Tactics V: "Obsidian Brigade" Reviews

[h1][b]4.5/10[/b][/h1] Decent tactical RPG that's ruined by a terrible charged attack and spell system that's *so* bad even the AI can't use them. Such a shame, because without that one issue, I'd keep the game and give it a 6.5-7/10 easily. [h2]Pros:[/h2] - I really like the graphics overall (except for unit visibility in combat). They remind me of games like Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor and others - Seems to run well, and there are battle options like overhead view that help the experience [h2]Mehs:[/h2] - Music and sound design are not good. Not *terrible* either, but there's not much to look forward to there. Music is a critical part of tactical RPGs and even if free use music is necessary due to budgetary constraints, there's no excuse for choosing music you wouldn't want to listen to for hours [h2]Cons:[/h2] - Biggest issue that ruins the game for me: charged attacks and spells. It's extremely difficult to find out if it'll go off before the target's next turn or not. This should be very visible info. Also... - THE AI LITERALLY CONSTANTLY MISSES SPELLS BECAUSE IT DOESN'T KNOW THE TARGET WILL MOVE BEFORE THEY GO OFF. If it happened once, maybe it's a fluke. But it happened 4 times in a row. Even worse: you can target the unit and not the tile and *the AI doesn't even do that* - AI keeps moving even when there's no benefit to moving. Moving takes time and delays your next turn, so the AI constantly delays turns for no reason. This makes Training battles extremely drawn out if you use AI to do them (which you probably would)... even if you turn battle speed up - Difficult to see units in combat (especially when they're wearing green against green background) and difficult to distinguish between allies/enemies - You don't get all your mana back after a fight? - When you class change to, say, Wizard or Healer, you don't start with any spells. So you just have to Meditate forever or do 0 damage with weapons/fists until you can afford an actual spell. Incredibly lame