I gave you a brief tour of my early impressions of Arc Rise Fantasia's first handful of hours last week, talking a little bit about how fun it was proving to be despite a really iffy localization. I also mentioned a bit about its looks, and I have to note that there's been quite a bit more impressive architecture to look at since. Cool stuff.
But clearly, Arc Rise Fantasia's biggest strength is its myriad systems. There's so much interesting stuff going on here; since I wrote about the game last Friday, I've discovered three more key features of the game, and changed up my strategy a little bit as a result.
The first thing is something I discovered almost immediately after writing my last bit: a little something called Sync. In a nutshell, having as many party members as possible cast the same magic on the same enemy will give a Sync bonus to that magic's strength, something that can come in really handy against bosses, once you've divined their elemental weaknesses.
Speaking of the magic system, that's the biggest new thing I've been digging into. All characters have equal access to the full slate of magic (though they do have their own Excel Acts, special moves that can be pulled off when their SP—tension—gauges are high enough); what spells any character has available depends on what orbs they have equipped. There are workshops in most towns that will sell you customizations that allow characters to equip more orbs, level up the ones they have, and the like. Slotting identical orbs next to each other gives that character access to higher-level magic; there are also higher-level orbs which you'll get later.
Slotting oppositely elemented orbs next to each other is something you don't want to do, though, as they'll negatively impact each other. But if you have four slots available, you can order them e.g. fire, earth, water, wind and not only will they not cancel each other out, but you'll see new types of combination magic become available as well. You can basically go nuts with this system. The biggest limitation I have right now is getting my hands on the orbs themselves—they're not purchasable, and they're somewhat rare.
There's one more thing I wanted to note, too: Trinity Acts. I mentioned Excel Acts earlier; you can Sync these as well (though the bonuses are slimmer, probably to balance their more ready availability vs. the limited magic) if you have all three controllable party members firing off one of their Acts. But after a certain point in the game, doing this will also unleash a special Trinity Act, a move all three characters participate in for extra damage. Very cool, and when you consider you've got to manage both your action points (which are limited per turn and sometimes insufficient unless you've saved some from the previous turn, or if you have something more pressing to do like heal) and your SP (again, tension), they add an element of strategy that makes battles that much more fun.
Because of these new systems and the need to use them, I'm finding myself manually controlling more and more battles to remain effective. Even though Arc Rise Fantasia still has its share of notable flaws, they definitely seem to have nailed it where it counts—this is some of the more interesting RPG gameplay I've ever had a chance to see.
But clearly, Arc Rise Fantasia's biggest strength is its myriad systems. There's so much interesting stuff going on here; since I wrote about the game last Friday, I've discovered three more key features of the game, and changed up my strategy a little bit as a result.
The first thing is something I discovered almost immediately after writing my last bit: a little something called Sync. In a nutshell, having as many party members as possible cast the same magic on the same enemy will give a Sync bonus to that magic's strength, something that can come in really handy against bosses, once you've divined their elemental weaknesses.
Speaking of the magic system, that's the biggest new thing I've been digging into. All characters have equal access to the full slate of magic (though they do have their own Excel Acts, special moves that can be pulled off when their SP—tension—gauges are high enough); what spells any character has available depends on what orbs they have equipped. There are workshops in most towns that will sell you customizations that allow characters to equip more orbs, level up the ones they have, and the like. Slotting identical orbs next to each other gives that character access to higher-level magic; there are also higher-level orbs which you'll get later.
Slotting oppositely elemented orbs next to each other is something you don't want to do, though, as they'll negatively impact each other. But if you have four slots available, you can order them e.g. fire, earth, water, wind and not only will they not cancel each other out, but you'll see new types of combination magic become available as well. You can basically go nuts with this system. The biggest limitation I have right now is getting my hands on the orbs themselves—they're not purchasable, and they're somewhat rare.
There's one more thing I wanted to note, too: Trinity Acts. I mentioned Excel Acts earlier; you can Sync these as well (though the bonuses are slimmer, probably to balance their more ready availability vs. the limited magic) if you have all three controllable party members firing off one of their Acts. But after a certain point in the game, doing this will also unleash a special Trinity Act, a move all three characters participate in for extra damage. Very cool, and when you consider you've got to manage both your action points (which are limited per turn and sometimes insufficient unless you've saved some from the previous turn, or if you have something more pressing to do like heal) and your SP (again, tension), they add an element of strategy that makes battles that much more fun.
Because of these new systems and the need to use them, I'm finding myself manually controlling more and more battles to remain effective. Even though Arc Rise Fantasia still has its share of notable flaws, they definitely seem to have nailed it where it counts—this is some of the more interesting RPG gameplay I've ever had a chance to see.