As a result of the quarantine, many of us started looking at the libraries of our various platforms to see what game was hanging around and we never found time to dedicate to it. And since now what seems to be left is just that, time, I had no more excuses and I chose Fell Seal .
The title, out of a successful Kickstarter, is very similar to turn-based strategy (by squares, as we sometimes say), similar to X-COM , although with fantastic components and characters very much in the style of Final Fantasy Tactics .
The history
Fell Seal embodies a plot that uses classic narrative tools but applied quite efficiently and with twists and turns of cliffhangers, betrayals and other surprises that give it an additional taste.
The story unfolds in a world that was whipped by a terrible beast called “The Maw”, which could only be contained by a group of immortals whose origin was never known. These mega humans managed to seal the powers of the beast and over time it was remembered only as an old legend. However, the immortals had to continue dealing with great threats, such as chaos and world wars, having to delegate their tasks to the Referees, people selected to execute divine justice.
Among them is Kyrie, of impeccable performance, brilliant code of ethics and well-established principles , who along with her brother and her apprentice, will end up involved in a crime of which she is a witness and that will lead her to discover corruption in the council of immortals. and from other arbitrators.
As you can see, the plot that seemed simple is complicated as several characters with different interests, dissident groups, and also new co-protagonists of the story appear. Each one with a very rich personality, design and background, coloring the story and filling it with side-quests ideally designed to also meet the other characters.
Despite everything, it is easy to deduce many times the things that happen in front of this group of referees, even before they realize it themselves, making the story a bit implausible or its characters too innocent.
Mechanics
The strong and balanced Fell Seal . The characters allow us to unlock new classes and combine them with the existing ones, even being able to choose advantages and reactions from other classes that may not be any of the previous two, opening the development tree infinitely. This is accompanied by a really challenging level of battles, which also implies having characters hurt during several encounters until they can be used again and also specific classes of the main characters.
Maps, while simple, often have secrets or chests that we’ll sometimes have to retrieve later in the game to uncover mysteries involving special weapons, hidden characters, or alternate stories.
The battle and the model of the classes is extremely similar to the Final Fantasy Tactics , it is enough to say that to choose the change of class we will see the character surrounded by a circle of characters that are basically he or she himself with different clothes depending on the change we make . There may be debate over whether this is a copy or an inspiration, but the FFT having been so good anyway, it cannot be blamed for its systems being adopted so many years later.
Fell Seal also offers the ability to retrace our steps to start battles “on patrol”, allowing us to retrieve items, train characters, and sometimes even unlock other stories. This will also be accompanied by the fact that we can eventually unlock the possibility of creating items, and this ranges from the classics used for any battle (Remedy, Potion, Mana Stone, etc.) to equipment and also special medals that enable other hidden classes.
In summary, the general mechanics of the game is entertaining and we can spend hours diagramming what we will do and enjoying a battle. However, I have to say that many times the game has its linear moments where training becomes a routine , but neither can we continue with the story without being destroyed in one click, I was several days “stagnant” simply uploading the characters of level to be able to pass the most difficult scenes and this can be frustrating if the news runs out.
Music and Graphics
This is the worst part of the game, but also the most understandable. Obviously, the studio decided to put all their effort into making the game extremely addictive, leaving second the quality of its graphics, which closely resemble what we could have seen in any PS2 game, although perhaps with the small detail of incorporating portraits very varied to their characters that sometimes change according to the gestures they would be making in conversations. It is not something that changes our lives, but I discovered that it is a great contributor to generating empathy and affection for the characters.
The music does not have salvation , the songs must be ten at most, and they become so repetitive that after 20 hours I spent the remaining 46 that it took me to finish it with everything silenced and my own background music.
In summary
Fell Seal is an excellent game that. While it may fool you for its precarious cover, it really is worth giving it a try, especially if the game mode is your favorite. It has its flaws, yes, but to be a Kickstarter of a first-time studio, I assure you that it surprises, and for its open end it would not surprise me that soon we can enjoy a much better polished second edition.
