Hey folks. I picked up The House in Fata Morgana -Collected Edition- and recently Platinumed it, so I thought I'd offer up a few impressions. Apologies in advance for the image-heaviness!
I won't be discussing the content of the main game here. Instead, I'll be concentrating only on the quality of the port, the user interface/general presentation, and of course the new features.
• THE PACKAGE
• UI AND OVERALL PRESENTATION
• IMAGE QUALITY
• EXTRAS MENU
• ALL-NEW CONTENT
That about covers it. All in all, a fantastic product and inarguably the definitive version of The House in Fata Morgana. Now, the question is...are there any Western publishers awesome enough to wade through the multi-company licensing nightmare releasing it outside of Japan would require? Let's keep our fingers crossed.
• BONUS!
Uno and dos.
Edit: Mosaics added on potential spoileriness.
I won't be discussing the content of the main game here. Instead, I'll be concentrating only on the quality of the port, the user interface/general presentation, and of course the new features.
• THE PACKAGE
No-frills, basic Vita packaging with the original key art on the front and the new key art for the "-Reincarnation-" story (more on that below) on the back. (Only a brief textual reference is made to the expansion disc, "A Requiem for Innocence". Odd, considering neither the iOS or 3DS ports contained it.) The only contents of the package are the game card and a single-page, color instruction sheet. Sadly, this release had no limited edition of any kind.
• UI AND OVERALL PRESENTATION
Absolutely fantastic. Everything feels slick, polished, and very professional. None of the jank from the iOS or 3DS versions to be found, with every feature you'd expect of a top-shelf Vita visual novel. All the usual text speed, text skip, and volume controls, three choices of font, and voice options for the -Reincarnation- story. Touchscreen controls are also what you'd expect, with every feature of the game being accessible. One aspect I particularly enjoyed is the Log (fourth screenshot), which allows you to go back through text and rewind to any point. Standard fare for visual novels nowadays, but new to Fata Morgana. Oh, and the intro movie is all kinds of fabulous.
• IMAGE QUALITY
Running at 960x544 (Vita's native resolution), all character portraits are presented at their original size. Unfortunately, due to the aspect ratio difference versus the PC version, event CGs are often cropped or repositioned. Fortunately, they can be seen in their entirety in the gallery mode.
• EXTRAS MENU
Full of awesome and a breeze to navigate, the Extras menu offers access to all event CGs, tons of bonus illustrations spanning the long history of Fata Morgana from dojin to present, and an incredibly comprehensive music player with 115 (!) tracks. The lyrics for every vocal song can be viewed, and there are a plethora of songs here that do not appear on either the main game's soundtrack or the soundtrack to A Requiem for Innocence. All the new music from -Reincarnation- is here, too.
• ALL-NEW CONTENT
What most Japanese fans will be buying this for. -Collected Edition- features -Reincarnation-, an all-new story with the characters you know and love/hate in the present day, written by original scribe Keika Hanada. The new visual style might suggest a self-parodical comedy romp, but it's definitely Fata Morgana, if a tad more reserved. -Reincarnation- is fairly short at about three hours, and has no story branches. It is, however, fully voiced by a cast of A-list seiyuu—reprising their roles from the radio drama CDs—making for a very different experience indeed. Some will like it, some will hate it. Although it becomes available after fully completing the main story, longtime fans can unlock it immediately by answering several trivia questions. Finally, eighteen canonical short stories from various obscure sources are collected here, presented with music and background art. Most of them are quite short, but it's great to have them all in one place.
That about covers it. All in all, a fantastic product and inarguably the definitive version of The House in Fata Morgana. Now, the question is...are there any Western publishers awesome enough to wade through the multi-company licensing nightmare releasing it outside of Japan would require? Let's keep our fingers crossed.
• BONUS!
Say, if your Vita is set to Japanese region, don't forget to grab the two rad free themes!
Uno and dos.
Edit: Mosaics added on potential spoileriness.