Chroma Squad Looks Really Neat

[tegan]

So there's a neat-looking Kickstarter going on for a game called Chroma Squad. It's a turn-based strategy game with the framing device being that you're actually filming a goofy Japanese superhero show from the eighties. So you're never managing more than five units and you have to keep things like your effects budget in mind, etc. Right now it looks charming, if rough, but I'm interested just on the virtue of having such a nonstandard setting and theme. I figured that you guys might appreciate it more since everyone else here is a strategy dork.

[Forbin]

I backed it.  A guy I work with knows these guys.  Knights of Pen and Paper was good fun.

[Markson]

This is a super old thread, so I hope it's ok to post here!

 

I bought and played Chroma Squad last night - it's a bunch of fun! I'm only into the "second season" of my show (so like two hours), and I kind of rushed through it without naming anything to get a feel for the mechanics. I'm going to start a new game tonight and name all my characters, studio, mega-zord, etc. Looking forward to it.

 

- It's got a light-hearted, in-joke, 4th wall breaking tone to it (reminds me a bit of NIS games). The story is charming so far.

 

- You can name your actors and choose their suit colors! At the beginning of the game you choose which actors you want from a pre-set list - each has different abilities, so there's some replay value and strategy. Also you get a mecha and you can name that and customize its parts and stuff.

 

- Each level is an episode within a season. Between levels you can buy new equipment (props!) for your actors, customize your mecha, interact with fans, choose bonuses for the next level through your marketing team, etc. The different levels of the simulator feel well thought out so far.

 

- Levels are usually "beat up all the bad guys!" but each level also has unique conditions that you can earn bonus points for completing. So for example, in one level the bonus conditions are to beat all the minions before attacking the boss at all. Points earned transform into new fans and money at the end of the level.

 

- Gameplay: it's a top down tactical rpg like Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc. Your actors don't level up, but they unlock new skills every season based on their role. Every season seems to unlock two skills per actor, but you can only use one skill per tier at a time.

 

- The Teamwork system is cool - you can give actors the order to go into Teamwork mode on their turn. When in Teamwork mode, an actor gets into a ready pose. Other actors can springboard off of their hands for ACROBATICS to move further. Also, if an actor is in Teamwork mode next to an enemy and a second actor attacks that enemy, they perform a dual strike. You have five party members, so you can do triple attacks, etc too. If all five of you attack an enemy at once, you activate a powerful FINISHING STRIKE!

 

I like it! It has three difficulty modes - the easiest is for "playing just for style," where statistics don't matter and you just want to dig into the simulation. There's a normal and hard mode too. It feels pretty easy so far on normal mode. I might crank the difficulty up.