FIRST IMPRESSION:
There’s an apparent nostalgia, love and call back to the golden era of pixel RPGs with Sword of Convallaria. But that’s not all. It has its own identity and carves out its own path and legacy with features and touches that make it a very interesting and rewarding journey. Sword of Convallaria is a free to play turn based tactical RPG set in the world of Iria. It utilizes what is called a NeoPixel art style that combines old school pixel graphics with enchantments to shading, lighting and depth of field. This gives it both a nostalgic look with a modern flare. Contributing to those vibes is the musical score produced by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who also produced the music for classics like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre.
Gameplay includes its own take to combat prominently featuring interactive objects that can affect the battlefield such as explosive barrels and the ability to use tactical skills; powers you can cast as the commander. It’s these small innovations that you want to see in games, not just channeling inspiration from the past but adding different elements to the experience.
The main storyline gameplay includes multiple endings based on your choices and a game system to recruit and upgrade your team just like in a regular console title with no energy required to access the main campaign. Altogether, there’s a lot on offer here for a free to play title.
It’s not all positive though. The long term appeal of the game comes to question as certain elements of the gameplay can become repetitive. Combined with a gacha system that makes it challenging to obtain units that you want and the lasting appeal of this title will depend on how the developer responds and the importance they place on the player experience.
GAMEPLAY: PVE
There are 3 main gameplay modes. The central story unfolds in the Spiral of Destinies. It’s a roguelike story driven campaign that includes a full game system to recruit and enhance your team. It requires no energy to play. The second side story content and game mode used to unlock features and power is through the Fool’s Journey. It does include an energy and gacha system. The third mode Crossing Worlds allows you to farm resources necessary to level up units and gear and it includes more challenging encounters like the the Tower of Conquest.
Depth and strategy come from a variety of sources. As you expect, combat is an interplay between selecting a team composition, using tactical powers (abilities you cast yourself) and interactive objects in the environment. Unit power is augmented through levels, gear and a special item called a tarot whisper (that provides stats and a unique passive). Similar to other games there is a faction system that grants advantages/disadvantages against opposing groups (similar to elemental affinities in other games). On top of this units have a talent tree that allows you to customize their skills and passives as you see fit. Together this adds several ways to develop your teams to face a wide array of challenges.
Combat is fun and satisfying. There are 3 main factors that contribute to this. First units play various roles just like in other games as you expect such as tank, melee/ranged/magical DPS, support/healer. The skills and passives that are tied to the units/roles are impactful. This is important because for example if your melee units do the exact same thing as say your ranged units then it heavily diminishes that role’s effectiveness and place on the team. It’s a small distinction that can be easily missed as you see in other games where melee’s damage range becomes so large that it rivals and matches ranged units effectively making that class obsolete. Here each role/skill set has a purpose and spot on the team depending on the challenge. For example, certain skills allow you to knockback an enemy. This can have several effects such as pushing them off ledges or into objects like explosive barrels. Other units have what are called alert skills that trigger automatically if an enemy enters within range. Combine this with reaction skills that happen when you are attacked and this all makes for interesting choices, builds and team compositions that are satisfying to theory craft and execute.
The second factor that makes gameplay interesting is the wide range of usable units. In most gacha type games the only usable units are all at the ultra rare level. Effectively leaving lower tier units with no purpose in the game. This never made any sense in terms of game design. Fortunately in this game we have many units at the epic level that are fun, powerful and effective. They may not be the strongest units but they will significantly help you out as you slowly acquire more rare units along your journey. In fact, having more playable units makes developing strategy and team compositions more enjoyable. It’s nice to actually have options and experiment with different team compositions and strategies.
The third factor that makes gameplay engaging is overall encounter design. Maps are actually different with varied terrain layouts and a variety of interactive objects (explosive barrels, destructible obstacles). In addition, there is an array of enemy types that come with their own skills, weaknesses and strengths. Many of the boss encounters include a mechanic that you need to exploit to turn the fight in your favor. The overall difficulty of encounters keeps you on your toes. A misstep in your placement or skill usage can be the difference from winning and losing. It’s not easy to get the combat tuning just right either. Too strict and it becomes difficult and too narrow in how you solve the challenge. Too easy and you can just breeze through without paying attention. So far most of the encounters have been tuned just right. It strikes a good balance of allowing you to progress while steadily increasing difficulty and introducing new tools along the way. Making the process even more friendly for new players or those struggling with a fight is the ability to backtrack to any point and resume it from there. A handy and welcome feature that makes tough fights less frustrating and allowing the player to easily try different tactics.
PVP:
There is a PVP mode that involves attacking other players’ bases. Players setup their strongholds with a selection of defenses (towers) and destructible objects as well as select a team of 6 to defend it. Other players can then choose to attack a base. Enemy player units are solely controlled by the AI. Points are gained for each unit and structured that is destroyed. Overall, it’s a fairly simple system that isn’t too complicated or deep at the moment. It’s clear that this title is primarily a PVE focused experience.
STORY:
The main story unfolds in the Spiral of Destinies. It’s a narrative driven experience that establishes the world and characters as various factions within it face conflict and war. Much of it revolves around Iria and the political instability that has erupted. It also involves time travel hence the Fool’s Journey where side stories take place. The main character travels through time to acquire power (the Fool’s Journey) in order to change fate in the Spiral of Destinies where your choices affect the story with multiple endings available. It’s a bit confusing to navigate the 2 storylines as you are introduced to different characters, factions and plots. It’s still too early to evaluate the story as there are several hours worth of content. However, it is apparent that there is a strong focus on developing the narrative, the characters, world and plot in the main campaign. There are character moments and backstories giving you insight into who these people are and what they are fighting for. The various outcomes that play out depend on your choices. Japanese voice acting includes many veterans that have worked on numerous anime titles and significantly contribute to the overall narrative.
ART & CHARACTER DESIGN:
Overall art direction is distinct and establishes its own visual identity. 2D art has a modern vibrant fantasy painterly style. Each faction has been meticulously designed with artists referring to the style guidelines they established upfront in order to give each group a cohesive aesthetic with attention to wardrobe styling and color palette. Some of the more common rarity units have a generic look while higher rarity units are distinct with features that make them standout.
The NeoPixel art style is more than just channeling an inspiration from the past. Modern enhancements to the pixel art via shaders, ambient lighting and effects give it a distinct look. On top of that animations are drawn frame by frame instead of using the traditional skeletal system that makes mass production easier. This creates more complex animations compared to traditional pixel sprites that are smoother and allow for more creative expression and personality in the units. The additional work results in a higher cost to production but one that creates a refined and unique look to every unit. It’s clear this team is passionate about their craft and honoring the visual style from the golden era of RPGs.
MUSIC:
The musical score aligns very well with the feelings and themes of the story. At times its carefree and subtle and at other times it ominous or hopeful depending on the narrative circumstance. In its range it elicits all the feelings you would expect on the journey to changing the fate of the world. Musical veteran Hitoshi Sakimoto is at work here weaving a magical score that inspires and creates its own legacy.
CHALLENGES:
When you unlock a new set of skills for a character you’ll have a choice between two options. Although you can customize character skill trees, there is usually an optimal skill build that predominates. It’s still too early to determine if there are various viable builds and true choice. It will heavily depend on having skills and builds that are equally powerful but for different purposes and reasons.
The energy system that caps your progress in the Fool’s Journey and for gathering resources is at odds with the player experience. From a gameplay perspective there’s no added value in doing so. It’s an aspect that most players dislike and has been attached as a stigma to most mobile titles. It’s a shame. Because as mobile gaming has evolved there are true gems and epic gaming experiences available, but they are often overshadowed by predatory practices and systems that don’t add value. It’s not all doom and gloom. The main story campaign does not involve an energy system at all. If you alternate between the gameplay modes you can actually play for hours. It’s not something that is clear right from the start and many players may be confused with the dual game modes and stories.
Lastly, like many gacha games the long term appeal of this title is in question. Most of these type of games focus a lot on creating new characters instead of deep, satisfying and new gameplay content. Although the basics of combat are well implemented, it can also get repetitive if there isn’t continuous innovation and new challenges that are introduced. Once you’ve completed a challenging encounter, other comparative battles feel very similar. In addition, depending on if the writing style captivates you or not you may find yourself skipping over a lot of the cutscenes. So many story focused narratives fall into the trap of telling a long drawn out story without paying attention to good editing. Does that scene or dialogue need to be there? How long should each episode be? Is the audience still captivated throughout? A critical analysis of both gameplay and narrative is crucial in keep a player’s attention and for the long term health of a live service game.
GACHA ELEMENTS:
The overall gacha system is more complex than what appears on the surface. Many factors must be considered to fully evaluate it. There seems to be a lot of confusion and discourse over the summoning system. This is because there’s more at play than just one aspect. The base pull rate, pity system and the ability/rate to gain premium currency must all be factored in.
The base rate to pull a legendary character is 2%. There is pity at 180 pulls which guarantees the legendary unit. Pity/summon count does carry over to other similar banners. The base pull rate to get a legendary character at 2% is comparable to other gacha games. However, the pity at 180 is high compared to other titles. In addition, the rate of earning premium currency is relatively low (not surprising and quite similar to other mobile games). The amount of currency you’ll need to guarantee a pull if you hit pity is 27,000 premium currency. This is quite high and for a F2P user this will take a while meaning the amount of units you can pull on as a free player will be very limited.
Overall how does this all play out? I’ve played several other gacha games all with different systems. In those other games you gain a certain instinct about your ability to pull for and get a unit. I would say that in other gacha games by saving up and being selective, it’s possible to get the unit you want. Moreover, I would say that in those other games I was able to get 90% or more of the units I tried for. This is quite different than in Sword of Convallaria. The high pity threshold, and high cost of pulling means that overall it’s much more challenging to get the legendary unit that you want. This also means that overall luck has a bigger impact. Can you still get units you want? Of course. But it’s much more heavily influenced on lucky pulls. Overall as a F2P user you’ll be pulling for much less units and being much more selective.
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
A deep and satisfying combat system with custom animated graphics and modern enhancements to the pixel art style along with a musical score from Hitoshi Sakimoto are all the necessary components needed to set the foundation for building a legacy. Instead of just channeling the past but adding to it with more options in combat and intriguing encounter design, there are all the makings of a modern classic. It’s still too early to tell how all of this will feel as more content is revealed but it’s a journey that I’m excited to go on. It’s clear this team has a deep affection for the pixel RPGs of the past; a few of them even worked on the original Final Fantasy titles. Their commitment to the craft and artistry of past titles is exhibited in their work flow process and custom touches to animation. There are a few challenges holding this title back. This includes the gacha/summoning system and potential long term appeal due to certain repetitive gameplay elements and the overall appeal of the narrative. Compared to other titles you’ll need to be much more selective. In the end, no video or screenshot or review will replicate your personal experience with a game. If you’re a fan of tactics games or even RPGs in general, this is a title you may want to check out.
Looking for a beginners guide and tier list? Check out this post. Interested in other similar games? Check out our latest reviews.
Interested in other pixel art RPGS? Check out Octopath Traveler Champions of the Continent, a narrative focused experience with turn based combat. A full review is available here.
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GAME DETAILS
PLATFORMS: Android/iOS/PC
RELEASE: 2024
DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: XD
GENRE/TAGS: Turned Based Tactics, Grid Combat, Strategy, SRPG, Pixel Art, PVE, PVP
TARGET AUDIENCE: Tactics fans especially those who enjoyed Final Fantasy Tactics and anyone who enjoyed the golden era of pixel art games.
IMAGE CREDIT (featured image): SOC
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