Short, But Delivers A Great Gameplay Experience
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Story: The story begins with a mysterious fog that blankets the kingdom of Argwyll, destroying the kingdoms with strange monsters that appear from the fog. It begins when Katia, a princess of Argwyll, receives news that her father, the King, is missing after he had tried to find the source of the fog and destroy it. Before she decides to leave, she takes with her a rune stone, which is a powerful item that imbues the wearer with special abilities. Each king from each kingdom is entrusted with protecting the runestone that they've been assigned with. Due to the fog, those kingdoms are lost and the runestones trapped in it's darkness.
Katia's journey begins when she leaves the castle and starts traveling the land, hoping to find her father and all the runestones to put a stop to the fog.
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Graphics: The graphics are pretty impressive for it's time, though they appear bland and gritty at times. The animations are well-done, too.
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Card Collecting: You'll no doubt be playing the game solely for collecting all the cards within the game after you've played awhile and completed the story.
There are 5 types of elements and thus 5 types of monsters: Water, Fire, Wood, Earth and Neutral.
Water beats Fire, Fire beats Wood, Wood beats Earth, Earth beats Water and Neutral has no advantage.
Card Shop: If a card has enough experience points, you can copy it to have another! Visit the Apothecary to do this.
Transform Card: With enough experience, you can transform a card to a much more powerful version. Then, with the better version, you can copy the card! Visit the Apothecary to do this as well.
Card Types: Cards have an icon that determines what type they are.
- A sword icon on a card indicates that it's a weapon monster. You use these cards at close range to attack enemies since it uses you to attack instead of being summoned onto the battlefield. For example, if you use the 'Lizardmen' card, the monster will transform you into a lizard that attempts to hit anything at close range for a second or two. Use these types of cards wisely!
- The spell book icon on a card indicates that its a independent monster. Using this type of card summons a monster that will appear on the battlefield and wander around independently, attacking whenever it wants. For example, the 'Giant Crab' monster will wander around, attacking with a stone-freeze spell that immobilizes foes. Upon death, it will return to the player's deck.
- A dragon icon indicates that its a summon card. These types of cards transform the player into a monster for about a few seconds that attack with a special power. Unlike the sword icon, these monsters use magic and other means of attack. For example, the 'Kraken' card transforms the player into a kraken that uses it's tentacles to damage and area with ice. The duration of these cards varies.
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Gold: Gold is relatively easy to collect and earn. By the end of the game your pockets will be loaded with gold to spend or keep. At low levels, it's not recommended to buy cards from the Apothecary. If you find cards from chests or by completing levels, you can sell them. The more rare the card, the more gold its worth. The Apothecary sometimes has rare cards to buy, too!
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Blue Fairies: These fairies appear throughout the game in levels and will either replenish your health or give you a card! The 'Blue Fairy' card will restore lost health too.
Red Fairies: More rare and difficult to find, the red fairies will tell you about the world of Argwyll. You can collect all of them and turn them in to Alexander's Fairy House in exchange for rare cards!
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Music/Sound: The music fits well with the game and captures the fantasy, fairytale-like image that's popular among these types of games. From the soft, summer sounds to the pulse-pounding doom sounds, it's all there. The combat music will get repetitive after a few hours, though.
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Closure: It's surprisingly good, despite it being different and not what RPG players usually expect. For a card game that isn't Pokemon or YuGiOh, it's also well-done. You'll easily waste a week or two trying to get all the cards and transforming them, while also finding all the red fairies. Also, you can replay every level and try to get a 5-star rating, which is something to boast about!
Recommended: Yes. For a little under $10, you could be throwing cards left and right, battling mighty foes and saving Argwyll from destruction. Not to mention that you'll be playing a female protagonist who just so happens to have a big runestone stuck to her long, brown hair! You don't see that in games these days!