Tuesday, May 13, 2008

FFCC: MLAAK is delightful thus far

Picked up FFCC: MLAAK last night when I got back home. Downloaded it around midnight and proceeded to play it till 5:30 am. I would have continued to play longer but Teenie was not excited to see me still awake at such time.

I'm sure you have all read the reviews about it and know the most basic concepts so I will just write about the things I found delightful. As a student of Ogre Battle, I understand and really quite enjoy letting my troops fight for me, so the lack of combat doesn't bother me at all. The turns seem a little short to me, as you only have a short amount of time to wander your city and allow your adventurers to do their jobs. I was overjoyed to see that the game actually tries to explain the FFCC storyline unlike the orginal's half assed attempt at story, which was very frustrating.

The genius of the game however is that it auto saves at the end of each day, but you can't find out how your adventurers did until the next day, so it sucks you into it's cycle curious to find out how your adventurers did on their quest. When you find out how they have fared, it quickly starts you off on the next day expecting you to set up quests for the current day. You can not save until the end of the day so it continues you in this cycle of curiosity, constantly pulling you further along leaving you no chance to stop playing, thus the delightful addiction.

8 comments:

_J_ said...

How much control do you have over particular units?

The reviews I read made this sound like something of a God Game given that you were mostly left to observe your units and only influenced them via the structure of your town.

Unknown said...

That is basically true. You have no real control over your units, except when they complete a mission you can give them a 'medal' to improve specific stats. Also there are ways to change their jobs that I am just getting to, which I need to explore before I go further with it.

Roscoe said...

Do you know if it interacts with FFCC 2 at all?

Because.. I was looking HARD at it, when I picked up World Ends With You....

and.... it's still looking worth my dime.

_J_ said...

So is the game more Ogre Battle / RPG / RTS or is it more of a Sim City sort of game?

Unknown said...

It is a Sim City/RPG mix. It doesn't do anything ogre battle does, I was just referencing it because I don't get to experience the combat myself.

There is a story. In order to progress it you must get your adventurers to clear certain zones.

I have also recently gotten to the point where one can change the classes of your adventurers, and it excites me. I have thieves, black mages, and white mages now. I need to get to the point where I can group them in a party when they travel to the same zone though. My white mages are getting their asses kicked.

_J_ said...

Is the game at all automated in a manner that would allow you to let it run all night or do you have to press A every now and then to tell your units what to do?

Unknown said...

You have to start each day reading reports and setting up "behests" for your adventurers.

_J_ said...

...

No game has ever offered me behests...