Welcome to Worth It? Our new segment where we try out mobile games to see if it’s worth your time investing, and even your wallet for those nice juicy Gacha rolls. We try to pick some of the popular and newly released mobile games and play for several days to see how polish it was and if your investment is worth it for the game.

For our first entry will be Dragalia Lost, which is a collaboration between Nintendo and Cygames (the mad lads behind Granblue Fantasy and Shadowverse). The game has been out for more than a year and the game has some large following in other countries. Let’s see if this mobile Gacha game worth your time and money.

Gameplay

Dragalia Lost features an action-packed and fast-paced gameplay where you can enjoy the game with just one hand in a portrait-oriented screen. You form a four-man party in which you can guide your party by dragging and swiping on the screen to navigate around dungeons and tapping to combo attacks, you can switch to a different character in your party by touching on the character portrait.

You go out on quests to clear out the area infested with enemies or trying to reach the exit point as soon as possible, then your party will have to face a boss in order to clear the level. Characters can be upgraded with weapons, Wyrmprints that provide stat boosts and buffs that can enhance your characters’ capabilities and dragons that you can transform into that can land devastating damage to foes. And in case you get lazy on grinding quests, you can set it to auto-battle and set it to a certain number of repeats to a single quest, auto-battles however, can’t be initiated during multiplayer raids.

In some cases, you can participate quests with other players in real-time where it feels more of a co-op MMO game that requires proper coordination and teamwork. And in tougher quests, you’ll join in massive raid battles where up to 16 characters will fill the area to defeat a giant boss monster.

Outside of the action, you will be able to build your new kingdom by building structures that can help increase the stats of your characters as well as stocking up on resources. This feature is very similar to city management mobile games where you build or upgrade a structure and wait for a certain period of time to complete it, some events give out unique structures that can boost your stats and are upgradeable in exchange for event-exclusive materials.

Presentation

Dragalia Lost is purely an anime-style game complete with anime-style character designs and features a long list of voice actors lending voice to the characters. Most of the cutscenes have voiced dialogues that give it a visual novel-style of presentation added with good story writing and character development, making it more entertaining to unravel the stories and lore of the game as they progress further. Soundtracks are heavily based on popular JPOP star DAOKO’s songs, which adds a flair to the game with her catchy tune, you’ll be hearing her vocals in the main menu, boss battles and even during Gacha rolls with some instrumental tracks coming from her albums.

Content

Aside from the campaign stories that get added with new chapters once in a while, there are special quests that let you farm for materials to upgrade your team. There are also Void Battles and Dragon Trials to test your might against some of the toughest behemoths, you can also go for the toughest challenge with Astral Raids where you join up with other players in a raid against the most deadly bosses.

It also has the usual character and dragon banners for collecting new characters to your roster and seasonal themed events and raids. These events offer unique missions and give you a chance to recruit new characters when you meet certain requirements, and most of these events offer a hefty amount of rewards. There are some cases where the seasonal event is a collaboration with different game franchises, notable titles include Fire Emblem, Mega Man and Monster Hunter.

The Good Side

One of the best parts in Dragalia Lost was its presentation, the menu transition and effects feel smooth and well thought of, giving that premium game feel that lacks from other mobile games in the market. The action-oriented gameplay is also one of its biggest highlights, giving a new engaging gameplay experience in the Gacha game trend, it makes it easier to play with its simplified gameplay and has the option for automated battle in case you want to skip the repetitive grinding. As for premium items, spending money for the game would probably prioritize more on gacha rolls via character summoning, as the drop rates in the game are more forgivable than with other games available. And the soundtrack is just contagious, whether you’re a fan of DAOKO or not, her music in the game fits well to its cutesy anime art-style, and it doesn’t bore you unless you’re not into JPOP.

The Bad Side

Despite having two to three special events per month, most of it is just repeats from the previous year, giving it little reason for veteran players to revisit it and grind for more rewards. The game would need to have more unique events that provide a new gameplay experience, similar to the previous event they made for Fire Emblem where it introduced a new quest that has inspiration from tower defense and horde games.

Is it Worth It?

With the game running for one and a half years, Dragalia Lost still continues to improve its gameplay experience and providing more content with a series of in-game events. It’s a worthwhile game to invest when starting new as there will be a lot of rewards that can give you a headstart in the beginning and it will keep you hooked with tons of monthly events.

As for spending, the drop rate for powerful characters and dragons is forgivable, as you can land a couple of ultra-rares in just a few 10-roll attempts, and the cost for summoning has been lowered due to player feedback. And in case you don’t want to spend money at the game, you can still earn Wrymite (currency for premium items) or summoning vouchers through quest rewards and achievements or through special events. So spending or grinding, you’ll still be able to enjoy the game even at the endgame contents.