Games worth discovering
"Sword Of Convallaria" a Successful Merge Between Classical Pixelated RPG and Modern 3D Elements
745 View2024-08-26
Game: Sword of Convallaria
Made By: XD Entertainment Pte Ltd.
Genre: Tactical RPG
Art Style: Pixelated
•Disclaimer: This review is based on my experience spanning over 24 days. Please keep in mind that anything beyond that period is outside my knowledge, so I kindly suggest taking that into consideration before making comments regarding that.
•Interlude:
‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ greets the today’s–game community with a deliberate hint to the golden age of tactical RPGs while also maintaining modern elements incorporation that make it both a remembering and enjoyable journey. It’s a game that combines strategic depth and a narrative-rich environment, leaving players with a mix of familiar mechanics and exciting twists. Let’s jump into what makes this game tick, and where it faces troughs along the way.
•Storyline and World-Building:
–Compelling Plot Development: The narrative of ‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ unfolds on the once-existed peaceful world of Eldoria, now turned barren world in war and misery, a land where myth and reality blurred the line between them. The story has been carefully weaved on a tapestry of political clash, personal quests, vendettas, and ancient lore, compelling players to wander–guide a world rife with complexity and riots. Characters aren’t just mere pawns on a chessboard; they’re well-developed individuals with their own life struggles and reasons to surmount them, embedded in an unforgettable tale, drawing players deeper into the unfolding drama.
–User Friendly Interface: Unreflective to many modern titles that overwhelm players with expository dumps; in another word a large portion of information gets rolled into the narrative; breaking the flow of the story in the process, instead ‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ reveals its world organically, through interactive dialogues, environmental cues, and the consequence of your decisions. The result is a living, breathing world that feels tangible and responsive to your choice, making your shoulders feel heavy and consequential.
•Gameplay Mechanics:
–Organically Progressive Experience: In terms of gameplay, ‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ delivers a progressively challenging and engaging experience, meaning the difficulty wouldn't increase or decrease in a linear way, instead it blends turn-based strategy with real-time elements that naturally follow the rise and trough of life, in another word, you can expect many levels to be harder or easier depending on the matter in which the battle was called for.
–Complete Strategic Skills Oriented: Focusing on tactical team management you’ll guide a pre-defined set of characters, each with unique abilities and roles ( Such as: Attacker, Seeker, Destroyer, Defender and Watcher ), through battles that require both foresight and adaptability to the environment-dependent terrain, using the terrain with characters of diverse roles and their respective skills significantly change the strategic depth required to take maximum advantage of the battle situation and optimise your team’s performance accordingly.
The battle system is a harmonious blend of classic and modern, where the old-school pixelated visuals mesh seamlessly with the tactical gameplay. Progression is centred around upgrading your character’s abilities and equipping them with the right gear, rather than radically changing their skill sets. Upgrading Talents according to the character type, Levelling Up and Gear Upgrade is a guaranteed method to increase your overall strength effectively.
•Uniquely Detailed Gacha System:
-- Base Rate & Pity System: Sword of Convallaria offers a 4.29% base rate for standard legendary characters and 2% for exclusive ones with a guaranteed legendary at 180 pulls in opposed to the weapon banner that provides 5% base rate and confirmation within 160 pulls ( which is still high but chances of getting legendary is significantly higher than the characters), significantly higher than the 0.6% in Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves, though with a guaranteed at 80 pity.
--Featured Character Mechanics: The game provides a 75% chance of pulling a featured legendary, and within that, a 50% chance of pulling your selected character.
--Evident Negative: Although the Gacha system's higher base rate is appealing, the high pity count (180 pulls) can be overwhelming and seemed excessively greedy.
This perception is particularly strong when considering that, in games, a pity rate as high as 180 pulls would be seen as highly exploitative—especially if the company doesn’t offer any compensatory rewards or bonuses in exchange along the way.
--Still Why is the Gacha Better?: Well, the company has mitigated this concern by offering a plethora of rewards, including three legendary characters and their appropriate legendary weapons, along with a bounty of Gacha currency. These rewards, although earned through missionary quests, are completely free and achievable as long as you’re making progress in the game. This compensation softens the otherwise steep system, making it more accessible and rewarding for all players.
•Visual and Audio Presentation:
–A Successful Merge of Classic and Modern: ‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ has been steeped in attention with its unique mix of old-school neo pixel art with modern 3D rendering. This combination creates a distinctive aesthetic that feels both retro and extrospective, the pixelated graphics are simply yet detailed and evocative, capturing the essence of the genre’s roots, while the 3D elements adds to the depth and fluidity to the experience.
–Beautiful Character Design: Though the art-style may not be as vehement like hand-drawn ones found in many contemporary games, this choice of style, however, serves the gameplay well. The environments are clear and concise, allowing players to focus on the tactical elements without visual distractions. I mean you don't wanna be mesmerised by your opponent’s beauty to lose the battle right? That being said, most characters are peculiarly designed with no one being overly sexualised or visibly provocative with their get up allowing more healthy and balanced view of the game.
–One of the Best Soundtracks Been Sewed: On the audio front, the game shines with well-crafted soul full soundtracks; one of such is performed by a game NPC “NonoWill”. Sound effects are crisp and unexaggerated, the voice acting although isn't used is many instances as it has been implemented where it was needed the most; which clearly worked for them as the immersion and amusement was on point.
•Narrative Choices and Consequences:
–Completely Choice Influenced Game: A key feature that sets ‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ apart is its emphasis on meaningful choices. The decisions you make throughout your journey aren’t just cosmetically carried out; they have real, tangible consequences that will, potentially change how you, as a player, view the world around you. Whether it’s choosing an ally or deciding a path for the city, your actions would, regardless of your will, be rippled through the narrative, ensuring that no two playthroughs are exactly alike.
–Complicated Views: The game’s narrative choices are rarely black and white, often forcing players to navigate the complicated period of moral ambiguity. This added complexity and depth often challenges the different views the player has experienced, making each decision feel more significant than the others, a rarity in many modern games where choices often feel superficial and shallow.
•Areas for Improvement:
–More Dialogue Options Can be Great: While ‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ hits many good notes, it, however, has few areas where it could be improved. The pacing, though better than many games of the same calibre, can sometimes falter, with certain quests and involved dialogues being totally unreflective of the chosen main character and his personality, feeling drawn out longer than necessary. This can lead to moments where the game’s momentum slows, and disturbs the immersion, potentially dampening player engagement.
–Disengaging PVP: The multiplayer aspects of the game feel somewhat underdeveloped, lacking the depth and variety seen in the single-player campaign. Although I’m not the most “Player-Vs-Player” enthusiast out there, simply because I prefer playing solo-campaign more than fighting other players( simply skill issues..), but working on the betterment of these modes in upcoming updates could significantly enhance the game’s overall appeal and replay the value.
–Characters are Lifeless While In“Home Decorum”: “Home Decorum” is an Elysium feature that allows players to customise a part of room and add allies in the Elysium but they become motionless and deprived of life; much like that of statues, adding sprinkle of animation would keep the players more invested and bonded.
Conclusion:
‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ successfully merged two different elements; classic tactical RPG with modern lucrative design, offering a rich narrative and strategic gameplay. Flaunting its unique visual style, combined with old-school Neo Pixel art sewed in modern 3D rendering, sets it apart. While there are some issues with pacing and the unaligned dialogues, these are minor compared to the overall experience. For anyone who fancy and enjoys tactical RPGs with major story-driven games, ‘’Sword of Convallaria’’ can be your old wine; rich and unforgettable.
Appreciation: If you incase have made it to the end of the post then I genuinely want to direct my thanks to you for investing your time upon this post. Tell me in the comments whether or not have you played it, what was your experience? Make sure to leave a comment by!
Till the next post, a la porchaine~
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Comments
View desktop siteTapTap looks better
on the app 
The high chance of getting Legendary itself is ways better than any other gachas, in which players rely on the pity system
2024-08-29
Author likedYes, but I hope, along the way they don't start catering to pay-to-wins only; instead maintain a fair policy between both spenders and non-spenders while still providing them with their deserved bees.
2024-08-29