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

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (M.o.T) is better than its predecessor (Mask of Deception - M.o.D), and a wonderful conclusion to one of the most epic tales you can find in a VN. The only problem this title has is the combat, which was OK in M.o.D, but turn to "sheer number crushing" here, if you have the miserable idea of playing this in hard mode (which I did). Top tier VN otherwise, and I don't believe you will regret reading this.

Positive:
- The characters, and their group dynamics, got even better because their interactions are expanded, and they are allowed a greater range of emotions. Lots of great characters, that you are bound to remember for a long time.
- The OST is massive and high quality. The voice acting is great too (Haku, Kuon, Anju, Nekone...).
- Delightful art style. It's not a universal remark, but i really like it. It's a personal reference to this day, if we are talking VN's.
- A turn to tragedy. The previous titles were big on fluff, comedy, and slice of life, this one is heavily influenced by negative emotions, and dramatic events. It got very serious, and I loved that.
- Worldbuilding finally delivers. All those hours of setting up, will finally turn to reward, and it was worth it, in my opinion. It's an epic story, now unfolded.
- Many interesting themes. A lot of them have to deal with losing someone important , and the need to grow. Don't listen to naysayers, the depth is certainly there, and paying attention will be rewarding.

Neutral:
- The answer to all the questions you might had, is found - Most things were addressed in a satisfying manner. As well they should.

Negative:
- It's the combat. Listen to me, Do NOT play this in hard mode. The battles become very long, annoying, and liable to "explode your blood pressure". There's no difficulty, no skill, no learning curve. It's a just terrible waste of time.

Score: Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is a 9/10, and a great VN. Right now, I'd put it in a "top 20 best VN's ever". If you want an epic adventure, in a fantasy setting, with awesome characters, the search is over, and reading this will equal treating yourself. Just keep in mind that the combat, is not in line with the rest of the VN.

(No sexual content)

All time favorite VN, Playing the previous game (mask of deception)is requied and either playing the original Utawarerumono or its remake (or the anime adaptation of it) is also.

Fun combat system, but it's the story that carries this.

I played all 3 games. I just gotta say, I enjoyed all of them, but... Mask of Truth just felt like the devs just sort of got tired and started to try less and less.

ALSO JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T READ TAGS, NO HENTAI!

Here's my review;

Gameplay: 5/5, same as the prequel.
No major problems here. Some crits seem harder to get than the prequel for some reason, and some crits have less of a timing window then they seem, while others are much more forgiving. Example: Atuy's chain is super fast but I was able to consistently get it, while Kuon's close range attack, I'd constantly miss the second hit's critical. It just felt strange TBH.

It adds Munechika's Trials which help introduce new challenges and things. It actually teaches you some things. However, it's ratings of difficulty seem to be off. Some 3 stars are very... Dynamic? And require some thinking, while some 5 stars were easy enough to just figure out the order of stuff.

Has like, 25 or 26 stages? Has a lot of battles and the difficulty went from medium (early), to hard (mid-game), to easy (late game). Some of the stages felt really difficult to try and "perfect" and I tried pretty hard while some others I just ran off instinct and won.
BTW, I've beaten FE:Echoes on Hard, so I do believe I know a thing or two about strategy. So if you're new to strategy games, it might be harder.

Overall, nothing particularly bad. Also the "VN" part of the game is... Just like any other. You read. And listen. Or just read. Or just listen if you understand Japanese.

Soundtrack: 5/5, actually really good.
Nothing much to say here, some music you might get sick of because of how long this game is and you'll DEFINITELY re-listen to some of them, but overall, they're all good. Sounds are really good too.

Story: 3/5, I... Felt Disappointed.
The OG Utawarerumono and Mask of Deception made me feel actually sad. Mask of Truth? Not really. Not even in those emotional scenes. A lot of stuff felt "Deus Ex" where rules are specifically bent for our MC or they get EXCEEDINGLY lucky or something, and some stuff felt like it broke the logic set up by the previous games. And many a times, it'd go over EVERY character and their opinions or thoughts and whatnot, and by the end, I was like, "Oh I'm almost done" but I wasn't. I was several hours off. Credits roll TWICE, and there's a scene after BOTH sets of credits.

Basically, some things were off, not as emotional, felt like it violated previous rules, lots of cliches and stuff. Early on, it's good, but by the end, it starts to drop the ball.

Art/Animations: 5/5, A N I M E
It's consistent with the prequel, and even on it's own, it's good. Some designs are still questionable like, why are all transformations... Sharks? Not really bad per se but... Also some animations during cutscenes are desynced or something, and just look weird. But the designs of... A certain shota trio post-mortem were pretty cool.

TL;DR: 4/5, some flaws but great nonetheless
I would still highly recommend getting the game after playing the prequels. On it's own, it's really good, story is great-to-mediocre, art & music is awesome, and gameplay is really good. I just wish that the plot didn't go so downhill. It just felt like it got dumb and "lucky" in certain situations. Can't get into those scenes because spoilers.

Really great but not perfect, the first arc goes on too long, some questionable choice by the character that are hard to make sense of, some conveniences and cliche for the sake of plot here and there.
Still all that ended up overshadowed for me by how invested i was in the characters, how much i enjoyed them, they're interaction etc...

As with the first two the music, voices, art and gamepaly are S tier.

Mc journey and development is amazing, quite and emotional roller coaster of a story, a bunch of good plot twist.

Outstanding trilogy of visual novel, unforgettable cast of characters, S Tier production value, enjoyable while imperfect story, if you enjoyed the two others you'll like this one, recommended !

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 requires you to have played the prequel Mask of Deception to really understand it..