The first map I want to talk about in this series is quite possibly my favorite map in Conquest, Chapter 8. Okay so why do I think Chapter 8 is great? Well how does it meet the criteria stated in my last post?
Multiple Paths Approach: There are three different paths one can take. There’s the bottom route, the top route and the middle route around the fountain. Two of these three paths are made possible by the Dragon’s Vein located in the map.
Speaking of Dragon’s Vein, something that I forgot to point out in my last post is that if a well designed map has a gimmick said gimmick will add to the strategy of the game. Gimmicks tend to get a bad rep, and while there are a lot of bad, gimmicky maps there are maps that do have well implemented gimmicks. Conquest Chapter 8 is a shining example of how to use a gimmick right. Why? Well, it’s because of the fact that the Dragon’s Vein adds strategic options and increases the ways in which the player can beat the map. Not only does it increase the number of paths one can take, but it also is capable of preventing your foes from attacking you for a turn (see Mang’s video on Conquest Chapter 8 for beginners). Overall, the design is greatly improved by the existence of its Dragon’s Vein gimmick.
Anti-Turtling Incentive: This chapter achieves its anti-turtling incentive through its villages. If the player visits three villages by the end of the chapter they get 10,000 gold. Considering the fact that Conquest gives limited gold this is a valuable reward that makes the effort to visit the villages worth it. While one village is within the player’s reach the rest of them are far away which means that the player will need to play fast and smart in order to get to them. Then add in the fact that if the enemy reaches them first they get additional reinforcements and soon you’ve got a player who will not be taking their sweet time.
Terrain / Enemy Placement: Last but not least there’s terrain and enemies. Terrain is mostly covered under the multiple approaches section with Dragon’s Vein so it’s really more about enemy placement. Something that Conquest does really well is its enemy placement. Enemies tend to travel in groups and formations and they excel at taking advantage of Dual Strike. As such the player has to be extremely careful of where they need to place their units.
Enemies consist mostly of mages and fighters, both of whom hit pretty hard. Thankfully this level gives you Niles and Odin. Niles has high speed and resistance, meaning that he is one of the few units that can actually take a hit from enemy mages and he can double attack them back. Odin...has resistance. Anyway, Niles is a huge blessing when trying to deal with this map. Flora is also placed well. She has a Freeze staff that will make life inconvenient for the player as it usually will have a high hit rate and it will slow the player down, keeping them from getting to the villages quicker. She can also use Hidden Weapons which means that attacking her results in a debuff of some kind.
Then we have the boss. The boss of this level has Nosferatu which means that he can recover any damage that he takes. He’s a magic user so he’s got either weapon triangle advantage or weapon triangle neutrality against most of the player’s army. Add the fact that he can hit hard and you’ve got yourself a formidable boss. If you want to deal with the few enemy units that hover near him you have to be careful of your positioning so that you do not leave yourself at the boss’s whims.
Overall: This chapter has my favorite use of Dragon’s Vein out of the 3 Fates games and it does a good job of trying to get the player to play fast with the villages. The enemies are well placed and the boss is challenging enough to force the player to think about how he / she will approach him. This is definitely a well designed map.
No comments:
Post a Comment