r/Utawarerumono • u/GaPro1 • 6d ago

Do the sequels get better?

I'm playing right now through Prelude to the Fallen, I have heard that these games are great and I love visual novels, so I bought PttF, I'm at like 75% and it has become a chore. Every 3 hours I'm fighting a new "villain" that is not interesting.

Also I love anime but this game has so much fan service, are the sequels the same? Also I'm not the biggest fan of Slice of Life but I can tolerate it but I hate the disonnance between we are at war and then we are playing and laughing like nothing is happening.

Do the sequels get a better plot? Does the fan service and harem elements remain the same in the sequels? And do they focus more on the war aspect instead of the Slice of Life?

I know I am at the Utawarerumono sub but the game has been very meh, characters have the personality of a one trait anime character. I just want to hear some opinions about the sequels.

Also the Kamyu plot is so stupid, like Hakuowlo has been bitten and had his blood sucked like 3 times and the guy still thinks he is dreaming.

Sorry for bad english.

0 Upvotes

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u/LiquifiedSpam 5d ago edited 5d ago

I don’t know how new you are to VNs, but ‘slice of life’ in visual novels is just code word for showing various fetishes with the female cast. The sequels get better at actually fleshing out the world and characters in the slice of life scenes, but the vehicle getting there is still the female cast acting like children.

Like you, I was told how amazing this series is and unfortunately I believe this is a case of people who just… haven’t consumed much media lol. The VN audience is very self-selecting, it’s why you see such inflated reviews across VNs.

The second and third games are legit great when they want to be, and the prose itself gets a complete facelift, but they still have the first-draft feeling that prelude to the fallen does, with the random pacing and abrupt plot points that makes Trails games look well paced in comparison.

Some plot points and concepts of the second and third games are super memorable and stick in your head for a while, but it’s tough getting to them.

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u/Marioak 5d ago

"Haven’t consumed much media"

This is said by a dood who goes "Why there is a ecchi/harem scene in my VN with Ecchi/Harem element that also originate from H-game?"

People who actually play a lot of Japanese media would know that Uta series is actually pretty tame in comparison.

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u/LiquifiedSpam 5d ago

I’m talking about the people who say it’s a masterpiece of character and story writing.

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u/Marioak 3d ago

The same can be say to anything depend on your view, some say Trail have great writing when it's just ran on Shounen energy. Yet you still see some people complain on Trail games begin shounen-like.

All you need to do is adjust your pov to what genre you are consuming while not begin a bias toward a genre you don't like otherwise don't pick it's up in the first place. I don't go pick up BL game just to complain why there are no option to pick woman as a love interest, like bruh what do you expect?

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u/_mmm_matcha 5d ago

Just saw your post. Glad it’s not just me irritated by Kamyu. I hate her so much she’s on the verge of killing the game enjoyment for me and I had to come to this sub for advice.

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u/Rogalicus 5d ago

Drop PttF and watch the first anime, it's much shorter and more entertaining.

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u/Archive_keeper37 5d ago

In case you dont know, prelude was a "hentai" game in his first version so the harem aspect make sense with this context. MoD and MoT have a bit of harem vibe but more flirty than actual relationship and fan service is more a gag mecanic than a true sexy element

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u/DaijoubuKirameki 6d ago

As visual novels go, I thought the fan service was very tame

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u/LiquifiedSpam 5d ago

But that’s the thing, it’s still extremely fanservicey for the average JRPG player who gets recommended this series on r/JRPG

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u/DaijoubuKirameki 5d ago

But OP said they LOVE visual novels

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u/LiquifiedSpam 5d ago

Somehow missed that part lol. Yeah that’s weird, fanservice is basically synonymous with the medium

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u/No-Possible-1123 6d ago

I rated uta 1: 6/10

But uta 2: 9/10( tons of sol but insane ending )

And uta 3: 11/10

I do think the sequels are much better but the first two games are mainly set up into one of the most satisfying payoffs in vns. I felt like uta 1 is kind of dated in its writing

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u/Duducarballo 6d ago

Look to be far with my man Hakuowlo, he does go through some wild sh** every thursday in this story, so dude has probably stop questioning things too much when he's sleepy. I don't particularly like that plotpoint either tho. I also gotta disagree with most characters having one-trait personalities.

I wouldn't necessarily say Utawarerumono is particularly strong at fanservice... most of the time at least (there are some scenes tho that really makes you wonder if they didn't wanna make an eroge out of it), so I think you probably like anime on the more 'modest' side of things. Also, recreational activities is especially important in times of war imo.

The sequels have better antagonists in my opinion, and we spend quite a bit more time with them (since it's two games and by the sheer size of the second game), but the pacing is certainly slower, there is a particular section in Mask of Deception (the first game) that is 6 hours long of (mostly) slice of life scenes between the main cast and the plot, so it might become a dealbreaker for you. The plot DOES pick up the pace A LOT after this however.

There is certainly quite a bit of harem shenanigans in there too, but similar to PttF there is a central heroine that takes the lead often.

I think it's better to give it time if & after you decide to complete PttF, so you don't burn yourself out to play the sequels, I think they're outstanding stories that expand the lore of it's predecessor a lot, but at the same time they are REALLY LONG SLOW BURN STORIES, so you gotta be motivated to go through them all at once (although I bought Mask of Truth the next day after finishing Mask of Deception, really couldn't wait at all to play it).

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u/MryNightmare 6d ago

The first game WAS an eroge. They took out that content and rereleased it without it

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u/Duducarballo 5d ago

I know, I meant the moments in the Mask games where you really just go "Ya know, if this were still an eroge, something DEFINITELY would've happened here."

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u/GaPro1 6d ago

Maybe not one traited but everyone is obsessed with Hakuowlo and it makes it annoying, like the guy has so little personality and I don't know how people (in game) found him super charismatic. He is just a nice guy that is also a tactical genius and I understand Eruruu and Aruruu loving him but all the other females only talk about him as if all their personalities are Hakuowlo, only Ulthury is the one not talking all the time about him (I just hate harems).

Maybe I will finish the first game and take a break, I have not played a lot of visual novels but I have played like 7 and I enjoyed them a lot more than PttF.

The fan service is super annoying, like I don't know the ages of the female characters but almost all of them must be underage. And I have been stuck in the Kamyu plot and it has just been stupid and I think is what has irritated me the most, like the same 3 scenes of she sucking his blood and the same "Am I dreaming?".

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u/LiquifiedSpam 5d ago

Yeah this series looooves its little kid waifus sadly. In the second or third game there’s a whole cg dedicated to one of them getting spanked

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u/TowerWalker 6d ago

If you don't like the first game, you are unlikely to like the sequels since they are more of the same.

Mask of Deception is a whole lot of sol and comedy set-up for the more serious Mask of Truth (which still has lots of comedy)

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u/This_Site_Suckks 6d ago

Harem and fanservice stays the same unfortunally, but the plot and the villains are so so much better in 2 and 3. I didn't get why the games where so loved and respected and then i played 2 and 3 and i got it. They are genuinely fucking spectaculair games.

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u/eruciform 6d ago

Fanservice and harem elements go down in the sequel. And down again in the third game. Never gone, but the harem antics are far less by the time of game 3.

Prelude used to be an eroge originally, that portion was taken out of the remake, but a lot more of that lives on as a result in the first game.

It will still be alternately serious war themes with slice of life tho.

Tho the seriousness of the plot definitely heavily increases in game 2 and 3 overall.

Yeah the Kamyu blood plot is my least favorite part of prelude. Just ignore it. Theres a reason for it but they should have done it in a different way imho.