This came out today. I’ve only played a little so far, but it’s like a fusion of Caligula and Monark. I had wanted more of a straightforward Monark sequel, but this seems fine so far. The Masuko score is pretty nice, and the combat has some promise to it. The story is slow-going and hasn’t had a major hook yet, but both Caligulas had meh intro chapters, so I’ll give it a pass for now.For the five or so people like me that really likes Monark, what do you want to see from the game? I’m hoping it ties into the lore and adds more character cameos.
Should I buy it? Aruka looks cute enough.
>>3834408If you like Furyu’s other games, sure. I’d say it’s more of the same. But it also has the same issue they all do of being too expensive at launch. This kind of low budget RPG used to be on handhelds and sold at a lower retail price.
>>3834366>a fusion of Caligula and MonarkIn what way? I liked Caligula but didn't really like Monark's combat.
>>3834366Is there any interesting side content or do you just waste time and do tedious sidequests like with Caligula?
>>3834419It’s developed by Aquria (makers of Vita Caligula) instead of Lancarse, and the combat is a more standard turn-based system instead of an SRPG. The turns are laid out on a timeline, and you can intercept enemies depending on which type of skill you use and when. For example, you have a skill on the MC that can break an enemy while “casting” which basically means as they’re readying their attack. But it’s mainly the style and tone that I was referring to being like a fusion of the two. Particularly it’s like Caligula 2 aesthetically, with a bit of Monark. >>3834422I’m not far enough to say definitively, but you have these brief everyday life segments that have you dick around a bit and do minor tasks, and you can also do character episodes like in Caligula. I don’t know how, or if, this evolves as the game progresses.
>>3834425So if most of the characters are annoying/underwhelming, the game will be a slog.Oh well, might take the plunge
>>3834426The characters seem alright so far, but I could see them going either way. I’d give a better rundown on plot stuff if it hadn’t literally just come out.
>>3834366Why does this girl just look like Chiaki Nanami with smaller boobs
>>3834366Well I'm hoping to see more like Monark, since Reynatis was very fun to play and had unique characters, but didn't reach to the depths nor the cathartic peaks that a FuRyu game always drives me to. Monark, Crystar, CRYMACHINA and both Caligulas had unique pathos in the story, methods, quirks in the gameplay and OST, ways of peeling the characters like an onion, and moments that transcended the medium and made them feel personal and even become a part of myself, but.... I really did enjoy Reynatis and some parts like the Shido fight reached levels of ludo that I didn't get from an action game since the second KH game, but, yeah, it was too short and lacking something despite having vestiges of the usual FuRyu to touch me that deeply. Maybe the OST and story were too intervened by Square-Enix.>>3834425One thing that I've noticed in the PVs is that the villains seem very exaggerated, almost cartoonishly so, when the musicians in Caligula and the pactbearers in Monark are as well developed and likeable as the protagonists, and in Crystar they are justified. I interpreted it under the theme of 'Being your true self' that seems to be akin to the Ego theme for Monark, so they doubled down on rejecting others' views and goals to reaffirm the self, or maybe>makers of Vita Caligulathe characterization is going to be more like the original version of the first Caligula. Of course I've got no way of knowing what this will actually mean until I actually play it; maybe the characters will be the good kind of flawed like in Caligula, and maybe they are actually more fleshed out and unique than anything formulaic that you can find in mosts JRPGs.... but in Reynatis they did lack depth even if narratively the game flowed better, and it makes me fear for a sadly casualized narrative, like the gameplay has gradually been.The music will definitely be a main factor to see if it measures up https://youtu.be/uDgaRCa4u1g?si=dMlouho6-Juewhqe&t=176>TOBIRAAAAA
>>3834585 I feel similarly to you about their other games, so I’ve got certain expectations and wants going into Varlet, especially with how much I particularly like Monark. After finishing chapter 1 I’m starting to get more of the same charm as the other Furyu games. The starting party members, Sota and Noa, feel a bit standard (at least so far) but the idol, Aruka, is shaping up to be quite interesting. She’s kinda hard to pin down personality-wise. It’s like she’s a sweet, kind of oblivious girl, but with a stoic and bitchy attitude.The inclusion of character episodes gives me hope they’ll be handled like Caligula’s, where we really dive deep into the characters and learn weird and interesting things that make them stand out.Also, I never did finish Reynatis. The story just moved too quickly for me care what was happening. I do want to give it another chance and finish it.
This localization is pretty iffy. Here they misspelled Date’s name. I wonder who Furyu hired to translate this? I know they self published this time, so I imagine they contracted some cheap localization team. So far it’s still not as bad as what happened to Caligula 2 though.
No song rips? I'm not watching gameplay footage, is this like CE where the songs play in the background while you fight? And do the bosses sing their own versions of the songs?
>>3835342They’re only for boss fights. And there are two different versions of the songs. I’ve only beaten the first boss, but I just checked and the one that played during the boss has different vocals than the sample they posted on Youtube.
>>3835347Nice, was wondering since watching the mahou shoujo guy's song sounded different from the one in the character trailers.
>>3835353>sinceI was*>watching thePVs and thought*I had a stroke
>>3834366I guess Furyu doesn't have a Switch 2 devkit. Too bad, would've enjoyed playing this on the 1080p handheld.
She kinda mogs the rest. Maybe the girl that looks like Kokoro can compete whenever she finally shows up.
Monark had much better villains/revealshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P43TyDkqBKs
>>3837594I’m in the middle of chapter 4, and I’ve been thinking the same thing so far. It’s not horrible, but I think not having Fuyuki Hayashi as the writer and director hurt the game. I didn’t mind the idea of someone else doing it since his theming was getting repetitive after Crymachina, but I think having it be all about the ego again would still probably end up written better. I’d also add that So-Bin’s freaky boss designs were more memorable.
>>3835342Finally being uploaded here.https://www.youtube.com/@mysthowv/videosThe version sung by the enemy is the one you hear in battle. The version sung by the character is heard late in their own character hang out events, specifically the 2nd set of Karaoke option out of 6.>the SSS activities loop of talking to NPCs, finding lost items, placing ads, and optional battles is pretty monotonous, annoying with a sound cue played whenever you sonar search to find everything; small updates on former relevant NPC lives and Monark references via Chiyo Aikawa are nice though>lack of progression due to no equipment whatsoever, just a funnel of gold and healing items you don't need, and perma stat boosters to funnel onto the protagonist>compounded by no reserve EXP and limited bonding events to earn skill points to develop your characters, only enough for maxing 3/6 characters in a playthrough, with no NG+ to carry this over>pretty easy exploit of just standing behind an infinite enemy spawn in one of the story dungeons with a turbo controller to Flank Attack grind to the level cap of 50 in a few hours>Hard difficulty feels pretty bloated specifically in the first dungeon due to lacking the stun gauge mechanic & Blitz Mode until the second dungeon>combat actually has a nice foundation with it being both conditional turn-based and round-based, where your actions have various delays but slower ones can anchor your party's turn order. you can cancel enemy attacks to set up for those slower heavier hitting moves, or can spend AP earned from breaking or quick normal attacks to accelerate said slower moves>story-wise, pretty quick pacing to get into the 1st alternate reality dungeon and kind of peaked with Aruka's chapter, as the next 3 were kind of bland villains; also formulaic with a 8 day structure + 3 main story dungeons, the villain reveals for Sota/Noa's chapters felt very abruptAs of Ch. 5, I'd put my FuRyu games as Crymachina > Monark > Reynatis.
but how is the story of monark and varlet, reviewers compare this so much to persona its fucking annoying. it's like they can't even review the game on its own merits rather than OH ITS NOT LIKE PERSONA or other atlus gameslike no shit?
I liked Monark. But I also got it for 10 dollars.
>>3837773I think Monark has a really good story with a lot of weight and evocative moments. The way it handles the idea of finding self worth, and having confidence in your own morals is very unique here due to its philosophical theming of Nihilism and Egotism. People like to compare it to SMT and Persona, but beyond having a similar school setting, and arc structure for the first half, I haven’t played a game with a story quite like this before. It’s like if you took Lovecraft’s horror and combined with The Fountainhead. But it’s also got the JRPG “friendship is power” thing going on, but the context makes it feel more cathartic by the end than usual. There’s a lot of passion to it.Varlet I have not finished so my opinion is subject to change, but I’ll be honest in that it really does just feel like Persona. At least as of chapter 4. It may do something weirder and crazier later on, but it’s genuinely aping the Phantom Thieves concept with the combat forms they take on. And beyond that, the arcs so far are very low stakes and don’t really do anything particularly evocative. I will say the characters are nice, and it’s fairly entertaining. It’s like a decent 7/10. Better than reviewers would lead you to think at least.
>>3837843Say one thing about Monark it sure as shit had the balls Persona lost. Lesbian incest slutty arson murders aren't something you see everyday,
>>3837746>songs finally uploadedBased but most of them sound kind of meh, Aruka's especially mogs the rest. Wagamama doesn't have an alternate version?Listening to these just made me wish CE2 got musician/GHC covers.
>>3838223Oops, meant Crymachina > Varlet > Reynatis, I didn't play Monark yet. So far in terms of direct references though,Ch. 3, Ep. 4: Huh? A message from Kokoro? Her apartment's flooded due to plumbing issues? She wants to stay in my brother's room for safety's sake? "Think of it as a chance to cool your head in these dangerous, uneasy times."Ch. 3, Ep. 5: Nozomi mentioned something about student teaching next year. Nozomi the elementary school teacher... I need to find my own thing too!Ch. 4, Ep. 2: I want to invite my brother to play, but the home tutor is coming over, so it'd probably be tough. But really, Yuda likes some odd stuff, huh. With his scores, he shouldn't even need tutoring.Ch. 4, Ep. 6: #handsomestudentpresident? What's with this hashtag? ...Huh? Is that a photo of... Yuda?Ch. 5, Ep. 2: I got a message from Nozomi... What is it? "Want to see the Egyptian exhibit starting next month?" It sounds fun, but, hmm... Can Nozomi handle looking at mummies?Regarding Taiga's Wagamama, the reveal is that he himself is the boss, as his true desire is to sabotage the film shooting as he couldn't think of a script on time for a deadline, allowing to him to cancel while saving face. That was Chapter 6, every previous chapter follows a similarly flat villain-of-the-week reveal, and honestly not much better than Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Ema's chapter is next, there's still hints of a grander plot with a masked Quint and the unknown protagonist backstory.I like Ema's inheritance and Noa's cover of her song, that's about it. Those extended versions aren't what you actually hear in game, only the 90 second short ones.https://www.youtube.com/@Nexus_A1i/videosI think one sad deviation is how you hear a generic battle theme in Varlet, but I saw someone play CE2, and you had the instrumental play in dungeons, but the vocal during battles or something? That's pretty peak, and I liked listening to Alter Garden and SINGI.
>>3834366They need to go back to Caligula's combat, the vita original, not the demake.
>>3838253Bosses in Caligula also use remixed versions of their own theme, it's pretty nice. Monark wasn't as fancy, but each demon got it's own standard battle theme, so it was less repetitive than Varlet.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IMk-8O5ieAAs far as Varlet goes, I really didn't like any of the chapter 2 or 3 music.
I’m about halfway through I think, getting towards the end of chapter 4, and it’s honestly become quite dull. The story just feels anemic and unoriginal. FuRyu games need to have edge and passion to stand out. They’re the weird, low budget hidden gem games that appeal to a specific niche, where you either hate it or become obsessed. Varlet strongly gives the impression that they wanted a more approachable school RPG that wasn’t as edgy, and didn’t have any difficult theming. And that is a major misread on their part when it comes to why anyone would play a FuRyu game.And the gameplay isn’t any better here. It’s not a horrible combat system, but it’s pretty basic compared to Caligula and Monark, and is poorly balanced to boot. Having Aquria work on this was a weird decision when they could’ve had Lancarse return to expand upon what they had going in Monark. You know, the game that takes place in the same universe as this one?I really really hope something weird and fucked up happens to change my mind and recontextualize what I’ve seen thus far, but at the moment I’m feeling like a jackass for getting excited to play this.And god I wish they’d get Hayashi and Yamanaka back. I’m really beginning to think they were the secret sauce that made these games any good to begin with. The Caligula games from Yamanaka are really striking and unique, and Crystar, Monark, and Crymachina are a solid trilogy from Hayashi that still live rent free in my head.
>>3838815>Varlet strongly gives the impression that they wanted a more approachable school RPG that wasn’t as edgy, and didn’t have any difficult theming.That's what they did basically.https://www.famitsu.com/article/202504/40386 (April 2025)>Ito: I returned to Furyu a little over two years ago, and I think the direction of the project, to create an RPG aimed at Monarch users, was probably solidified at that point. When>I joined them and worked with Hayashi to come up with the details of the project, I suggested that in order to reach a wider audience beyond Monarch users, we should "place more emphasis on character communication," and that's how the core of the project was decided. Hayashi had been consulting me quite a bit about the project even before I left the company.https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/interview/250821v/2 (August 2025, Page 2/3)>The dark and unreasonable worldview of "Monarch" may satisfy older people, but it may not resonate with younger people. So with "Valet," we needed to make a game that could be enjoyed by a wider range of ages. How to achieve this was the first mission that Hayashi-san gave me.>In this way, we fleshed out elements that would appeal to young people, such as elements of communication with the characters and a "school-themed" theme.
>>3838825This sounds like code for “we wanted the young Persona fan audience.” How naive could they be to believe they could achieve something like that with their budget and presentation? Those games work because they’re polished. If Persona 5 played and looked like Varlet, nobody would give a shit about it. I hope they learn their lesson and make something more unique next time.
>>3838825ironic
>>3838825>>3838815so they pussied out
>>3839776We could’ve had more of this, but they decided to be boring this time.
>>3839786The OD quartet were so fucking good.
This game just doesn’t have anyone as good as her.
>>3838815The game gets a big reveal for the main plot in Chapter 7 Episode 5, with more in subsequent episodes. Chapter 8 Episode 3 is the final boss and ending, so that is days 51~57 (roughly last 10% of the game lol). In a nutshell, there's 3 points of major story spoilers: Desires are hijacking their hosts since Kageaki wants a world ruled by the talented, the protagonist is actually a Desire and the 9th loop in attempting to stop this, the plan goes through anyway because of a collective subconscious AI, but you beat that too.Better than Reynatis, but still lacking and not worth the effort of slogging through the 6 character introduction chapters.Only 1 of those 57 days lacks SSS Activities.Chapter 7 also introduces a new generic battle theme, but not that much better than the 1st. If you've the Digital Deluxe Bonus, it's "Distortion of Sound" underneath "Distortion of Space".The endgame combat is bloated with those masked rabbits/ghouls, forcing you to deplete their stun gauge and Blitz them. On Normal you can just Ruler all-target everything else, Hard I don't want to imagine.Aruka and Noa are still good because they can chain a Step 4 combo together (Earsplitter, Suppressing Storm EX) to deal 30+45+20=95 stun damage a turn (apply Brand, then remove), or have all-target 2x30x3 stun damage (Grief Hammer, Solo Concerto), on top of their healing and barrier for sustain. Both also have Boost++ for a strong 30k~50k finisher.Ema feels like a joke since enemies can Cast Break her counterattacks, nor she can control aggro like Noa's Brands.Taki does not get a Cast Break unless you focus on his events, earliest by Ch. 4 Ep. 3, while Sota's is Lv. 41. Taiga's the only character lacking an all-target attack. Taiga and Sota both have Combo++ to get like 4 rounds out of a Blitz though.Since you can get only max 3 characters a playthrough (30 events total, 7 for Ema/Taiga, 10 otherwise), hope you focused on the girls.
>>3840332>Ema feels like a joke since enemies can Cast Break her counterattacksjust got her and saw this, what a blundershe can't even trigger multiple counters per turn, and enemies tend to target those dealing the most damage in the absence of brandsstill using her
>>3840150best girl
>>3840150>tfw same VAnice
game is alright so far. the older i get the more i appreciate the school settings.
>>3843989I think a good quality of this game is the school part. The actual tasks are nothing special, but the NPCs are entertaining.
>>3843991i just wish you could change controls. X for confirm is fucking with my brain.
>>3843991I can't help but compare it(poorly) to Monarkthat game wasn't even really trying to do the "school life" thing but had a better campus and student body
Battlesystem seems okay. Nothing special. I bet there will be one mechanic that will make it somewhat interesting, e.g. those time shenanigans in Caligula 2. Otherwise, 'hard' is actually difficult. Still in the first mini-dungeon and if you fight two Desire then one does 200HP aoe and that other dude almost 400HP single-target slash. I learned my lesson and now just stunlock them, gauging turn orders with normal attack so i can always time my breaks right. I really hope the battlesystem still has some nice surprises, i dont ask for much..
>>3843989sadly monark has no lewd mods like varlet has.
>>3844022I agree, but it at least shifts focus a little bit to be somewhat unique. It’s all long, ongoing little stories with each NPC in Varlet. But Monark had more NPCs in general, as well as the entire school to explore.Varlet is in a weird spot, where a lot of what it’s doing was done better in either Caligula or Monark. And those games have a niche appeal to begin with, so I feel like the type that’s gonna really latch onto this game, like some have with those, is gonna be an even smaller niche.
any info on the traits? i believe your armor can change but is that tied to your triad stats? choosing psychopathy makes me feel sad. sympathy is often better but i want the edgy armor
>>3844049You get the dark form as an option automatically in chapter 4.
>>3844055then i have no reason to be an ass towards my wives
so if I wanted to play just one, is it caligula, monark, or varlet?
>>3834419Caligula Effect was in a VR world.I haven't played this yet, but my impression was that this setting also has a kind of VR technology of it's own. So instead of a demon pocket dimension, there's "glitches". But, Idk, how well this tech is explained. Like going into the tv in Persona 4 was more supernatual, but of course we know tvs aren't literal portals to the backrooms. But a society using VR is more of a speculative future. I think that was a problem with Futuristic SMT games like Digital Devil Saga or Soul Hackers, the technology, and how society uses it, isn't really explained.
>>3844121My favorite is Caligula (Overdose)It has the better music and characters, and a much larger cast of themMonark has generally more polished gameplay and a better story arc, if you care more about thatYou can skip Varlet unless you're already a Furyu junkie
>>3844159I think Caligula 2 had better music on average, but it's subjective and Dokusousei Incident is really really good. It's better to play Overdose first anyway since CE2 references stuff from the first game.
>>3844121Monark is the best one overall, but it can test your patience. It’s by far the most polished product this company has ever produced, but it also features RPG game design that feels like it’s from Gen 6 and backwards. This can be a good or bad thing depending on your taste.Caligula Overdose is generally the most well-liked of the games, and makes for a good textbook example of a hidden gem JRPG, with how it’s just as interesting and unique as it is poorly made. Varlet is really standard, but has the usual poor budget in full force. It’s not horrible, but it’s not really unique in any particular way. This is one for a deep, deep Steam sale.
>>3844213>It’s by far the most polished product this company has ever produceddid you not play crymachina?
>>3844395I like Crymachina, but it’s really short and has less of an excuse for how many assets it reuses. And while Aquria did a better job than Gemdrops did with Crystar, it’s still a very repetitive action game. Lancarse is also the best dev Furyu has contracted, having worked on Strange Journey, and a couple Etrian Odyssey games. Monark is the one Furyu game I’ll pick back up sometimes just to experiment with the combat.
>>3844499hmm, fair enough. i assumed that monarks battlesystem would be some barebones shit, but if you go back just for that then i have to look forward to something once i finish varlet.
so im 5 hours in and finished the first boss fight. you mean to tell me that this cutie is unplayable whatsoever?
>>3846373Not without modding the game. The only playable characters are the seven deadly sin generic units and the main characters.
>>3846386I looked around but couldnt really find any mods like that for this game. The unknown engine makes it hard to mod, apparently.
>>3846407I saw some videos showcasing playable bosses, but I guess there’s not anything that can just be installed at the moment.https://youtube.com/watch?v=xQHoMg4wWbQI had originally figured it was UE4 based on appearance, but it’s some shit Lancarse made. I’m told even ripping the portraits is hard.
>>3846416On the brighter side, you can almost see Kokoro's pantsu in her casual outfit. Aaaaalmost.
monark's battlesystem and everything surrounding it is much better. but varlet has better characters hands down and they are much more charming. overall like both games.
>>3846416the sprites are on spriters resource at least
>>3846508Hm, i kinda agree. Monark did the big mistake of opening the game with the snoozefest Nanami(was that her name?). I really had to force myself not to fall asleep. But once the Pride thing was done it got interesting starting with Kokoro-chuwan.
>>3846525These were finally ripped and uploaded there a few days ago actually.
Isnt this game kinda too easy? The newly introduced stun feature made hard a piece of cake. I still dig it. Game is fun.
