LogFAQs > #963379163

2) Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen
Aquaplus / NIS America
PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, PC
Released May 26, 2020
Would make my top 100 list if re-written: Yes, 50s

A while back I said that I would play the Utawarerumono series once Prelude was finally released over here, and in 2020 that finally happened. I'm glad I did since it's almost required for some of the events happening in the third game, not much in the second though. While Mask of Truth is definitely the highlight of the series, that and Prelude stand high over Mask of Deception in both story and gameplay overall.

Prelude to the Fallen stars an amnesiac man discovered in a forest by a family of two girls and their grandmother. He wears a particular mask on his face that cannot be removed. After being named Hakuowlo by the family, he gets accepted into the village after recovering from his injuries. The rest of the story takes place across the continent Hakuowlo finds himself on, and his search for who he actually is.

Prelude is a hybrid between a visual novel and a strategy RPG, however it leans more towards the visual novel side as the story is front and center here. It even takes a while to get to the first battle of the game, since the protagonist is injured for quite some time. The strategy RPG is pretty bare-bones, especially compared to the Mask games, by limiting stat-ups to only attack, defense, and magic defense. The optimal way to play is to raise attack at every opportunity and you'll easily win every battle even when playing on Hard mode, like I was. This doesn't apply to the bonus battle after the game, which gives you pre-set characters to use instead. Even with this game having the most story battles than any of the other games in the series, it's still mostly an easy task going through it all - I didn't lose a battle the entire time in the game and had to purposely lose one as one trophy requires the Game Over screen to appear at some point.

Of course, with a visual novel being the main game it needs to have a good story and characters, and the game does a solid job there. The main story goes into the politics of the various nations that Hakuowlo finds himself entangled with, and the large breaks between different battles allow for a lot of slice of life events to flesh out the characters a bit more. It gives you a greater impact as the story unfolds throughout the game. The soundtrack is always a treat, with this remake adding in music tracks from its two sequels and remastering others (such as the ones linked below) to provide a better experience.

While this a game and world that really expands in its sequels, the first game is still a great title that is not to be missed.

Soundtrack Links
Re:boot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_UWy3H8ek

Re:boot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgol2-lAX3U