Perks of living in the cold northern country of Canada is that some games get an earlier release here. This is how I was able to play Terra Battle before my neighbors of the south.
May be the game itself will feel a bit familiar to you. That’s expected, since it’s creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is famous for a well known game franchise; Final Fantasy.
Terra Battle is an RPG with a grid-based combat system. I was mighty intrigued when this game was described as being a ballet for your finger, but I quickly understood how we can make such a claim. The combats are turn-based: when it’s your turn to shine, you get a few seconds to move your allies across the board.
While there is no match-3 aspect to this game, fan of the genre will quickly master the combat system. You have to surround your enemies with your allies. The attack are only launching when you outflank your enemy by your allies. You truly only get to move one ally directly, and you use this one to move the others around. If you are a fan of Puzzle and Dragons you will immediately understand the technique.
There is also a “rock, paper, scissor” aspect to the combat system, in the sense that one weapon will be beneficial against another, yet will be inefficient against a third. That being said, you get to also combine your attacks by aligning your other allies on the board with the ones doing the actual attack.
Confused? Is it not making any sense to you? Don’t fret, this become a second nature the moment you start experiencing it yourself.
Speaking of those trusty allies, you can get up to 5 of them, which you recruit at the Tavern. And since this is a role playing game after all, you’ll have all the tools to upgrade and level up too.
While this game is launching worldwide on October 9th, it’s not yet complete! As more and more people play this game, development will continue and new content will be made available. Instead of going the Kickstarter route, the developer is making the game grow as the fanbase does, which is an interesting route to take. I feel it will allow them to be closer to their users. As soon as they hit the 2 millions download mark, they will start working on a console version which will be more than a simple port also.
But who says free to play usually means limited play time, unless you pay! You may end up frustrated to only be able to play for a certain amount of time each day before you reach for your wallet. The energy/stamina indicator is shaped like an actual battery in this game, which is an interesting thing. And in general, the user interface is well done, easy to navigate and understand.
Seems like Terra Battle is a good RPG/puzzle to carry in your pocket!
