Video Games, Android, iOS, and life!
I thought that the update would actually ADD a freaked out looking chicken to the store. XD Anyway, I got the answer from the Com2uS forum: http://global.com2us.com/forum/showthread.php?p=622553. (Uh, the answer is the first tier, regular, plain “Chicken”.)
Incidentally, I don’t publish my Com2uS Hub ID because I can’t commit to visiting anyone’s farm regularly. 
However, feel free to help those that provided the answer over at the forum. ^^
This is meant as a simple overview of the game. It’s missing some information since I’m not all that familiar with it. I also don’t plan on figuring things out myself since I’m not interested in keeping with it. However, if you can fill in some of the missing info, feel free to comment on this post~!
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Another Puzzle & Dragons clone popped up recently on iOS called Road to Dragons, developed and published by Acquire, the company that recently put out Orgarhythm for the PlayStation Vita and Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls for the PS3. The game is currently only available on the Japanese App Store (https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/rodo-to-u-doragon/id562157624?mt=8).
The puzzle mechanic in the game’s a little different than Puzzle & Dragons’ and seems to require a bit more strategy. Well, it does to me since I completely blew past the screen that taught me how to conserve Soul when I move so every time I play, I always run out. XD Sadly, I can’t seem to find any tutorial/manual section under Option so I think the only way to see it again is to reinstall the game and start as a new user.
Anyway, Road to Dragons pretty much starts off the same way as P&D where you choose a character that has a specific elemental affinity. The game then assigns two more additional units to help you along. And like P&D, most units have some sort of Skill as well as a Leader Skill which can only be activated if they are in the Leader position in the party formation.
The first dungeon is a tutorial dungeon where the silly looking dragon mascot will walk you through the basics. I didn’t get any screencaps of any of this since I wasn’t planning on writing a tutorial of sorts considering I’m still a little confused about the game myself. Famitsu wrote up a short guides to it at http://app.famitsu.com/20121107_106889/ and http://app.famitsu.com/20121108_107352/ but I’ve yet to go through them. I know the second link doesn’t really help so I think the first one is where the movement and gameplay information is at.
Each stage requires a certain amount of Stamina which will recover over time. You can also opt to instantly replenish it with the premium currency known as Rainbow Crystal (虹色水晶). There’s a number underneath Stamina which shows how many squares are needed to get to the Goal or something? I haven’t bothered to look up the kanji.
Oh yeah, the screencap above is of an Event Dungeon which are essentially limited time dungeons which are only available for a certain amount of days or hours. When selecting a stage to play, you can also choose a random stranger and have them accompany you. After you journey with them, you can choose to send off a friend request.
All this is taken from Puzzle & Dragons. :3
Maybe it’s just me but I’d rather help out people that are around the same level as me.It seems like the point in each stage is to get to Goal as quickly as you can without losing Soul by dictating where to move on the grid. This is done by selecting one of the predetermined paths shown at the bottom of the gameplay area. Each movement will cost you 1 Soul point … unless you know how to move without losing any.
The grid itself has monsters, chests, and elemental squares littered throughout and landing on a square with a creature throws you into a battle where you trace out a route for your attacks. The game will tell you how much Soul you will consume based on the path you drew out; attacks aren’t executed until you lift your finger from the screen so you can preview the outcome. What’s cool is that you can also preview the amount of damage you will deal to your enemy. (Landing on squares with treasure chests will simply get you whatever’s inside them.)
Having Soul in battle is important since you can combine different attacks and trace out a long chain of them too. Notice the health bar under the monster and the Preview indicator. It’s showing that my selected path will kill it off in one shot. 😀
After you reach the goal line, you will face a boss monster and fight it in the same manner as you do with regular enemies.
Should you run out of Soul before reaching the end of the stage, a Grim Reaper-type monster will appear and attack you. I died in the confrontation so I have no idea what happens if you manage to defeat it. XD Having no Soul left also severely limits you in the paths you can select since it restricts you to choosing only those of the same type.
Overall, the package looks A LOT like Puzzle & Dragons since just about every menu and their functions are the same. I admit that some of these are staples in the freemium RPG world such as fusing units to create stronger ones and having gacha elements where you can pick out random units and such but the layouts and what you perform in them are really carbon copies! Heck, Acquire even thanks GungHo in their Thank You list. One thing I noticed that was different was that you can expand your Friends List with Rainbow Crystals.
Gungho Online Entertainment America has finally brought over Puzzle & Dragons to Western shores! I’m not sure I’m going to be getting it since I’m hardly playing the Japanese version as it is. ^^ Got up to level 40 in it too and managed to save up to 63 Magic Stones — all which were gifts from GungHo during promotions and celebrations. I just lost interest after a while since I’m stuck with grinding for money to level up and fuse my monsters. I also needed some of those fusion material monsters that are needed to evolve them … which are probably rare drops from higher difficulty dungeons. Sigh.
Anyway, I encourage iOS users to try it out! It’s much more cute and colourful than its blatant clone, Angel Salvation. LOTS more variety in units too. And, as I mentioned in that post, as long as GungHo is active in supporting the game and dishing out Magic Stones to everyone once in a while, I’m sure players will remain with it. The Japan version gets a lot of cross-promotions with other companies too. (And there’s merchandise like little toys and cellphone straps and stuff! TT~) Not sure they’ll do it for the NA version though.
Oh yeah, it doesn’t look like there’s an English Android version just yet which is good, I suppose, since they still need to broaden device support for it, in my opinion. (It STILL doesn’t run on my Galaxy Tab 10.1 with CyanogenMod 10.)
Just some quick updates~!
I embarked on my Nightmare run recently. With maxed out Adol and Dulen + massively upgraded ultimate weapons and armour, the trek across Celceta has been fairly quick. The only problem are the bosses. ^^ The first boss took about 10 minutes to defeat. 😛 It took me a bit to clue in that I was supposed to get its stun gauge up. Once I started spamming skills instead of simply slashing its body, the battle went a bit faster.
I also reloaded the Clear Game data on Easy to get the Time Attack and Boss Rush trophies. XD Here’s a small gallery of images of my achievements~! :3 Tiny Farm images are mixed in since I have no idea how to exclude them. >_>
The Halloween promotion is in full swing now~! And again, there’s some cross-breeding weirdness! The special animals this time around will complete the Halloween Level 2 Collection.
Like the Pirate Animals, the option to cross-breed will probably not be available after the promotion is done. 😦
Edit:
Been seeing people complaining that they weren’t getting the cross-breeding option. Maybe some people haven’t updated their game yet? I still haven’t managed to get either of the level 2 Halloween animals. Hopefully, I will soon… And then somehow get the skeleton pig from an egg or candy~~ I really want the ghost sheep. 😦 And I really wish it could stay as a baby cuz the baby and young sheep are much more adorable than adult sheep. ^^
Update on Oct 29th: I got my Dracula Cow! It only took a billion tries!!!
For what it’s worth, my Black Cow was at Level 32 and the Dairy Cow was Level 17. Next up will be the Zombie Alpaca.
My Alpaca is Level 100 and the Red Reindeer is Level 12. I haven’t gotten the Zombie Alpaca yet and I’m hoping it’ll take less tries because I need a total of 12 Love Points for each breeding session. >_>
But … I’ll still be out with that skeleton pig from the Level 1 collection. Guess I’ll keep trying with the candy or something. I doubt I’ll be able to make use of the Eggs during these last few days of the promo since I’m saving up to get the ghost lamp thing. ^^
2nd update on Oct 29th: I got my Zombie Alpaca today! ^o^~
Sadly, I bred the parents again but it didn’t work. 😦 Only regular reindeer and alpaca kept popping out. I do want another zombie though!
There’s more objectives after the breeding’s done~!
And then …
Sigh. Still out on one animal. 😦 At least the Valentine one will be easier since I have all 3 Level 1 animals. (Come on, you KNOW they’ll do a Valentine promo again.)
Edit on November 1st:
The rewards for all of these are 1 Halloween Candy, 1 Bell, and 30 XP.
Edit on November 2nd:
Its level doesn’t matter. I just took a screencap of it from my collection. :3
Edit on November 6th: I asked Com2uS on Twitter yesterday if the Skeleton Pig could be bred at any time of the year or just during the Halloween promo and it’s only during the promo. :(( At the time of the reply, there was just over 2 days left. But!!!! Look what happened!!!!!!!
And then …
Finally~~
Now I can go back to giving Love Points to other animals instead of them Talking Pigs. Truthfully, I was going back and forth between 2 Talking Pigs and 1 Talking Pig x a Brown or Black Pig since I read that you can get a Skeleton Pig with the latter method too.
Whee~! Ghost Sheep~~~ Of course, I got the Ghost Deer as well but it’s not cute enough for me to care about!
Edit on March 17, 2013: I’ve upgraded to iOS 6.1.2 yesterday and updated to the newest version of DJMax Ray so I decided to give it a try again. With jailbreak, you can now log into Pmangplus and be online for ranking and stuff but you CANNOT buy any in-app purchases. Since I wanted to explore 6.1.2 more, I restored my iPod touch and currently using stock OS. It was only this way that I was able to buy the Dramatic music pack. (I wanted it for My Heart, My Soul, and Ventilator.)
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With the latest update (1.0.2) released on Monday, the game no longer throws me back to level 1 whenever it decides to crap out on me~! This meant that I was finally able to catch up to my previous level and score! In celebration of this, I spent a part of yesterday playing the hell out of the game. I got from rank 1060 to 359 in a few hours. XD Currently at 356~! :3
Unfortunately, it still randomly minimizes itself every now and then. I believe this could be a RAM issue with the iPod touch? I know it happens a lot more frequently when it’s in jailbroken mode. :X
Anyway, here are some screenshots~! (They’re somewhat blurry because the theme automatically resizes them to fit on the page. They can be clicked on for the full version though (which isn’t much bigger. ^^)
Memory of Beach, along with Seeker, is a tune that I’ve played so many times in just about every PSP and PC (re: Trilogy and Online) DJMax game, but for some reason, I can NEVER do well in them.
It’s kind of strange but you can get bronze AND silver medals simultaneously after completing all of a tune’s lines and difficulties. Gold will probably never happen since it would require me to get S rank on MX modes which is next to impossible. :B Maybe if I had a gear, note, and coolbomb that greatly raised judgement, then maybe I could do it.
Here’s a funny screen:
I have two more songs to unlock but I’m having doubts that I’ll be able to do it since I think one of the challenges is WhiteBlue 5L/HD with Fade Out 2 Clear and my timing gets thrown off part way through it. WhiteBlue has always been one of my fave tunes but I don’t like any of its note patterns in this game or Tap Sonic.
The only beef I really have with this game is that there are far too few tracks right now. I only want to replay them so many times before I’m bored. Sometimes, I’d put the effector on Random just to get different patterns but randomly generating patterns typically throws in crazy slide notes that span the entire play area. >_>
Oh, and since I’m racking up Max big time, it would have been nice if Neowiz had more gears, notes, etc. as unlocks or allow players to purchase the 5th tune of any music pack with Max. >:\ Honestly, I’m not crazy about any of the Ray-exclusive tracks but I’d still like to see them unlocked. XD
Edit: WTF! I was about to complete the 2nd Feel challenge (full combo on 5L/HD) and then the game just terminates shortly before the end of the tune. >_> Goddamn.
Edit #2: Girlz has a fun pattern on all difficulties. Its MX pattern is pretty easy too!
Edit #3: Ahaha. I was failing the Extra Challenge for Feel (Fade In 2 + 90% clear) on 5L/HD or MX and the game kicked me out mid-way though. XD
I’m not sure when it was added since I hardly play any of the versions I own (I have the Korean, Japanese, and English apps installed on my iPod touch 4G) but here it is on Tap Sonic Korea:
Here’s the play area. ^^
Hmmm … looking around the app’s folders to see where the song files are kept. I found them but all the music is encrypted … even the ones that you purchase with a Premium Pass. 😦 😦 😦
Edit on Feb 1st, 2013: I meant to write this earlier but Neowiz has decided to not even try to support jailbroken devices. They just automatically assume everyone that uses one pirates, I guess. Pretty sad. This just means they won’t get my money. Anyway, I could swear that Tap Sonic is immune to IAP hacking but works fine with jailbroken devices so why can’t apply the same type of programming or whatever to DJMax Ray?
Edit on March 17, 2013: I’ve upgraded to iOS 6.1.2 yesterday and updated to the newest version of DJMax Ray so I decided to give it a try again. With jailbreak, you can now log into Pmangplus and be online for ranking and stuff but you CANNOT buy any in-app purchases. Since I wanted to explore 6.1.2 more, I restored my iPod touch and currently using stock OS. It was only this way that I was able to buy the Dramatic music pack. (I wanted it for My Heart, My Soul, and Ventilator.)
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Update on October 10th: I got a reply back from PmangPlus support. They said that they’ve already submitted an update (version 1.0.2) that should fix the random data reset problem. I really hope it does. >:/
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Neowiz released version 1.0.1 yesterday which addresses some sort of login issue to PmangPlus. Since I’m not getting rampant data reset issues whenever I finish a tune, I assume that the update was somehow related to that. However, I still experience the following:
I’ve had to start all over multiple times already and really wish they could have just gotten the bugs ironed out before the game’s release. I know some folks that were/are getting errors when attempting to do in-app purchases but I was lucky enough that mine went through with little issue. It was still a scare when I didn’t get a purchase confirmation right away though. Hopefully, the latest update corrected the IAP problems too.
Sigh. Kind of annoyed that it’s going to take a while to reach my original leaderboard points. 😛 I was at level 10 when the game just hiccuped and kicked me back to level 1. >___>
Anyway, I’m not a Technika player so Ray is the first time I’ve never heard this tune. I like this quite a bit~!
Also like Angel~! I wonder if Technika Tune has these? Guess I could look up the track list of the game.
Ah! Splendid! They are~! :3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJMax_Technika_Tune Oh geez, Jumpin’ by KARA is too? XD I’m only familiar with the Japanese version though. Hoping the US release won’t take out some of these tracks cuz it looks like a pretty good list! (DJMax Metro Project? Is that a combination of Clazziquai Edition and Black Square or something? Oh, it includes the first Technika as well?)
Oh yeah, meant to show this earlier:
i-FunBox is a file manager for Windows and Mac platforms and you can use it with your iOS device even if it’s not jailbroken. (However, if you intend to do some illegal software installations — re: pirating apps — you’ll find that the program won’t support such things.)
The screenshot shows the folder where you can find your music. I have a suspicion that the app already includes all the tracks and note patterns and that IAP only unlocks them because, IIRC, I didn’t have to do any additional downloads when I bought the bundle.
Dammit. I was oblivious to this title. I heard about it but I thought it was for another platform so I kind of ignored it. Suddenly, I see people tweeting that it’s out and it’s for iOS!
So yeah, if you have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, get this: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/djmax-ray-by-neowiz/id543439937 (Also available in App Stores of other countries too.)
I’ll write up my impressions later on. So far, it stays pretty true to the classic DJMax play style except with the new slide notes (which are part of the core play style in Tap Sonic). The ability to purchase Gears & Notes (with both virtual money and real money) like from various DJM games is in this.
Continue reading “DJMAX Ray”
Disclaimer: I do not work for Fiksu, Inc. or FreeMyApps nor was I paid to endorse the app or program. I am merely an end user blogging about my own experience.
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I started using FreeMyApps (FMA) back in April of this year mainly as a means to get Amoebattle for free which I did after installing about 8 apps I didn’t end up keeping. Alas, the program no longer allows users to redeem apps from the App Store but instead, you can exchange credits for iTunes, Amazon and Postagram gift cards in varying denominations ranging from $1 to $50 (which applies to iTunes only. Amazon caps at $25). The Website also states that you can redeem Xbox Live credits but I don’t see it as an option in the app.
Anyway, the official site gives you a run down of how everything works but here’s my version of it so you don’t need to create another tab in your browser: you’ll need the FMA app itself that’s only available from them by visiting the site (http://www.freemyapps.com/) on your mobile device. Once installed, you will be able to download a bunch of free sponsor apps which are worth x-amount of credits that can be used in exchange for the aforementioned gift cards. After downloading them, run them for 30 seconds; for anything that requires sign up, just ignore that and leave the app going. When the elapsed time has passed, return to the FMA app and you should see the credit amount (whatever the app was “worth”) in the top right corner. (My screencaps were done in reverse order so I have less credits in the one below. :P)
Yeah, everyone wants to rake in credits quickly but companies price things in such a way that it benefits them not the user. 😛 Having noted this, FMA adds new offers fairly often so if you’re eyeing the higher valued gift cards, it’s worth it to load up the app every now and then (or follow the FMA Twitter and Facebook accounts for updates). There’s also a referral program that net you some extra credits. I haven’t posted my link since I feel kind of bad taking advantage of strangers.
Ideally, the sponsors would like you to leave their apps installed and to use them, but most of the time, I’m just loading them up for 30 seconds and then uninstalling them. I’ve kept very few apps. ^^ I mostly try out the games … except the obvious freemium village-building or card battle ones.
I suppose if you’re paranoid, you wouldn’t want to rampantly install new apps without looking up reviews or checking privacy statements first but since I don’t register for anything, I figure it’s all right.
Oh, there are some catches:
Before I start, I should list my “experience” with Korean-made RPGs~! These are off the top of my head so I’m probably missing some: Zenonia (never finished but played late into it), Zenonia 2 (midway through), Zenonia 3 (completed first playthrough only), Zenonia 4 (completed first playthrough only), Seed 2 (midway through), Seed 3 (maybe midway through?), Inotia 2 (late into the game), Inotia 3 (finished), Inotia 4 (most likely midway through), Elphis Adventure (stuck at Jeanne d’Arc era), Destinia (midway through), Advena (somewhere in the beginning), and Illusia (beginning). For what it’s worth, I played a bit of Seed (the first one) as well but the translation was so painful, I deleted the game shortly after the character got to the harbour town at the beginning of the game. 😛
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I have a love-hate relationship for all the RPGs that Gamevil, Com2uS, and CH Games publish. On one hand, I play them because I guess I kind of enjoy mindless hacking and slashing. After all, their games aren’t known for amazing plots or characters. 😛 On the other hand, I will complain about them tirelessly on Twitter.
One of the main things that drives me insane is the fact that each company holds inventory space hostage. With the exception of Zenonia (the first one) and other cell phone ports of older games, every single fucking RPG requires you to pay for inventory space out of your own pocket. I’m a natural packrat when it comes to RPGs so only have 9 – 12 slots is really useless to me. And I pick up everything I see because, in many cases, it takes FOREVER to make money solely from grinding enemies so I need stuff to sell. Also, I’m pretty sure that even if people aren’t packrats, they’ll run of space fast because, seriously, if you’re going to be carrying around potions and alchemy material (for synthesis and stuff), you’re not going to have space for anything else.
There ARE games where money doesn’t seem to play too much of a role though — like Inotia 4. To me, you pretty much have to rely on enemy spoils and the Fusion Machine to get what you need since, honestly, enemies and selling stuff won’t get you very much. At least, not unless you spend hours slaughtering the same monsters over and over.
Oh, and that’s another thing. Incessant amounts of GRINDING. I suppose you can get by with stocking up on potions and spamming the hell out of them but for titles with item cool down times, this probably isn’t the way to go. Actually, for RPGs that have player versus player battles, I would think that’s a form of encouraging people to grind. Why can’t developers give me more substance or some other alternative to strengthening characters instead?
Adventure Bar Story, which isn’t a KRPG (and certainly not action-oriented), gets around this by implementing another system to level up characters. In that game, you eat food to gain experience and food can be obtained by cooking raw ingredients which are found lying around in various dungeons or purchased at towns. In other words, you’re not required to spend hours beefing up your party or character by enacting constant genocide on every single evil creature you come across.
Speaking about levelling, there are even games like Elphis Adventure that allow you to pay for extra stat and skill points. I am convinced that Com2uS designed it so that enemies in the game are extremely tough (offensively and defensively) just so that you would go this route and take out your credit card to pay your way through the game. Granted, if you can get into a steady rhythm of alternating between normal attacks + special attacks, you can probably get through a bit of the game without falling into the trap of grinding to level up. Unfortunately, things can get rough once you end up in France (or was it Britain?). 9__9
Another common and aggravating factor of KRPGs is the sidequest system. It is the same in every goddamn game: You have to kill x-amount of monsters, or you have to get x-amount of spoils from certain monsters, or you have to collect x-amount of materials. Why can’t these sidequests be self-contained stories that don’t involve fetching items or murdering monsters, such as solving a mystery in a town or escorting a merchant somewhere? I know those are usually main quests but honestly, they could work well as non-crucial quests too. In fact, I’d LOVE to see these implemented but I suppose it’d require more thought and writing for the designers. 😛
Oh wow. This post is getting long! I should sum up some other rage in point form!
Naturally, I’d love to see innovation from these companies but the mindless formula sells so I really don’t see it changing any time soon.
koukoupuffs 