Saint Seiya Cosmo Fantasy

Overview

Saint Seiya Cosmo Fantasy is a game where the main element revolves on the "gacha" (gotcha) system, which means trying to collect certain items through random, blind rolls, similar to games like Fire Emblem Heroes. In this case, a roster of random playable characters are called Saints, which can vary in rarity between one to five stars. Generally, the rarer the item, the more valuable it becomes. Moreover, rolls can include crafting materials, consumable items and fragments for both items and Saints. Grinding to obtain certain items is an expected mechanism in gacha games like these.

The main loop of Saint Seiya Cosmo Fantasy is going through a series of different missions. Most missions will accept up to five Saints and fights will usually have three different waves of enemies. There are three rows where Saints can stand: Front, Middle and Back. Depending on their row, characters will have more health or be more supportive to the team. Generally, heroes that are more in front will get hit by enemies first, though some attacks negate this order. Saints have both active and passive skills that can trigger at certain points during combat. Each unit has a set amount of health, as well as a Cosmo bar, as seen in their profile card on the bottom of the screen. Once the Cosmo gauge is filled, that character can unleash a Charge skill that gets a short close capture cutscene. Fights can be fully automated, which will trigger Charge skills as soon as they are available.

Clearing a mission yields equipment and crafting items that can be used to improve characters, as well as sporadically dropping Saint fragments. If all waves are completed without losing any Saint, the chapter is cleared as Perfect, after which doing that mission again can be done by spending an Instant Clear ticket, instead of having to actively do all waves.

There are three main currency types in Saint Seiya Cosmo Fantasy. Holy Stones are mostly a premium currency, Gold is the normal currency and Stamina is used to do missions. Stamina recharges over time.

More gameplay features are added as the total player level increases.

Gameplay

The main two fields where it's possible to clear missions are Battle and Quest, where the first contains mostly player versus player (PvP) fights.

Quest:

In Quest, the main option goes through the series' story, somewhat tied to the actual animation series, Saint Seiya, including snapshots of the anime. Certain story chapters can have special scenarios if the five starting Saints contain a story-specific character. Additionally, the Extra mode is used to grind out Saint fragments from these heroes. Depending on their rarity, Saints will require more fragments, in order to unlock them.

There are other options in Quest that get unlocked, as the overall player level increases. Sections are as follows:

- SP Quest: A list of different missions that are time specific events. The time left on the event is listed above the button to pick a difficulty for that section. Higher difficulty will have more leveled enemies, but will also yield better items. A Golden Treasure Hall with level 1 enemies and player experience quests are permanently available here.

- Saint Training Quest: These missions are divided between Total Form and Gold Form. The former drops more Saint leveling items as difficulty increases, while Gold Form yields items that can be sold in the Shop for Gold currency.

- Material Collection Quest: Three different items types can be gained here in growing difficulty tiers. Each type has a special mission requirement, such as only using Bronze Saints or only being able to do physical attacks.

- Grand Pope Quest: PvP-oriented missions that either allow a team to defend a point for a certain amount of hours or capture another player's base. Being part of a Guild can be used to enlist members to help out.

- Otherworld Labyrinth: Battle against a wave of five player teams for tiered rewards. Unlocks at player level 80.

Battle:

The main mode is Arena, where a team of up to five Saints can fight against other player-controlled parties that were formed as a defensive formation. Winning more battles raises the player rank and increases the chance of a promotion into a higher tier. There is only one wave in this mode.

It's possible to see the overal rankings in Battle Ranking in the Battle menu. Additionally, more modes unlock later on, which are as follows:

- Graad Colloseo:A variant to the main Arena, where player fights here follow a "best of 3" rule. Three parties of up to five Saints can be formed and fought against other players, where the victor is the person who wipes two squads.

- Cosmo Challenge: A survival variant, where a team of up to five Saints have to go through a gauntlet of fifteen teams, which can be completed in Normal and Hard difficulty. Rewards are handed out after each fights.

- Olympus Battle: Similar to the Graad Colloseo, fights take on three parties against other players. Winning more fights increases the overall rank, until the phase timer runs out. Unlocks at player level 50.

Gasha

The gacha system, spelled as Gasha here, has several reels where players can invest normal or premium currency to unlock Saints, fragments and items. Some reels have a guaranteed drop of Saints of at least three stars, usually at the cost of rare currency, such as a Beginner ticket. Special reels for special currency only appear when these items are acquired.

A gacha reel for Gold currency is always available and has five free rolls during a day. One in ten rolls is guaranteed a Bronze item, but not a Saint specifically. A reel with premium Holy Stone currency can be spun ten times for free once a day as well. This Holy Stone reel guarantees a Saint for every ten rolls, essentially yielding at one Saint per day, though this can occasionally be fragments. Doing ten spins at a time comes with a 10% reduced cost for that reel.

Guild

Players can join a guild of other players and participate in missions there. Some guilds are free to join, while others have to be applied to. There are specific types of guilds that can be searched for, such as their active time and how dedicated a playerbase they expect. The Guild button on the main menu shows whether there is an active crusade happening or if it has expired. A crusade is a fight against another guild. Both a defensive team, with three teams of five Saints, as well as three teams of five attackers can be set to participate in the crusade.

Guild info can be seen within the guild, which includes what members are present. Guild members can be aided twice per day, which either restore a small amount of Stamina for free or more, at the cost of Gold currency.

Two support Saints can be sent out, which will accrue Gold currency depending on how long they are set. These support characters can be used by guild members for various events, such as training and collection missions.

There is a raid battle option where guild members fight a Saint with huge statistics, as in several millions in health and thousands in attack power. A team of five Saints can take on a fight for a few minutes. The difference here is that the squad can be assembled by either a player's own Saint or up to three support Saints available in the guild.

Saints

As a gacha game, the main grind comes from trying to obtain better Saints as playable characters. Every player will receive a one star Seiya at the start, in their original cloth from their anime appearance, as well as the one-star version of the Dragon, Shiryu. Every Saint comes with at least one Charge skill, which is activated by raising Cosmo in battle.

Leveling Saints takes several forms. To increase a character's potency and unlock new skills, six equipment slots need to be filled with items that drop from missions, after which a class promotion can happen. This promotion consumes the equipment and raises the Saint's stats. As long as items are equipped, blue gear can be enhanced by feeding 20 points worth of other items into them. Some classes will have multiple tiers before switching over to another rarity.

Experience will raise the character's level and base stats. While experience can be gained through having heroes in active teams in most events, the Saints screen also allows players to consume various Drinks to raise that hero's level.

A third bar is dedicated to Cosmo, which is the amount of fragments owned for that character. This bar will increase the amount of stars for that hero and improve their growth rate. Characters not yet owned can also be unlocked this way. For one star, it will take 10 fragments to unlock the hero and 20 fragments to go up to two stars. The amount of fragments needed becomes exponentially larger to get more stars.

As a Saint grows in class promotions, they will unlock more passive skills to use in combat, up to Silver class. Skills can vary between offensive and defensive, such as causing status effects with certain attacks or putting up barriers to nullify damage types. Each skill can be enhances by expending skill points and Gold currency. Skill points recharge over time. There is also a Crusade skill tab that can be increased for heroes that partake in the Guild Crusade event, though these only apply to either attacking or defensive formations.

Auxiliary systems

There are a few other ways to obtain things in Saint Seiya Cosmo Fantasy, indicated by smaller buttons in the main menu screen.

Missions:

Set objectives yield a wide variety of items and currency. Regular missions include following the Story mode, while Daily missions mostly encourage players to take part in all of the game's events. There are special beginner mission tabs with extra objectives for new and returning players.

Login Bonus:

Playing every consecutive day yields rewards from this screen, such as special gacha tickets or Saint fragments. While there is a base login bonus, several special events going on at any time can drop additional rewards. Maintaining a streak ranges from seven days to multiple weeks, though not every streak requires a daily login, but rather returning during a set period of time.

Inbox:

This menu is used for receiving news about the game's state or to get invitations from the player's guild. Moreover, this menu is where multiple rewards from events are sent, such as currency from the Arena. Mail has an expiration date, even if it contains items within.

Shop:

This screen shows multiple shops with a varying amount of currencies. The regular Gold currency shop is always available, while a Rare Shop only appears at specific times and expires shortly after, spurring players to spend Gold and Holy Stones before items are unavailable. Extra shops include Arena, Graad and Guild currencies. Shops show at what time their inventory changes, though it's possible to trigger a manual reset at a cost.

Athena's Miracle:

A roulette, managed by Saint Seiya main character Athena, can be spun ten times per day and yields a base reward of Gold currency, with a chance to include additional items. Spins cost Stamina.

Premium Rank:

Players can increase their Premium Rank in order to be able to perform more actions in-game, such as grinding more Extra quests for Saint fragments. Premium Rank currency can be obtained by doing mission objectives or raised artificially by making in-app purchases.