VN - Others - Completed - Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception [Final] [Aquaplus & Sting]

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (MoD) is a VN that comes with strings attached. The first is that reading Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen (PttF) before, is likely to increase your enjoyment, and immersion of MoD. The second is that this title, combined with Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (MoT), make one single story. When you finish MoD, you are supposed to move on to MoT, or be left with the mother of all "cliffhangers".

Positive:
- Great Art style - If we are talking about traditional art styles, this is one of my favorites in a VN.
- OST has both quantity and quality. If that intro isn't epic, then I don't know what epic is (actually I do, something like Morrowind).
- Many memorable characters - And some members of the previous cast (PttF), also take the spotlight in this one.
- Very nice slice of life (SoL) - It's a staple of the series. The comedy is always subjective, but the SoL of Utawarerumono is top tier.
- Epic fantasy - It has the duration (hours), the scope (an empire, and many ramifications), the subject matter (fate of humanity) is adequate too, and there are 3 titles (sort of a trilogy). I think it qualifies for the classification.
- Excellent worldbuilding - Considering they are setting up things for the next title, this was a given, but it's still very good.

Neutral:
- Combat (tactics RPG) is a bit better than to PttF but it's still not great, unfortunately.

Negative:
- This is bordering being an unfinished product. When I read this I already knew it was supposed to end abruptly, and I'd had to read the next one, but that didn't soften the blow. Cutting a product in 2 like they did here, is a terrible practice that needs to disappear. Stories need a beginning, and an ending, even if they are part of a bigger picture.

Score: Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is an 8/10, a great VN, and a passable videogame. The only thing you need to know other than that, is that this title doesn't stand on its own, you are supposed to read MoT after this one. Treat them as one VN, and read PttF before, if at all possible.

(No sexual content.)

A really good game. "Short" enough to not feel like it's droning on and on, but long enough that everything feels filled out.

Gameplay: 5/5, Good amount of tactics and difficulty.
There's enough strategy and stuff to go around, and while most of the chapters are just, "rout the enemies" it's pretty fun, and there's enough variety to go around. Plenty of characters that you unlock and get to command.

Unlike the sequel, there's not much outside of the base combat. Either re-do the stages or keep going on. Overall it's pretty easy (on normal) as I beat all stages without ever grinding my character's levels up.

It also plays differently than the OG Utawarerumono, so if you played that first, be prepared.

The VN part of the game is well... A VN. There's no choices in dialogue, but there are choices of which order you want to see minor events which do not change anything. Might disappoint a few, but it's okay.

Story: 4/5, Good, but with a few caveats.
It's a really good story, and made me shed a tear... Maybe. Right at the end. Because THE homie.
Anyways, a major issue I had with the story is that when re-introducing the characters from Utawarerumono, it felt sort of like... Fan-service rather than trying to continue the story? It's a hard feeling to explain, but it's not PARTICULARLY bad. I do not feel like there were many "Deus Ex" moments, if at all, unlike the sequel.

Also, this might be bias or some other thing, but I felt like it was too "anime" if you know what I mean. MC says something dumb, keeps getting hurt by all the girls, and each girl is a sort of cliche, whereas with the prequel, the characters had archetypes, but never felt cliche.

The story takes place in one place for the most part, which is okay, but that means you'll be seeing the same background for a lot of scenes.

But MC is pretty funny and relatable, and the HOMIE is cool and pretty relatable too.

Sound/Music: 5/5, Good.
I can't say much other than it's good. You'll be re-hearing some of the songs, and some are "remasters" of the prequels music, but otherwise, all is good. Music is good, and sound effects during battles are good.

Voice acting though... Main characters, good. Perfect. 5/5. Side characters? The old lady, you can definitely tell it's a young adult straining their voice to replicate the "old person" way of speaking. It's genuinely off-putting for me but it's worse in the sequel. Plus it's rare, so not quite enough for me to knock off a point, I think.

Art: 5/5, Also good.
I'd say the art is a little more cutesy than the prequel, and eyes are... bigger. More or less as expressive. Since I spent almost two weeks playing all the games before reviewing, I can't remember too well if there were any scenes where some things seemed desynced or weird.

TL;DR, it's the better one of the two masks.
I genuinely think it's better than the sequel OTHER THAN the less amount of extras I.E. Munechika's Trials, Bonus EXP for clearing the first time goes to ALL characters, Red VS White, etc. But well, those were unnecessary for beating the game so... Not really necessary.
The story, which is where I based the rating most off of, since it's a VN, is stronger of the two.

Play it, it's good.

A great game, heavy on the slice of life early on setting up the world and character as much as possible, and really ramping up the intensity in the second part, still it felt short, reason beings it's mostly setup/build up for the sequel mask of truth.

Production value are S tier, one of the best art and chara design i've ever seen in vn, amazing music etc.

Voice acting is truly magnificent, one thing to love and rarely seen in vn is the mc inner tough are voiced, i think it's a great thing more vn should do.

Gameplay is really good, i'm terrible at sprg but really enjoyed it despite that.

While it it can be said it doesn't require playing the first one, it shares lots of characters, reference to event etc, so i can only see this trilogy as a package, really recommended !

For me this game is a Masterpiece.
After a rough year, that Summer it came out, the decision to try it was one I will truly never regret.
It was literally a whim- seeing a game with a familiar title, and deciding to buy it on the PS4 after a little (A lot) contemplation.
So I launched it, and next moment I realize I've been playing for about 15 hours.
It was just the something I needed.

Everything about it was just so right:
The sprites were gorgeous
The CG don't disappoint
The engaging way the story was told, the pacing and the immersion were spot-on
The voices and audio were clear and professional.
It didn't feel like I was playing a Visual Novel, but experiencing a refreshing story and adventure like I was there.
Nothing is explained to you, and you just watch, listen, feel and experience a completely bizarre, yet beautiful unfamiliar world together with the Main Character, with whom it's very easy to relate and like (mainly because you are both clueless realists in a fantasy).

If you feel a little adventurous, feel like reading a Visual Novel that not like a Visual Novel, like animal tails and ears on your females, don't dislike turn based strategy (lots of square tiles), and have a couple of free weeks a head of you (This game is loooooong), I can't recommend this enough.

PS.
This game has direct relation to a previous title released in Japan on 2002 and fan translated to English on 2008 called simply "Utawarerumono" (which is 18+), and is considered it's sequel, however you do not particularly need to play it to enjoy and understand "Mask of Deception".
It is however getting an English Remaster very soon, in case you are interested (Remaster is All-ages)


PS2.
Beware of spoilers - This game and it's sequel, called "Mask of Truth", are both story rich, so don't explore too much and go clicking on random blacked out text. considered yourself warned.

I played this on PS4 and it's one of the best visual novels out there, it also has tactical RPG in the gameplay so it isn't only wall of text. This game doesn't requires you to have played the prequel, but it helps.