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Now that the end is kind of in sight I’m working on this intensely so I can actually finish something because I’m in the middle of so much. Seems like this chapter is structured in a way that lends itself to pausing to talk about arcs, so here we go:
Spoilers for 3 days until...
Our final format twist is letting Michel directly interact with the events rather than passively observing, and it’s nice getting to see his interactions with the cast we know by this point, as well as how they live in a different context. I won’t lie, in the middle of the conversation with メル and ネリー I was kinda feeling like it was going in circles, dragging a little. There’s a weird tone change where we’re approaching the finale of the story but by the way it’s structured it’s a little less focused and more lighthearted than ever at times, with goofy Giselle banter and etc. I don’t think it’s bad; I’m probably getting a little anxious to finish. Just, it’s definitely a nontraditional type of change given how late we are in the story after such dramatic developments earlier. And we’ve gone through quite a bit of stories repeating, seeing different versions or perspectives, at this point.
Still on the whole I like what it’s doing, bringing the early cast back for us to see their Original Sin and how their characterization plays out in a different life. As for the メル story, well, I like the depth given by his reflection on his own self-centeredness. It’s also nice to see his sister get to develop beyond her unhealthy crush, and as just a normal lonely little girl, I thought her scene hanging out with Michel was fun before it got heavy and serious. Not much is very surprising about メル’s perspective; he was obviously terrified of his co-conspirators and being threatened into cooperating is exactly what you’d expect. He did stand by as horrible things happened, but he’s not even old enough to be an adult, and a psychopath, with the backing of someone with political authority, is threatening him with a sword. He has his character flaws but I find it hard to be THAT mad at him. The other two though… we’ll see! Genuinely don’t remember the background to their stories well enough anymore, so I get to almost experience them for the first time again.
Oh also I finally got one bad ending, if you tell him the truth right away when given the choice, he calls in the other two to kill you. So I mean, without using his sister’s image of him against him well, he is still at this point desperate enough to do things he knows will continue to hurt others. While I don’t really want to strongly condemn a child for not struggling against someone we very clearly know will just kill him and his sister on the spot, I think getting this other ending DOES help cast him in a bit of a more negative light. He acts like he’s going to cooperate then immediately sells you out to protect himself. He’s meant to be flawed so I think that’s good.
Nice!!! Congrats
How did you enjoy it? (if it’s possible to say without spoilers)
Looking forward to being there too, but will be first in August / September for me by the looks of it
That’s great, congrats! I’ll be joining you soon, I’m in the middle of Yukimasa telling his story right now.
Definitely want to see if people are interested in continuing on to at least A Requiem for Innocence afterwards. I intend to read it myself, but I’ll give others more time to catch up and could use a little break to focus on other stuff anyway.
Interesting I think I would like to read other things when I’m done with Fata Morgana, I have such a big backlog already… Would rather keep it for in one or two year, then it’ll fun to re-visit the Fata Morgana universe. So don’t wait for me if you want to read it soon! (PS: it’s on discount on Steam right now)
That’s fair! I think I need a month or two off but might want to come back to it sooner, yeah. We’ll see. Luckily it’s smaller, more like a 15 or less hour (native reading speed) experience.
Had a blast with it for sure. Although, as you probably know with where you’re at, it gave me a lot of depression as well.
One of the parts I enjoyed the most about the story was the really high level of character writing, which I truly enjoyed. The author did a really good job portraying conflicted characters, whose motivations and actions really make you think. And the interactions between the characters were very well written too, from what I can say.
I also really liked the art style, which complemented the overall theme of the novel nicely too, especially in some of the CGs. And not to mention the amazing soundtrack, which I was a little put off in the first chapter, especially the part when the vocals appear for the first time, but it sure did grow on me. Especially some of the songs used in the tragic moments are just amazing.
Other than that, I didn’t mind no voice acting, but sure think it would’ve elevated the experience even further.
Right now, not much comes to mind that I could criticize about this VN.
Anyway, if I were to rate it
Characters 10/10
Story 10/10
Art 10/10
BGM 10/10
Overall 10/10
It’s funny because sometimes I even forget that it doesn’t have voice acting, like, I remember a line in my head, and it’s in a different voice depending on who it is.
Haha yeah it looks like that. But not even, I just opened up the forums to do my book club duties (I run 2 book clubs and post new assignments weekly around that time), and there was your message so I’m the one who should be asking if you were stalking me to post right at the moment where I opened up the forums
Really glad you enjoyed it so much! Good to see this club paying off
Following my first post, spoilers for the second big arc
Yukimasa actually just kinda sucks! I mean he’s VERY conflicted and confused, apparently his 魂 itself is prone to becoming someone who loses their memories all the time, haha. So yeah, all he remembers is insults, violence, oppression, slavery: the beast only remembering being treated as a beast once again. So enacting violence on others is presumably the one thing he has found to feel like he’s in control. Making the violence arbitrary is him expressing some sort of ability to actually behave independently of his circumstance.
It’s kind of the inverse of the Mel situation. Everyone is conflicted and complex in some way but my brain wants to immediately think Mel is just a little guy, and I have to think about it a little to see the worse parts of him because my natural reaction is that he’s pretty excusable. This is the sadist torture murder man so it takes work to… I wouldn’t say look at the positive side, but take the circumstances into account to at least see him in the mixed way the VN wants me to. He’s… trying! It’s within the same day that he was breaking all of Michel’s fingers and having a blast doing it, but he’s asking how to do better and might even consider trying to not break someone’s fingers.
But I mean it’s not like any context short of demonic possession was gonna make the scales not weigh heavily on the bad side when we already know he killed a bunch of people because it was fun. I’m just working to engage with the writing; it’s all built on them doing terrible things as the foundation so really I think all the VN wants to insist right now is while they have done something ridiculously heinous, they are still people with multiple dimensions and internal conflicts and motivations, not pure manifestations of evil. Even if they suck, and he does. He thinks about his feelings towards Morgana and Pauline strangely, but the urges to help them did exist amidst all the other urges.
All this for a reward Pauline doesn’t even really want (at least compared to what she really wants)! Yippee
This kind of conundrum seems to come up quite often in this VN, doesn’t it.
Yeah, it is really difficult to redeem a character like Yukimasa, but at the very least you can understand to a certain extent why he made the choices he did. I certainly don’t like him, but it’s not like I hate him either, knowing there is actually some inner conflict within him.
I stopped pretty much immediately after the story is revealed, so while I’m approaching the ending, I’m taking this as its own separate piece like the last two here, with no information about what happens afterwards:
Third arc
The Jacopo story is definitely my favorite. He does a lot of vile things but this time he’s always doing some calculating behind them. Doesn’t change that they’re morally wrong, but the development as he hardens his heart adds a lot to his character. What I particularly enjoy is the way his story here mirrors his next life in so many ways. It was true of others, but the connections are especially strong in his, even down to the ways Maria tries to convince him to just stay with her, and comes to resent him over time. Everyone’s making the same mistakes.
The way he sees Morgana without an arm and realizes he’s in too deep to back out really isn’t all that different from Mell. He has some of that same fear. In many ways he feels like a middle ground between the other two men to me.
Interesting how each one of them needed to be convinced by the person they cared about, but for him that’s Morgana and she can’t be here so the magical flashback darkness had to play that part. I guess there really would be no succeeding with him, otherwise.
When I came across this line I was like “hey look at these good attitudes towards women! and so long ago in the past!” but then he started reminding me about his and Morgana’s age a lot pretty soon after so… people are complicated!
I finished! Since this whole chapter seems to be something new 200k characters if jpdb is right, I’m happy with how quickly I was able to really knuckle down and do it.
It’s still really nice, I’m glad to come back and find I enjoy this just like I did before. I’m right there with @Starzor at 10/10. Many of the same thoughts too, the complicated characters really shine.
Coming off just reading a few more hours of it to finish, my brain’s kinda noisy and I don’t think I can form good thoughts now but I’ll hopefully come back and add more later haha. Just wanted to pop in and celebrate.
Wohoo
Congrats! Wasn’t expecting you to finish that fast, not because of the reading speed but because you had so many other projects! I wonder what made you commit to this one most, the story sucking you in, or @Starzor speedrunning
Enjoy your brain going back to its normal state, and I’ll see you in this thread again in a month or two I expect!
Thanks! Yeah I’ve slightly left other things on hold – just maintaining pace on Umineko when the thread gets a post, and I’ve read Hundred Line for an hour or so a lot of nights here and there but nothing too big. I’m 14 endings in of 100 so… progress. Over 100 hours logged already though
I think it was a little of everything pushing my attention here! I’ve been enjoying it a lot, and also having another person already getting here made it not feel like I was running ahead on my own or anything. I’ve also just spent kind of a long time now feeling like I’m doing the same stuff forever given how I’m reading some of the longest VNs that exist. I totally like them even still so it’s fine, but that stale feeling isn’t great and despite not taking nearly as long for Fata Morgana, it was all kind of cumulative so I was attracted to the idea of just finishing something and getting that feeling of completion and accomplishment. This was by far the most reasonable thing to finish, haha.
I still feel like I’m leaving it not totally done because of the later stories, which I’m gonna get to, but a break to focus elsewhere sounds lovely, first.
I’m actually approaching under 50 pages to go on the novel I’ve been reading right before bed (of like ~350 total, and the book is 殺戮にいたる病) so I’m going to get a double dose of the accomplishment feelings soon
I think I would like to read other things when I’m done with Fata Morgana, I have such a big backlog already… Would rather keep it for in one or two year, then it’ll fun to re-visit the Fata Morgana universe. So don’t wait for me if you want to read it soon! (PS: it’s 
I mean he’s VERY conflicted and confused, apparently his 魂 itself is prone to becoming someone who loses their memories all the time, haha. So yeah, all he remembers is insults, violence, oppression, slavery: the beast only remembering being treated as a beast once again. So enacting violence on others is presumably the one thing he has found to feel like he’s in control. Making the violence arbitrary is him expressing some sort of ability to actually behave independently of his circumstance.
He thinks about his feelings towards Morgana and Pauline strangely, but the urges to help them did exist amidst all the other urges.
