Dragalia Lost

This is a game that I've really been looking forward to and for some odd reason it was not launched in Canada at the same time as the US version, something that is an odd move from Nintendo but it did give the time for the game to add a little bit of polish. I wanted to love Dragalia Lost and the game does many things very well, but 2 of the basic fundamentals are flawes: the controls and the gameplay.

The bad stuff:

- The controls: Unlike most mobile action rpgs, Dragalia Lost doesn't use the virtual joystick and everything is controlled with one hand. While virtual joysticks aren't flawless, they are certainly better than this awkward control system where you move by sliding your finding and attack by tapping. It's relatively simple but many times you want to move somewhere and it attacks sometimes, I'd say roughly 20% of the times my character is not doing what I want him to do. This it not fluid movement which in my opinion is an absolute must for action rpgs, which makes it rather disappointing in that aspect especially since the game does require you to evade some objects.

- The gameplay: Each stage consists of a few mobs and then a boss. Every. Single. Time. You bring in your team of 4 adventurers (only controlling one at a time) and then brush off a few mobs, collect a chest or two on the way, and then face a harder boss. You have some special skills that build after killing a few enemies, and then you also have your Dragon summon which also is available after killing some enemies. I've made it to chapter 3 after a few days of playing, I don't know if stages get more complex later on, but I very much doubt that the formula is changed that much.

The good stuff:

- The story: Dragalia Lost has a pretty cool story actually, and you get to see more of it after each stage is cleared. There's also side stories for every hero you unlocked (and as you raise their mana circle level, more stories get unlocked)... It's perhaps not a revolutionary story, but it's somewhat enjoyable and I don't feel like auto skipping it like most games of this kind.

- The gacha: For most gamers this will always be a negative aspect of a game, but I do enjoy more and more these long term grindy games and this is something that Dragalia Lost does very well. There are a ton of things to collect and to upgrade. Aside from adventurers themselves, you have 3 types of things to equip on each of them: Weapons, Wyrmprints and Dragons. Each have its own way of leveling them up and require either to get many copies of them or to find specific resources that are available in certain event stages. If you love that type of investment in a game, this is something that can keep you playing for a really long time. There's also a Clash of Clans-like city building aspect to it, where you get to make buildings that boost your adventurers, craft weapons or collect resources. Personally I feel that this is the best aspect of the game, and one of the reasons why people can play it all the time.

- The support from the devs: This game has great support from the devs with communications happening all the time on the future and upcoming updates, there are new events and content added all the time. You do feel that you are in safe hands when embarking in the game, it's certainly doesn't feel like one that is going to get abandoned anytime soon and you can trust that they are going to listen to the community. This is not something that can be said about many games, from mobile to consoles to PCs.

Overall I do feel that the bad outweighs the good. Like why would you want to spend all this time leveling all your stuff when the gameplay (stages) are so unexciting themselves? I'm still coming back to it for now cause the gacha parts are rather addicting, but I know this is a game that I will just abandon and never come back to it again. Which is disappointing to say because I did expect for Nintendo to learn from Fire Emblem Heroes with its oversimplistic gameplay, but it turns out that they did the exact same thing with this one since their first dip into mobile rpgs was highly successful so why change the formula? Also I do prefer turn based gameplay to action, especially when the controls aren't 100% right. Still the whole thing is very well made with high production values, and I really wanted to turn it into one of my main mobile games, but it's not going to be this one due for it lacking in some of the basics.