This won’t last long, though. For some reason, absolutely insane and constantly apologizing Korean-based developer DandyLion thought the above system – designed to simplify and boardgamify turn-based tactics – was the perfect foundation on which to build one of video gaming’s most complex and open-ended character systems. Characters have their standard to-hit rolls, but on top of this have Dodge values allowing them to completely avoid attacks, they have a Block value which is a chance to halve incoming damage, there’s an armor system that reduces physical attacks (and a resistance system for magical ones), direct damage reduction in addition to characters having class-based, personal, talent-based and item-based ways to further mitigate damage or disrupt damage-mitigation. There are critical hits, characters have to keep track of their Vigor to fuel their actions, there are abilities that modify what all these different systems actually do, like causing all attacks to be automatically blocked at certain health thresholds, and there are about fifty million buffs and debuffs, a ton of consumables, a vast array of abilities, items and much, much more.

The thing is: the above is really just the basic rules of how combat works. In reality, the meat of Troubleshooter’s combat – and character system – lies somewhere else entirely: in the game’s Mastery system.