Okay so I just downloaded a fresh mobile-ge titled Age of Ishtaria by Silicon Studio. It doesn’t seem like a very old game, having only been localized after last year. I have very high hopes as a result of px’s recommendation following your demise of AGG; I need more games to occupy my leisure time! haha
If you want to hack Age of Ishtaria
Anyway, about the game!
I did have a relatively good difficulty deciding which version in the game to download, since I incorporate some knowledge of Japanese. In my experience, games of original developers or servers usually sport superior offers and upkeep, but I guess eventually I do prefer English whenever we can, in particular when there’s gonna be player interaction involved. (Nothing’s worse than joining a boss raid with Japanese randoms you meet on the internet and screwing up since you couldn’t understand their bloody kanji instructions ;_;)
Surprisingly, the app was quite tiny and downloaded quickly at all! EDIT: It appears that results are downloaded when you progress from the game. I really hope this won’t cause my data charges to rocket over the roof…
And straightaway we’re also introduced to the titular characters all chibi-fied and pretty cute. I’m not exactly sure what is happening, but I do appreciate the skip button so considerately positioned on the top-right. Not that I would apply it, yet.
The spritezy one within the left is Salix (I had to check on her name some times cause I kept remembering it Salik) as well as the one around the right will be the lovely bishoujo Meru. Honestly, I prefer Meru over Salix everyday, and I do wonder why they didn’t use Meru because game’s icon. I mean, Salix is cute and all of but she actually is a pretty annoying character. After tripping over your dead body she promptly decides to slice you up, until she realizes you’re alive, certainly, then sherrrd like to beat you awake instead. She probably boasts a princess complex as well, naming you her loyal subject without your consent, but I digress. I suppose the developers considered that lolis would sell greater than bishoujos.
Other than our strange encounter with all the two companions, we’re unveiled in the battle system with the game.
Here’s the conventional battle screen. Visually, it’s pretty decent. Not anything amazing or polished, but it really has good functionality. I actually like the way looks like a less obviously-web rendition of AGG’s own battle screen. It’s nostalgic!
It’s intuitive: you merely select your monster and command it to address. However, Age of Ishtaria adds an intriguing twist by changing the mode of injury depending for the order of attack types (Pound, Flurry or Smash). The types of group attacks are driven by the user based for the situation – attacks which might be spread out on all enemy units weakly, or attacks that hit single units hard. You can even engage a friend to include in your combo if needed. This adds a part of strategy that I think isn’t too much to grasp. So far, it looks like an enjoyable mechanic!
After being led over the battle, we obtain a bit more story lastly join Salix and Meru with a quest to…save stones something like that. I honestly couldn’t follow any on the plot I’m sorry… 😦
Thank goodness story hardly matters when compared with gameplay with regards to mobile games.
Finally, the primary menu in every it’s glory! I like it. Everything’s in a. All the accessible gameplay choices are literally inside my face unlike that mess of any game called DMT, so I won’t get too puzzled by what direction to adopt.
I am very influenced to keep exploring, and I will tomorrow, though right this moment, it is certainly late haha and I stretched my own time putting out this post. That’s all I’m going to do for today then.
Overall, the verdict is: Age of Ishtaria produces the feel of many TCG predecessors, especially Rage of Bahamut, nevertheless it pulls it with it’s own unique design of battle system that sets it aside from the rest. The art has been very nice. I haven’t spotted any abominations yet 😛
Whether AoI manages not to ever fall into common pit traps like pay-to-win or repetitiveness, it’s tough to say yet. I can only hope it won’t.
I is likely to talk about the bingo more soon! 🙂
Random: I spotted this whilst I was trying to find the banner as well as this post, and I read it ‘Boob(s) Fest’ to start with, haha
ageofishtariahackblog 