![]() ![]() ![]() Despite being seven hours long, the story will get you through enough twists to keep you engaged. Crimson Shroud basically offers a good and convincing experience of what it's like to play a tabletop game. Some of your most powerful skills will be decided through these rolls too. The GM will give you choices that will be decided through dice rolls even in the story segments. The game plays the tabletop experience to greater heights, as the story is told through the point of view of a game master. You can use them to increase the strength or accuracy of your attack, which gives another layer of strategy in diversifying your attacks in order to get the most amount of dices you can use to boost your attacks. One another gimmick is that chaining attacks from a different element each time will award you dices of ever-increasing sides. But there is an element of randomness coming from the dice. This does not feel overly punishing however, because the requirements are often easy enough to match. The big gimmick about this battle system is that some of your skills will depend on a dice roll, if you exceed the target, the impact of your skill can be increased, or skills can miss entirely. This does not mean the game is punishingly hard, it's just a fair bit challenging, but the difficulty curve is great enough that you will not face huge roadblocks. It's a satisfying loop about being more efficient and what's good about it is that you can't just mash attack your way to victory so the game demands a level of thinking. The entire game is about thinking smarter, attacking smarter, and winning smarter. So you have to reach a balance, when is it good enough to deal damage? Should I waste more turns buffing myself? Should I revert the effects of the enemy's debuff on me? Or is it more cost-effective to just start attacking now? You'll keep asking yourself questions like this. It's a constant tug of war between you and the enemy because they can debuff you too. Increasing your accuracy is critical in combat, because you can hit for 120 HP, but if you deal that damage, then this strength is useless. A huge emphasis is put on buffs and debuffs. Just like every Matsuno game, it's not about attacking often, but attacking once in a decisive way. It's not about brute-forcing your way but carefully putting the building blocks of the character progression. ![]() What does it all mean? It means you take the decisions that make you stronger. ![]() Good skill choices and great loot management will get you far. This means that everything you get is similar to Vagrant Story, you get them on-site, and the strength of your party isn't gauged through grinding but by what you own. You get barter points depending on your prowess in combat, and you can choose a limited option of items, equipment that dropped from enemies with these points. In fact, even the loot you receive at the end is limited. You get skills at the end of a fight, and you have to choose one from a list of three, which means that you have to choose the one that will be the most useful according to your playstyle. However, the game does not have experience or level up. You fight against enemies and you select commands that will make your characters act. How does it play exactly? It's a turn-based battle system. Despite being a small budget RPG, the depth of the gameplay keeps increasing to greater heights and it was back then one of the most fascinating and refreshing battle systems I had played in years, just to show you how the man still has it. Its combat is constantly nail-biting and a tug of war between you and the enemy. What is most shocking about this game is how good the battle system is. It's a particularly engrossing experience. And even 7 years after leaving Square Enix, Matsuno had not lost its touch. Matsuno, the man behind FF Tactics, Vagrant Story and Madworld wrote the story and designed it all with the help of a support studio during the time Level-5 made small games made by big names with the "Guild01" moniker. It's not a huge investment at all to play it, but it is so good. If I can give one recommendation, it is to get Crimson Shroud, it's $7, maybe a bit more expensive in some specific countries, but its price should still be kept low. I just learned the 3DS eShop is closing for 42 countries in July, especially in LatAm, so this means people will get locked out of buying new 3DS games. ![]()
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