I found the pacing of the story to be quite slow even in comparison to the original, however that may be because I played part I of the main scenario across many days, missing days even. On the contrary I finished part II in just one day without much interruption. The story is basically an expansion on Morgana’s backstory which we see as a flashback in Door VIII told with very minimal visuals. This time around the story is fleshed out further, with dialog and character sprites, which are drawn anew here and look much improved. It is told in a more intimate way, largely from Jacopo’s point of view, so we get to see some new scenes in part II regarding his journey into Lordship and consequent moral decline. The game does just about enough to convince you that it is possible for Jacopo to undergo such a severe change in character across the duration of the game. It was fascinating though, to see this transformation, to see Jacopo bound by the strains of power and consequently undone by it. Odilon was endearing, his relationship with Jacopo felt authentic and fatherly, subsequently his death was the perfect device to justify Jacopo’s future bitterness and depravity. Although this felt justifiable, what didn’t was the drastic dissimilarity between Jacopo’s internal monologue and subsequent actions regarding Morgana in the latter half of part II, even in his current mindset this felt unbelievable, and I don’t like how he acts like his time spent at the brothel was eons ago, anyway it felt like a major plot contrivance to me. Experiencing the ending first hand was brutal but anyone playing this already knew what was coming.

Part I does see some significant changes too, such as the introduction of three new characters: Gratien, Ceren and Lord Barnier. Their presence in the narrative does help keep things from becoming a complete bore as the trajectory of the story remains unchanged. I particularly like the characterisation of Lord Barnier, he is utterly insane and quite the memorable villain. I also really enjoyed seeing Morgana and Jacopo’s relationship blossom here, their back and forth was always engaging, and their growth felt organic. The standout scenes between them being when he first treats Morgana with the ointment and when he shelters her after she runs away from the brothel. Unfortunately, the first part is plagued with a lot of drivel dialogue in my opinion, which does drag it down for me.

The soundtrack whilst having some great additions, such as He Love You, doesn’t possess the same variety as the original game, with a lot less vocally orientated tracks which were usually the standout in the main entry. That said, the new piano tracks, which are the most prominently used are excellent, namely Singing the Glow of Sunrise, even if they just aren’t as distinctive as songs like Cicio in the previous entry. However, I do recognise the narrative and tonal reasons behind the inclusion of more sombre paired backed piano tracks in favour of the more dramatic, spectral and gothic tracks from the original game. On another note, I was baffled when certain other tracks played, as these start off sounding incredibly like royalty-free music before progressing into something different further in. I’m not sure if I’m just going crazy but I’m convinced they used melodies from some well-known royalty free music to build off whilst keeping these in at the beginning of the final versions, which is quite the bizarre decision if that is the case, doesn’t exactly do wonders for immersion but maybe the composer(s) thought it was funny I don’t know.

In conclusion I think Requiem for Innocence is worth playing if are a die-hard fan of the main game, however it is not at all essential. It doesn’t really do much to further the story and is missing the element of mystery and non-linearity in its narrative that made The House in Fata Morgana so engaging and original.

They made Michel a 27 year old software developer who slept in before his date and wasn't able to clean his room before hand. They made him even more just like me fr how does that happen.

thoughts on each story below

Main Story:
This one is slow in parts but I think it's all worth it in the end, it was nice to see what Morgana's time at the brothel was like. I still don't fully understand Jacopo's fall into madness and I don't think I ever will he's fuckin crazy (they really lean into the his romantic feelings for baby Morgana too compared to the first game which doesn't do him any favors)... he's fun though.

Assento Dele:
This one was a little too on the nose for me, I love Michel obviously but I don't think I needed to see these events and didn't really gain much from it. I actually did love Morgana's role in this story and the reveal at the end a lot though.

Happily Ever After:
YEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LETS FUCKING GO

Fragments:
This was such a nice bit of closure and a really good way to end Morgana and Jacopo's story.

The first chapter was incredibly good. I was a bit worried that some moments might overstay their welcome, just because we already knew the base story of what happened, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they didn't. I also loved and teared up a bit at some of the moments between Jacopo and Morgana in those early days of happiness. The interlude was also a great addition. I feel like it added a very much needed explanation about a very important character and helped me see things from that distorted perspective. Ngl, initially I was raising an eyebrow, thinking, "Was this done just for the shock factor?" but I think they did a very good job on the explanation afterwards. The second chapter was also good. It was interesting to see how Jacopo went down the path that he did, but I still found it hard to completely empathize with him. I did find it interesting to read as a pure observer, just taking a look at the past and seeing what led to that seemingly inconceivable development.

I finished the main game but I still need to check out the side stories