Saturday, August 17, 2013

Min Hero: Tower of Sages (Pet RPG)

Min Hero: Tower of Sages is a turn-based RPG where the player raises a group of minions to defeat minions of other characters.
Battle!
The game takes place in the Tower of Sages, with the player battling the way to the top to win the title of Grand Sage (and a rare Titan minion). On each floor, the player has to battle three Students to unlock a battle with the Minor Sage. After the battle with the Minor Sage, the player receives a piece of a Seal and access to a hatchery where he/she may gain a new minion.

There are six Seals to gather to unlock the battle with the Grand Sage. Each Seal will give some special ability. For example, one of the latter Seals allows the player to select a second minion from the hatchery if the first selected minion is not desired.
Looking for opponents on a tower floor.
Here's the fun part of the game: each minion can be customized. Each minion has three skill trees. At first, only one of the three may be selected. This essentially allows each minion to perform in one of three different roles.
A skill tree.
There are four tiers in each skill tree. Every 3 skill points invested into a skill tree unlocks a new tier. Spending 10 skill points allows access to the other skill trees, allowing more customization. However, the maximum level is 60, which gives a total of 17 skill points. 1 skill point is required to unlock the first skill tree and 10 has to be invested into that first skill tree to unlock the other skill trees. This leaves 6 skill points to be spent either in the first skill tree or in another.

Note that the additional skill trees also follow the rule requiring 3 skill points for every tier to be unlocked. This means that only the second tier of a second skill tree is available. Or the first tier of both the other skill trees.

It is probably easier to understand all this by trying it out in the game. Fortunately, the game allows unlimited resets of skill, anytime the player is not in battle. This allows lots of experimentation. It also allows a quick respec to make a minion more suitable against a particularly tough opponent in the game.
Stars to buy bonuses.
Stars are awarded to the player based on how many of the player's minions are left after a battle. A three start rating requires that the number of minions the player has left to be no more than one less that the number that the player started with. These stars are used to give a player general bonuses to minions such as extra stats.

There are a fixed number of stars available - three for each opponent. Battles may be repeated for a better star rating. In fact, the floor may be revisited at a later time to challenge its opponent again. Do note that if the player somehow performs worse when repeating a floor, it is possible that the player loses a few stars.
The gem shop.
There are also gems that the player may acquire. These may be slotted into minions in order to improve their stats. Improving a minion's stats with gems can drastically boost its performance. However, the shop has a poor selection of gems available so it is hard to get good gems.

There are different battle conditions other than the usual straightforward fight. One possible condition is where certain minions are shielded from damage temporarily like in the following screenshot.
One of the toughest fights in the game.
Another type of battle condition has minions replaced by a reserve when a minion is defeated. This type of battle is shown on the first screenshot above. All these battle conditions mean that different strategies and tactics are required to win with a three-star rating. The game does a good job of introducing these battle conditions one after another.

With varied battle conditions, the player cannot win the game with the same minions and with the same setup. The player has to constantly rearrange his/her minions and their skills to suit the battle at hand. This brings another another fun part of the game: the preparation before the battle.

In summary, Min Hero: Tower of Sages is an RPG with high customization. Each minion is essentially three different types of characters because of the three skill trees available to each of them, which may be reconfigured at any time. The fun part of the game is both in preparing for battle and the actual battle.

Note: After the player wins the game and acquires his/her Titan, there is a Hard Mode with more fun battles.

Tip:
Rush up the tower levels as fast as possible to gain access to tougher opponents and better gems. Tougher opponents make it easier to train minions. Later, revisit the earlier floors to get all the stars and also to collect any desired minion. This should be easy to do with overpowered, well-equipped minions.

If a bug that leaves the player stuck in a level (say, behind a wall) upon loading the game appears, go the the Save option in the Menu and reset to the lobby.

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