Terra Battle

Overview

Terra Battle is a free-to-play tactical RPG for iOS and Android mobile devices from Mistwalker Corporation. It was released on October 9, 2014.

Plot

The story of Terra Battle is set in a fantasy world of humans, beastfolk, and lizardfolk. Their collective civilization believes that their creator, the Maker, lives under the surface, but no one that has ventured down into the depths of the world has been able to prove that the Maker exists. The player takes on the role of a new adventuring party attempting to solve the mystery themselves.

Gameplay

Combat in Terra Battle takes place on a rectangular grid of squares. To move, the player drags a unit with their finger to the desired square. Attacking is performed by flanking enemy units on opposing sides with two or more allies. The more allies that are lined up in the same row or column as the attacking units, the more powerful the attack chain. Each battle lasts a set number of waves, with the final wave sometimes featuring a boss that takes up more than one square on the battle grid.

Each battle has a specific cost of entry. This cost includes stamina and in some cases coins. If the player does not have enough stamina to enter a battle, time must pass in order to accumulate it at a rate of one point of stamina every five minutes. The player's maximum stamina increases as progress is made in the game. When the player clears a chapter in the story, the stamina meter is refilled to its new maximum.

Free-to-Play Elements

As with many free-to-play games, Terra Battle allows the player to pay money for in-game currency. Specifically, the player can buy units of energy and stamina. Energy is a special currency that can be used to recruit unique characters to the player's party and can also be spent to continue a battle if the player's party is defeated. Stamina, as mentioned above, is required for entering battle.

Metal and Hunting Zones

The Metal Zones and Hunting Zones are special battlegrounds that are only open at select times of day. The Metal Zones are home to metal enemies that are worth higher-than-average amounts of experience points for characters within specific level ranges, while the Hunting Zones allow farming of items or coins.

Download Starter Campaign

Terra Battle is the subject of a "Download Starter" campaign, in which additional content will be added to the game as milestones are met in terms of the number of times the game has been downloaded. Content rewards include additional music from Nobuo Uematsu, an additional scenario written by Yasumi Matsuno, and new characters from a variety of designers, including Yoshitaka Amano. Should the game be downloaded two million times, Mistwalker will begin development of a version of Terra Battle for consoles.

Achieved Goals

• 100,000 Downloads: New music by Nobuo Uematsu.
• 200,000 Downloads: New characters designed by Hideo Minaba.
• 300,000 Downloads: New characters designed by manga artist Nakaba Suzuki.
• 400,000 Downloads: New characters designed by Hitoshi Yoneda.
• 500,000 Downloads: New characters designed by Manabu Kusunoki.
• 600,000 Downloads: New characters designed by Kimihiko Fujisaka (Fujisaka also created the game's original, pre-campaign characters).
• 700,000 Downloads: New characters designed by Naoto Oshima. Mistwalker begins development of a co-op battle mode.
• 800,000 Downloads: Work begins on a printed strategy guide for the game.
• 900,000 Downloads: The game's development team will select songs from the Terra Battle soundtrack to release as a free download.
• 1,000,000 Downloads: Mistwalker begins development of a versus battle mode and new battle portrait art for all of the game's character. Plans are made for a live concert of Uematsu's Terra Battle music in Japan, along with select tracks from past titles.
• 1,100,000 Downloads: A "Bearded Sakaguchi" boss monster is added to the game.
• 1,200,000 Downloads: More new music by Nobuo Uematsu.