Kickstart your Weekend - Children of Zodiarcs
Children of Zodiarcs
Type: Video Game - Tactical JRPGFunding End Date: Feb 19, 2016Funding Status: FUNDED!
[yasr_overall_rating]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1314680699/children-of-zodiarcs-a-new-tactical-jrpg-by-aaa-ve
The Story
Follow a group of thieves as they break into the vault of one of the oppressive Nobles of The Toran Empire.
The Gameplay
In Children of Zodiarcs you will fight from and Omnipotent view of the tactical grid, much like Disgaea or Shining Force. Not much has been shown of the free-roam of the out of combat environments yet but I'm guessing that it's going to be the same view with a locked camera. There was a small snippet in the preview that looked like a scripted event that lead into a fight. Could be one of the intro battles, or it could have been a story triggered event. I'm hoping that the game doesn't take place on rails though. If it harkens back to the days of 32bit RPGs, I'm looking forward to some free roam.The twist this time though is you will build a deck of abilities from cards collected to use during combat. On top of this is a Dice Mechanic to add some Randomness to the fight, which can be customized as well. This is very ambitious for an RPG combat system. I've seen Card based Tactics games like Metal Gear: Acid before and it's worked fairly well. Adding a dice mechanic for randomness might be a bit frustrating, especially in the beginning stages. It will be interesting to see how they balance the early stages of the game before you can control the RNG a bit.
The Aesthetic
The Art and Music for Children of Zodiarcs are incredible.The character art has this amazing smudgy look to it that is really vibrant and endearing. The music feels like it was plucked from early PS1 era RPGs. They've partnered with Vibe Avenue to provide the soundtrack, pop over to their Soundcloud page and check out some of their other music.
The Perks
At higher levels you get all their previous perks. Please note that all prices are in Canadian Dollars as listed on their page, US costs are cheaper.$5 - You're a nice person, keep up with the Kickstarter Updates!$20 - You get a Steam Key for Mac or PC!$25 - You get the Digital Soundtrack!$30 - You get Beta Access!$35 - You get a signed postcard!$50 - You get PC Alpha Access!$65 - You get a T-Shirt (Only this level gets a T-Shirt)$70 - You get a poster (Signed if you like)!$85 - You get a Physical Copy of the game!All other price points are above $100, if this interests you, check out what's still available as all price points higher than this are limited.
The Verdict
Fund!
I'm really excited about Children of Zodiarcs. The Combat system looks unique, and I want to see how they put it into production. They've been fully funded already so you know you're going to get it. Add to that the pedigree the dev team boasts and this is going to be worth your time.I'm funding this game at the $20. After listening to more of Vibe Avenue's wonderful music, I might upgrade to the $25 level so I can get the soundtrack. Anything more than this and it's really up to you. I'm not hugely excited for the higher tier stuff, but I'm kinda cheap.Can't wait to play this one though.Happy Gaming!