Turn-Based RPG 'Elven Chronicles' Released for iPhone
posted September 27th, 2009 2:08 PM EDT by Blake Patterson in $3.99, Role-Playing, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Mobile developer Big Blue Bubble has released an iPhone version of its popular mobile turn-based role playing game Elven Chronicles [link], winner of the Pop Vox awards, through the App Store.
Turn-based RPGs, such as SoMoGa's popular Vay, are few and far between in the App Store. And so, if our forum readers' reactions are any indication, iPhone RPG fans may find fondness with this release, reworked from its mobile original for the more capable iPhone platform.
Features as listed by the developer:
- Classic Console RPG design
- Massive World Maps
- Captivating Story
- Countless Spells, Weapons, Armour and Accessories
- Random Dungeon Maps
- Stunning Characters and Scenery
- Over 20 hours of Gameplay
Pocket Gamer spoke with Big Blue Bubble regarding the challenges faced in porting the game to the iPhone platform.
…We ported the game from BREW using our own code converter tools and the iTorque engine. This port went very smooth and we had a playable game in a matter of days.
Re-doing all the art took much longer than anticipated and we had to put several artists on the project. Also, as we didn't have the same memory limitations as on the cell phones, it was hard to resist adding more art content so this took some time as well.
Finally, we had to re-do all the controls and menu system. Even though fully functional, it just didn't feel right. This is last thing we need to complete before sending the game to Apple.
The studio indicates that they have their ear to the ground and updates, including expansion packs, will be forthcoming, including features added via microtransactions.
Elven Chronicles is currently being offered at a limited time, introductory price of $3.99.
See the developer's game trailer for a closer look.
App Store Link: Elven Chronicles, $3.99 (limited time)
"…We ported the game from BREW"
and that's when I stopped reading.
Yeah no kidding!
Looks like a cheap mobile phone game from 10 years ago. The iPhone *should* be getting ports of stuff like Dragon Quest 9 (DS), Final Fantasy 13 Agito (PSP), and Disgaea Infinity (PSP). You know, real RPGs.
Not enough eople are willing to pay for those games–Dragon Quest 9, Final Fantasy 13 Agito, Disgaea Infinity, or any other "real" RPG. Hence, we will never see them. This is the game you get when you are reluctant to pay more than $5.00 for a game. Dragon Quest 9 wouldn't cost any less to buy on the iphone then it costs on the DS, which is it will never be on the iphone. The PSPgo doesnt have a UMD drive. The system is 100% digital. The games, however, are still going to cost the same. you are going to be downloading $30/$40 games to you PSPgo. People will never pay those prices on iphone games. So, games of that quality will never come to the iphone.
Agreed. This looks like a lame cell phone game.
iPhone will never get good ports from DS or PSP because price point is less than 5% of what they can get on those platforms.
And yet the profit margin is substantially higher. No manufacturing or packaging costs and 70% off the top.
We got a good port of Robocalypse
ew the art is so lame. i wouldn't play this if it was free.
Another bog standard JRPG full of Meh.
What was the last time you played a JRPG?! This game looks nothing like one, which is probably because it was developed in Canada.
I'm interested, if only because the iPhone isseriously lacking some 2D RPGs like this. And face it, the graphics aren't that much worse than Zenonia. In any case, they're sharper, if a little dull.
It looks pretty bad in this video, but if you check the HD video (go to Youtube), you will see that it looks much better than Zenonia. Zenonia is very blurry – it seems just scaled up but I still like it.
Zenonia is upscaled and blurry for sure, but at least the art has some style to it. This looks very generic and uninteresting.
Zenonia uses the classic Korean art style
One point I've always made is that there were some great, and I mean hours of drooling awesome action and RPG games on the gameboy advance. Graphics are not everything. If this game truly does have the depth that all these crappy 3D ports don't, props to them. On the other hand this specific game looks pretty awful.
gba had tons of amazing looking games, this looks nothing like those. It looks like the older final fantasy games but with pretty bad art and looks super slow o0"
Well I have it and it's pretty good – having played the cell phone version, the iPhone version is a decent port and is overall a better version to play. The touch controls work great and the turn based nature of the game makes a nice change as it's well suited to the platform.
It actually looks very good. Much better than average DS or iPhone RPG. There is not many animation though. Gameplay is really good and I like it.
You need to try playing some DS RPGs.
This is my first time actually saying anything about a iphone game on this site. First of all,I have to say people seem to be treating this game unfairly. I downloaded it and played it for about 40mins and i have to say its pretty good. The presention is pretty good reminds me of zenonia ( a game i really liked). the sounld is hit or miss to me but its not too bad. The controls are ok but i do wish they made it so you could use a dpad to control the movement, as for the turn base rpg combat i have to say its pretty fun once you get to around lvl 10 and you get more spells. Only thing i didnt really like was that you only can control 2 characters in combat but all in all it was worth the 4$.
The fact most of the opinions are from people who haven't tried the game, negates anything meaningful they might have to say. I bought the game yesterday and have played it for about 3-4 hours since then and think it's a pretty good game. I've seen far worse graphics, but the gameplay is a lot of fun, and worth the 3.99.
Cool, I like RPG game. Thumbs UP
you guys are being pretty harsh. Not all games have to be 3D or have the very latest ideas to be good. Especially on your cell phone , the iphone, which is a game platform 2nd or 3rd and the game is 4 dollars not 55 dollars.
However, having said that, this isn't really up my alley. I'm looking for a portgrade of ultima 4 through 7 on the iphone… that's what'll make me happy.