Pretty captivating fantasy setting with charming characters but jeez the harem antics got pretty excessive after the first 1/3 of the game with every girl throwing themselves at Hakuowlo. It's particularly cringe using the trope of a grown woman having no idea how babies are made or what sex even is not just once but multiple times. Combat was piss easy but still a little satisfying, nice breaks from the reading. Unfortunately almost all the antagonists were egomaniacal idiots constantly laughing and being as irritating as possible (fuck that "kekekekeke" guy in particular). The two sequel games seem to be a lot more well received so I'm cautiously optimistic

Also apparently all the character and place names were so unique because they were based on the Ainu language, not Japanese. Pretty neat

[managed to do 2 of the 3 true "Where the Wild Things March" battles but can't be bothered with the last one which I mistakenly thought for hours was required for the Training Legend achievement lol. Damn that shit is brutal]

A game that starts and finishes strong. Utawarerumono is interesting because its so clearly split in two--there are the peaceful days of living out comfy life with you family of animalpeople, but war is always lurking and you must venture out to defend the peaceful life you have. This structure carries all of Utawarerumono and typically is where it is the strongest--all the little lazing subplots with the various friends and family Hakuowlo care's for are consistently cute and fun in spite of how dated some of the material is here, and even the the eroge roots the game has are played well.

It falls apart in the middle of the game though, where you go on these long war campaigns that are largely pointless outside making sure you keep your srpg skills up to date. I know someone's gonna say "but war is pointless!" and if it played on that I would agree, but in the context of the narrative and themes its basically full filler.

I liked it.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this. Some of the middle sections and battles drag on a bit too long for me personally.

Ignoring that, I was totally immersed in the world. Highly recommended if you don't mind a lot of reading and a pretty simplistic combat system.

Also, I cried like a pussy at way too many parts lol...

Tiene sus cosas buenas y me da lastima no haberme emocionado tanto como debería con el final (que es muy bonito)

pero demasiadas escenas con Camyu chupandote la sangre que EVIDENTEMENTE en la versión de 2002 era otra cosa lo que te chupaba rompen a un mf

Hakuowlo good guy tho me mola que pegue con un abanico

special, but not what i was looking for.

had some good moments with it, but also many times this felt like it was written by a 12 year old, although a very talented and creative one.

still planning on trying the sequels out in the future, hope they will click with me more.

The characters may be simple, but they're likeable enough for me to want to see more of them; besides, there are some really good interactions, it's a fun read overall, despite getting kinda tiring at some point because of the progress for the characters, not only being very slow, but also being fragmented in many events. Plot-wise, although I wouldn't say amazing, it's very good, there are some pretty interesting points at the end, but it also gets very convoluted (It's ironic, given how simple the first act is). Also, the combat may not be that important, as it is closer to a visual novel rather than an SRPG, but I like it, it's simple and very easy to break, but it's fun enough, although it wasn't that much of a challenge, even playing on hard mode, I did have to make up a good strategy and study the mechanics, it wasn't trivial enough for me to just play it without worrying much with what I was doing. Overall, I liked it, it has it's fair share of issues, especially with pacing and structure, but it's still a valuable, charming and charismatic experience.

P.S: The best part is still the first act.

I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. Some of the lore reveals near the end had me shocked. Great characters and story. Intro takes a little long to get going but it's worth it. The only reasons it's not a higher score are because I would say the ending felt like a very clear higher level than the rest of the game for me, which tells me these games can be even better (as if their scores didn't lol) and there was some odd relationship choices that I have mixed feelings on. Overall, really solid game though.
8.5/10

Finally, I completed this game. I started playing/reading it last year, but I finally managed to get some time to pick it up again and man, getting past the 14th battle helped me a lot to get even more invested in the world and characters (though side characters get little to no development, only main characters get a lot of events).

The story from the very beginning is interesting, but once you reach battle 14, the game picks ups and it keeps getting better and better. Also the game has comedy, drama, war... everything you need in an story to keep you interested.

I literally rushed 16 battles in one day because I wanted to keep reading about the world and get to know the story. I don't play/read a lot of VNs, but definitely this game is good and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes FE or likes VNs and doesn't mind having battles (it isnt hard either because it's TOO easy to break it. In one hour you can have maxed stats easily with any character.)

Can't wait to pick up Mask of Deception and Truth in the future and keep discovering things about this world.