The perfect anime for waifu lovers, but not a good gacha game
Review - DanMachi BATTLE CHRONICLE

By lyndonguitar

Published on August 26, 2023 Review

DanMachi BATTLE CHRONICLE

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DanMachi BATTLE CHRONICLE is a gacha-based Action Role-Playing Game (ARPG) inspired by the popular anime series “Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?” also known as “DanMachi” (from its original Japanese title DANjon ni Deai o Motomeru no waMACHIgatteiru Darō ka). In this game, players immerse themselves in the fantasy world of Orario, where mythological gods, mighty adventurers, and powerful monsters coexist. The game draws heavily from the anime’s universe, featuring characters and elements from the series.

Pros

Faithful to the story and characters
Really informative tutorials and training missions
Infinite reroll for the first gacha pull## Cons
Stiff and unresponsive controls
No target lock or aim assist while moving
Imbalanced skills and abilities
Not much content outside the main story, some are even tagged as “Coming Soon”
Stingy gacha rates and monetization methods

The game’s central narrative follows the journey of Bell Cranel over the course of the Anime, an ambitious young adventurer who strives to prove his capabilities and become stronger. As players progress through the game, they follow Bell’s evolution from an inexperienced novice to a formidable warrior, and the waifu girls he meets along the way.

Gameplay in DanMachi BATTLE CHRONICLE is characterized by its Action RPG combat, reminiscent of traditional mobile ARPGs like in Genshin Impact, albeit not in open world and instead features instanced levels and dungeons to clear with the real-time combat. The game adopts a popular character-switching system, enabling players to seamlessly alternate between up to three adventurers during battles. Each adventurer possesses distinct skills, strengths, and weaknesses, encouraging strategic team compositions.

The presentation is superb, the graphics adopt a cel-shaded design, common in many anime video game adaptations, and filled with over-the-top anime action. However, the controls tell another story. They feel a bit stiff; there isn’t a target lock for enemies, so you’d have to manually position yourself toward enemies to land hits. Standing still partially solves this problem and results in an assisted aim, but I would have liked a forced target lock feature even while moving, just like in a normal game.

Many attack commands aren’t very responsive; I often found myself locked into animations and attacks, especially when using abilities and character switches, experiencing what feels like a noticeable input delay. There’s a dodge move to evade enemies, but the cooldown takes forever for it to be reliable. The attacks from mobs and bosses are timed frequently, making it almost impossible to avoid them consistently without playing ultra defensively.

Regarding the characters, the game features two sets of character types: Adventurers and an Assist character class. Adventurers are the main combatants of your party, and you can select up to three to seamlessly switch during battles. Each Adventurer has their own set of skills and abilities, as well as strengths and weaknesses against different types of enemies.

Assist characters are paired with Adventurers and effectively function in a support capacity, influencing the adventurer’s HP, recovery, stats, or damage. The downside of this dual character type system is this effectively doubles the need for proper gacha pulls. Additionally, you need to bring Battle Items like potions and equip Scene Cards to enhance the adventurer’s stats or grant new skills for battle. Players can upgrade their Adventurer, Assist, Battle items, and Scene cards using materials gathered from playing the game, as well as by initiating a limit break to upgrade their maximum levels further .

For newcomers, the game does a decent job of retelling the story, although having some prior knowledge of the anime/manga is still recommended. Gameplay-wise, the tutorial makes the game beginner friendly. The game provides helpful tips and guides, ranging from genuinely informative loading screens to comprehensive training missions that unlock as players progress through the first few hours. As for the gacha rolls, the first one offers free infinite reroll tries, which is perfect for those targeting specific characters and who would normally reset the entire progression manually again and again to get what they want.

However, don’t expect generous gacha rates moving forward. I was able to roll some pretty decent characters (UR, SSR, etc) due to beginner bonuses, but beyond that, there aren’t many free-to-play opportunities for acquiring pulls.

Outside the main story — which follows the anime’s storyline from the beginning — there isn’t much content available. One-third of the game modes menu is locked and tagged as “Coming Soon”. The Familia mode is quite basic, essentially representing the guild component of the game, albeit a clever translation of the Familia concept into game form.

For PvP, the Arena game mode is essentially a PvE mode, where players race to kill monsters and try to gather more magic stones than others before the timer ends, which only ends in a chaotic cluster hell and laggy gameplay due to all eight players simultaneously unleashing epic skills in such small space.

Conclusion:

The game’s stunning visuals, waifu characters, and storytelling are the best things about DanMachi BATTLE CHRONICLE, yet gameplay issues, monetization concerns, and lack of overall depth hamper the overall experience especially for free-to-play players. It’s still a journey worth a try especially for fans of the anime, but even the most hardcore of fans might be disheartened by the monetization system, unless they are willing to spend cash to progress easily.

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The perfect anime for waifu lovers, but not a good gacha game
Review - DanMachi BATTLE CHRONICLE