Himeko Sutori announced

Himeko Sutori
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Nathaniel Ayer writes in to announce Himeko Sutori, a new strategy RPG that he’s developing solo.

Two things promise to make Himeko Sutori really stand out, in my estimation: first, the finished game will have (and I quote) “over 100 unique named units that you can customize, equip, and level-up as you uncover the schemes and betrayals that have thrown the kingdom into civil war.” Whoa. Holy hell is that ever a lot of characters. I mean, I’m on the tail-end of developing a strategy RPG with less than 30 playable characters myself, so you can trust me when I say that the thought of writing one hundred characters is making me hyperventilate just a little.

The other thing that’s interesting to me is that you won’t be fielding these characters individually, but rather in squads with AI governing the behavior of individual characters. Ayer writes:

In combat, each of your individual and unique characters will use his or her special abilities automatically to heal allies, pick off weak enemies, or deal out massive damage to enemy commanders.  As you build your squads, you will have to make strategic decisions:  Do you make a squad of all archers in order to maximize your ranged damage?  Or do you mix in knights and clerics to make the squad more rugged in close combat?

You know what that reminds me of? Square Enix’s The Last Remnant, that’s what! Here’s hoping that Ayer can make that formula work better than Square Enix did.

Ayer states that there’s an exploration mode planned as well:

In exploration mode you’ll be able to wander through city and countryside, talk to NPCs, get quests, buy equipment, hire and promote soldiers, and discover new places.  The events in exploration mode can thrust you into combat mode, where you and your AI opponent will take turns moving your armies squad by squad across the battlefield, positioning them for the best tactical advantage.

Although Himeko Sutori is still fairly early in development, Ayer steered me toward this video blog showing combat mode in action:

Himeko Sutori is on Kickstarter right now, where it is seeking a modest $15,000 in funding (though Ayer assures me he’ll stick with it regardless of the outcome). If this game sounds like it’s up your alley, why not kick it a few bucks?

Himeko Sutori - Combat
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1 Comment »

 
  • Rya.Reisender says:

    It is probably struggling with the funding because the Kickstarter video isn’t very good (though I only watched it without audio).

    Game itself looks promising, though!

 

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