Children of Zodiarcs

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 18
  3. Negative: 8 out of 18

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  1. CzarIndustires
    Jul 31, 2017
    3
    I had high hopes for this game. I'm disappointed to say the least.

    Art style, music, controls are good. The story is so-so. I found myself just skipping the cut scenes to get to the battle. The combat though is where the game really lets you down. Standard TRPG fair even with the added flair of cards and dice. I always found myself retreating though because I had the wrong cards or    I had high hopes for this game. I'm disappointed to say the least.

    Art style, music, controls are good. The story is so-so. I found myself just skipping the cut scenes to get to the battle. The combat though is where the game really lets you down. Standard TRPG fair even with the added flair of cards and dice. I always found myself retreating though because I had the wrong cards or suffered a bad dice roll. Constantly on the defensive. With only 3 people on your squad its hard to formulate any effective strategy. Every map you are outnumbered 3 - 1 if not more. There is no skill/card to remove status ailments. There is no skill/card to revive a fallen team mate either. So if somebody on your team dies... too bad. If you are stuck with something like bind or bleed... better learn to enjoy it.

    The maps are bland and small and you are constantly surrounded and dead in no time. The only real tactic you have is the 'backstab'. But your opponent is going for the same move.

    I also found myself fighting the camera. It kept zooming in automatically when the opposition was making a move or taking some action. I don't care! Why are you zooming in? You also fight the map just to try to get a clear view of things as buildings and other objects are in your way.

    In the end... not what I was hoping for. The right pieces are there for something fun but it never comes together in a way that is enjoyable and satisfying.    … Expand
  2. GCM707
    Aug 12, 2017
    4
    The game has several interesting elements that are pretty fun. Using cards drawn from a deck as your abilities and dice rolls to augment the abilities is a fun idea. However the execution is just extremely poor. At first the battles are fun, but as you progress it becomes more and more of a chore to play. The battles are either easy and last WAY too long, or they are far too difficult withThe game has several interesting elements that are pretty fun. Using cards drawn from a deck as your abilities and dice rolls to augment the abilities is a fun idea. However the execution is just extremely poor. At first the battles are fun, but as you progress it becomes more and more of a chore to play. The battles are either easy and last WAY too long, or they are far too difficult with no reasonable way to overcome them. The easy battles have your 3 party members FAR outnumbered by weak enemies that always seem just barely out of reach from killing with one hit, while a healer comes in behind and heals up to full. Its just plain annoying, its not fun. The difficult battles, again have way too many enemy units against your 3, and just simply overwhelm you. I tried to go grind and get stronger like you normally may do in this situation, but again, the battles last far too long, are not fun, and the experience gain is so low it would take multiple of these battles to get even a single level.

    3 player controlled characters isn't enough. You are often put up against a ton of enemies with just three characters. So far my only strategy is just using whatever my highest attack card is. I rarely need to heal and rarely use any of the support cards. I haven't found any of the normal battle particularly difficult, but I also don't see how they could make them any more difficult with only 3 characters and no real opportunity to make interesting strategies. I believe even one more character would help tremendously here, with a bit more varied abilities across them.

    Somewhat mentioned in my first point, but it really needs a "speed up" button to quickly get through enemies turns. With most maps having a lot of enemy units, it gets really old watching them go through their turn completely.

    Apart from gameplay, the story is good but not great. Its nothing new but its not boring either. Its interesting enough to break up battle after battle. The game doesn't feel buggy, i haven't ran into any crashes, poor framerate, or any other annoyances either. So they have done a good job making everything pretty solid.

    I do believe there is a real chance here to make a much improved game as a follow up. Its a great start at something I haven't played before (at least, i've not experienced all the gameplay elements packaged into a single game before). Correcting the issues I mentioned above, adding more playable characters, more varied strategies in battle, and more varied abilities would give an easily improved follow up.

    Oh and also, I would love to see a card crafting system. Keep the cards that are unlocked via leveling, however add in booster packs you can obtain through various methods as another way to obtain interesting and rare cards as well as provide cards to turn into material to craft new cards (or maybe even dice).    … Expand
  3. GrumpyReviewer
    Sep 4, 2017
    4
    Complete disappointment. I had high hopes for this game, seeing the Square-Enix brand and the fact that it looked like something similar to Final Fantasy Tactics.

    At first, you really enjoy it; the graphics and characters are charming and the mechanics seem fresh and interesting. But this lasts for about an hour or so; by the time you reach mission 5 or 6 there is a difficulty spike    Complete disappointment. I had high hopes for this game, seeing the Square-Enix brand and the fact that it looked like something similar to Final Fantasy Tactics.

    At first, you really enjoy it; the graphics and characters are charming and the mechanics seem fresh and interesting. But this lasts for about an hour or so; by the time you reach mission 5 or 6 there is a difficulty spike that shows how broken and messy this game really is...

    From that point on you can grind for levels but it makes little difference, since the enemies always overwhelm you with numbers, bad game design and all sorts of bullsh*t. You are always in disadvantage; it's always your small party against waves and waves of enemies, sometimes on maps that you have to escape in other to beat the level, which becomes virtually impossible, without getting completely trashed with new enemies that pop after 2 turns.

    This game got me angry and frustrated; and not because of the difficulty spike. I have no problem with challenge, if the game gives you fair opportunities to turn things around. This game does not offer the opportunities. It's a very cheap, messy and broken game that I regret buying without reading more reviews.

    THIS GAME DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR MONEY.    … Expand
  4. NerdPoisoning
    Sep 22, 2017
    4
    This game had a lot of cool features going for it but for the most part it feels unfinished. Did the developers give up? Not a well balanced, enjoyable game at all. Would STRONGLY not recommend.

Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Best PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Sep 8, 2017
    90
    Despite the sometimes unbalanced challenge it presents, Children of Zodiarcs is a brilliant tribute to tactical RPGs of old, with the tabletop elements adding a fresh and engaging twist to the beloved genre. [Oct 2017, p.95]
  2. IGN Spain
    Aug 7, 2017
    80
    An enjoyable experience which seems perfect for any card games fan; like the old Metal Gear Acid and Final Fantasy Tactics: turns and lots of strategy to develop.
    Read full review
  3. Wccftech
    Aug 4, 2017
    85
    Children of Zodiarcs is a charming little tale that fits very comfortably in the Venn diagram between tactical RPG’s and games of luck.
    Read full review
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