LOL. I didn't make that association, but it fits. I saw Aesfrost's hollow talk of freedom as a general critique of libertarianism & its concomitant social Darwinism. I read it as referencing the current gulf of wealth inequality in the US, but the analog does fit with a lot of societies I guess.TransatlanticFoe wrote:Congrats onSpoiler
getting into bed with Putin
In the ending I got, it's revealed that BenedictI like how the endings turn out. The entire game gets fairly bleak in places and a stream of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" choices fits with the narrative. Some of the party members natural alignments don't always match what the options entail but I found on the whole it was an interesting mechanic, to not necessarily being able to choose the path you want. It seems like the game was a success so perhaps it'll be refined in future.
I went withSpoiler
running away to the promised land. I naturally did a lot of the pro-Roselle options and felt the chance to escape inevitable war, not to ally either faction, was the right choice out of those presented. However I'd rather making a last stand and going out defending your principles should have been an option. Dying for a cause and eventually spawning a resistence movement or something in a "you die but you win" ending. Running away rather than fighting, even knowing you'll lose, for what's right felt wrong against your house's background. No way was I siding with the lot that barged in and murdered half the royal family. And Hyzante were just the worst. I liked how those two options were presented though, Roland being a mix of duty and revenge while Benedict ultimately only cares about the house's standing (hinted at earlier with some of his questionable tactics)
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I never even saw him again on my path. It was kinda weird.I also really wishSpoiler
Maxwell's return was written into the main story rather than being an optional character who just turns up and no-one really notices. He was a big deal early on and it makes no sense that him being alive isn't a rallying moment
After playing through it, that kind of sums up how I feel about it. I don't think this would have been a better game with a megabudget and a boilerplate anime setting. It must have been a tough game to pitch in the first place. "Okay, just hear me out here. Final Fantasy Tactics, except it's 60 hours of arguments about a fictional medieval salt trade."Sima Tuna wrote:Hearing from people in this thread that the game is rough but ambitious is a better recommendation than any 10/10 IGN shill review. I tend to love those games whose reach exceeds their grasp. Even when they fall on their ass, the result is usually more entertaining than the typical boring sludge the mainstream pumps out.
Triangle would give you some of that, choosing your battles and who to piss off is at the heart of the game.That said, I really wish we could get more sarpigs that put full control into the player's hands. Here's my laundry list of what I would want from an ideal sarpig:
1) Lots of character classes and generics I can name or build any way I want
2) Weapon disciplines but no weapon triangle
3) Forced to commit to your builds for them to be effective aka no jack of all trades
4) Difficult battles that rely on strategy rather than the AI cheating or stat-hacking
5) no overpowered boss characters-all bosses should be drawn from the same well of classes and weapons you have access to
6) terrain should be essential to combat and height/stamina should play a huge role in your tactics
7) at the same time, turtling must be punished somehow (otherwise archers/ranged units become too overpowered)
8 ) I wouldn't say no to horses, as cavalry are rarely implemented well in sarpigs
9) polearms and spears should reflect their real-world dominance in military conflict, but not be required if the player prefers not to use them
10) I wouldn't say no to some type of formation bonuses
11) the player should be in control of which missions to take and (ideally) which factions to piss off
The closest a recent game has come to my ideal sarpig is Battle Brothers, but it's not japanese.
It's still mixed-unit battles with you controlling single characters on fairly tight maps, so you won't see proper cavalry charges or spear phalanxes or anything. Mounted units get more movement and a lance that can attack 2-3 spaces, but otherwise they're pretty much like any other melee unit. Characters are locked into 3 tiers of set upgrades. Battles are typically set up so that turtling isn't an option, the enemy is on you and trying to flank your leader or unprotected healers from turn 1. Terrain/height matters, and pleasantly a higher elevation will increase your archers' range. Stamina is somewhat reflected in ability points which refresh at a set rate but that's it...characters usually only get 4-5 turns over the course of a battle anyway (these are like 10 vs 15 unit battles so it'd take too long otherwise). Bosses are kind of in-line with your units, the toughest I encountered had about 2x the HP of my main character. Sometimes this is rationalized in-story as you facing generals with exceptional ability, but when your feared and battle-hardened squad is struggling against the weaselly head of a merchant consortium it makes less sense.
The thing that annoys me with these games is when they clearly had people on staff who had read a lot of real medieval history, but your courageous leader is like "Lo, 'tis I the kingprince, brave and courageous leader of this band of heroes! I, funder of this army who must survive at all costs to quell the evil which besets our land! What's that, a horse you say? Bow? Halberd? No thanks, those are supporting character weapons. I think me & my sword will just hoof it the whole game. Surely, combining a lack of reach with a lack of height or mobility is key to defeating the Dark Lord, Darkklorrd. Now my brave soldiers, onward through the Desert of Death, from which none ever return! No Cedric the Sturdy, 57 year-old loyal retainer to my house who served my father before me, you may not take off your 60 lbs of plate armour. Ever. For any reason. Even just like, sitting around the house. And widen those shoulder plates for goddess' sake, you look like you could still fit through a doorway."