What. A. Series... As a 'story first' JRPG player this one hit me hard, even if the main trilogy is mostly a visual novel with strategic gameplay. Regardless of that, I'm certain this series can appeal to many fans of the genre. And if that catches on, you've still got the stand-alone entry which touches on more familiar ground. Oh yeah, and as for why it wasn't on the top 10 list for 2022 - I took the executive decision to leave it out so as not to ruin the surprise of this video. Otherwise, yes, one of these games would have made the list easily.
When people finish the Trails games and ask, "what's next?" my first response is always to check out Utawarerumono. Keiji Fujiwara as Haku and Risa Taneda as Kuon are two of my favorite voice acting performances in all of gaming. I wish I could experience the games for the first time again! Monochrome Mobius was pretty good and an interesting step in a new direction but I really hope we get another main line entry sometime in the future.
I think the main trilogy was enough for the story they were going for, can't really expand too much on that. I appreciate them going back to a prequel, but it looks like they're going down an interesting route. I can't help but feel MM was the start of some sort of alternate timeline.
Utawarerumono is such a hidden gem. There are scenes so phenomenal that if I hear the song associated with them completely out of context I will still choke up. Its in my top 3 series with Trails and Suikoden
Been a huge fan of the Uta series since the very first time I played the first game on PC years ago. The feelings are real here. The story is a blast, spanning over multiple games which really are and feel connected, never failing to amaze and manages to keep itself fresh even without the help of new and very well written characters for each game. I played the whole saga at least 4 times now, and to be completely honest, I'm A L W A Y S an emotional wreck at the end of it, no escape. You know the "classic" feeling of finishing an amazing book, and feel the emptiness in your heart like yo've been separated from a very good friend? This game does it on a huge scale. Even with "secondary" characters. Couple all this with the extremely on-point musical score...well, you have one very very big hidden gem here. I was already kind of a grown-up when I discovered this, but nevertheless...it still managed to teach me how important some values are. I thank you for raising awareness for this opera. *Towani starts playing*
I remember the first time hearing about it, I was in VC and one of the people there mentioned that "prelude to the fallen" was coming to steam. I think I asked something like "is it good" which the dude replied with "the current Star Wars films (he was a massive star wars fan) made me lose all hope for media, this franchise got my hopes back". which I thought he was overhyping but got me curious, I like Visual Novels so I thought "if it is half as good as he said, I will have a blast!"... Jokes on me, that dude was not overhyping, Mask of Truth is my favorite VN
I actually finished Mask of Truth 4 days ago. I've spent around 250 hours with the whole trilogy since early January. I can just agree with everything you say. I'm looking forward to play Monochrome Mobius in a near future. Good work with the video.
I played the original VN back in the day with an English patch. Im so happy to see people discover this series and enjoy it. Prelude to the Fallen and Mask of Truth are two of my all time favorite games! Hope people see this video and give it a shot.
I had always seen it in my EB Games / GameStop and never picked it up because I thought it was just going to be some mediocre experience. Now I'm going to try and hunt it down.
I knew this seies from the first anime adaptaion of Utawarerumono when I was 14, and I really liked the anime a lot. When I got a chance to play the trilogy of this game 1 year ago, I can say it will be my top 3 favorite game of all time.
I have all 3 games physically on ps4 and zan 1. I've seen the full first anime and half of the second part. I'm currently waiting for zan 2 or the finale of the anime.
Well you steered me right with 13 Sentinels. This series was on my radar as I’ve heard it’s a great story but I hadn’t heard much else about it so I appreciate the more thorough explanation. Will have to keep an eye out for a sale and bump it up a bit on the priority list.
lucky. I wish I could play it for the first time again. The series has musical pieces I associate with certain scenes causing me to tear up when just driving to work. Maybe i could replay it again.
I LOVED Utawarerumono Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth, as well as the Prelude of the Fallen. These trilogy was such a rollercoaster for me, compelling story, great character development, the amazing acting and music is just *chef kiss*, listening to Nuedori gives me chills everytime. While the combat is somewhat lacking, it's a hell of lot better than what Record of Agarest War did with their combat, at least Utawarerumono doesn't keep you in combat for an hour. I wish more people would play the Utawarerumono series, it's so underrated. It will always have a place in my heart.
This game is so friggin amazing. Like the ending itself is so perfect, I basically cried each game and they somehow manage to get better EACH game. It’s insane
Couldn't people buy physical PS4 ? I do have Mask of Deception&Truth in physical edition. Tho I played Utawa 2002 not Prelude of the Fallen which didn't exist at that time. As for my opinion I think that the first game is mid. It does have fun moment and a nostalgic vibes of early-2000 animes that I love. But the story and characters are just average or good but nothing more. On the other end the two following sequels are really amazing with deep characters growth and interesting story and world building. The gameplay is pretty bad, even more for a main tactical rpg player because the level design is reeeally meh, but it's really not a problem here because there is like 15% gameplay. I heard that Prelude of the fallen is longer on the gameplay part than the original 2002 VN, and more tedious. Glad I play the first one. Still Utawarerumono is in my top 10 Visual Novel, probably even at the end of my top 5. An excellent adventure.
Buying the games physically for PS4 is possible but will cost you significantly more than on Steam where you can get the entire trilogy on sale for $26 total. Mask of Deception alone can go for $70 on eBay
Not sure if others have mentioned, but if you can play Prelude first then that's the optimal way apparently. You can certainly start with Mask of Deception, but there's a few events in there that harken back to Prelude.
Maaan, what a surprise... to see one of my favorite game series of all time being brought up at your channel. It's story simply top one for me in the ps4/xbox one generation. It's just too good... so well writen. I really miss such games. Being an owner of a ps5 now I strugle to find games with such well crafted and meaningfull characters and scenarios... about family, about love, about war, about growing, about loss, about friendship... and so much more. Do games like this even exist amidst the AAA market? Can someone give me an exemple? I would really appreciate it. Ps: awesome video by the way 🤗
i first encountered the anime of the prelude and since that caught my interest because of the great quality, great soundtrack and and picturesque art, i found myself searching for more of the series. not only did i found myself some wallpapers i liked to use on my desktop, i also found my way into the games. i kept going with it and won't regret every joining the story through the visual novel games. i have yet to play the 4th entry to the game since it started horribly broken, and the Zen Games were never reachable for me, since i lacked the consoles to begin with. the Song "kimi ga tame" still hits me hard after all these years btw. my only regret is truly with the loss of the voice actor of Haku, and the somewhat open ending of 'Mask of Truth', even after i accepted the community understanding of the soundtrack cover telling us Kuon finally encountering Haku on that Hill again as the final ending.
Hope you enjoy it! Just a heads up, even though I liked Prelude, a lot of people will tell you that it's the weakest in the series. It's still great, but the 2 Mask games step it up, and Monochrome Mobius is pretty strong too in the story department.
Its definitely a slowburn. But oh boy does it make impact when things happen. The thing that launches the rebellion, the war with the neighbor and its climax. Even if you forget some of the lighthearted stuff in between, those events stay with you after decades. And dont get me even started with how after playing original years ago you basically see Kuon as your daughter and look at Haku with eyes of a father in law. I fucking love it all and would play to play it all again for the first time.
Well, if you are okay with playing games on Steam, then they just put the Utawarerumono games on sale. They are being sold individually, but if you want to get more than one, then there are three bundles on there. The first is "Series Bundle" (priced at $63), which include the first(Prelude to the Fallen), second(Mask of Deception) and third(Mask of Truth) games. The second is a "Complete Bundle" too(priced at $73), which includes the first three games and some DLC (I'm assuming all of the DLC, but it is kind of hard to tell if it does or not). The final one is the "AQUAPLUS Developer Bundle"(priced at $111), which includes the first three games and the fourth game(Monochrome Mobius). From what I can tell, it doesn't include the DLC that the second bundle includes. I honestly haven't played the Utawarerumono games though. But you can bet I am after seeing this video. I just figured I'd give you a heads up since you sounded interested. =P Also, have you ever played the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games? If not, and you have a 3DS, then they are a great way to start playing visual novels (I started with them and fell in love with the genre as a result). The first six games are currently on sale right now on the 3DS. You can get the trilogy (first three games in one bundle) for $3, and the fourth(Apollo Justice), fifth(Dual Destinies) and sixth(Spirit of Justice) games for $3 each as well. So, you can buy all six games for the extremely low price of $12. The only thing that might cost you a bit is the DLC cases in the 5th and 6th games. They both have one DLC case priced at $5, so buying those would bring the price up to $22. (NOTE: The DLC needs to be bought from the title screens in-game, instead of from the eshop - I was looking on the eshop for about an hour before I looked it up and found out that I wasn't looking in the right place, lol). Whether it is $12, or $22, you would still be getting a great deal regardless in my opinion. Unfortunately, you do need to jump through some hoops to add funds to the 3DS now. But hey, it's still possible, despite the 3DS eshop closing down at the end of this month. >.>
I've actually been playing through this series for the first time lately! I just finished Mask of Deception a few days ago, but I'm taking a short break before diving into Mask of Truth.
Thank you "Kiseki Nut" for highlighting this series. Each point you made throughout your review hit the bullseye on the many strengths of this series and it very much echoes my experiences, enjoyment, and reasons why I love Utawarerumono.
Oooh yeaah, i know tji Utawaicantrememberwholenamemono. Played it in 2005, then randomly looking for good TRPG on some site with >__> different content.
I skipped this vid bc Ive already heard recommendations from yourself and others on forums, so the first 60 sec of the vid had me booting up Prelude to the Fallen So far Im really really liking it. The only thing that really even bothers me about it is the fan service. I cringe at how some of this portrays young women, and it makes me very uncomfortable I'll check back with this video though once I've finished all 3 games:) I'll also watch any spoiler vids if you decide to do any on this series
U talking about one of my childhood game that got me into VNs on consoles Literally the start on my quest to look for similar ones on da switch 2012 anime mask of deception >W< There a lack of variety merchandise for the series
I was a little hesitant to start this series since they're strategy rpgs, which I suck at and don't really like. But after starting the first game about 4 weeks ago, I really didn't expect to get hooked this much. Thought that I'd take a break after finishing Prelude to the Fallen, but no. I jumped right to Mask of Deception. And now I'm already at Mask of Truth. This series is amazing. The story, the characters, the music. They're all amazing. Sure, the gameplay's definitely easy (even for me), but it's still somehow very fun.
I played maybe around 10 hours of Mask of Deception (Got to the part where you arrive in the capital city), and the main thing that stood out to me was its writing. The localization was insanely well done. I'm worried the same won't be the case for Prelude to the Fallen, but since it's been a long time since I stopped played MoD, I think going back into the series, I will instead start over from scratch with Prelude. I just really hope it's even comparable to what I saw in Mask of Deception. I don't want to feel like I'm just pushing through the game to get back to what I know is a great story. But I've heard so much praise about this series by now. I want to get into it, and I want to do it properly. @TheKisekiNut Did you start with Prelude or did you start with MoD? I remember back when I played MoD, Prelude wasn't out yet, and I didn't want to play the original 2002 PC game.
I started with Prelude which is considered by many to the be the weakest game of the series, though it has good moments. MOD and MOT are special gravy though, and MM is strong too on the story front.
I'm glad you played this series and highlighted it with this video! The story really is something special and I love the traditional Japanese setting. Haku is one of my favorite video game protagonists ever, the journey he goes on is nothing short of mind blowing.
As a longtime fan of your Trails and Atelier content, I would love to see you start exploring visual novels more. I've loved RPGs since I was a kid and getting into visual novels lately has been a real joy, as a lover of story-driven games.
Unfortunately my time is fairly limited as it is so I stick mainly to JRPGs, but I do enjoy reading the odd visual novel especially since I'm putting more effort in to my Japanese learning. However, in terms of coverage it'll mainly stick to hybrid novels like this or Aegis Rim.
lamentablemente por el poco apoyo y malas ventas en occidente en ps4 y vita , monochrome mobius no saldrá en ps4 y eso ya paso con en Zan parte 2 , ahora es tarde para apoyar la saga de juegos en consolas . ni atlus y ni niss harán denuevo de publisher fuera de japon en consolas y se van directo a pc .
I love this series! I finished Prelude to the Fallen and am currently working on Mask of Deception. I was lucky enough to have downloaded it from the PS Store before it got delisted
First 20 sec of the video felt like I'm playing dating sim or something. XD great video btw. Also I would like to give you my big appreciation. Because of you, I've found so many jrpg's that I never heard of. Thank you! And keep up the good work. excuse my poor English. Edit:- are those logitech speaker? I'm also using exactly the same one. XD
I have very specific tastes and these games do not look appealing to me. But that's ok. Not every game is for everyone. I do not like the artstyle. It is very off putting. For me at least. Still hope you continue having fun with it. I am certain these games are good, but I just don't see the appeal. I am also way too invested in Trails right now. Falcom is making me poor.
Glad to see more love for the Utawarerumono series. Hopefully the series comes to the Switch someday, likewise a console localisation of MonoMobi. Another masterpiece from Aquaplus worth playing with a similarly high quality of storytelling (and IMO is even better) is White Album 2, though that is a pure VN and not an RPG.
My Story with Utawarerumono is a bit weird, I actually discovered it with the 2007 anime which I loved, then forgot about it for years. When Uta 2 released I tried it out and dropped it because I couldn't play VN despite loving its atmosphere, something very unique to Utawarerumono. Then around 2019 I played a lot of jrpgs and discovered Kiseki, which I played from sky to coldsteel. Finally last year I decided to try Uta again and loved it, I played uta and only uta for 1 month, everything went smoothly, I didn't have any problems with the vn elements and it's now one of my favourite series, I think Kiseki made me learn to like slow paced game and I'm very glad I picked up Uta again, everyone should play it! Also I guess I'm a bit weird for that but I actually love the gameplay, every character do their own thing and it's very fun to unlock new moves, build your own characters with items and all.
I looked into that one day when I was on the hunt for really obscure rpgs and dungeon crawler stuff and the like. It seemed to have some potential but felt a bit too strange to me iirc. I don't quite remember the reason so I wound up just buying Undernauts instead hah. Anyhow this'll sound lame-ish but I'll come back and watch this video when I am eating lunch/dinner. I just had to click into to see what the series was =D
A few months later and I'm glad to see your thoughts on the series! I still haven't gotten around to starting it yet as I continue to tackle games on my list but I'm excited to know it's going to be something special when I do. I believe it's also worth mentioning just how cheap you can get the trilogy as well. I got it for just $28 bucks on steam for all 3 games in November which sounds like a steal considering what's on offer.
So happy to see you draw more attention to this series! I played Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth before Prelude had been released (both played physically on Vita), so I never had the chance to experience Prelude (and hadn't even heard of Mobius till this video). I've never cried so hard at the end of a game series. The endgame cycle in Truth carries more power than any story I can remember, and the final battle sequence has to be one of the most awesome experiences I've had the pleasure to sink into (and that MUSIC, oh my word). The series is at times, to my taste, a bit overt in its fanservice. But this does not detract from its power or substance, just something for prospective journeyfolk to be aware of. I'm one of the rare few, judging by reviews and what I've generally heard people say, who liked Deception more than Truth, though I can't deny that Truth had the more profound conclusion. There is a significant shift in tone between the two, with Deception being more playful and silly. I really missed that while moving through Truth, no matter how much sense it made. All that said, it is hard to overstate how well crafted some of these encounters and characters are. Many of the reveals throughout this series, the depth of creativity in the storytelling and interactions, is borderline unparalleled in visual storytelling, at least in my experience. The comparison to the Trails series is well earned. This series is truly a masterwork. I couldn't agree more that any JRPG fan should at least give them a chance.
The MOT ending sequence was the definition of epic - I think it was like 2am when it was all said and done when I intended to call it a night 3 hours before.
Oh yes, I definetly heard of this series and it's on my VN backlog. The timing of this video couldn't have been more perfect, since I'm on the process of going through said backlog right now. Currently playing Digimon Survive (i'm on chapter 2 just now) and last week I finished Fullmetal Demon Muramasa (wich is an absolutely amazing story btw, easily the best VN I've ever played so far and you should all check it out). I hadn't considered what I was gonna play after finishing Survive tho. I was probably going to try and finally play Muv Luv Alternative (I already finished Muv Luv 1 3 years ago, but by the time I got to the ending I was so disappointed I didn't feel like trying it's sequel). But now I think I might dive into Utawarerumono instead. Thanks TKN!
Thank you for your review for the Utawarerumono Series! I really enjoyed your review because I was done playing it too. How about you play The "Baldr Sky" Duology next time and review this game same as the one you did right now? Please and thanks in advance bro! Kudos to your growing channel!
Well. Before finishing the video I went and picked up PS4 copies of Prelude to the Fallen, Mask of Deception, and Mask of Truth. The big question will be if I can finish those three before Reverie comes out this summer.
one of my favourites too! Finished this series last year and it was a great ride. Well just one thing: The last game does the "its the end...right?" move a bit too much. But everything else is very very good :)
For anybody who's wondering the Zan Games completely Feasible Titles to experience the stories through if you can't do Strategic Rpg's Though unless I'd still insist the og works
I did not know Utawarerumono Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth were delisted from PS4 store. I do have the games in physical copies, curious if does anything to them.
the original 2002 release of Utawarerumono had sex scenes but they were removed from the PS2 release and the remake Prelude to the the Fallen. The lead up to the scenes is still there since some of the sex scenes are actually plot relevant but there are no actual sex scenes unless you play the original 2002 PC version
I love UnderwaterRayRomano. My most prized possession is a copy of the JP PS2 limited edition with a bunch of bonuses. I wish they would put Monochrome on consoles again I don't have a PC that can run it ;.;
I bought every single game when they dropped but haven't got around to playing any of them yet. Seeing you make a video on it makes me wanna start one up lol.
There's only one hentai scene in the original Utawarerunono that is crucial for the plot and it is related to the sequel as well... I mean, that hentai scene is how one of the main characters in the sequel was made and her powers. The rest of the hentai scenes from the original are mostly fillers. I've finished the remaster of the original just recently and the changes was noticeable. Well, the hentai scenes were obviously removed asides from one particular CG that was simply censored. We got new CG scenes instead of the hentai scenes. The plot is fantastic since everything ties up nicely from start to finish. Sadly, you cant play the gacha game since theres no available localisation for it. Gameplay wise, its better to get acquainted with the original's battle system first since the sequels' battle mechanics requires some just frame timings. Unlike othet tactical RPG games like Disgaea, there's no cheese method from this game. The battle portions are lengthy and on harder difficulty require better unit placements.
I had confidence you would enjoy this series and am glad you did! The series is one of my all time favorites and Haku is probably my favorite protagonist in any series. I occasionally go back and rewatch some of the cut scenes and still end up nearly crying no matter how many times I've experienced it.
i love this series! i have the three main games including the ps2 release of original and both english and japanese special editions of prelude of the fallen as well as the anime's except for the upcoming mask of truth anime and some figures of my favorite character's wich are nekone, urutori, and two of kamyu(the kotobukiya scale figure that goes with my urutori and a small leaf collection figure) and mutsumi.
I remember when I first played the 2nd game, Mask of Deception (prelude wasn't out then and I didn't know there was one beforehand.) It was so good that even though I was flat out broke, I went without buying food for two days just to afford getting it's sequel to see what happened next; was it worth it? You bet it was lol. Thankfully not that broke anymore lol. I was hooked from the go, great characters with character story and with a greater narrative story simmering in the back. The music is fantastic, extremely memorable and emotional.Some songs bring great joy or nearly bring you to tears when you think back on your journey through this world. I personally found the battle system great, the timing based nature of hitting attacks for critical hits is a good challenge and there even extra hidden critical hits without prompts you can score if you time your presses precisely. Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth are really one giant game with each game offering massive amounts of game time. Mask of Truth makes minor improvements over Deception and contains a lot more combat. Each game contains end game content for the combat side for extra challenge and your Deception data unlocks stuff in Truth. I've played the entire series in Hard mode since then and did a replay last year, both times without exploits or grinding and can say it's extremely challenging as there is little room for error. I think Kiseki using those grinding methods ruined his enjoyment if he'd done natural progression. There is some depth, such as characters having an element that they are strong with and naturally an element that they are weak to, which will impact your effectiveness. It has a rewind feature like the newer Fire Emblem SRPGs only it's unlimited so if you screw up it's not time wasted. I played 2, 3 the 1 originally, which for 99% of playthrough is fine but you will get more enjoyment from playing them in order. They are a hidden gem but it is growing in prominence.They had some OVAs from years ago but recently Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth did get an anime (though as with all game bases anime, it's best to play the game first) There are few great Visual Novel games that hit this hard, besides big ones like Steins Gate or less well known than that, Muv Luv etc But this game series is up there.Really cannot promote it enough. This story will stick with you long after. If you aren't sure, pick them up on sale sometime. Enjoy the world of Utawarerumono, hopefully as much as I did.
I am struggling to find all three of the mentioned games physically for PS4. They are either unavailable of still full price. Too bad, because I am not yet convinced this really is for me.
They'll be difficult to find on PS4 physically because the two mask games were lifted off the PS Store, so there's no other way to play them on console. To be honest though, a relatively old computer could still get them to run, so Steam is the way to go if you can.
@@TheKisekiNut I have been able to secure physical copies or the both Mask games, Prelude was on discount on PS Store and I had already bought ZAN before but when I did I gave up within 20 minutes. Your video pushed me over to try Prelude, and now I about halfway though. Mask of Truth was already in, Deception arrived today.
know this series? intimately. say the name? butchered it for the last 10 years. thank you sir for saving me from the how the heck do I say this, struggle
I’ve looked into this series before, i think why i never really got into it was because no physical copies are up on PlayStation for a decent price. Added them to my stream wish list anyway…:)
Utawarerumono is a series I have a hard time talking about because any discussion bring too many emotions it's an amazing series also if you want a taste of the series in terms of story before buying the games I would highly recommend the original Utawarerumono anime and it's OVA's while not perfect it's the best VN anime adaption possibly ever.
I've always wanted to try this series. I've picked up Mask of Deception and Truth in preparation for the inevitable playthroughs, just got to get Prelude to the Fallen now.
Have just gone through this series myself after being in my backlog for many years... Definitely a journey worth experiencing I think the first game is a little weak but deception and truth are really incredible. Absolutely something for anyone looking for an immersive JRPG-story with great world building.
