An ambitious blending of genres with a few rough edges to sand down.
This influence shines clearly in Tales & Tactics' DNA. As you progress through some colourful biomes to reach the Grand Tournament, you'll pick up new perks, equipment to slap on your troops, and potions to juice them up. Each lost battle chips away at your health, while each won battle restores a smaller chunk. Your goal is to set up enough synergies to death-ball your way to the top.
Combined with the demo's missing mastery, character selection, and"complexity at your own pace" systems promised for the full release, I rarely felt like I had a handle on the wheel. Drafts of monsters are presented to you as a hand of cards where you can buy them—or mulligan the hand entirely—for"star points". At the time of playing, I found no way to influence the pool of cards I drew from.
Often I would be faced with the question: do I snag this new, more powerful unit? Doing so would land me with a piece that's far tougher than my current mook, sure, but it would often come at the cost of dropping one of those powerful type or class bonuses. Because the game's network of buffs, items, perks, and abilities all stack atop one another, I found it near-impossible to tell what the right answer was.