Vantage Master (so similar to Heroscape...!)

[Sirius]

Hi!

Anybody here ever played Vantage Master?

I discovered this game a few days ago and now I'm hooked. Can't stop playing. What caught my eye when I first saw the box in the store (am in Japan), was the in-game board similarity to Heroscape. It uses hexagons and the map layout, the monsters on it, the magic stones, the bushes and the water... I could have sworn this was Heroscape as a video game.

Came back home and looked it up online, only to find out that Falcom (the company who made the game) gives the game away for free (!) on their website so I downloaded it promptly.

I miss Heroscape. All my stuff is back at my parent's place in Canada, being in Japan I have no opportunity to play the game. I'm always craving for some Heroscape. Discovering this game was like a miracle to me. It is quite old (1998 ), so unfortunately no real online play, but even by myself, going through the campaign, I'm having such a blast. Also, there's no luck involved (one thing I dislike about HS) so that's another bonus for me.

When I bought my first Master Set many years ago, all my friends were like, "Whoah! This is just like a tactical RPG! (FFTactics, Tactics Ogre, etc)", and it's true. But for some reason (perhaps because of the hexes and because you summon monsters), Vantage Master reminds me even MORE of HS than those other TRPGs.

I recommend everyone here to give it a try. Here's the link. (The English translation is pretty Engrishy, but who cares.) And if you've already played it, let me know your thoughts about the game!

http://www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/index_e.html