Game Review #180: Braveland Trilogy (Nintendo Switch)
Updated: Mar 22, 2020
Reviewer: Bradford E.
Developer: Tortuga Team
Publisher: Ellada Games
Category: Strategy, Role-Playing, Adventure, Party
Release Date: 3.7.2019
Price (at time of review): $14.99
Buy Braveland Trilogy from the Nintendo eShop here.
Triple the Stories, Triple the Fun
I’ve said it before and I am going to say it again, gamers usually relate to other gamers. Many of you readying this, if anyone is reading this, I bet can relate a little more to this story than the last one. This isn’t even about to be a story, but a relatable problem. How many of you out there can relate to this; too many amazing games, not enough time? And on top of that as you buy a game you don’t get to finish it because you don’t have enough time and another new amazing game is coming out. I would say it is the ultimate level of depression and stress, at least when it comes to being a hardcore gamer.
Well, have I got the solution for you! Technically, Ellada Games along with Tortuga Team has the solution and I am just going to recommend the solution based off of my observations. That solution is: Braveland Trilogy.
Braveland Trilogy is an adventure and action style RPG. For those of you that don’t know what RPG means via gaming talk, click the blue RPG that I just wrote. For those of you reading my reviews thus far I always talk about how I love stories and that’s usually what I look at the most in the game. But what I forget to mention is that with the lack of time, I usually never get to finish games completely or go long periods in between games because of newer ones coming out. Therefore, I usually forgot what the story was about. The struggle is real. Anyways ,what I loved about Braveland Trilogy was two things and I’ll talk about one now, and one later on.
So the first thing that I really enjoyed and liked about Braveland is that it is 3 mini stories in one game! The reason I really enjoyed this is because as much as I love gaming, with my job and being a family guy, it makes it hard to finish games or even pick them up a lot. Well with Braveland and the fact that it is 3 mini stories in one game and because there wasn’t a lot of details to each story (more basic like a child’s book) it wasn’t hard to remember where I was and what I was doing. I was easily able to pick up where I left off. Or even on the weekends when the kids went to bed I was able to complete stories since each one only lasts a few hours. Thus, the game is also good for the gamers that just usually dedicate a few hours to shorter games on the weekend just because they are easier to beat without having to dedicate too much time to them.
There are three characters you can play as, each with their own story. This is where the 3 mini stories come from. You have:
Warrior of the Kingdom - A warrior avenging his attacked village.
Ice Mage - Where Diana is a winter mage that finishes Hogwarts - I mean wizardry school - and she goes on a quest to complete one final test to earn the title of Wizard.
Pirate Captain - Where Jim, a lonely traveler, runs into a group of pirates and asks to join their crew. Who would have known that on his first day he would get raided by a ghost ship and end up stranded on an island?
Something familiar
When playing the game, I used the Nintendo licensed Pro Controller and it made me feel right at home. There’s a cursor during combat and you use the Left Thumbsick or D-pad to move where the cursor is. You use A button to confirm your selection and to continue the readings of the story and dialogue. B Button is your cancel selection and go back button. In combat if your unit has an ability available you use Y to select it for your turn. L button lets you skip a turn with that unit and come back to them. R button will allow you to sacrifice your unit’s attack and put up a defense shield for one turn. It’s a very basic, very enjoyable button command layout.
Audio/Visuals
Remember how I said there were two things I said I really enjoyed about the game and I would wait for the right time to explain it? Well that time is now and it’s because I absolutely loved the whole setup of the game both audio and graphics wise. The visuals of the game really reminded me of Scribblenauts. I’m not saying it was exactly the same, but if I had to choose its closest comparison, I would say Scribblenauts all day long. I’m not saying I prefer 2D style cartoony graphics over some of those beautiful 3D graphics of, like, Final Fantasy XV or Kingdom Hearts III, but it actually helped keep my older kid entertained enough to get him interested in RPGs. He was curious enough to get involved and ask questions (and now he is addicted) because of the cartoony layout and the lack of blood when fighting or graphical wounds that the cartoony style games usually get.
As for the audio and music it was interesting that the theme of the music was based off of the main character you chose. If you used the warrior, it played more medieval knight style music. The ice mage story was more of an up-beat flute music that reminds you of other wood-based games. The music definitely had a very fairy/woodsie type of music. As for the Pirate story, if I had to close my eyes and listen to the music it would make me think of an older century style festival friendly music. Although each story had its own nice music to match their themes, they did share the music when engaged in combat. And if they were different, they sounded highly alike. Regardless, the combat music was really enticing.
They are Similar, but Never the Same
RPGs are very similar in so many ways and even though there are so many of them out there, they never really are the same. You have your main character and based off your leader they would give different stat buffs. For instance, the Warrior gave a boost in Attack, Diana (the ice mage) gives a boost in Knowledge, and Jim (the pirate) gives a boost in well nothing because pirates are dirty selfish people. No really, I couldn’t find what having Jim as a leader buffed. You know what? I do give Jim a hand though because he is the only character you play as that fights his own battles. When you play as Warrior and Diana they do not engage in combat; only their units battle, but Jim on the other hand does fight in his battles along with the units. “This captain goes down with the ship”, such a classic Senses Fail lyric and that part well defines Jim.
During battle it is the classic turn-based battle system for RPGs and not that silly hack n slash doo-doo. It is more strategic and makes you have to strategically use your turns, which is how it should be. During battle you are commanding your units and have different styles that you can use. You have your Melee style, Ranged style characters, and Tank Style, and each style has different characters and different stats. And what you are trying to build is a Squad.
Your Squad runs off the value system and the value limit is 15. How it works is each unit (character) is assigned a number and the when you make a squad your unit total can’t be higher than the limit number. So, you can combine them any which way you want, as long as the value is 15 or less. Another example of the game making you use strategy. I usually do At least 2 ranged characters to use in taking out enemy ranged troops. I will use my close-combat style troops to go more for the enemy close-combat troops and the boss, during a boss battle. Units are also your life, how it works is you can have multiple of each unit which gives it a unit total.
The higher the total units the stronger they attack, however if you run out of all units during a battle that will be how you die. Right there, that’s the key to survival. KEEP YOUR UNITS ALIVE. Each unit has a limit of how many you can carry, and throughout the maps you come across points where you can buy troops until you reach the cap limit - DO THAT! And just like all other RPGs or most games nowadays in general you will come across gear that you can equip as you please and give boosts to your attributes, making your units stronger.
This game has all the basic elements of RPG style games, and by keeping it simple Braveland Trilogy makes sure it doesn’t get overwhelming at all. It was easy and appealing enough to get my kid into RPG style games, which is a huge thumbs up from me. And, like I said, because of the perfect amount of story it is great for people who lack time and can only play here and there or maybe sit for a couple hours at a time to beat one of the Heroes’ stories. Another thing that I usually include in reviewing a game or when gathering my final thoughts is what the game is selling for versus what you actually get in return. I guess what it sells for (unless I already know) and see how far off I am. I was way off with this game as I would have easily priced this at $29.99. IT’S ONLY $14.99! That’s a steal!
Like I said, it doesn’t have the most advanced graphics, or an insane story or combat system, but it gives perfect value for what you get and what you pay. So, because of that and the fact that it has my kid getting more interested into RPGs I easily give this game a perfect 10!
Score: 10/10
Buy Braveland Trilogy from the Nintendo eShop here.
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