Mobius Final Fantasy – English Launch Version Predictions and Reflections on Pre-Reg Milestone Rewards

I tweeted a storm last night with my guesses on just how “up-to-date” the English launch version of the game will be compared to the current Japanese version (which is 1.4.033). When looking back at how Mobius Final Fantasy started in June 2015, it’s easy to see that the game is much more user friendly now. I explain some of the changes in the points below~ But first, some observations about the trailer and web site:

The announcement trailer seems to be partially a translation of the original Japanese one plus tacking on Cid at the end. (Cid doesn’t show up until  Chapter 4 or 5 which probably isn’t going to be added into the localized version any time soon.)

The option to “freely switch between your characters in battle!” is mentioned on the official site as a key point but this wasn’t available in the initial version of the Japanese release. You also don’t see it in action in the trailer either since, as noted, it’s based on the existing Japanese video that was made to drum up interest before release.

Here are my guesses of what we’ll see on day 1:

• All “2nd and 3rd evolution” job cards of the starter jobs such as the Hunter, Knight, White Mage, Thief, Dark Knight, and Black Mage along with the Monk variants. There’s a possibility the Monk job will not be available at the start as it was just added a few months ago but the first image within the key points shows a Monk job. ^^  (Of course, with this logic, that enemy Wol’s fighting should appear at launch too but it’s a monster that shows up in a later story chapter.)

  

  Edit: This is a brain fart. The Monk jobs have Light and Dark elements in their sets which means they won’t be showing up until Chapter 4 is added in. ^^; On that note …
  .

• No Light and Dark elements.
  .
• Full Auto and double speed options for all players will be unlocked after Chapter 1.
  .
• Skill seed level retention upon card evolution. It was somewhat grating to have to rebuild the levels from level 1. It meant grinding for cards of the same element and as well as green cactuar cards.
  .
• List View Mode on the world map. It used to be that players had to rotate the planet over and over in order to find a map. Now, with a simple tap of the List View button, you can scroll through a list of every available region.
  .
• Revival/Ability Card Fusion and Boost. These reduce the amount of grinding needed to level up card abilities and skill seeds. They should have been included from the beginning of the Japanese version!
  .
• Auto-sell options, Card Storage, all current filter options and tabs for the Card Box. Pretty certain nobody wants to sell cards by manually selecting each one every single time.
  .
• Highest rarity card drops. It used to be that monsters had a low chance of dropping 3-star cards even if you already evolved them to that rarity. Nowadays, they just poop ’em non-stop. This is a good thing because of this: https://koukoupuffs.net/2015/08/05/mobius-final-fantasy-general-faq/#card2
  .
• Moogle charm cards. They up the chances of getting a successful fusion.
  .
• Some Echos, basic cactuar, and basic tonberry as first available fairies/familiars. Fairies don’t really add much value to the game; they’re collectible companions that occasionally help in battle by throwing buffs onto Wol or extending the amount of time an enemy remains in the Break phase.
  .
• Depending on how many story chapters are already included at launch, Grow Star cards may not be available … which means the Mobius Gift Box and the daily login bonuses list will not have that as a gift either.
  .
  The Grow Star is for evolving 3-star cards to 4-star cards and this option is not unlocked until after clearing Chapter 3 Part 2.
  .
• The same Daily Missions and rewards as the current Japanese version. There used to a be a mission that required players to use a certain job class to complete. This was removed a few updates ago. They also added 2x Revival/Ability Tickets as a reward for completing a mission.
  .
  Taking out the job class objective is a good thing since, for players like me that practically ignored Mage jobs because I only had a handful of 2-star and 3-star Mage-type cards for the longest time, it would mean I had to deliberately go to a low difficulty area with shit cards just to fulfill the day’s mission. This would also mean being rewarded with piddly amounts of experience, money, and skill seeds. Basically, it was a waste of time and stamina.
  .
• Normal and Hard difficulty options. Playing on Hard nets the chances of getting more card drops, higher scores, more experience, money, and skill seeds. Scores matter because it affects the skill seed bonus multiplier. There may also be a weekly ranking chart and the higher you’re ranked, the better the rewards. Assuming this English version keeps the same rewards, players will get Revival/Ability Tickets and Elixirs.
  .
• No Gigantuar map, no Pleiades Lagoon, and no God Ray or Gigantuar Bulb cards. For the former, it’s because no one just starting the game will be able to take on those giant cactuars. Same reason for the Lagoon where every fight is with a boss-type enemy.
  .
  God Rays, which can be obtained from the Lagoon (as well as Hard versions of story chapter maps), are used for 4-star to 5-star card evolutions. These seem kind of useless to have when you’re just beginning.  Along with the God Rays, the Bulb is usually a required material card. The 4-star to 5-star change is dependent on clearing a later story chapter too, I think.
  .
• No Fractal Cards or Awakened Auto Abilities because of the whole Lagoon being absent thing.
  .
• I’m guessing Square Enix will add 2nd skill panels for jobs at a later date since they need to keep the whole “new features” going with each major update. XD With that thought, the job medal  that lets you freely switch between costumes of a job without seeing a reduction in stats probably won’t be in the Item Shop immediately. A medal also costs 1 million Gil. 😛 It’s very easy to rack up a lot of Gil in the game though.
  .
• Expalight and Skill Panel Openers are maybes. I can see the creepy light bulb card being in the Item Shop right away because it can take a while to unlock Expand Skills. But a lot of time may be needed to stock up on skill seeds to unlock 4th and 8th page skill panels too. Hmm.
  .
• No multiplayer option. Reasons being Mogy and Meia need to be introduced first and it’s probably going to be added as a “new feature” later on. XD
  .
• No Job Change Recast (I sure hope they rename it). This is the option to switch between jobs in battle.
  .
• No SUB deck. Again, I’m betting that Square Enix will save this for an update.

It’s my wish that we’ll see the tweaked UX version because less grinding means a more enjoyable time!

Incidentally, I do believe the 6x Ability Tickets from listed on the pre-registration milestone rewards list really should be 6x Summon Tickets. Here’s why:

• To purchase a  3-star card, you’ll need 3 Ability Tickets. This will only level up a Level 1 card to Level 2 with 100% success. To get to Level 3 with a 100% fusion success rate, you’ll need TWO 3-star cards so that’s 6 more tickets making it a total of 9 Ability Tickets needed.
  .
  You DO NOT want to waste Ability Tickets on 1-star and 2-star cards which can be easily farmed from monsters since you cannot buy them. They can only be obtained as rewards or gifts from the developer.
  .
  6 Summon Tickets, on the other hand, give you the chance to do a “Large Summon” which will grant you 5 Ability Cards and 1 job card! I believe the tutorial will force players to do this … and it would mean that they’ll hand over 6 Summon Tickets during the tutorial anyway. .__.

I’m surprised that they’re not giving out a Fairy Ticket because, like Ability Tickets, you can’t purchase one. And everyone will like a head start on collecting cute critters and Echo in various costumes, right? 😀

Some other thoughts of the goodies:

• Brotherhood is a weapon that only Warrior jobs can use. Unsure if this will be modified but it could only be upgraded with the skill panels from the Ace Striker (re: Tidus) job that was available during the FFX collaboration event. The “powerful ability” noted on the official site is in reference of it being able to charge the Ultimate Attack gauge with each regular, non-card ability attack.
  .
• The Yuna card is a Cure (HP restoration) card that CANNOT BE EVOLVED. It will forever remain at 3-star rarity. It’s definitely useful in the beginning since, with all Expand Skills unlocked, the amount of health Wol regains is pretty substantial. However, most players will probably stash it away once better support cards come into their hands. For what it’s worth, all support cards (with the pink heart icon and pink border) will replenish health to some degree.

Edit on July 19th: Ooh. I think my wish came true! https://koukoupuffs.net/2016/07/19/mobius-final-fantasy-english-gameplay-preview-by-thegamersjoint/