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ESRB rates Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception for Vita
- Thread starter Saphirax
- Start date
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
While its great to see that they are bringing it out, still an odd choice as its like watching a new story arc in Game of Thrones without having seen everything before that. So folks will be who the fuck is that a lot of the time with previously discussed topics or characters.
Those who have managed to play the first game should be in for a treat though. As both 2-1 and 2-2 were quite well done. Esp 2-2 in particular.
Anyone who is planning on trying this should at least watch the anime of the first game. Would imagine streaming services have it available since there will be lots of references to past events / locations / characters and its fairly important to the overall plot to know those before hand. Otherwise events in this game in particular will have a lot less meaning to players.
Dont buy it if you are not into VNs. As the SRPG part is nothing special and the majority of the game is in VN format. So long VN sessions with brief SRPG parts thrown in between. Outside of you "grinding" your characters you wont really be fighting all that much.
Both of these games have no inventory / money involved, so its basically just leveling your characters to gain new skills and be able to progress further with the story.
Also with this game in particular they made going through stages again a pain in the ass as you had to skip through the event scenes tied with it. They fixed that with 2-2 as it was something folks were irritated with in 2-1.
Basically what perorist said is true.
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For those wondering this game has only a single ending and there are no real choices to be made with the story that effects anything.
Those who have managed to play the first game should be in for a treat though. As both 2-1 and 2-2 were quite well done. Esp 2-2 in particular.
Anyone who is planning on trying this should at least watch the anime of the first game. Would imagine streaming services have it available since there will be lots of references to past events / locations / characters and its fairly important to the overall plot to know those before hand. Otherwise events in this game in particular will have a lot less meaning to players.
Dont buy it if you are not into VNs. As the SRPG part is nothing special and the majority of the game is in VN format. So long VN sessions with brief SRPG parts thrown in between. Outside of you "grinding" your characters you wont really be fighting all that much.
Both of these games have no inventory / money involved, so its basically just leveling your characters to gain new skills and be able to progress further with the story.
Also with this game in particular they made going through stages again a pain in the ass as you had to skip through the event scenes tied with it. They fixed that with 2-2 as it was something folks were irritated with in 2-1.
Basically what perorist said is true.
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For those wondering this game has only a single ending and there are no real choices to be made with the story that effects anything.
KLoWn
Member
Awesome. Will buy.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
If you have a vita and play JP games you could always just get the PSP version from JPSN and play that.
PC version was an adult game originally. So the adult content had to be removed as Basileus777 had mentioned.
While its a standalone title, the game ties back to a lot of things with the first title in terms of world building, lore and characters. So without knowing that you will be lost on a fair amount of things in the game. More with the 2-2 than 2-1. But still a lot of content is tied together and seriously dilutes the overall experience without that knowledge.
Which is why at worst watch the anime of the original game if possible. Since the first title was never properly localized for the West outside of fan translations.
Having beat the all of the games can pretty much confirm this.
Yappadappadu
Member
Wow, never expected to see this game in the west.
While the anime adaptation had its shortcomings (too many hot spring/bath scenes took away from the story), I still enjoyed it as part of the Utawarerumono world with its new characters. I also really like listening to Taneda Risa, the voice of the main heroine, Kuon.
What's next? Idolmaster?
Yeah, okay, that one has no SRPG fights, so still very unlikely.
While the anime adaptation had its shortcomings (too many hot spring/bath scenes took away from the story), I still enjoyed it as part of the Utawarerumono world with its new characters. I also really like listening to Taneda Risa, the voice of the main heroine, Kuon.
Best anime (game) OP that I have seen for a while. Fantastic work by White Fox.
Suits me perfectly. I suck at SRPGs and only play them to see more of the story. Could never get into Disgaea, so I hope this one is easier for me.
What's next? Idolmaster?
Yeah, okay, that one has no SRPG fights, so still very unlikely. EVA UNIT 01
Member
No idea wtf this is but im in.
VNs always get my attention
VNs always get my attention
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Do not I repeat DO NOT watch the anime for this game before playing the game. As you will be spoiling a lot of stuff for yourself. Also the main reason why the anime was not all that great is they compressed way too much stuff so a lot of the character / world building was gone. Expected for an anime production but still.
Its fine to watch it after you play the game but highly suggest once again to stay away from it until you get to play the game.
Yappadappadu
Member
LOL at the dialogue examples on the ratings page.
They better not tone anything of those down. Am I glad that this game is rated M.
They better not tone anything of those down. Am I glad that this game is rated M.
Red_taiyaki
Member
LOL at the dialogue examples on the ratings page.
They better not tone anything of those down. Am I glad that this game is rated M.
I'm sure the localizers had/are having a blast with this.....😇
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
perorist already for the most part answered your question but as another who finished the series, am sure you would enjoy it if you liked the first game. Esp with the fact that this title goes in a different direction than the first one. Plus the interactions with the main protagonist and heroine.
Also the 2nd half of the game sold even more than the first half which goes to show that it gained fans from those who played the first half and spread the word.
Soundtrack is fantastic as usual with nostalgic and new tracks.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Are the SRPG segments fun? I'm in it for the VN, but not if the game's let down too substantially by the video game-y parts.
michaelius
Banned
So is this ok to play if I watched anime for first game ? Looks really nice.
FinaruDensetsu
Member
I hope they can bring the first game somehow or include it on disc.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
The SRPG segments are pretty simple nothing too fancy. As for the most part its just a vessel to advance the story.
Have you played Tears to Tiara 2? As its pretty much the same general system.
Yeah you should be fine with that. As at least you will have an understanding of the games world setting and characters who had appeared in the first title. For folks in the West thats pretty much the only "legal" option. Since doubt people will actually want to go buying the JP version to use whatever fan translations exist.
Considering the amount of content that they would need to localize doubt that would happen as its pretty much having to localize a whole game for something that they would not really be able to profit off of. Plus the latest version of the game would have to be based off of the PSP one. So its not exactly "nice looking" in terms of VQ.
If you are concerned about the story / characters from the first game try to see if a streaming service in your country offers the localized anime for viewing. As thats pretty much the easiest option the West has.
It's a natural progression of a very primitive srpg gameplay system and lacks a lot of features that a full srpg would have. No real classes/jobs, no money/shops, no equipment/weapons, only accessories. You can only access battle portions when the game wants you to and it can be a few hours of VN between battles. It's very much only there in service of the story. You do have the ability to grind as much as you want but that's mostly unnecessary.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Bunch of vids from the JP import OT.
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4 minute trailer showing off characters and attacks.
6 minute promotional trailer showing off characters & gameplay.
Opening animation movie.
Trailer for the upcoming anime starting first week of October 2015.
Commentary with voice actresses and gameplay. Vid starts from gameplay section.
15 minutes of early gameplay footage.
Event sample for Haku.
Event sample for Kuon.
Event sample for Nekone.
Event sample for Ukon.
Event sample for Maroro.
Event sample for Rurutie.
----------
4 minute trailer showing off characters and attacks.
6 minute promotional trailer showing off characters & gameplay.
Opening animation movie.
Trailer for the upcoming anime starting first week of October 2015.
Commentary with voice actresses and gameplay. Vid starts from gameplay section.
15 minutes of early gameplay footage.
Event sample for Haku.
Event sample for Kuon.
Event sample for Nekone.
Event sample for Ukon.
Event sample for Maroro.
Event sample for Rurutie.
How About No
Member
I think you mistyped something. It's "Utawarerumono"
Pellegri Testament
Member
Oh hey, we may actually get DT2-2 now if Atlus is the one doing this. Kinda figured we weren't getting this after waiting so long and hearing nothing, nice to see that we may have a shot at it.
purseowner
Member
There's literally nowhere you can buy the JP PC version of the original nowadays, is there?
Really wanted to try the fan translation.
Really wanted to try the fan translation.
Fingers crossed for the PSP patch!
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Not sure about new though amazon JP has a bunch of used copies via marketplace seller.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B001KGEPK4/
thebigmachine
Member
Played the first one ages ago and it was pretty good. I'm quite surprised this is coming over. I hope they can confirm the second one soon after this releases. In for this either way.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
It would be the biggest crime to gamers if they just release the first half but not the second due to poor sales when it does hit. lol
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
As others said most likely its just the rating has not finished processing yet which is why its not up on the site.
Aadrian1234
Banned
Holy shit, it's actually happening
What Parakeetman said, or you can buy a digital copy on DMM R18 (nsfw obviously). There may be some DRM though.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
You better hope this one sells well first...
i mean if they are willing to localize this after Tears of Tiara 2....
...maybe their sales expectations are extremely low
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
i mean if they are willing to localize this after Tears of Tiara 2....
...maybe their sales expectations are extremely low
Lets hope that whoever is in charge with the localization at least put in quality work with the translations as if they do some shoddy job by going on the cheap its really going to effect things with the overall experience.
What Im curious about is when this game releases is how reviewers are going to treat it as can imagine those who are familiar with the series enough to know there was a previous game released that they will comment on how its hard to make connections without the original content available outside of the anime. Those who did not know there was a previous title might rate the game harsher due to being confused by various plot related things which are not really explained to the player. So will assume that it is due to poor writing.
Saw this earlier but this is certainly a surprise. Day 1 if so for sure. Watched the anime for the original game and also tried to look up stuff different from the game to understand more of the story. Watched most of the second anime but over time I wasn't feeling it, though part of it was learning about a number of changes.
I was under the impression Tears to Tiara 2 didn't bomb. It did just as well as other niche releases. Not under preforming, but not becoming a break away hit either. Now I don't know if selling as much as other niche releases covers the cost of text they need to localize for these games.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Though with how low it went on sales and such makes me wonder if they wanted to try to scrape together as much revenue as possible due to how its an unusual genre with how narrative heavy it is vs gameplay. As cant imagine the market being that large back then vs now where visual novels are more accepted than before.
With this game they will have to be careful how they market it as if they lean too heavy on trying to push the fact its an SRPG they are going to wind up turning a lot of folks off due to how narrative intensive the game is vs the actual action parts.
At least in NA on PSN it took a long time for it to go on sale, and even then it was only 1/2 off. Amazon has the game around 35-40 for a long time, though I do think it went as low as 19.99 for a little bit.
Either way, I really hope Utawarerumono does well for them. It's an even longer shot, but I'd really like an official release of the first game.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Im honestly curious if aquaplus is planning a remake of the first game with updated graphics and using the mechanics from 2-2. Since its still hard to see why a company would be thoughtless enough to jump into a series like this halfway otherwise. Cant really see them trying to localize the psp version just due to how old it is among other issues.
I would imagine that it's the same reason they started with Tears to Tiara 2 and Dungeon Travelers 2: starting from the beginning was effectively impossible as it meant dealing with a platform that's long since dead (or at best, a release on a completely separate platform). That and they figure that the stores are disconnected enough in all of these instances that playing the previous games is not a hard requirement.
CielTynave
Member
What was wrong with how they handled DT2
aside from it being bannged on Gaf
We kinda got a lot of localizations of second installments in niche game franchises for a while there. Conception 2 and Akiba's Trip 2 are a couple more that I can think of that didn't have the first games localized.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
You do realize that both of those games narrative wise had nothing to do with the original right? Where this has various plot and character related connections.
Which is why the game will be diluted for those not familiar with the first title.
Game was not exactly written to cater to those who are not familiar either. So people will be left with various questions.
If you wanted to give an example that works it would be if they had released Dungeon Travelers 2-2 but not Dungeon Travelers 2. As those 2 games are connected.
TriAceJP
Member
GAF has succumbed to shit posting Tumblr memes?
I heard this game was very unimpressive from the Japanese take of it. I've seen the anime from the original game, and it was pretty cool.
Basileus777
Member
Well not nothing, Tears to Tiara 2 had links to the first game and IIRC the protagonist of the original even shows up.
Though fans always greatly overestimate how important it is to start from the beginning. It's very rare where you can't just pick up a sequel and be fine.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Will have to look that up again as its been a while since i played the JP one. Though dont recall that strong of a connection to TTT2 there was DLC of the character from the side story game though but there was not any content connected to that similar to Beard and Peggy from DT2 being in the game as extra DLC characters.
The first half of the 2nd Utawarerumono game is not as heavy as the next release which goes into a lot of the original content even more. Since the original game story is tied into this game its more than like a simple cameo or nod to the original.
Other thing is by playing both of these games first you also basically spoil the original game.
Other thing is for example the yakuza series you can play the series from the middle like 3 because its half action game so players cam go hurhurhur punch shit n karaoke!!!1111 where since this is a visual novel the enjoyment comes from the story with small insertions of srpg bits. If the player is sitting there wondering who is this, what happened, why should i care? You pretty much have a problem as its showing up halfway into a story.
Internal stuff we wouldn't be privy to. Was just a rumor though.
PhantomVash808
Member
What about the PS4 version?
Kresnik258
Member
iirc, the whole "Tears to Tiara didn't do well" thing was part of the same rumor that said Aquaplus had fallen out with a western publisher over Dungeon Travelers 2.