Legend of Fae

First impression: If you liked Puzzle Quest, but thought it was too slow, Legend of Fae is for you.
EDIT:
Second impression: First impression still holds. However, unlike Puzzle Quest, Legend of Fae is...well, easy. I seem to be done with the tutorial parts and have entered the actual meat of the game. You're given an option between two difficulties, easy and hard. I picked hard. Thus far, everything has been an absolute pushover. Each level has an "expert" bonus target for completing it in a certain time and with a certain score, and I've been able to amply reach both goals on every level, often doubling the score and halving the time.
Not to say it hasn't been fun. It has. I'm just also waiting for my HP bar to dip below 90%, so that I actually need to heal myself.
EDIT:
Third impression: First impression still holds.
The game's difficulty has started noticably ramping up. It's still nowhere near "too hard", though I have begun to miss score and/or time goals by smallish margins. Perhaps I spoke too soon on the too easy part.
There's also a bonus boss I unlocked a while back. I've tried it a few times, but it utterly destroys me every time.

a nice casual match-3 game with :
- cute western art
- nice fantasy story
- elemental-based 'attack'
- 'skill' upgrades
- boss battles
too bad it doesn't have steam achievements & cards.

I had been looking forward to playing this game since I first made this steam account. The artstyle is appealing, you might even call it cute, and a match 3 game with combat sounds like it might be a fun time.
As it turns out, Legend of Fae is pretty good!
It is a match 3 game with combat, as I mentioned earlier, where you match gems(orbs?) of an element (Fire, Water, Wind and Earth) to defeat enemies. The enemies can also have elemental affinities so you can't just cast whatever at an enemy and get by. There's also an upgrade system where you can choose from better elemental attacks, combo spells and summons. You can also respec your skill tree if you want to try something different. There's a surprising amount of depth and different ways to play, which is nice.
I played the game on Hard and it's worth noting that near the end of the game it gets HARD. If you aren't in total control of what's going on in the combat in the later levels you will drop so quickly that it's kind of frustrating. I also ran into a couple of points where I had to respec several times because it felt like the skills I had just weren't enough. It is a puzzle game (kind of) so you can "figure it out" in a sense.
The story is also pretty interesting, it definitely goes some places over the course of the game that I didn't really expect it to. If there were somehow a sequel that was a continuation of the events of this game (as unlikely as that may be) I'd be on it from day one.
So yeah, if you want a little lite-RPG in your gem matching escapades then you should probably pick this up. Maybe stick to casual mode if you don't want to have too hard of a time in the combat.

Great match-three game with pretty graphics and a nice story. The end is hellishly difficult though.
Valdis Story, the next game from Endless Fluff Games is also awesome (metroidvania).

Simple in its concept but quite addictive. This can remind of bejeweled or any games using the same gameplay, but with more options. You also have to fight monsters using the attacks you gain by putting elements together (a line or goup of 3 or more tiles). Perfect for when you have just a short period of time to play (Most of the chapters are between 8 and 12 minutes). Cute graphics and story. Easy to understand and play. I have played about 20 chapters so far and intend to finish the game.
You get to travel with 4 elemental spirits that will help you fight along the way. For each chapter you complete, you gain a puzzle piece which you can use to buy upgrades for the spirits/elementals that fights with you. This gives you options to help you win the further chapters and fight more ennemies. You're also free to upgrade the spirits you want (there is no obligation so you can upgrade only one of them if you want).
There are some records to beat and level of difficulty as well, which is interesting.

"Endless Fluff" may be an apt description of this game, but not in a bad way. The story is cute, the characters are cute -- even the monsters are cute! But cuteness does not detract from the plot and gameplay. This game actually has an engaging storyline, which one may not expect from what appears to be a basic "match three" puzzle game. While the puzzle aspects of the game can occasionally become tedious, the story and RPG elements keep you coming back after you die. And I actually do like the RPG elements and the ability to upgrade your various elements in order to perform special attacks when you do "match" the correct jems together. In all, I do highly recommend this game.

This game is you know it's match 3 and RPG during battle right? it's one of the game i play when i was a child. Well you should try this game because at least it's fun. The story is more than interesting and see how Claudia look like before her appearances in Fae Tactics though (in cause you don't know this game is a prequel to Fae Tactics) This is really good game. This and Fae tactics should get more attention.