Ah, gold old oddly shaped colorful dice. While modern RPGs use equations and random functions to determine events, most of that happens in the background. Yasumi Matsuno’s next game, Crimson Shroud, brings all of the randomness to the forefront.
Dice rolls determine event scenes in Crimson Shroud.
While dice rolls are important, players will get to make decisions on how the story progresses by picking choices on the touch screen. The world of Crimson Shroud takes place where magic was discovered during the Dark Ages when war broke out. This finding dramatically changed how people lived their lives. To use magic, you need a "gift" or a magic charm to act as a catalyst for spells. One type of gift lets you use one kind of magic, but there are some exceptions to this rule. Legend says the Crimson Shroud is the source of all magic. Adventurers and researchers near and far have set out in search of the relic, which is said to be inside the Sun-Gilt Palace of the Rahab.
Players will explore maps in Crimson Shroud as game pieces. You roll the dice and move your figure as if you were playing a board game. There are monster figures too and if you encounter one of these battle begins. Level-5 hasn’t revealed how battle works, but screenshots show three characters fighting a Minotaur.
Crimson Shroud is one of the four games in Guild 01 (and the only one I haven’t played yet). Level-5’s 3DS compilation comes out in Japan on May 17. While Level-5 has not announced an overseas release, it’s interesting to note that one of the battle screens has English text for character and monsters names.
Published: Mar 20, 2012 12:34 am