Battlefield variety is also lacking, causing the sameness to encroach on seemingly every aspect of fights. This dearth of interesting opposition ensures that combat grows dull early on, and the tedium is augmented by the inexplicable decision to force the player to reach an appointed goal to end the stage even if all the enemies are dead. Enemies that were seen in earlier battles will reappear, with improved statistics but no new abilities whatsoever. Most RPGs, tactical or otherwise, will bother to at least apply a palette swap in order to vary the enemy ranks, but ASH wholly recycles the same opponents multiple times. Unrelated to the interface, ASH displays a dismal lack of enemy variety. Moving characters again is necessary because the game will not display or allow the total possible distance any one character can cross, forcing the player to move someone, then move another time, and again until the Action Points are exhausted.
Thus, to move any character more than a few spaces, the screen must be scrolled to make additional parts of the battlefield visible, and then scrolled again if the player is not done moving that character. Tapping the destination for each character is particularly annoying, because the game’s viewpoint is zoomed in a fair amount, to allow using the touch screen for this task. Numerous tasks are made far more difficult than they need be, such as the requirement that everything be tapped twice in order to remove the possibility that the player accidentally touched the wrong spot. A touch screen-only interface for a tactical game was a questionable design in the first place, and Mistwalker’s implementation of it only cements how poor the notion is. It can be aggravating to realize that not enough Action Points remain to get every character into position before attacking, but this system requires some thought and is definitely a highlight of the game.įighting through the game’s interface is unfortunately required in order to maneuver the characters, however. Inside of a green range they will work normally, up to double the regular range will allow attacks to still be used but at lowered effectiveness and accuracy, and beyond that is a red range in which an action cannot be used at all. The attack’s initiator must be within three spaces of an enemy, but the other two members of the team can be anywhere on the map, and the game has a rather interesting method of coping with this: attack and magic effects vary depending upon range. Movement must be considered carefully before attacking, because fifty Action Points are necessary to start an altercation. The three members move around the field separately, but when one initiates an attack, all three participate, no matter how far from the action they are. Movement is a particularly tricky matter, as the Action Point cost increases when characters move farther, quickly sapping the available supply. Each character charges forty Action Points per turn, up to a maximum of 150 for a team, which are necessary to do just about everything.
#Archaic notion definition series
Perhaps a sequel would have turned this stillborn series into something entertaining, but Archaic Sealed Heat is not a hidden gem that importers should promptly gravitate toward.ĪSH uses an unusual mechanic for its tactical battles, employing three-character teams that fight jointly but move separately. The game has some nifty notions, but their execution leaves a great deal to be desired, setting up a sameness that permeates the entire product. Mistwalker seems to have abandoned the IP of Archaic Sealed Heat, which may be for the best.
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