Board 8 > Wifebolo plays House in Fata Morgana [progressive spoilers]

(+) Yeah! (+)

'call the maid 10 times' achievement AU.

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Prologue

The Maid comes to wake Morgana. Morgana had told the Maid that they are the same entity. Maid offers her tea, and she refuses. The Maid asks Morgana to tell her a story, the one about Michel and Giselle. Morgana grumbles that she's getting tired of telling that one after so many times, but all right.

Morgana asks the Maid if she thinks Giselle and Michel should be reunited? The Maid thinks Giselle would be happiest in that case, but notes that Giselle takes the name Michelle when she is reborn, and Michel himself has yet to show himself. Perhaps Giselle would be happier moving on from him? The Maid wishes she could entertain Giselle in the mansion, make her feel at home. Morgana is secretly gleeful at the Maid's inaccuracies.

'What would you do if YOU were Giselle?' Morgana asks the Maid. The Maid says sure, what's a few hundred years. She is mentally divorced from Giselle's painful reality at this point. Morgana claims her response not interesting enough, and refuses to retell the story.

Morgana goes out to the garden and speaks with the shadow of Mell, who begs her to release him, apologizes, tries to reach Morgana's heart, but she won't have it. Morgana stands at the top of the cellar stairs and all she can hear is beastly growls from the Swordsman. Maybe he's yelling in Japanese. Who knows. Morgana doesn't wanna bother with him today. The Man in the Painting calls out to her, hoping for a little slice of conversation, and she ignores him. How rude! Jacopo's shadow stands there silently. Morgana compliments him on finding a man's shape, but ridicules his inability to speak or move. He manages to say her name, but she swiftly departs.

The Maid is found staring out the window - a shadow with white hair is approaching the house. Morgana starts freaking internally because the mansion isn't in the physical realm right now, so how could they have visitors...? The Maid starts buzzing about, making preparations for 'her'. The Maid starts calling the shadow her 'Master', even though she's never referred to her that way.

[And then Michel comes in and everything is terrible forever - it is a prologue, after all.]

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Backstage

Morgana greets us and suggests that if we would like some time to meditate on the game, we should do so now, as this backstage portion does not respect the overall tone of the game proper.

A quiet moment at home with Giselle and Michel. She's overexcited about finding split ends on his hair. Michel says he's not very attached to the long hair, if she wants to cut it. Giselle's not too sure. Morgana tries to introduce us, but Giselle and Michel can't see us. Morgana urges Michel to accompany us on a tour of the house. She starts with talking about Michel and Giselle. It's a celebrity roast, more or less. Michel's core aspects are 'justice' and 'righteousness', but they're covered over by the abuse he suffered. Morgana calls Michel a NEET, and reveals he was born under an unlucky star. Michel insists he never wanted to be a recluse.

Morgana moves on to Giselle, and roasts her for having such a different personality than the Maid. When Morgana starts teasing her about her speech patterns as the Maid, Giselle shoots back that she started talking like that because of Morgana's theatrics. The two lovebirds start teasing Morgana for being cute. Apparently, in the demo, the Maid's traits were mixed with what would eventually become Morgana, making her seem very different. The creators wanted to see how they could turn a cheerful, happy woman into an empty husk of a human.

Morgana moves on with Michel, she puts him in charge of introducing the different characters. We get to choose which of the three vile betrayers to visit. I figure we'll go in order, so I pick Mell. 'Desire to be loved' is his theme. Michel and Mell start bickering as always. Mell needs a lot of validation, he's not very bold and brave when things get difficult, has low self-esteem. Morgana won't stop ragging on Mell the entire time that he's a spineless wuss.

We go see the Swordsman. Morgana right off the bat is calling him a psychopathic monster. His main theme is 'boundaries', and it can't be confirmed that he's Japanese in the final chapter, which is a little bogus. Fence-sitting on sanity/madness, humanity/barbarity, faithfulness/infidelity - Morgana insists this is true even though all the Swordsman needs is peace and a tether in a relationship. She teases him that Chapter 2 was so long because of all his cackling - but 'at least you were having fun'. She calls the Merchant character 'vapid' but the Swordsman insists that he was trying his best to tell Pauline what a woman likes to hear. Morgana comments that the Swordsman's straightforward nature is oddly refreshing, considering he's one of the worst characters. They redub Yukimasa 'The Masked Man', and he bids farewell to the angel and the witch - but not before Michel gets snippy again about being called an angel.

Jacopo is next. He's super upset that Morgana brought Michel along, and that he never gets to spend any time alone with Morgana. Jacopo starts openly ragging on France and all things French, which, fair. Michel shuts him up with one, quick verbal jab. Morgana prods him for his fragile masculinity, from what I understand this brought about some whining from localization critics [of which there are many]. He's super insecure. Super insecure people have a few different flavors, but the prideful ones can't even help themselves.

Fundamentally, Jacopo is 'pure of heart'. The pride and ego are all for show, he feels very indebted to those that have helped him realize his dream of power. Communication, especially regarding his own feelings, is his primary stumbling block.

Next we get to see the girls! Nellie first. Primary trait is 'excessively adores her older brother'. Yep. They get talking, and Nellie insists on dancing or singing or something. Morgana sings, and although Michel feels a little woozy afterwards, Nellie is totally spaced out. Morgana says she'll be like that for a couple hours.

Pauline! She's appearing as the Nun, but we are by the sea, so that's good! Pauline 'has a tendency to put blind faith in people'. Morgana and Michel quiz her on what she sees in Yukimasa - initially she fell for the hardworking, normal facade he put out there. But eventually, she could tell he was teetering on the edge and wanted to help him out. There's a running gag that started with Giselle, where the cue cards are ranking their racks - Giselle is #1 and apparently Pauline is #2, size-wise. Pauline mentions that this was another thing she appreciated about Yukimasa - he never gave girls inappropriate looks. Pauline tries to bless us as we leave, and Morgana gets snippy with her about using God's name, especially while yearning for worldly pleasures.

On to Maria! Morgana seems to regret her actions, but Maria isn't holding a grudge. Maria's cue card is blank, suggesting she is exactly what she appears to be. Morgana comes up with the theme of 'sisterhood' off the cuff. Maria accepts it, and Morgana blushes.

Next...Aimee. Ugh. We switch to 'portrait mode'. Aimee tortured people for the joy of it, which makes her the worst. She's the Masked Woman to go with the 'Masked Man'. Aimee had her claws in the Bollingers pretty deep. Michel can't wait to get out of there, for obvious reasons.

Georges!! We are talking to him in the painting. Georges laughs with us about the existence of the White-Haired Girl, and how he never thought for a second that WHG was Michel. Morgana reads the cue card - Georges is the dumbest in the game. Morgana teases him about being illegitimate once they've reviewed the Bollinger Punnett square and the resulting phenotypes. Michel wants to bring the painting with, but Morgana refuses.

Time for Dee! Oh, Didier, why are you still the haunted knight outside, my dude. You had such fire in your eyes as a young man. Morgana asks him if he recalls killing Georges at the end of the game, and Didier sinks into a deep guilt over his actions towards his brothers. Welp.

Michel asks about seeing WHG, but Morgana says they can't, since she doesn't exist anymore. Morgana counteroffers that we return to Giselle.

We do so, and Giselle is in her Maid outfit. The three squeeze together for a cute frame as they say goodbye. Morgana is tossing barbs still, but Giselle insists that no matter what the truth is, she is together with Michel and they'll werk it out. That means more to me than you can know. Giselle makes a special announcement about A Requiem for Innocence, also coming out in English the same year as FataMoru. Backstage achievement unlocked! Woo!

What's this I hear about slightly different info or dialogue if you play through the game a second time?

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I can't follow this topic as closely because I haven't played the post-game or DLC stuff yet, but:

Llarian posted...

'call the maid 10 times' achievement AU.

This is so damn good.

I'll answer some of the questions later though.

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KamikazePotato posted...

I can't follow this topic as closely because I haven't played the post-game or DLC stuff yet, but:

This is so damn good.

I'll answer some of the questions later though.

Until the Limited Run Switch copy comes in and I can play more, I'm not getting any further than the part of the game I just finished. So that's a few months of memes, fan art and discussion.

Feel free to check back when you can!
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That being said, I may play this through a second time for 'The Departed' Steam achievement and any additional material that I would otherwise miss out on. And I have to find all the bad ends for 'Incompetent Hero' Steam achievement too. Gotta get myself killed as many times as possible XD

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quick digital sketch of Michel.

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Most relatable character: Michel without a doubt, the GOAT of visual novel protagonists
Least relatable character: Aimee, less said about her the better... I guess these first two prompts kinda turned into "Favorite/Least Favorite" characters for me, but I suppose it makes sense in a way
Character I would date: Giselle, Pauline is a good choice too
Character I didn't expect to like as much as I do: I think if, after playing the first three doors, you said that my favorite character would be faceless, featureless "master of the mansion" I'd say you'd be crazy. But Michel wound up stealing my heart.
Character I expected to like more than I do: Georges. I mean, he's cool, but I think I usually characters like way more. Don't know why he didn't click as much.... though I will say, the SPOILER thing he does that you haven't seen yet is pretty damn good IMO.
Opinion changed the most over the course of the game: Yukimasa, I think. Jacopo is close too. Just real roller coaster characters especially in the final door (at least I think it's the final door... the one where Michel goes to the past)

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Most relatable character: Michel manages to somehow be the straight man despite his ridiculous circumstances. GOAT Visual Novel protagonist is correct.
Least relatable character: I'm not counting Aimee because she's not major enough. I would have to say Jacopo because the latter half of Door 3 is the one part of the game I didn't buy into. Just say something, dude.
Character I would date: Giselle is too good for this world.
Character I didn't expect to like as much as I do: Yukimasa is a very interesting and nuanced representation of an utterly vile human being.
Character I expected to like more than I do: Jacopo is basically the tsundere archetype taken to its horrible end conclusion, but he makes a great first impression.
Opinion changed the most over the course of the game: Mell really comes across as a well-meaning decent dude in most of Door 1, and the game does a good job at peeling back his character and showing that he's only a decent dude when it's easy. As soon as things start going poorly he turns into a cowardly asshole. Helped set the tone of the game for me.

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GANON1025 posted...

Opinion changed the most over the course of the game: Yukimasa, I think. Jacopo is close too. Just real roller coaster characters especially in the final door

Yes, this. I wasn't sure how they were going to upend it, but upend it they did. I love how in each part of the game, they're subverting expectations and manage to do it in a compelling way rather than a frustrating one.

KamikazePotato posted...

Character I expected to like more than I do: Jacopo is basically the tsundere archetype taken to its horrible end conclusion

I laughed out loud here. Yes. Too much tsun and not enough dere makes Jacopo...sad. It's interesting how Jacopo wants to be kinder than he is, Yukimasa wants to be more human than he is, and Mell wants to have a spine, maybe, ever.

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By the way, not part of any of the questions, but I want to point out how insanely effective Door 4 was for me. The combination of the dreamlike main plot and the altered/added text in the text log gave me a feeling that hasn't been replicated in any other piece of media. Such a powerfully surreal experience.

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KamikazePotato posted...

By the way, not part of any of the questions, but I want to point out how insanely effective Door 4 was for me. The combination of the dreamlike main plot and the altered/added text in the text log gave me a feeling that hasn't been replicated in any other piece of media. Such a powerfully surreal experience.

Yes, this was an aspect of the gameplay that I thought about long after it was over. It gave the unsettling feeling of losing one's memory [have inattentive ADHD, so I am frequently losing track of things and wondering]. It was very freaky and very, very effective.

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The text log stuff is very cool, but honestly I never would have checked if someone didnt tell me too lol. So being to check it kinda ruined the surprise a little

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GANON1025 posted...

The text log stuff is very cool, but honestly I never would have checked if someone didnt tell me too lol. So being to check it kinda ruined the surprise a little

Sorry to hear you didn't come across this naturally. Yeah, that does kinda take the teeth out of a little :\

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All righty, gentle reminder that all things House in Fata Morgana are 50% off on Steam until May 6th.

I am very tempted to get A Requiem for Innocence at that price >_>

Otherwise, I start replaying this week.

Thoughts?


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Nvm, it was until a certain time on May 6th.

Plus I got the CE coming, and I ain't got the budget to be buying multiple copies on multiple systems. A replay it is.

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At door... 8? Hoping I finish before this topic purges because I'm curious what other people think

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masterplum posted...

At door... 8? Hoping I finish before this topic purges because I'm curious what other people think

No worries, I'm trying to keep this thing alive for as long as possible. :D I'm glad you're giving it a try!

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The end of this game is taking entirely too long. Mel isn't so bad after all. I get it.

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masterplum posted...

The end of this game is taking entirely too long. Mel isn't so bad after all. I get it.

Yeah, they proceed with the rest of everyone else and it is quite a process. >_>

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Yeah. Got to the swordsman's tragic backstory or whatever and turned it off for the day. (Also Pauline acting like him being a psycho was no big deal was pretty ????)

I feel like this VN would be fantastic if it was less bloated. I feel like I could read every other line of dialog in some of these conversations and miss nothing. Really dragging down a great story.

My spouse also voice acts all the cries based on how over the top and absurd they are. We had an argument how to pronounce "Ngh"

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masterplum posted...

My spouse also voice acts all the cries based on how over the top and absurd they are. We had an argument how to pronounce "Ngh"

Thank you for this mental image.

I always thought of 'Ngh' as that sound in your throat when you grit your teeth and flinch because something is painful. Not voiced so much as a small groan, mouth closed.

What was your interpretation?

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Llarian posted...

Thank you for this mental image.

I always thought of 'Ngh' as that sound in your throat when you grit your teeth and flinch because something is painful. Not voiced so much as a small groan, mouth closed.

What was your interpretation?

I agree with that. She always just yells "En-Gah" just to troll me

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There was one though that was completely incomprehensible consonants next to each other where I conceded the point that it was not an actual sound. Don't remember what it was.


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masterplum posted...

There was one though that was completely incomprehensible consonants next to each other where I conceded the point that it was not an actual sound. Don't remember what it was.

These do happen. We do have our demonic sounds and torture, after all.

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Finished.

The past section was entirely too long, some of the exposition was way too drawn out, and the swordsman was never redeemable. I also thought that the ending dwelled a bit too much on Michael/Giselle when so much of the novel didnt revolve around them.

Having said that, the parallelism of Jacobos character was incredible and I give it major props for going so long with me having absolutely no idea where it was going.

I thought it was good, but not earth shattering

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masterplum posted...

Finished.

Congrats!

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I liked reading your critiques. Jacopo really threw me for a loop there too.


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Yikes. That week went by fast. I'm going to start my replay this weekend, so I'll let you know what new stuff pops up.

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IRL has been throwing me for a big loop. Sorry y'all. Will be back to it ASAP.

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All righty, I checked on Limited Run Games and the Switch CE status is 'In Production'! Something to look forward to. Anyone else excited for their order?

I'm traveling these days but when I can return to replay I will.

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Done traveling. Replay writeups to start next week.

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It keeps getting away from me. No more promises.

This game really stands out as a game that you think of long after you've played it. Have y'all played any other games like that? [no spoilers please]

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Virtues last reward

and braid

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masterplum posted...

Virtues last reward

and braid

Virtue's Last Reward is part of Zero Escape/999 right?

Have you played Gris? The art style is totally different, but Braid's puzzle solving/platform gameplay makes me think of that.

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Haven't heard of it

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masterplum posted...

Haven't heard of it

I have heard Journey comparisons - there are platforms that are part of larger puzzles, and the nature of the world changes depending on how you interact with it. At first your character can only walk, but as they proceed, they start to be able to run, jump, glide, thwomp on things to weigh them down temporarily, etc.

There are no fail states, so you are free to explore and find out what works and what doesn't. The color is vibrant, the art is beautiful, the puzzles are frustrating at times, but there's no text/dialogue/other delays to interrupt the gameplay.

I've played it all the way through and I enjoyed it. YMMV.


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Favorite track from the OST?

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Checked Limited Run and it's still in production. We're running out of July for it to be shipped though...

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New estimated ship date is August 2021. Really looking forward to it. What have y'all been playing these days?

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Got the confirmation email that all shipping address updates must be made by August 4th, 2021. They will likely start prepping to ship the week of August 8th?

Anyway, hype. I ordered some colored contacts so I'm excited for those to come in around the time this game is shipped.

Unrelated, I am hoping to do some cosplay from HiFM at some point, seems like it would be fun. Michel tops the list, but Maid would be fine too. Wish I could cosplay Didier, but I'm not that cool looking. XD

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All shipping address updates must be made by TODAY, August 4th, 2021.

I'm so excited. I can't wait to play the rest of it and see the gorgeous illustrations and hear the VOICES. One thing I may not have mentioned is that I'm an 80s-00s seiyuu geek, I love Japanese voices, and it sounds like they've got a good slate of them for HiFM's sequel Reincarnation.

My favorite seiyuu [who is sadly not in House in Fata Morgana] is Kosugi Jurota, who was:

• Briareos in Appleseed
• David from Blood+
• Dryden from Vision of Escaflowne
• Fernand de Morcerf from Gankutsuou
• Jotaro Kujo from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure OVA [1993]
• Kasper Linz from Legend of the Galactic Heroes [1988]
• Zagato and Lantis from Magic Knight Rayearth [1994]
• Henken Bekkener from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
• Arlong in One Piece
• Akio Ohtori from Revolutionary Girl Utena
• Mr Legend from Tiger & Bunny
• Krauss Ushiromiya from Umineko no Naku Koro ni [2009]

I'm not even sure if there'd be anyone for him to be, aside from possible Didier especially as a ghost? He has a deep voice that can be either militant/harsh or soft/seductive, depending on the role.

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Looking at the next three weeks in anticipation... hopefully the Switch copy arrives this month after it got delayed last month.

Finally gonna start my replay this week, opened HiFM up last night and took a look - playing it through a second time gets me an achievement and so does reaching all the bad ends. :D

How have y'all been?

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Hrgh. I keep checking LRG daily and a whole lotta nothin'. 'In Production' is all it says. I hope they didn't forget about me.

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Llarian posted...

What have y'all been playing these days?

It Takes Two with my wife. Very fun.

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Llarian posted...

Hrgh. I keep checking LRG daily and a whole lotta nothin'. 'In Production' is all it says. I hope they didn't forget about me.

It will definitely take a while since it's still in production because there's a lot of items they have on deck in front of it right now. Including my order of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which is apparently ready but hasn't shipped yet.

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Maniac64 posted...

It Takes Two with my wife. Very fun.

Co-op games are a good time!

Arti posted...

It will definitely take a while since it's still in production because there's a lot of items they have on deck in front of it right now. Including my order of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which is apparently ready but hasn't shipped yet.

I appreciate you weighing in on this. Now that I'm looking into it more, it sounds like this is pretty common for LRG and companies across the board have really slowed down in the wake of 2020.
Hope you get your Scott Pilgrim game soon!

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Have you all heard about this?

https://twitter.com/MangaGamer/status/1424156566878625795

From what I gather, this is a new VN that uses characters from Fata Morgana, but it's unconnected narratively and their actual experiences and identities are completely different; the two have no actual connections, so it ends up being more that the original characters are treated as more like an archetype that gives you an immediate understanding of what kind of character theyre going to be if youve played the original.

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Here's a ... trailer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz2vr8I9Uik&ab_channel=MangaGamer

Not really sure what to make of it...

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GANON1025 posted...

Here's a ... trailer?

Not really sure what to make of it...

Yeah, that trailer was special, but did help make the distinction in tone for HiFM fans XD

I'm interested to see where it goes.

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Update from LRG: status of HiFM CE is 'On Deck'. According to their subreddit, this means it's at the warehouse but will get out to me eventually.

Sounds like LRG has this issue with delivery times. Hope I don't have to wait for a year like the Ys CE who was the OP on that thread.

We'll see.

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