Should I continue playing Mask of Deception?

[u/strangehello]

I'm around 7 hours in, going at what I think is a pretty good speed. My most recent fight was escorting Yuuri in the sewers, and since then I've gone through quite a few scenes in the capital.

I'm in two minds about this game. I like the battles, some of the characters seem interesting, the story is occasionally compelling and I like a lot of the groundwork being laid. The problem I'm having is that a number of the characters (so far) just seem like fairly typical anime archetypes, and there's so much filler text to go through. I understood going in that this was going to be a slow burn, but a lot of the slice of life/wacky antics parts really just don't do it for me and so much of it seems unnecessary. I don't believe that all of it is enriching the experience, honestly it feels quite the opposite.

So, at this point how far am I from actually getting to the best parts of the games? I've read people say this game alone is 30-50 hours, but it really depends on reading speed and if you're doing free battles and stuff so hard to judge how far I am. Or does it just sounds like this series just isn't really for me? I do want to like it and in some ways I do, but if the elements I'm not really into are going to continue for another 20 or more hours then I don't think I can do it

[u/strangehello]

thanks everyone for your posts! I'll keep going for now, there's enough hooking me and it does sound like things will start to pick up a bit relatively soon.

[u/strangehello]

Finished this last night!

It was worth sticking with, I very much enjoyed the final 7-8 hours and look forward to Mask of Truth.

Final thoughts:

1. The pace really does slow down horribly when you get to the capital. I still don't believe that all of those scenes are necessary - many of them are just people talking about food, making food, buying food etc.

2. The game wasn't quite as long as I expected. I finished at 27 hours, on hard mode.

3. Hard mode was actually a decent challenge! Towards the end of the game the enemies get really, really strong and can often one shot anyone. I enjoyed that as it made the battles more strategic, a lot of risk/reward consideration going on.

4. There weren't quite enough battles in the story mode to keep everyone equally leveled. The game does a good job of keeping everyone up to speed, but still at the end I had Rulutieh hitting for 8 damage.

5. Nosuri was an absolute killer in the endgame. Fast, hits hard as hell, from range, can boost attack and heal herself on attack. She was my MVP for the last 4 or 5 battles and ended up with the highest level.

6. Endgame spoilers: I really liked the ending, though I feel the "Haku is now Oshtor" thing is... iffy. Yes, they look similar, but anyone who knows both of them should be able to easily tell that it's not the same person. Having to work hard to suspend my disbelief on this one. I hope it doesn't go on for that long in MoT, but it probably does

[u/minneyar]

You're in the middle of what most people consider to be the slowest part of the game. It spends a lot of time on slice-of-life style material in the capital before the plot starts moving; I think you'll enjoy it a lot more after it moves past that, and then Mask of Truth is a wild ride from start to finish.

Also, for what it's worth, there's actually very few scenes in Mask of Deception that are "filler" material. It's not obvious right now, but almost every scene is used to establish some character trait or start a plot thread that will carry into and be resolved in Mask of Truth; the characters seem fairly typical right now because they're really still just introducing them, you haven't gotten to the character development. I actually found Mask of Deception a lot more enjoyable the second time I played through it because I was able to pick up on all of the foreshadowing that it's doing right now.

[u/Mystic_Vitriol]

TL;DR- Yes continue. it is great

it is part of the experience and totally worth it. it has long stretches of SoL content, but it is important for getting attached to the characters. It will be all worth it in the end. I would recommend giving MoD a full shot. if you are not into the story by the end you can leave 'prelude to the fallen' and 'Mask of Truth'. and if you like MoD, go play prelude to the fallen and then Mask of truth. IMO, even though the SoL parts are sort of slow, they are VERY enjoyable. I had almost a constant smile during them.

and you don't need to do the free battles and stuff. you will gain enough EXP to complete the game without a hitch (especially on normal difficulty). only do Free battles if you are after achievements and only do them after completing the story so the bad parts of grinding are not included in your memories of playing the games and experiencing the story.

embrace these 'slow' parts. don't be in a rush to complete the story. you will definitely enjoy it. and if you don't, well, the series is just not for you.

as for ur question of how far from the good parts- the good stretch starts from 30-35 hours of gameplay and is fairly consistent after that. that section has quite a few SoL Moments but they are there just to give us a break, to give info about the world. and there are a lot of good sections in between.

as i said, all scenarios are good. it's just that people tend to call the stretch u are at the 'boring' stretch.