Alteil
Verdict: so strategical!
In a Nutshell: Alteil is a virtual trading card battle game with elements similar to both Pokeman and Magic: The Gathering card games.
“Alteil is a story-driven online card dueling game with art by Japan’s most talented fantasy artists!
. . .The Gods of Old traveled out into the universe, looking for the saviors of Lavato. They eventually came to Earth, and found a planet filled with the universe’s greatest strategists. The gods named their saviors the Iczers, bestowing upon them the remainder of their power and entrusting them with the enchanted cards. Now the Iczers hold the magic of Lavato in their hands. They duel to gain power, fame, and to prepare for the day when evil returns to Lavato. The question is: are you an Iczer?”
- Fun Rating: Fun
- ESRB: n/a
- Players/Mode: Two-player / PvP
- Game Duration: a round can theoretically last a couple of hours but most are about 20 minutes.
- System: web
- Developer: Dex Entertainment, Inc.
- Website: http://alteil.com/
- Cost: Free to play! Extra cards cost $1.5o for 5 (booster), $10 for a starter set, $22 for 75 (box of boosters)
| Would I play this again? | yes |
| Would I recommend this game? | yes |
| Was the story good? | was a little weak |
| Was the music good? | beautiful |
| Were the graphics good? | yes |
| Was this game difficult? | yes |
| Was this game frustrating? | not particularly |
| Was this game offensive? | not really |
| Was this game worth your time/money? | yes |
Playing the game
Starting up Alteil, you’ll need to first register with the site and then decide which of the 4 Spheres of influence you are siding with and choose that Sphere’s starting deck. From here, the best plan is to go through the tutorial and read up on basic strategy.
Battling in Alteil is made up of several layers of strategy but the basic idea is you are trying to attack the opponent and reduce their Life Points (LP) to zero.
Cards come in different levels and can either be creatures or spells. You start each game with a card file of 3o cards to battle with plus 5 Soul Cards. These 35 cards can be any of the cards in your collection.
The battle field in Alteil is a 3×3 grid and cards may be placed in any unoccupied place in the grid. Placing a card in any row increases the range needed to attack you or the cards in a row further back, regardless of which column the cards are in. In order to play a card you’ll need to spend some Spell Points (known in the game as ‘SP’). You start with so many SP to spend at the beginning of the game and gain some each round. SP is spent first to increase your level in each of the Spheres which allows playing a card of that Sphere of that level or below. In order to play a card, you’ll also need to spend the level value of the card in SP. Once in play, you can use use basic attacks or one of the available special attacks or abilities of the card.
As a last line of defense, there are 5 cards that are known as Soul Cards. Soul Cards determine how many life points you start the game with. As your LP gets reduced, the special soul abilities of these cards will kick in which could turn the tide in your favor.
What the game gets right
The music for Alteil is wonderful and will have you humming it as you go about your day and the card art is done really well.. The web interface is slick and only gets a little cumbersome when trying to edit your card deck.
There is so much strategy going on that it makes my brain hurt and plenty of randomness to keep you on your toes and hone your strategical skills.
Unlike card games with physical cards, Alteil gives you your first deck for free and gives you an opportunity to trade in cards you’re not using or not planning to use for in-game currency. This is fantastic for those of us that like to sample a game without the risk of spending money for something we never play again.
What the game gets wrong
Even though there’s a training arena that doesn’t have a time limit or affect your score or rank, the lack of some sort of practice room is rather daunting. Something with an AI oppenent and open decks to see what the opponent plays or being able to watch a programmed game would help imensely.
Continuing with the wish list for new players, Alteil needs a way to slowdown the action to see what exactly is going on the first few games. It took about 10 games to understand what was happening in the opening round alone.
For a story driven game, the history of the world of Alteil is either not particularly good or I’m just not a fan of Japanese fantasy. The backstory developed for the game will give some sense of a greater setting for your battles but seems superfluous.
Why, especially in the fantasy genre, do lady characters rarely have any clothes? C’mon, it’s a fighting game! Wouldn’t they want clothes? Are they just that much more powerful than the men in the world of Alteil that they don’t need clothes? And they’re all equally, ahem, busty? Maybe it’s just me, though. Do the ladies that play Alteil get offended by this?
Sum it up
Read all of the material especially if you are new to battle card games! There is a lot going on in this game and without going through the tutorial and basic strategy sections going into your first game could be daunting.
I’m a big fan of strategy games even if I’m not very good at them. Alteil is one of those games that I would like to take the time to get good at.
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February 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
This game is great. It’s a great break from web designing, especially since it fits in a small browser and has no annoying downloads.
)
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
also good points.
dont forget to rate the game and see user ratings here
August 19th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Nice review. By the way, a few days ago, the game was updated so you can now spectate duels, and there are now NPCs you can fight in single player arena. Check it out!
August 20th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Thanks for the tip! Will certainly try to give it a look.