I have too many disparate thoughts about Utawarerumono to really sort through, and I don't think its a perfect game either as an srpg or as a narrative, but what it does it just does so well. Its a game relatively without guile, it isn't trying to be smarter than its reader--but it still wants you to ponder, to think on the emotion. Unlike the first two games, there's a creeping sense of dread even during the slow parts of the game here--you know the happy days will come to an end, and every single piece of setting is tinged with that. And when war finally comes, it executes it quite well with wonderful if somewhat stock characters.

I loved how frank it can be with its emotion sometimes--characters like Atuy or Rulutieh who otherwise would be cast-off in other series here get really strong characterization and thought among the melancholy and joy, and more than most you can just see how much they grow. Haku and Kuon are of course the main stars, and they don't disappoint either, but this to me is such an achievement of the writing of the 2010s and why all those series built in a similar vein as this work.

Its also the very rare trans-positive homophobic series, which is funny in its own way.