I don't get the bad reviews. This is a very decent timer-waster like Dragon Cliff and I actually even like No-brainer Heroes better (simply because it is more pleasing to the eye already). The english translation is as bad as expected but it's still good enough to understand everything. There are some chinese (?) signs left over in some of the menus though. The game keeps you occupied for the most part: disenchant stuff, enchant stuff, check the shop, set your hero skills, use items, send your groups to different areas, deal with events, open chests, and so on. But there are also times when you can pretty much just wait until your heros are done with something because there isn't much to improve anymore. This is especially true in the later stages of endless mode. The story only unlocks only after your first victory over the blue dragon for some reason (usually endless mode comes after the story here it's the other way round). I haven't looked into it yet but it looks pretty cool from the main menu. You have a certain amount of points to spend which you can use to select heroes, items and effects that you have unlocked in endless mode (so it's actually worth it to grind for those rare heroes or artifacts - and it really motivated me to do so). Story mode appears to feature a world map too. Endless mode slows down considerably in act 2. It becomes a lot more difficult and grindy at first (easier again later but the grindy part stays). In the later stages of endless mode you will not interact with the game much anymore. The biggest showstoppers are the green, golden and black dragons which force you to adapt to their difficulty. At that point you need to grind for several hours until you have collected enough resources to move your heroes to the next tier (weapon, armour, trinkets, level up cap). Of course you still need to develop a proper strategy. Fortunately you can run the game in the background, also while playing another game (even on my crappy laptop this worked out just fine). As a rough estimate I would say you need around 200 hours to kill the black dragon in endless mode when starting out as a new player. ------------------------------------------ And now for some hints on what to do and what to avoid: - don't get practice (skill), 50 % more exp sounds nice but your heros can't use skills anymore => no skills = no progress and also a quick way to die after the initial areas => only give this to a single hero if he lags behind too much (better feed him xp books) - there are two skills your hero can actvate: skill and ultimate skill if you want to use one of these (and you do) then you should also get the passive skills: skill rate and/or ultimate skill rate these determine how often your heroes will use the skills in auto-combat it may be nice to have a maxed out skill but if they never use it you won't have much out of it => get the passives! - There are hero quality levels Try not to hire blue heroes in the beginning. They are crap for the most part but they also come with a passive xp buff. So hire them later just for that. You will probably never use them. Definitely get Jennifer and give her the early artifact staff. Very useful for the whole game. - There is also an active combat mode where the player controls the heroes. For example when you have to fight the big bad dragons. In this mode you NEED to reconsider your hero skills (unless your heroes are overpowered). This is especially true for the first dragon fight because of the sudden spike in difficulty. Get rid of the auto passives and slot other skills. Reseting hero skills can be a bit expensive in the beginning though. - There are also certain artifacts that you can upgrade to your hearts content. Unlock these and do just that. If you use "refine" on these items you get the best bonuses out of the item in the beginning. Later it is better to enhance first (the bonus improves a whole lot). But if you want to use it in later stages you will have to "break the item limit" multiple times. Otherwise the item becomes too weak. If you do that however, all the refinements are gone. Plus you also need to *fully* upgrade the item to first to be able to "break it". Quite costly. Therefore focus on your two favorite items from each category. There is also an option to enchant the item. The bonus is weak but stays after breaking. Since enchanting cost also increases each level it is best to get a good enchantment early. Something like +5 skill rate or +5 % SP / +5 % attack. - Upgrading the tavern unlocks new heroes (until level 15). But unless you have advanced sufficiently you can't really hire them. You can also hire employees for all your shops here (varying quality levels). - Get either the whitehaired archer or the fat spear guy for the "avoid boss" skill at first. Makes autogrind a lot less of a hassle (but you won't be able to grind for trinkets). Later they don't really matter anymore. Although "boss hunter" becomes a nice addition then. - Save up your skill books for heroes you want to use them on (i.e. not Walter, rather Kaira). At some point in stage 2 these books don't really matter anymore. So you can just dump them on anyone then. - Generally every hero is unique but there are certain types of heroes. Some have skills with high single target damage. These are good for bosses. Others have good aoe, tanking, healing, buff or support abilites (some are mixed). Each hero can be replaced by another one of the same type. No hero is absolutely necessary even though it may at first seem like it. To clear levels quickly you want to invest into fast acting and reliable aoe dmg heroes. Equip these accordingly and level up their gear. To see all the possible heroes take a look at the pretty artbook! (Elf comes last T_T) - The merchant sells you chests which can contain artifacts (depending on the shop level). Some are really worth getting (like the heart gem accessory). More artifacts can be bought from the dragon crystal store (mostly cave grind minigame). The rest comes either from picking the right choices during events (grind every area!). Or from the achievement points shop (very slow progress here, you will rarely use this). - There are fruit that permanently increase one of your character's stats (one for all stats). Use strength fruits even on mages because it raises their defense (similar with the int fruit). Don't get these from the exchange shop. The merchant sells these normally well enough. ------------------------------------------ The rest is easy enough to figure out by yourself. Enjoy!
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