Sword of Convallaria is a tactical role playing game developed by Chinese company XD Entertainment. This game is their latest in a line-up of mostly RPG titles so this is right up their alley. It was released on July 31st on all platforms PC and Mobile except the switch.
Its Gameplay Is Reminiscent Of FF:Tactics
The gameplay is mostly similar to games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, coincidentally the composer of FF:Tactics has also composed the music for this game too. Even with the artstyle being similar to that of FF:Tactics. Now that isn’t to say this game has copied FF:Tactics, there are a ton more titles with similar gameplay to FF:Tactics that have left their own uniqueness on the gaming industry.
For those unfamiliar, the gameplay is turn-based with each character be it foe or friend having a turn where they either attack, defend or cast a variety of offensive, defensive or support skills, the fight is only ended when all opposing members are dead in most cases. Of course carrying out any move costs a point and each character has a limited number of points per turn this introduces the tactics side of the battle system as the player is forced to organize and think ahead in which spells to cast or where to move certain characters to ensure victory.
It’s Up-To-Par Story
The story has choices and the player in the end must choose a faction to side with which in turn affects how the town unfolds which functions as a sort of homebase. A number of party members can be recruited by just talking to them in taverns and such but the powerful characters, those who can turn the tide in a battle are only obtained through working with their respective factions. What is sort of bothersome is that even though this is marketed as an RPG, none of the characters have anything unique about them except for the main character Rawiyah. Everyone else is as you’d expect them to be either nonchalant about their situation, just angry all the time or overly soft.
A Masterful Pixel Art Style
While playing the game, almost all of the time the player will get to see the pixel art version of the party but the HUD for some reason has a distinct detailed anime style face of the respective characters. This choice reverberates through to the Shop when looking at characters to buy or when there is a character select moment at any point. This off balances the pixel art as it is a sort of contrast to it. The pixel art being a “less detailed” version of the character compared to highly detailed anime art.
Other than anime/pixel art mash, when in combat the animations are clean and smooth, there is a sort of satisfaction when swinging a sword on an enemy and knocking the enemy right off the ledge. The general walking animations look amazing and the sound design of the footsteps when walking across different terrains or when going into taverns sounds almost too real, this is coupled with the music transitions when entering towns or new areas are all something to behold.
This Game Should Be Given A Shot
This game should be given a shot due to its attempt at trying to recapture the allure of the tactics games of the GBA/NDS era. While the gameplay has been a bit more simplified it doesn’t diminish the nostalgic feel that this game achieves in giving. The shop and gacha mechanics cannot be blamed since this is a free-to-play title, the developers have to make money somehow, unlike other gacha style games where it requires the player to pour in an ungodly amount of hours to progress after a certain point this game doesn’t. What is sort of a welcome surprise is the fact that there are essentially two different story modes. The first one is what the player will initially play through with all the gacha mechanics included, another is an independent mode.
The independent mode is just as the title says, it is a mode where the player can experience the entire story almost independent of all the gacha mechanics. In this mode, players can select party members from their previous gacha but the characters start unleveled. They have to be re-leveled again through playing the story just like how it is in a paid RPG, another thing to note is periodically the characters chosen may become unavailable and the player is forced to adapt to this change in order to win the upcoming battles.
