So, per a few suggestions in the eShop sale thread, I picked up Crimson Shroud on 3DS for $4 (I just so happened to have about that much in credit collecting dust).
Basically, it's a light, light version of a tabletop RPG like Dungeons & Dragons. Great presentation of characters as tabletop miniatures and you a tactile dice-rolling mechanic for initiative, success rates, bonus damage rolls, and accuracy. It is pretty linear with very brief moments of dungeon crawling exploration to find the next triggering event and the HowLongToBeat website clocks it at around 7 hours to complete.
The story is heavily applied and characters try to resonate, but the one female character is so sexualized I'm having a hard time taking anything seriously. What excites me most about this game is the potential a sequel could provide. This came out in 2012 by Level 5 studios, but there has yet to be a follow up entry to really blow out the tabletop RPG idea. An Etrian Odyssey take on this game would be amazing.Even just making a choose your own adventure with a handful of paths would provide lots of opportunity for players to explore and replay with different outcomes. A larger mix-and-match cast of characters could also increase replayability and party composition strategies.
For $4, you really can't go wrong for a rather quick tabletop experience that feels like a successful experiment at a rarely explored genre in electronic gaming. The miniature and tabletop aesthetic works so well as 3D-enabled dioramas. If not a direct sequel, I wish some studio would take this idea and really run with it. It feels so good to roll virtual dice and have events transpire that feel like encounters ripped from an actual D&D campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_dXioN8Ovo
Basically, it's a light, light version of a tabletop RPG like Dungeons & Dragons. Great presentation of characters as tabletop miniatures and you a tactile dice-rolling mechanic for initiative, success rates, bonus damage rolls, and accuracy. It is pretty linear with very brief moments of dungeon crawling exploration to find the next triggering event and the HowLongToBeat website clocks it at around 7 hours to complete.
The story is heavily applied and characters try to resonate, but the one female character is so sexualized I'm having a hard time taking anything seriously. What excites me most about this game is the potential a sequel could provide. This came out in 2012 by Level 5 studios, but there has yet to be a follow up entry to really blow out the tabletop RPG idea. An Etrian Odyssey take on this game would be amazing.Even just making a choose your own adventure with a handful of paths would provide lots of opportunity for players to explore and replay with different outcomes. A larger mix-and-match cast of characters could also increase replayability and party composition strategies.
For $4, you really can't go wrong for a rather quick tabletop experience that feels like a successful experiment at a rarely explored genre in electronic gaming. The miniature and tabletop aesthetic works so well as 3D-enabled dioramas. If not a direct sequel, I wish some studio would take this idea and really run with it. It feels so good to roll virtual dice and have events transpire that feel like encounters ripped from an actual D&D campaign.
