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FTUE: Guardian Stone
Key insights
7 takeaways- 01NHN’s Guardian Stone utilizes a standard free-to-play framework featuring energy-based progression, dual-currency systems, VIP tiers, and a character-collection model where low-tier units are consumed for leveling.
- 02Guardian Stone differentiates itself from regional competitors primarily through a unique cartoon art style rather than mechanical innovation.
- 03Successful retention in the mobile action RPG genre depends more on long-term metagame engagement and character progression systems than on initial mission-based gameplay.
- 04Auto-battle features are implemented as a standard industry solution to mitigate the repetitive nature of the metagame and allow players to bypass manual input.
- 05Core combat mechanics in the title include turn-based tactical elements such as elemental affinities and odd-even turn skill modifiers.
- 06Complex systems such as skill trees, party management, and real-time community notifications create a high barrier to entry for new players.
- 07The game’s onboarding process struggles to balance tutorial depth for casual users with the expectations of experienced RPG players, leading to potential cognitive overload.
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Transcript
hello and welcome to pocket game. biz's YouTube CH Channel this is our first time using a experience playlist and the game we're looking at today is called Guardian Stone so it's from um Korean outfit nhn which is kind of not necessarily better known but it's toast.com toast.com that's this kind of Western kind of um branded kind of portal for it for its mobile games um so like a lot of these kind of uh Asian um Publishers pretty big in in in in career in particular um and now trying to uh kind of U use its experience and use its kind of Financial Muscle and uh see if it can do the same thing in uh North America and Europe and other parts of the world so as we can see it got a typical kind of RPG type thing going on here so let's uh do a ranger
kind of interesting cartoon style choose a guardian okay so it's called Guardian Stone so obviously Guardians are going to be part of it um so again this is kind of um you can one of each one of these is what all the classes we kind of had before so let's go with Agnes the Healer kind of oh there she goes oh well okay catch a death in that would she um into my into hero's name uh where where where where there that's bit difficult to see wasn't it um okay okay okay two and 16 characters that's better the Nintendo uh option of only having it 11
or something um that's okay okay okay and we're in so it doesn't show all the uh that's a bit rubbish it doesn't show you full name hey okay so here we have the oh it's all happening U Great War Mara yeah okay so obviously this is the tutorial bit we look at top of the screen we can get a bit of an idea obviously it's a freet to-play mobile game so we shouldn't be massively surprised there's an energy energy um thing going on engine mechanic um hard currency which I've got none of soft currency which I've got 5,000 of and 10 smiley faces which is something else so there's a VIP system which I am not a VIP um let's go do an adventure so looks like I'm going to let's view the reward not doing
nothing maybe because it's just tutorial okay create a party I've only got one guard in any I so um oh know we got got my healer lady and a baby and a another funny one okay so I'm selecting her okay and select another one the little baby oh I select all three of them okay three okay cost me a bit of energy oh what's going on there waking up your Guardians yeah right come on get that um so here we go okay so that's interesting again we have an auto thing so can I use the auto thing no it's going to take me through the tutorial first um this is the first turn one skill can be used per turn Okay so telling me to use this one this shows number of turns left until the monster attacks again this is all nothing we haven't seen
before so Agnes just took that out so much for healer time for the Second Battle this time up a group of monsters okay so I can select it's kind of very weird this why do I want this notification stuff happening that's very odd Charlie's area of attack G on Charlie Bo boom bo um deals damage to Target deals additional damage if use on even number turn that's overly complicated okay oh well okay yeah boom boom boom but I suppose that kind of stuff is oh should I not be doing that um I suppose that kind of these games have to have a different the differentiation from other games so that's maybe not a bad thing to have using the odd and even going to graphic it's kind of interesting isn't it so
there we go um unlock something which I'm probably now going to use if it's a decent tutorial upgrading a guardian requires another Guardian so again RPG I mean pretty much every RPG now cly everyone coming from Asia uses this kind of card what's come from card battling where you're kind of um collecting characters and then using characters consuming characters to level up other characters okay so we're going to go off to the training field rapid fire so this looks like we actually is going to happen no so that's my skill points okay so again typically you get skill points you go and upgr effectly like a tech treat in a strategy game so go to another adventure let's do a few more of this so I can choose my new skill good let's do do that where is it
okay just tap okay so see another system the stamina so we seeing it's got all I mean the the interesting thing I will just point out quickly not not I'd use it is the auto thing so again that's very uh common now in in these kind of uh games um while this game play is interesting and it obviously has this kind of ter based stuff where you're using it on a on a OD or even turn which is interesting um very quickly it's all about the metag game really it's all about leveling up characters it's all about consuming characters and and leveling them up and using the skills and it's not really about if I've been playing this for a month it's not really about playing this kind of mission type stuff I just want to allo it and let the a I take care of it but um okay uh guard barrier okay when your hero is attacked yes okay collapse okay davious skill
okay so this is kind of this is making me want to do the auto this is getting complex already can I use that one let's do that um so will say this kind of menu stuff at the bottom is not the easiest and not the best not the nicest looking either um tiny bit odd looks a tiny bit placeholder to me he can just do a normal attack can he yeah boom okay I got that guy again do that again
boom I don't care who extreme W's done why would I want that during my game that again that's an odd thing because it's showing you community stuff that's going on but I don't really care what other players are doing do I I've have problems working out what I'm doing um this is often the problem for these kind of the tutorial is fine it tell you what to do you're tapping on stuff but there's a lot going on that I don't fully understand um 10 to 10wn want well I don't want to what's the point in giving me the option oh I press the wrong button again now that's annoying isn't it wonder if I can get out of it um oh and now we've got this okay now we got the elemental stuff kicked in as well if that if I wasn't confused enough
I mean again this is not anything that's that we haven't seen in games before um but good cuz I've forgotten it all already okay well that's nice it will glow when it's good at attacking but as it doesn't really matter because I've got to use their attacks anyway I'm not going to not use an attack for one of my characters I suppose when it gets more complicated you have different attacks maybe that come point so that one's just showing that it's always on then I guess boom no still not dead boom dead balling
this is why the auto button should be on because really this is taking far too long for me not to really know what I'm doing it is going can't do anything none of mine none of mine options are on maybe that was interesting he's on F out that balling is annoying isn't he come on oh something good happened there she did a big attack okay so people are leveling up it's an RPG good oh got quests okay Rend to town so I'm being slightly factious in this um tutorials are difficult things to um kind of get the right pacing on
really Advanced players of which I don't really think I am don't want them um so it's often maybe be good to let people to skip through tutorials um people who haven't played RPGs before probably not very many of them but must be some in every RPG um won't have a clue they' be totally lost I'm a bit between between the two can I tap on that probably not okay so I think we'll leave it there we've got of the first time using experience is not to go into massive depth in these games just to get a taste of um I think the art style is kind of sufficiently interesting um compared to a lot of the kind of Chinese Chinese games that have been uh released in this form so I think there's there's something that's appealing there um I think there's a few odd things that they've chosen to do um so whether it has enough will have enough to retain me for days and months we'll have to see um to find out maybe you should subscribe to
our YouTube channel so as well as um first time using experience stuff that playlist We also do um bit more in-depth stuff on monetizer looks a bit more at monetization um and kind of flow um further into the game have the inaf inspector um a whole bunch of stuff um which you can kind of be informed about if you subscribe that'd be good wouldn't it and it's all about freet tolay mobile games so that's that's our thing we like to play them we like to talk about them and hopefully um you'll find some recommendations um if you if you subscribe because we try do as many of these as we can really so thanks for watching hope to see you again soon
Summary
Guardian Stone, an action RPG developed by the Korean publisher NHN, serves as a case study for the challenges inherent in designing first-time user experiences for mobile games. As the developer seeks to expand its market presence from Asia into North America and Europe, the title utilizes a standard free-to-play mobile RPG framework. Key mechanics include energy-based progression, dual-currency systems, VIP status tiers, and a character-collection model where lower-tier units are consumed to level up primary heroes. The gameplay centers on turn-based combat, featuring tactical elements such as odd-even turn skill modifiers and elemental affinities.
The user experience analysis highlights a common tension in mobile game design: balancing tutorial depth with player engagement. While the game provides a structured introduction to its mechanics, the complexity of the systems—ranging from skill trees and party management to real-time community notifications—can lead to cognitive overload for new players. The inclusion of an auto-battle feature is noted as a standard industry response to the repetitive nature of the metagame, allowing players to bypass manual input once they have mastered the core loops.
Ultimately, the game distinguishes itself through a unique cartoon art style that deviates from typical regional competitors. However, the effectiveness of the onboarding process remains a critical hurdle. The analysis suggests that while the tutorial successfully guides players through basic interactions, it struggles to balance the needs of casual users with those of experienced RPG players. The findings underscore that successful retention in this genre depends less on the initial mission-based gameplay and more on the long-term engagement provided by the metagame, character progression, and the clarity of the user interface.
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