It's Mary Skelter 2, a dungeon-crawling RPG by Compile Heart (the Neptunia guys, though it shares basically none of the same developers). It has an interesting relationship with its predecessor in the sense that the developers' official recommendation is to play 2 first and then 1 after (2 conveniently comes bundled with a remake of 1 that has shortened dungeons but all the same story. This is fine because 1's dungeons were monstrously long). I agree with this recommended order, though really I say you can play both of them in any order and still get something out of it. They essentially complete each other. I would only say that it's necessary to play
both, it doesn't matter which one you play first, I would recommend 2.
The game focuses primarily on a lesbian relationship. It's already firmly established by the time the game begins and there's no shipteasing because they're already dating. The balls on the people who make the game need to be checked by a doctor, because not only is the relationship unambiguously and undeniably canon, it's also the main focus of a sequel for a game franchise that got its start as a harem-type game where you play as a male protagonist, and develop a relationship with any of the girls of your choosing. Fascinatingly 2 ended up being the most popular game in the franchise with tonnes of merch made specifically for it, but the franchise met its end later when the publication that helped it come into being, Dengeki Bunko, ceased physical releases (it still exists as a digital publication) as a result of declining popularity. They released one more game intentionally meant to serve as an end to the franchise, Finale, which was plagued with problems due to the COVID pandemic. I liked it, but the fact they couldn't do everything they wanted with it
really shows.
Compile Heart is a company that infamously has trouble making great games. I like their games because although they're all extremely flawed in one area or another (usually gameplay), they have compelling story ideas. I think Mary Skelter is their first foray outside of Neptunia that really had any sort of staying power, and it still wasn't as big as Neptunia. They genuinely tried with this game and I honestly think that even in terms of gameplay, 2 is probably one of the best dungeon crawlers out there. 1 and Finale have major problems, though they can be overlooked.
There are a couple of things to take into consideration when it comes to this game:
- I am biased. This is my favorite game of all time. It deeply strengthened my bond with the person who I'd consider to be the most important in my life, caused me to re-evaluate how I see romantic relationships in fiction, and has a lot of things that appeal to me specifically. Unfortunately I don't post much about what I like and why I like these things, so it's unreasonable for me to expect anyone to know what appeals to me and therefore consider it in relation to their own opinion. Just know that just because I say it's the best game ever made, doesn't mean it actually
is. If you read a lot of romance novels or games, you might find this one unexciting. Remember, I got so into it because I was starved.
It's only the best game
for me, partly because of what I've personally experienced as a result of it. It's the same with Umineko - I don't like Umineko because I think it's the world's most competent story, I like it because it was a formative part of my teenage years and changed the way in which I view my relationship with my parents and with fiction. My favorite games tend to be games that speak to me personally, rather than games which are necessarily well-made or well-written. That being said, I really do think that this game's story is very good. Better than most that try the same things it does. And if nothing else, it is undeniable, even by people who have issues with it (and there
are people that have issues with it), that the ending is one of the most intriguing things done in a video game franchise and must be experienced blind at least once.
My personal opinion is that if a story makes me have any sort of strong emotional reaction, and it was intended by the writers, then it's a good story, flaws aside.
- The franchise is not light on the sexy type of fanservice. My opinion is this: if you can tolerate Fate (especially FGO) or most gacha games, you can tolerate this. Every single playable character has an enhanced power-up state that robs them of most of their clothes, and their class outfits can also be pretty indecent. Every single playable character also has a friendship route, where you develop a bond with them over multiple scenes, and one of those scenes is guaranteed to have a fanservice-y CG. 2 tones this down a little bit by having it so multiple characters share the same sexy CG, but it still happens. I personally didn't mind this but it can be a dealbreaker for some people. If you like or are interested in men expect to be disappointed as always. That being said, there
are story-relevant male characters. The relationship between the two lesbians in 2 is wholesome and has very little fanservice (the expected 'lewd' CG for them is actually a very modest scene of them hugging in bed, and both of their canonical kisses are in deeply emotional scenes that have no fanservice angle whatsoever. Otsuu, the protagonist, has one lewd CG of her putting on a
sarashi)
- The PC port for 2 is decent but it has issues. It is graphically inferior to the console versions and occasionally experiences crashing or visual glitches for some people (I personally had no issues, works on my machine etc etc. Apparently it causes issues if you have multiple graphics cards?). It was also censored when it first came out, removing a fanservice minigame. Due to outcry, this minigame can be re-enabled by applying an official patch to the game folder. Finale didn't have as much fanservice (including complete removal of said minigame) due to Sony cracking down on Japanese developers while it was being made. The translations for all three games have issues, but they aren't anything that can't be ignored. Finally, don't even bother using the English dub for any of the games because it's literally incomplete, with only major scenes and battle cries being voiced. Notably though it's a debut for Khoi Dao who would later go on to voice multiple major characters in much more successful franchises.
- There exists supplementary material that makes it much easier to understand the setting and the rules of the story. There are three very short web-novels meant to serve as a prologue for all games, however as they contain some information that is revealed much later in the game themselves, I recommend reading both after finishing their respective game, as it will clear up some questions. There is also a light novel,
Hikari no Arika, which never received an official translation outside of its prologue. There is a summary on Reddit and once again it also clears up some questions regarding the first game, but as it occurs parallel to the first game, once again it is best left until that is finished.
- If you don't like dungeon crawling RPG gameplay, you might get a little bored. Honestly it's worth powering through it just for the sake of the story IMO but I personally had fun with the gameplay. Again if you can tolerate some of Fate's forays into gameplay you can tolerate this and for what it's worth I genuinely do think it's at the very least a decent game which is saying a lot considering this is Compile Heart, who made the game Makai Shin Trillion (TL;DR: Lostbelt 7 but it's a whole game and also came out years beforehand) which is like, an active misery to play.
Originally Posted by Nanaya
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