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Missed Story Potential: Dragalia Lost

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Dragalia Lost is one of those games I really like for some reason. I’m not terribly good at it, and it’s not the best game, even in its genre, but still I keep with it. I think it’s mostly due to the story. There’s just something quite charming about it.

Not to say that it’s particularly good or anything; it’s not winning awards anytime soon. And that’s a shame. I know story is just an ancillary thing for this sort of mobile game – this one actually has gameplay – but the devs think it’s obviously still important for the fans, since they’ve put more of a focus on getting more story out, and faster. But…it leaves something to be desired. With just a little more depth, a bit more thought than the basic jrpg tropes, especially in the main story, and it could be something really special here.

To put it simply, the game’s protagonist (Euden) is the seventh child (of eight) of a good king. Said good king dies at the beginning, after getting possessed by The Great Evil. The Great Evil (not it’s name, just what it is) then possesses the younger twin sister of the MC, Zethia, who also happened to be the figurehead of the local dragon-worshiping religion (ie, the fantasy pope gets possessed by the fantasy devil) – and therefore is not a potential heir to the throne. Then said Great Evil decides she/it is going to take over the kingdom, and does – and renames the kingdom from Generic Eurofantasyland to The Evil Empire.

Right there, there’s something potentially interesting. See, one needs to have a claim on the throne, in order to claim the throne. (At least politically.) Zethia had no claim, so she has no authority to claim. Now, being The Great Evil, she has phenomenal power, and that creates an authority of its own. But that power needs to be demonstrated first. From all that we can tell, Zethia just walked onto the throne and claimed it, no opposition (besides from Euden’s little band, who’ve been branded as kingslayers – one of the few things the story gets right in this area). Not only did Zethia not have any claim in the first place, but she’s also the eighth child of the king. What about the other six or so? We quickly learn (and it makes sense) that a few don’t care about ruling, or are otherwise unfit to do so. But that still leaves at least one, and probably more, that should contest this – most notably the oldest, who naturally was assuming he’d be the next king (and has the ambition and ability to do so). But no, we see all of Euden’s older siblings simply fall in line, and none of the nobles dispute such a breech in propriety. Oh, and no one seems to really care that Zethia, the Fantasy Pope, remember, renamed the kingdom to basically be The Evil Empire – the evil world-conquering empire ruled by and worshiping The Great Evil, whom the kingdom’s founder vanquished. No big deal I guess – even to the religion she’s the head of, which is specifically opposed to said Great Evil.

And that just takes into account the internal palace politics. What about the international scene? At least the game takes some time to flesh out its world a bit: there are the not!forest elves (Sylvans), who nominally are part of this kingdom, but not really because they all live in the inpenetrable woods (and are thus exotic to humans – except for all those generic Slyvan NPC’s that show up in town scenes all the time); the other generic Eurofantasy kingdom to the north that is apparently somewhat hostile but not really since we get some of them as gacha characters; the not!Venice merchant city-state to the west; the not!China somewhere to the east (but not too far east); and the not!Japan, also not too far to the east. How do all these react to this turmoil? Asides from the not!Venice, we don’t really know – and even in this case, we only know something because the MC asks for their help, for an alliance.

And then there’s the issue of Euden and his band. At the beginning Euden and friends find an abandoned castle – abandoned, because it was hidden in a magic forest with magical mist. They use this as a base to harass the Evil Empire, and to help the various people messed up by said Evil Empire. Eventually there’s a sufficiently-large amount of refugees that Euden actually is able to declare independence from Evil Empire. What comes of this major event? Not a whole lot. Besides going to not!Venice to get an ally, things just proceed in typical JRPG fashion: save villagers from monsters or The Evil Empire, go to parties, throw parties. entertain foreigners, fight off the occasional Evil Empire patrol, and so on. The game’s story rarely uses the fact that Euden is a ruler to much effect. Sometimes, late in the story, he commands an army, or something, but generally he’s just a jrpg protagonist going around with his jrpg party gathering allies. And of course there’s the typical gacha stuff where he interacts personally with just about every character, in a manner befitting a jrpg protagonist, not a ruler (they say king; but duke, or maybe even count, would be more appropriate).

In just these few worldbuilding, political areas, the game somewhat falls flat. And it’s a real shame, because this isn’t just another typical jrpg (or even western rpg) story. They could have actually done something special here, but they didn’t even think out the implications of events in their own story. And that’s the real kicker – I think a lot of people look down on mobile rpg stories because the stories tend to do this. It seems most stories aren’t written by proper writers, but by people high up on the dev team – often the directors themselves – and that can lead to these situations where there are good idea seeds, but the seeds aren’t allowed to grow and mature, at least not properly (tonight’s story update is probably going to be a good example of this, but that’s spoiler territory). It’s just lost potential.

Excited!

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Today’s Blaugust prompt (brought to us by Heather at Just Geeking By) is:

What are the things that get you excited in life?

I’m going to be honest here: this was really hard. Sure, one or two of these won’t surprise anyone who’s been reading the blog at all, but beyond the obvious? I just don’t know. Lately, a lot of things that used to animate me…don’t. But, I will persevere.

Pizza

I love pizza. Really love it. I eat it as much as I can, which is obvious looking at my physique. Up there is a picture from one of my favorite places, Shakey’s. Haters gonna hate, but I love that style for some reason. But I love pretty much all pizza. Deep dish, paper-thin, lots of toppings, just cheese, whatever, I love it. Sure, there are pizzas I don’t like, and I of course have my preferences, but pizza is one of those things that excites me, just thinking about it. I look forward with great anticipation every pizza day, all week.

Astronomy
I don’t remember if I actually was the one that took the image on the right, but I was definitely the one who analysed the data to make it.

When I was a kid I really loved space. Then I kinda grew out of it; or perhaps more accurately, lost exposure. Your typical high school just doesn’t focus on that. When I went back to uni I took a 101 course in Astronomy, as an easy elective for my Physics degree. Sure, it was that, but it rekindled my excitement for astronomy. I took a few more astronomy classes, but reigned it in, as I needed to eventually graduate. But I figured I’d take the rest of my science electives in astronomy. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out for that (some classes only offered a certain semester, which were gatekeeper classes for more stuff, etc.), but I did get to do some actual work and research with the telescope, which was awesome (even though I had a 4am shift for work…). If I had to do it again, I’d skip out on Physics, and go into Astronomy.

Star Trek

This was one of the obvious ones. Hell, I named my blog after Trek. I love Star Trek to death. Good Trek, that is. Or even mediocre Trek. But not the bad stuff. That’s part of why I haven’t been able to get excited about much lately: one of my greatest loves is just plain bad, and has been for most things since Enterprise ended about 15 years ago. All the new official canon is bad or terrible. Can’t get that thrill anymore about any announcements, because all that can come of that is disappointment. At least the old stuff is still there, and I love talking about that at every opportunity. I even still play STO, despite it going the way of the dog too.

Gacha Game Stories

I like game stories in general. I know most game writers aren’t the best, but I tend to like them anyways. I of course get most excited for RPG’s, because they usually have the most, and best, story. But I put gacha games here in focus because they deliver on a regular basis. Sure, they tend to be merely context for image and sound files for whatever gameplay there is, but that’s what I love about it. As I said, I’m not expecting an epic, or a classic, but just something decent (in fact, in a future post – maybe tomorrow – I’ll talk about some things that would improve the stories in a couple of games I play). I like the background. I like the context. I like that they are short. And I love the delivery schedule the best. The games I play deliver some new story or another at least once a month. Even MMO’s generally take several months between story content updates; they might be meatier in comparison, but they’re just as disposable. In an earlier era, I’d probably be the guy devouring every pulp sci-fi magazine; these gacha game stories are a modern equivalent, I think. And, as I posted towards the beginning of the month, I really dislike it when people just dismiss the stories as trash, without engaging with them. Tell me why you think it’s trash. I just want to talk about these, have a discussion, theorycraft, worldbuild, headcanon, I don’t even care what you think as long as we’re talking. That’s exciting.

A Pre-History of the Deus Ex World

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As I stated long ago, I made up a little bit of a history to the world of the Deus Ex games. Yes, I know they’re supposed to be “our world,” but obviously things haven’t happened as they said they would in the games. But even considering that, there’s a lot of the “behind the scenes” stuff that isn’t necessarily what happened in our real history, that would matter to the world of Deus Ex. Naturally, all that follows is my own creation, basically a bit of fanfiction.

  • 1919 – During the negotiations to form the League of Nations, a group of world leaders and major businessmen come together to form the Illuminati – a group to guide the future of mankind to a better, and thus more profitable, place, where major wars would not disrupt the general progress of mankind. The world would become a more united order, the people losing the dangerous differences of racism and nationalism, but instead become a block of consumers and workers. Both the United States and the Soviet Union reject this plan. The Soviets create their own (less) hidden guiding order instead, modeled after Marx’s ideals. In America, however, there is a lot of support for the Illuminati.
  • During the Great Depression, the Illuminati are able to install a series of puppets in the United States, up to the president, Roosevelt. However, their fortunes are reversed in Europe, where Germany, Italy, and Spain all break free from Illuminati influence. The Fascists, however, do not form another secret block; Hitler instead chooses to go the old-fashioned route of alliances, diplomacy, and war.
  • After WWII, the Illuminati and the Soviet block consolidate their power. Between the two, most of the nations of the earth fall under the influence of some secret society – pretty much everything besides Africa. It pretty much follows the communist/not communist lines.
  • Until Nixon, that is. Nixon opening up China was really the Illuminati gaining control influence over the Chinese government. The Illuminati doesn’t really care what form the government takes, as long as it follows guidelines.
  • Speaking of Africa, that proved to be a huge problem for both the Illuminati and the Soviets. Both pushed anti-colonialism – new, weak governments are easier clients than a strong empire, after all – but Africa quickly became a mess. Africans weren’t interested in merely having new masters. And all the aid and bribes in the world couldn’t overcome the tribalism and corruption of these new, weak governments. It wouldn’t be until later that things settled down enough for the big players to gain a foothold there.
  • In the late 1980’s, the Soviet block fell apart. Authoritarianism and militarism couldn’t compete with globalist consumerism, neither economically nor psychologically. The Illuminati took over the structures the Soviets had put in place.
  • The rise of the Internet in the 1990’s greatly expanded the power and control of the Illuminati. It’s much easier to control the hearts and minds of a few prominent elite than to seriously influence the masses. The Internet allowed the Illuminati to directly interface with millions, and eventually billions. And of course, the data collected would create ever-better ways to reach said billions, individually, until basically everyone was constantly under surveillance.
  • Either patriotism, or the lack thereof, could be used to further the Illuminati’s ends. But both in the same country, in significant amounts, were a problem. America was in this state, with half patriots and half anti-patriots. This sort of soft cultural separation kept both halves on their guard. A crisis would be needed to either push one way or the other, or completely separate the two sides. Fortuitously, terrorists attacking New York City created that crisis for them; this created a clean cultural divide that the Illuminati could exploit, both against the world and against each other. Control of the internet would exacerbate relations on both sides, creating an easily-exploitable paranoia. Various plagues, foreign wars, and disasters would only increase this.
  • To add to this political turmoil, mechanical augmentations became a huge cultural phenomenon. First started with helping maimed soldiers gain full mobility, augmentations quickly became more and more advanced, to the point where not having them became a major disadvantage in pretty much every area of life.

How To Not Fail At Gacha

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I’ve been playing mobile gacha games for a few years now. I’ve been paying attention to the various trends and what’a popular and whatnot for that time. Some of my most-played games fall into this category after all, and I think watching them in general is just a good idea. Over that time, I think I’ve seen a lot of what tends to work. And I’ve seen a few things that don’t work. So, in case any of those big game producers making a new game are reading this blog today, I’ll spell it out for you, and solve all your problems.

The first part is to know your audience. This might seem like a simple thing, but a lot of games go out there thinking their audience is EVERYONE! Sure, that’d be nice to have, but the reality is, not everyone will want to play your game, at least at first. “Everyone” is quite the accomplishment. But you should know that the typical audience for these sorts of games are adult males with jobs, especially those over 30, at least for new IP’s. If you’re one of the lucky ones with a licensed property, you’ll have your audience – though it will still be somewhat older, because you’re going whaling, and whales need money, serious cash. Like, hundreds of spare dollars a month to throw at your gacha. Kids don’t have that (and it’s also kinda scummy to market this sort of thing to kids, but that’s a secondary concern).

Once you know your audience, you know how to cater to them. If it’s adult males, as it most likely is, it’s pretty girls. Waifus, if you’ll pardon my misuse of weeb parlance. But, but what about cool guys?! Everyone loves cool guys, that’s why they’re the protagonists of so many games! Sure, they’re the protagonists. You can even make the protagonist of your game a cool dude. But you don’t draw protagonists from the gacha, typically. That’s a bad plan. Most dudes don’t want to spend money on dudes (unless it’s their birthday). They’ll spend money on women, though, even women they have no chance on being with (in this case, because the women aren’t even real). The gacha doesn’t have to be ALL girls, but it should heavily weigh that way. Remember, every time a guy draws a male character, unless that character is quite overpowered, there will be disappointment.

There, that’s it. That’s all you’ll need. Oh, and marketing. Lots and lots of marketing. No matter how awesome your game is, not matter how appealing your characters are, it won’t matter one little bit if no one knows about it. Word-of-mouth works, but those people have to get into the game first, in order to tell others about it. Fan artists are especially useful here. But again, if they don’t see your characters in the first place, they can’t make art of them and spread your message on Twitter for free. Even a big-name publisher won’t mean anything, if there’s no marketing. Mobile games are a dime a few dozen, and essentially disposable – getting your name, and art, out there will make you stand out from the competition.

The Physical Blogspace

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Today’s Blaugust prompt is from Krikket of Nerd Girl Thoughts:

Tell us about your physical creative space, and how it influences your content creation.

My physical “creative” space is pretty simple. I do most of my blogging during breaks at work. In my office. Because of course I have my own office; “janitorial shift manager” is a very prestigious position. I’m not going to post any pictures, because it’s very simple really. I’ve got my chromebook here, my work pc that I only use if I need to print something (as the chromebook only has ONE usb port), and various office supplies all around.

The office itself is small (a couple years ago I traded size for air conditioning; a fair trade if I do say so), about 8.5’x10.5′. The computers face one corner. I’ve got on-wall bookshelves above the desk, which takes up most of two walls. The bookshelf directly in my sight has my diploma and various books (this would be where relevant people have their Important Reference Books; I just have some old college textbooks, and Japanese learning aids).

That’s how it is. Not terribly inspiring. Maybe if I had somewhere more “creative,” my posts might be better. Probably not, though, since the posts I do at home on the weekends aren’t any better. If this setting inspires me at all, it’s to work fast. Because they are work breaks. Sure, I have more time now, seeing as how we have no one in the dorms. But normal times, not so much. I’ve got to be quick. No time for proofreading or editing. (Not that I’d do anything like that anyhow; I never did for papers at for school, either.)

Destroy All Humans: A Review

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The short version: this is a good game. You should go play it. Well-worth paying full price ($30).

The long version: if you liked the original, you will like this. It’s basically the same game. Sure, the graphics are modernized, it’s got keyboard+mouse support, and even has a new mission (it’s a cut mission from the original files that’s been restored), but it’s the same game. They even used the same audio, so it keeps the humor that’s not allowed anymore (there is one line that’s taken out).

You might notice that it doesn’t quite look the same as before, besides the improved graphics and textures. The devs for the remake thought that these cartoony characters worked better for the tone of the game than the original’s more idealized depictions. I don’t really agree, but it’s a minor thing.

For those of you who haven’t played the original, this is a third-person shooter in the classic style. Meaning, this isn’t a cover shooter, there are no real stealth elements, you just go around shooting things. Well, you do more than that – since you have no stealth, you do your non-shooty bits by taking the holographic form of various humans. You can read their minds, which can give mission hints, but mostly they’re just fun (this also recharges your holographic disguise). You can pick up and throw things with your mind. You have a few different weapons (including an anal probe that causes heads to explode). You have a jet pack to do jet pack things. You also have a flying saucer to do more enhanced destruction.

Between missions you can upgrade all this stuff with the DNA currency that you collect. Which you mostly get by stealing people’s brains (thus the anal probe causing exploding heads). There are also hidden alien probes around the maps that also give you DNA. Every map can be revisited after/between missions to gather all the collectibles and do minigames so you can upgrade your stuff. (You can also just plain replay missions, to get optional objectives or whatever.) The game is pretty easy overall, but it’s the upgrades that make it so. (And you’re going to really want those upgrades for the few difficult parts of the game.)

I personally have played a bit over 13 hours to this point. In this time I did all the main missions, and have replayed several of the maps. I haven’t 100% any of them though. I’d really have to get a guide to find the last of the probes on some of those maps. But for now, I’m satisfied. The replayability is a major part of this game – sometimes you just have a need to destroy a town, and you can do that as many times as you want. I really hope this game is such a success that THQ decides to remake the sequel, which is an even better game than this one.

Star Trek Lower Decks Ep 1: Review

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It wasn’t terrible. It’s got that going for it. Of course, Picard also wasn’t terrible in the first episode, and showed some promise.

I went into this thinking it’d be quite terrible. Not only was the art completely uninspiring of confidence in quality (generic calarts garbage), but the trailer was quite attrocious. About 90% of that was in this first episode, but fortunately the worst parts of the trailer weren’t here, and the trailer didn’t deliver the top jokes (though obviously it thought it would). And it seemed like it would be the generic modern comedy cartoon, which is something I don’t want in a Trek show.

It actually was that last thing. I still don’t want that in a Trek show. This didn’t feel like a Trek comedy show, but rather a parody of Trek, like you’d see on Family Guy or Robot Chicken (the similarities to Rick and Morty aren’t just in the art). I don’t like that sort of manic, frantic, silly humor (that still somehow manages to stretch a joke too long much of the time) generally, and I don’t think it fits with the Star Trek aesthetic. Trek has done comedy, sometimes even being funny, so it’s not like Trek has to be serious. But this isn’t it.

All that I could tolerate, though, if it weren’t for the main character. Mariner is by far the most annoying character on the show, but she’s obviously supposed to be sympathetic, at least as far as a modern comedy lead is allowed to be. She’s made out to be a Michael Burnham, but “funny”. But Burnham was a big part of what makes STD bad, and Mariner follows that trend. She’s a headstrong, manic, stubborn woman who’s nevertheless always in the right – she’s only rebelling against the stuffy regulations, after all. She’s contrasted with, and in conflict with, the senior staff, who are all jerkoffs, so you know she’s in the right, even if you’d rather she disappeared from your screen forever. This show might even be decent, if it weren’t for her. I don’t see her get any better.

Since it didn’t completely put me off in the first episode, I’ll give it at least a couple more, see if it turns out. I always hope that these new shows will turn out ok – that they’ve learned from their mistakes, and improved and made something better. My hopes are constantly dashed, but Trek is about hope for a better future. So here I am.

Social Combat? An Easy Stat Set For a Non-Combat Game

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Most everyone (at least anyone who’d be reading this) is familiar with a basic stat set, as seen in games. I think the idea might have been initially popularized with D&D, but it has spread out to lots of other forms of games, even besides RPG’s. It’s just a convenient and concise way to describe a thing in comparison with others of a similar nature. They’re especially useful when the things in question are combat units, for combat games.

But what about non-combat situations that you still want gamified? That’s easy with a stat set, too. Many games (like the afore-mentioned D&D) use the same stat set for all sorts of situations. Many gamers are familiar with the basic setup here, even if it does differ from game to game. Even the abbreviations will be familiar to many: STR, AGL, PER, DEX, INT, and so on. Many of those can conceivably be used in non-combat, or social, situations. You just have to make up a system to deal with them.

I’m not going to be doing anything original here. I just want a simple stat set that can be used just for social situations. Like, say, a high school setting. You don’t need a Strength stat, or perhaps Endurance stat, in that sort of thing (keeping it realistic, I mean; if you’re going to do a combat high school, you might want those things!). Like I said, simple. And familiar, so folks don’t need a big explanation on what everything is.

Your “social combat” in such settings would, I think, be mostly concerned with persuasion: convincing someone to do something, helping them feel better, convincing them of your position, and so on. So, what sort of stats might we use? Seems like Charisma (CHA) is obvious to start; let’s say it’s a combination of looks, the air about you, how you carry yourself, and so on, that make people like (or dislike) you before interacting, and basically how likable they are in general. Perception (PER) to notice things that are going on. Intelligence (INT) to have knowledge and figure out solutions. Wisdom (WIS) to know what to say, and how to best say it. Stuff like that.

So, how can we apply these? Let’s give an example. Say your character wants to go to the beach this weekend, and is trying to convince their friends. Most people want to go, so that’s easy, but there is one friend that’s quite resistant. A high CHA difference might make this friend more desirous to please the PC. A PER check might spot a shaky hand, or a specific change in tone. INT might remind that there’s a test on Monday, and the friend is not doing so hot in this subject. Success with WIS might use that friend’s specific history to bring up something or another. (I think WIS is probably the best stat in this situation, so something must be done about that.)

My system would, again, be simple. Just a 1-5 scale, with 3 being “normal”. Since all the stats are pretty close to each other, something must be done. So, I’ll have another stat, perhaps a multiplier. We’ll call that Will (WIL). This is the sheer force of personality, stubbornness, leadership skill, etc, that represents how much a character can really get something done. I’m even considering this a multiplier stat, compared to an additive stat for the rest. This can let otherwise low-stat characters actually succeed in many scenarios. (I basically have the genki idiot/airhead from a lot of anime in mind with this., who tend to drive the action over their smarter, wiser peers.)

Of course all this could be ironed out, added to, modified, and completely blown up. It’s just an idea I had, because I like simple things like this. Makes life easier for me.

(This is born from an idea I had for describing the various girls of Bang Dream. I thought this was an easy way of describing their base personalities while simultaneously explaining why things turn out the way they do in those stories. Then I figured one could make an actual game out of just that, and here we are. Might actually use the stats in those blogs about the characters, but might not. We’ll see.)

Improvement

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Today’s Blaugust prompt (original poster is Stingite) is

What skill do you want to improve on the most?

Pretty simple question. And for me, it’s a pretty simple answer. I want to improve my communication skills, and writing in particular.

See, I was always a decent writer. Competent, got good marks on my essays. I can do public speaking relatively well. Relatively. But “relatively well” isn’t good enough, in my eyes. Not when it’s important (important to me, anyhow).

I stated long ago that this was a reason for me to start this blog in the first place – to improve my writing skills. I have no real reason to do this – I’m a glorified janitor, after all. Even moving up to middle management somewhere wouldn’t really necessitate improving my writing (I’ve seen what our management does here), just keeping up my basic literacy. But I still want to improve.

I just don’t see my writing as particularly good. Oh, I know there are good ideas. That’s why I bother writing them down in the first place, whether it’s here on this blog, or somewhere else. (I’ve always been the type to hold my peace when I don’t have anything particular to add to a conversation. Drives some people up the wall.) But actually getting those ideas out, in a satisfactory manner, has always been very difficult for me. Even just explaining myself verbally is a challenge, but writing is definitely much harder. I’ll think about something for a long time, but when the time comes to let someone else know, I almost always falter.

For example, look at yesterday’s post. To me, when I read it, it seems like the barely-literate ramblings of a child. Now, I know they’re not. It’s competently done. I said what I wanted to say. But I didn’t say it how I wanted it said. It’s very simple and perfunctory. There’s no style or voice. I’ve been writing this post in my head for weeks. And yet there it is, looking like something a middle-schooler could dump out. Maybe not today’s middle schoolers, but you get the point. It was all much better in my head, but it’s just slop.

This is why I don’t do too many reviews – what can I say that is worth reading? I made yesterday’s post because I figure most anyone who reads it wouldn’t know about it, so there’s some small value there. But it’s a big part of why I haven’t put up my Picard review yet – people much more eloquent (or at least funnier) than I have said a lot about it. I still have thoughts and feelings about it, which I will post, this month, but still, I doubt it will satisfy me, besides the mere fact of finally expressing myself (to someone other than my brother, who doesn’t even care about Trek).

So yah, I want to improve my communication. I’m a smart guy, if I might toot my own horn a bit, so I shouldn’t sound like an idiot.

I think I want to make this image my header, I use it enough.

Bang Dream! Girls Band Party! The Review!

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This will be the general review of the game Bang Dream! Girls Band Party! (Yes, the exclamation marks are part of the title; it’s all very exciting, after all). I’m going to be doing a summary of the different bands in separate posts, because I think that’s worthwhile. But this is the sort of thing where I tell you stuff, so you can see if you want to try it out.

First thing you should know, this is a rhythm game. If that turns you off, don’t even bother. In terms of gameplay, it’s essentially the same as Guitar Hero or Rock Band, just with a touch screen: notes fall from the top of the screen, and when they hit the target area, you touch them. Or hold, or slide, whatever. You get a score for each note, depending on your difficulty and accuracy, and your combo count. You also have a life meter, which depletes if you mess up. For the most part, points doesn’t matter a whole lot.

Those pink diamonds are the bane of my life.

I wonder if the obvious similarities to Guitar Hero aren’t deliberate. Because, unlike a lot of mobile rhythm games, the music is mostly rock music. There are some different genres represented, depending on the band – I’ll get into that more when I talk about each band later. The different tracks are all free – you start with a large supply, and augment these through events, completing the stories, or using in-game currency. You don’t have to have the song yourself to play them in multiplayer, just to choose them yourself. In multiplayer each player chooses whatever they want, and then it’s decided randomly.

The second thing to know, is that this is a gacha game. The gacha consists of the various characters, each having several variants. I said above that the score mostly doesn’t matter. It doesn’t, except in multiplayer events. Score is dependent on the stats of your band. And of course, higher-rarity units have better stats. While there are in-game items that boost stats, boosts are naturally higher when the stats are higher to begin with. Also, different units have different abilities that are activated at certain times in a song (indicated by a yellow note), and higher-rarity units tend to have better abilities. But, most importantly to most players, each new unit comes with two mini stories, and often a new costume for the song background. The game is pretty generous with gacha currency, so one could easily save a bunch (especially when you’re new) and roll quite a bit. I personally got about 140 rolls in the first 2.5 months of playing – and I’m not good.

As a big part of the draw to the gacha is the appeal of the characters, it’s important to make them appealing. All events and story things are fully-voiced, at least for the main characters. (There are a few characters besides them that are also voiced, but most npc’s aren’t – this isn’t really a problem, since they aren’t a big part of the story, typically.) All of the character portraits are also animated using Live2D, which works really well for the most part. The voice acting is high-quality, and brings a lot of life and emotion to the characters – which is important, because the stories themselves are generally pretty simple.

Technically, I think this is a pretty demanding game. I have a top-tier Chromebook (at least for last year), and there is stuttering and desynching. However, I always have a large amount of Chrome tabs in the background, which probably doesn’t help things. My tablet, which is also pretty good, has no trouble with those sorts of issues. I think it’s probably more designed to play on phones, though – all the good video of people playing are doing it on phones, and it’s certainly easier to hit all the notes with one hand that way. A garbage phone like mine isn’t going to cut it, for sure, but I’m not sure how good your phone will need to be to play this well.

There are several servers to choose from, though you’ll almost certainly want to stay in your region: Japan, Korea, China (HK), Taiwan, and Worldwide. Your region determines the language of the game, and probably also ping, servers, etc. Thus, I figure anyone reading this will probably want to play on the World server, because that’s the English version. Japan was the original version, and it’s exactly one year ahead of the World version, in terms of events, songs, and gacha. I think the other servers are ahead of the World version, if you can do those languages, and care about that. (I don’t know about the Korean version, but the Taiwan version looks to be only five months behind Japan). The English translation sticks pretty close to the Japanese original, but some of the translation choices are odd, considering that. But it’s not nearly as bad as many other games I play, so I can deal with it.

All that being said, what’s most important: Is this game fun? I have to say it is. I quite like the story and characters, and the gameplay is fun as well. I also quite like most of the music, which is good considering that’s part of the gameplay. (I even bought the Rosellia album that came out a few weeks ago.) I don’t regret the little money I’ve put into it, for sure. I do play it quite a lot, and have improved a ton since I started. However, this game is very skill-based, and you need good reaction times and hand-eye coordination, areas in which I am quite lacking. Hard difficulty is actually hard, which is a little embarrassing to admit when I see most other players in my stats range doing Master no problem. But regardless, I do really like this game, which is why I’m going to be talking about it a lot more in the near future.