First Impressions: Crimson Shroud (3DS)

Crimson Shroud is part of the "Guild01" series, which won't mean anything to most people outside of Japan so I won't go into the deeper details except to say that of the seven games released under the "Guild" series, I have three of the seven (Crimson Shroud, Weapon Shop de Omasse, and The Starship Damrey) and I am very interested at looking into the other four games.

So Crimson Shroud I purchased a while back when it was on sale (so I didn't pay the full $7.99, but I probably would have if I knew that I would be enjoying the game as much as I have been the last two hours).  The game plays like a traditional tabletop RPG with miniatures, Dwarven Forge environments and a full set of dice.  Crimson Shroud isn't Dungeons & Dragons though although it has many elements that make up that glorious game.  There is no voice acting, only written text, there is no (as of yet) character animations as all of the characters are represented by painted miniature figurines on square bases.  The only way that this game could be better is if it also incorporated a tactics approach to the battles instead of the more traditional video game RPG battles that you find in Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

Apologies for the Youtube-quality Picture.

The dice mechanic is a very nice touch too.  They're not used in the traditional D&D style, in that you don't roll for initiative, damage or on a proficiency check,but instead when casting certain spells, or when you instigate a surprise attack or are ambushed in order to determine the number of individual turns the surprise lasts; you roll a 2d4.  The dice mechanic is one that didn't have to be included as the results of the die roll could be as determined as a random die generator, but the act of rolling a 1d10, 1d20, 1d6, 1d12 and a 1d4 to determine how many magic points a character gains is still pretty damn cool.

The music in the game is composed, primarily by Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, Terra Battle) along with other composers from his own company, Basicscape.  Most the music so far has been very fitting, although one cue seemed a little out of place, but I understand why it was used.  I also decided to come upon the rest of the soundtrack and I am very pleased with what I will hear later in the game.

As far as the story goes, I'm a little confused, but then again, I've put in only just under two hours so I don't expect to understand all of the intrinsic workings of the world and overall story by this point.  There have been a number of instances where the game has asked if I wanted to reminisce on a characters backstory and honestly, why the hell wouldn't I want to?  I even had to re-explore a room that I had already been in because searching the room again wasn't an option the first time around.  It was like the game expected me to think, "I should probably check that room again" and provided me with what I had been looking for.

If the rest of the 10 hours this game is supposed to provide (providing I apparently go through it a second time), I will be very happy.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Nothing But All The Same