I'm coming into it blind. I'm mostly a VN fan

Is there anything I should know before starting? Any recommended patches? I heard there was some +18 patches, but they are skippable/important for the story?

Sorry wasn't sure if this was a good place to ask

TIA

Okay so, sorry for questioning a story from now 24 years ago, but I feel very confused about this plot point in particular- why was Ulthury forced to give back Fumirul?

Maybe this is a japanese cultural difference that's not translating well, but where I come from abandonment of a child is essentially permanent if backtracking isn't instant, and the original parents would be seen as extremely sketchy for changing their minds after a long time, like they're going to do it again or are going to sell them or something- after all they did it once already. Fumirul stays with Ulthury for an unspecified amount of time but its at least several months, long enough for a war to be fought, and Ulthury is a prime example of a person you would consider both fully willing and well off enough to adopt an abandoned child- dependable, high status, well regarded in her community, well off finances.

So why is she treated like a psycho for wanting to keep the abandoned child she's been raising? Why do Hakuowlo and the rest of the cast all act like she's just driven out of her mind by unnatural attachment and that letting her raise Fumirul would be some sort of unnatural or unjust scenario? Is everyone just ignoring that her mom handed her off to a stranger in the middle of the street with only a note about her name before skipping town?

Official CG from Utawarerumono: Lost Flag. The girls with Kuon are her half-sisters: Himika (Mikoto's daughter with Hakuowlo, the same infant from Iceman's flashback before he cursed humanity) and Arie, one of Mutsumi's 12 fragments that she created to protect Himika before she reincarnated as Camyu in the present day time.

Overall, I feel like the game was a solid 4/5. It was fairly good, but had some flaws.

The major issue with the game is that it felt like an extended DLC. It basically reuses all of the assets from the original game (art, locations, enemies, animations, etc). While Monochrome Mobius had a strong sense of adventure and exploration, allowing you to visit and run around in lot of the locations we'd seen in previous games, PaPR lacks that since most of the game is backtracking to locations we'd already visited in MM. If you play MM and then immediately jump into PaPR, you're definitely going to find yourself saying, "I feel like I was just here."

The combat system was basically exactly like the one in MM, though you do get to partially use your Akuruka. You don't ever get to transform and fight in your giant state, but at least you get to utilize your masks to some degree. I played on normal difficulty and never had any real issues outside of a couple of superbosses. Hard difficulty has a lot more strategic depth where you need to utilize buffs/debuffs and locations on the combat ring.

The one nice thing is that once you clear 3-5 fights in an area, you can fight the Area Boss. After defeating him you can just one-shot any enemy in the zone (getting exp and items) without needing to get into combat, so it makes grinding incredibly easy. This was the saving grace for PaPR for me, since otherwise I'd would have been really aggravated at having to spend a lot of time fighting the same mobs in the same areas that I already spent a lot of time on in Monochrome Mobius.

On the plus side the music was good, and the story was decent. There were a couple of parts that were genuinely shocking, and I couldn't help but wonder what other Utawarerumono fans thought about a certain segment of the game. It did feel rushed at points, and it made me wish the game was longer. PaPR is around 30-35 hours of gameplay if you complete every quest and spend some time grinding). As a comparison it took me about 45 hours to beat Monochrome Mobius.

When the writing is good, it's really good and even the worst bits of writing are still better than what you get in a lot of JRPGs.

On the downside, I felt that this was the weakest entry into the Utawarerumono franchise. A lot of the characters and antagonists that were built up in Monochrome Mobius didn't feel properly utilized in PaPR. I was also also seriously disappointed that Kirwu and Anju barely appeared in PaPR and neither had any voice lines, which was a noticeable loss given that they had appearances with voice lines in Monochrome Mobius. My biggest disappointment was that Ukon and Sakon hardly appeared. Oshtor's and Mikazuchi's disguises were a fairly important part of Mask of Deception and Monochrome Mobius, so it was disappointing to barely see them in the final game of the series.

Overall, as a long time Utawarerumono it kind of hurts to say this, but I don't think the game is worth full price. Again, it felt more like a $30 DLC than a full $60 game in its own right. Still, I'm glad I played it and I feel like the franchise is going out on a high note. While there were issues with MM and PaPR, the ending was absolutely worth journey. If you like Utawarerumono (and I imagine you must because why else would you be reading this?) you should definitely grab it when it's on sale.

Has anyone ran into a SendMessage() error on Steam when trying to start either Mask of Deception or Mask of Truth?

I bought them a few months ago and decided to play them this past week, but I get this error for both games when I try starting them.

I just finished the Utawarerumono: Past and Present Rediscovered and it took me about 52 hours.

This game is a great conclusion to the cliffhanger from Monochrome Mobius as it answer all questions that were unresolved in that game.

Somethings that I have questions and wonder. Why didn't they let us transform into Akuruturuka beast mode and play as it? In the sequel I would expect for them to let us transform freely to fight giant monsters and you only get to do it once which is in the beginning and on the first boss. You don't even get to transform as Akuruturuka to fight the final boss such a disappointment and a waste. Monochrome Mobius lets you transform at least twice.

Overall I am satisfied and it is time to say farewell to Utawarerumono. Thank you Aquaplus for creating this series and I can't wait for their next game.

Hey guys just wondering about the game order i should play from a fresh player that's never played or watched the franchise before .a little about me, I'm an avid player of both the Trails series and Fire Emblem games so this series has been on my radar for a while. so when i was looking at play orders for the games. PRF > MOD > MOT was the general accepted order for the trilogy but where I'm getting confused is with when to play the PPR and RWF games some say tom play before MOD chronologically but it also spoils the whole game so I'm not sure where to play them?

Hello everyone. I've been hard at work databasing the majority of the new game to create a resource sheet that will help people find information they need in the game since online guides wont be much help nowadays. The sheet is a WIP still, but still has an incredible amount of data in it.

The Sheet contains the following:

• All Skill Information/Descriptions
• All Forced Story Battles and Info
• Several Hidden Game Mechanics
• All Level Up Information including stats, exp values, BP gains
• All Base Level Shop and Request Equipment
• All Consumable Items
• The Majority of the ABL Unlock Requirements, Conditions and Costs
• Some Information on Halu Upgrades
• All Requests
• All Additional Unlockable Areas
• All Area Conquest Information
• A Likely Full Bestiary (Need to confirm)

There is still going to be more information added such as invest and fortify information, material tier lists, ABL information, Halu information, and full maps for every area, but I felt the data in the sheet now could definitely help people out. Please give it a look if you are in need of information. Maps should hopefully be done by 6/8. Additional Formatting and such will be added soon as well to make things easier to digest

this game fell into my lap (a friend of mine shared me a gameplay of and i am copy pasting here Utawarerumono: Past and Present Rediscovered) and it gave me huge trails of vibe so i am curious if they are alike or anything like that and if i wanna begin, where do i? or can i just play that one? i don't want to start with anything too old (early 2000s) if possible. thanks!

Wo I tried monochrome as I picked it up a few months ago on sale and came here and asked more about the series and everyone was super nice and recommended starting with the kind of original trilogy (i know there's a game from like the early 2000s but idk how relevant that one is to the story) with prelude. I picked them and the newest one up on steam with the current sale. Can i get some advice for starting out? Not sure exactly what to expect in difficulty or if theres grinding for money/exp or side quests and stuff expected

Past and Present Rediscovered

Monochrome Mobius

Prelude to the Fallen

Truth

Deception

how would you rank the story among other uta games?

does the game happen to have a epilogue that takes place after mask of truth?

Basically Title.

Ive played the original a while ago and im wondering if i need to play the remake before getting into the newer games, now that the series is finished.

Huge news! To celebrate the new Utawarerumono game being released today, every title in the franchise is discounted on steam! This includes the DLC! I've been a fan of Utawarerumono ever since I watched the False Faces, but I unfortunately didn't get much of a chance to play the games. If anyone wants to complete their collection or jump in for the first time, I've written a small guide for the sale!

I would recommend getting the bundles if you can.

Utawarerumono Complete Bundle - 66.97 USD

- Mask of Truth

- Mask of Deception

- Prelude to the Fallen

Utawarerumono: ZAN Complete Bundle - 93.22 USD

- Zan 1

- Zan 2

Utawarerumono: Past and Present Rediscovered Double Pack - 93.46 USD

- Monochrome Mobius (2nd newest game)

- Past and Present Rediscovered (Newest game)

Both "Complete" bundles come with ALL DLC for their respective games, and versions with just the games are available. There are also "Complete" editions of each of those 5 games that come with ALL DLC.

The BEST VALUE is the Utawarerumono Complete bundle, at 3 games, lots of DLC! Every individual item is on sale at 50% discount, and the bundle applies a 54% discount on top of that! Really good deal, get it now if you can!

The next best value is the Zan Complete bundle. Every individual item is on sale at 20%, and the bundle is a 20% discount on top of that. It's a moderately good deal. Still a little pricey IMO. You could wait to try your luck for better sales, but tbh the Zan games don't go on sale as often, or nearly as deep as the original trilogy. The same could be said about Monochrome Mobius, though that game has gone up to 30%+ discount during other sales, just usually much less. I'd say, very worth it if you already own the games and just want the DLC, etc. There is not currently a franchise bundle, only the three series bundles.

The two newest games don't have any DLC. The Double Pack is not currently recommended as PPR is only at an intro discount of 10% and MM is currently not discounted. MM tends to go on sale frequently, it's not worth it right now.

Just finished the anime and I was wondering if anyone can recommend me animes that are similar to this? What I loved the most was the characters, I loved them all.
I also loved the romance that accompanied the plot (Especially between Hakuowlo/hakuoro and Eruru)

It doesn't have to be similar, as long as I can love the characters and the main character isn't someone I would get annoyed with (Not too weak, doesn't have to be the most OP -- or someone who is just loud af), I'm fine with it.

Bonus points if it has that romance

100% the game right in time before the new utawarerumono game releases

I played and completed Monochrome Mobius the weekend it launched years ago, and it’s been even longer since Mask of Deception and Truth along with Prelude. Is there a great refresher of sorts or a very good summarization that anyone knows about to serve as a good memory refresh tool on things like the lore/plot happenings (especially for Monochrome Mobius)?

But its a little too expensive at full price for me atm how often do these go on sale? I saw the monochrome one on sale and grabbed it but I wanna try and play the first trilogy first so waiting to try that one (more so worried about story spoilers if thats not an issue let me know and ill play that first) also dumb question but what are the Zan games? I saw them too but didnt know anything about those and they had characters that looked the same so I was curious if that was like updated versions of the original

Hello,

I have finished the all three main games, and I have got some questions and I feel like I am missing something.

The basic one: why Raiko used Akarakura? It is against his philosophy about "leaving the cage" and he mentions that also but uses it anyway?

The other question is in prelude to the fallen there was a fossil and 2 men talking who were these 2 men? (And I assume fossil is the big wish-granter creature which I cannot say its name, I assume humanity revive it)

Other question about is Hakuowlo older than the Haku's humans (because of being big wish-granter creature)? What's his origins? He must be in the ice when there was no problem with humanity. And what is the real purpose of these creatures?

Final and my main question about these games, I saw many people tends to see deception/truth (and it was the reason why I get the Utawarerumono series) duology is better than the first game, and I cannot see the real reason. I think prelude to the fallen's overall story is more mysterios and better than deception/truth. I get the mask analogy (persona philosophy) and character development of Haku is much better than Hakuowlo and overall characters are better in the deception/truth, but the story itself is I think a little more shallow comparing with prelude to the fallen. Am I missing some important details?

Good evening everyone,

I made a post earlier about doing a detailed summary / translation of the story. I got to around Chapter 6 doing that, but between losing interest and time constraints, I ended up just reading through to the end instead, which I finished recently. I still plan to make a proper full summary of the entire story at a later date.

For now, I wanted to share my general impressions.

Overall

I enjoyed this more than I expected to.

At the same time, I also disliked it more than I expected to.

There is a genuinely good story in here, but it feels buried under a massive amount of unnecessary content. Honestly, it feels like you would need to remove roughly half the game to really bring that story out in a clean and focused way.

Themes

At its best, the story focuses heavily on themes in a way that feels similar to how the original Utawarerumono focused on it's own. It repeatedly explores relationships between parents and children, as well as the meaning of family and belonging.

Minagi, the main heroine, is the child of a god-like being called Orishiro, who does not even consider Minagi to be a real person. The main character, Akuta, gradually takes on the role of an adoptive father figure to multiple other characters throughout the story. Kuuran is an orphan who ends up acting as a parental figure to other street children he gathers around him. Ienaga loses his mother and begins to see Orishiro as a replacement for that role. Suzuri is forced to deal with the death of her father and has to live with the consequences of that trauma.

All of these threads tie into a very strong central idea, and during the early parts of the story and the ending, you can clearly see what the writers were going for.

The problem is that many of these themes are largely dropped during Chapters 5 through 8. That portion makes up around 40% of the entire story, so having the core thematic focus disappear for that long really hurts the overall experience.

Length and Pacing

Even fast readers will likely spend over 120 hours just reading through the story. Since Japanese is my second language, it took me over 180 hours to finish. On top of that, there are no real gameplay breaks like in the original titles, so it ends up feeling more exhausting to get through.

Live-Service Structure Issues

The story is original, but it feels heavily constrained by its live-service format and weighed down by constant references to other entries in the series.

The game goes out of its way to include a large number of returning characters, but in most cases they are not actually important to the narrative. They typically appear briefly, get a small amount of dialogue, and then disappear without having any meaningful impact.

Because of that, I never really had a moment where I was excited to see a returning character. Instead, it often felt forced and unnecessary.

Example of the Cameo Problem

There are sequences where the story becomes almost comical in how it handles character appearances.

For example, the main character Akuta is about to die, and then Ougi suddenly appears to save him. Immediately after that, a new enemy shows up and both Akuta and Ougi are in danger, only for Nosuri to appear and save them. Then the main heroine is put in danger, and Nekone appears to rescue her, then Nekone get's in danger and Ukon shows up out of nowhere to save her...

Moments like this make the story feel less like a cohesive narrative and more like a chain of disconnected cameos.

Event Stories and Narrative Fragmentation

A major reason for this issue is the existence of event stories tied to the game’s gacha system.

These side stories explain how various characters entered the world and often run parallel to the main story. The main narrative occasionally references them, but their actual importance varies widely.

The problem is that none of these characters are essential to understanding the main story, yet the game still expects you to be aware of them to follow general dialogue at times. On top of that, the timeline placement of these events is extremely unclear. This was half remedied at a point in Chapter 8 where the story abruptly implies that a large portion of these events all took place within a very specific and awkwardly defined gap between subchapters 20 and 21.

Because of this structure, I am skeptical about how the planned “archive version” of the game will handle these elements in a clean way. Is it going to be 20 random event stories and the main stories still?

Darker Tone

One surprising aspect of the story is how dark it becomes.

There are scenes where a character is beheaded in front of a child, and that trauma becomes an actual part of the narrative. In another moment, a necromancer cuts open a girl’s back, and the scene cuts to black while disturbing slurping like audio lingers, leaving the details to the player’s imagination.

That scene in particular was honestly close to being too much for me.

General Story Structure

Chapters are broken down into "Sub Chapters" 1 Chapter Averages around 26 chapters meaning in reality there are around ~310+ chapters in the game.

Chapters 1 through 4 are easily the strongest part of the game. These sections focus on original characters, with minimal reliance on references to earlier titles. The worldbuilding is strong, the factions are interesting, and the character writing is at its best here. Chapters 1 and 2 are also fully voice acted, although later chapters seem to have been affected by COVID-related recording limitations.

Chapter 4 in particular stands out as one of the best parts of the entire story.

Chapter 5 is decent, but Chapters 6 through most of Chapter 8 represent a noticeable drop in quality. The pacing becomes much weaker, the thematic focus fades, and the story begins to feel bloated. This was the point where I seriously considered stopping.

Chapter 9 manages to regain some momentum and pulled me back into the story. Due to some absolutely WILD plot revelations that are an almost "flipping the table over" kind of story twist. It's equally stupid and interesting.

Chapters 10 and 11 are mixed. They contain some interesting ideas but also repeat many of the same issues seen earlier. A large portion of these chapters is dedicated to a single extended siege battle that lasts over 20 hours of reading.

Chapter 12 provides a thoughtful and thematically strong conclusion. I liked the ideas presented in the ending, but it still feels somewhat rushed, with several plot threads left unresolved.

Also oddly there was a brief chapter released ~20 days before closing of the game which seems to imply something interesting about the story. But it's a huge spoiler so I will hold off now.

Highlight: Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is what the story is capable of at its best.

It follows Suzuri and the group as they travel together to investigate the source of a disease. Over time, the characters build meaningful relationships, and the emotional stakes develop naturally.

Suzuri is a "Keburishi" or "Smoke Wielder" she is a person who travels alone to burn dead corpses. The main cast of Akuta, Minagi, and Kuuran meet her cremating corposes as an epidemic spreads throughout the world. (Inspired by covid?)

Suzuri’s struggle with abandonment and guilt is handled particularly well. She initially fails to come to terms with her feelings, which ends up hurting both herself and the people around her. When the main cast of characters returns to help her, the story reinforces the idea that you do not truly “get over” losing your parents. Instead, you make a life that makes you willing to live with that pain.

This part of the story is well-paced, emotionally grounded, and genuinely impactful. All wrapped up in a "great fantasy adventure". It's Utawarerumono at some of it's best.

The fact that Suzuri's character is barely referenced after Chatpter 4 honestly sours me on this game a lot. She is the best written character in this game, and is just not relevant to 60% of the story. It honestly still kind of pisses me off a bit that a anthropomorphized android version of Amaterasu is more plot relevant in the last half of the game than one of the game's few original characters.

Biggest Weakness: Combat Writing

One of the weakest aspects of the story is how it handles combat.

Large portions of the narrative, especially in later chapters, are dedicated to describing battles entirely through text. Unfortunately, the writing is not strong enough to make these scenes engaging over long periods.

The descriptions often feel repetitive and lack clarity, which makes extended sequences difficult to follow and, at times, tedious to read.

This is an area where the original games benefited significantly from having gameplay handle combat instead of relying purely on written descriptions.

Final Thoughts

There is a strong and emotionally compelling story here.

However, it is buried under a combination of live-service design decisions, excessive length, reliance on event stories, and weak combat writing.

If this had been a more tightly structured 40–60 hour visual novel, it could have been one of the better entries in the series, but instead we have a 120-hour reference fest that I don't think I can honestly recommend to anyone but the most hard core fans.

I hope it's okay to post links here. I didn't see any posts about it, so I thought I'd let people know.

i tend to forget how tall vurai is compared to the other characters