Dragonsoul for Android Review

Another #freemiumfriday is here and we’re looking at our current favorite Android game, PerBlue’s Dragonsoul. This is an older title that was originally released in 2011 and has been continuously updated since. The most recent version, released last week, is 2.3.1.

 

At first, Dragonsoul appears to be just another RPG. The usual mix of dragons, centaurs, sexy fox ladies, orcs, healers, and orc healers, nothing special. But when a player gets stuck into it—something that’s fairly easy, since the game can go on for hours at higher levels—it becomes apparent that the developers put some thought into it. Punny names and odd items aside (why does my hero need so many sandwiches??) aside, leveling up heroes is just easy enough at lower levels to get you hooked and just hard enough at higher levels to keep you from giving up.

The game begins with Umlaut V kidnapping most of your heroes and turning them evil. You start out with Dragon Lady and Unstable Understudy (two female heroes!) and must free the rest of your compatriots.

 

Heroes are freed through gift boxes (rarely) and through the hard graft of the Elite Campaign. The Elite Campaign, unlocked at level eleven, gives the player three chances daily to earn the soulstones needed to bring heroes to life. Heroes require anywhere from 10-80 soulstones to summon.

 

Once a hero has been summoned, the player must continually upgrade them in order to advance in the campaign. Equipping new items and evolving with soulstones will require going back and fighting earlier levels over and over. This can feel repetitive, especially since players will want to concentrate on one hero at a time. Players should try to keep their individual team members on roughly the same power level so that the Expedition (unlocked at level 25) will be winnable.

 

In addition to the campaign, there are several other areas for players to visit. The Fight Pit, unlocked at level 10, allows you to put your top five fighters against other players. The Mountain, unlocked at level 14, gives you two chances to earn either gold coins or XP. Challenges, unlocked at team level 20, give you the chance to earn items needed to promote your heroes. The Expedition, unlocked at level 25, is a fifteen-round saga that lets you earn coins and tokens. The Coliseum, unlocked at team level 44, allows you to pit your top 15 fighters against other players in a three-round game. Note that on Sundays, there are more opportunities for Mountain and Challenge wins.

 

All of these areas should be taken advantage of by the player, assuming they have the time. Dragonsoul gives diamonds, gold coins, XP, and soulstones to players who perform the quests given daily.

There is also a social component to Dragonsoul. At level three, you are allowed to access global chat, but you’re better off waiting until you’re in a guild (level 15) and posting in that chatroom. Paid VIP members have their own chatroom. Players are now able to build friends lists and send private messages. Players are also able to block users.

Guilds are optional to join. However, without them, players cannot hire heroes to help out on their Expeditions and in the Coliseum, cannot participate in Crypt Raids, and cannot put their own heroes up for hire.

Leveling up happens fairly quickly. After about six weeks of free daily play, this reviewer was at team level 59, with 21 heroes at individual levels of 55/56. To put that into perspective, the level cap is 100 and there are 43 heroes in total.

There are very few drawbacks to this game and our biggest gripe is that the game sometimes returns an “Invalid Loot” error message when raiding. It does give you back your energy points, but it can be frustrating to encounter this message three or four times in a row. The second is that the Expedition sometimes pits players against those on other servers who have much higher skills than the player is able to obtain on their own server (all new players start out on Server 6, but the server with the highest upgrades is Server 1). But most foes are able to be defeated and this is only an inconvenience for the highest levels. Players are allowed to make an account of each server, so a player could simply make an account on Server 1 and achieve all of the possible hero upgrades in this game.

Dragonsoul at a Glance

Category: Role Playing Game

Developer: PerBlue

Last updated: 10 June 2016 (review written 15 June)

Is it worth playing? Yes! Dragonsoul is one of the best freemium games for Android. 

What is the time commitment for this game? The higher the level, the longer the play. There are six servers for this game and the player could make new accounts on all of them. It is possible to play for two to three hours daily on one server. If the player does not want to make that kind of time commitment, simply tapping the Sign In logo will award that day’s bonus, including soulstones, ore, enchantment gems, and XP potions.

How long does it take for free games/energy to refill? Players receive one stamina point every five minutes, with half an hour needed to play or raid one normal level. The energy tank is quite roomy, however, and 60 free stamina are given three times per day.

How intrusive are the ads? A pop-up advertising the latest deals for in-game purchases greets you upon opening the app. No outside advertising is shown.

How is premium currency earned? Diamonds are earned by beating stages for the first time, leveling up five times, freeing new heroes, and several other ways. There are numerous paid packages as well. Paying members receive 60 free raid tickets (allowing them to quickly earn loot) per day.

Top tip: Purchasing XP vials is a waste of gold coins. Work on leveling up your heroes’ skills instead.

Does the game utilize Google Play Games? Yes

Does the game grant achievements? Yes

What permissions does the app ask?