Same here, and I'll definitely say that I've closed the 3DS on many battles so far. They're long, and if you're playing on a commute or something it's certainly possible that you won't finish before you need to stop. The game can only be saved outside of battles, which is understandable but also disappointing (imho) when the battles can run so long. Three save slots total, and you can save into any of them at any time, so that's good for experimenting!

And yep, no dice to move around the board! You can go anywhere you like by double tapping, even if it's not the next space over. However you will lose MP when you move, and the further you move the more MP you lose. It regenerates during battle though, so it's a small setback.

@Chicken_Brutus - Aww, well. I'll live, I'm on buses for close to an hour and 45 minutes with a transfer, I'll just make sure to watch my time closely. Thank you for all the information you shared.
Sounds like smaller slower movements around the board are safer when exploring then.

We, this sounds really deep. You're kind of tempting me here, Chicken!

Last question from me. Are you playing on a xl or regular 3ds? Second part is is the play field hard to see?

Regular, and I haven't had any trouble seeing the playing field. Everything is done through menus (or dialogue choices) anyway, and there's an ever-present narrator to tell you what's around you, so you wouldn't miss anything even if there was an issue with the visuals.

Thanks for answering all my questions Philip! Now if we can only get Unchained Blades out as well. This will be a great tie over though.

Philip - this is a pretty key thing for me with regards to your esteem of the game - are you a fan of table-top RPGs?

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: No disrespect meant by that "no." I haven't played them (though I've known many folks who love them), so it's more a "no" of ignorance than a "no" of dislike.

I don't know if you play Android or apple devices but there is a Pen and Paper RPG that is 8bit/16bit called Knights of Pen and Paper. Give that a try if you have any of those devices its quite an interesting game and is worthy of a release on any home handheld console. I'm hoping that the gameplay is similar with Crimson Shroud with some Nice 3d graphics. I added 20.00 to my Eshop account 3 weeks ago specifically for this game I was so glad to hear that it was just 7.99. It sounds like its going to be well worth a run.

Knights of Pen and Paper is 1.99 in the android and Apple Markets Very good With some hilarious Dialogue

If my iPod was still working, I would definitely DL that! Hoping to get a new job soon, so hopefully be able to get a new one.

@Phillip Thanks for the Q&A I was planning to get this game anyway but your Q&A session was extremely helpful to me and I'm sure many others I've been getting overly excited lately for a few titles especially this one and Gunman Clive at my age that's just crazy LOL Most of my friends look at me like i'm crazy. But I would rather game than party. Call me crazy! I'm 47 been gaming since the first home console came out. It's a great hobby.

oh I like all Platforms and think they are all capable of something special

so there is no level up in this game so it sounds something like Ragnarok Odyssey where you have to keep grinding away in the same areas trying to find better items or upgrading the items

also hate to beat this point but how long have you played it and how far do you think your into it ....

tempted but without a level up system that is what is turning me off this game.... i put around 40 hours into Ragnarok Odyssey and now its just a major pain in the butt cause you have to grind to find the items you need

o forget can you replay the levels over and over if you want or is it beat level 1 there is no going back.... any new game +

Is Crimson Shroud actually a good game @Phillip_J_Reed? I've been reading some worrying reviews, like this I still want to get it but that review is offputing, any thoughts?

Just submitted my review, so excuse me for dodging a few things that I answer there. I need to give you a reason to actually read it, after all.

I'd agree that that would be irritating, but I didn't have to do any grinding at all. I did some optional grinding, but nothing — to my knowledge — that was required to progress, and I never felt particularly outmatched by the enemies. (That MAY be due to some leet inventory management skills though!)

EDIT: Sorry, I just remembered one time I DID have to grind. Won't go into details for fear of a spoiler, but I'll say it didn't take me long to get an item I needed to progress.

I will say that...well, I'll be professional here and not call out the factual inaccuracies in the review, but putting that aside I'll say that I didn't find their issues to be problems at all. No voice acting? Personally I like reading, and tapping through text rather than sitting, waiting for someone to read it to me, so I don't think that's an issue at all. (Your mileage may vary, but expecting a fully voiced RPG on the eShop is asking a bit much I think.)

The lack of explanation didn't bother me either, as I prefer to solve puzzles — none of which were unfairly confusing and required only a little bit of lateral thinking — than just having some narrator tell me what I need to do next. Suffice it to say if you're used to exploring every room as you go — any Zelda fans should be — you'll have no trouble.

I also didn't nearly have the backtracking issues that this reviewer had. I backtracked plenty, but almost always because I wanted to. (Revisiting old rooms can trigger new events, and I wanted to see what would happen.) Also, you can jump from any room to any other room you've visited with a tap on the map, so it's not as though you need to work your way all the way back to that locked door when you find a key...you just jump right to the room. It's a rather bizarre complaint, imho.

Additionally I didn't find myself relying on luck as this reviewer did. The dice should give you an edge, and while they can certainly work against you at times it's nothing worse than a standard random-number generator in any other RPG in that respect. You have to plan for the fact that sometimes your attacks won't connect. They won't connect for your enemies either...and it's nothing unique to Crimson Shroud!

Nor did I find the text scrolling anywhere near too quickly to keep up with...but if this reviewer did, he could have changed the speed in the options menu. So...yeah.

I definitely disagree overall, but, hey, everyone has opinions. The inaccuracies are somewhat bothersome — and there's a particularly jarring omission that leads me to question how long they played the game — but everyone has a right to their own feelings.

Thanks again Philip for your honesty! How long does it usually take for the review to post?

Thank you also for dissecting that review and going over his negative points!

@Phillip_J_Reed Sweet as man, I was panicking there for a second since I've been waiting for this game for 2 months now and it sounded like it wasn't gonna get a great review, Looking forward to your review though, I'll definitely give it a read.

Wow, thanks for clearing that stuff up, Philip. I'm tempted but I've never even tried a table top RPG before and it just doesn't sound apealing. I should give it a try later on. You such a good reviewer, boi!

Thanks for all the additional info in this thread, Phil. Good stuff. This was a borderline purchase for me, but based on what I've been reading in this thread I think I'll be picking it up (pending a positive review, of course).

Or you could be trying to mess with us and come out and say the game sucks in your review.

about the other review

jhalfway through the game, you are bound to go in circles for over an hour trying to solve a particular problem. The game never tells you what you need to do, and introduces a new mechanic it never again bothers to implement.

sounds like they ripped off mario sticker star LOL

they said they beat the game in 8 hours... ouch was expecting a lot longer then that ..... now i will sit on the fence probally and wait till i see what your review says

8 hours seems very low for an 8 buck game then again The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave spoiled me with a 10 buck game lasting 30+ hours i now expect all of the games to last that long...

One more question ... How big of a download is this Block wise