Elemental Story (2015)

[エレメンタルストーリー]

Publisher: Studio Z
Developer: CROOZ, Inc.
Director: Takuma Kato
Platform: Android/iOS

Overview:
Challenge the titans of myth and legend in this puzzle RPG.

Gameplay:
You have a party of up to four characters and a 5x5 grid that provides the pieces you play with. You have a fire-water-grass/wind triad and a light-dark dyad similar to other games with an elemental system. You have to at least match three pieces that coincide with a character's alignment in order for them to attack. Different patterns will activate a character's special attacks. Combos increase the power of your attacks. Things are complicated by obstacles that take up spaces in the grid, so destructible, others not. Also, status effects on the pieces can disrupt the flow of battle (such as poison pieces poisoning your characters when they absorb the pieces' energy).

The main game is five 40-stage areas, one for each elemental alignment. You're awarded a start rating based on meeting certain conditions, such as a certain score, using particular characters, etc. You also have special challenges that rotate every six hours, limited event areas, a multiplayer arena and other special zones, such as the Gran Battle area, where you fight particularly formidable bosses with the help of the wider player base.

They keys to success involve deploying the characters with the right skillset for a given challenge and developing those characters. Leveling up your characters is only the first step. They also can evolve much like Pokemon, which raises level caps, offers stat boosts and unlocks special abilities; with two or three phases and occasionally an ultimate form that takes extra effort to unlock. You significantly increase their stats by feeding them souls (which can be accomplished by special items, getting duplicate copies, or injecting mana during evolution). You can further strengthen your team with group abilities and by equipping them with weapons. Taking active and passive skills into consideration is critical for victory, as well as considering attack patterns that work best in a given scenario. (For instance, if your water team is fighting a fire type that likes to turn all the pieces red, you want a water type that can take red pieces.)

There are several types of currencies and trade fodder. This is a gacha game, so you're probably going to be most interested in the crystals that get you premium draws. From my experience, the game is fairly generous when it come to doling out 5-star characters, but 6-stars are much harder to come by. Anything 4-star and below is practically worthless from a gameplay perspective and are only worth getting if you're a completionist.

One of the key things I've observed, particularly in the challenges, is that there are massive shenanigans going on, to the point I nearly dropped the game a few days in. However, the key is to out-shenanigan the computer. The game is at least kind enough to suggest characters that will be useful in certain challenges. Definitely remind yourself that the regular challenges will come back around again, so if you're not ready, just work on preparing for the next round.

Story/Characters:
There is no story to speak of, not even flavor text for the monsters and weapons. The cast is actually quite large, though, with hundreds of characters from myth, legend, folklore, literature and history from all over the world. For me, this is the main draw. I enjoy seeing the game's take on all these characters, even if there is no meat on the bones. It would be nice if there were things like an overarching story, character episodes and such, but you'll have to do all that work in your own head.

Graphics:
The graphics are simple but clean and appealing. The character designs seem a touch kid-oriented, but they are attractive and apparently all the work of a single character designer, so there is a good sense of unity in the game's aesthetics. Special effects during the battle are nothing amazing, but they get the job done.

Music/Sound:
The musical score is quite good and nicely sets the tone. Sound effects do what they need to do. There is almost no voice work, with a mere handful of characters getting any lines.

Conclusion:
This is a decent puzzle game with some deep mechanics and a neat concept. It's easy to feel overloaded at first, but there's a lot of content for you to enjoy. It's worth trying out at the very least.

Rating:
Play It