#merging the maps and (optionally) adding the gameplay functions and stories from each game into one

[blackbirds-on-the-marsh]

Playing Anomaly has given me a rather dim view of games that supposedly can’t have difficulty options or customization without ruining the experience. Anomaly’s base game (if you can call it that) has the most customization options I’ve seen in any game, allowing you to change everything from merchants’ prices, how strong each faction is, to whether Emissions and Psi-Storms kill you at all. This hasn’t “tarnished” its reputation as a brutal experience in the slightest, and has only increased its popularity— to the point it’s more well-known than the games it was made from!

[2af-afterdark]

What in Hell is Bad?: First impressions the day after launch

It is the day after launch now. It has not been a full 24 hours as of when I have started writing this post, but I want to give my first impressions of the game; the good, the bad, the ugly.

I will not be holding the server overload against PrettyBusy, especially since that is a common launch day problem with games and they have been doing their best to fix it. Instead, I want to look at the actual content and gameplay.

The Good

There are a ton of Day 1 goodies that make it easy to jump into the game and get going as soon as possible.

Duplicates are automatically converted into an item called tealeaves that you can use to boost/evolve a unit. The unit is not automatically strengthened, but you are not required to go digging through all your units to merge the duplicates manually. There is also no additional cost to evolving a unit, so you can merge them immediately with little worry.

The comics between the loading screens really are a blessing. They are so charming and funny and give a little more insight into some of the characters.

You can, like any decent gatcha, put character's you've obtained on the homescreen and tap them for dialogue that gives insight into who they are. Find my slightly troubling first encounter below.

The combat is smooth. I personally have never played a tower defense type gatcha before, but I find this combat easy to understand, plan, and utilize. I do have an issue with it, but I will list that later.

The Bad

The biggest thing I noticed, the thing that leaves me feeling disappointed, is that the male MC is not implemented well. The male MC options appears to only change the MC's pronouns, but nothing about the actual descriptions of the MC. The game still describes MC having breasts and wetness between the legs, which are the traits of a female MC. If you want to play a trans!MC (like my Dallas), that may please you. Or it may not. It depends how your MC/you view your gender and what terms you choose to use for your anatomy. My point is that the male MC is simply a pronoun change and not much more. Even then, the game sometimes uses the wrong pronouns. I have had multiple moments where the game referred to Dallas (my he/him MC) as she/her, daughter of Solomon, said he and Minhyeok were opposite genders (when they both identify as men).

I love the rainbow bar giving me bonus goodies in the Adore function but... It is legitimately hard to see the bars when those items go flying everywhere. I have to be extra careful because I don't know when the left bar is getting too high.

You cannot replay a story section without using AP. Honestly, this is a real let down. Having to use your limited AP to reread a story is sad. I want to go back and reread sections I've already done without worry. It's for memories and fun. I don't mind paying AP to unlock them, but rereading them is a different matter. Especially given how far apart each story section is. It will be hard to refresh my memory if I take a break from the game for any reason.

Do you know where to find the friends menu? Because I do not. I found it, but I had to go through a series of convoluted pathways. Even then, I don't have a friend code or codes to add my friends. Which is strange considering there is a mission about adding friends and sending presents.

The Ugly (quality of life)

The actual battle maps are... Repetitive. There are often multiple battles in a row and they will have the same layout as the one before them. This often makes it so you can use the same units and arrangement you did on the previous map for the current one. This makes the battles easy to plan, but tedious to do.

The comics between loading screens will vanish automatically when the game is ready. I personally wish the game would prompt me to click to continue because my game loads so quickly that I rarely get to read them. If not a click to continue, then a separate menu where I can read them without worrying they will vanish before I get the chance to enjoy them.

Not sure if my game glitched during the overload, but my first Hell-oh! Talk vanished without a trace. The second one I received is still there, so I want to say it was a glitch, but I cannot be certain so I am putting it here.

It appears that tealeaves (the evolution item) can only be used 5 times. After you use it for the fifth time, you seem to be unable to do anything. Yet I am still gathering tealeaves, so I am unsure what to do with all these extras I am acquiring.

A personal gripe of mine, is that it take 5 greater keys of Solomon to draw once (50 for a 10x). You need 3 lesser keys of Solomon for 1 draw (30 for a 10x). I have always preferred a 1:1 ratio when it comes to drawing because it makes it straight forward and easy to plan what I will need.

There is no way to raise a character's level more than one at a time. If you want to level up a character 10 times, you have to hit the level up button 10 times. It would be nice if they gave us a faster way to do multiple level ups quickly.

Sometimes my chats will have these random empty boxes and I feel that is missing dialogue that I really want to see.

When I go back to check my previous messages to reread them, I notice that the options are sometimes not what I actually chose. This picture is the same section as above, but you'll notice Leviathan's dialogue changed. That's because, for some reason, the game saved my answer as being the other one. Notably, I think it always defaults to whatever option 1 is.

(this one is from 🪰 anon because I haven't seen it yet) In that same vein... you cannot control the speed of messages. That is detrimental when you are play one of the plot relevant text conversations. If it progresses faster than you can read you will simply miss it. A function to change the speed of the texts would be a nice addition.

You have to open boxes one. at. a. time. It is a very slow process when you have upwards of 10+ boxes.

Random Stuff I Noticed:

Ppyong refer to class five angels as Vultures. Not sure if this is a mistranslation of Virtues (the actual fifth highest rank of angel) or if PB decided to use unique names for their game.