Let's start at the very beginning. As the title suggests, this is basically a video game version of the board game chess. Each member of your party can move and attack your enemies when it's your turn. Every time you or the enemy attacks someone, the target has an opportunity to counter-attack. One huge aspect of this game is the Weapons Triangle. Think of it like Pokémon's attack types, some of them have advantages against other weapons. The melee weapon triangle goes Axe
That's only the basic combat system, though. Weapons and equipment play a large role in this game as well, but unlike other RPGs, you cannot buy weapons or consumables in between battles. Armories and Vendors are located throughout most battle maps, so it is typically advantageous to send a fast unit to quickly get some equipment. Once you get the equipment, however, it's not universal. You have to move units next to each other and transfer the items to one another before they can be used, adding to the strategy of the game. Also located throughout the map are houses and villages. If you send a unit to visit a house or a village, there are many advantages. You can get useful information about the enemy, elaboration on the story, or even equipment and more units. There are tons of undiscovered secrets that can be found in the seemingly simple map.
One thing that distinguishes this game from most other RPGs is the idea of permanent death. If a unit dies, a small cut scene will occur at the end of the battle and the main story cut scenes could change. Thankfully, you do get new units often, but most of them play much differently from the one you lost and the characters are very memorable. (I think I squealed when I saw Matthew and Serra come back in chapter 12) Another cool mechanic is the Support system. Characters standing next to each other can get a small stat boost, and certain pairs of characters can have amplified stat boosts, sometimes even having the option to talk in the middle of a battle. This both adds to the mechanics of the game and to story and character development.. Having dynamic, memorable characters makes this game much different, and makes you extra careful when planning your next move.
The graphics and sound do leave a bit to be desired. There are small, repetitive sound clips that change very frequently, and in my opinion it seems a bit choppy. In terms of graphics, all units of the same class look alike on the map, until you view their face. In battle, their sprites are the same with some different colorings. I don't really mind this, but it does get a bit confusing at times. Also, this game has a huge learning curve. I've gotten to chapter 15, and chapters 1-10 basically served as a long tutorial. The execution of the tutorial is wonderful, but with any game with such deep mechanics difficulty will always arise.Let's start at the very beginning. As the title suggests, this is basically a video game version of the board game chess. Each member of your party can move and attack your enemies when it's your turn. Every time you or the enemy attacks someone, the target has an opportunity to counter-attack. One huge aspect of this game is the Weapons Triangle. Think of it like Pokémon's attack types, some of them have advantages against other weapons. The melee weapon triangle goes Axe
That's only the basic combat system, though. Weapons and equipment play a large role in this game as well, but unlike other RPGs, you cannot buy weapons or consumables in between battles. Armories and Vendors are located throughout most battle maps, so it is typically advantageous to send a fast unit to quickly get some equipment. Once you get the equipment, however, it's not universal. You have to move units next to each other and transfer the items to one another before they can be used, adding to the strategy of the game. Also located throughout the map are houses and villages. If you send a unit to visit a house or a village, there are many advantages. You can get useful information about the enemy, elaboration on the story, or even equipment and more units. There are tons of undiscovered secrets that can be found in the seemingly simple map.
One thing that distinguishes this game from most other RPGs is the idea of permanent death. If a unit dies, a small cut scene will occur at the end of the battle and the main story cut scenes could change. Thankfully, you do get new units often, but most of them play much differently from the one you lost and the characters are very memorable. (I think I squealed when I saw Matthew and Serra come back in chapter 12) Another cool mechanic is the Support system. Characters standing next to each other can get a small stat boost, and certain pairs of characters can have amplified stat boosts, sometimes even having the option to talk in the middle of a battle. This both adds to the mechanics of the game and to story and character development.. Having dynamic, memorable characters makes this game much different, and makes you extra careful when planning your next move.
The graphics and sound do leave a bit to be desired. There are small, repetitive sound clips that change very frequently, and in my opinion it seems a bit choppy. In terms of graphics, all units of the same class look alike on the map, until you view their face. In battle, their sprites are the same with some different colorings. I don't really mind this, but it does get a bit confusing at times. Also, this game has a huge learning curve. I've gotten to chapter 15, and chapters 1-10 basically served as a long tutorial. The execution of the tutorial is wonderful, but with any game with such deep mechanics difficulty will always arise. |
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