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| Creator | Rammerrush |
| Engine | Lex Talionis |
| Download | Here |
| Score | 63/80 |
| Rank | 5th |
| FEU Link | Here |
Reviews
Judge 1: Darrman
Gameplay: 8/10
The theme of the game is evident: we’re here to play blackjack. It does this very well. At first it’s standard blackjack: the closest player to 21 wins without going above it. But after a few rounds, hard mode gets unlocked, and it’s everyone for themselves in a blackjack game filled with skills. Forcing opponents to pass turns and draw cards is just the beginning here. I played to completion with the first available character, but there are eleven to choose from in all, and achievements are available to hunt. Myriad Fortunes is an example of pushing the Lex Talionis engine to its limits: an engine built to emulate GBA Fire Emblem can effectively simulate blackjack.
Presentation: 4/5
The presentation is a big focus here. Every character has their own theme song, the casino graphics are excellent, and a dedicated GUI for the blackjack was created, with no clunkiness inherent from retrofitting a strategy game’s menus. The main thing stopping me from giving a 5/5 is the occasional text overflow from overly long character names, mostly in the score box.
Story: 3/5
With such a large array of characters, all of them have their motivations to gamble their way to victory. These gamblers hail from across the multiverse, including cameos from the creator’s MARTH entry and Sacred Stones. Your player character will give their thoughts on every other gambler by attempting to check their status screens, which is a nice detail. The story isn’t a major focus, and with the nature of the game massive cutscenes wouldn’t really suit. There is some nice attention to detail: gamble with related characters and interesting conversations will take place.
Total Score: 15/20
Judge 2: Rivian
Gameplay: 9/10
Starting off, it’s blackjack. Incredibly infuriating but quite addictive, which hopefully isn’t foreshadowing for me getting into actual gambling.
20 matches later, this is where the fun actually begins. There are ten buyable skills that allow for obscene ways to cheat at blackjack, including discards, forced card trades, peeking, extra lives, etc. This really allows stacking in the deck in one’s favour and can guarantee wins, but the chaotic nature of enemies also having skills and of course, just plain bad luck can still easily throw off a game. I thoroughly enjoy this part of the game as it appeals to my natural enjoyment of being able to cheat at a game of chance.
Presentation: 5/5
The blackjack UI, the most important part, looks very good. All the additional UI is well presented. There is a good use of tileset and background images to portray a casino. The variety of portraits styles gets a special pass due to the multi-verse aspects of all the characters. Did I mention the blackjack UI looks great? Because it does.
Story: 3/5
There are almost a dozen playable characters and each has a very short story regarding what wish they want from the goddess of luck. I do like that character’s have some thoughts on other characters they meet. I got a few endings and saw a few more, and it was cool how the tales of some characters connect together. While there isn’t much meat on these bones, I think it is suitable for the format.
Total Score: 17/20
Judge 3: Legend of Loog
Gameplay: 8/10
This entry sets itself apart by not really being Fire Emblem at all. Instead, you play Blackjack as one of an assorted cast of characters, and while the initial mode to get your bearings is fun enough, it starts getting interesting once Hard Mode is unlocked. In this, you can use skills to eke out an advantage during each round, manipulating a game of chance into one that you have more power over (well, until someone hits 21 off of two cards). Eventually, you can face the final boss of sorts once you reach 100 tokens. The tough part was getting there, given the randomness inherent to the game, but the final game was still a fun experience. My only problem is that, at least if you pick Sebastian, my game crashed after beating Fortuna, so I didn’t get to see what happened afterwards. Outside of this, I thoroughly enjoyed what I played.
Presentation: 4/5
A lot of work has been put into the UI for Blackjack and related menus, which is good because you’ll be looking at this screen a lot. I liked the music selection overall too, and one highlight here is that character themes play when they win a round. Portraits are also generally solid, and the map looks good too. My only complaint is that the game is sometimes a little too responsive, which can lead to unintended actions going through and lost tokens (speaking from experience).
Story: 3/5
Obviously, the story isn’t meant to be a huge focus given the premise, but I liked what was there. There’s some neat character lines, and you get to choose to play as whichever character you want, learning more about them as time goes on. I can’t really comment on the ending because my game crashed after defeating Fortuna, but I at least liked Sebastian’s storyline and thought it was neat. Overall, solid in this area.
Total Score: 15/20
Judge 4: Levin64
Gameplay: 9/10
Heck, it’s Blackjack all over again, where I gamble ~my money~ my sanity off during my college times with my friends… but now with fantasy characters, including Sacred Stones characters and… some others that I don’t really recognize. The normal mode is the usual Blackjack, 21 or bust. The hard mode is the interesting part though, as I can cheat my own way with skills to win. But the other three players do have their own skills to cheat their way too, so that’s the fun and tricky part. I enjoy this game a lot, yet my instincts say to not continue as I will waste my hours away in this game. It’s quite addicting.
Presentation: 4/5
The UI, it’s so slick! Since this submission is on Lex Talionis, it gets to shine so much; especially with many elements combined. Many characters with great portraits to boot, their own victory themes playing after they win (and will continue throughout the round until someone else wins or you stop playing, which is also a nice touch). The other music used here is also spectacular, perfect for the ambience of a casino. A slight complaint for me is that some long character names are clipped on the UI, and I learned my lesson to not use the A button to get through the textbox while playing Blackjack; it’s a neat trick to use.
Story: 3/5
An array of playable characters have their own motivation in the casino. I also discovered some characters have unique interactions with others, like The Shadow with Eirika. Not to mention the interaction of Puzon, Puzon, and Nuzop; absolute gold. I really want to dig into the interactions and the conversations more, yet again, this is not a story-heavy submission; so this is all I can give.
Total Score: 16/20
Results
| Category | Darr | Rivian | Loog | Levin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 34 |
| Presentation | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 17 |
| Story | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| Total | 15 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 63 |