izigame.me

A far more consistent product compared to Prelude, for better or for worse


As a heads up, despite being the second instalment in the series, this still works quite well as a starting point.
There's definitely references to the first game, and you'll catch onto several plot points early if you have played Prelude, but if you choose to start here for whatever reason, it should be fine.

Commenting on Deception however, it's pretty alright!
While you're still playing this for the visual novel aspects, the tactics gameplay has been vastly improved.

Animations in combat are significantly faster and have more varied inputs.
You have more than one healer, so multiple units can specialize.
Different attacks which have various ranges, elements, etc.
It's all just a lot faster and way more varied compared to Prelude.

I still have gripes with it, melee units can take too long to get to units, maps being split in half is more a time waster than tactically engaging, glass cannon builds still dominate above all else, etc. etc.
But it does its job as a refresher from the constant text boxes you'll be reading, while those may still be the main attraction, a change of pace is good every once in a while.

As for the actual narrative, it has its moments but there's one catch.


The ungodly amount of filler...


I had my expectations tempered going into this from Prelude, I was sold on this series for its depiction of war and enjoyable characters, but what most didn't comment on was how much slice of life stuff there is in here.
Prelude definitely had a lot of downtime between its serious moments, and sometimes it would just straight up ruin its serious moments, but usually it has another plot point to focus on soon enough. Here however, you will go many hours without any serious plot point to focus on, seeing similar punchlines repeated as the main protagonist is kinda just a punching bag for a lot of exchanges.

While some of these moments have payoff, I think it's incredibly dishonest to say that all of these are justifiable from a narrative perspective. I don't think it's wrong to enjoy these scenes but I would say most of these are highly unnecessary and honestly that enjoyable if I can see the punchline coming right from the start.


That being said, the story definitely has its moments


While I may not enjoy half this cast due to character archetypes or just kinda forgetting they're there, there are definitely some highlights here, with the main ones I'll comment on being the main duo of Haku and Kuon.
Honestly I really like the relationship between these two, exchanges feel very honest and their mostly carefree attitudes bounce off one another pretty well, but when things get serious there's no conflicting contrasts in their personalities, they just work well.

I would comment on other party members but I do not want to spoil since the narrative is what you sign up for if you play these games.

While I think the runtime of this story is bloated due to filler scenes, it definitely moments and its ending definitely makes me want to continue to see what they have to offer in mask of truth.


Its lowpoints are debatably way lower than Preludes, but it's a far more consistent package with significantly improved gameplay and visuals.


I'd only recommend it if you enjoyed Prelude to the Fallen or go in with the expectation that this is mostly slice of life episodes mixed in with an occasional serious moment, and for that crowd I think there's something to enjoy here, otherwise I'd recommend finding something else