Hellenica

At the time I'm writing this review, the overall score of this game is "mixed". That being said, I'm glad that I bought it before the reviews came up, since I'd probably have skipped it if I had seen the "mixed" rating. People who are leaving negative reviews are judging this game for something it is not; they are basically downvoting because this is not final fantasy tactics or tactics ogre. I am also a fan of those games, but i recognize that not all Strategy RPGS must follow their formula. So, I am going to talk about HELLENICA, judging it by it's own merits. Hellenica sets up to do things differently and does a great job. It's world is very well develop and it's a joy to see how historical and mithological characters and places were reimagined in this fictional universe. It provides a creative background for an adventure and you can clearly see that a lot of love and research was put behind it by the developers. The game does not have a class/job system, but you can see that it would ruin the game if the developers chose to adopt one. That is because in this game, each character is UNIQUE, each one having their own skills. To give an example, a certain famous philosopher has the dialetic skill, which can stun nearby foes by engaging in philosphical discussions with them. This is much more interesting than giving an historical character the possibility of becoming a generic thief or knight. The battle system also works very well. You have to find ways to make each character's skills compliment each other in order to achieve the objectives and earn experience points. It's a different system that disencourages farming for XP and really makes you think about how you will approach each battle and which skills you will choose. I like it a lot. I think the branching storylines are also very interesting; they keep the story moving along and allow you to explore the world, assuring that you are always somewhere interesting. If you are thinking "I wonder how X city would be portrayed in this universe", you can probably go there in this game. About the characters, I really like them. Nephele and Brasidas made me laugh a number of times. The character art is also really lovely. I'm not very far into it, but i already think Hellenica is a great game and that the developers have achieved something really special here. I hope to see more from this studio and they will have my full support from here onwards. I am entirely happy with my purchase and i recommend you give this game a try. However, some changes i'd like would be for all objectives to be revealed before each battle and the implementation of controller support, for the complete retro experience. I would also prefer if cities were represented as explorable maps, instead of background images.

I had big expectations for this game so that's why I am so dissapointed. The key to tactical RPG is the battle system. It is just to simple for me. There no levels, no equipment. Characters have several skills witch you can chose before the battle. It gives a little bit variaty but not much. Push/toss technique is pretty fun because you can use environment, but when it is the only fun thing it gets boring really fast. Story and characters are not interesting, too general. I can recommend only to hardcore SRPG.

I so want to be more positive, I love the PSX era aesthetic, and wish I got to see more of it rather than city screens being generic anime. I wish too it wasn't a branching narrative, because the story has to be able to go in a million directions, threads get picked up and dropped immediately and nothing in the story end up meaning anything. It's just anime tropes all over. As for the combat, good ideas around pushing enemies, and tiny constricted maps that make it hard to pull off. I also would have liked a more traditional XP system, not everything needs re-inventing and with even the medium XP objectives sometimes difficult to complete if you just want to fight your own way, new skills come achingly slow. Currently clicking through story as fast as I can to enjoy the great looking combat bits.

it PAINS me to give this game a negative review, I LOVE the setting, I think the graphics are a great fit for its genre (they remind me of old Disgaea or FFT games) and the gameplay was fun, but I cannot recommend this game with a clear conscience. This is a weird mix between a puzzle game and an srpg, but it ends up having way too many flaws: The deterministic nature of puzzles make the combat lack in mechanic depth and character progression (VERY few skills per character, most caracters restricted to certain maps), to the point the game even gives you ONE skill point AT MOST per battle, not 1 sp per character, ONE skill point to give ONE CHARACTER. On the other hand the srpg side makes the puzzles not so well designed in later stages (since balancing it must have been a nightmare considering that a single skill can drastically influence how to aproach a level). Also, the story is awful, the dialogue just goes on and on and on and rarely says something truly interesting and the characters are painfully generic, wich is a shame considering how COOL the setting is. Overall I had fun with the game, but I cannot recommend such a short game (4-15 hours depending on how many paths you complete) for its full price, might be worth it in a sale if you like the aesthetic of steampunk greece and dont mind its boring story

I love this game, reminds me of Fire Emblem! I really enjoyed the gameplay, art style and story. I hope for a sequel or for more of this type of games to be released on Steam!

Though advertised as a dense tactical RPG, Hellenica is a frustratingly limited game that offers nothing new to the genre or its source material. I found myself clicking through dialogue early-on, only to reach another boring battle. The story is written poorly and has tacky animation, coming off as an amateur flash game in the end. Further, there is hardly an RPG element to Hellenica, as the game offers little in the way of rewards to improve the characters and gameplay. What we are left with is essentially an interactive fan-fiction, which I simply cannot recommend for $20.

/* まだ始めたばかりなので、進めてみて意見が変わったら更新します。 */ SRPGのように見えますが、RPG要素はほとんどありません。 ステージ毎に３つずつ設定されたミッションをクリアして、パーティーで共通のスキルポイントを稼ぐことで、キャラクターのスキルをアンロックしていきます。 これで、キャラクターをカスタマイズするのですが、これ以上のRPG要素はありません。 戦闘部分は、ほぼTactics OgreやFFTのようですが、前述のようにカスタマイズ要素が少ないので、攻撃は単調になります。 しかし、高さや落下ダメージを有効活用した攻撃方法は、詰め将棋かピタゴラスイッチにような感覚があります。 値段を考えると、非常にお得な買い物であると思います。

I take my hat off, "bravo"!!, 100% recomended for those who love games like final fantasy tactics, the banner saga, etc. POSITIVE -I would say replayability but its kind of weird, multiple paths and ways to go on with the history. -Each character has his/her personality, abilities , in other words, they are unique characters. -A very good mix between fixion, mithology and historical facts where the game is set. -Good explotation of high and low terrain, interesting skills and battle mechanics. -Rich story, with comedy, drama and serious parts. NEGATIVE -Too few evil characters, too many soldier 1, thug 2 etc. -Though the characters have personalities and so, no great depth in their personalities. -There is a point in the game where you level up and the points given are useless. -The battles tend to be the same, same objectives and so. Too much bump, throw off a cliff, etc objectives. - Too much text (yes im lazy, but i read it anyways), no voiced characters. -The music is fine, BUT if you take your time in one place is anyoing the same track on an on with few variations. NEUTRAL Well im use to pick a character, move > attack > next unit the same till you move all > end turn here is not like that, the first you move is the one will act first, once you decided all your actions, they are done by your units. Personally i believe the motion animation, when they walk, jump, etcetera is too fast, in this way the game feels faster but I really like to see the unit movement and animation. Suggestion Newcomers, myself included could have use or could use a tutorial for the game mechanics, like bump objects, throw off people, high and low, also attack form the back should get a buff, to be as good as the effect "backstap".

I love turn-based games, but for some reason, this game didn't manage to grab me. I didn't like the initial story and style and all those dialogues in a static screen. The combat itself, looks mildly interesting but didn't make me want to launch the game again, thus the refund after a few days without playing it.

I support every single game that mentions Ancient Greek Mythology.