Utawarerumono is a Kinetic Novel (VN without choices)/tactical RPG by Leaf and Aquaplus, with a translation patch by Mirror Moon/Soylations.
I'll try to stay away from major spoilers in this one, because part of what makes this game so memorable is the way the plot takes itself.
Without further ado...
Storyline:
(this is a VERY long game, so I'm just going to tell you the basics and some general comments.)
A young man wakes up with no memory of who he is, where he came from, why he has a mysterious mask attached to his face, nor why everyone he meets in this village has animal ears. Two young girls, Eruruu and Aruruu, and their grandmother, Tuskur, are taking care of him, and their daily life with this mysterious man (named 'Hakuoro' by Tuskur) goes well, with the exception of the village creep Nuwangi, and the government isn't exactly perfect.
And then, Tuskur dies. Hakuoro eventually meets the other village residents, as well as warriors from opposing countries, and eventually ends up the Ouro (ruler) of this village, which he has since named after Tuskur.
That's all I'm going to go into because, as I said, it's a long game, and I'm sure I've forgotten some details already. I apologize for this, readers, but I played this over a long span of time, so...yeah. Sorry.
Most of the characters in this game are fairly generic, but they're done in such a way that the player will most likely care about them nonetheless.
The story is broken up every so often with somewhat chess-like tactical RPG battles. Now, most people aren't fans of the battle style in this game. But I enjoyed it, and it wasn't too difficult, which is good for those of us who care more about storyline.
Once again, I feel I'm doing a bit of a cop-out by only revealing the bare minimum of the plot, but just take my word on this.
Storyline rating: 10/10
Art:
The art is...well, it's good. OTL Not spectacular, but everyone has a good, recognizable design, their expressions are well-done and the colors are soft and pretty.
As with most VNs, the art quality goes up with the CGs, which are simply lovely. But still, the art style itself is rather usual...that's not a bad thing, but I know some people are sticklers for completely original visual style...
Art rating: 7/10
Sound:
Another area in which this game shines, IMO. While the PC version comes with no voices, there's a voice patch, but I didn't use it because at that point in time I had gotten so used to the voices I imagined for the characters. ;;
However, the music is quite impressive. There's quite a few tracks, all of them which set the mood quite nicely. The light-hearted tune during comedic scenes, the melancholy piano during the sad scenes, the intense "battle mode" theme...it's all very good.
Sound rating: 8/10
Ero:
Ahaha...what to say about these? They don't really do much to advance the plot, and they seem forced and somehow just off. :T There's only seven or so, but they're all kind of just there to narrow the demographic, IMO. This is not the sort of game you'd play for the porn anyway. ._.
An interesting aspect, though, is how the heroines force themselves on Hakuoro instead of the other way around. You almost feel bad for the guy...
Ero rating: Low quantity, low-medium depravity, medium emotion.
Overall:
THIS GAME. PLAY IT. Now, I may be biased once again, so maybe you shouldn't go into it with my sort of enthusiasm, but if you want something interesting, gameplay-laced and don't mind something long, I highly recommend this.
Just prepare some tissues for the ending. All I'll say.
Overall rating: 10/10 (if for the story alone)
Additional:
There's an anime of this out, for those of you who can't deal with H-scenes in the slightest, and it's actually a very good adaption. A few OVAs too.
No comments:
Post a Comment