Not as generic as the title makes it out to be | Review - Magic Chronicle: Isekai RPG
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✨Overview
Magic Chronicle: Isekai RPG is a mobile gacha game set in a fantasy world called Taelan Land, featuring chibi characters and an auto-battler experience where players to assemble a team of up to five heroes and engage in battles against demons.
🟩Pros
+Well done visuals and character design
+Various game modes
+Accessiblity and quality of life features
+Generous progression rates
🟥Cons
-Not much depth in the combat
-Features that are locked behind paywalls and VIP subscriptions
⭐️Score: 7/10
📖Story and Premise
Magic Chronicle: Isekai RPG thrusts players into a world plagued by demonic forces, as the Taelan Land faces an invasion from outer space. The demons, fueled by a wicked crystal, launched a relentless onslaught that was ultimately thwarted by the Taelan guardians and the shards were separated, guarded by different races.The peace is short-lived as the shards awaken, plunging the land into chaos once more.
The title is as generic as it gets, and it features a plot that may come across as somewhat intriguing but cliché. It feels like an introduction to a cookie-cutter Anime premise, but it's just there as a backdrop and doesn't interrupt the game, which is laser-focused on the battles.
🎨Visuals and Art
The game features chibi cel-shaded graphics that might look like 2D initially but are actually in 3D. These graphics are combined with anime-style artwork to represent the characters in menus. Impressive visual effects accompany the skills and various animations, all well-executed. Honestly, I appreciate the art design and general vibe; even the chibi designs are well done.
🎮Gameplay
The gameplay follows an auto-battler style, where you set a roster of up to five heroes and let them battle automatically enemies. There’s not much depth to it and the outcome is mostly determined by the overall team level, although hero composition plays a small role. While the manual activation of hero special abilities is an option in solo missions, it provides only a false sense of control, as the battles are designed to be automated. Overall, battles are fast-paced, lasting only a few seconds to a minute at most, but just like the combat, progression largely hinges on character levels.
With a ridiculously large amount of chapters and levels to complete, the game offers generous progression elements, making it a compelling option for free-to-play players. However, it is not without its share of enticing microtransactions, which I will discuss later.
⏫Progression
The game is lenient in terms of progression, gradually easing players to the mechanics before encountering any kind of progression wall. You can easily clear the first many levels even without touching your characters levels or gacha summons, and when you do, there’s plenty of resources to come by.
For powerful characters, there's the option to utilize the 'bulldoze' feature, skipping levels up to the next boss challenge. I’ve jumped more than 10 levels using this feature. However, this might lead to hitting a progression wall sooner than later.
📜Game Modes
Various features are accessible to both free-to-play and paying players, such as the bulldoze feature, AFK resource gathering, and a 'fate oracle' that only requires leveling up five main heroes, with the rest adjusting to the lowest level. Other features include a reset option to bring back unused heroes to level 1 and regain used materials, or a totally idle/automated 'auto-skip to the next level,' available as a paid feature.
💵Monetization
As a gacha game, Magic Chronicle incorporates typical elements with side game modes like tower progression, challenges, guilds, and PvP. Other game modes beyond battles include a rogue-lite style board game and an exploration mode set in a grid-like strategic map filled with various encounters. The game offers a plethora of systems to keep players engaged and invested, and the gameplay is genuinely enticing.
As mentioned earlier, many features are locked behind paywalls and VIP subscriptions, including auto stage clearance in towers, additional premium rewards, and more PvP encounters. Fortunately, there isn't a stamina system for completing missions.
⚔️PvP
The PvP is asynchronous, requiring players to build up their defense lineup and attack others' defense lineups. It follows a straightforward system used in many games. Participating in PvP costs tickets, which require premium currency. While there are indeed pay-to-win elements, their significance is likely only apparent to those deeply invested in the PvP experience.
📊Technical Performance
The game run decently and I didn’t even have to tinker with any settings and jumped straight into gameplay. I did not come across any game breaking bugs aside from server connectivity problems. The game strongly advises you to bind your account to theirs, as you could easily lose your progression. I had a small scare because I mistakenly connected to the Asia server, and had my progress was reset. However, upon connecting back to the US server, I got everything back. One minor gripe, though, is that during combat, characters will sometimes stay far beyond the edges of the screen, and you cannot see all the action, which is limiting as it is in this vertical orientation.
⚖️Conclusion
The gameplay, primarily an auto-battler, successfully provides a fast-paced and entertaining dynamic. With a very lenient progression and diverse features such as the 'bulldoze' option and various game modes outside combat, that caters to both free-to-play and paying players. Despite its super generic title and looks, Magic Chronicle: Isekai RPG manages to present a visually pleasing and recently engaging mobile gacha experience.
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