Phantom Chaser was a mobile RPG similar to Yokai Watch with a unique twist, the "Mimic" system, allowing innovative skill combinations, resulting in countless possibilities. Recruit and master over 130 Phantoms, from both Eastern and Western mythology such as Phoenix or Baphomet.
Publisher: Glohow Type: Mobile RPG Release Date: October 19, 2017 Shut Down: October 4, 2020 PvP: World Pros: +Deep Unit development system +Extensive PvE content (story/unit customization) +Stellar graphics Cons: -Large Stamina Consumption -P2W elements -Arduous Ascension Material Grind
Game of Thrones: Conquest is a mobile MMO strategy game set in the world of Westeros. Rally your forces, fortify your household, and dabble in political intrigue to seize The Iron Throne.
Publisher: R2 Games / Warner Bros Playerbase: High Type: Mobile Strategy Release Date: October 19, 2017 PvP: World Pros: +Game of Thrones cast. +Varied landscapes. +Cosmetic Gear for your Leader. Cons: -Generic RTS Gameplay. -P2W structure.
Gods Origin Online is a browser based MMO where the player assumes the role of a Summoner, calling Deities back in time in order to save them from the The Ragnarok. Play as a Swordsman or a Magician, gather the Gods, consolidate your power, and save the world!
Publisher: ViVaGames.me Playerbase: Medium Type: Browser MMORPG Release Date: August 29, 2017 Pros: +Extensive PvE content +Multitudes of gear to collect and upgrade +Rewarding leveling and story progression Cons: -Activities limited by stamina -Pay 2 Win elements -Incomplete English Translations
Sacred Saga Online is a browser based MMORPG where you defend the city of Athens from the other Gods. Play as a warrior chosen by Athena and gifted Sacred Sets of armor to fight the legions of minions sent to take the city. Fight monsters and deities like Poseidon and Hades as the last line of defense in your quest to protect everyone from evil.
Publisher: Global Genom Corporate Playerbase: Medium Type: Browser MMORPG Release Date: October 25, 2017 Pros: +Powerful armor sets to collect. +Rewarding leveling progression. +Multitudes of PvE content. Cons: -Automated Gameplay. -Pay 2 Win elements. -Cluttered UI. -RMT required to create guilds.
Game: Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ Platform:iOS/Android Release Date: Sept. 2015 (Japan)/Apr. 2016 (North America)/ June 2016 (Europe)
About damn time I wrote this.
Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is available worldwide as of June 16, 2016. I have been playing the first MMO mobile port in the franchise since its North American release on April 7, 2016. Every day. Seriously. I have daily check-in awards for over eighty days of consistent playing, a level 212 customized avatar, 198 collected medals (so far), 6,743 total medals gathered, and over 13,880,600 Munny spent to prove it. I actually had to stop typing briefly to finish a gathering quest for upgrade materials since Thursdays are Speed Attribute material quest days and I need enough to fully upgrade my special A Fragmentary Passage-2.8 Sora 3D medals.
Stop judging me. I can feel your stares. Your scorn fuels me.
I might have a problem...
I waited on this article because I wanted to glean maximum information and experience via gameplay before I made it hail knowledge on all of the KHUx fans. Then, Square Enix dropped a Pre-E3 2016 announcement about Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue- including Birth by Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage and Kingdom Hearts χ: Back Cover - with an absolutely gorgeous trailer. I watched this trailer with repeated fervor akin to our ancient ancestors marveling over fire.
It was time to write what I had put off for months.
For some, SquEnix’s announcement was a letdown. The people want Kingdom Hearts 3. So do I, but a large section of my soul wants to stave that final installment a wee bit longer. The Kingdom Hearts franchise is a teenager now; it is fourteen years old. I watched it grow up, try new things, meet new people, travel the globe, make mistakes, aim for new heights, and build believers out of doubters. Knowing the end is nigh makes me tear up because a story will see its end.
Those of you that know me outside the virtual realm are familiar with my love for a good story. One that wrenches emotion from your core and illuminates dark elements we frequently tend to glance over in the real world: J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter, all works Stephen King, James Patterson’s Maximum Ride, Tidus’ legacy in Final Fantasy X—these works of art pull me in with their powerful tales. The latter inspired a tattoo forever etched into my skin as a constant reminder that this life “...is my story.”
The same depth speaks true for Kingdom Hearts. However, the story’s grandeur is frequently eclipsed by its complexity. Thus, allow me to introduce Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ before we reach the crescendo this December with further plot reveals from KH HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
New Mechanics
First, a little clarification: KHUx is a mobile port of Kingdom Hearts χ [Chi]; the latter only had a Japanese release. Despite being a port, the two are not considered one game. Each entry contributes to the story in its own way. The main differences between the two games are 1) KHx has you equip cards to your avatar’s keyblade as attacks. KHUx has the player equip medals instead. 2) Possibly the biggest lament amongst North American and European players is that we will never have access to the “Beast’s Castle” world that Japan’s KHx players do. It sucks. I know. However, I will save complaints like this for a later day. Moving along…
Those of you familiar with the franchise know that usually we dive into the world as Sora, Kingdom Hearts’ lovable—albeit naive—protagonist. Not this time around folks. When the World fell to darkness and shattered, the remaining twinkling Light dwelled in the hearts of children and Sora is not even an ovum yet. With the Keyblade War looming close, KHUx asks you to create your own customizable avatar and to select a union instead of combat attribute.
There are five unions: Anguis, Leopardis, Vulpis, Ursus, and Unicornis. In past series entries we are able to make an informed decision as to our starting attribute because the game provides information. KHUx forgoes this information entirely, leaving an air of mystery as to why we are even here. This mystery stays throughout gameplay as we never know who our Union leaders are or why we fight- only that we must. Thereafter, you are ported to Daybreak Town (which looks eerily like Radiant Garden from Birth by Sleep) and introduced to Cirithy. I can only describe this flying feline with a cape as your Sword in the Stone Merlin spirit animal. Each child, a.k.a. player, is assigned their own Cirithy who is supposed to guide them towards the Light, but not impose will upon them. In other words, Cirithy is not allowed to tell you not to pursue power in Darkness or push you away from hunting for answers via nefarious means. However, if your heart falls to the darkness, his existence expires.
Cirithy explains that six apprentices learned from a book that the world would be swallowed by darkness. Their Master, known as the Master of Masters, disappeared but not before leaving them the cryptic “Book of Prophecies” conveniently missing what they call the Lost Page; this page says that “One will betray all” and the world will fall to darkness. Five of the six agreed that the only way to prevent this calamity would be to gather Light, in the form of Lux, dropped by defeated heartless from all the worlds. However, as hardened Kingdom Hearts veterans know, only a keyblade wielder can destroy heartless and retrieve the light from the creatures. Behold! This is where we come in!
Although the foretellers all want to prevent the inevitable, their reasons for preventing it differ strongly. Thus, five of the six foretellers created their own unions with different goals but similar functions. So, with little explanation, we clutch our Starlight keyblade, knock around a few heartless in Daybreak Town, and learn the power of friendship via a raid boss crash course.
Wait. Hey guys, did she say raid boss? Like World of Warcraft gather your guild members and hope your team can dish out enough DOT to get the job done raid boss?
Yup. I sure did.
After defeating seventy-five to eighty heartless, a raid boss spawns of a particular attack attribute- speed, strength, or magic. Magic beats strength, strength beats speed, and speed beats magic. If you are super lucky (or unlucky depending on if you used all of a particular keyblade’s special gauge) an OMEGA raid boss may spawn instead.
To date, there are five main raid bosses and each boss has an OMEGA alternate. As one can expect, the OMEGAs have more HP, but SquEnix gives us more time to defeat them than the regulars. Yes, the raid bosses are timed. Players are allotted approximately seven minutes to beat the regulars. You have twenty minutes to whomp OMEGAs. Are you level five against a level one Behemoth? Go knock that bad boy out in one turn for a “1 TURN TRIUMPH” and claim your delicious loot. If you really think you are hot, knock out the boss’s limbs- in the same turn—before killing it for an extra bonus and a stun effect. Is that a level five OMEGA Fortress Crab with 3 million health and multi-attribute limbs- such as this month’s special event monster? Call on your party members to help you take him/her/it down.
Joining a party is essential for successful leveling in this game. Taking on a level five raid boss alone when you just started usually spells demise for your Lux (player leveling material) and medal upgrade loot. So, form a party or join a party? That depends on how many people you know that are playing KHUx and the team that they choose. Players can only join a party of the same Union. So if your friend is Vulpis and you are Anguis, neither of you can chat in-game or join the same guild unless someone swallows pride and joins the other’s union. This is one of the many sore elements for me in this game, but I can understand why it was done; coding for a global chat and maintaining it would be hell.
So why the hype?
Alright, if you made it this far without wanting to strangle me, I commend you, from a distance of course. So why play Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and would you be able to just jump into the story from this installment without getting lost in the franchise’s vast storyline? Simply put, I think this is the perfect installment to jump in at. Chronologically, this is the very first game in the timeline and should explain why the Keyblade War had to happen, and why Young Xehanort from the Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer knows that darkness will win. Think of the events in KHUx as the cataclysm for all of the other installments and a simple way to test the waters if you are new to the series. If you plan to buy Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue, playing KHUx will tie into Kingdom Hearts χ: Back Cover and further your appreciation for the plot tapestry Tetsuya Nomura has woven over fourteen years.
So, have you started your download yet? Are you already playing? Did you get your 600 jewels for completing Square Enix North America’s thorough player survey? Do you need a game plan to tackle this week’s score challenge? Let me know what you think in the comments below, our Twitter (or mine: @Xminess), and I will see you in “Prologue to an End: Part 2.”
Special shout out to my party members, friends, and administrators in Ghost Gunlock from all over that have joined me on our quest to protect the Light! A special thank you to Squabble for all your help. We hope to see you again soon.
Remember those academic days when teachers would assign two to four-page, double-spaced essays on a topic, designate group members for the project, and inform you of its due date? Everyone would hem and haw, complain about their group members, the topic, and the amount of time they had to complete it. The instructor always gave the “Don’t wait until the last minute...” schpeal but, like consumers that swear they will not go Black Friday shopping only to be first in line at 4am, there was always at least one person burning the midnight oil the day before. Rarely was the student’s last minute efforts rewarded with a gleaming “A+.” Rather, bright red streaks criss-crossed their work and the project or assignment would fail.
CAPCOM needs to revisit their academic days.
On May 10th, 2016, CAPCOM CEO Kenji Tsukimoto informed financial review attendees that “...it’s best to spend a little more time in developing and running a high-quality title that will perform well globally.”¹
404. Common sense not found.
Back to the Lab Again
I am sorry — no, actually I am not sorry—what do you mean you “...learned from the past year...” that games, especially AAA titles, should spend more time on the development room floor before releasing them AND asking audiences to dish out $60 for a shoddy product?
It took Street Fighter V having server issues and players lamenting about the lack of single player campaign story for CAPCOM to realize that maybe they screwed the pooch? What about learning from fellow developer Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s Creed Unity debacle? At launch, players did not have to worry about using stealth in missions because Arno would get stuck in hay carts or fall through the damned ground. Pulling off a “7-kill streak” would have been easier than Ubisoft trying to dig their foot out of their mouths long enough to apologize. Oh, apologize they did, as well as asking players to leave their devices on and connected to internet so that day one updates could be applied to resolve the issues.
I am sure several of you remember Blizzard’s hellish launch when World of Warcraft released in 2004. Servers could not handle the megaton force of thousands of players attempting to authenticate their accounts and log in at the same time. As many columnists have pointed out Blizzard underestimated the world’s interest in the game² the way some people in tornado country underestimate “a little wind.” Blizzard vs the World II was a same round T.K.O. when Diablo III launched; players suffered through “error 37” codes and queues longer than OTAKON pre-registration lines day one.
Bloody hell, just when you think everyone took notes on E.T.’s catastrophic Atari 2600 launch—reference BURNED IN A SEA OF FIRE—and could pass Development 101, development studio Big Red Button³ actually asked people to invest in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric! To pass off that trash as complete is the equivalent of trying to sell someone three tires and a cardboard box as a car. It is a graphics and game play nightmare. You can skip entire game elements by flying with Knuckles! Just watch Barry, from Game Grumps, dissect this debauchery. I have seen studio Lab Zero Games’ Indivisible game play—available on Steam—with my own eyes; it is a majestic (children cover your eyes) fucking eagle in comparison and it is only the BETA!
I need a moment to quell my anger.
***
Look, I get it. Game development is a stressful business. You cannot merely like being a developer; you have to love it, commit to it, and present it a dowry because enjoying the fruits of your labours takes time and is short-lived. Big name publishers tend to give development teams miniscule time windows to deliver a finished product.
The studios for Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty franchises are pressured to debut late-Fall, holiday season, annual installments that improve upon game mechanics, multiplayer aspects (C.O.D.), graphics, and still rake in millions to recover development costs. Every year. This does not include any other projects the teams have on their tables. The games could be utter crap *cough “Infinite Warfare” cough* and fans will pitch tents for the midnight releases, pre-order special editions, and then complain later about the lack of quality at launch.
It is what our ancestors call a “catch-22.” As consumers, we are saying that we will pre-order a game and put pressure on the development team to commit to a potentially crappy deadline even if the product is not finished. The flipside of the coin is that when some developers refuse to deliver half a game on launch day to meet publisher demands, consumers raise hell and claim sacrilege because they have to actually be patient. Final Fantasy XIII Versus fans you are an exception. I empathize with your struggle.
This is not the logic and business savvy we need guys and gals. If CAPCOM and others take out the time, from the starting line, to prune and polish games on the development floor we have greater potential for hi-quality titles. The preceding statement does not imply that games will be gems of perfection, but rather that enough time will be invested to prevent large hiccups. For example, Blizzard’s server overloads are understandable because those are specs they cannot truly analyze prior to launch day unless you do beta testing.
We can accept mistakes, negligence is a different story. Hark back to when DICE announced Mirror’s Edge 2 (now Mirror’s Edge Catalyst) at E3 2013? The release date has changed since the original February 2016 date announced last year—to many a fan’s chagrin. But before people begin whining maybe audiences and developers alike should take notes from DICE for the Gaming Dev and Launch 101 final exam and deliver a spectacular experience...
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