#if I bother adding Dragalia (CyGames)

[icharchivist]

I heard people are yellin on EOS instead cause the devs said i have pland only for a year or two more (they said it a few streams back and now it's catching up) but since they are embarking on the platform systems i doubt they are gonna stop now, like RoB was given dead years ago but they are still supporting it, world flipper was kind of a flop as an international project and dragalia had issues with the nintendo side so uh yeah i hope it's gonna carry on for long

aaah the EOS scare every gacha always happen to have when they tase some closure. This anxiety never ends </3

as far as granblue is concerned i think it can't be compared to the others cygames game, because of reasons you mentioned there to start with, and because like... it's been 10 years, it's one of the biggest Cygames game, and also, this year they are entering major mainstream scenes with Rising and Relink. I think more than ever there will be a spotlight on Granblue.

i believe much more in them closing the current 10 year long arc in order for new players to get into a brand new arc without having to read 10 years of content -- than them closing the game right before they get a major spotlight.

I guess there's still way to believe in that scare, like them fully dedicating to Relink and Rising since there will be added contents and all, and Relink especially will ask for the game to grow bigger....

but i think it's not going to be the case.

At least i wouldn't buy into this scare.

and i won't believe Granblue is in trouble unless they release playable Belial, aka mister "will bring them a lot of money one last time in emergency". So..... yeah.

i get the scare but i don't want to let it get to me. Also i'm playing other gacha that gives people EOS scare every single year and at this point i'm in full EOS panic fatigue. like. why bother panicking at this point.

EOS breaks my heart when it happens, it happened to one of my gacha and i never recovered -- but ultimately, when there's too many scares like this, it's like crying wolf, and now i extend it to all gacha.

i think we need to calm down personally but yaknow dkjfhdklfj

[everygame]

Dragalia Lost (iOS) 

Developed/Published by: CyGames / Nintendo Released: 27/09/2018 Completed: n/a Completion: I got to a point in Chapter 13 and stopped for reasons. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

2020 was a banner year for me with me playing so many mobile games… even if most of them were on Switch, so it probably made sense for me to spend so much time playing a Nintendo game on mobile. Though I guess after the first couple of weeks “playing” might be an exaggeration.

I guess you could describe my experience playing Dragalia Lost like this:

Oh huh. That Nintendo gatcha game on mobile that isn’t Fire Emblem has a Monster Hunter collab… guess I’ll try it…

Ha ha! This is fun enough, it’s like a little Diablo-a-like with tiny levels and some classic mobile city-building nonsense. And it’s so generous! I got the Monster Hunter character straight away!

Oh man, the end of that collab is coming up. You know, I’ve had fun, lets fling them $2 for some currency because I have it in my wallet.

Oh hang on that price was for single summons, not ten. Ah well as I said I’ve had fun. I mean it’s not been stingy shite like the Mario Kart, I’ve had like over a hundred summons for free by now.

Ah nice, I got all that stuff. Well, let’s play it some more.

Fuck man this game is talky as fuck.

These regular events keep me coming back though! Gotta keep getting those daily tasks done, and getting all the new limited characters it keeps throwing at me!

Back around 2 I was definitely thinking “I’ll never turn on autobattle!” well fuck that the game plays this better and quicker than me so I can make the game play itself while I do something else.

I’ve been playing this every day and I have billions of currency and everything else and I still have no idea how weapon crafting and all this other shite works and nor is it very interesting to me. Why is it sooo complicated…

Huh. I haven’t played this in like… two months. I guess I should see if I can get to the end of the story mode (as it stands now, because they keep adding chapters.)

Yes… time to accept I should skip these tedious story sections, especially because you get a summary!

I can’t be arsed to read the summary either now.

Ah come on I have to earn a specific weapon to continue with story mode and you won’t even point out what it is I’m supposed to do? Fuck this I’m done.

Oooh… two year anniversary event in September! I bet they’ll hand out hunners of currency and summons… I’ll stop playing till then.

Yasss, hunners of free summons!

I guess I’ll stop when those stop?

Oh they stopped. [Immediately forgets this is on my phone]

Hang on... there’s a Persona collab coming???

Will I ever play it again? I’m really fascinated by how the opportunity to unlock characters from game series I like, in a game I don’t actually play, keeps me coming back. I sincerely hope I don’t boot this up again to get the Persona characters, but god knows.

Final Thought: This is, obviously, an *extremely* Japanese mobile game with all the waifus to collect and just so many ways to craft and level-up, but interestingly as much as I was like “oh, gotta get all of the [game series I like] collab” outside of that I am simply not interested in collecting waifus. I think people would probably consider this absurd but once I collected the monster hunter characters at the start I stopped doing summons using the in-game currency and my account has enough currency and free summon tickets handed out to summon several hundred more times and probably not make a dent. But kinda… once you have a set of heroes for each element, I was like… why bother??? And yet I still went to great effort to play this every day to collect them and have made a point to get the time-limited summons when they happen. The human brain, man. What a thing!

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi.

[xb-squaredx]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC Speculation

With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate right around the corner, it’s natural to look towards the future, rather than just be satisfied with what we already have. With that in mind, since I already completely botched ALL of my choices for potential newcomers in the base game, so let’s try it again with the DLC characters we’ll be getting! Surely I’ll get at least ONE right!

So, to preface this, I do have to acknowledge a bit of a wrench in the works when it comes to speculation: the Piranha Plant. A part of me feels like making a Piranha Plant playable is a message to us: nothing is off the table. That we should expect the unexpected. That Sakurai is a beast that cannot be tamed and does whatever he wants! However…it’s also possible this is just a flex of Sakurai’s creative muscle, and just something he wanted to do. With the news that Nintendo chose the DLC characters for Ultimate, I’m assuming this was Sakurai’s one chance to rock the boat and we’ll likely get some more “safe” or “expected” choices for DLC. That said, with SO many potential characters apparently off the table as either Assist Trophies or Spirits, there is this general question of “Just WHO could they possibly add now?” Well, I have some ideas…

Smash Bros. and Fire Emblem have a strange relationship, and we’ve had characters added to the former to promote the latter before, so for me one of the few no-brainer picks is a character from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, slated for 2019. As of now, we really don’t know all that much about the game, and while there seem to be three main protagonists, I think it’d be a toss-up as to which one we’d get. But with Fire Emblem being treated as a major franchise for Nintendo now, it just makes sense. Fans might get upset, but maybe if we’re lucky they won’t use a sword!

I think in general most choices are going to be geared towards promoting UPCOMING games, but at the same time, the Xenoblade Chronicles series might see another rep. Why? Well, because Sakurai clearly likes the games, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 sold well and he’s already placed a TON of Spirits and Mii Costumes from that game in Ultimate already. Now sure, Rex getting a costume seems like it’s a nail in the coffin, but I look at it more as Sakurai whetting fan’s appetites for the eventual DLC addition. Now, if it’d be Pyra instead, or having Rex and Pyra as a weird duo character, I’m not sure, but I’d honestly be kinda surprised if they don’t get in as DLC. The Torna: The Golden Country DLC campaign is also fresh in people’s minds, so I’d still say there’s a good chance. That said…

I’m still holding onto some hope that Elma could make it in as a rep for Xenoblade Chronicles X as a bit of a curve-ball. There are rumors that X could see a port to Switch and putting Elma into Smash is totally possible as a way to give that port some good press. Now, Monolith Soft itself hasn’t exactly spoken like a port is a sure-thing, and really it’s probably better to go with the more relevant reps with Rex and Pyra, but I can dream!

As far as promotional characters go, I feel that Nintendo might be looking to pimp their mobile games, and we just got Dragalia Lost not too long ago. The first original IP on mobile (albeit in conjunction with CyGames), it seems like a real missed opportunity to not use Ultimate to promote the game. Granted, there COULD be Spirits or something instead, but a playable character isn’t off the table at all. I also hear rumors that a Granblue Fantasy character might be in the cards, which is also done by CyGames, but rather than go with a franchise that…well…isn’t well known outside of Japan and lacks ties to Nintendo, why not go with their new mobile IP? A mobile IP that’s been making more than either Super Mario Run or Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Just something to think about.

So that’s three spots, roughly, all from Nintendo. But I think it’s fair to expect at least one more third party rep. I wouldn’t expect more than two honestly, and that’s even pushing it I think. But with third party, the sky is the limit with possible inclusions. Pick a company, any company and there’s totally at least one possible choice from each; Square Enix, Bethesda, Ubisoft, even Microsoft! So who can we expect? Doom Slayer? Banjo and Kazooie? A Slime from Dragon Quest? Honestly, the more I think of it…I’m not really sure who I could trim it down to.

You could argue that Doom Slayer being put in would be a great way to promote Doom Eternal I guess, and I guess Bethesda has been in talks with Nintendo regarding Smash…but would that really fit? Would that be something Nintendo would have chosen? Hard to say. The same goes for characters from the Fallout or Elder Scrolls series; they don’t strike me as franchises Nintendo feels all that bothered to help promote. We’ve seen that Square Enix is pretty hard to work with; such as limiting Cloud’s Midgar stage to two songs and rumors that he was the hardest character to get back. I kinda feel like Nintendo wouldn’t want to keep playing with them. They have tons of possible choices to go with if Nintendo IS willing to play ball with them, but I’m not super confident in any one choice. Dragon Quest is arguably their biggest franchise, so that would make total sense to put in someone from those games…but there’s always a possibility they’d go with something else. Maybe Geno fans would get thrown a bone…but I’m not holding my breath. Regarding Ubisoft, I wouldn’t say that Rayman is out of the question, really, and he seems like the most likely pick. Maybe that random trophy he got in Smash 4 can be topped with a playable appearance. But then there’s the curious case of Banjo and Kazooie. While once Nintendo characters and allegedly considered for inclusion in at least one of the games, they’re owned by Microsoft now, and it’s pretty unlikely that a direct competitor with Nintendo would be willing to lend a character out.  Microsoft is on better terms with Nintendo than one would expect, nowadays though. With Minecraft on Nintendo platforms (with Super Mario skins, on top of Banjo skins), Microsoft’s Phil Spenser stating multiple times that he’d love to see the pair in Smash and the fact that he’s likely a pretty big fan request…it IS possible. But we come back again to the question of if this is on Nintendo’s radar. While there are plenty of thirty-somethings that would love Banjo and Kazooie to make it in, I’d argue someone like Steve from Minecraft is a far more logical choice, even if he isn’t my ideal pick.  

Honestly, I think one of the more likely candidates is Tekken’s Heihachi. Arguably the face of the fighting games series, he had a Mii costume in Smash 4 and despite Namco co-developing this game, so far only Pac-Man is repping from them, so why not add another? Seems odd that Capcom, Sega and Konami get two reps (or more with echoes) while Namco still has one. So really, if I have to pick two that seem most likely…I’d go with Rayman and Heihachi. Not my ideal picks if I’m being honest, but they make the most sense.

Overall, I think that’s it. I’m prepared to be mostly wrong here, but it sure is fun to speculate! It’d be actually kind of cool to be completely wrong here and get five total surprises. Regardless of who we get, we already have SO much and I’m sure to love anyone they add anyway. I have faith in Sakurai and his team, and with just about a week to go until Ultimate launches, we’ll have plenty to occupy our free time before any of these characters get confirmed anyway I’m sure.

Until next time,

-B

[miketendo-64]

Developer: Cygames / Nintendo EPD

Publisher: Nintendo

Platform: iOS / Android

Review Version: Android Version 1.0.1

Category: Action & Role-Playing

Release Date: September 27, 2018 (JP & NA)

    The Dragalia may be Lost but you can find a hit RPG in the making, over in the App and Google Play stores!

When the reveal of Dragalia Lost first come about earlier this year, it was at the time, a bit random. Not only was we revelling in the reveal of a new Nintendo collaboration as far as their mobile games go, but it would be a mobile game concerning a new IP and release it this year.

Fast forward to the present. Although Dragalia Lost did not see a release in the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Canada or even Europe, the Cygames developed title did get to have the United States added as a day one launch title and it’s a good thing it did because Dragalia Lost is actually a pretty impressive RPG.

It’s nowhere near as impressive as the likes of Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country, which is just godly, but Dragalia Lost, even with the gacha system at play, is an impressive game that feels too good for mobile devices.

I know the same can be said for a few RPG mobile games, but having played it as much as I have, it does actually feel like a game that would have been better off on the Nintendo 3DS or even the Nintendo Switch. It would naturally need bigger levels and more content to feel right at home on either platform as a “true game,” but Dragalia Lost is a gem that does have a great way of demonstrating what a gacha RPG should be like.

Still, that’s enough praise for the meantime, after all, we’ve to get into all the nitty gritty details, so let’s correct that shall we? First and foremost, Dragalia Lost is not just another Japanese action role-playing game, it’s a JRPG that comes to us from Cygames, a developer who is no stranger to making mobile games and monetizing them in such a way that everyone can benefit.

Only, it’s not just Cygames who are involved as Nintendo are also getting their hands dirty with it and the love child the two companies have created is a delight that you can choose to play on your own, or on the go. But as far as co-op goes, we’ll cover that later, first up is the story.

In typical fantasy-setting JRPG fashion, Dragalia Lost is an anime-like game, which in its current state, takes place in or around the Kingdom of Alberia. As for its story and main protagonist, both revolve around a young prince by the name of Euden, seventh in the line to the throne of Alberia. He’s also the twin brother to Zethia.

Both he and his sister are born from a royal family that possesses an ability most do not and that ability forming pacts with dragons, which in turn allows them to transform into the dragons they’ve formed a pact with, temporarily.

Only, unlike their older siblings and father, at the beginning of the game, neither Euden or Zethia have formed a pact with a dragon, since Euden has deliberately avoided doing so and Zethia actually walks a different path altogether from her family.

Now, I could go into detail as to why that is, but Dragalia Lost is a new game that is currently denied to most of the world, so I’m actually avoiding spoilers as if they were the bubonic plague. However, what I can elaborate on, is the fact that in typical RPG fashion, what was meant to be a simple task, ends up being anything but and poor Euden ends up finding his whole life getting turned upside down.

In the first 6 chapters of the game, he’ll come face to an ancient evil that the world (Grastaea) has been threatened by before, make new friends who will join him in arms and embrace a path he wished never to walk and enter into pacts with more than just one Dragon.

As for the title and its relevance to the game, Dragalia is the word used to describe the trust between humans and the dragons they’ve formed a pact with. A Dragalia that was then lost and Euden is determined to see restored, along with peace for all.

Were Dragalia Lost an RPG on any other platform, the full story and experience would be available to you from the get-go, but it’s not. In the game’s current state, its main campaign only features 6 playable chapters, the last of which comes with a yet cliff-hanger ending that seems to scream “End of Part One.”

This ending is then followed by a notification that tells the player that the story will continue when the game’s next update rolls outs. (Yay!) It is something of a shame that players can reach the end within 10 hours of playing, but there is more to Dragalia Lost than just a main campaign made up of 6 chapters, which in turn are made up of areas that have their own playable levels and story segments, there are side quests in the form of missions in the Events tab.

For the most part, they play out a lot like the main campaign quests, except these are quests you can just play over and over, in a bid to grind gold, upgrade materials and elemental upgrade materials.

As for how to play, the quests are pretty straight-forward. Players must navigate a given area, using their finger on the screen and sliding it in the direction they wish to move. Upon seeing an enemy they wish to hit, they must tap repeatedly and when available, press the highlighted skill icon or even the highlighted dragon icon, to perform a special attack or turn into a dragon and deal devastating damage.

If you go with the latter, the transformation will not last forever, as it is a temporary act, which can be shortened if enemies attack the player, since getting hit shortens the duration, but it can be increased by improving your bond with your partnered dragon when out of battle. (More on this later.)

Most levels consist of two areas, the first which you must explore and contains things like environmental hazards, enemies, crates and that can drop a health-restoring item that acts immediately and chests that drop useful items and weapons. As for the second area, they’re where you can expect to engage a big bad boss in battle, who may or may not be alone.

By completing a level, players can earn EXP for their characters and themselves, as well as keep the items they discovered. If they fail it, they can opt to use Diamantium (a type of currency players will need to buy with real-world money,) or Wyrmite (a type of currency that players can earn,) to continue.

Personally, on the occasions I did die on a level, I never did bother with paying to continue, as I just took my failure to mean I should forget about trying to do a level on my own, and do it via co-op instead.

How the two modes differ is fairly minimal and co-op is very beneficial. You see, when playing on your own, players will need to make a team of up to 4 Adventurers, equip them with the best weapons, dragons and Wyrmprints they have (a card like item that each have their own special effects.) You’ll also need to try and make sure their levels are similar, but not with co-op.

With co-op mode, players only ever need to focus on having one high powered character and dragon, as they can then join up or create a room of their own and be paired with a team full of high-powered. Sometimes you can create a room and everyone is ready to go within seconds, but other times, it can be a couple of minutes before everyone is ready to set off.

I’d say the waiting can be exhausting at times, or at least a little long-winded, but playing with others is the best way to play Dragalia Lost and get all of the good stuff. You can also communicate with one another by using stickers and for every new player you play with, you can get another 50 Wyrmite for free.

Another co-op benefit, which is a rather big one, is the fact it offers a way to keep on playing when you run out of stamina. Being a mobile game, a stamina is expected, but with Getherwings, players can use these free items to join rooms created by other players and play with them, while you wait for your stamina to fill (6 minutes to recover one stamina point.) or level up.

When levelling up, not only will your stamina recover, but your Getherwings will be restored as well. Essentially, co-op is a great means of playing Dragalia Lost for free, for hours on end. You will not have to worry about investing a cent into the game, but you might want to have your charger handy as Dragalia Lost is a battery killer.

It is also a mobile data eater as it has constant downloads all throughout unless you decide to do a batch download as soon as you can and just download everything (all the levels, event quests, Adventurer Stories and the rest.)

Sure, downloading everything will have the game take up a whopping 2.51 GB on your mobile device, but one additional download is better than having to download each and every level when you go to play them.

Anyhow, even if you invest a hundred hours fighting, the battles are only half the war as Dragalia Lost has lots of other features and facilities for players to take advantage of and strengthen their units. You do however need to make sure you continue playing the main campaign long enough to unlock the likes of an auto play mode that will have an AI control your team of 4, unlock Castle, and a few other things, such as a hard mode.

Ultimately, it depends on how the player chooses to play Dragalia Lost, in which they’ll gain access to everything, but once you have, with the Upgrade menu, you will be able to upgrade Adventurers, Wyrmprints, weapons and dragons, as well as craft new weapons that are stronger.

For things like weapons, dragons and Wrymprints, in the event you don’t have any upgrade materials, you can always sacrifice weapons, dragons and Wrymprints you don’t need. You’ll also be able to take advantage of Mana Circle and spend both items and Mana to unlock nodes that will allow your characters to learn new abilities, improve their stats and buy Adventurer Stories.

The latter is a story-like segment that gives players an insight into the characters they have been fortunate enough to acquire. You’ll find this feature over in Castle. In Castle, players can also visit the dragons they have bonded with and give them gifts. There are gifts you can earn by buying them with gold, which can be earned just by playing and then there are those you can earn for free.

In return, the dragons will also give you some great gifts, and as your bond grows, you’ll be able to hear their Dragon Stories. Then there is also a build mode with Castle Grounds, where players can place facilities and level them up. Some facilities will earn you gold, whereas others will boost attributes and grow Dragonfruit, which is an item that can be used to level up your dragons.

If after all that and you’re still looking to improve your team, you’ll have no choice but to combine multiple dragons and Wyrmprints, by “unbinding” them, as this will allow you to level them up further. Weapons can also by unbinded, but to strengthen your characters and add another star to their rating (5 is the max,) you will need to promote them, which requires Eldwater.

Eldwater can be earned just by playing, but it is a slog and it will be a long time before you get to promote anyone to 5* status. One way which can speed the process up however, is by summoning. Whether you’re using your real-world money or all the Wyrmite that you can earn, via completing missions, quests and daily accomplishments. By summoning, you can summon new characters, dragons and Wyrmprints.

As great as it is to get a new character, by getting someone you already have, you can get Eldwater instead and the higher star rating of the character, the more Eldwater you can get, thus speeding up how soon you can promote someone.

Honestly, I have lost count of how many times I have done a ten-fold summon already, but I have yet to pay anything and I have two great 5* dragons, one 5* character named Hawk and a couple Wyrmprints as well. I’ve also managed to get plenty of lesser starred characters and fill out my rosters quite a bit.

Not everyone has had a similar luck as myself, as some have had worse, but others have had better and their collections put mine to shame, but for a gacha game, so far I have not felt pressured to pay for anything, not even when in the game’s shop, where special bundles and items are available.

For me, that is Dragalia Lost is at its finest. Some have nothing but praise for its chosen graphical choice and killer soundtrack that is foot-tappingly infectious, but for me, the fact Dragalia Lost is a mobile game with plenty to do and what feels like minimal pressure on buying into it, makes it a winner in my book. If you chose not to summon at all though, you can earn adventurers and dragons, just by playing through the main campaign.

It also has more RPG-like gameplay going on and a similarity to Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, what with the character designs, game menus and texts, which only makes it all the more enjoyable.

Naturally, Dragalia Lost is not without some issues as the home menu can soon get overcrowded and it is perhaps a little too “grindy” and can have the occasional performance issue, especially when playing co-op, but so far, it is certainly a game that should give Fire Emblem Heroes a run for its money, and at least perform half as well. After all, the two comic strips it have are cute, funny and like the rest of the free-to-play Dragalia Lost, don’t cost a single thing!

  Conclusion:

Cygames were already a fantastic developer in their own right, but with their knowledge, Nintendo’s talents and both parties joint expertise, Dragalia Lost is not just another run-of-the-mill JRPG, but a great one. Just because you can pay to get ahead, or just to get all the good stuff, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.

You can grind for hours on end, the means are there so you can do so without paying. Sure it gets repetitive going through it all, but what is an RPG without some grinding, especially when it’s for one of the best RPGs to grace mobile devices this year?

  THE VERDICT: 8/10

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[Review] The Dragalia may be Lost but you can find a hit RPG in the making, over in the App and Google Play stores! Our full thoughts on @NintendoAmerica's & @Cygames_PR's #DragaliaLost are finally here. Developer: Cygames / Nintendo EPD Publisher: Nintendo Platform: iOS / Android Review Version: Android Version 1.0.1…