Gala Stories: An Overview

Gala Stories was one of my favorite fashion games of the time as it housed a variety of fashion styles and an array of customizable items. At the time, it was one of three games that had stores from which to shop. In addition to this, it was one of two that had reasonably priced items.

Main character in their fashion office looking
over designs and making plans.

The Story

One of the top objectives for some of the fashion games of the time, was to have a prosperous and successful career. Gala Stories was no different but there was a more pressing issue at hand: clearing the name of the lead character's grandmother. In the early stages of the game, we learn that the grandmother was accused of stealing designs from a competing fashion house whose owner was a former employee.

From day one up to the final reveal, you have to fight your way through the chatter to uncover all the details about the grandmother's career and personal life. It sounds simple, but you have to do this while running your own fashion shop in addition to fighting off minions of the rival fashion house.

Gameplay

It's basically pointing and clicking which is relatively easy and straight forward. You progress through the game by completing tasks, winning Show Downs and  running your boutique (available at Lvl 25). There are research tasks to help boost your experience as well as help you gain more from your hard work.

Research can last anywhere from five minutes to 3 days; well worth the rewards once complete. There's really no need to rush with the research since they don't hinder your game progress. The same goes for those Couture Show Downs (equivalent of Bosses).

It may be tempting at times to use your diamonds to speed up the process. From experience, it really is a good idea to just wait patiently till the competition finishes. The results will be the same either way.

Diamonds can be used to purchase additional Mojo (energy) but I have recently found myself saving them up for purchasing fashion items; the high end ones. There is haste available that can speed up things and they can be found within city spawns; those gem looking things in town. Clicking on them can bring rewards ranging from the above mentioned haste (vase looking objects) to coins.

Showdowns

There are two types of showdowns: Standard and Couture. Standard showdowns are matches where you can walk around town and showdown the competition (the girls walking about with green talk balloons over their head) on your own. When I first started playing, the determinant of your character winning was based on Popularity Points.

After the update some things changed; part bad and part good. With the changes came the new showdown system. This time, instead of wins being based on Popularity Points they are based on character level.

Meaning if your character is Level 52 and your opponent is Level 55, chances are high that you won't win the showdown. Going up against opponents that are on the same level as you can be 50/50 at times; its pretty much hit or miss. Couture Showdowns are like boss battles and require some additional help.

You can ask fellow players for assistance or wait for your in-game assistant to come and help you; she shows up every four hours. Depending on where you are in the game, bosses will be locked until certain quests become available. When you defeat a boss an x-amount of times you are presented with a bonus in the form of clothing and or accessories that you can claim; getting free items is one of my favorite features in the game.

My avatar wearing one of the latest
releases posing against a loft backdrop.

Fashions

The available fashions within the game range from covering a lot to covering very little; hence the target market. There was a review some time back criticizing the fashions as being too provocative; however, it was discovered from personal experience that this is far from the truth. True there are fashions that show a lot, yet those fashions are optional and are usually the more expensive of the items.

From personal experimentation, it is possible to assemble an outfit that shows very little skin. The bonus on a lot of these stores is the fact that when you discover their clothing (doable by clicking on the clothes hanger icons) you are granted with a bonus of earning a free clothing item from that store. Items from the store could be discovered every 4 hours.

You can also purchase clothes by using Coins, Diamonds, Fashion Points and even Stock. Stock is reference to items in your boutique. Stock is utilized to increase the earnings of items in your boutique which can be claimed as your own once they are stocked to a certain level; from as low as Level 10 to over Level 20.

There are events along the lines of Social and Weekly Offers. As an added bonus, you can get assistance with Social Offers from players of the game. Just send requests and they'll send you the items you need.

New Additions

The basic cities that were available when I first signed on to the game are still there in all their wonderment. Recently, some new locations have been added along with some new fashions. There is currently an Agenda Challenge, as I call it, where you complete certain criteria for promising rewards.

Like items for your closet. So far, I have earned several new outfits for my closet with the latest earned item being an Oriental aqua robe trimmed in fuchsia. I'm currently working toward getting this pretty red dress trimmed in black.

Likable Moments

Usually when it comes to games that are geared toward females the developers tend to make it a little too girly by including the typical 'damsel in distress' scenarios. With this particular game, it seems to be the exact opposite. There are moments when certain things need to get done, yet would normally be seen as something that a guy would do.

I've only been playing for a while now so this is a biggie for me. When I first started playing my character was assigned to build items for their display stand for a Fashion Expo. Rather than another character doing the work, my character had to do the work themselves (used a lot of Mojo in the process).

Later on in the gameplay, they had to visit a hardware store to get materials to do home repairs. Rather than just giving  the information that was needed, the instructor gave a lesson and then my character had to prove that they retained all that was taught by way of successfully completing tasks in the hardware store.

Results: My character was sent to repair a vintage oven door at the local bakery, repair as well as build a salon chair in addition to doing restoration work in her newly acquired house. These kinds of things intrigued me because you don't come across them often in games geared toward girls.

This is the home that I renovated some time after arriving in town. The curtains, furniture and mirrors were done by me. A newly made friend took care of the flooring and the wall panels.

Seasonal Quests/Missions 

Wasn't sure what all the hoopla was about till I logged in one December afternoon. Apparently around this time of year a seasonal quest/location opens up called Santa's Village; there's also a special location for the month of October. You are given a series of tasks that you can complete at your leisure, but not too leisurely.

I can see why the Help button is always present on the mission dialogue box. You can make a couple or several trips back to the game if you choose to leave to do something else till your Fashion Mojo recovers. I got through several missions till the Mojo ran out.

Went shopping to pass the time then went back at it. The beauty of this location is quaint especially since its covered in snow. Can't wait to get to the point where I can actually shop at the stores that are located there.

Unfortunately they are tied to quests so you'll have to wait to do some shopping at that location. Nonetheless, its worth the wait. Currently I'm back at Zaigon after successfully completing one of the Agenda Challenges successfully.

Finally have reached a point where the stores became available for me to do some exploring and shopping.

UPDATE: November 16, 2022

Back in 2016, the game was starting to wind down. Meaning there were no new additions nor updates to the game. When I was on last, I could only dress up my avatar and nothing more.

This was one of my favorite fashion games at the time with a variety of amazing fashions that were added on a near weekly basis. If I were thinking at the time, I would've taken more screen captures of the game.