by A.J. Coltrane
My intent is to write a few posts about what I’ve been playing on the android phone as time-killers. (a.k.a. “What I’ve been playing while I wait for the Marvel Puzzle Quest heroes to heal”.) Some of these games are more fun than others, but each has something that kept me interested, at least for a while.
First up:
Brave Frontiers
Cost: Free, with optional in-game purchases that aren’t really needed if you log in daily and approach the game in a casual fashion. (See below.)
What is it?: Sort of a high-fantasy Japan-anime Pokemon style turn-based fighting game. (whew)
You create a team of heroes and fight whatever the quest requires. Every creature/hero is inherently one of six colors, and there’s a rock/ paper/ scissors element to it — Blue > Red > Green > Yellow > Blue… Also — White > Black > White. The quests often involve fighting creatures of a certain color, so having the “rock to their scissors” can be very helpful.
When you win a fight you’re rewarded with gold, crafting materials, and sometimes you get an “essence” of one of the creatures that you defeated. These “essences” are “fused” with your existing creatures/heroes to level them up and improve their abilities.
Why It Held My Interest: I’m always a sucker for Diablo-style random drops, and Brave Frontiers has that with the essences. The actual crafting portion isn’t as interesting, but it still adds something.
Other Thoughts:
1. Eventually, “optimal” fighting becomes more or less the same, which is why I eventually tired on it somewhat.
2. If you decide that this game looks interesting I would *highly* recommended that you log in daily — the daily rewards can include “gems” once you’ve logged in a number of days in a row. The “gems” are used to increase your inventory slots for creatures, which you’ll need. (You can use “gems” for lots of things, as a casual player I’d recommend using them ONLY for creature slots.) The “gems” are where the developers try to monetize the game.
3. Quests require “energy” to fight, starting at 3 energy and going up from there as you advance. Energy regenerates at the rate of 1 point per 10 minutes, which leads to the next point: The fights can be unforgiving — there are times that you don’t know that you’re not “tall enough to ride this ride” until after you’ve gotten the snot kicked out of you, which basically represents a time sink… of course you can repair your energy faster with “gems”…
Overall though, if you like Pokemon-style games you can do a lot worse, I got quite a few hours out of Brave Frontiers, and I’m leaving the window open to maybe playing more.
Just make sure to check out the Brave Frontiers wiki if you’re at all serious about advancement.
FlatbreadGarden 