Indie RPG Spotlight: ‘Fabula Ultima’ is the JRPG-Inspired Game That’s Making Waves
Fabula Ultima is last year’s newest tabletop RPGs inspired by Japanese RPG-style video games, and it’s now getting nominated for awards.
Fabula Ultima is one of the newer games on the scene, and it’s been creating a stir. In fact, the tabletop RPG inspired by video game-style RPGs was just nominated for the 2023 ENNIE Award for Best Game Of the Year and Product of the Year. So what is this RPG? How do you play? And why is it quickly becoming a player and critic favorite?
Fabula Ultima
Fabula Ultima bills itself as a tabletop RPG inspired by JRPGs. Or, Japanese console RPGs. In fact, if the art looks just a little nostalgic and familiar, it’s probably because the Fabula Ultima has some serious Final Fantasy vibes to it. And in case you didn’t know, Final Fantasy has been one of the most popular JRPGs on the market since 1987 for a reason.
Coming out late last year, written by Emanuele Galletto and published by NEED Games!, this game takes place in a high-fantasy setting full of magic, unique locations, and of course weird monsters. But this isn’t where the video game inspiration stops; Fabula Ultima pulled out all of the stops, and I think that’s part of the reason for its popularity.
Character Creation & Game Mechanics
The first thing I noticed about this game was the sheer number of classes players can pick from. This isn’t a ‘fighter, mage, healer,’ sort of party setup. So if you have a pretty specific character in mind, I bet there’s a way to build them. Some of the class options are Arcanist, Elementalist, Sharp Shooter, Tinkerer, and Wayfarer. But I honestly skipped over so many in the middle.
Characters are also fairly customizable, making this one of the crunchier games I’ve seen in a little bit. The much more simple style games like Powered by the Apocalypse and FATE have been especially popular lately, and I get the popularity. The Apocalypse style of systems is one of my personal favorites. But Fabula Ultima isn’t that. There’s a little bit of crunch and customization, which can be awesome.
That said, I’ve seen this game described as streamlined, and from what I can tell that’s also true. There aren’t extra or superfluous rules. The game designers knew what they were doing and made a game that isn’t easy, but also shouldn’t be difficult for almost anybody to pick up and learn.
Finally, Fabula Ultima includes a system of “bonds” which help control and focus your interpersonal relationships. I’ve seen some mixed feelings on this. Some dislike the idea of ‘bonds’ and just want to roleplay their relationships out at the table. Others think that the system would be better with a more complete and robust collection of feelings- as it stands now there are only 6 options and I know I felt more than 6 feelings today. Personally, I like this. Especially for a JRPG-inspired game where the power of friendship is so often gamified and wielded. Could it be more fleshed out? Sure. But they have time to add expansions and supplementary info.
All in all, this is a solid, interesting, inspired, and gorgeous game that deserves the nominations it’s received. If you’d like to check out Fabula Ultima for yourself, you can find more information on the NEED GAMES! official website.
Have you played Fabula Ultima yet? What did you think? Do you enjoy when games work friendship and relationship into the mechanics? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
