Part 1: Gelligh

Update 1: Gelligh



Okay, welcome to Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark!
We’ll obviously be starting a new game, and when I select that this pops up:



A big improvement that this game has is an easily adjustable difficult level with lots of different facets to mess with. All of these can be changed at any time from the camp menu, with no downsides for changing anything. Most of these options are pretty self-explanatory, though there are a few notable ones.



The main interesting one is the injury system, meant to penalize letting your characters get knocked out. At the default setting, it gives a unit that falls a 10% stat penalty until you let them sit out a mission. You can use an injured unit, though they won’t heal it after that battle and the penalty duration can increase if they fall again.
You can adjust this to be anywhere from absolutely no penalty, to a permanent stacking 5% penalty per KO, to full on permadeath.



You can also adjust the number of enemies in each fight, going from the default setup to adding 1-2 elite guys. In my experience, even adding 1 extra enemy can really change how a fight goes and add a good bit of challenge.



For this LP, I’m going to be starting off with these settings, though I totally reserve the right to change them as I go.

First things first, there’s a neat intro video that plays to give an overview of the world.
If you want to watch it instead of reading the screenshots, it’s available here https://youtu.be/EeVpFJi9en0

















So, we've got a corrupt order with complete and total authority. What could possibly go wrong?



After that, we cut to a clock tower in town.



Pan down to meet 2 of our main characters: Kyrie and Anadine.

I don’t feel I actually did all that much, though.
Violent confrontation isn’t always necessary or desirable. Negotiation is an equally important skill for an Arbiter.
Of course, you’re right, Captain. Are you sure Reiner knew the time we agreed to meet, Captain?
Yes, he knows. But knowing Reiner, he’s probably…
Did you hear that?
I didn’t…

[empty box]: Help, please! Anyone!

It sounds like it came from the alley just ahead! Let’s go!



They run to the nearby alley and discover a man backed against the wall, seemingly the one shouting for help.



Sadly for him, they arrive just in time to watch his attacker skewer him on a sword.





What a bother. You, hireling, earn your coin for once and dispatch these interlopers.



With that, a man steps out of the alley and everyone draws their weapons.




The fight starts with a typical mission name and objective,



And then there’s the deployment screen. The game gives us a few units to start with, but since I can only deploy 1 for this fight, I’ll just put out the first one and go over the others later.



Now.
*You* are an Arbiter?! This is even more tiresome than I thought. Hireling, exterminate these pests for me and you will receive a tidy bonus!
At once, Lord Alphonse!
As you wish.



Yes, I see… I am ready, Captain!
I’m sure you are, but why don’t we quickly review the basics, just to be safe?

Here they have just a quick tutorial, going over the typical how to move and act in a turn. It’s pretty simple, and if you’ve seen Final Fantasy Tactics or any other game of this genre you know how they work. There is a handy FFX-esque indicator up top that displays the global turn order. It will update before you actually perform an action, so it's very nice to see whether you can do something safely or not.

Now then, let’s deal with this scum.



Kyrie moves forward to hit Alphonse, and then gets whacked in the side by Isamu. That’s still over a ¼ of her hp, so even the tutorial enemies can hit decently hard.



Fortunately for us, Virgil starts off as a wizard, this game’s equivalent to the black mage, and knows both the basic fire and water spells. Like most games, these have a small AOE that lets us hit both the goon and Alphonse.



Like so.



Alphonse moves to hit Kyrie in the side again, but leaves himself open to Anadine.



Who promptly takes out almost ½ of his max health and knocks him down.






On the victory screen, we receive Gold (GP), some Snakebite Oil for the game’s crafting system, and some Ability Points. Notable things are the bonus for “Kyrie Never Falls”, the Vicarious Learning, and the Total for All Benched units.

The “Kyrie Never Falls” bonus is received by everyone whenever Kyrie participates in a battle, and it will grow as the story progress. However, I believe that if she ever gets knocked to 0 hp, then you lose the bonus permanently. It’s not a huge one, but it can be really convenient for getting through jobs faster.

Vicarious Learning is a system where, whenever someone gains AP in a class, then a small amount of AP will added to the “Vicarious Learning Pool” for that class. The AP in this pool is applied to everyone on your roster, including anyone that you recruit in the future. This is super helpful for either bringing new hires up to speed or for letting units access higher tier jobs more quickly. By the end game, it’s totally possible to have enough AP in the pool to master 4-5 abilities in multiple jobs without ever actually fighting a single battle.

Lastly, all units on your roster earn 50% of a mission’s AP in their primary class. While someone you never use will fall behind, this makes the injury system and having a few substitutes a lot more viable.

After that, a man in a bright orange coat approaches


What’s this? You didn’t tell me we were going to a party.
Reiner, at last. Weren’t we supposed to meet an hour ago? We could have used your help with these thugs. No matter. This… gentleman kept us company, and now we will show our gratitude by providing him with a nice comfy cell.


I am a lord, Lord Alphonse to be precise. As a nobleman of the realm, I command you to release me.
Slaying an unarmed man, attempting to eliminate the witnesses to your foul crime, and now resisting lawful arrest. There are limits to the privileges of nobility. As you are about to learn.
Hmph. An Arbiter and a simpleton, I see. Very well. Let us proceed with the farce if we must. Bring me to the Arbiters’ Chapterhouse for my “trial”.
…
Are you suddenly struck dumb as well as simple? The night’s chill does not agree with me. Make haste and escort me to the Chapterhouse, wench!



Clever… I wonder how much sway the little lordling has in Illuster. Very little, I suspect.
Gather our people and make everything ready. We move at first light.
On it.



She proceeds to bind his hands behind his back.



Simmer down, or I’ll pull out a gag next. No one bothers washing the gags in between prisoners, mind you.
… Very well.
What about the other one, Captain?
Just a henchman. We’ll drop him off at the local Chapterhouse. No need to cart both of them all the way to Illuster.



The Journey may be treacherous. We should stop at the local Guild here in Gelligh and hire more hands for the road. An extra recruit would go a long way!



And here we are on the world map! There’s a good bit we can do before proceeding up the road to Illuster, but this is where we’re going to stop for this update.