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Elven Chronicles

The guys at Big Blue Bubble have brought us a brand new ported RPG game in Elden Chronicles. There’s not many turn-based RPGs out there in the App Store other than Vay and a few others but EC is here to crash the party and slash it’s way on to your iPhone. Let’s draw our swords and take a stab at this game and see if this game puts up a good fight.

Gameplay:

You take control of a young knight named Rogan and his trusty spell casting sidekick Jada as they seek redemption for their unjust exile from Rogan’s kingdom. Like SoMoGa inc.’s Vay, it’s a turn based RPG with vast worlds to explore, gigantic demons to slay, a variety of spells to cast, and numerous hours of gameplay.

An excellent part of the game is the amount of spells that you acquire from leveling up. Even in the beginning, as I was leveling up to level 8, I already had 7 spells for Jada to cast. It’s an essential part of a solid RPG and this game delivers in that aspect.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the graphics although I liked the little effects that they had during the battles. (Poison effect, the spells etc.) I prefer the graphics like Zenonia but I’m sure there are the gamers who love the graphics from Vay and will dig these graphics. Not that Elven Chronicles’ graphics were bad or sub-par on any level, I just thought they were good, not great. So it’s really just your preference.

What I didn’t understand was why there was all this need for backtracking. In the beginning, you can’t progress in the story till you level up to Level 8 and once you do, you must make your way all the way back to the town, only to return to where you once were. It makes no sense. The minute you level up to Level 8, why can’t the game just take you back to the town like most other games? No one likes backtracking and in this game, you’re going to be doing quite a bit of it.

Controls:

If any of you have played Vay before, controlling your hero around the caves and around the towns was an absolute chore because of the all the tapping you had to do. However, in this game, they allow you to hold your finger on the destination and simply drag it along and the hero will follow.

Maneuvering your hero is an important part of the controls but even more important is the in-battle menu system. This was a much better way to navigate through the worlds without all the tapping. Games can be go from being a smash-hit to a dismissible app in an instant simply because of a bad menu set up. Zenonia was one of the RPGs that is guilty of having a difficult menu to operate because of the small text and buttons. Crystal Cave does a wonderful job of explaining each weapon, armor, or item and also displaying your stats for each character.

What We Liked:

– Classic RPG style gamplay
– Lasts over 20 hours
– Large variety of spells
– Enormous sized enemies
– Good animation effects
– Invigorating boss battles
– Menu HUD easy to function and understand

What We Disliked:

– Difficult to initiate conversation with other people
– All enemies represented by tornadoes while walking around
– Crashed several times (screen froze)
– Some might fancy the graphics, some may not
– Way too much backtracking
– Menu HUD is easy to understand and function
– Sound effects and soundtrack nothing to scream about
– Adds nothing fresh or new to the genre

Final Verdict:

Big Blue Bubble has brought a wonderful addition to the RPG collection in the App Store. Elven Chronicles is a classic turn based RPG that although entertaining and fun, is held back because of its lack of ingenuity, the backtracking, and the ho-hum visuals and soundtrack. It’s a good title that fans of Vay and RPGs should check out, but its not without its shortcomings and I left feeling underwhelmed.

buy


14 Replies to “Elven Chronicles”

  1. liz

    The town portal spell when not in battle saves all the back-tracking.

  2. snow_mani

    Nice review Daniel . I’ve been playing this game and have given up on it. There’s nothing in it to keep me wanting to play. So it’s interesting to read someone elses informed opinion of the game. While it does give you lots of magic spells you can’t choose your characters class or skills. Another thing the game doesn’t give you is a challenge. It’s super easy and thus super boring.

  3. Seishu

    Ever since Blades of Fury was released, I realized that a lot of the mobile games on my cell phone were being ported over to the iphone. This neat RPG was fun to play on my phone, though the screen is a little small and the graphics scrunched down. Still, I’m really enjoying this port.

  4. mklauber

    I love turn based party RPGS like this, and I think this is a great platform for them. These Fire Emblem style games really push you to do tactical movement. Do you get any characters beyond the initial two?

  5. Mr. Charley

    I think I’m slowly realizing that these type of games aren’t for me for the iDevice.

    Just based on graphics, and yes, I do base my first judgements on the looks of games, I’m not a fan of them. They’re just too old school for me. I cannot get past them no matter how good the game may be…

    I’m someone who just doesn’t get the whole retro thing, but can at least appreciate that some people do…

    The backtracking that needs to be done sounds too frustrating as well.

    I think being underwhelmed pretty much sums up this game for me as well just based on the review and screen-shots.

  6. Big Albie

    The game really is too easy for its own good, and the backtracking is a major frustration. It a waste of time, and the quests can become monotonous after a while. The game is good for those moments when you need an RPG hit, but otherwise, it lacks depth for any prolonged play.

    Btw, nice review Daniel!

  7. Steven

    Jadaa can use teleport which allows you to go back to the last town you were at so backtraking is not much of a problem

  8. liz

    The town portal spell when not in battle saves all the back-tracking.

  9. snow_mani

    Nice review Daniel . I’ve been playing this game and have given up on it. There’s nothing in it to keep me wanting to play. So it’s interesting to read someone elses informed opinion of the game. While it does give you lots of magic spells you can’t choose your characters class or skills. Another thing the game doesn’t give you is a challenge. It’s super easy and thus super boring.

  10. Seishu

    Ever since Blades of Fury was released, I realized that a lot of the mobile games on my cell phone were being ported over to the iphone. This neat RPG was fun to play on my phone, though the screen is a little small and the graphics scrunched down. Still, I’m really enjoying this port.

  11. mklauber

    I love turn based party RPGS like this, and I think this is a great platform for them. These Fire Emblem style games really push you to do tactical movement. Do you get any characters beyond the initial two?

  12. Mr. Charley

    I think I’m slowly realizing that these type of games aren’t for me for the iDevice.

    Just based on graphics, and yes, I do base my first judgements on the looks of games, I’m not a fan of them. They’re just too old school for me. I cannot get past them no matter how good the game may be…

    I’m someone who just doesn’t get the whole retro thing, but can at least appreciate that some people do…

    The backtracking that needs to be done sounds too frustrating as well.

    I think being underwhelmed pretty much sums up this game for me as well just based on the review and screen-shots.

  13. Big Albie

    The game really is too easy for its own good, and the backtracking is a major frustration. It a waste of time, and the quests can become monotonous after a while. The game is good for those moments when you need an RPG hit, but otherwise, it lacks depth for any prolonged play.

    Btw, nice review Daniel!

  14. Playast

    You have wrote that you have to backtrack to town, however in java version which i played when going to skill list, in the one that belongs to Jada, you can find spell Town portal which is first in list and can only be used outside battle. This spell alows you to travel to last visited town and back.

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