The problem with something being considered the “best” of its genre is that it often gets unfair expectations which a game can’t possibly live up to.
This is one of those games.
For posterity, this is a review of the PC version, which was a combination of the original game with the voice acting from the Saturn port. I wouldn’t touch the remake if they paid me, but I’ll get to that later.
Yu-No is, in a word, problematic. The plot, legendary as it is, takes forever to get going. The core premise is nothing particularly noteworthy, at least not on the tin: the protagonist’s father disappears under mysterious circumstances, and Takuya has to navigate a convoluted labyrinth of branching paths, intermingling dimensions, and numerous women to find out the truth.
Of course, therein lies the biggest problem: the game wears its perverted dating sim influence on its sleeve. It’s one thing to have every woman in a mile radius falling all over themselves for the lead, it’s another to have it happen with no rhyme, reason, or even notion of restraint or common decency.
(And here’s where we get into unavoidable spoilers yo, so bail out here if that concerns you.)
Two of the options that Takuya winds up intimately involved with, whether you like it or not, are, respectively, his stepmother and, later, his own biological daughter.
The first is problematic enough on its own, even if technically not too far outside of the realm of common decency, it’s still kind of gross. The second is just far beyond the pale in terms of good taste. By that point, I was nearly done with the game, so I just held down the fast-forward key and got past it for sake of finishing the story. (I’m aware the Saturn versions and remakes excise the adult content entirely, but the version I had access to was the PC port of the game, which was basically the original, warts and all, though I believe it had some editing of the more obscene elements, which I have no interest in, anyway.)
So how about that plot?
Yu-No requires dozens of hours of reading, maybe even 100+, even if you’re a speed-reader like I am. It’s a very, very, VERY long game, so you had better be very invested in the plot and characters if you’re going to see it through. Frankly, apart from a couple standout unique personalities like Ayumi and Mio, I found the cast largely uninteresting, paper-thin, and full of irritatingly predictable tropes. The protagonist is ESPECIALLY insufferable, often not realizing plot elements until they’re vividly beaten into his head(sometimes literally), and making the player examine areas multiple times until he gets the hint and moves on. (This is often made even worse by the fact that he breaks the fourth wall and ridicules the player for trying to leave an area prematurely, only to later reveal that you are, in fact, supposed to move on.)
Let me be crystal(bdmtsh) clear on one thing: this is in no way a fault on the incredibly talented fan translation team. The writing is very good, especially considering the sheer amount and depth of text in Yu-No. To ensure it was as consistent in tone as it was across the board, not to mention sharply written, and engaging with wittily localized jokes to ensure humor isn’t lost in translation. It’s especially impressive considering how much this game drags at a certain point, that I still had to admire the vivid amount of talent the translation team had to put in.
So if you’ve gotten this far, you’re at least curious with or familiar with the most noteworthy thing about Yu-No: the zero-hour twist that completely changes the setting and narrative.
In the last act, or “epilogue” of Yu-No, Takuya finds himself transported to a fantasy realm populated by knights, princesses, emperors, beasts, and all manner of otherworldly things.
Is it a welcome breath of fresh air after spending 60+ hours navigating the ‘real’ world and constant branching paths to find the true ending? Absolutely. Did it make it all worth it? Hardly.
This image of the official in-game map does not do the labyrinthine nature of this game’s convoluted path system justice.
Try this, the hint map that’s included with the fan translation, including my notes for reference:
I think you can see how this can get INCREDIBLY frustrating and time-consuming, and that’s even if you understand the game’s “gem” system, which lets the player leave ‘checkpoints’ of sorts to which you can go back and explore alternate routes. However, you still have to ensure you make the right choice to go back onto the correct branch and acquire the correct item, so you can’t just fast-forward the entire game.
So while the game does spin a compelling narrative and offer some fascinating ideas, it is in no way worth what the player has to suffer through. Yu-No tells a story in 100+ hours that could have been easily condensed to take 40-50 hours, tops. The writer badly needed an editor, and it shows. (The show was also adapted into an anime, which I gather also told the entire plot in 24 episodes or so, so I imagine it is very doable.)
My thoughts on Yu-No aren’t all negative, though. Firstly, the artwork is nothing short of incredible.
Despite wearing its perverted intentions on its sleeve, frequently and often, the talent on display is beyond compare. The backgrounds are full of intricate details, well-designed vistas and settings, and every character is full of unique touches, standing out despite their fairly predictable personalities. (One of the characters has an alter-ego, and you can probably guess it the very first time you meet them, despite Takuya constantly staying in the dark, as he often does.)
(Thanks, captain obvious.)
So how about the other legendary aspect of Yu-No: the music?
I can clearly see why the OST is regarded as highly as it is. The chip-tunes are distinct and full of personality(RIP Ryu Umemoto), but honestly, the melodies tend to get repetitive before long, and are more for mood than anything. Very few felt catchy or memorable, and the OST is hurt even more by the fact that you’ll be hearing the same tracks over and over and over again before the game draws to a close. (The music used during the Epilogue does have a different vibe, though, which was very welcome, and a massive improvement over the content of the main game.)
Now, the elephant in the room: the remake.
That’s right: somehow, the game not only received a full-on remake, complete with brand new art and remixed music, but it even got localized.
Not only is the art completely redone(care of the artist from Ar Tonelico, who has a pretty distinct style), some of the characters are near unrecognizable.
The differences are so drastic that you’d almost think they came from a different game, and it’s a massive insult to the talent of the original team, despite the art itself being passable in quality. (Also, very few if any of the original team get credited in the remake, which is sadly par for the course in the industry.)
It might have been more forgivable if they had at least offered the original art as an option, a la the recent ports of Langrisser 1 & 2, but sadly, this is not the case.
On the bright side, the localization(much like that of the fan translation) goes above and beyond the call of duty, but again, it can only do so much with a mediocre core plot.
The other positive I can give the remake is that Umemoto’s OST was given the original sound as an option, in addition to the remixes, but I imagine the team knew removing his original music would be considered a blasphemous move at best, unforgivable at worst.
The remixed OST isn’t nearly as big an affront as the new art, so it’s still well worth a listen.
In short, Yu-No is a game that’s very much a product of its time. I respect the influence and legendary status that it holds in the industry, but it’s the type of classic you’re better off learning about in brief referential terms, not playing in its entirety. It does not respect the player or their time, so nor should they respect it.
iwakura productions 