How good is the story of Fell Seal?

[SuperMegaShark]

So this game has me interested, I just finished another tactical rpg called Banner of the Maid. But I'm curious how good/engaging is the story in Fell Seal? Is it just a framework for the gameplay, or is there something actually interesting going on?

These types of games are my favorite genre but many fall short in the story department unfortunetly. ;/

[Darkclaw3050]

I found it to be very interesting in both story and gameplay, better than lots of other tactics games I have played lately and I love the genre. Only you can really decide what kind of stories you are into but it has well written characters and plot with additional character development in some optional events you can do.

[Mechalibur]

Story is always going to be subjective, but the game does have one and takes it seriously. It's not just an afterthought.

[geepope]

It's serviceable. It's not stand out amazing but it's good enough not to be embarrassing, the twists are adequate, it's engaging enough to make you want to see what comes next. There is one late game reveal that feels like it was fumbled a bit but generally it does an ok job.

[Zarg]

It honestly feels generic. Like 'Great Value' VS the actual brand (i.e. diluted content or what they would call B-rate content).

However, it doesn't make it a bad game at all.

If it were a movie on rotten tomatoes, I would estimate 55-68% approval rating.
It's far from being a masterpiece, but it is not poorly crafted. Just lukewarm.

Not the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics we've been awaiting, but still good enough that it merits being experienced, especially if you enjoy tactics games (they have remained, 80-90% faithful to the FFT formula, enough for the game to be enjoyable although you may have to delve into the modding if you're a bit OCD like myself).

Like geepope said, it's serviceable. If you go in with NO expectations, you will have a much better time than if you try to compare it to a masterpiece like FFT.

[hybridial]

It does the minimum it needs to for me, in that its never insulting, annoying or pretentious. But its very plain and basic and not really the main reason to play it other than having the basic good guy motivation to save the world.

[Sines]

I'll say that it feels like the skeleton of a better story. A lot of the plot points are very interesting, but they never feel fleshed out.

The world is ruled by the Immortals with the Arbiters as their representatives? Interesting. But... there's also this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ noble guy? So there's still a nobility? What is their role in all of this? I have no idea. Is there a lower ranked police force, or are there so many Arbiters that they can police everything on their own?

And these are just the early game things, as the game went on I continued to see more barely explored plot points.

But overall, I liked the story, it was enjoyable, and with enough clever ideas to not feel generic. It's just that every story beat feels like a nibble of a much more fulfilling plot. The story would have benefitted from something like the FFT bar rumors, so that you could get more without making it required to watch. Or from simply condensing certain elements of the story in order to focus on other parts.

I'd recommend paying attention the first time through, but I on replays, I felt no great need to relisten to the story like I still do with FFT sometimes.

[mrcalhou]

I'm just a little ways into the game but I'm finding the writing for the first few areas to be fairly mediocre. It's not awful but it's not really all that good either. There was a bit of banter in the fourth map that I enjoyed though. I'm hoping the game has more writing like that.

The gameplay; however, is straight up Final Fantasy Tactics so I'm happy enough.

[Viktor_Flik]

As some have said. Average to Good story. Nothing spectacular but definitely not bad. 6.5/10 C+

Gameplay is where this game is at, lots to do and customize and even more on the way with DLC. 9/10 A-

[Lonesomepoet]

From what ive played so far its not exactly Pillars Of Eternity or Baldur's Gate but its kept me interested to see what happens next

[SnowFire]

While nothing special, the story is miles better than lots of other indie titles, and also includes a lot of "realistic" touches that would never show up in AAA large audience titles. Notably, the story follows the famous screenwriter's maxim of entering a scene as late as possible and leaving as early as possible - it isn't going to force you to listen to tons of ultimately irrelevant lovingly crafted world-building. It has focus. It doesn't waste your time. Why don't we learn more about the first antagonist, or his victim, or his background? (Not a spoiler, this is the first minute of the game.) Because it's not relevant. The only thing that is relevant is that he has a mysterious patron on the Immortal Council who's protecting him, and that part of the plot is followed up on. This is a terribly hard thing for many writers to do!

For comparison with indies, if you check out, say, Zeboyd Games, I love their stuff, but their writing and plotting is beyond awful. Even indie games that are a step up - take, say, Celestian Tales: Old North - the writing reads very fanfic-y at times (in the "unpolished and unfocused" sense, not in a snooty "all fanfic is bad" sense). So Fell Seal has them beat. As far as vs. AAA games - AAA games would not have the main characters be thirtysomething year olds and be leery about no romance option. Kyrie would die in the first 6 missions and Anadine would become the protagonist or something, and the villain would secretly be her slightly older brother or clone or estranged lover or the like. This one is a more to taste option - obviously plenty of AAA games out there that are excellent and work within these constraints - but it's refreshing to see some diversity in protagonists from the usual Teen With Superpowers And A Grand Destiny.

[Brma]

Meh. I got about 8 hours in, tried to force myself to keep going but in the end I gave it up. It didn't draw me in.

[Peter Pan]

The story is not as good as Final Fantasy Tactics. But it doesn't detract from it being a good game.

[Spack Jarrow]

Cookie cutter story , the heroine is one dimensional. But the game is amazing as a tactical rpg.

[Hardshot Dave]

I'm 12 hours in and enjoying the story. The characters have grown on me and I'm curious to see who the villain(s) really turn out to be. There are some nice dialogues between the characters.