El mejor gacha que ha existido, una lástima que por esta misma razón fue que termino cerrando...

Tal vez la historia era mediocre, pero el resto era una joya. Multijugador excelente y sin region lock, diseño de personajes sobresalientes, no era pay2win, eventos a cada rato y obviamente su excelente OST. Gracias a Dragalia Lost pude conocer a Daoko.

Recuerdo como Nintendo dijo que jamás iba a hacer una colabo con ese juego y que solo iba a ser publisher, pero al final no solo tuvimos colabos con Nintendo sino que hasta con Capcom.

PD: Me trae arta nostalgia de cuando iba a la institución y me ponía a jugar Dragalia Lost haciendo misiones al fondo mientras la profesora daba clases. Me trajo nostalgia de los 2000s cuando hacía lo mismo con mis compas pero con la PSP en Monster Hunter.

I only started playing Dragalia right before the EoS date was officially announced. The game always had my interest for multiple reasons, but I'm a huge slacker when it comes to games and an even bigger one with mobile games. So, while finding out about the game's shut down was the kick in the pants I needed to incentivize me to finally play, I can safely say that my enjoyment of the game would have been greater if I had picked it up earlier on. Sure, I didn't have to deal with the power creep, and sure, I could still replay a good number of the events on my own or alongside the still-very-active community. But this game was designed how a mobile game should be designed, to be played in bursts. So having to rush through it all wasn't the ideal experience by a long shot.

Usually I would write down a good amount of historical info on the game's creation; contextual tidbits and such because I like learning about these things. But another review already did just that and did it far better than I would have given my somewhat limited experience with the game. Feel free to read it! I'll skip explaining the basic gameplay as well on that assumption.

There were many times I found myself getting tired of playing through the game, since while it was mechanically sound and felt pretty good, much of the core game design was recycled. Lots of maps had plain empty layouts that you simply just had to run through before reaching a few enemies, killing them then continuing. Very few objectives and strategies existed in the stages, and boss fights as well, besides whacking foes until they died. There were a small number of bosses that spiced things up with cleverly designed attacks, but I didn't notice this happening too much. Unfortunately, boss arenas were almost always just a big circle you'd run around in too. Hence me saying earlier that I would've enjoyed this game more at a relaxed pace, instead of having to sit down and spend an hour plus on each chapter/event I wanted to go through to reach my goal of experiencing as much of what the game had to offer as possible. But even with that being said, it was gacha game, and unsurprisingly most of the focus was put into its teambuilding aspects, visual polish, and world-building.

I didn't have the best chance to enjoy the teambuilding because the microtransactions were completely shut off shortly after I started playing, but I got good mileage out of the polish and story. The game always looked wonderful and ran smoothly, super great lighting and effects at that. Then the story, hoo boy, I think this story took the cake for being the most anime game Nintendo has ever put their name on. Spoiler warning, I guess? Though I have doubts as for whether they'll rerelease this game or even a sequel on the Switch, it's really funny that we not only got the Power of Friendship™ (and Family) and punching God in the face, but the dang Pope even resurrects Satan (not the Christian one, silly). It's a story that at times reminded me of Umineko (and what I've heard about the Zero Escape series), where the story just goes full scorched earth, no ideas were too wacky to be off the table. The similarities to the aforementioned works also extends to it pissing me off sometimes, because at times it sure loved running in circles, spouting the same eye-rolling nonsense over and over until I was genuinely tired and irritated. Perhaps this is just a visual novel thing, which is what the story part effectively was. It was still pretty fun to read though, don't get me wrong. The highlight for me was absolutely any of the stories featuring the apostles, they were just too cool.

I was initially feeling a bit more harsh on what I'd score the game, but I got to (well had to really) experience the hardest story boss fight through co-op play. While I had done some co-op raid events before, this worked a little differently since, if I remember correctly, the raid fights let you have four full teams of four adventurers. Co-op on story quests, and others presumably, made you use one adventurer per player instead and this changed my opinion on the gameplay a little bit. It didn't change the gameplay too much outright besides not having to deal with the semi-crap AI. But I don't know, something about it felt a lot more like real teamwork and made the experience more fun for me, so that last little moment shortly before the game ended was enough for me to feel slightly more positive about the game. The community from my short time playing was also awesome, and I always get a good kick out of one that has a really well-maintained wiki on top of that.

I think my last thought before leaving this game to my memories (and gameplay footage I recorded along with the assets I snatched because I was in full archivist mode the entire way through) reflects what I've seen others say here and there. And that's just the hope that Nintendo chooses to use the IP in the future. I think it has tons of potential for a proper console installment with some of that fully-fleshed out gameplay I was craving. The team behind it clearly had a lot of passion for the project, so I'd love to see it have more things to go by in the future. Also, hit me up if you've got one of those Greatwyrm plushies, I'm almost convinced they don't actually exist.

Truly rest in peace dragalia, you were an amazing time and I was glad to have you while you were there. I was able to meet amazing friends and be apart of a truly special and kind community, and I had years worth of fun with your simple yet rewarding gameplay with a great team building aspect. Not to mention the story that actually managed to interest and captivate me. Top it all off with fun characters and great visuals and music, and it's something that will always leave an impact. You will forever be precious to me, and Vio Rhyse Alberia.

After playing it for 2 and a half years (I joined halfway through the second anniversary when I finally jumped from a shitty iPhone to an Android), I was considering writing up a review of this game. Never imagined it would turn into a eulogy.

Dragalia Lost is a collaborative effort between Nintendo and Cygames, taking the throne of Nintendo's only wholly unique mobile title. The most barebones description of the game would be "a touch-controlled top-down dungeon crawler with a heavy emphasis on boss fights", but something simple like that feels like a disservice to everything I love about this game. So that's my justification for what I can only imagine will be an abnormally long retrospective for a gacha game found below this point. Buckle up.

The controls are simple. Touch and drag in a direction on the screen to move in that direction. Swipe in a direction to dodge in that direction. Tap the screen repeatedly to attack. Touch and hold to do a "force strike" (charged attack). Tap either skill button at the bottom of the screen to use that skill when it's charged. That's really all there is to know, and it's all that's necessary for the main crux of Dragalia Lost: its boss fights. All you gotta do is dodge through normal attacks (shown through red inidcators) and outright avoid undodgeable attacks (shown through purple indicators). Sounds easy when you put it like that, but in practice? It gets insane real quick. The keys to success are preparation, improvisation, and memorization. Knowing is half the battle after all, and most bosses do follow patterns when performing their moves. There will always be situations where you'll have to make a choice in the moment though: Does this move have enough i-frames? Should I use my shapeshift to tank this unavoidable attack, or save it so I can do massive damage when the boss' defenses are broken? And most importantly: Was I even properly prepared going in?

Power creep comes naturally with the nature of gacha, driving you to roll for better characters, but Dragalia's focus on a large quantity of characters that are all upgraded from the same pools of resources allowed most of the "weaker" units to be viable for most of the game's content. Every single character has their quirks, many are better against certain enemies, and many work best when paired up with other specific characters. Teams consist of four characters, each one gets a weapon, a dragon, and five wyrmprints (stat modifiers with really nice artwork attached). Gradually making your teams strong enough to fight endgame content had the unfortunate side effect of making "normal" content essentially play itself. They did solve this later in the game's life by having specific story-related quests give your team fixed stats, but I personally would've liked to see them take it a step further, like letting us manually limit our character's levels for the sake of self-imposed challenge. (the kaleidoscape managed to do this somewhat, more on that later)

Outside of the emphasis on boss battles, Dragalia got to be experimental with what it could squeeze out of its gameplay. There's a dedicated battle royale mode. The game's April Fool's Day jokes ended up being a shoot-em-up and a mode where you play with a dog and take photos. During the last year of its life, they added a mode called "Enter the Kaleidoscape", a roguelite mode where you descend a randomized 50-floor gauntlet with any character in your roster. They're reset back to level 1, and you need to make do with the randomized equipment drops to tough your way through. I don't mean this as a backhanded compliment: Dragalia Lost is a great example of reusing assets to their fullest potential, and working within the scale of what you've got.

Dragalia Lost was just a really accessible game in general. Materials of higher rarities could be exchanged for ones of lower rarities (and vice versa). Something this game inherited from Princess Connect: Re:Dive was Skip Tickets, a consumable that allows you to reap the rewards of a quest you've already beaten, without actually having to play it. Dragalia is also home to a feature that all gachas should have: the Event Compendium. Missed an event the first time around? Joined the game two years after its initial launch? Need to hoard some more rewards? Stamina and free time burning a hole in your pocket? The Event Compendium basically ensures that you'll have new content to tackle for a damn long while, and you can do so at your leisure. Notte's Notes was another good feature, a library containing nearly every single story event and your roster of adventurers/dragons. You can view their 2D art/3D models, hear some voice clips, rewatch their gacha pull animations, it's all great stuff.

The music drives this game's identity and energy. Coupled with the presentation overall, it transforms the game into something greater, a "straight vibe" is what I believe the kids call it. DAOKO's soundtrack serves as a backbeat for the whole game, really. Her early involvement in creating many of the game's most commonly used songs go a long way. This isn't to discredit all the other talent that worked on Dragalia Lost's music though. The whole OST is incredible. The characters bob their heads to the beat of whatever music is playing in the menus, something I will never fail to think of when I hear "Bokurano Network." Not to mention that the UI is clean and fluid, the way everything slides in and out of frame in the menus is so damn smooth. None of the backdrops for the dialogue segments are static imagery, there's always some subtle bit of life to them. It can be something as simple as foliage swaying in the visible breeze, the clouds passing overhead, light peeking through the treetops, dust particles floating around a musty old room, among countless other examples. A little bit of life in your more mundane elements goes a long way, and Dragalia Lost goes the distance.

On the topic of those character and dragon designs, they're all excellent, even the lesser ones. Character art was all done by one person, Naoki Saito, and that kind of unified style comes through in every character. No two are alike, but no one looks out of place either. Every design is elaborate and colorful, from the main characters to the NPCs. Dragons in particular stand out for not being limited to the typical portrayal of "big lizard monster." Dragons come in all shapes, sizes, and forms in Dragalia Lost (and they're also all designed by one artist!) Dragalia's setting allowed for tons of creative freedom in terms of characters, species, scenarios, and world-building. There's a church system divided by two vastly different sets of beliefs, an set of small islands overseas called "Hinomoto", a species of forest-dwelling rabbit people called "Sylvans", an underwater city of fish people (we were robbed of a playable fish person), celebrations of the lunar new year, and so much more.

A lot of my praise goes to the excellent localization work by 8-4 Ltd and the really good English voice actors, minimal as the voice clips may be. Being a fresh IP under Nintendo's brand and combined with Cygames' connections, Dragalia had the opportunity to have crossovers with tons of out-there properties, including Fire Emblem, Mega Man, Monster Hunter, Persona 5, and Princess Connect: ReDive. All the adventurer stories are worth reading to some degree. Every single one manages to have their own self-contained arc. Dragon stories take the form of fables long since passed. Some of my favorite characters/stories include:

-demon child and her two gay dads
-anything about the Apostles, messengers of Her divine will; Christianity has never been cooler
-Audric and Cassandra. hoo boy.
-The goddess of this world is actually a spunky young alchemist with an adoptive fairy mother
-Pop star mermaid dragon

Finally, I wanna take a moment to thank the community for being so cool. Every time I had a question, wanted help building a team, struggled to wrap my head around the Wyrmprint system, or wanted to play co-op with people who understood what they were even doing, the Discord server was there for me. I'm never gonna forget the jabs we took at Genshin Impact's 1st anniversary (if you could even call it one) versus our third anniversary. Hell, once EoS was announced, I witnessed them going full steam ahead into archival mode. For all the doomposting we joked about, I don't think any of us wanted it for real. We just knew that the announcement could come any day.

Even though Dragalia Lost will reach its end-of-service soon, the one thing I'm the most satisfied with is how the game will end with dignity. The plug won't be pulled prematurely; as of me writing this, the game's campaign has finished with the conclusion of its final chapter. I have no doubt in my mind that I'm going to miss this game. I bought the artbook and both soundtrack CDs just so I'll have something tangible to remember the game by. In the not-so-distant future, the only way to relive all this game's content will be to load up a YouTube playlist from an archive project. It makes a part of me feel hollow, knowing that I'll likely never enjoy this game in its original format ever again. I've always known this to be the eventual fate of all gacha games, but I can't say I ever imagined I would get attached to one like this, much less watch it fade away in real time. So, once more for the road:

Thank you Cygames, and thank you, Mr. Lost.

I think everyone has one predatory gacha game they end up getting attached to, and this one was mine. I played it pretty regularly for some 3 years and I'm a little sad to see it shutting down even though I find it difficult to produce a compelling reason as to why I liked it so much.
The "game" itself is mostly grinding, but it gave me something to do during a time where I really needed a distraction as well as something to consistently look forward to. While there was certainly a meta, you could get through most of the content with whatever units you had as a F2P, and the focus on PvE made it a less hostile experience overall. It also wasn't particularly monetized, which I think was a large contributant to its seemingly premature shutdown.
I really like the character designs and the colorful art, the majority of which I believe is created by Naoki Saito. While maybe not award winning, it seems like a lot of effort was put into the writing, the worldbuilding, and all the lengthy event and individual character stories. The roster of some 300+ characters, each of which with their own personalities and detailed backstories, really brought a lot to the game.
Most long-time players could see the writing on the wall, but the EOS announcement was very sudden. It seems like there was a lot more the devs wanted to do with the world they had made, but funding was probably cut because of the game's dwindling revenue. I hope the Dragalia world and characters get some kind of use in the future, but I'd say the chances are pretty slim.

Dragalia Lost is a mobile action RPG with real time combat. The main gimmick of the game is the fact your characters can transform into "dragons" (it's a very loose term in the game) during battle to unleash strong attacks and skills.

Like most mobile RPGs out there, Dragalia Lost is a gacha game, but it's actually nicely handled. Rates aren't all that bad and the free characters are usually pretty decent. A downside, for me, is that like most mobile games out there, it's very grindy and requires a lot of time investment (which is why I dropped it).

One thing I really liked about the game were the multiplayer raids. Some events had massive bosses you could tackle in co-op with other players and it was a lot of fun.

Overall, it's a fun game, but I just couldn't keep up with the time investment. If you're looking for a good mobile game then this one's worth it.