Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen – Slow Build to an Exciting End

 Reviews, Video Games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , , ,
Jan 252021
 

After Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen was released last year, I bought the Vita version and concluded my playthrough this weekend.

Prelude to the Fallen is a remake of the original Utawarerumono, although with no sex scenes (the original was an eroge).

I was waiting for this for a long time because I’ve heard excellent things about the later games in the series, Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth, but it’s highly recommended that you’re familiar with the original’s story first.

It is a visual novel / strategy RPG hybrid, with a stronger emphasis on the visual novel side. Don’t get me wrong, there are a number of battles over the course of the story and it’s an important part of the gameplay, but the battles are pretty basic and much more time is spent reading.

You play as Hakuowlo, a man who wakes up with no memory after suffering grievous injuries, wearing a mask that can’t be removed.

After being cared for by the people of a small village, Hakuowlo decides to stay there and make a new life for himself. The stakes start out low, with him helping the villagers with their farming and resisting the corrupt leaders making their lives difficult, but they gradually build higher and higher.

That’s important to keep in mind, because Utawarerumono moves slowly. There are a lot of slow-paced, almost slice-of-life sections, and it takes a while to really become exciting.

When it gets there, however, it takes some crazy twists and turns that I never saw coming. That slow build-up lead to a genuinely epic conclusion. The main characters are also pretty likeable, so the slower sections are enjoyable in their own right even if some of the sections (especially the early villains) feel a bit lacking.

I enjoyed Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen and I’m happy I was able to play it. It’s out on Steam now, as well, with an improved translation (which is good, because a couple lines felt really out of place). Now I’m looking forward to moving on to Mask of Deception in the future!

Top Untranslated Games I Want to See in English

 Video Games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Jan 222021
 

Over the years, we’ve talked about a lot of untranslated games and localization campaigns to finally see them in English. Sometimes our hopes have been fulfilled… other times, not so much.

Today I’d like to highlight some of the ones I’m still waiting for. It’ll be structured like a Top 5 list, but based on series rather than individual game (so an entry might have multiple games).

Here are the top untranslated games I most want to see released in English.

5. Tales of Destiny 2, Rebirth, Innocence R

There are a lot of Tales games available, but there’s still a handful of notable ones that never came out of Japan.

One of the biggest is Tales of Destiny 2. Don’t confuse it with Tales of Eternia, which was confusingly released in North America under the title Tales of Destiny II for the PlayStation.

The real Tales of Destiny 2 is a direct sequel to Tales of Destiny, and it seems to have been well-received. Speaking of which, Tales of Destiny also received a remake that didn’t come west, either.

Then there’s Tales of Rebirth, a main entry in the series that was never localized despite positive previews from English publications ahead of its launch.

Meanwhile, Tales of Innocence didn’t get localized either, not even when it was enhanced as Tales of Innocence R. Being a Vita game might have doomed it, despite Tales of Hearts R coming out.

I’d love to see all of these Tales games released in English, especially if the older games could be released in some sort of collection to celebrate the anniversary (or maybe a Tales of Destiny/Destiny 2 dual-pack like they did with Symphonia). I still have a lot of Tales games to play, though, so who knows? Maybe by the time I’ve worked my way through the series, these Japan-exclusive titles will finally be localized.

4. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

This year is also the anniversary of Fatal Frame… and you know what I’d love to see? A translated Switch port of the fourth game in the series, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.

Unlike the Fatal Frame II remake, which at least came out in Europe, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was never released outside of Japan. A European release was actually planned, but later was cancelled. I guess they really didn’t have high hopes for Fatal Frame in the west at that point.

Fatal Frame IV, or Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, was co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, with Suda51 being a co-writer and co-director. They seem to be on pretty good terms with Nintendo, and other Grasshopper Manufacture games have been re-released in recent years, so maybe there’s still hope.

Again, I have quite a few Fatal Frame games to play in the meantime. If I play them all, perhaps the localization fates will reward me with an official Fatal Frame IV translation.

3. Ace Attorney Investigations 2, The Great Ace Attorney, The Great Ace Attorney 2

You knew they were going to be on this list, right?

Once upon a time, I went into every gaming event hoping to see an English announcement for Gyakuten Kenji 2, or Ace Attorney Investigations 2. My hopes have diminished greatly since then, but I still don’t think a Switch collection is out of the question.

Meanwhile, last year’s supposed leak claimed Dai Gyakuten Saiban, or The Great Ace Attorney, and its sequel are planned to be released in a new collection and translated.

There hasn’t been any official word from Capcom yet about this, but I really want to believe it’s true. I’m also all caught up on the Ace Attorney series, so these unlocalized titles are the last ones I need.

2. The Trails Crossbell Arc

Now let’s head back in to the land of JRPGs, where have the long-running Trails series. Fans interested in the overall Trails story will get the best experience if they play all of the current arcs… but unfortunately, one of them is exclusive to Japan.

Set between the Trails in the Sky arc and the Trails of Cold Steel arc, Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki make up the Crossbell arc, and they’re highly praised in addition to being important for the overall story. There have been several hints that the new PS4 versions could be localized, so here’s hoping it finally comes true.

I’ve got a few Trails games to play before I’d need to decide if I want to skip Crossbell or play the fan translation… which means there’s plenty of time for official translations to be announced.

1. Yakuza Kenzan, Ishin, Black Panther, Black Panther 2

And of course, you probably anticipated that my new favorite series would make the #1 spot on my list.

I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the Yakuza games, and there are still four important spin-offs that have never been localized, starting with the historical spin-offs Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan and Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin.

When these games first came out, it’s no surprise they weren’t localized. Yakuza itself was still a pretty niche series in the west, so spin-offs grounded in Japanese history probably looked like a risky bet.

But now? Yakuza’s popularity is growing, we have all of the mainline games in English, and the success of games like Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima certainly show that there’s an audience here for that setting. They’ve gone on record saying that Kenzan’s best chance of localization is if it gets the Kiwami treatment, since it was a PS3 game, but Ishin being a PS4 game still has a chance of coming over as it is.

The spin-off Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho, or Black Panther, and its sequel have never received official translations either. The demand is smaller and I don’t think our chances of getting them are particularly good, but I’d never say no to more Yakuza games.

And… yes, I have five whole Yakuza games and two spin-offs to play before I run out of Yakuza, so once again, maybe all I need to do is get through those games…

Conclusion

Tales, Fatal Frame, Ace Attorney, Trails, and Yakuza – all great series with untranslated titles I keep hoping to see localization news about. Right now, Ace Attorney feels like it’s the closest to coming true, while the others still have a mountain of translated games for me to work through first. Here’s hoping the games on this list are translated in the future!

What unlocalized games would you most like to see translated?

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Has an Incredible, Complicated Story

 Reviews, Video Games  8 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jan 152021
 

Do you like story-driven games? Have you played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim yet?

If you haven’t, you’re missing out on one of the best story-driven games that came out last year.

A lot of people had been anticipating 13 Sentinels for years, but I wasn’t actually one of them. It’s the latest title from Vanillaware, and when I looked it up because of the hype, I saw its combat was described as real-time strategy and crossed it off my list.

Then it came out, and the high praise for its story together with assurances that calling it real-time strategy is pretty misleading convinced me to try it.

I’m so glad that I did.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim followed thirteen high school students who are caught up in a struggle to protect Japan from kaiju trying to destroy it across various time periods. Its genre is a little tricky to pin down; it’s so story-focused that some people consider it to be a visual novel, but that’s caused no end of controversy. The narrative sections could be seen as an adventure game, yet they are almost entirely focused on dialogue with only light gameplay.

Meanwhile, the combat is a comparatively minor part of the overall game and features a sort of real-time system, but one that pauses for you to select your character’s actions.

But whatever genre it falls into, it’s fantastic. The story is told through a non-linear presentation with a fair amount of freedom as to how you proceed. Stick with one character’s story until you hit a lock that requires you to do something else first? Alternate between between characters? Focus on story over combat? Focus on combat over story? Do a little story and then a little combat? All of these are valid approaches to playing 13 Sentinels, and the narrative is constructed in such a way that they all work.

You will start out feeling confused by the story. After a little while, you’ll start to understand what’s going on. Then you’ll play another section of the story and get hit by a plot twist that makes you realize your “understanding” was actually wrong.

There are so many plot twists, and the non-linear approach to the story (along with certain story segments being gated by others so you don’t have complete freedom) lets it tease information in such a way as to nudge you in the wrong direction until you finally learn the truth.

(In some ways it reminded me of the fragment system in Zero Time Dilemma, except handled in a much better way.)

With so many plot twists and convoluted aspects to the story, there were times when I worried it wouldn’t ever feel cohesive. But that’s not true. Through surprise after surprise and even plot twists late in the game, the pieces of the story all come together in a way that makes sense. At the end, you finally do understand the story and see how all those confusing little parts actually fit into it.

The characters are great, the story is intense and filled with twists, and it’s just so brilliant the way everything fits together.

I can’t praise 13 Sentinels enough. It is an incredible game, and it would have made my top 5 list easily if I’d finished it last year instead of this year. As it is, it got 2021’s gaming off to a great start.

So if you love story-driven games, you need to play 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. And if you’ve already played 13 Sentinels, share your own thoughts on it in the comments below!

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