If you love Final Fantasy Tactics, Shining Force, or Tactics Ogre then you’ll probably have some interest in Children of Zodiarcs, which is now on Kickstarter.
It’s a story-driven tactical-RPG that adds collectible cards and craftable dice to the mix. It’s being developed by people who previously worked on games including Eternal Darkness, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, The Warriors, and Far Cry 3.
As far as the story goes, it has you playing as a group of young rebels as they try to survive in the slums and catacombs of a corrupt city. They’ve just stolen a priceless relic, you see, so they have to hide from the city guards and rival bandit gangs, but now also have to deal with a clan of psychotic subterranean cannibals.
Combat in the game takes place on a grid and requires planning. You’ll need to take into account the positioning of your heroes as they can perform counter-attacks if nearby to enemies upon taking damage. Attacks from behind also deal more damage and cannot be counter-attacked while getting high ground gives you a clear advantage if armed with a ranged weapon as there’s no chance you’ll be reached with a counter-attack.
You build a deck of cards outside of battles and then draw them in an unknown order during the fight. These cards correspond to the actions you can perform – “attacks, curses, or even special abilities like stealth.”
As well as the cards, each of your heroes has their own dice to roll, with symbols etched on each face. These symbols represent the traits of your hero and you can only make use them when the dice lets you. Luckily, you can craft new dice to up the chances of getting more devastating or handy traits during combat.
