 |
|
| Creator | Aura Wolf |
| Engine | FE8 |
| Download | Here |
| Score | 70/80 |
| Rank | 1st |
| FEU Link | Here |
Reviews
Judge 1: Darrman
Gameplay: 9/10
Calculation Manipulation, as the name implies, allows you to change formulas. Damage, accuracy, and the doubling threshold can all be changed, and changing these is a must in order to succeed. Various different enemy types require different stats in order to safely fight. Brave tome bishops are best fought with low damage and high accuracy, but trying the same against a berserker who can’t dodge will only result in suffering a fatal critical hit. The current formula is always shown on the screen, which I found very useful.
The chapter is a rout: a dangerous general is following and the party must be split. Handling the boss is a major part of the chapter, and the fight absolutely requires a good handle on the gimmick. Overall, this chapter does not mess around. Miscalculate and it will all fall apart, but patience will allow for victory to arrive without casualties.
Presentation: 4/5
Presentation is solid across the board. The music is good, the mugs are good, the cutscenes are well-evented, and there is nothing to really fuss about. I especially liked the music changing when the boss got serious. All the relevant GUI changes are well-integrated for the chapter’s needs.
Story: 3/5
The story is fairly simplistic, but it does a good job integrating the chapter gimmick into the story. The good guys are under imperial occupation, and it is said that long ago staves with the power to turn the tide of battle were sealed away. Their creator was scorned, but now the situation calls for them. All the characters have a moment to establish their personalities in various scenes of banter. Overall, it does a fine job of setting things up. The ending is quite an open-ended one, leaving the question of ultimate victory unanswered.
Total Score: 16/20
Judge 2: Rivian
Gameplay: 9/10
Calculation Manipulation has a very interesting main mechanic, staff users being able to increase universal damage (up to 10) and adjust universal hit (from -50 to +50). There are 4 staff users so 4 chances to make a massive change to the flow of combat. This creates a lot of interesting uses such as meeting damage thresholds and increasing survivability on enemy phase. There is also a lance which uses the previous calculation adjustments, not the current ones.
Thankfully, the playable units are all pretty normal and as you expect. The challenge comes from running through the numbers and ensuring you’re making efficient formula changes. Even with such power in my hands, I still found the map quite tough, especially against the swordmaster boss who benefits from both increased damage and hit reduction. I do like that the objective isn’t simply to run from the scary boss, but to double back and kill him after obtaining the powerful weapons at the end of the map. It’s a very fun map that engages very well with its unique mechanic.
Presentation: 4/5
The map looks great and the palettes, animations and portraits are solid. A special mention to how tidily the calculation changes are displayed in the stat screen and objective menu. I also did like the eventing for that final end event.
Story: 4/5
The story ties in neatly to the central mechanic, being the discovery of these “control staves” that influence the flow of combat. Each character gets some time to show off a little more of themselves in a natural way. The hack ends with the protagonists leading a charge bolstered by the power of the control staffs as a “the adventure goes on” kind of deal, which is a pretty sweet. It is a simple but well executed storyline.
Total Score: 17/20
Judge 3: Legend of Loog
Gameplay: 9/10
Calculation Manipulation’s central mechanic lies in its Control staves, which allow you to alter the battle forecast to come out on top. Whenever you use them, you can increase or decrease the Atk, doubling threshold, and Hit rates for both player and enemy. The catch is that no one Control setting is optimal everywhere, soyou frequently want to change it. This makes the order in which you use your staffers very important. Adding to this is the Relic Lance, which allows your lord to make use of the prior Control setting.
This leads to a lot of room for skill expression in the gameplay, which was initially a bit overwhelming. However, the Plan menu option, which allows you to test out various strategies without committing to them, makes it much smoother, and most difficulties I had were due to not being used to that option. There are also 2 Quicksaves that you can make at any time, which I did make use of when I forgot to use Plan. As such, I felt the difficulty was fair even with the additional complexity, and that the chapter was incredibly engaging throughout its runtime.
Presentation: 4/5
The visuals here are generally strong and excel at showing off new mechanics, with unique menus displaying the current modifications to combat and allowing the player to edit them as well. Beyond this, the portraits, music, and palettes are solid, and the map changing to a different track once you engage the boss was a nice touch. There’s a good deal of cutscene eventing as well, which is always appreciated.
Story: 4/5
The story is a simple tale where a group of rebels find ancient weapons (the Control staves and Relic Lance) and make use of them to try and defeat the empire ruling over them. While the premise isn’t unique, the execution is consistently good. Dialogue is well-written, and the various side characters all feel interesting in their own right. Overall, I have no complaints; everything flows well, and the plot is enjoyable to read throughout.
Total Score: 17/20
Judge 4: Levin64
Gameplay: 10/10
This entry has an unorthodox mechanic; staffer have Control staff to manipulate battle formulas such as AS threshold, damage, and hit rates which influence both players and enemies. This also means Control staff can be a double-edged sword; as in the manipulation can benefit and or handicap both parties, but we are provided with staves on each four staffers which allow us to manipulate the combat more than once in a turn. Players are incentivized to dynamically alter the formula in order to complete the chapter because most enemies are as strong as the players and some are more terrifying than the other.
Due to the core mechanic, it might get overwhelming in the beginning. But, the Plan mechanic is there to help strategize without relying on savestates nor any external help by testing out various strategies without committing the unit’s actions; yet since RN is always burned, the planned strategy won’t go the same as what will occur once we Act, but at least we know how most things will go.
The objective is to rout; with the boss acting a turn check and final obstacle. Units need to rout as well as obtain one treasure which will help defeating the boss in the end. It is a stellar map with simple objectives yet engaging and amazingly intertwined together with its unique mechanic.
Presentation: 5/5
The aesthetics are great! The music choices are great; and the music dynamically changes during the gameplay too! Portraits are solid, cutscenes are well-evented. Many QoL features are also implemented on this entry that further enhance the gameplay, such as toggles, quicksaves, Supply skill on every unit, and many more. The menus to accomodate the new features are functioning well and can be easily understood.
Story: 4/5
The story is written well, tied with the entry’s unique and unorthodox mechanic; a group of rebels are trying to liberate their country by conducting research and discover ancient relics (Control staff and Relic Lance), but then shortly ambushed by scouts from the occupation. They had to use their newfound weapons to alter the tide of battle.
The premise is simple, but the execution is superbly done by tying the gimmick into the story. Side characters get to show their personalities in an endearing way before the battle starts; and to an extent after the battle and right before the ending; where they charge to Winterwood to start the path into freedom. Overall, simple yet well executed.
Total Score: 19/20
Results
| Category | Darr | Rivian | Loog | Levin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 38 |
| Presentation | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| Story | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 15 |
| Total | 17 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 51 |