Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten – Review
Utawarerumono is one of those big Japanese franchises that have a ton of games, anime, and spinoffs that never really found its footing in the West. It certainly got a ton more fans with the remasters of the original trilogy some time ago, but it hasn’t become a household name like other Japanese series over the past years have. Now, to celebrate the franchise’s 20th anniversary, AQUAPLUS finally released the newest entry in the series worldwide for PlayStation consoles, trading in tactical combat to deliver a more traditional JRPG.
Story
Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten follows Oshtor, a typical JRPG protagonist who lives with his mother and siblings and serves as a local protector of the village. Everything changes however when he encounters a mysterious girl named Shunya who claims to share the same father as our local hero. This takes Oshtor by surprise since his father died years ago on a battlefield far away, but the girl seems to have some proof that he might still be out there. Now the duo sets out on a journey to the fabled land of Arva Shulan, a mysterious place filled with dangerous monsters and ancient ruins in search of the truth.
The narrative is Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten’s strongest selling point. The simple search for their father quickly leads Oshtor and Shunya down a rabbit hole of intriguing mysterious and political plots that motivate the player to keep on going to know what happens next. This combined with some lore about ancient civilizations and endearing characters will deliver a solid JRPG story. This second point is an important one for this type of game since you’ll be spending dozens of hours with its expansive cast. Our main duo stands out from all these characters since seeing them get closer throughout the game is a joy to see, as they bond over their lost father. That doesn’t mean the rest isn’t noteworthy. The cast boasts some great villains, and the rest of your party will keep you entertained for hours.
The story is a joy to experience, but that doesn’t mean it avoids the classic problems JRPGs often face. While the narrative is a good one, it drags at some points during the 30 hours it takes to beat the game. There are also some points where the game throws a dozen unfamiliar fantasy terms at you, which can be a bit overwhelming if you aren’t familiar with the Utawarerumono series. Luckily there is an extensive glossary that can be accessed at every moment, even during cutscenes. A final important thing to know is that, while fans of the franchise will get more out of everything that is happening, it isn’t necessary to be familiar with Utawarerumono, and thanks to this, Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten offers a great starting point for new fans.
Graphics
The graphical design of Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten is a classical mixed bag seen in JRPGs without a budget as big as Final Fantasy. The game looks really pretty with a ton of colors and well-designed characters. Oshtor and Shunya’s journey also takes place in a ton of locations, so the visual presentation of the world keeps looking fresh. While most of the story is told throughout cutscenes featuring the 3D models, some longer scenes take on a visual novel-style presentation. These are a fun change of pace and offer some beautifully illustrated character sprites and backgrounds.
But while the game looks really pretty, it also has the vibe of a remastered game from the previous generation with some updated models. This feeling is often created by some stiff animations and reused enemies with just a color swap. As mentioned before, these things are to be expected with such a big game that doesn’t have a budget as big as a new AAA game, but it can be a downer at some points.
Sound
it’s always a joy to see that developers put a ton of care into the sound design of their games and with Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten this is definitely the case. The story features a fully-voiced Japanese cast and delivers a ton of great performances. This helps connect with the characters a ton and gives them a lot of personality. The same can be said about the soundtrack, as each location you visit is provided with a track and effects that perfectly fit the atmosphere. The only bummer is the lack of an English dub, which is pretty usual in this type of game these days.
Gameplay
Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten is a JRPG that focuses on turn-based combat, taking a different approach from the grid-based tactical combat that the original series is known for. Throughout the game, you’ll be doing the typical JRPG shtick of fighting monsters, exploring dungeons, and upgrading your characters.
The basic combat doesn’t vary that much from your typical JRPG adventure. Throughout the story, you’ll collect a party of four fighters, each with their own unique abilities and playstyles. Some will be more focused on one role, like basic attacks or using spells, while others are a mix of these. This helps to keep all of the characters feeling unique and keeps the combat from being a button masher where you only use basic attacks. In this aspect, the game doesn’t do anything too unique, but there is one element that makes it stand out a bit. Like in most turn-based games, the combatants have a specific order in which they attack, where it’s often based on their speed, which can be altered by using items or abilities. Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten takes this a step further by placing everyone on three rings with different speeds. Filling your special meter or staggering enemies can help you move to faster rings and kick the enemy down one. Throughout the game, you’ll unlock even more abilities to influence this and add buffs or debuffs to them. This adds another layer of tactics to the game since you have to consider which character you want to give a boost to and when. These battles will give you experience points to level up and get new abilities, along with some items and materials. Materials can be used for crafting, but this is introduced surprisingly late in the game. Thanks to all of this, Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten delivers a fun yet basic combat system with a few interesting twists. During longer stretches of gameplay, however, the battles can drag a bit since there is no speed-up function or way to skip attack animations.
Outside of these battles, the game offers yet again pretty classic JRPG mechanics. You’ll be running through a ton of locations from story moment to story moment, encountering monsters in the aforementioned battles. All of these enemies are visible on the overworld and there is an attack mechanic to gain an advantage in battle. When you’re over-leveled for a certain enemy, this overworld attack will skip the battle and deliver instant rewards. This is a great mechanic that makes backtracking a lot easier and makes grinding more rewarding, despite the hit detection feeling sluggish and the fact that you can’t use it instantly after sprinting.
When you aren’t fighting enemies, there is the option to explore some extra paths in every location. This doesn’t take up a ton of time but can reward you with some extra goodies or stronger enemies. These two can also be encountered throughout a handful of side quests, but these don’t amount to much more than just some backtracking and fetch quests. Overall the gameplay experience in Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten offers you exactly what you expect from a JRPG, all of it is fun with a handful of kinks that keep it from feeling perfectly smooth.
Conclusion
Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten delivers a great JRPG with an interesting story and gameplay that feels familiar but doesn’t offer that many unique features. The presentation offers a great atmosphere to experience the narrative, but it can’t avoid the usual kinks of a game with this budget. If you’re a fan of the Utawarerumono franchise, or if you’ve enjoyed the recent iterations of series like Ys or Atelier, this game will definitely be up your alley.
No Comments