Liberation Day will come... but you will be betrayed. Experience the stunning continuation of Sunrider Mask of Arcadius in this hardcore turn based tactics game with heavy story elements.
Also in series
Released on
Genres
Version
Captain's Edition
Reviews View More
Finally, my Sunrider trilogy is at its final destination with this last review 10 years in the backburner.
I had sought to start playing this game many times but, having forgotten all about Sunrider except the fact I liked it as a teen, I decided to replay the first entry; while the art was a bit crude and the gameplay very meh, the world and its narrative left me wanting to see more of Kayto and crew, so here I am, beginning my final steps of this decade long journey with a sci-fi series I was not expecting to grow so fond of.
First of, Liberation Day steps up both in its audio and graphics: the sounds are clearer, the backgrounds look better and the models don't look so stiff. The girls have more detail to them especially in their hair but they still resemble their original versions, which is nice. The only model that did not change was Admiral Grey's and that was quite jarring.
The UI got a bit of an overhaul but the battle system stayed roughly the same with just small changes and add ons (the captain points have a limit, repairs cost way more, etc); they did take out the close ups for the battles though which makes the fights less cinematic; not really a problem since the cutscenes themselves got a big level up: particle effects, nicer looking art and voice acting of an all new japanese cast. The casting is ok with most voices fitting the characters but hearing Asaga go from "IMMA FIRE MA LAZER" to cute generic anime girl was a bit sad.
The music is still good with an opening that goes very hard but I could not believe when they used the spinning monkeys theme AGAIN in more than one scene.
Unfortunately the game is not accomodating for new people, expecting you to know what happened on the last game and to have played it to completion: this would not be a big thing if not for the fact that the game throws you into combat against a lot of enemies with the same difficulty the last game's final missions had.
Now, for the story: unfortunately for Sunrider, the sequel steers away from the original Mobile Suit Gundam and isntead feels heavily inspired by Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Gone are the politics of the Alliance with the only interesting politic being the divide between the two factions of PACT; the main theme is now the harem, of which you have no way of choosing who to go to. They push the Kayto-Chigara relationship even though the most popular girl by the end of the original game was Ava all for plot reasons.
Speaking of plot, while it is definitely better paced than the last game and has some interesting ideas (first and foremost the idea of the Sharr being some sort of weird possession that happens to Ryuvia royalty, shame it never gets brought up again, but also the companionship between Sola and Asaga) the fact that ALL of it, the entire fate of this franchise galaxy, depended on a love triangle was not the kind of thing I was expecting and I don't mean that in a good way.
The way they use Chigara and Lynn in the story, how Asaga feels by the end and the whole thing about time paradoxes feels... off. This could have been a less complicated story and have benefited for it.
That last stand of the Sunrider though? That was exquisite to watch.
I'll keep my eyes open for the series going forward (there is a Sunrider 4 which I might just buy) but I am more cautious for Sunrider than I was when I finished Mask of Arcadius; the way the plot is moving might just make everything I liked about this series fall apart.
While this game and its predecessor share the same value of 3.5, I do believe that story wise Mask of Arcadius was better, with less contrivances; still, one has to account for all of the small and big changes Liberation Day brought, most of them good.
In a way the story, the main focus of the games, was not up to par to its predecessor and the game has, in my eyes, something along the lines of a 3.25/5.
I had sought to start playing this game many times but, having forgotten all about Sunrider except the fact I liked it as a teen, I decided to replay the first entry; while the art was a bit crude and the gameplay very meh, the world and its narrative left me wanting to see more of Kayto and crew, so here I am, beginning my final steps of this decade long journey with a sci-fi series I was not expecting to grow so fond of.
First of, Liberation Day steps up both in its audio and graphics: the sounds are clearer, the backgrounds look better and the models don't look so stiff. The girls have more detail to them especially in their hair but they still resemble their original versions, which is nice. The only model that did not change was Admiral Grey's and that was quite jarring.
The UI got a bit of an overhaul but the battle system stayed roughly the same with just small changes and add ons (the captain points have a limit, repairs cost way more, etc); they did take out the close ups for the battles though which makes the fights less cinematic; not really a problem since the cutscenes themselves got a big level up: particle effects, nicer looking art and voice acting of an all new japanese cast. The casting is ok with most voices fitting the characters but hearing Asaga go from "IMMA FIRE MA LAZER" to cute generic anime girl was a bit sad.
The music is still good with an opening that goes very hard but I could not believe when they used the spinning monkeys theme AGAIN in more than one scene.
Unfortunately the game is not accomodating for new people, expecting you to know what happened on the last game and to have played it to completion: this would not be a big thing if not for the fact that the game throws you into combat against a lot of enemies with the same difficulty the last game's final missions had.
Now, for the story: unfortunately for Sunrider, the sequel steers away from the original Mobile Suit Gundam and isntead feels heavily inspired by Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Gone are the politics of the Alliance with the only interesting politic being the divide between the two factions of PACT; the main theme is now the harem, of which you have no way of choosing who to go to. They push the Kayto-Chigara relationship even though the most popular girl by the end of the original game was Ava all for plot reasons.
Speaking of plot, while it is definitely better paced than the last game and has some interesting ideas (first and foremost the idea of the Sharr being some sort of weird possession that happens to Ryuvia royalty, shame it never gets brought up again, but also the companionship between Sola and Asaga) the fact that ALL of it, the entire fate of this franchise galaxy, depended on a love triangle was not the kind of thing I was expecting and I don't mean that in a good way.
The way they use Chigara and Lynn in the story, how Asaga feels by the end and the whole thing about time paradoxes feels... off. This could have been a less complicated story and have benefited for it.
That last stand of the Sunrider though? That was exquisite to watch.
I'll keep my eyes open for the series going forward (there is a Sunrider 4 which I might just buy) but I am more cautious for Sunrider than I was when I finished Mask of Arcadius; the way the plot is moving might just make everything I liked about this series fall apart.
While this game and its predecessor share the same value of 3.5, I do believe that story wise Mask of Arcadius was better, with less contrivances; still, one has to account for all of the small and big changes Liberation Day brought, most of them good.
In a way the story, the main focus of the games, was not up to par to its predecessor and the game has, in my eyes, something along the lines of a 3.25/5.
"Sequel To Sunrider: Mask Of Arcadius, Yet Feels Like The Same Game"
I only tried this title in hopes of finding something different than the first title. I happened to have both and didn't want to completely ignore the sequel without giving it a shot, but it was just as enjoyable to me as the first title - not very much at all. To see similar details on how I feel about this title, read my review of the first game listed below, but I would Not Recommend this main series to anyone but the most hardcore of visual novel fans, and even then it wouldn't really be a recommendation.
Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)
I only tried this title in hopes of finding something different than the first title. I happened to have both and didn't want to completely ignore the sequel without giving it a shot, but it was just as enjoyable to me as the first title - not very much at all. To see similar details on how I feel about this title, read my review of the first game listed below, but I would Not Recommend this main series to anyone but the most hardcore of visual novel fans, and even then it wouldn't really be a recommendation.
Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)