Mobile Games

[Selias]

We have a thread for FGO (why the hell is it in NSFW?), but I haven't see anything for any other games, so I figured I'd make one for general discussion. So, what are some mobile games you play?

Aside from FGO, I'm a big fan of Guardian Tales. It's a live-action RPG that takes a lot of inspiration from SNES-era games. It can be pretty funny with a lot of dark humor, and the gameplay is pretty fun. While it is a gacha game, it's entirely possible to use only the free units, as long as you upgrade them and their equipment (which can also be done for free, though it helps to pay for stamina). Up until the latest two chapters, anyway, which have a huge jump in difficulty. I struggled even with a team full of the best characters. Not that you'll need to use the free units, though, since the game gives you plenty of diamonds to pull heroes with. DO NOT USE THEM FOR THE EQUIPMENT BANNERS.

I've also been playing the new Disgaea and Touhou mobile games. They've been pretty fun, so far, with original stories and... well, they're typical gacha games, so I can't really say much about the gameplay. Still, the stories have been pretty interesting, so far. Now's a really good time to get into Disgaea RPG, since they're handing out codes for freebies left and right. There are a few places that have been compiling them.

I played Arknights for a few months before kind of losing interest. I'll probably go back to it when I have more free time, but I was mostly just doing the daily missions and then logging off. It's a tower defense, rather than an RPG, and I kind of suck at those. Don't really feel like playing the same levels over and over to figure out how to beat them.

 

[Biigoh]

why the hell is it in NSFW?

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Have you seen some of the servant artwork? XD

 

[Selias]

Have you seen some of the servant artwork? XD

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Eh. Fair enough, I guess.

 

[rx915]

I used to play millionaire arthur before it closed.

The main drive for playing it was the crossovers when you could fight characters like this, get collab avatars and support fairies those characters that talk to you when you login.

 

[Selias]

I used to play millionaire arthur before it closed.

The main drive for playing it was the crossovers when you could fight characters like this, get collab avatars and support fairies those characters that talk to you when you login.

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I guess there's not much point in playing the offline version, unless you want to try it out and didn't get to when it was still online. I hope FGO does something similar when they eventually shut down.

 

[rx915]

I guess there's not much point in playing the offline version, unless you want to try it out and didn't get to when it was still online. I hope FGO does something similar when they eventually shut down.

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There isn't. The collabs got removed on shutting down.

 

[Selias]

There isn't. The collabs got removed on shutting down.

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I just saw it on QooApp. Does the download not work, or something?

EDIT: Nevermind, misread your post.

 

[rx915]

I just saw it on QooApp. Does the download not work, or something?

EDIT: Nevermind, misread your post.

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I haven't tried it. If you got space download and see what happens.

 

[razer666L]

Depending on your phone specs (Android & iOS), I recommend Sky: Children of the Light. It was developed by thatgamecompany, the same developers that created Journey.





Oh, and it's free.

 

[TheLastNanaya]

Started on recently released D4DJ Groove Mix EN. My motivation for playing? Hololive songs

 

[Megaolix]

The Girl's Frontline thread also exist, I must point out.

And as far as I know, it's certainly up above average regarding story quality. Gameplay can take a bit to get used to, but it's also a game that rewards long-term players as it doesn't try to powercreep like some others games. Strong girls that were present at the game's start are still perfectly viable.

 

[Amazon Climber]

Aside from FGO, I'm a big fan of Guardian Tales. It's a live-action RPG that takes a lot of inspiration from SNES-era games. It can be pretty funny with a lot of dark humor, and the gameplay is pretty fun. While it is a gacha game, it's entirely possible to use only the free units, as long as you upgrade them and their equipment (which can also be done for free, though it helps to pay for stamina). Up until the latest two chapters, anyway, which have a huge jump in difficulty. I struggled even with a team full of the best characters. Not that you'll need to use the free units, though, since the game gives you plenty of diamonds to pull heroes with. DO NOT USE THEM FOR THE EQUIPMENT BANNERS.

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I picked this up a little over two weeks ago, and I'd second the recommendation. It's designed as an actual game as opposed to a mobile game; the last boss of the first season was a genuine challenge rather than an unfair pile of numbers that's a thinly-veiled attempt to get you to shell out, and there's no game ruiners like pay items that let you bypass the puzzles.

Also, there's some really nice character design, and I don't just mean the demonic muscle girl in a black leather bikini.

 

[wanara009]

What's the sitch on Infinite Langrage? My brother's playing it and some of my fav Youtubers got sponsored by it. It looks really good, but I'm already 2 Gacha deep (three if you count Girl Frontline but I've not played that game for months).

 

[Selias]

Ooh. Just got an ad for Atelier Online. The video makes it look pretty good, too, though I suppose that's not really an indication of its actual quality. First Disgaea, then Touhou, and now Atelier. Wonder what's next.

 

[Biigoh]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netmarble.marvelfr

Hmmmmm~

 

[Selias]

Atelier Online came out yesterday. I've only played it for a few hours, but it seems pretty fun, so far. Full voice-acting for the characters, too! It's also doing one of those opening specials where they give away a popular character for your party. Finish a bunch of quests, and you can unlock Ryza. It only lasts seven days, though. Would have preferred two weeks, but I'll still try to finish it.

EDIT: Looks like the voice acting is just for the main story.

Ooh. Just got an ad for Atelier Online. The video makes it look pretty good, too, though I suppose that's not really an indication of its actual quality. First Disgaea, then Touhou, and now Atelier. Wonder what's next.

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Looks like Nexon is putting out a Konosuba game for mobile! Honestly, though, it looks kind of "meh." The battle system looks almost exactly like Memoria Freese, which I'm not a big fan of. Between that and the battle sprites, I would have thought they were made by the same people, if I didn't know better. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, though.

EDIT: Lot of positive reviews on QooApp. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Amazon Climber]

Atelier Online came out yesterday. I've only played it for a few hours, but it seems pretty fun, so far. Full voice-acting for the characters, too! It's also doing one of those opening specials where they give away a popular character for your party. Finish a bunch of quests, and you can unlock Ryza. It only lasts seven days, though. Would have preferred two weeks, but I'll still try to finish it.

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Looks like a major cash grab. The 'special' gacha promised a character *or* equipment in your first three pulls, which is always a bad sign. Not nearly as bad as the 'five easy installments of $12.99!' thing, though; expectations of daily purchases are one of the worst signs of a 'game' that's only concerned with making money.

 

[Selias]

Looks like a major cash grab. The 'special' gacha promised a character *or* equipment in your first three pulls, which is always a bad sign. Not nearly as bad as the 'five easy installments of $12.99!' thing, though; expectations of daily purchases are one of the worst signs of a 'game' that's only concerned with making money.

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Eh. Just because a game encourages spending doesn't mean that the f2p gameplay is bad.

 

[Amazon Climber]

Eh. Just because a game encourages spending doesn't mean that the f2p gameplay is bad.

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I mean, I'm sure it's possible to find examples that prove your point, but I've found that the more the game encourages soending the more it's going to find ways to try and hold itself hostage if you don't spend.

EDIT: I decided to check Reddit, and hooboy.

Atelier Online Launch - Game is already dead in JP- A warning.


Ahead of the game's upcoming English release, I wanted to give some info and a preview of what the eventual endgame looks like. I've been playing the Japanese version since it launched around Oct 2018, spent some money on guaranteed characters, but most of my resources and gear are from dailies, events, and free rolls. I also have another f2p endgame account, started about half a year later. There are major advantages to using 2 accounts, but that's a separate topic.

The original Japanese version of this game is no longer being developed or maintained. The last major update ("Season 2") was released on Nov 29 2019. The only free welfare characters were released in Dec 2018, shortly after the game first launched. No other free story chars have been added since. The last new gacha character was released over a year ago, on Mar 31 2020. Since then, the game devolved into a slow trickle of prewritten content and an endless loop of reskinned grinding events (kill the same low level trash mobs for 20 hours, synth the same item 2000 times, etc), while players held their breath and hoped for an update. The update never came, the diminishing effort (events lacking any scenes/dialog, missing character art, major story points showing white screens instead of CG, etc) made it apparent that it never would, and most of the old playerbase left. Meanwhile, they decided to ship it to a new audience unaware of its troubled development and ultimate fate, so they could continue cashing in on recycling this trash. So here we are.

I don't know how the international release will handle things like gacha and event rewards/scoring, but the final contents, characters, features, and systems have already been set for a long time now. It's just a matter of how slowly they want to milk it before allowing the game to reach its final state.
This particular raid is one of the two initially released with season 2. Raids were touted as the next endgame multiplayer content, but were mostly dead on arrival because of the uninspired design, poor rewards, and unfixed bugs. You walk through a recolored zone, 5 floors of randomized dungeon pieced together from previous dungeons, and fight one of two recycled bosses. Boss strategy is the same one that applies to anything that can't be autoed to death: drop two skill gauge items, skill chain, win. It's as trivial as it looks. The raid system was never expanded, and even now, only the two initial raids are available. The only other endgame content is a set of bosses that require using a paid ticket each time you summon one.

If you want more info about the game, I'm on the r/Atelier discord (not to be confused with the game's official discord, run by the company porting it). May make further content, mostly focused on f2p and beating the system, depending on whether interest in the game warrants it.

**TLDR: Game has been in maint mode for almost 2 years, no new content at all. If you play this game boltrend is going to milk it and then shut it down.**

Be warned.

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[Selias]

Right. Don't bother with Atelier Online, unless you don't care about longevity. It seems pretty fun, so far, but it's apparently already dead in Japan (the Season 2 update was released in 2019). "Since then, the game devolved into a slow trickle of prewritten content and an endless loop of reskinned grinding events (kill the same low level trash mobs for 20 hours, synth the same item 2000 times, etc), while players held their breath and hoped for an update. The update never came, the diminishing effort (events lacking any scenes/dialog, missing character art, major story points showing white screens instead of CG, etc) made it apparent that it never would, and most of the old playerbase left."

This is a real shame, because I really have been enjoying it. I'll probably come back to it after Season 2 comes out next year, so I can play through the story, but aside from that I'm done with it. After getting Ryza tomorrow, of course.

EDIT: The hell? I swear that quote from Reddit wasn't there when I was posting this, but it says it was last edited on Thursday.

 

[rx915]

Now they're trying to update Metal Slug for online gaming........ for the mobile......

 

[Megaolix]

For those that case, Punishing Gray Raven is coming very very soon. AKA tonight/tomorrow depending on where you live.

There's no goddamn why I will stand playing an action game on my phone, however and I do not feel like trying emulation for it.

 

[Selias]

Now they're trying to update Metal Slug for online gaming........ for the mobile......

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That actually looks really cool, though I'm not sure how I feel about the auto-targetting. That said, I'd have much preferred them releasing it for the Switch or Steam. Not a big fan of most most live-action mobile game controls.

 

[Selias]

Well, I've been playing KonoSuba Fantastic Days for a few hours now, and I'm happy to announce that it has an original story with some new characters. The story sections are even fully voice-acted (very well, IMO) and (slightly) animated. I was a bit worried, at first, because the intro and P1 make it look like it's just rehashing the original plot, but things go off-script in P2. No clue if that continues or not.

 

[Hyp3rB14d3]

I have been playing Mega Man X Dive for a little over a week now. And the game is a blast. The game plays just like a Mega Man X game. And while it's admittedly more than a little frustrating to play a Mega Man X game using touch screen controls, as it turns out, if you have a PS4 controller, you can connect to your mobile device via bluetooth and map the controls to it in settings. (Although for some reason, the game won't let you map to the control stick, only the d-pad.)

Despite this, the game is most definitely a gacha game. Each level is progressively harder than the first. Not in the sense that the levels are actually more difficult, but in that enemies in the stage deal more damage, have higher amounts of HP, and eventually begin randomly not taking damage from attacks that hit them unless your hit score is high enough. In order to counter this, one must increase their own abilities by leveling up. However, while completing levels yields experience, it doesn't do it fast enough to keep up with the rate at which the difficulty increases.

Which brings me to the gacha bit. The game has daily missions that require accessing various modes of the game, the completion of which grant experience and various items. Likewise, items drop when you complete levels. Said items are required to improve your weapons, to create items in the lab, to upgrade your enhancement chips, etc., all of which is required in order to increase your character's power so that completing stages is possible.

And of course, being a gacha game, there is a gacha in the form of "capsules." There's two varieties of them: one that grants random characters and weapons, most of which will inevitably end up being either low ranking or something that you already have, and one that grants random parts used for development in the lab. Both varieties of capsules use in game currency, and spending money absolutely isn't required to play the game. However, it is entirely possible to buy more of the in-game currency using real money so that you can keep drawing from the gacha.

As for the characters themselves, they mostly play similarly. Everyone can double jump and air dash, and everyone uses the same weapons. That said, some characters are larger or smaller than others, some are faster, some have better inherent stats, and all of them have their own pair of skills unique to them. For example, X comes with skills allowing him to fire a charged shot and missiles, while Zero has an uppercut slash and that technique where he punches the ground and shots blasts in all directions. Consequently, playing different characters actually feels like playing different characters.

There's also quite a few different characters available. But getting anything from the gacha that you don't already have is like pulling teeth. It can be quite frustrating. Especially when you get someone from the gacha, only for story mode to provide them later. (I personally recommend waiting until you're past the first few worlds before playing the Gacha, as story mode provides Axl and Zero.)

Some of the characters also have alternate costumes. For example, X has his command mission outfit, which can be obtained through story mode. Alternate costumes often provide stat bonuses, and change the character's appearance. And as to be expected, some of the female characters' alternate costumes look like they were designed by QQ.

There's also a store. Fortunately, everything in it can be bought using in game currency, which can be earned by performing missions. That said, the store allows you to buy more in game currency, for those who aren't willing to play the game to earn money to buy things in the game.

 

[rx915]

Now that SAO MD has shut down you can play the offline version with a preset number of rare characters and equipment without paying.

 

[Hyp3rB14d3]

As it turns out, the global version of Mega Man X Dive was deliberately made worse in comparison to the original, Rockman X Dive. Not entirely certain why they did that, especially considering that Rockman X Dive was already in English. But they did. The skin store (where you buy alternate costumes) was removed from the global version, most of the characters from Rockman X Dive are unavailable, the versus arena is a smaller area, and there's less ways to gain EXP, resulting in slower character growth. I would say this was to encourage people to resort to pay-to-win, except they also removed some of the more blatant pay-to-win options that are available in Rockman X Dive while leaving in the anti-pay-to-win measures. It's baffling to me.

But regardless, I'm switching over. ...Admittedly, in part because not switching over after all I had to go through to get Rockman X Dive to play on my ipad would seem like something of a waste.

 

[Selias]

As it turns out, the global version of Mega Man X Dive was deliberately made worse in comparison to the original, Rockman X Dive. Not entirely certain why they did that, especially considering that Rockman X Dive was already in English. But they did. The skin store (where you buy alternate costumes) was removed from the global version, most of the characters from Rockman X Dive are unavailable, the versus arena is a smaller area, and there's less ways to gain EXP, resulting in slower character growth. I would say this was to encourage people to resort to pay-to-win, except they also removed some of the more blatant pay-to-win options that are available in Rockman X Dive while leaving in the anti-pay-to-win measures. It's baffling to me.

But regardless, I'm switching over. ...Admittedly, in part because not switching over after all I had to go through to get Rockman X Dive to play on my ipad would seem like something of a waste.

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Which one is it on QooApp? It has an English version, but the title is MegaMan X Dive. Does the Chinese or Japanese version have an option for English?

 

[Hyp3rB14d3]

Which one is it on QooApp? It has an English version, but the title is MegaMan X Dive. Does the Chinese or Japanese version have an option for English?

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The original version's title is Rockman X Dive, but it's listed as Mega Man X Dive in the Australian app store. The original version does have an English language option.

 

[Selias]

Well, I've only played the first few stages, and it seems pretty good so far. A bit unhappy about how short the stages are, since it seems like they just cut a normal-sized stage up into multiple chunks, and you were definitely right about needing a controller, but on the whole I've been enjoying myself.