Navi or Midna to Link from the Zelda series. Really great partner character, I really love stories that are able to incorporate a partner for the main protagonist. Other characters include Mizuki (Date's tsundere 12yr old roomate living with him due to special circumstances); Iris Sagan (18yr old rising-in-fame net idol) and her mother Hitomi Sagan (raised Iris single); Ota (24yr old otaku/Iris fanboy), So (a shady gruff politician). A decent bunch. Minus So.

Iris Sagan. Net idol. Best Girl fo' sho

Spoiler

She has pink hair. You know me. This VN is instant 10/10 the moment she popped up on screen.

NGL, if I met her for the first time like that I would probably unintentionally stare at her for an unspecified-until-you-get-creeped-out duration as well. JK JK.

 

There is an accessible at all times Flowchart where you can return/jump to any point of the story at anytime. If you know Spike Chunsoft, you know the significance of these Flowcharts >.>

Spoiler

Gameplay was satisfactory, although unfortunately was never able to achieve the same thrilling highs as Zero Escapes' escape rooms or Danganronpa's Class Trials imo. Throughout the entirety of the story you are given moments to cursor-point-and-click the backgrounds for extra scenic info/banter between characters. This ultimately degrades into a fluff/padding mechanic: you will never be able to miss key information that a certain Kara no Shoujo was infamous for (in that it locked you into a bad ending for missing something in one of the point and click investigation segments). So 80% of the time you will be clicking a chair in the background just to result in "this is a chair" description, but you'll find yourself checking everything anyway just so you can completionist grey out everything on the map and see all the character banters if any. Quite a chore. You can probably shorten your playthrough of this VN by half if you completely skip clicking everything.

Spoiler

 Don't mind the corpse, look at that cute little eyeball hamster thing- that's Aiba! I won't show you her "human" form, but it's apparently based on Date's tastes lol.

 

Interrogation scenes. They're honestly pretty barebones and lackluster interrogation scenes compared to the bombastic DR's Class Trials or Ace Attorney's back and forth Courtroom Trials since this VN doesn't revolve around this gameplay mechanic like those aforementioned do. They were fairly entertaining to playthrough though, mainly because of that catchy theme that plays during them (linked in the youtube vid above). But yeah I would've liked there to be more substance to them.

Spoiler

The Iris interrogation scene was probably my favorite interrogation scene of them all. Mainly because it's Iris, and you all know I have a thing for pink haired grills, 'specially idols... But also because it was the one that required the most logic with the...(case spoilers)

Spoiler

... 310 lbs elevator load being Renju's 160lb + 44lb barrel + Iris's 105lb body GODDAMN I felt like a genius

Then when you learn that Iris during this scene... (mega overall plot spoilers!)

Spoiler

...was actually Saito in her body, with actual Iris herself being long dead in Renju's body, I just HAD to replay this scene again. Got some MEGA goosebumps. ASETONCHAN ;-; 

 

PSYNC/ entering Somnia worlds: the flagship core gameplay mechanic of Al Somnium Files. This is the trumpcard method Date utilizes as an agent of ABIS to interrogate key persons of interest. By Psyncing with them and entering their subconscious (Psyncees are usually rendered unconscious/sedated beforehand), Date is able to visit their Somnia, an ethereal dream realm where the Psyncee is "the author, director, and actor of their play" (without any conscious control over it), and Date is the Psyncer "the audience witnessing this play".

It's all very abstract- the VN shifts to a 3D free roam surreal environment where you can move around and perform tasks while in another person's mind with the goal of breaking through their Mental Locks to reveal their secrets buried deep within. Btw, did I mention that PSYNCs have a 360 sec (6min) time limit? Any further and the Psyncer risks having their mind/consciousness absorbed by the Psyncee completely. Walking around and performing Actions consumes Time, so Date is always racing against the clock. It's an artificial way to add difficulty to this gameplay, but you're never really punished too hard for failing since you can always reload and then skip to where you last left off.

Unfortunately, even this flagship PSYNC mechanic left me feeling unsatisfied: while there are indeed some epic wow moments to be had, most of the time Somnia experiences are RNG/trial and error based; you cannot logically deduce what action would progress you deeper into someone's mind. What should I do with this fan? Blow on it? Kick it? Grab onto it? Whoops one choice was wrong. Whoops the second choice was wrong. Whoops the third choice is wrong. So the fan's not the answer, how about that random pot over there? Shit, out of time, gotta restart and try again.

One of the lategame PSYNCs is ESPECIALLY guilty of this: After going through a fairly lengthy and confusing labyrinth to break through several Mental Locks and actually running fairly low on time by the end of it, the devs actually had the gall to slap you in the face and choose from (not really spoilers i guess?)

Spoiler

999secs for an action are you kidding me?!?! I know I said in general that Somnias were easy and not very punishing especially since you could just reload and skip through dialogue, but this Somnia was an actual "Yo fk you and your reload+bruteforce trial and error". Literal nightmare. Maybe that was the point though, given whose Somnia this was...

 

 To give credit where it's due though, here are some Somnia moments I enjoyed: (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

Spoiler

Mizuki's. No words needed. Just see the screenies. Probably my favorite Somnia based on wholesomeness.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Mizuki picking Date THREE TIMES over her parents, with him pushing her away each time until the third, the skull time multiplier increasing with each attempt, was a LEGENDARY FEELS moment. They nailed this moment perfectly, clap clap. I kind of wish you had to do it more maybe 5-6x? Man I was OSHITT-ing my pants seeing that skull number go up as Date rejected Mizuki.

Overall I'm super super fond of Mizuki. I always thought it a bit weird how Date had this 12 year old girl as his roommate and yet barely ever interacted with her (especially on other routes) but this route really captures the untold the bond these two share together. Also when you hear Date's wish he made at the shrine...UGH just so WHOLESOME!

 

MAYUMI - just pretty wholesome in general

Spoiler

Funny- I actually chose "turn time backwards" my first attempt even though I KNEW metaphorically you were supposed to move time forward for Mayumi/ Ota's mom, but with baka Date being all like "THERE'S GOTTA BE A HAPPY MEMORY DOWN THERE SOMEHWERE!@#" I thought you had to go backwards to access the memory of where she was given the kitchen knife+apron for Mother's Day. RIP.

 

Iris - Shovelforge. 'nuff said.

Spoiler

Also I'm totally a diehard ASETONCHAN fan as well, it's the pink hair and gleeful personality, sorry I have absolutely 0 defense against it, so I totally chose Believe Her even though all the Illuminati Naixilusterousdkjfaklf was obvious BS (though, with all the pseudoscience going on, I did think there was a slight possibility they could swing with that shit. Thankfully they didn't.)

 

Boss / Saito - it's the big reveal Somnia. Of course it'll be one of the favorites, even if it pulled the BS 999sec tackle the ladder BS

Spoiler

 

The game with its locked paths and cliffhangers actually did a REALLY REALLY good job up to this point in keeping you guessing whether the New Cyclops Murders are based off of one individual, multiple individuals, Date's pre-amnesiac self, the Boss, etc... then it slaps you with this scene of A kills B kills C kills D kills E and I was just utterly speechless. Literally for a moment (just a moment i swear!) i thought it was all one big string of motivated murders where Renju killed Shoko because she was a bad mother to Mizuki or something, then Renju who kept wanting to meet with Iris 'fessed to her and then she killed him for revenge for Mitsuki as her friend, then So went after Iris because of the Manaka cover up, then finally Boss kills So in the name of justice,,,.

But yeah nope, much easier to do the whole Eyyy Date, homie, my man, the body you are in belongs to an only-generates-oxytocin-when-he-kills psychopath, and he was the one who's been using a prototype PSYNC machine he conveniently obtained in order to do the whole A kills B kills C kills D kills E while swapping bodies each time using said protoype PSYNC machine!

Side note: while I did rip on Somnias for having RNG-trial by error methods, and particularly this one for the 999sec ladder BS, I'll give credit that up until then this Somnia WAS actually logically thematically solvable: the 1st door involves breaking the lock with a pick- the same used in the 1st murder (Shoko); the following key having a pick sitting on it. The 2nd door involves rolling an oil drum- used for the 2nd murder (Renju), the following key having an 8:00 timestamp- his time of death, etc.

 

 

Other random misc. comments/thoughts/moments: (ULTRAMASSIVE SPOILERS):

Spoiler

A-SET! YOU BET! I wonder how far the translation team had to localize for those rhymes. I know "Tesa" was what they localized the verbal "A-Set-tonchan"

Spoiler

Really liked how the gang united to save Iris. Also always found it super silly yet super awesome how the head of a yakuza Moma became a powerful ally just because he's a diehard fan of her.

 

Too bad she DIES BY THE END OF THIS ROUTE ;-;

Like I said, I had automatic bias for her. The tears flowed endlessly with this scene. And when you finally learn the truth MUCH LATER and reflect on this scene that her last words of "Are you..."  before passing was ultimately her hunch that "Date Kaname" was indeed Falco her long lost Uncle... man this route is just so damn tragic.

 

Mizuki vs. Army of Goons- I know I've been fangirling over A-set too much, so time to give Mizuki some love too because I also downright love this girl

Spoiler

As badass as Mizuki is in this scene, overall the "combat" in this VN is one of its more jarring moments: the only real danger and deaths occur solely from the New Cyclops Killings which cause a great deal of dread and despair for the main cast, yet Date and Mizuki can end up facing a horde of goons in a shootout and they don't bat an eye.

Also weird is how Date can be one-shotted randomly despite generally being pretty capable. Getting WOK'd or StunGUNNED by Ota, getting Desk Slammed WHILE INTERROGATING 89... Also Aiba's calculation moments involving pornmags to 3.6x Date's reaction time were ehhh. Will admit the one really good Aiba Calculation was throwing Mizuki's pipe and redirecting a bullet through it to hit So. Needed more of those. The ecchi comments in general by Date throughout the VN were ehh. 

Oh sorry i started ranting. Uhh i actually don't have anymore Mizuki screenshots LOL, but uhhh the epilogue scene where Date and Mizuki weren't talking to each other at Lemniscate, with Iris having to "translate" Mizuki's gestures to Date was pure gold. And the reason they were fighting? Date didn't like how Mizuki cooked the eggs for breakfast and he told her up front. RIP </3

 

Annihilation End - the classic "Everybody dies". 

Spoiler

"Could I have had... a better future?" Practically EVERYONE was dead by the end of this route. Mizuki's parents, Iris, Ota, So, Boss...Even if Date held on to the belief that another him in a parallel world had a better outcome, he still exists in this timeline, and he will continue to exist in this timeline while we the audience can simply jump and spectate another plotline. It's one of those things you have to ponder for a moment about to really appreciate the utter tragedy and despair that this route resulted in. But you'll get depressed if you let it sink in too much so let's move on

In general one of my favorite things to ponder about with a branching plotline narrative is all the outcomes that did and didn't happen on a particular timeline. Like in this ending everyone dies but Date who is now in Boss's body. WTF is he going to do now?

In Ota's ending, the murders go up to Shoko -> Renju -> Iris/Ota averted -> So chopped up unsolved while Date goes on a wild goose chase thinking Ota's mom Mayumi could be the killer. Iris was in the hospital in a recovering from her injuries/coma... but guess what So's the one currently in her body technically at that point. Which leaves the person who chopped up So being Boss/whoever Saito bodyswapped next? I don't think they expanded on that, just left it on a happy note with Ota and his mom. 

Mizuki's ending is similar to Ota's, except during the Iris/Ota averted event So's body is injured in the leg and so Date eventually finds out its him and confronts him. So's consciousness should be in Iris at this point, with Saito in So's so Date probably killed the real Saito, effectively ending the New Cyclops Killings although not knowing so. Kudos to the "Date shot in the left eye" scene btw:

Spoiler

 

 

Also find it hilarious how Saito gets absolutely cockblocked by Date just because Date tells Iris not to leave the house. That one simple decision stops Saito's entire kill streak on JUST Shoko (whereas he can do the full Shoko -> Renju -> Iris -> So -> Boss in the not telling Iris to not leave the house routes) because he then gets into a car accident and is hospitalized which makes up the bulk of "why is Renju missing?" during Iris's route.

Pewter is a little shit. I kept wondering after the whole "Date x Iris get shot at by a mob of blackops which was apparently Pewter's doing" was all about, and the narrative did mention but it wasn't really elaborated upon, but I think it was since he was Renju's love(?) who gave him that watch, when Saito who was in the body of Renju at the time asked Pewter for 'help' that's why he complied? Then there are other routes where he will assist Date and other routes (like the true route) where he opposes Date & Boss because of the "higher ups" (not his loverboy Renju) and I just simply could not keep track of whose side he's on for whatever route lol. 

Regarding Manaka Iwai: NGL, it did not occur to me that the Iris look-alike found in the forklift in the warehouse would be her own mother, even with Aiba doing the whole three questions thing with Date. I was probably 50% sold on the parallel worlds and Somnia alternating reality theory. At first I was fuming at the "plot twist" of "LOLOL THAT WASN'T IRIS, IT WAS JUST SOMEONE THAT LOOKS LIKE HER, LOLOL YOU FELL FOR IT NOOB". Then Aiba is like "Impossible to determine exact time of death, this body was frozen here for maybe 10y ears?" Huh? 10 years? "Also...she was pregnant, but gave birth before she died" and I'm like uhhhh wait a minute... then it's "She died ~18 years ago" NO FUCKING WAY HOLY SHIT, IRIS IS 18! 10/10 PLOT TWIST

Kind of sucks that she had to fall in love with So. I mean, really? That old ugly ass prick? How old even was he at the time? In the flashback he still looked old af, damn shame. Definitely couldn't have had a nice personality either since he just trashed Manaka+Iris in favor of his political career. Only redeeming thing for this guy is that he's purely a plain scumbag and never actually resorted to things like murder despite all signs pointing the possibility. Real glad Iris inherited all of her mother's genes and none of her father's.

Saito can kill his half sister Iris. I mean he kills his dad So as well, but man, killing the mother and then the daughter 18 years apart is thematically creepy to think about.

I don't ever want to see Iris getting sawed in half again. 

In the Annihilation End where everyone dies, wait I lied, Mizuki is also still alive, but man, both her parents and best friends Iris/Ota are now dead, and Date is stuck in Boss's body... wtf are these two gonna do now 

Date will never interact with Renju ingame on any of the present timeline(s)- by the time you find Shoko's body at the very beginning, Saito is already in Renju's body. Poor Renju.

The Date = 89 = Rohan = Saito body swaps really hurt my mind at first. Really hard to follow in addition to the Saito -> Rohan -> Shoko -> Renju -> Iris -> So -> Boss swapping while replacing left eyes and ingesting them that you were supposed to piece together during the Boss-Saito interrogation reveal. Probably was the worst my head ever hurt while reading a VN. Lol

I'd LOVE to do a character relations chart. With the body swaps included. Renju and Shoko are Mizuki's parents, Mizuki is Date's roommate and Ota/Iris's friend, Iris parents are Manaka and So; Manaka was friends with Hitomi/Renju and So's mistress but was killed by So's son Saito and so Hitomi raised Iris, Hitomi met Falco who was associated with Kumakura mob boss Rohan who covered up Manaka's death for So and did the Original Cyclops Killings with Falco. Falco body swaps with Saito creating Date who would years later meet Iris again, the list just goes on and on it's probably the most convoluted "Every character is related to each other" VN to date.

 

Overall this VN is a solid 8/10. Engaging murder mystery plot that utilizes pseudoscience, fairly likeable characters, solid sound track, decent gameplay that has its moments. Didn't feel like ermergawd mindblown masterpiece, but was definitely a fun experience.

Oppai-lady

[fuyopon]

Day 14!  Finally, some fucking hints!

Spoiler

• Misuzu mentioned ways of making Kakeru powerful with her family's blood permanently but there were certain conditions to be met... I've seen it happening in the anime but wow, is he going to get laid with ANOTHER girl on Yuka's route?
• Hmmm I've noticed that there are some blue blocks in Kakeru's perspective (CrossVision) that are skipped 
• I'm still waiting for Shiori to play a bigger role...
• Hah! So there were seven members, after all! I bet Shiori is one of them!
• Is Superbia the previously so-famous female swordsman Misuzu admires? 

 

[Eclipsed]

I've been putting off Chaos;Child solely because I hated Chaos;Head with a fiery passion and thought it was a sequel but apparently they're not related at all story/character wise(just same setting)

So time to check it out~

[Seraphim]

There are some references to what happens in Chaos;Head, but other than that, it's an original story that stands on its own.

[Daydreamer97]

I'm not really one for episodic releases but a bunch have been cropping out on itch.io lately and I thought why not? There are free one, the art looks nice, there's a lot of CGs per episode, and it looks like most have a consistent release schedule. With that in mind, I picked up Andromeda Six. Oh boy, what a great start. It only has three episodes out so far but what they have is really intriguing. Like most recent episodic releases, it has pronoun selection (meaning the MC doesn't show up in CGs), lots of love interests, both male and female (5 male, 2 female), and race selection (because space opera?).

Episodes are fairly short but there are a lot of options, with flirt options clearly labeled which would make you closer to your chosen love interest. This makes it replayable for me in between waiting for episodes. So far, I'd describe the story as a mix of Firefly and Anastasia. Anastasia was one of my favorite animated films so I was pretty excited to see the Anastasia in Space storyline. You play as an amnesiac who wakes up in a ship full of mercenaries but you regain your memories in like, Episode 3. The story is pretty well-written so far and there's also pretty strong characterization as you get to know the characters and their backgrounds. Really, my only complaint is the episodic release makes waiting so hard. I'd definitely pay money for this once it's complete- plus whatever special DLC episodes they may have.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Daydreamer97

[ChaosRaven]

I've started reading Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and it's a quite impressive experience so far. This title seems to have some serious production values under its belt. The 3D battle maps are also used to showcase animated events which gives many scenes a cool dynamic rarely seen in VN's. Especially since the 3D art looks quite decent (at least for a VN). The character art style was a bit unusual at first, but I got used to it pretty fast since the whole world has a coherent look where everything fits together. It really oozes atmosphere.

The writing was also pretty good so far, with a good balance of plot, slice of life and comedy. The interactions with Kuon are just great, ranging from hilarious to serious depending on the situation. It's also really fun to experience a well made fantasy world.

I think the only thing I didn't like that much so far, was the overemphasizing of the protagonists apparent physical weakness in comparison to the furry guys. While he balances it out with smartness and it also created some funny interactions, it still hurts my manly pride a bit when playing a character whose supposedly weaker than a liitle child lol. It also makes the battles with him a bit unbelievable. Though I guess it'll balance out with time. The zero to hero just seems a bit extreme here.

In Senren Banka I've finished Lena's route and I'm going to approach Yoshino's route next. I like the characters and the setting, but the plot is progressing at a snail pacing later on, which makes it difficult for me to read longer sections at a time. I wish Yuzusoft would put as much effort into their stories as into their characters. 

[fuyopon]

Day 17!  This one was shorter but oh boi, was it sad...

Spoiler

• Man, "evil" Liselotte looks badass af
• Wtf, who is that woman in kimono? Is that Superbia's human form? NO WAY
• NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SAIKOOOOOOOOO!  I can't believe she's fucking dead, no fucking way... bruh. I knew it already cuz opening spoilers but still ;u; I'm a sad potato now

 

[fuyopon]

Day 18 and 19!  Damn, these two days have been crazy good!

 

 

 

9

 Advanced issues found

▲

 

2

Spoiler

• I can only wait for Kakeru to get to school and be like " 'sup, Saiko died?", oof-
• First Saiko died... now Misuzu is late? I don't like this... (update: oh, c'mon! She just overslept? I feel tricked...)
• C'mon, Kakeru, don't be an asshole and let Yuka fight and be useful!  Jfc, his sexism and frail male ego masculinity are fucking annoying and tiring to read. Just shup up, got it?
• Oh wow, this vn just straight up killed a bunch of onlookers... Not expecting it with this one.
• Are both worlds slowly breaking down? I'm noticing that with Yukiko's powers to... How else would Superbia be capable of coming to the real world? HMMMM 

 

[Seraphim]

Finished up Raging Loop a couple of days ago and now I'm done with chapter 6 of Higurashi.

Raging Loop

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not that into werewolves, which initially put me off when I considered reading this VN, but I'm glad I actually decided to pick it up. The pacing of the story felt just right and the story itself turned out to be a more exciting read than I expected, with quite a few twists and turns right up until the end. I did see through some of them long before the reveals, but everything leading up to that point was so well executed that it felt satisfying nevertheless.
I really appreciated how you, after clearing the game, unlock a toggle in the options, with which you can activate a ton of internal monologues mixed in with the normal dialogue and narration to get a better understanding of everything that's going on and why certain people act in certain ways. It's a function I'd love to see in Higurashi, to be honest. And so, while we're on the subject...

Higurashi, chapter 6

First off, I agree with @Dreamysyu that this is the best chapter (so far, at least). Anyway, onward to spoiler territory.

Spoiler

The intro screen of the chapter said that the difficulty is zero, but I don't entirely agree. It's definitely more straight-forward than the previous chapters, but there's some confusing stuff here too. For one thing, Rika is only getting more mysterious. We hear her conversing with some person/entity/whatever that we haven't been introduced to yet, and there are several scenes with her acting much more grownup than her appearance suggests. I'm reminded of a horror movie I watched a few years back, where a malicious child turned out to actually be an adult with some rare disease that made the body age at a significantly slower rate than normal. Then again, she actually says herself that she's over a hundred years old. She claims to have died countless times and retained her memories of that, and if that's true, her mental age would obviously be much higher than her physical one.
In any case, things seem to point at Rika being somehow involved in Tomotake's unusual death. We're told in this chapter that he was apparently injected with something, which Rika later revealed that she knew about, and there's also the fact that she tried to inject Shion with something in the previous chapter. (Also, when she ended up injected with it herself in chapter 5, she proceeded to cut out her throat, much like what happened to Tomotake.)
However, I honestly have a hard time accepting that Rika, however mysterious she may be, would murder someone. If she actually did, there's probably some underlying reason behind it.

For the first time, Keiichi actually mentioned that he remembers events that only took place in other chapters, and I'm not sure what to make of that yet. It could be a parallell world scenario, like I briefly mentioned in an earlier post, but that wouldn't explain how he could have memories from those worlds. Then there's this internal monologue, which makes it seem like Ooishi clearly remembers things that have happened in other chapters, but there are some inconcistencies to this too, like how he seems to barely know who Keiichi is, although he should know him quite well by now if his memories are in fact retained. Another discrepency is why he, if he actually has memories from several timelines, doesn't hide and watch over the area where Tomotake gets killed. If he knows it's going to happen, it seems inopportunistic or even downright stupid not to use it to his advantage. (The same could be said about any other major events he possibly remembers.)

So, Takano.
In a mystery story such as this, it's pretty easy to get stuck in an overanalyzing mode where you just assume that every small piece of information is part of some grander scheme, but if you look at the situation objectively, that might not necessarily be the case. Earlier this week, before I started reading this chapter, I was hit by the thought that rather than Takano being possessed by some supernatural entity, a person involved in some major conspiracy or some other nonsense, maybe she's just an occult writer, going around Hinamizawa collecting information and inspiration for her stories. At the very least, we learn in this chapter that she's written a whole bunch of different stories about Hinamizawa.
The contradiction about her attending the Watanagashi festival while already being dead in an oil drum was pretty much tossed aside as a mistake during her autopsy, and I guess that could explain that part, no matter how unsatisfying a solution it is. It wouldn't explain why she gets murdered, though. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her to, in a spectacular fashion, stage her own suicide in such a way that it looks like murder, just for the sake of enhancing the mystery and her stories.

The whole Hinamizawa parasite theory. Was it just some mindfuckery for funsies from the devilish Takano, who seems to enjoy messing with people oh so very much? I'm honestly not sure. There are a lot of nasty parasites out there, but it seems a little farfetched that an entire town would be affected by one to this extent.
It conveniently fills in a lot of gaps and it's certainly more plausible than the notion that there's an actual curse at play, but it could also just be a ruse to make the reader get caught up in Rena's delusions.
That said, there's usually an ounce of truth at the core of conspiracy theories, so maybe the existence of the parasite is actually real, while the part about the three houses master plan, UFO invasion and grand revival of the Oyashiro faith isn't. Actually, if everything turned out to be just a delusion, it would mean that Chapter 6 doesn't bring much relevant additions to the overarching plot, and that seems a bit odd for a part of the answer arcs.

There was one thing that I didn't like in this chapter. If the Chapter 6 explanation of the events at the end of Chapter 1 are actually true, it means that during Chapter 1, the readers were deliberately fed false information for the sake of enhancing the mystery. In my opinion, that's an extremely cheap and uninspired form of storytelling, which I think Higurashi should be above based on what I've seen so far.
Basically, it would mean that you can't really trust any information the game provides you with. If it's fabricated and presented in a way that differs from what's actually happening in the scene, there's just no way for the reader to see through it and it effectively renders the act of making conjectures more or less pointless.
As a consequence, despite being the most interesting chapter so far, Chapter 6 has lessened my opinion of the series as a whole, and Chapter 1 in particular. I just hope it will somehow redeem itself in the final two chapters.

Some random thoughts:

I've entertained the idea that there's some meta element at play here, like maybe the person playing the game is actually resetting the timeline whenever he or she starts playing a new chapter, and then some characters (Rika, in particular) have retained memories by somehow accessing information from the other chapters. (I guess I'm thinking this way because of a certain other VN I read recently.)

I recall a scene during Chapter 1 where there was an offhand remark about a person with seven personalities, and I've been thinking that it might have been some early foreshadowing. Curiously enough, Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Satoko, Rika, Shion and Satoshi equals seven. Well, I'm really just pulling this out of my ass and I'm probably way off the mark, but even if those aren't personalities of one and the same person, which they most likely aren't, it wouldn't surprise me if at least one of the characters in the game suffers from multiple personality disorder.

This turned out to be one of my longest posts here so far, but maybe that's not so strange considering the extent to which Higurashi puts the mind at work.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Seraphim88

[adamstan]

Today I got back to the reading after almost a month-long break (my previous save from Making Lovers was dated 2020-05-08...), and I'm continuing Mashiro's route in Making Lovers.

[Silvz]

2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Finished up Raging Loop a couple of days ago and now I'm done with chapter 6 of Higurashi.

Raging Loop

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not that into werewolves, which initially put me off when I considered reading this VN, but I'm glad I actually decided to pick it up. The pacing of the story felt just right and the story itself turned out to be a more exciting read than I expected, with quite a few twists and turns right up until the end. I did see through some of them long before the reveals, but everything leading up to that point was so well executed that it felt satisfying nevertheless.
I really appreciated how you, after clearing the game, unlock a toggle in the options, with which you can activate a ton of internal monologues mixed in with the normal dialogue and narration to get a better understanding of everything that's going on and why certain people act in certain ways. It's a function I'd love to see in Higurashi, to be honest. And so, while we're on the subject...

Higurashi, chapter 6

First off, I agree with @Dreamysyu that this is the best chapter (so far, at least). Anyway, onward to spoiler territory.

  Hide contents

The intro screen of the chapter said that the difficulty is zero, but I don't entirely agree. It's definitely more straight-forward than the previous chapters, but there's some confusing stuff here too. For one thing, Rika is only getting more mysterious. We hear her conversing with some person/entity/whatever that we haven't been introduced to yet, and there are several scenes with her acting much more grownup than her appearance suggests. I'm reminded of a horror movie I watched a few years back, where a malicious child turned out to actually be an adult with some rare disease that made the body age at a significantly slower rate than normal. Then again, she actually says herself that she's over a hundred years old. She claims to have died countless times and retained her memories of that, and if that's true, her mental age would obviously be much higher than her physical one.
In any case, things seem to point at Rika being somehow involved in Tomotake's unusual death. We're told in this chapter that he was apparently injected with something, which Rika later revealed that she knew about, and there's also the fact that she tried to inject Shion with something in the previous chapter. (Also, when she ended up injected with it herself in chapter 5, she proceeded to cut out her throat, much like what happened to Tomotake.)
However, I honestly have a hard time accepting that Rika, however mysterious she may be, would murder someone. If she actually did, there's probably some underlying reason behind it.

For the first time, Keiichi actually mentioned that he remembers events that only took place in other chapters, and I'm not sure what to make of that yet. It could be a parallell world scenario, like I briefly mentioned in an earlier post, but that wouldn't explain how he could have memories from those worlds. Then there's this internal monologue, which makes it seem like Ooishi clearly remembers things that have happened in other chapters, but there are some inconcistencies to this too, like how he seems to barely know who Keiichi is, although he should know him quite well by now if his memories are in fact retained. Another discrepency is why he, if he actually has memories from several timelines, doesn't hide and watch over the area where Tomotake gets killed. If he knows it's going to happen, it seems inopportunistic or even downright stupid not to use it to his advantage. (The same could be said about any other major events he possibly remembers.)

So, Takano.
In a mystery story such as this, it's pretty easy to get stuck in an overanalyzing mode where you just assume that every small piece of information is part of some grander scheme, but if you look at the situation objectively, that might not necessarily be the case. Earlier this week, before I started reading this chapter, I was hit by the thought that rather than Takano being possessed by some supernatural entity, a person involved in some major conspiracy or some other nonsense, maybe she's just an occult writer, going around Hinamizawa collecting information and inspiration for her stories. At the very least, we learn in this chapter that she's written a whole bunch of different stories about Hinamizawa.
The contradiction about her attending the Watanagashi festival while already being dead in an oil drum was pretty much tossed aside as a mistake during her autopsy, and I guess that could explain that part, no matter how unsatisfying a solution it is. It wouldn't explain why she gets murdered, though. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her to, in a spectacular fashion, stage her own suicide in such a way that it looks like murder, just for the sake of enhancing the mystery and her stories.

The whole Hinamizawa parasite theory. Was it just some mindfuckery for funsies from the devilish Takano, who seems to enjoy messing with people oh so very much? I'm honestly not sure. There are a lot of nasty parasites out there, but it seems a little farfetched that an entire town would be affected by one to this extent.
It conveniently fills in a lot of gaps and it's certainly more plausible than the notion that there's an actual curse at play, but it could also just be a ruse to make the reader get caught up in Rena's delusions.
That said, there's usually an ounce of truth at the core of conspiracy theories, so maybe the existence of the parasite is actually real, while the part about the three houses master plan, UFO invasion and grand revival of the Oyashiro faith isn't. Actually, if everything turned out to be just a delusion, it would mean that Chapter 6 doesn't bring much relevant additions to the overarching plot, and that seems a bit odd for a part of the answer arcs.

There was one thing that I didn't like in this chapter. If the Chapter 6 explanation of the events at the end of Chapter 1 are actually true, it means that during Chapter 1, the readers were deliberately fed false information for the sake of enhancing the mystery. In my opinion, that's an extremely cheap and uninspired form of storytelling, which I think Higurashi should be above based on what I've seen so far.
Basically, it would mean that you can't really trust any information the game provides you with. If it's fabricated and presented in a way that differs from what's actually happening in the scene, there's just no way for the reader to see through it and it effectively renders the act of making conjectures more or less pointless.
As a consequence, despite being the most interesting chapter so far, Chapter 6 has lessened my opinion of the series as a whole, and Chapter 1 in particular. I just hope it will somehow redeem itself in the final two chapters.

Some random thoughts:

I've entertained the idea that there's some meta element at play here, like maybe the person playing the game is actually resetting the timeline whenever he or she starts playing a new chapter, and then some characters (Rika, in particular) have retained memories by somehow accessing information from the other chapters. (I guess I'm thinking this way because of a certain other VN I read recently.)

I recall a scene during Chapter 1 where there was an offhand remark about a person with seven personalities, and I've been thinking that it might have been some early foreshadowing. Curiously enough, Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Satoko, Rika, Shion and Satoshi equals seven. Well, I'm really just pulling this out of my ass and I'm probably way off the mark, but even if those aren't personalities of one and the same person, which they most likely aren't, it wouldn't surprise me if at least one of the characters in the game suffers from multiple personality disorder.

This turned out to be one of my longest posts here so far, but maybe that's not so strange considering the extent to which Higurashi puts the mind at work.

huh, first, I didn't like the end of Raging Loop.

Spoiler

 

After the protagonist decides to leave Chiemi's eternal resetting to talk to the other characters, things stopped making logical sense to me. The explanations for the mysteries seemed absurd and taken from nowhere, specially the whole wolfs-being-humans-all-along plotline. I enjoyed the game up until the sheep appears, then it went downhill. I didn't even get how the protagonist found out the sheep was his ex and the shop keeper. Maybe I missed something.

 

 

 

As for Higurashi, all I can say is that some of your theories are spot on, but others are far from the truth. Chapter 7 explains A LOT and will probably answer your questions, tho.

About Chapter 1,

Spoiler

you have to consider that the narrator is the main character, seeing and feeling things as he lives them. That means that even though something may or may not have really happened, in his perspective, it did. It's not trying to fool anyone, it is just a trick that if you are not paying attention to may, well, trick you. If you reread chapter 1, you'll see that actualy many scenes didn't have anything really going on [such as the nails in the bread], or many dialogues that for Keiichi seemed awkward, but actually weren't.

After you read Higurashi and Umineko [and possibly Ciconia, although it's far from finished], I'd recommend you to take a look into the Infinity Series. I won't spoil you or anything, but if you liked When They Cry you'll definetely enjoy Infinity. [Never7, Ever17 and Remember11]

Edited June 6, 2020 by Silvz

[Dreamysyu]

2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Spoiler

There was one thing that I didn't like in this chapter. If the Chapter 6 explanation of the events at the end of Chapter 1 are actually true, it means that during Chapter 1, the readers were deliberately fed false information for the sake of enhancing the mystery. In my opinion, that's an extremely cheap and uninspired form of storytelling, which I think Higurashi should be above based on what I've seen so far.
Basically, it would mean that you can't really trust any information the game provides you with. If it's fabricated and presented in a way that differs from what's actually happening in the scene, there's just no way for the reader to see through it and it effectively renders the act of making conjectures more or less pointless.
As a consequence, despite being the most interesting chapter so far, Chapter 6 has lessened my opinion of the series as a whole, and Chapter 1 in particular. I just hope it will somehow redeem itself in the final two chapters.

 

Spoiler

Oh, well, Ryukishi is quite fond of unreliable narrations, so when you are reading his works it's better to prepare that not everything is what it seems. I'm personally okay with plot twists like that as long as they're actually possible to get from the story itself that some narration is unreliable, or if it somehow follows from the plot. I'm personally satisfied with how Higurashi did this, but let's discuss it after you finish the next chapter, or I might accidentally spoil something.

 

[Seraphim]

39 minutes ago, Silvz said:

Spoiler

I didn't even get how the protagonist found out the sheep was his ex and the shop keeper. Maybe I missed something.

 

Spoiler

This and a lot of other stuff is actually explained if you turn on that toggle in the options after clearing the game. In truth, both him and his ex choose to ignore the fact that they know each other, and it's a pretty funny scene with the internal monologue included.

 

45 minutes ago, Silvz said:

Spoiler

you have to consider that the narrator is the main character, seeing and feeling things as he lives them.

 

Spoiler

Yeah, I get that we're seeing it from his point of view, but I think it could have been handled better. There are several situations where the narration clearly states that something is a certain way, like with the needle in the bun. If you're explicitly told that there's a needle there, of course you're going to believe there is. Problem is, as soon as you accept what's presented to you, you derail and any future conjectures from that point onwards will be based on false information.
I think the "protagonist's perspective" kinda ended up acting as a forced plot device here.

 

1 hour ago, Silvz said:

After you read Higurashi and Umineko [and possibly Ciconia, although it's far from finished], I'd recommend you to take a look into the Infinity Series. I won't spoil you or anything, but if you liked When They Cry you'll definetely enjoy Infinity. [Never7, Ever17 and Remember11]

I've actually already read Ever17. It was a bit slow, but the story was definitely interesting and I'm intending to read the others in a not too distant future.

[Silvz]

2 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

I've actually already read Ever17. It was a bit slow, but the story was definitely interesting and I'm intending to read the others in a not too distant future.

So you probably get why I compared it to Higurashi. This is the best of the series, but the other two are pretty good.

[Dreamysyu]

38 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

 

Yeah, I get that we're seeing it from his point of view, but I think it could have been handled better. There are several situations where the narration clearly states that something is a certain way, like with the needle in the bun. If you're explicitly told that there's a needle there, of course you're going to believe there is. Problem is, as soon as you accept what's presented to you, you derail and any future conjectures from that point onwards will be based on false information.
I think the "protagonist's perspective" kinda ended up acting as a forced plot device here.

 

Spoiler

That may not be true if you actually assume that some of the information you're given is false, and if you're given some clues that you could use to get exactly what information is false. Though, this makes me think, does Higurashi ever do that? I'm actually not sure, it's been quite a while since I read it. I think, it's probably possible to get that something is not what it seems if you reread chapter 1 after you finish a few more chapters, but probably not if you go in completely blind.

Actually, I remember reading somewhere that Ryukishi himself was a bit unsatisfied with how he handled certain aspects of mystery in Higurashi, and he tried to improve them in Umineko. And I'm pretty sure he succeeded, so...

2 hours ago, Silvz said:

I won't spoil you or anything, but if you liked When They Cry you'll definetely enjoy Infinity. [Never7, Ever17 and Remember11]

Ever17 spoilers.

Spoiler

It's actually a bit funny, since my main problem with Ever17 ending is very similar to what @Seraphim88 didn't like about the first chapter of Higurashi. Because, while the mystery itself is pretty amazing, the whydunit, basically, comes out of nowhere. The novel never properly explains why exactly You'haru had to start the new "loop". Blick Winkel knew that it has to be done from his knowledge from the future, and somehow creating this unusual and interesting situation would summon him from the 4th dimension (or something like that), but I don't know, this explanation feels very artificial and just turns the whole story into a massive time paradox. It just devalues the purpose of the mystery in the earlier parts. Actually, originally I was so disappointed in the ending, so I had to drop my final rating from 9 to 7, though I raised it again to 8 after some time, because the parts that come before that are actually pretty good.

 

[Seraphim]

10 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Spoiler

Though, this makes me think, does Higurashi ever do that?

 

Spoiler

In Chapter 1, not to my knowledge. Well, there are some scenes where you're not sure what's going on and are free to make up your own theories, but for the most part, things are presented in a clear way that isn't really up for debate. A few examples:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Combined with all the maniacal laughter and how they start interrogating and accusing Keiichi of things left and right in oddly persistant ways, there's no way any normal person would think "Keiichi is probably just being a bit delusional right now".

I do want to clarify that I don't mind some misdirection for the sake of mystery, but it becomes a bit too much when the entire escalation of the story in Chapter 1 is based on it. To later on just conveniently brush everything aside by telling us that "yeah, none of that actually happened" honestly feels a bit lazy.

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Seraphim88

[Dreamysyu]

9 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

In Chapter 1, not to my knowledge. Well, there are some scenes where you're not sure what's going on and are free to make up your own theories, but for the most part, things are presented in a clear way that isn't really up for debate. A few examples:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Combined with all the maniacal laughter and how they start interrogating and accusing Keiichi of things left and right in oddly persistant ways, there's no way any normal person would think "Keiichi is probably just being a bit delusional right now".

I do want to clarify that I don't mind some misdirection for the sake of mystery, but it becomes a bit too much when the entire escalation of the story in Chapter 1 is based on it. To later on just conveniently brush everything aside by telling us that "yeah, none of that actually happened" honestly feels a bit lazy.

 

Spoiler

Well, I see where you are coming from. I personally don't really think about it this way, but I see why other people could have problems with it.

You see, to me the main problem with the mystery in Higurashi that the author himself admitted is that it's practically unsolvable. It's like with the scientific method - if you want to get the answer, you need to make some basic assumptions about how the things are presented (like, there are no supernatural elements, everything that the characters see is true and etc.) and then use them to interpret the things you see, and if you don't get a self-contradicting picture in the end, then there's a good chance that you got it right. The problem with Higurashi is that you can't really assume anything, and there are just way too many random variables to be able get to the right answer.

That said, the answers are still there. I think I mentioned it in the past, but I actually read the VN after I already watched the anime, so when I started chapter 1, I already knew all the answers. And, you know, sometimes I wonder if that's actually the better way to enjoy this VN, because otherwise I would never be able to get just how well-constructed the story is. Starting from the very first scene there are little details that either don't make much sense or lead you into a wrong direction, but they make completely different sense if you already know the answer. In chapter 1 there exist two complete layers of narration: the psychological horror seen by (delusional) Keichi, and the tragic love story that lies underneath. You say that none of that actually happened, but it's simply not true. Looking through you screenshots, it looks like only the needle scene shows events that don't happen at all. Even then, there is a hint that something is wrong with this scene, since Keichi doesn't find the needle when it starts looking for it the next day... but I guess, it's way too subtle, and it's a lot easier to interpret it like he just lost it. Other than that, everything makes perfect sense if you know the information from the later chapters, and if you just skip Keichi's interpretation of these events. Mion badmouthing Ooishi? But, well, you know from chapter 4 that there's some history about their relationship. Maniacal laughter? But Rena herself isn't exactly very... sane, as it was shown in chapter 6. It's misleading, sure, but it's just the way this story was written. Could it be handled better? I don't know. It probably could, but I personally don't see an easy change that could handle things better.

Well, I guess I was wrong in my previous post and I don't really care about solveability as long as the plot twist are mindbreaking enough, lol.

 

[Seraphim]

In any case, it isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. These are really just my spontaneous thoughts right after finishing Chapter 6, and they're all based on assumptions and information I was provided there. It isn't unlikely that my opinion will change one way or the other once I get some perspective on things. I still have two chapters to go and I expect that quite a few things will have been turned on their head by the time I'm done.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Seraphim88

[adamstan]

Yesterday I finished Mashiro's route in Making Lovers. It was very nice. That stunt near the end was stretching things a bit, but it wasn't totally out of character, so I'll let it slip After two routes read (Saki and Mashiro) I'm really enjoying this VN - despite the month long break due to lack of time or strength. I'm looking forward to the remaining three routes

[alpacaman]

Found myself in the mood for something kind of artsy and weird, so I picked up Myth. Right now I'm at the point where they plan for Shimon's birthday party and so far despite its slow start it seems quite promising. I already have some theories about what is going on although I don't really know yet the Norse mythology motif and the game hinting at 

Spoiler

some meta-stuff

are supposed to fit in.

[Silvz]

1 hour ago, alpacaman said:

Found myself in the mood for something kind of artsy and weird, so I picked up Myth. Right now I'm at the point where they plan for Shimon's birthday party and so far despite its slow start it seems quite promising. I already have some theories about what is going on although I don't really know yet the Norse mythology motif and the game hinting at 

  Hide contents

some meta-stuff

are supposed to fit in.

good luck trying to understand Myth, for me it was impossible

[Mago Ivo]

Understanding Myth made my head hurt. I consider it to be one of those VNs that are supposed to be played for the experience, not for the ending.

I liked Myth very much and I don't know why it isn't more popular.

P.S. : I'm thrilled that Myth is mentioned here.

[Inorin]

Completed Mask of Truth a while ago, and with that, I have finally finished the entire Utawarerumono trilogy. Man, now that I have completed this trilogy, I feel so empty now. I expected so much from this, and boy did it meet my expectations.

Seiyuus
Before I get to the story itself, let me first get to the cast. Fujiwara Keiji (Rest in Peace), Sawashiro Miyuki, Kugumiya Rie, Tanaeda Risa, Sakura Ayane, Minase Inori, Murase Ayumu, Namikawa Daisuke, Takahiro Sakurai; just those names were enough to tell me that the voice acting for the trilogy were going to be splendid. The seiyuus here (for the most part) voiced what they were known for, but what caught me the most by surprise was Sawashiro voicing Aruruu. Ayaneru also sounded different (compared to the characters that I know whom she had voiced) while voicing Uruuru and Saraana, but then she had always been known to have many different voices for many characters, so I wasn't that surprised compared to Sawashiro. This just goes to show how damn well these seiyuus can portray their voices, huh.

Prelude to the Fallen
And now to the story, starting with Prelude to the Fallen. It started off well, and while there were numerous slice-of-life events in between, the pace was decent. The villains were very typical though, so I couldn't help but roll my eyes at how the villains behaved.

Spoiler

It was certainly an eventful journey for Hakuoro, from being just a villager to being an ouro to being a divine entity. It was also nice that some of the enemies that Hakuoro faced were actually decent people, and I’m glad that they would eventually become part of his group. Sakuya losing her shit was a huge pity though, considering that there was quite a lot of development surrounding her prior to her breakdown. The final reveal which revealed Haukuro to be some God, Eruruu to be his former wife’s (Mikoto) reincarnation and Kamyu to have an alternate personality in Mutsumi, was something I couldn’t predict, considering that there was close to no hints until the very end. Plot reveals are always good, and it was overall a very enjoyable experience.

Final score: 8.7/10.

Mask of Deception
Next up, Mask of Deception. This is probably the weakest entry in the series, with a myriad of slice-of-life events, so much so that they probably outnumber the number of fight scenes. It started pretty well though, just like its predecessor.

Spoiler

Oshtor's death at the end was a huge surprise, and I could feel myself slowly trying to process the implications of that, since he’s a big shot, and it would cause huge political turmoil if news was to break out that Oshtor was dead. However, before I could finish my train of thoughts, Haku came back to his group donning Oshtor’s mask, and that’s when I knew that Haku’s in for a long and arduous ride. Unsurprisingly, Kuon decided to go back home after learning of “Haku’s” death, and just when things were starting to get good, the story decided to end itself (*Labyrinth of Grisaia flashbacks*). Come to think of it, there was a particular event where Haku acted as Oshtor earlier in the game, so I suppose that sort of foreshadowed what was to come, huh.

Anyways, this entry was interesting but had its shortcomings: namely too much slice-of-life and pointless fanservice, so I'm giving a score of 8/10. 

Additional note : I love the OP so much.

Additional note 2:

Spoiler

I still can’t believe Kuon is the daughter of Yuzuha, despite her looking more like Eruruu.

Mask of Truth
Last but not least, Mask of Truth. Considering that this entry is #9 on vndb, I had the highest expectations for this. Although the start felt a bit like Mask of Deception with all the slice-of-life events, that all changed with the start of the rebellion arc. Not gonna lie; Raiko really felt like Lelouch. His methods of manipulating his opponents to his needs, and ability to adapt to situations, is reminiscent of S1 Lelouch, and it amazed me how Haku was able to escape from most of his strategies.

Spoiler

Really, if it wasn't for a certain other guy's interference, Haku and co would already have been obliterated by Raiko's mortar. When Raiko died, it initially felt like the game was going to end, because the battle between Raiko and Haku was pretty damn epic, and felt like a final boss fight. However, there were simply way too many loose ends (at that point) for a VN rated so highly on vndb, so there should be at least one more major arc afterwards, and I was right. Woshi turned out to be the true mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes, and while I definitely had my suspicions, I never could quite figure out his intention. However, when his intention was eventually revealed, I couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation as it turned out to be a pretty lame one, which got even lamer when Woshi was revealed to be a clone. So much for being a true human, huh.

Honestly though, I can’t help but feel that the cast in Prelude to the Fallen would have easily dispatched every enemy which Haku and his group had difficulty facing.They could literally defeat

Spoiler

a divine entity,

while Haku’s group was struggling against mere humans/kemonomimis. I really wanted Hakuoro’s group to play a more active role here, and I’m glad that they got more screen time towards the end of the game.

Spoiler

Seeing Eruruu and hearing Hakuoro for the first time since Prelude to the Fallen made me feel just how long the Utawarerumono journey has been for me; I couldn’t help but feel emotional :’).

While the final battle in Mask of Truth may not be as epic as that of Prelude to the Fallen, it certainly evoked the same amount of emotions as it did in Prelude to the Fallen,

Spoiler

and I couldn’t help but feel saddened by the loss of Haku. Dude’s been using his Akuruka whenever he feels cornered, so I knew he would definitely use it against Woshi. I can’t help but feel for Nekone; first Oshtor died, then the Haku died; it’s almost like her brother died twice. On the bright side, Haku was the only casualty amongst the main cast, and even allowed Hakuoro to turn back into a human and return to Eruruu’s side. 

Final score for Mask of Truth: 8.7/10

Edited June 14, 2020 by wei123

[ChaosRaven]

2 hours ago, wei123 said:

Next up, Mask of Deception. This is probably the weakest entry in the series, with a myriad of slice-of-life events, so much so that they probably outnumber the number of fight scenes. It started pretty well though, just like its predecessor.

No kidding here, when you arrive in the capital, pretty much the whole plot is thrown overboard and replaced with tons of random slice of life scenes of questionable quality. I wonder if it's really worth finishing at all, or if it wouldn't just be better to skip straight to Mask of Truth that has all the good stuff.

BTW, I think the review would have been also readable with normal font size. 

[Inorin]

6 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

it wouldn't just be better to skip straight to Mask of Truth that has all the good stuff.

Nah you probably shouldn't do that. There's a major plot reveal at the end of Mask of Deception which links directly to the start of Mask of Truth, so it's better not to skip MoD.

6 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

BTW, I think the review would have been also readable with normal font size. 

Sorry about that; I've changed the font size and colour now.