Lost Decade (2020)
[ใญในใใใฃใฑใคใ]
Publisher: Bushiroad
Developer: Rastar Games
Platform: Android/iOS
Overview:
A young adventurer travels the world with his newly formed guild.
Gameplay:
This game belongs to the "AFK" subgenre of mobile games where things mostly run on auto and progress with minimal input from the player. Unlike Houchi Shoujo, another example of this subgenre, there is more meat on the bones and you're not just left to manage inventory (though inventory management is a big part of the gameplay). You have a party of three characters. They are divided into three types: attack, tank and support. You have a fire-water-wind elemental triad and a light-dark dyad for character alignment as well. Initial rarity ranges from one to three stars, but they can be upgraded up to six stars, with each star level bringing with it a swath of stat boosts. Each character has at least three special abilities that can be leveled with skill points you gain as a star level bonus (and certain characters will have an extra skill that can't be leveled but is available immediately, unlike the other skills, which have to be unlocked). Characters are leveled by items and once they hit their level cap, they can break into the next level tier with the appropriate materials. (It should be noted, that unlike a lot of other games, you start back at Level 1 each time you break into a new tier, which can mean a significant expenditure when you're trying to build up new characters.) Equipment is strengthened by combining it with duplicates and by equipping runes.
The main questline found in the Map sub-menu comes in normal and hard difficulties with rewards doled out based on the star level awarded for meeting certain conditions. You can also visit other players' maps for little mini battles (whose value I can't really see beyond satisfying a daily mission requirement). The Quest sub-menu gives you missions were you explore little isometric maps, fighting monsters and collecting treasures. After finishing one at 90% completion or higher, you can skip through subsequent missions that day to quickly net the rewards. The Character sub-menu is where you manage your characters, doing all the stuff I described in the previous paragraph. The Bag sub-menu is where you manage your inventory, which is divided into equipment, runes, usables, and materials.
A lot of features on the home screen are initially inaccessible, only to be unlocked as your player level increases. The tavern is where you recruit new characters. The way the gacha system works is that you generally draw fragments known as Hero Proofs rather than get characters outright. You gather enough Hero Proofs and you can unlock a character anyway and you can later use Hero Proofs to updgrade your characters' star level. Free draw tickets are plentiful and every banner allows you to get the pickup character after 20 draws, which is rather generous. (It would seen that they go about it this way because you really do need to fully upgrade the character to get the most out of them at higher levels, but the ease of acquisition definitely makes the completionist in me happy.) The hard-level maps have taverns with special pick-up banners of their own.
The rune temple is where you can break down unwanted equipment into Magic Sand, which can then be used to generate runes. Rune crafting comes in levels that require progressively more Magic Sand but yield higher level runes if successful. Much like equipment, you can level up runes by merging them, but be aware that this process gets expensive and will drain your gold quickly.
The shop actually consists of several different stores using various sorts of currency you get from different activities. There are also limited-run shops that appear after doing such things as completing several quests. The premium currency is crystals, which come in free and premium types. There is a separate store for purchases made with real-world money and a skin shop that only exists to change the character who shows up in the Quest sub-menu.
The arena pits you against other players in slates of six that can be refreshed every six hours with a championship that runs on the weekend. There is also the Glory Battles that run every evening with dynamic matching against three different players. The Hidden World Gate allows groups of players to explore a large-scale map, fighting enemies for big rewards. Team Quests have you create teams to go on elemental-themed missions. Patrol is an auto-battler like the main questline for getting the materials you need to level your characters and Heaven's Tower is similar to Quest missions with slightly different mechanics.
Events basically come in two varieties as I've seen thus far. One type is basically the same as the Quest missions, while the other more closely resembles the main questline.
Story/Characters:
Interestingly enough, rather than using in-game dialog sequences, the main story is told via manga. You do get in-game dialog sequences for events, however, and once there was this slightly more interactive chapter, but I've never seen anything like it since. The main story is decent if a bit stock and the same goes for the characters. Most of them have a basic schtick and not much beyond that.
Graphics:
The in-game graphics look nice enough. Though the character models are a bit small, they're decently animated. Backgrounds look fairly nice and the UI is rather streamlined. Character art is rather good. It seems like they've got a single character designer (collabo characters aside), which lends the sort of visual unity I like to see.
Music/Sound:
The music is pretty good. It's not particularly distinctive, but it's pleasant enough to listen to. Voice clips are limited to a handful of battle lines, which can feel like a bit of a waste of the talent they've brought in, but I'm sure they didn't have the budget to fully voice the game.
Conclusion:
From my limited experience, "AFK"-style games sacrifice engagement to reduce the burden on the player. There's just enough to get you involved, but it's not as deep of an experience as I would hope for. There are some player-friendly features I appreciate, though, and probably as far as "AFK" games go, this is probably one of the best of them. If you're looking for a low-impact, low-investment RPG, this might just be for you. Consider giving it a try.
Rating:
Play It