When I first played Pokemon Blue in elementary school, I was enamoured by the exploration, catch-em-all mindset, and exciting battle system. I thought this was the peak of gaming as a ten year old and didn’t think I could play a game on my GameBoy better than this. Fast forward a few years to my GameBoy Advance and a new obsession began. No, it wasn’t another Pokemon game (though I was religiously playing Pokemon Sapphire), but rather Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I had never played a Final Fantasy game since they were exclusively on PlayStation systems (I was a Nintendo boy), so I was excited and curious to see what all the fuss was about and quickly fell in love with it. Happily, Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark evokes all the love and excitement I had for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance while also creating a story in of its own for players to enjoy.
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark follows Kyrie through a tactical-RPG adventure where a council, The Immortals, rule and protect a large empire through a time of peace. However, *shocker*, peace doesn’t last and players explore the possible corruption, troubles, and turmoil within and around The Immortals. The game’s world and foundation is incredible, however, I felt that the progress was at a snail’s pace for meaningful events. I eventually just started reading the story beats haphazardly since even the dialogues were drudgely slow. I think a sequel or spin-off in this world is certainly plausible and really drive the mysticism captured this is adventure.
But what the story seems to lack a bit is absolutely overshadowed by the incredible gameplay. Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark has a LOT of moving parts for players to wrap their heads around and throws scores of information at once. Some players could certainly fall in love with all the minutia, while others will definley “NOPE” this game and move on. I think I was a bit in the middle. At first I was very concerned with the massive amount of blocks of texts thrown at me; telling me what everything is, what they do, and how I should play. The first two battles were actually very frustrating because movement and strategy wasn’t clicking with me. Instead, I just quickly peruse these blocks of texts and just figure out the game as I progress. This maneuver helped me enjoy the game much, much more. These story-driven fights, paired with patrolling areas or competing in a tournament, gave different flavors of battles and had the ability for it to not get too stale.
The heavy hitting mechanic is the battle system. Each area has a specific map with various enemies, monsters, and hazards that players need to be aware of. However, the maps aren’t just flat, but also add a 3D height aspect to the mix. Players usually choose up to 6 characters to participate in the fight and must complete the objective; the vast majority of the time it’s “Defeat all enemies”, but occasionally there are some pivots and turns to make actions more interesting. Each character is organized by their Speed level in the game, which determines the order of their actions. Turns progress between your characters and your enemies, where maneuvering, planning, and attacking takes place. Strategy becomes critical and quickly became one of my favorite aspects of this game.
However, strategy also occurs before the first character is placed on the battlefield. With each character in your team, you’re able to choose a specific class for them. Mender, Wizard, Mercenary, Knight, amongst others have a slew of different abilities, attributes, and uses within Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. The added layer to these classes is that characters can also have a subclass, essentially drawing from two classes, offer even more customization options. As your characters participate in battles, achieve specific objectives, or just *exist*, they earn Ability Points (AP). These AP’s allow your characters to unlock abilities within their classes, eventually unlocking even more abilities and classes. I’m a sucker for a more distant-attacks-through-magic player in most RPGs and I was happy with the variety just on that specific concentration. There’s so many permutations, it’s almost daunting as it is exciting. Let’s not forget all the equipment to add extra defense, element abilities, immunities, and much, much, MUCH more. I’m a big fan in general of character management and inventory adjustments, so I kept myself happily busy in these menus and deciding how my characters are going to benefit the team.
Something that was also paramount during the gameplay is the idea of recruiting more members to your team. Some powerful people join through the story, but hiring people to your team is vital. I didn’t realize this at first and the beginning hours were simply not enjoyable. For a price, you’re able to literally build a character from the ground up – select a class, slew of defining physical characteristics, and myriad of costumes. I. Loved. This. So. Much.
The aesthetics are also another wonderful nod to it’s inspiration of Final Fantasy Tactics. Beautiful sprite-like work mixed with fantastic watercolors through dynamic background had me continuously playing for hours at a time. I even used my PlayStation Vita (it lives) to do remote play so I could nestle on my couch and enjoy it just like my GameBoy Advance days. The sound direction and score were mostly forgettable, but didn’t make the experience any worse.
In a nutshell, if you like tactical turn-based RPGs with a plethora of customizations and engaging fights then Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is perfect for you. Maybe you’ll click with the story or maybe you won’t, but the meat and potatoes is with the gameplay. I’ve put in over 50 hours and have no plans on stopping so I can continue the grind and enjoy some fights!
Fell Seal: Artiber’s Mark was provided by Evolve PR, inc for Playstation 4.
Harry Loizides is a contributor for Duel Screens and also manages Middle of Nowhere Gaming. When he isn’t making cool math projects for his students, he’s busy catching Pokemon and trying to save Washington DC. Be sure to catch his adventures on Twitter and Instagram.
