FELL SEAL: ARBITER'S MARK - Finally a good Final Fantasy Tactics alternative on PC in 2019?

I have never been much convinced by Final Fantasy Tactics "clones" or alternatives on PC.
Even the ports coming from the PSP like Disgaea 2 totally disappointed me.
  Some people recommended me Heroes of Might and Magic and King's Bounty games, but I already have them ALL, and they're completely different to me.
There's the incredible Jagged Alliance 2, but of course it's a completely different setting..
(The Shadowrun games were good though!)

No, what I'd like is a TRUE heroic-fantasy RPG/Strategy game a la Final Fantasy Tactics/Tactics Ogre, on PC!

Well, maybe for the first time ever, I think I FINALLY found something which feels as good as these games.😍 It's called "Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark", and it's VERY promising.

I just played for a few hours the beta version version (0.2.5) of Fell Seal, and I've gotta say, it felt GREAT.
I shouldn't be surprised, the developers said that Final Fantasy Tactics was their MAIN inspiration for this game.
The game is BEAUTIFUL, although I wonder if the sketch-like backgrounds style they chose was on purpose, or if they intend to improve them? Either way, everything actually already looks great!

It seemed quite heavy on the story, but never boring, as every 3 or 4 walls of dialogues, there's some little animation breathing life to the characters.

The game started as I took control of Kyrie, an "Arbiter", whose role is to preserve law and order in the country.
Well, like a cop, except she was using... tougher ways. lol

She says that right after my mace "negotiated" with a guy's skull.😂

Very soon, Kyrie realizes that the system is corrupted to the core though, and that all of that she stood for is in fact total bogus and that her own superiors are protecting crooks and killers. 
Now, I didn't play long enough to know WHY exactly, and anyway I won't spoil it to you...
he he😝

Aahhh today is a good day for retro gaming! I was just mentioning "Kaze and the wild masks" a few hours ago, which is an old-school platformer, and now we have a turn-based tactical RPG paying homage to old classics, while still managing to stand on its own, bringing many improvements and additions to the genre.

 Features: 

Release the Orca!

- 40 hours of an epic and mature tale 
- Vivid hand-crafted fantasy world with a touch of steampunk (I style I loathe, but I'm ready to make an exception. lol)
- Classic tactical battles, with rugged terrain and elevation 
- Complex class system with over 25 classes and 200 abilities 
- Hundreds of equipment items to craft, collect or purchase 
- Highly customizable appearance of troops  
(More secrets revealed in the developer's interview!😀)

About the battles:

Every battle starts with some "pre-battle" phase in which you can select which "soldiers" you want to use and where to position them.
The few battles I did were quite interesting because they had some events, like an enemy who surrender so we don't kill him after all, or some reinforcements which we can prevent by blocking a door, etc.

Elevation will play a dramatic role in the game.

I REALLY appreciated how elevation seems to play a HUGE role in this game.
In too many so-called tactical games, it's more like a gimmick than anything, but here, you'll really have to take it into account, as elevation will have a real effect on your damage/defense skills! 
Also, hitting an enemy is the back is much more effective, and the A.I. never missed any opportunity to kick my a**! lol

All of this made the whole strategic dimension even more interesting and satisfying when the outcome of the battle was very different from what I expected, and even better!
 

I have always been freaked out by the lack of any floor in these games... lol Feels like we're fighting on a floating island or something.(One of the reasons I love Shining Force I-II-III.)

Unless I'm wrong, it won't be possible to walk around cities.
(Again, it's VERY early to be sure though.)
But I sure didn't during my playtime, and anyway, if it's really like the games I mentioned, it'll be only a succession of battles, without wandering around.
(It wouldn't be a bad thing though. Remember Shining Force? This is the game which introduced me to Tactical RPGs! And you could visit a town after each battle!🤗)

The "cardboard-drawing" style is very pleasant!

Only "story battles" will be mandatory, obviously, but you'll also have the possibility to do some "patrol battles", which will be useful especially to get some XP, I guess.
Quote: "There should be around 40-45 story battles". 

It seems a bit short to me, but I assume the latter battles will be very long?
The developer stated that their goal is to make the player able to complete the game  without needing ANY grinding, which is very respectable.

One little regret:
"Line of Sight: no, we're keeping it simple and there's no line of sight. Those can get messy at the best of times and we want to make sure the player always has access to all the information he needs. Not being certain if an angle will or will not work can get annoying."😞

Anyway, let's wait and see how the game will evolve!
The game is scheduled to be released in Q3 2018 on Steam (PC, Mac and Linux) and possibly on PS4 and Xbox One too!

Follow the developers!
Website: https://www.fellseal.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FellSeal/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/6EyesStudioLLC
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/699170/Fell_Seal_Arbiters_Mark/