Info about Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten:

Official game description:
A new JRPG from AQUAPLUS, announced in commemoration of 20 years of their hit _Utawarerumono_ franchise. Produced by legendary composer Naoya Shimokawa and penned by _Utawarerumono_ writer Munemitsu Suga, with support from the studio's superb art direction spearheaded by character designer Mi, _Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten_ focuses on the heart of every great RPG: the story.
Story
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In the small province of Ennakamuy, on the frontiers of the great empire of Yamato, there lived a young man with his mother and sister. One day, at the local lord's behest, the young man was investigating a small irregularity when he encountered a girl he’d never met.  
The words the girl spoke were what shocked him: She told the man that his father was still alive.  
Seeing a trace of his father in her and resolving to learn the truth, the young man and the girl set out together towards the land of Arva Shulan—a country that doesn’t appear on the map.  
Faced with trials and perils, the boy chases his father.  
He meets new friends and comrades who join him on his mission.  
There will be struggles and victories and failures and partings.  
The fickle vagaries of fate will place an epoch in the young man’s hands—  
And one day, this man will be sung of in legends.
Characters
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A young man living in the frontier province of Ennakamuy. Oshtor lives together with his mother Torikori and his younger sister Nekone, and though still young, he possesses discipline and a strong sense of right and wrong. His meeting with the mysterious Shunya gives him questions about his father’s death, and he sets out for an unknown country to find answers.  
A girl whose path has crossed Oshtor’s by chance or by destiny. Guileless and still with something of a babyface, Shunya's words and actions create more questions than they answer. She informs Oshtor that his father, whom he thought a martyr, still lives, and the pair embark on a journey together.  
The daughter of Murasame, the ruler of Izumo. As demure and polite as she appears, Munechika shows hints of a warrior spirit. She assists Oshtor and joins him on his mission.  
A young man who barged in on Oshtor when he was training. Mikazuchi is strong and somewhat brash, but he never bends for anything, and a current of integrity runs through everything he does. A good friend to Oshtor and a good rival too, the two spur each other on through thick and thin.

Release date: 16 Nov, 2022

Categories: RPG, Turn-based RPG, Single-player Story, Exploration, Character Progression, Equipment Customization, Narrative Adventure, Mission-based Gameplay


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging Story and Characters (weight 0.99): Players consistently praise the game's story, characters, and world-building as its strongest assets. The narrative is described as very good, interesting, and emotionally impactful, often carrying the game despite other flaws. Character development and interactions are highlighted as particularly strong.
- Strong Utawarerumono Series Prequel (weight 0.59): The game is highly recommended for fans of the Utawarerumono series, serving as a worthy and enjoyable prequel. It enriches the lore, provides context for existing characters like Oshtor and Mikazuchi, and includes numerous callbacks and Easter eggs that series veterans appreciate.
- Enjoyable and Innovative Combat (weight 0.33): The combat system is generally found to be fun, well-designed, and to have potential. Players appreciate its unique core mechanics, interesting turn order system, and depth, noting that it becomes more engaging with later additions.
- Excellent Voice Acting and Music (weight 0.33): The game receives high praise for its superb voice acting, with many reviewers highlighting the quality of the cast. The soundtrack is also consistently lauded as good to excellent, featuring standout tracks and maintaining the series' high standards.
- Appealing New Character Shunya (weight 0.14): The new heroine, Shunya, is immediately likeable and well-received. Her character illustrations are excellent, and her role in the story, along with her voice acting, is highlighted as having strong emotional impact.
- Well-Designed Side Quests (weight 0.13): Side quests are noted for being high quality, well-designed, and rarely feeling like filler. They contribute to character development, world-building, and sometimes foreshadow the main plot, offering appropriate rewards and nostalgic details for fans.
- Good Character Design and Models (weight 0.12): Playable characters have well-designed and unique abilities, and major character models are described as exquisite and detailed. The game also features nuanced character development.
- Meaningful Upgrade Systems (weight 0.1): The game's upgrade systems, including ACL passive bonuses, weapon shops, and gear enhancements, are described as impactful and enjoyable. The gathering of resources through exploration and side quests makes these systems feel relevant to progression.
- Balanced Difficulty Options (weight 0.1): Players appreciate the game's difficulty balance, particularly on Hard mode, which offers challenging battles and requires strategic thinking. The difficulty is generally perceived as 'just right' and not overly frustrating.

Common complaints:
- Unpolished Gameplay & Graphics (weight 0.82): Players consistently report that the game feels unpolished, with rough graphics, stiff animations, and generic, uninspired combat. Many technical issues, including bugs, FPS drops, and unresponsiveness, further detract from the experience.
- Overpriced for Quality (weight 0.43): Many reviewers feel the game is not worth its full price, citing its overall lack of polish, generic gameplay, and numerous flaws. They suggest waiting for a significant discount due to the perceived low quality for the cost.
- Unfriendly to Newcomers & Series Fans (weight 0.42): The game is not recommended for new players due to its reliance on prior knowledge of the Utawarerumono series for story comprehension. Even long-time fans express disappointment, feeling the game doesn't live up to the quality or character writing of previous entries.
- Difficulty Imbalance & Grinding (weight 0.41): Players report significant difficulty imbalances, with the early game being frustratingly hard and requiring excessive grinding, while later stages become too easy due to over-leveling. The inability to change difficulty mid-game exacerbates these issues.
- Weak JRPG & Combat Mechanics (weight 0.4): The JRPG elements, particularly the turn-based combat, are frequently criticized for being shallow, boring, and lacking depth or innovation. Players found character progression and customization to be minimal, making the overall RPG experience unsatisfying.
- Pacing Issues & Excessive Cutscenes (weight 0.36): The game suffers from poor pacing, with long stretches of cutscenes interrupting gameplay and irrelevant missions being forced into the critical path. This leads to a disjointed experience and a feeling of wasted time.
- Incomplete & Rushed Story Ending (weight 0.34): The story is widely criticized for its abrupt, cliffhanger ending, leaving many plot holes and unresolved questions. Players feel it explicitly sets up a sequel without providing a satisfying conclusion to the current narrative.
- Disliked Female Protagonist Design (weight 0.11): Some players express dissatisfaction with the main female protagonist's character design, personality, and voice acting. Specific criticisms include her perceived lack of intelligence, clumsy movements, and visual inconsistencies.
- Launch Issues & Marketing (weight 0.09): The game experienced a polarized reception at launch, with technical issues like crashes and unoptimized performance. Some players also noted confusing marketing and a lack of vertical sync, though some issues have since been patched.

Gameplay feedback:
- Shift to Traditional JRPG (weight 0.34): The game has transitioned from its previous Visual Novel/Strategy RPG hybrid format to a more traditional turn-based JRPG. This change impacts core gameplay, focusing on turn-based combat, 3D character models, and field exploration.
- Unique 'Action Ring' Combat (weight 0.26): Combat utilizes a distinctive 'Action Ring' system that dictates turn order based on character speed and position. This system also influences buff/debuff application and allows for strategic manipulation of turns, though it requires a learning curve.
- 3D Maps & Exploration (weight 0.22): The game features immersive 3D maps with detailed design, including semi-secret paths and hidden treasures. These maps are large and encourage exploration, though initial quality-of-life features like map markers for resources are missing.
- Limited Enemy Information (weight 0.18): Players report a lack of crucial enemy information, such as health bars, stagger values, weaknesses, and status effect effectiveness. The in-game encyclopedia is also noted for being insufficient, primarily serving as a drop confirmation list.
- Dialogue-Heavy & Pacing (weight 0.13): The game is characterized by extensive dialogue and numerous long, static cutscenes, often prioritizing story over a consistent gameplay structure. This can lead to a slower pace, particularly in the middle chapters, though early chapters move quickly.
- Symbol Encounter System (weight 0.13): The game uses a symbol encounter system, allowing players to see and potentially avoid enemies on the map. However, approaching enemies from behind can lead to a disadvantage, and melee attack animations can inadvertently trigger ambushes.
- Useless Jump Mechanic (weight 0.1): The jump action is widely considered useless, as it is only required once for a specific puzzle early in the game and does not serve any practical purpose for overcoming obstacles or exploration throughout the rest of the game.
- Fast-Paced Combat Animations (weight 0.1): Combat animations are generally quick and snappy, contributing to a dynamic and engaging battle experience. The system is simple yet interesting, with turn-based command selection and flashy skill effects.
- BP Skill System (weight 0.09): The game incorporates a BP (attribute points) skill system, where skills are unlocked and upgraded based on attribute investment, level, and story progression. A notable limitation is the inability to reset BP or reorder skills.
- Combat Gems & Buffs (weight 0.09): Gems appear on the 'Action Ring' during combat, often after hitting enemies or landing critical hits, providing temporary buffs. While intended to be strategic, their random generation and difficulty in targeting make them less impactful.
- Late-Game System Unlocks (weight 0.09): Several quality-of-life features and systems, such as map resource markers, MP restoration at restore points, and the ABL system, are unlocked later in the game, specifically after reaching the Imperial Capital. This improves the overall game experience significantly.
- Cluttered Item Management (weight 0.08): The item menu is disorganized, making it difficult to locate specific items during combat. Additionally, the item holding limit is low (capped at 9 per item), and buffs/debuffs lack clear visual indicators, hindering tactical planning.
- Weapon Shop & Upgrades (weight 0.07): The game features an enjoyable weapon shop growth system, allowing players to invest in specific shops using materials to upgrade equipment. This system provides diverse weapons with various stat increases, similar to a skill tree.
- Halu Combat Relief (weight 0.07): The game introduces 'Halu,' a mechanism designed to provide combat relief. Halu's 'Retry' function allows players to revive their party while maintaining the boss's health, easing the difficulty of challenging encounters.
- Riding System Included (weight 0.07): A riding system, featuring a mount with stamina, is available in the game. However, the lack of mounting/dismounting animations can disrupt pacing, and fast travel is acquired later, alongside the mount.

Performance notes:
- Frame Rate & Display Issues (weight 0.29): The game has a 60FPS cap, and players with high refresh rate monitors often experienced performance issues, screen tearing, and stuttering. External frame rate limiting was often required to achieve stable performance, though a Vsync option was later added.
- Improved Post-Launch Stability (weight 0.25): The game initially suffered from significant technical issues, bugs, and performance problems at launch. However, consistent patching by the developers has largely resolved these issues, leading to improved stability and a rise in positive player reviews.
- Persistent Text Display Bugs (weight 0.11): A recurring and annoying bug causes dialogue text to disappear, often requiring a game restart to resolve. This issue has been noted by multiple players and significantly disrupts the gameplay experience.
- Key Updates & QoL Improvements (weight 0.07): Several significant quality-of-life improvements were implemented in post-launch updates, including enhanced movement speed, stamina, map revamps, and the ability to save/load anywhere. These changes addressed core player feedback.
- Limited PC Port Features (weight 0.03): The PC port lacks mouse functionality and has limited display settings, only allowing window resolution adjustments rather than full-screen resolution. This indicates a less optimized PC experience.
- Ongoing Translation Work (weight 0.02): Developers and publishers are actively working on improving awkward translations, suggesting that localization quality was an initial concern that is being addressed.

Recommendations:
- Primarily for Series Fans (weight 0.93): The game is overwhelmingly recommended for existing fans of the Utawarerumono series, particularly those familiar with the trilogy. Newcomers are strongly advised against purchasing it, as the story and gameplay are tailored to established fans.
- Story Over Gameplay (weight 0.6): The game's primary appeal lies in its story, music, and voice acting, which are highly praised. Gameplay, graphics, and overall mechanics are often considered secondary or even rough, with some suggesting it would be better as a visual novel.
- Consider Purchase on Sale (weight 0.51): While some fans find it worth full price, many recommend waiting for a discount, especially if not a hardcore series fan, due to perceived issues or its niche appeal.
- Sequel Highly Anticipated (weight 0.37): Many players, especially series fans, express strong anticipation and hope for a sequel. They are eager to see the story continue and for potential improvements in future installments.
- Mixed Reception for JRPG Aspects (weight 0.15): The game is seen as a decent attempt at a JRPG, particularly for fans of traditional turn-based combat. However, some players find the gameplay generic or slow-paced compared to other modern 3D RPGs.
- Developer Feedback and Hopes (weight 0.1): Players express hopes for future improvements in game modes, graphics, and system mechanics, while also showing continued support for Aquaplus as a developer.
- Reluctant Negative Reviews (weight 0.04): A small number of players gave negative reviews, but did so reluctantly, indicating a conflict between their loyalty to the series and their dissatisfaction with the game.

Other player notes:
- A first attempt at 3D JRPG (weight 0.29): Players perceive this game as Aquaplus's first venture into a full 3D turn-based JRPG, giving it a 'test run' or 'β version' feel. This is often attributed to the developer's primary experience being in visual novels.
- Game length and features (weight 0.25): The game is approximately 30 hours long, with the pure story content being less than half of that. It includes a save-anywhere feature and a glossary of terms, but notably lacks a New Game+.
- Faceless NPCs for optimization (weight 0.05): A notable design choice is that unimportant NPCs lack faces, which is reportedly for performance optimization. Some players speculate it might also be a plot point related to a character's memories.
- Achievement hunting considerations (weight 0.05): Achievement hunters need to be diligent about completing 'Requests' as they become available, as missing them can necessitate replaying the game to earn all achievements.
- 20th anniversary title (weight 0.04): This game was released as a commemorative work for the Utawarerumono series' 20th anniversary, highlighting its significance within the franchise.
- Developer responsiveness and updates (weight 0.04): The developer has released minor updates that improved player comfort, indicating they are listening to player feedback and actively working to improve the game experience.
- Sales impacted by early reviews (weight 0.02): The game's sales performance was reportedly poor due to early negative reviews, which could influence the decision to produce future sequels.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.27): Players felt satisfied primarily due to the engaging story, rich lore, and well-developed characters, especially for fans of the Utawarerumono series. The overall game quality, combat design, and improvements after updates also contributed to a positive experience, often exceeding initial expectations despite some flaws.
- Disappointment (weight 0.21): Disappointment stemmed from the game's overall quality not meeting expectations set by previous entries, including issues with character models, generic systems, and technical flaws. The price-to-value ratio, unexceptional gameplay, and an incomplete or inconclusive ending also contributed to this sentiment.
- Frustration (weight 0.14): Frustration was frequently caused by poor pacing, especially in the early story, and numerous technical and visual flaws like bad NPC models and performance issues. Difficult and unrewarding combat, forced grinding, and archaic design choices also led to significant player frustration.
- Excitement (weight 0.05): Excitement was generated by the game's lore expansion, abundant references for series fans, and the potential for future sequels. The engaging story, characters, and unique design choices, along with improved 3D graphics, also contributed to this positive emotion.
- Appreciation (weight 0.04): Players appreciated the game's successful transition to a new genre, its great cinematography, and the high quality of its music, story, and voice acting. Developer efforts to improve the game through updates and its contribution to the series' lore were also highly valued.
- Anticipation (weight 0.04): Anticipation was driven by the desire for a sequel, often fueled by cliffhanger endings and the continued enjoyment of the series. Players looked forward to the continuation of the story and further developments in the Utawarerumono universe.
- Hope (weight 0.03): Hope was primarily focused on the desire for a sequel to complete the story and connect to the main trilogy. Players also expressed hope for future improvements to the game and more Utawarerumono titles to be released on Steam.
- Acceptance (weight 0.03): Players showed acceptance of the game's hard flaws, including graphical and gameplay shortcomings, often viewing them as inherent to a first attempt in a new genre. This sentiment acknowledged the game's basic technical aspects and gameplay limitations.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger arose from unresolved story elements, cliffhanger endings, and poor design choices that removed unique elements in favor of generic JRPG mechanics. The perception of the game as a 'half-finished product' selling on nostalgia also fueled this emotion.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.02): Enjoyment stemmed from the game's compelling story, well-crafted worldview, and engaging characters. The turn-based combat and the overall narrative progression, especially for fans of the Utawarerumono series, also contributed to this positive feeling.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love for the game was rooted in its engaging narrative and the broader Utawarerumono world and franchise. Players expressed deep affection for the overall game experience, particularly as an entry point into the universe.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Surprise occurred when the game exceeded low initial expectations, particularly regarding its enjoyable combat system despite skepticism about the JRPG format. The story's interesting and fun beginning also contributed to this unexpected positive reaction.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance was caused by specific technical issues like controller input problems, stiff character expressions, and the frequent occurrence of cutscenes. These elements detracted from the overall player experience.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Joy was experienced through enjoyable characters, the performance of specific voice actors, and the rich lore provided by side characters. These elements contributed to a delightful and positive emotional experience for players.
- Curiosity (weight 0.01): Curiosity was sparked by unresolved plot threads, new mysteries, and the ending leaving many questions, which often led to a desire for a sequel. The potential plot implications of elements like faceless NPCs also fueled this inquisitiveness.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion arose from the story assuming prior knowledge of the series, making it difficult for new players to follow. Design choices such as faceless NPCs and issues with character models also contributed to this bewilderment.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom was primarily caused by the game's generic combat system and specific game modes that failed to engage players. These aspects led to a lack of interest and repetitive gameplay experiences.
- Helpfulness (weight 0.01): Helpfulness was observed through the game's contribution to the series' lore, providing valuable background information. Players also demonstrated helpfulness by offering technical advice to other players experiencing issues.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust was expressed due to the game's overall quality and specific design elements, such as particular dungeon designs. These aspects evoked strong negative feelings from players.
- Dedication (weight 0.01): Dedication was shown towards the Utawarerumono franchise, indicating a strong loyalty and commitment from players to the series as a whole. This reflects a deep-seated connection to the game's universe.}