Review of “Early Access” Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark
Rumors about the lack of strategy and tactics on consoles are greatly exaggerated. Although it is clear that controlling many troops with a gamepad is not as convenient as with a mouse. But in the case of turn-based games, the inconveniences are not so critical, especially if there are not so many troops on the battlefield. It is not surprising that already in 1995, Tactics Ogre was released on the Super Nintendo, which became very popular among fans of the genre.
This game was a "tactical offshoot" of the Ogre Battle series, the games of which were in many ways reminiscent of King’s Bounty with the hero traveling across a global map and entering tactical battles at the head of an army of mercenary creatures.
In TO, free movement on the map was replaced by a route from cities and fortresses (though at a certain stage it branched), where each location had to be “conquered” by completing a task in a tactical mission.
The composition of the army has also changed somewhat. The main role in the battle began to be played by the key characters of the game, who not only upgraded as they progressed, but also participated in cut scenes that revealed the plot of the game. Quite a shabby plot, by the way, for a console game of the 90s – with intrigue, drama, a gloomy world J.Martin smokes.
Two years after Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics was released on the PlayStation, and its gameplay was very similar to it. And not without reason – the creators of TO worked on FFT, finalizing their ideas and combining them with the developments of Final Fantasy itself (primarily we are talking about the profession system).
Why all this preamble about console turn-based tactics?? The thing is that the developers of Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark were inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. What they did not fail to announce on their website, clearly counting on nostalgic fans. And you know what? The calculation seems to have been justified – at least in positive Steam reviews, players now and then admit to warm feelings for both prototype games.
However, Arbiter’s Mark itself currently looks somewhat simpler than its predecessors. Her missions are completed in order and only in one place the “route” branches, allowing you to get an additional mission and an additional fighter (if you win). There are also, however, “special events”, but they are only cut scenes with dialogues and nothing more (more on the plot of the game below).
Although the missions themselves are quite varied. Destroying enemies or only their leader, the task of holding out for several turns, the need to protect one or more characters. And at the same time, you still need to take into account the features of the battlefield, where there are cells that teleport characters, and treasure chests and other secrets. Fortunately, if you didn’t manage to pick something up, even after winning you can select the "patrol" option and you can try again. Of course, in the new battle the rules will be more standard, but who would be surprised by grinding in Japanese RPGs?
Yes, like its predecessors, Arbiter’s Mark contains https://buckybingocasino.co.uk/ elements of this genre. As the game progresses, you will reach new stores with improved equipment. And in battle, for each successful action, characters will receive experience and Ability Points. Experience increases the level of characters as such. And OS is needed to upgrade “classes”.
Class in Fell Seal is not strictly defined, it is like a profession. You can change it for each character at any time (except in battle). After which he (or she) will receive the abilities of this class (at least those that you have unlocked). Moreover, if your fighter has already mastered some skills of another class, then he can use them too.
Although with restrictions. You can use all unlocked abilities of one additional class. Passive abilities of other classes can only be “equipped” by two (but not necessarily one class. A "response" ability that activates automatically when a fighter takes damage.
So the system is quite flexible and balanced. You can add to the warrior the spells of a battle mage, plus the ability to restore mana when walking (which belongs to pumping up a healer) and an increased chance of critical damage (from an assassin), and he will respond to someone else’s attack, for example, with his own acceleration.
Although I may just not have found any awesome configurations yet. After all, pumping in this case turns out to be quite drawn out. You need to unlock enough starting class abilities to gain access to other classes. Then assign these new classes to heroes (or mercenary characters, which you can buy in some cities) and level them up to gain access to more classes. And so on. However, if you limit yourself to the start or first iteration kits, you won’t have to fuss too much.
By the way, there are several classes available only to heroes.
There is also a lot of tactical scope in the game. Attack damage can be increased by attacking fighters from the flank and back. And to cover your rear you should use the terrain. Just remember about target shifting attacks. Falling off a cliff will cause a huge amount of damage. And if there is a river below and the character belongs to a class that cannot swim, death cannot be avoided.
Well, maybe not death… A defeated hero or mercenary remains in the squad, only they receive a serious injury, which greatly reduces their characteristics. Considering that only a limited number of allies can be deployed in battle (usually 5-6), it is logical for a wounded person to wait out the battle on the bench (after which the wound will heal and the parameters will return to normal).
In general, I generally liked the gameplay of the game. Although the interface could use some more work. On some maps, the area where the selected fighter can move is not always visible. However, maybe they really will work. After all, they recently added a full-fledged reference on the rules of the game, abilities, etc. – a very useful thing.
Things are worse with the plot. The story of corruption in the Council of Immortals, which rules the world of the game after defeating a monster of apocalyptic proportions, can entice with a couple of secrets. However, when tested, the villains who appear towards the middle of the game behave too stereotyped. And it becomes clear to the heroes (not to mention the player) immediately who is who. True, the developers promise something like this towards the end of the campaign (which, in general, is not ready yet), but I personally find it hard to believe in “this is a twist” that will correct and explain all the rough edges.
The very first antagonist is generally a complete idiot. But on the other hand, he is still a pawn.
Plus, even if the story gets better by the end, it won’t change the fact that the good characters are written very poorly. Executor Kairi, who conscientiously enforces the laws, goes on a pilgrimage to join the Council of Immortals, believing that she can bring justice there and stop corruption. Her childhood friend Reiner, her assistant, helps Kairi in this difficult matter. Anadin, an Arbiter-on-probation, also helps, simultaneously learning the laws and wisdom of the Arbiter (to be honest, I still don’t understand why the localizers were not happy with the word Arbiter). All three demonstrate truly pioneer-like correct characters. And alas, this does not make them any more interesting.
The world, by the way, is also not very interesting. Yes, there are a couple of non-human races, but their life-being manifests itself only closer to the middle of the game. And the political situation regarding corruption, which Kairi reveals completely unexpectedly, looks a little feigned.
All hope is that closer to release the developers will write a better world and characters. After all, this is precisely why additional scenes were added. And they have already changed at least one dialogue in a more meaningful way. So history has a chance.
In general, fans of console tactics should definitely take note of the game. Or maybe buy it to take part in the beta test of the development of the project. Even though the game has only two developers, they are clearly trying. And Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark already towers over most indie projects. Whether it will reach the level of a worthy successor or just a niche product for the nostalgic – only time will tell.
P.S. Finally, I would like to note that the game has begun to be published 1C. They have even translated it into Russian and the quality of the translation is generally acceptable.
