I really, really
hate cliffhangers. Wait, did I mention that I hate cliffhangers? I deem them the cheapest narrative trick ever, a dirty way to ensure that the reader/viewer/player/whatever will feel compelled to purchase the sequel. Plus, cliffhangers are nothing but emotional porn designed to tug at one's heartstrings while at the same time leaving them insanely frustrated. Like, how can I
not desperately want to buy
Mask of Truth after
UMoD fed me its heart-wrenching ending? How can I live without knowing if Kuon and Haku are reunited and if Haku's deception is exposed? Heck, just the thought of having to import
Mask of Truth and wait a few weeks until it's delivered is killing me right now.
Sheesh, that ending royally pisses me off. Not only is it a dirt cheap cliffhanger, but it's a
stupid dirt cheap cliffhanger. Having Haku pose as Oshtor makes. absolutely. no. sense. whatsoever. I don't care that this was Ohstor's last wish; it's pretty obvious right off the bat that Haku is going to buckle under the pressure of impersonating someone else sooner or later and that the whole scheme is bound to fail. (Just ask Jean-Claude Romand how that crap worked for him.) Why not let Kuon know? Why not let the whole crew know, for that matter? If this was indeed Oshtor's last wish that Haku pose as him, as the game implies, then it's pretty obvious that Oshtor made that demand for his countrymen's sake, so that they have a trusted leader figure to look up to. As for the crew, they would sure prefer to have Haku at their side rather than Oshtor; not to mention that Haku's deception would be more likely to last if he had accomplices. So
why? Heck, I think I know the answer: to create more drama and ensure that players will purchase
Mask of Truth without fail.
Well, I certainly will do that — and not for the cliffhanger's sake, mind you. I had lots of fun playing
UMoD and totally want more of it. Sure, it was not perfect by any means: the story was too disjointed at times, the characters' behaviour had me rolling my eyes more than once, and I swear I wanted to punch Nekone into oblivion when she nearly ruined Oshtor's chances to win the final fight by throwing a tantrum like the unsufferable immature brat she is; but overall, it was still a darn good game. The battles were fun, with just the right dose of strategy and challenge to be entertaining without being frustrating, and the story mixed heartwarming, humorous and dramatic moments to great effect, with a couple of expertly handled plot twists to boot. Oh, and I'm totally mad about Kuon. Seeing her go away tore my heart out, and I swear I wanted to run after her, hug her and beg her to stay. Oh Haku, you're such a
prick for putting Kuon and myself through that emotional wringer.
Since I mentioned the story, I'm kinda glad that it picked up the pace and offered more intense developments than these endless slices of life I deplored in my
last post. I now see those as innocuous fillers, necessary to build up relationships between characters and lighten up the atmosphere — although these moments irritated me more than anything. I'm just a tad disappointed that the writers resorted to the overused '
Super Mode' trope; I've read a couple too many shonens exploiting that stuff to not get completely blasé about it. Also, the story was sometimes a tad too morally twisted for straight-laced old me: on top of Nekone lusting for her bro, we have Atuy's dad loving his daughter in a a suspiciously intense way, and Woshis using his personal posse of young servant boys as models for the yaoi mangas he secretly draws. But hey, this is pretty standard anime fare after all; and I sure played
plenty of Vita games that were much more hentai-ridden than that without batting an eyelid, so I guess I have no ground for complaining.
With that said, dear fellow gamers, I'll see you later for
Mask of Truth — that is, when I'm done importing it, which may or may not happen soon. Until then, thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
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