MarketTantrik Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Culdcept Saga Developer : OmiyaSoft Publisher : Namco Bandai Games Released : November 22, 2006 (Japan), January 15, 2008 (U.S.) Genre : Board game, Collectible card game Mode(s) : Single player, Multiplayer, Xbox Live Platform : Xbox 360 Summary Culdcept Saga is the latest entrant in the popular Magic-meets-Monopoly game franchise that had previous installments on the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast. Developed exclusively for the Xbox 360, this title is the first in the series to incorporate the advanced online matchmaking features of Xbox Live. Story While the plot is purely peripheral to the gameplay, the game's story concerns a powerful queen and a young boy who must fight to bring peace to their land. The boy, a Cepter who can control magical cards, must defeat adversaries to free the land from tyranny. Gameplay As in Monopoly, players in Culdcept Saga roll dice and move around a game board, attempting to claim spaces and assess fees against other Cepters who land there. Unlike Monopoly, squares are claimed by summoning creatures to guard them, and players who land on them can opt to challenge this creature with one of their own rather than pay the toll. If successful, the challenger claims ownership of the square. The winner of the game is the first player to return to the starting location after amassing a sufficient quantity of magic/mana. Cards Creatures are summoned from customized decks ("books") of cards which players design ahead of time from an available pool of cards. Other cards in these decks bestow items to enhance creature abilities, or represent spells which can influence movement on the game board. Although there are nearly 500 different cards in total, players must earn many of these through skillful play and story mode progression before they can be used. Strategy Although the game relies somewhat heavily on luck, players do have a choice over what cards make up their decks, as well as when to play those cards. The squares in the game consist of different terrain or elemental types (e.g. fire, water, etc.), and the abilities of various creatures can be bolstered by deploying them on an appropriate square. Some more powerful creatures can only be summoned when a certain number of squares of a given terrain type are already controlled, so balance is required when designing a deck. Players must also decide when to upgrade the squares which they currently control. Upgraded squares exact higher magic toll rates than non-upgraded squares when opponents land there. New features In addition to card and rule tweaks, Culdcept Saga supports online multiplayer play against up to three other players via Xbox Live, complete with leaderboards and rankings. Also new to the series is the ability to unlock various items with which to customize in-game avatars. Other improvements include high resolution graphics, now rendered (at least partially) in 3D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketTantrik Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Culdcept Saga demo shuffles onto XBLM From Xbox 360 Fanboy ________________________________________ If there's one thing Xbox fans have been clamoring for, it's a weird RPG / card / board game hybrid ... thing. Enter Culdcept Saga from Namco. The game has players rolling dice and battling enemies with magical cards that contain magical beasts. Sound appealing? Good. You might want to grab the demo off of Xbox Live Marketplace, because it's up right now, at this very moment. We're going to be giving it a try for the sheer uniqueness of it all. Expect a report later today. In the meantime, feel free to issue your own right here. ________________________________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketTantrik Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 X3F hands-on: Culdcept Saga From Xbox 360 Fanboy _____________________________________________________________ Culdcept Saga is, for lack of a better term, an interesting game. To describe it quickly, you really only need two words: Monopoly and Magic (as in Magic: The Gathering). Now that's oversimplifying it, but by now you're already either incredibly intrigued or thoroughly disgusted. For those of you in the first camp, please read on for a brief dissection of the new demo on Xbox Live Marketplace. The rest of you can either read on for your own edification or move on to something more pleasing. At its heart, Culdcept Saga is a board game. The object is to collect a certain amount of points, called TG. You earn TG by capturing land, raising the level of your captured lands, summoning monsters, and using your cards effectively. At the beginning of your turn, you draw a card, cast a spell if you want, and then roll the dice. Similar to Monopoly, you can claim territories. In order to claim a territory, you must summon a creature to guard it. To summon a creature, you must use a creature card and pay a certain amount of "magic" which should really be labeled "gold" for the purposes of the game. It's even abbreviated with a "g," so let's just refer to it as gold, mkay? Each territory is aligned with a certain element, as are the creatures, so ideally you want to match fire monsters with red territories, etc. When you hit certain points on the map, you're awarded more gold. Again, sort of like passing "GO" in Monopoly. Once the total value of your lands, various monsters, and pocketbook reaches a predetermined limit (in the demo it's 4000), you win. And that's the basic game. Of course, it gets a little more complicated than that. Your opponents are also gunning for land and creatures, so your bound to stop on territories that aren't up for grabs. In these situations, you can either fork over the required toll (which is dependent on the "level" of the territory and other bonuses) or you can fight the creature that guards said territory. To fight, you pick a creature card (and pay the cost of the card) and watch the antics ensue. Optimally, you'll want to pick a creature that's stronger than the one you're fighting. There are special modifier cards that will boost abilities or deal damage to other monsters though, so a weaker monster can still win a fight if you play your cards right (oof!). If you win the fight, you get out of paying the toll and you claim the territory as your own, with your victorious creature now standing guard. If you lose, you pay the toll and your creature is lost. Beyond the combat, you can also upgrade your territories, which increases the tolls that opponents must pay and also any bonuses awarded to the creature assigned to the territory. There are other territory options, like exchanging creatures, moving creatures, or even changing the elemental alignment of the territory. So, for the right price, you can turn a yellow territory that you own into a blue one, giving a nice stat buff to your blue ogre. Finally, there are spells that you cast at the beginning of each turn. These cards directly affect you, your opponents, or the various creatures in play. Some deal damage to creatures (or heal them) while others might force your opponents to roll a 1 on the next turn (perfect for making an opponent walk smack into your angry minotaur). Of course, the game isn't without its problems, though really the "problems" boil down to taste. First of all, to say the presentation is simplistic is being very generous. The game's PS2 roots are definitely apparent, but there are some stylistic choices that hamper the experience further. For instance, the monster battles take place between two cards ... literally. You'll see two cards on either side of the screen swinging swords at one another. It's a bit odd, especially considering there are fully rendered creatures on the actual game board. Still, it's a $40 game, and it's not a deal breaker if this is the sort of game you find interesting. One thing that is annoying on a gameplay front is that the battles can end in a draw. Basically, each monster makes one attack (as far as we can tell) and that's it. In one instance, our monster would have won the fight if the battle simply alternated. Instead, the battle ended in a draw, resulting in our avatar paying a toll but not losing his creature. Weak. If it all sounds crazy and complicated, it is. At least at first. However, like Magic or Monopoly, you'll get into the flow of gameplay before too long. All in all, the game is surprisingly fun and actually pretty addicting. I found myself wishing the demo kept going after the one match available in the demo. If you enjoy card games or board games, definitely give Culdcept Saga a try. ______________________________________________________________ This looks like a game I can really dig. The X360 certainly is getting a splattering of games outside of the shooter genre. Way to go !! --MT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo-Iwata Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 just tried the demo and i have to say the game is fun,i might buy this if the price is right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketTantrik Posted December 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 ^^ Yeah. I like the fact that I can waste my big screen LCD TV playing this title P.S. Yeah, even I'm considering buying this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.