Monochrome Mobius was not really a game I was looking forward to play that much since the game did not look really appealing to me before it was released. But I still gave it a try since it's still Utawarerumono even if it's not mentionned in the title, since I was interested in how a prequel would work out.
The result is that in my opinion for me a very bad RPG with a nice enough story (and a lore as good as the trilogy).
I'll start with the good (since I have way more bad things to say than good) :
- The plot is interesting, it start with something really classic (finding the truth about a disappeared father), it really feels like a journey since the game make you visit a lot of places of the universe (a lot of them are new even to the Utawarerumono fan). But very fast, it takes this basic plot of finding your disappearing father to add a lot of elements to the lore, some of them are already known by the players since it was already spoked during the Mask duology, but it gives more details to it. I think any Utawarerumono fan would be at least satisfied by this aspect of the game.
- The music is nice enough, nothing breathtaking (comparing to the trilogy) but it's still nice to hear the composers working for a RPG this time. I'm a bit sad that the exploration OST are so few though.
- The dynamic of the main party is good (mostly between Mikazuchi and Oshtor), it feels like a real group, with no one being out of place (something I can't even say for the original trilogy since some characters were mostly just there, not that it's a major flaw to me). It really helps that the game only has 4 playable characters (a bit like Trails From Zero). I don't really like her but Shunya is still a solid character, with enough development (part of it is pretty subtile, so it's nice).
- The last scene of the game is really good, it opens some really interesting points for a sequel (if it's released, the game will probably flop, and the sales in the first week in Japan were really weak for a newly released game).
For the bad (of the things I didn't enjoy) :
- While the story is still interesting and the lore is rich, I really disliked how shonen the narrative structure was.
Of course it make sense but for me, it was executed in a bland way, with a lot of tropes I've already seen in other JRPG/animes (the game has some scenes with similarities to Kimetsu no Yaiba, and it's not a compliment to me). I'm not against shonens at all (I'm a Xenoblade 2 fan after all) but I was a bit disappointed by it since the Mask duology had some shonen scenes/aspects but it was less invasive.
- The game was honestly a pain to play, the gameplay is dull and balanced poorly, the game forces you to kill a lot of enemies (and there are a lot of them in the dungeons) and to complete a lot of (bland) sidequests to keep your characters at a decent level. I found myself being underleveled before the final boss even though I completed 20 sidequests, I don't think it was a good decision given how the fights are tedious in the long run for me.
- The game is also quite ugly for me, it's their first JRPG so I could have forgiven, but for a game of 2022 it's really ugly, the characters models are lacking in charm in my eyes, the graphics are really poor, and the map is really bland. And frankly, the NPCs without a face are shameful, I've never seen that in a recent JRPG (some titles at least are more elegant about that), they didn't even try to mask it a little bit. It's not an issue for some people but I think immersion is still something important in a JRPG, and the towns of the game felt really hollow and lacking in life because of this. It was also annoying to see these NPCs during some cutscenes, it was hard to take the game seriously at times because of that. But it's not the only issue with the towns, they are quite empty with nothing to do, you just go there to start some (uninspired) sidequests and to buy equipement and items. There are also a lof of invisible walls, with part of the towns you can't even access, while the towns are already very small.
- The exploration is not satisfying to me, there are some little secrets but they have nothing really worth to give to the player except nice items, sometimes it reward you with "viewpoints" but frankly it did not feel rewarding since the game has poor graphics and the art direction is lacking (even if sometimes it has nice ideas, like the final dungeon).
- There are also some aspects of the characterization of Shunya and Munechika I really disliked, but it's hard to speak about it without spoiling for Shunya. Regarding Munechika, I really didn't like how tropey her character was and how they wrote her "feminine side", it felt a bit cringe and too clichey (even if it's probably a persona).
- The cutscene direction was horrendous, the game really has poor animation and it's even more visible during the cutscenes, it was often hard for me to take the game seriously during the "hype scenes" since the characters feels really static, it was honestly worse than Cold Steel 3 and Cold Steel 3 was not good in this aspect (while being a game of 2017).
- The main "antagonist" of the game is unique in some aspects (with a good character design), but fails to be really compelling because of a lack of presence during the game, it's a shame since the motives of this characters make a lot of sense in the story/lore of the game. Regarding the other antagonists, one of them was okay, nothing really that interesting but at least his character was cohesive, but the other antagonists were just annoying and very clichey, it's a shame since the game point out that no camp is really evil, but the game still has some really cartoon evil characters. The antagonists were never the main strength of Utawarerumono but I was expecting them to improve a little bit regarding this aspect, but it did not happened.
- The visual novel sections are really poor, with not enough sprites, all the characters have like 5 different sprites. I would have forgiven this if it was fully a JRPG but these sections are separated for the rest of the game, so it's hard for me to ignore. The rare CGs of the game at least are good, even if I think the chara design of the visual novel sections is way below the style of the Mask duology and Prelude of the Fallen.
- The pacing of the game suffer because of the lengths of the dungeons, and I think the game is a bit too long for what it wants to tell, even if the story of the game is not really complete.
TL;DR : I did not enjoy the game at all even if the plot was nice (with some underwhelming aspects in my eyes) but it was not enough for me to appreciate it since it's in my opinion a bad RPG, Aquaplus should have sticken to visual novels in my opinion, even if I can still respect their wish to release a RPG. I also had no real expectations as a RPG but it was worse than I thought it would be, and I thought the story would also be better.
The result is that in my opinion for me a very bad RPG with a nice enough story (and a lore as good as the trilogy).
I'll start with the good (since I have way more bad things to say than good) :
- The plot is interesting, it start with something really classic (finding the truth about a disappeared father), it really feels like a journey since the game make you visit a lot of places of the universe (a lot of them are new even to the Utawarerumono fan). But very fast, it takes this basic plot of finding your disappearing father to add a lot of elements to the lore, some of them are already known by the players since it was already spoked during the Mask duology, but it gives more details to it. I think any Utawarerumono fan would be at least satisfied by this aspect of the game.
- The music is nice enough, nothing breathtaking (comparing to the trilogy) but it's still nice to hear the composers working for a RPG this time. I'm a bit sad that the exploration OST are so few though.
- The dynamic of the main party is good (mostly between Mikazuchi and Oshtor), it feels like a real group, with no one being out of place (something I can't even say for the original trilogy since some characters were mostly just there, not that it's a major flaw to me). It really helps that the game only has 4 playable characters (a bit like Trails From Zero). I don't really like her but Shunya is still a solid character, with enough development (part of it is pretty subtile, so it's nice).
- The last scene of the game is really good, it opens some really interesting points for a sequel (if it's released, the game will probably flop, and the sales in the first week in Japan were really weak for a newly released game).
For the bad (of the things I didn't enjoy) :
- While the story is still interesting and the lore is rich, I really disliked how shonen the narrative structure was.
Of course it make sense but for me, it was executed in a bland way, with a lot of tropes I've already seen in other JRPG/animes (the game has some scenes with similarities to Kimetsu no Yaiba, and it's not a compliment to me). I'm not against shonens at all (I'm a Xenoblade 2 fan after all) but I was a bit disappointed by it since the Mask duology had some shonen scenes/aspects but it was less invasive.
- The game was honestly a pain to play, the gameplay is dull and balanced poorly, the game forces you to kill a lot of enemies (and there are a lot of them in the dungeons) and to complete a lot of (bland) sidequests to keep your characters at a decent level. I found myself being underleveled before the final boss even though I completed 20 sidequests, I don't think it was a good decision given how the fights are tedious in the long run for me.
- The game is also quite ugly for me, it's their first JRPG so I could have forgiven, but for a game of 2022 it's really ugly, the characters models are lacking in charm in my eyes, the graphics are really poor, and the map is really bland. And frankly, the NPCs without a face are shameful, I've never seen that in a recent JRPG (some titles at least are more elegant about that), they didn't even try to mask it a little bit. It's not an issue for some people but I think immersion is still something important in a JRPG, and the towns of the game felt really hollow and lacking in life because of this. It was also annoying to see these NPCs during some cutscenes, it was hard to take the game seriously at times because of that. But it's not the only issue with the towns, they are quite empty with nothing to do, you just go there to start some (uninspired) sidequests and to buy equipement and items. There are also a lof of invisible walls, with part of the towns you can't even access, while the towns are already very small.
- The exploration is not satisfying to me, there are some little secrets but they have nothing really worth to give to the player except nice items, sometimes it reward you with "viewpoints" but frankly it did not feel rewarding since the game has poor graphics and the art direction is lacking (even if sometimes it has nice ideas, like the final dungeon).
- There are also some aspects of the characterization of Shunya and Munechika I really disliked, but it's hard to speak about it without spoiling for Shunya. Regarding Munechika, I really didn't like how tropey her character was and how they wrote her "feminine side", it felt a bit cringe and too clichey (even if it's probably a persona).
- The cutscene direction was horrendous, the game really has poor animation and it's even more visible during the cutscenes, it was often hard for me to take the game seriously during the "hype scenes" since the characters feels really static, it was honestly worse than Cold Steel 3 and Cold Steel 3 was not good in this aspect (while being a game of 2017).
- The main "antagonist" of the game is unique in some aspects (with a good character design), but fails to be really compelling because of a lack of presence during the game, it's a shame since the motives of this characters make a lot of sense in the story/lore of the game. Regarding the other antagonists, one of them was okay, nothing really that interesting but at least his character was cohesive, but the other antagonists were just annoying and very clichey, it's a shame since the game point out that no camp is really evil, but the game still has some really cartoon evil characters. The antagonists were never the main strength of Utawarerumono but I was expecting them to improve a little bit regarding this aspect, but it did not happened.
- The visual novel sections are really poor, with not enough sprites, all the characters have like 5 different sprites. I would have forgiven this if it was fully a JRPG but these sections are separated for the rest of the game, so it's hard for me to ignore. The rare CGs of the game at least are good, even if I think the chara design of the visual novel sections is way below the style of the Mask duology and Prelude of the Fallen.
- The pacing of the game suffer because of the lengths of the dungeons, and I think the game is a bit too long for what it wants to tell, even if the story of the game is not really complete.
TL;DR : I did not enjoy the game at all even if the plot was nice (with some underwhelming aspects in my eyes) but it was not enough for me to appreciate it since it's in my opinion a bad RPG, Aquaplus should have sticken to visual novels in my opinion, even if I can still respect their wish to release a RPG. I also had no real expectations as a RPG but it was worse than I thought it would be, and I thought the story would also be better.