A reader suggested the game Trials of Fire to me, because of gameplay aspect that makes it similar to Card Hunter: Combat is done by playing cards, and you get cards by equipping gear. I love Card Hunter. It turns out I also love Trials of Fire. But not necessarily for the same reasons. I love Trials of Fire because it goes completely against the stream by offering a gameplay experience with a very low level of persistence.

You see, Card Hunter resembles very many other games in that it has a long campaign. You acquire this gear that gives you cards over a long period, and the longer you play your campaign, the larger and better your selection of gear becomes. You can theoretically "finish" Card Hunter by playing every mission there is, but there are quite a lot of them, and it would really take you quite a while. Trials of Fire is very different; there is no campaign as such. You play an adventure that takes between 90 minutes and 4 hours, and then the large majority of your progress resets. Yes, by finishing an adventure you might unlock a new character class, new adventure, or new starting equipment. But when you start your next game, your characters are just about as strong as they were at the start of your first game. The character levels you gained are gone, the gear you collected is gone, you are back to a level 1 group with common gear.

I'm old enough to remember when most games played like that. But these days most games are either 50+ hours long, or have other persistent elements of constant character progress. Just before I tried Trials of Fire, I tried The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game, a deckbuilding game in which you acquire a large collection of cards over time. And I must say, I much prefer Trials of Fire. The adventures have a very reasonable length for a self-contained experience, and they are constantly auto-saved, so interruptions are no problem. And then you finish the adventure and don't need to worry about your progress. You don't need to grind this or that mission X times until you get the rare card or item you were missing for your collection. You just move on to the next self-contained adventure. Which makes Trials of Fire ideal for playing it occasionally. Have 2 hours to burn? Play a round of Trials of Fire!

It might feel a bit old-fashioned, but the big advantage is that you actually play for fun, not for progress. And if you are unconcentrated one day, or have a streak of bad luck, and you end up losing the game, it doesn't really matter either. It is not as if that would affect your next game.

Apart from this charming feature of non-persistence, Trials of Fire is also a very good tactical RPG. The "willpower" that is needed to play stronger cards can be gained by sacrificing cards. And willpower is shared, while each of your character has his how card pool and hand. So if one of your character is stuck far from the action, he can either use his cards to move towards the others, or he can sacrify them to power the other group members. The system is quite satisfying and fun. And I really like the "adventure playing in a book" look of the game. Outside of combat, the exploration part of the game is simple, but the balance between food, fatigue, and the "determination" used to measure progress towards the adventure goals works quite well. I can really recommend Trials of Fire to anyone who likes tactical RPGs.

- posted by Tobold @ 1:04 PM Permanent Link