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Hello and welcome! My name is Katosepe and I’ll be your host for today’s Video Game of the Day!
Tactics RPGs are a dime a dozen, especially these days, and yet there are certain games that fans still crave sequels for time and time again. Final Fantasy Tactics, despite receiving two great successors on the Game Boy Advance, never received a true sequel marrying the Final Fantasy job system with a deep, political storyline. So it has been up to other developers to fill that spot in the many years since. Today’s game is one such attempt. Today’s game is Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark, developed by 6 Eyes Studio and released on PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Switch in 2019.
From the beginning, 6 Eyes Studio made no qualms about stating Fell Seal’s biggest inspiration. The very first sentence of their project description states that Fell Seal is harkening back to Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, two of the greats in the genre, but even without them explicitly stating this, it wouldn’t be hard for fans to make the connection.
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark puts players in control of Kyrie, an agent of the Immortal Council. The Immortal Council is a group of powerful beings known as Immortals who watch over the world and step in to prevent any war or chaos. However, over the thousand years of peace that the Immortals have overseen, corruption has begun to enter their ranks and Kyrie must rise up to stop it.
Like most tactics RPGs, Fell Seal gives players control over the movement and actions of their party on an isometric map. Battles are turn-based so players can take their time to strategize and come up with the best moves to attack their opponents without losing their own soldiers. Each party member can change classes which provide them with different abilities. Fell Seal has over 30 different classes and over 300 abilities to learn, expanding on the systems that were so popular in Final Fantasy Tactics.
Fell Seal isn’t a carbon copy, however, and does add its own flair as well. The art style takes influence from western RPGs using hand drawn maps and character portraits. Character appearances can also be altered for each party member to customize troops.
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark has received positive reviews but most agree it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the games that inspired it. The story was particularly criticised for feeling generic. The combat and class system were praised though and many have said that for those looking for a new Final Fantasy Tactics, this is a game to take a look at.
Thank you so much for listening! On Saturday, Adrian Simple from The Gaming Observer and I will be streaming Terraria on Twitch at 10:00 AM Pacific time so check that out for some survival game fun. Links for all of my projects are on Twitter or Instagram @vg_oftheday so follow me there for up to date schedules. If you want more Video Game of the Day, check out videogameoftheday.com for archives of every episode. Don’t forget to check back here tomorrow for another Video Game of the Day!
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Devin "Katosepe" Sloane is a long time gamer and host of the show Video Game of the Day. He firmly believes Darklands is the pinnacle of gaming achievement and this is a hill he will die upon. Where his nickname came from is a secret to everybody.
