It feels a lot like Zenonia and Zenonia 2 control-wise. The graphics are incredible, and the translations, as said, are excellent. This is only so far though, I'll be back with more impressions.
To me this game seems a lot like monster hunter tri. The basis of the equipment leveling up is by using special stones to level up your equpment. You can also have a pet of any monster there is in the game. You scavenge for the materials to make the weapons which in my opinion is better than buying it and the overall feel is suprisingly like monster hunter.
Even though it isn't a favorite of a lot of people, Demon Hunter was up there at the top for me, then Inotia 3. I really like the flow of Inotia 3 and the fact that it has 0 IAP at the moment. This really blows them out of the water. Its more action than the Inotia series, but a lot of people are going to play this and expect a lot more from Gamevil and Com2US. Ok so I have spent enough time to give an early critique of the game. But bear in mind I have also had the Korean version on my phone before it was taken down. So I have had a bit more time to play. Impressions: Graphics - I know someone is going to jump in and scream blur, since it always happens in every sprite based action RPG. This has really sharp / defined sprites and looks good. The character's dash leaves a little after streak, the water ripples when you walk in it, the enemies / hit effects are sharp (all though they look a little similar to Dragon Story), and the weather / night - day cycle effects are pleasing to look at. I saw 8 different types of monsters in the intro section alone and you are introduced to 3 more after you leave the intro section / village. There is also and hunter encyclopedia that unlocks when you kill monsters. So it looks like there will be quite the variety of things to kill graphically. They 11 things you can kill so far are all unique types of sprites. I know some people are going to complain about the sprite art style, but I have said it in other threads - I have a weakness for games that look like I am playing on an SNES. Sound - So far the music isn't annoying the crud out of me, it gives off a fun adventure vibe that the story conveys. The combat and skill sounds are fitting and work very well. Story - I am not going to give much away, but this is the best part of the game. Someone is going to complain about it being absurd: your character gets is shipwrecked with very little memory, dumped by his girlfriend because she wants to go look at a dragon, and decides to become more a man to win her back. Thats pretty much how it starts off... I know there is going to be a lot more to the story, but I am not giving that away. It has some humorous lines ("Meat, meat!") and the dialogue is quirky enough that you actually want to see what happens to the shipwrecked crew. Gameplay - This is what makes this title shine. You are on a island that hasn't been explored and has weird flora and fauna. So there really isn't a lot of item shops or weapon stores. At least in the beginning of the game. Your weapons are all made from materials and weapons you find off of monsters. The durability aspects from Zenonia are in this title, but items can be repaired without a durability loss while you are in a rest state. You can only get into this rest state by purchasing a tent at the village or being at your camp site at the village. Gear is reflected on your character as well. Getting recipes and materials is very easy. Monsters drop them in large amounts and looting these items is streamlined so you are not picking up multiple drops they are all on the corpse. There are also plant and rock nodes that you can loot for materials as well. They spawn like monsters and drops multiple things when looted. Potions are unlocked - as well as first aid kits (this games origin of life) and other survival tools, when you complete a few quest in the game. There is an IAP but it currently isn't working right and the prices may not be set in stone. There are somethings in there that I would consider purchasing but they may even be available for in game money later in the story. There are items that allow you to obtain a pet. Pets can do all kinds of things like defending, attacking, and looting other monsters. I choose to tame a monster that turned into a looting pet. It still went off to attack but if there was a corpse on the ground it would run over and loot it. When monsters die, they do not disappear in this game. They leave a corpse which must be looted and contains all of their drops. It is not tedious, but it is nice to have a pet running around doing it for you. These pets gain levels and can even be equipped with weapons and armor, but they do not reflect these equips. Sometimes when taming a pet you get a chance for it to be a rare pet which will give it other abilities, I am not sure how the mechanics of this work. But it was fun buying a couple of taming nets and seeing what can happen. I would imagine that later in the game it can be a lot more involving. While you are doing this hunting and gathering, the weather and day / night cycles can change. During the daytime, monsters are a bit weaker, but at night they become stronger and I have seen certain monsters that only spawn on certain sections after dark. I am sure it works the same way for some day time creatures. This is a very cool mechanic when it comes to the questing, pet system, and combat. Visually things change as well, I saw fire flies at night and although it is not a dynamic glow, fires give off a small little ring of light. Another visual change is the weather effects. I have been in regular rain showers, sunny days, cloudy days (with cloud shadows), and thunder storms. On the map it looks like there could be snow and some more dangerous weather types as well. The weather is not just for visual status, I think some monster only appear during certain weather and the weather increases the chances of corresponding elemental attacks / effects. Combat - Each of the three classes has unique skill trees, but all of them share the same ranged weapon mechanics which I have not unlocked as of this time. I think that is around level 20. I have tried the scout and the warrior class and their skills / weapon availability work differently enough to give them a diffrent play style. Much like Zenonia. One thing that I know people will complain about initially is the no auto face during combat. At first it annoyed me but then I realized how some of the skills and mob combat worked. This looks like it will be a harder game than most of the other action RPGS (with alternative modes other than normal after you beat it, saved state says Mode Type - Normal). The monsters actually have attack patterns that require you to move around while combating them. They do not hit hard at first but a little later in the game you will be using your potions if you do not maneuver and dodge. You will even learn this from the boars in the starting zone during the night phase. Also with the combat comes the skills which are not all available for spamming when fighting and enemy. Some of them are only unlocked after chaining a few hits. Your initial skill requires you to hit a 2 times to open it up. How strategic this will play out once you start leveling is left to be seen, but it is a bit different from the other selections on the app store. So I can understand why there is not auto face and it makes total sense. This is a bit more intuitive of a game than being a casual RPG experience. From what I have read online about this game - it looks like it was a big hit in Korea, and if I understood what I saw, they are already working on a sequel. I bought the Korean version when it was up for 99 cents but I would not feel bad spending 4.99 on this title since it really has blown every other action RPG out of the water for me. When Zenonia 3 hits, it is really going to have to strive hard to stay on par with this game. It could just be my jaded view point, but this title really is a blast to play.
I really like this. It's about the same as Inotia 3 for me, maybe slightly higher, I was one of the few people that found the art style of Inotia 3 to be an improvement
You won't hear me complaining. That sounds like it has the kind seemingly random details that make a story come across as non-generic. I'm really enjoying Inotia 3, but I'm really looking forward to this game. Thanks for the detail preview.
I also forgot to add the hunting and gathering part allows you to cook diffrent foods once you get a cook book later in the game. The food does all kinds of nifty status effects for a short duration when you eat it. Steaks - increase your chance for stun and what not.
I might be a bit late, but I still sent in an application just in case there are still any spots available
I just got to the first boss. You actually have to memorize a fighting patterns. I was Over 5 levels higher than the boss and his special move almost killed me in a few seconds. But still the fight is one of the cooler rpg boss fights I have seen in a while. Plus the way it makes fun other cliche rpg scenarios is very chuckle worthy. "Optimus collapsed already?" My only gripe at the moment is that the skill buttons are a little to close together for my liking. Especially when you have a potion as one of them and you try to chain skill attacks into a combo. Gonna turn a quest after I clean my house and get a finisher move and see what kind of fun the skill combos turn into. Right now I am using charge / regular attack / bash and I am getting some crazy damage. I have ran into some Korean though now in the translation. Still really easy to understand and the story is pretty dang funny, it actually has a little western humor in it. I am liking it more and more by the minute. Crafting recipes and random rune drops for slotted items is getting addicting. Also I just got to the point where compressing old hunting and gathering materials into the next form has become very helpful.
I started out with a scout. :0 I always level a lot and complete quests before I do other things, makes moving along through the game a breeze.
I really hope I will be able to test this game....Now knowing that it's similar to monster hunter is making the wait a little more unbearable. For the people out there who are testing this, how is the game's pacing? Is there a good amount of replay value?
I would say so. Like Zenonia #1 it has three slots, and three different classes to try out, one for each. Plus you can always restart a slot and build a class over again if you want to try it differently.
I would say it is paced at a level to teach you how to play through your first time around. I am guessing there is a hard mode that is a bit different. Plus there is a board in each village that says it has new quest that will pop up daily that are repeatable. Not sure how this will work, but I cleared the first board already and I am going to wait till tomorrow to see if more pop up. The 3 classes play differently enough that you will probably want to try them all out. The story is interesting and funny enough to keep you playing so far. The quest in the beginning are setup mainly to teach you how to play. There are still a lot of things that haven't even been covered that I am sure going to turn up in quest and just got to the first boss. I am not sure if I would consider it slow, because of the way you acquire gear in the game, its fun to go out and actually grind. Plus the combat is set up into chaining hits with skills with adds up to a little more than mashing one button. Some of the enemies also attack with rushes and elemental attacks that will require you to move around a bit. So its interesting. I also brought this up earlier but I have not beat the game to find out. Your save slot in the start screen has a label for the mode you are in. I would imagine that it has a hard mode. Especially since I have seen some weapons that have extremely high level requirements. I was worried about the skill / stat reset items... but I am getting plenty of skill and stat points as quest rewards for completing the story. So I am getting everything I want pretty early on.
Awesome, thank you very much for the replies Regretgraal and jsrco! Sounds like something that will have a permanent spot on my iPod. Have you tried more than one class and if so, do they seem well balanced compared to the others?
@jsrso: At first Wild Frontier gave me the impression of another typical Zenonia button masher (or a 1-Hit-kill-all type of game), but perhaps I am wrong after reading some of the impressions. Especially after playing Inotia 3 I honestly can't see myself going back into another simple RPG (that includes Demon Hunter, though I did very much enjoyed the Castlevania style game). The skills are so nicely blended together in Inotia 3 that, along with its party and monster aggro system, an engaging plot and likable characters, I find it difficult to see a ARPG to offer equal or even better gameplay, especially if it's another single-hero kind of game. Inotia 3 is like Secret of Mana made in 2010 to me.
The scout was quicker feeling compared to the warrior.... but man once you get a two handed weapon, the warrior really really hits hard. I prefer it becuase of the chaining of skills. Haven't tried the tanker, but this is will probably be the second game that I try all of the classes. I have to teach tomorrow, so I won't be able to finish this till Sunday, that is if it is not incredibly long. In the beginning during the day time stuff dies fast. But once you get a map or two out and you get more skills it gets a little bit more fun. The first boss will require a lot of points in to vit and a higher level or actually learning its attack patterns. Which hasn't happened in these titles frequently enough. Yes Inotia 3's pacing is amazing.
