Made a fan out of me
I'd never touched the series before buying this game. A friend recommended I at least watch the Itsuwari No Kamen anime first (the prior entry in the series) and I'm both glad I did, but also regret doing so.
I'm glad I did because the story doesn't make sense without knowledge of the previous entry. You need both Itsuwari No Kamen and Futari No Hakuoro for the experience to work.
I regret it because I enjoyed the story so much, I wish I'd actually played Itsuwari No Kamen in game form instead of rushing it via the anime.
Futari No Hakuoro is an incredible piece of storytelling that had me laughing, crying, and really just having more fun than I've had with a fantasy story in a very long time.
While the game is made up of roughly 80% lines of text and still images (almost 100% of which is excellently voice-acted), the ~20% you spend in combat is a blast as well. I *love* their turn-based combat system and I'm completely spoiled by the rewind feature. I played on Hard and, thanks to deep and rewarding combat mechanics as well as being able to rewind, battles felt epic and satisfying rather than frustrating.
I can't stress enough how much this series is just a grand tale from beginning to end. It's extremely touching, full of political intrigue and compelling character growth, along with shockingly heavy moments of tragedy and a portrayal of the horrors of war that holds nothing back. Yet at the same time it offers plenty of lighthearted and fun moments, and I want to give it bonus props for having equal-opportunity fan service (just as many scenes in the guys' bath as in the girls' bath :P)
You're going to cry tears of laughter as well as tears of sadness. Bring lots of tissue.
If you can find the time, try to play both games in order. If you can't, at least watch the anime version of Itsuwari No Kamen so you know what's going on.
Man am I sad this series is over just as soon as I found it... but I'm still glad I did!
日本版 
