RPGWatch Feature - Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark Indie Showcase Interview

Forgottenlor reached out to the developers of Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark to answer a couple of questions about their recently released game.

What games inspired your game?

Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre are the big ones, as anyone who has played Fell Seal can attest to! Fell Seal is very much a labor of love in honor of those classics, especially taking cues from FFT's awesome Job system. But we're both big into gaming and likely picked up inspiration from all sorts of sources without realizing it. One of the less prominent ones is that Fell Seal's Injury system took some inspiration from XCOM. And the item system, in which the player has a set number of consumable items that automatically refills after every battle, has a bit in common with Dragon Age: Inquisition's item system.

What's the target audience for your game?

Our target audience is anyone who thinks that tactical combat with a ton of potential for in-depth character customization sounds fun. More specifically, one of the reasons we made this game is because we are huge fans of Final Fantasy Tactics, and there hasn't really been anything that scratches that itch in a good 10 years -- or even 20 years depending on whether you count the FFT Advance titles or not, which are fine games in their own right but are very different from the original. So we made the game for people like us who miss that classic style of tactical RPG. That being said, since Fell Seal offers a vast array of difficulty options, even people who are newcomers to the genre have been getting a lot of enjoyment from the game.

More information.

Two people did this in 2.5 years full-time. That is staggering.

The more I read and hear from others about this game, the more I savour playing it for myself!!! I'm really glad to see the hype from the kick starter was spot on.

Patience, some new hotfix arrived, not anything critical, but I suggest giving it a day or two more before continuing.

05/12/2019 - Version 1.0.3a
Bugfixes:

Doublecast: Will not be useable after using a contextual command (like gather, open, climb, etc), unless the passive to that effect is equipped.
Mods: Badge names will not become invisible anymore when using a custom crafting file.
Help Compendium: Adaptive affinity was misnamed in the help description about buffs. Fixed.

I'll definetly wait a few days and most probably replay it from beginning.

Just so someone doesn't misunderstand - I love the current trend in indies where postrelease patches and hotfixes are fast and frequent. I wish AAA publishers adopted this strategy too, not Beth specifically but all of them.

Thank you Pierre and Christina and forgottenlor!

Still remember when it was first shown on the Square Enix Collective a couple years ago.

Link - https://collective.square-enix.com/p…arbiters-mark/

I'm glad you find the inteview interesting. As far as the future of the Indie Showcase goes, my list of possible showcase interviews is dwindling. The problem with contacting the developers of older games is that many of them don't answer our inquiries, possibly because they are no longer developing games. We also have some pretty unusual suggestions, such as a couple of rogue-likes, and side scrollers, namely kinds of games we don't cover too much, and I'm not sure whether there is a lot of interest with covering these kinds of games or not. Please let me know your opinion!
So if there is any recently released indie game which you would like to see in our showcase, please drop me a line, either in this thread, the indie forum thread or via PM. Thanks!

What about Overhype Studios about their game Battle Brothers @forgottenlor?

The developer used to post on the forum a few years back.

Link - https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/member.php?u=23430

If not try emailing him on the games webpage.

Another game on our forum still in development called Sands of Space.

Link - https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37532

That's all sorry about my off-topic post.

A very good Indie RPGMaker series is Aveyond.

I started with part 3.1 recently and have a lot of fun with it.

We haven't covered this series, yet (We don't have so many RPGMaker fans here on the Watch.)

Originally Posted by HiddenX
A very good Indie RPGMaker series is Aveyond.

I started with part 3.1 recently and have a lot of fun with it.

We haven't covered this series, yet (We don't have so many RPGMaker fans here on the Watch.)

Used to play a lot of RPGMaker games both free and commercial, but yes not many watchers are fans based on the news-threads..Shame as some are good games.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
What about Overhype Studios about their game Battle Brothers @forgottenlor?

The developer used to post on the forum a few years back.

Link - https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/member.php?u=23430

If not try emailing him on the games webpage.

Another game on our forum still in development called Sands of Space.

Link - https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37532

That's all sorry about my off-topic post.

I reviewed Battle Brothers a ways back, and I think it has a lot of fans on this site, and the goal of the Indie Showcase is to focus on lesser known games, so I'd be hesitant to feature it, though its a great game, which I would personally recommend.

I'll have to check out Sands of Space.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
A very good Indie RPGMaker series is Aveyond.

I started with part 3.1 recently and have a lot of fun with it.

We haven't covered this series, yet (We don't have so many RPGMaker fans here on the Watch.)

I also occasionally play RPGMaker games. Cosmic Star Heroine (not sure if this tecnichally and rpgmakergame, though their older games were), City of Chains, Atonement, Ara Fell, Last Dream and Skyborn are all RPGMakers games I thought were pretty good, but I have the feeling that the majority of our forum members have no interest in these kinds of games.

Ara Fell and The Great Gaias are great as well - I think we have to educate some Watchers

The Great Gaias was most excellent, I would play any other rpg's in the future from the folks that did that game. I appreciate any and all input on decent rpg-maker games, as I've enjoyed most of the ones I've played to date.

Thanks for the interview.

Fell Seal first impressions video:

Thanks for the interview @forgottenlor

The devs keep referring to Final Fantasy Tactics but I've never played it, so it doesn't really provide me with much information.

Any Watchers playing this? Please share the impression

Originally Posted by purpleblob
The devs keep referring to Final Fantasy Tactics but I've never played it, so it doesn't really provide me with much information.

I'm dancing, yes. Because finally I'm not the only person on this forum who didn't!

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Thanks for the interview @forgottenlor

The devs keep referring to Final Fantasy Tactics but I've never played it, so it doesn't really provide me with much information.

Any Watchers playing this? Please share the impression

I haven't either. Since the game as well as Tactic Ogre have been mentioned often on this site and other places, I watched Youtube videos of both. The PC games I've played which seem closest are Grotesque Tactics which I wouldn't exactly recommend and the Disgea series which has a very wacky story, which won't speak to everyone. I also think the Valkyria Chronicles were inspired FFT and TO, even if it doesn't have grid movement or the ability to change jobs. Normally in these games you can bring a set number of characters onto a map. Some characters are story characters, but also in many of these games you can hire mercenaries, who are characters you can customize. The map is basically a very large battlefield where you have to defeat all of the enemies, or reach a certain area, or some other similar goal. Sometimes there are multiple goals, or optional treasures you can get. Normally there is a cut scene before or after (or both) which explains the story. Between battles you have the chance to develop your characters, often at a camp. You often have access to a huge number of jobs, and each job has access to a list of skills the character can learn while a member of that job. At camp you can also buy and sell equipment, heal characters, get side quests (or battles) et.

You folks that haven't experienced Final Fantasy: Tactics or Ogre Tactics should really give them a try. They alone are well worth the price of whatever system you purchase, in my opinion.

I'm playing @purpleblob . It's a very good game, I enjoy it a lot but I have to say I've become a bit bored by the story. It just doesn't have a very good story as joxer was saying, unfortunately. But the gameplay is great, it's turn-based tactical battles with a crew of your own customizing, and there's a lot of customizing, from classes to gear and so on. A whole lot. It's worth checking out.