4 Reviews liked by Bedmar


LIKE THIS POST IF YOU THINK THE MIIS THAT COLONIZED WUHU ISLAND SHOULD BE GIVEN THE DEATH PENALTY

This review contains spoilers

The quality of the chapters can really fluctuate. On one hand, the near-future chapter might be one of my favorite short game stories ever. On the other hand, I found the distant future chapter so miserable that it took me a year to get back into playing the game. I would say that it is more likely for a chapter to be poor over being good.

I honestly started the game really loving it, but as time went on, I grew more and more disappointed. I found myself especially frustrated with the Middle Ages chapter. Maybe it's my fault for going in with expectations, as I heard it talked up as "a great subversion of classic SNES RPG tropes", but I find it to be either the second worst (behind the distant future) or the worst chapter. The overall routing and things you need to do can be a bit strange, but that's the least of my complaints. It feels extremely like it's contemporary (now and in the SNES era), and I'm not easily wowed by "the hero turned into a villain" stories. It felt like it thought it was something much more than it was. 

Not only that, but it's hard to take anything that is trying to be subversive seriously when it still relies on age-old, misogynist tropes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's not fully in line with the tropes, but does Alethea exist outside of the men that surround her? I think the treatment of women in Live A Live is something to comment on as a whole. There is one decently written girl character (Lei), which is incredibly pathetic for a game about multiple places and time periods with multiple different batches of ensemble casts.

To be honest, I actually did not 100% finish the game. I got to one of the final bosses, found it aggravating, saw that all that was left was a boss rush and a final final boss, and called it there. The final chapter felt incredibly weak with no good payoff or reason for everything to be connected. It also felt very designed around the fact that the person playing it would be in love with the game, which is a fair assumption as the person playing had gotten to the very end, but still. I like hard video games, I like hard RPGs, the first Odio boss fight felt like a boring slog and grinding around the dungeon got absolutely meager results. It was not anything i wanted to put more time into.

I wanted to like it, and the game is interesting in concept, but it weakens as it goes on, and its charm does not last. It's an incredibly disappointing game.

EN: The House in Fata Morgana was my introduction to the medium of visual novels and I immediately feel like I've already read the best of the genre without experiencing the rest.

"No one knows who first said
...that the mansion was cursed.

It immerses us in a cursed mansion, in which there is a servant who has waited thousands of years for your return, you are the master of this house who has lost the identity, you must remember who you are, it will present you with stories of former members of the mansion in the form of memories which each one presents different themes, between tragedy, human nature and madness. Each one gives way to a great mystery and the search for the answer to the curse that affects the mansion.

A masterpiece that highlights in every section the talent behind the game, showing an incredibly well written story, with the presence of extremely human characters, with a soundtrack that subtly tells its own story, in set of things that create the atmosphere of the cursed mansion, it is a terribly depressing work, so much so that it tears the soul, but at the same time through all the tragedy continues to light a hopeful fire and that immerses you in this story.

It seeks to explore in depth the search for identity, the importance of communication and mutual understanding, how our surroundings shape us and build our being and how even small moments of human connection and warmth create a lasting effect on the people around us. It teaches us to accept reality and facing it can be as painful as reality itself.

No words can describe everything I felt through her characters, they are so human you can feel their own pain. Everything maintains a level of believable realism which is what makes the narrative so heartbreaking but at the same time through all the tragedy it still lights a hopeful fire and immerses you in this beautiful story.

Everything you are presented with has a purpose, putting the big puzzle together, seeing how it all came together as I went along was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever experienced in a game.

Everyone hides a vulnerability behind a facade they pretend to be among others, it invites you to investigate the real people behind this Fata Morgana (a term for a type of mirage) and observe them as the integral human beings they are, beyond what they want or are forced to appear to be. Whether they are good or bad in the eyes of others, there are always circumstances that have made them what they are today.

Conclusion: It is beautiful, breathtaking, heartbreakingly tragic and brutal. It will take you on a journey of strong emotions in every way. Nothing so much passion and heart was put into could leave anyone without having gained something valuable from reading it. I am so glad I read it, because it is an experience I will never forget and it will stay in my heart.





ES: The House in Fata Morgana fue mi introducción al medio de las novelas visuales e inmediatamente siento que ya he leído lo mejor del género sin experimentar el resto.

"Nadie sabe quién dijo por primera vez
...que la mansión estaba maldita".

Nos sumerge en una mansión maldita, en la que hay una sirvienta que ha esperado miles de años por tu regreso, eres el amo de esta casa quien ha perdido la identidad, debes recordar quien eres, te presentará historias de antiguos miembros de la mansión en forma de recuerdos la cual cada una presenta distintos temas, entre la tragedia, naturaleza humana y la locura. Que dan paso a un gran misterio y a la búsqueda de la respuesta a la maldición que afecta a la mansión.

Una obra maestra que destaca en todo apartado el talento detrás del juego, mostrando una historia increíblemente bien escrita, con presencia de personajes sumamente humanos, con una banda sonora que cuenta sutilmente su propia historia, en conjunto de cosas que crean la atmósfera de la mansión maldita, es una obra terriblemente deprimente, tanto que desgarra el alma, pero al mismo tiempo a través de toda la tragedia sigue encendiendo un fuego esperanzador y que te sumerge en esta historia.

Busca explorar en profundidad la búsqueda de identidad, la importancia de la comunicación y del entendimiento mutuo, como el alrededor nos da forma y construye nuestro ser y cómo incluso los pequeños momentos de conexión y calidez humana crean un efecto duradero en las personas que nos rodean. Nos enseña aceptar la realidad y enfrentarse a ella puede ser tan doloroso como la propia realidad.

No hay palabras que puedan describir todo lo sentí a través de sus personajes, son tan humanos que puedes sentir su propio dolor. Todo mantiene un nivel de realismo creíble que de lo que hace que la narración sea tan desgarradora pero al mismo tiempo a través de toda la tragedia sigue encendiendo un fuego esperanzador y te sumerge en esta hermosa historia.

Todo lo que te presentan tiene un propósito, armar el gran rompecabezas, ver cómo todo iba encajando a medida que avanzaba fue una experiencia de las experiencias más gratificantes que he experimentado en un juego.

Todos esconden una vulnerabilidad tras una fachada que pretenden ser entre los demás, invita a investigar a las personas reales que se esconden detrás de esta Fata Morgana (un término para un tipo de espejismo) y a observarlas como seres humanos integrales que son, más allá de lo que quieren o se ven obligados a aparentar ser. Sean buenas o malas a los ojos del resto y de que siempre hay circunstancias que las han convertido en lo que son hoy.

Conclusion: Es hermosa, sobrecogedora, desgarradoramente trágica y brutal. Te llevará a un viaje de fuertes emociones en todos sentidos. Nada en lo que se haya puesto tanta pasión y corazón podría dejar a alguien sin haber ganado algo valioso al leerlo. Me alegro mucho de haberlo leído, porque es una experiencia que nunca olvidaré y se quedará en mi corazón.