When comparing Merchant vs Ys Chronicles 1, the Slant community recommends Ys Chronicles 1 for most people. In the question“What are the best Android games without in-app purchases/paywalls?” Ys Chronicles 1 is ranked 56th while Merchant is ranked 94th. The most important reason people chose Ys Chronicles 1 is:
There are actually no buttons on screen, and the whole game is controlled with a floating Dpad. Interaction with NPCs is down by just bumping into them, same with fighting monsters. This type of control method may appeal to those who find more complicated controls with many buttons complicated.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Pixel art
The game has a nice retro pixel art style. From the menus to the dungeons or shop there is a very familiar aesthetic to the overall design that would have fit in quite well on consoles in the 80's.
Pro Fun resource management mechanic
The player can sell their loot (gathered from a dungeon) for in game money, to then be spent on needed equipment or can equip their loot to try harder dungeons to get better loot to sell for new equipment. Each action is a gamble and may or may not pay off for the player.
Pro In active development
Merchant is still in a very active development phase, which means there will be plenty of bug fixes and new features and tweaks to the gameplay added.
Pro Dedicated subreddit
Merchant has a dedicated subreddit page where users can discuss the game, strategies and bugs.
Pro Completely free and zero permissions
Merchant is a completely free game that also has zero permissions.
Pro Simple directional controls that are easy to understand and work great on touch screens
There are actually no buttons on screen, and the whole game is controlled with a floating Dpad. Interaction with NPCs is down by just bumping into them, same with fighting monsters. This type of control method may appeal to those who find more complicated controls with many buttons complicated.
Pro Classic action RPG gameplay that still holds up to current day games
While an older game, the gameplay itself still holds up pretty well. In classic action RPG fashion, the player sets out on an adventure where they must battle enemies in real time. Similar in style to games such as Zelda or Secret of Mana, Y's is one of the original Japanese action RPGs with great gameplay and polish.
Pro Mobile friendly save system where you save when you want
The save system is pretty forgiving, fitting well with a mobile on the go style of gaming as you can save at anytime you like as well as rely on saves every so often from the game itself.
Cons
Con Current version has both ads and in-app purchases
Con Wait times
There are wait times in the game for both crafting and adventuring. This makes it impossible to sit and play for any length of time and makes the user have to come back to the game often in order to make any significant progress.
Con Lag/delay of action
When pressing buttons in the menus there is a noticeable delay until the requested action actually takes place.
Con Translation is full of errors
The translation of the game is chock full of errors, making for sometimes difficult to read text and hard to follow story.