Rise of Mana Hands-On Impressions: A Little Bit MMO, A Little Bit P&D

Posted 17:58 EST on 07MAR2014 by: tim walker in hands-on » android, iOS, rise of mana, secret of mana, seiken densetsu, square enix

Seiken Densetsu: Rise of Mana was just released yesterday in Japan for iOS (coming later for Android), and I’ve been able to spend a few hours playing around with it. Though a little rough around the edges, it’s a pretty enjoyable game that tips its hat to Mana games of old while firmly embracing many of the modern-day conventions of mobile games like Puzzle & Dragons.

The game begins with you selecting the names and genders for your characters: One member of the Lasta tribe (angels), and one member of the Darka tribe (demons). Once this has been completed, things are kicked off in dramatic fashion with your two leads fighting to end each other in heaven. Unfortunately, the apparently-mystical Mana Waterfall has other plans for them, knocking both down to the human world. Neither tribe can survive long here without perishing, so a deal is hastily struck between the two to merge into a single body, giving them the chance to survive.

     

Once this is complete, you’ll take control of the merged beings, and are able to switch between your angel and demon forms at will. The main advantage to this during the action sequences of the game is that the swapped-in character starts off with a fuller lifebar, allowing your better half time to regenerate in the void. This ability also becomes useful in the city of Miste (the game’s central hub), where swapping forms can allow you to read the thoughts of certain villagers for more information.

Before taking you into town, the game gives you a quick tutorial on the basics of combat. Like many of its predecessors, Mana is action-based at its core. Unfortunately, unlike past titles, the action controls are all touched-based, a mixed bag to be sure (to be fair, the game supports physical game pads for later versions of the iPhone as well, but we only had a chance to test it with touch controls). The default setup allows you to move your character both by dragging your finger around the screen and by tapping a fixed point for them to walk to. Whenever combat begins, your character locks on to the nearest enemy automatically, and tapping the screen will cause them to strike. Tapping a different enemy will allow your character to switch targets, and sliding your finger across the screen in the middle of battle allows them to dodge.

     

In theory, this setup should work well, but I definitely encountered input confusion while playing. Tap too excitedly during combat to strike, and your device will often misinterpret your motions as swipes instead of taps. In non-combat situations, while you can guide your character to a set point, they’ll rarely stop there, instead continuing on in the general direction that you tapped or else walking in place forever. There is a virtual pad option as well, but since it’s completely invisible (an in-game guide explains roughly where it’s located), it can be frustrating to use. (as an added bit of frustration, it’s impossible to swap between the two setups while you’re in the middle of a quest) Hopefully these issues will be corrected in a future update.

During combat, you have a few other options available to you. You can perform special attacks with the weapon you’re currently using by tapping an icon in the lower-right corner of the screen. You have a limited number of these per combat session, and there is a cooling off period of a few seconds between uses. After the tutorial, the Familiar (a fairy, essentially) will inhabit the body of a doll found on the road, creating an ally to assist you in combat (she’s effectively the first “monster” in your party, and can later be replaced with others). Another player’s character can also be selected prior to starting a quest to beef up your team.

     

During the tutorial, your character wields a sword, but you’ll also gain access to a bow and a spear once you’ve moved onto the main game. You’ll find more variants on these three weapons as you play, and you can use your spares to strengthen other weapons in the same manner you would with monsters in Puzzle & Dragons. You can upgrade your pet monsters (allies) in a similar manner. One odd trapping of Mana is that upgrading and even swapping are not done from a pull-down menu: Not only must both actions be done in town, each must be done at a specific, separate location in town. The absence of the ability to swap from the pre-quest menu is a particularly odd game design decision.

The town of Miste is pretty small, but there are a few other things that can be done here. As noted earlier, you can speak to villagers and read their thoughts, which often allows you to gain access to new quests, MMO-style. Maybe I’m just anti-spoiled by the lack of substance in modern FtP games, but Mana seems to have a lot more dialogue and character development going on here than the typical FtP titles out there. I appreciate the fact that Square Enix actually put these elements into a game that they’re giving away.

     

Before you leave town, Nikita (known as Niccolo in Western releases of past Mana titles) shows up to let you take part in the requisite lottery for a shot at a rare monster. There’s also a vendor selling jewels for real-world money that have different effects, such as refilling your Stamina (Rise of Mana is FtP, so naturally quests “cost” in-game currency to take part in).

The typical quest you go on lasts around 3-5 minutes. It normally consists of you leading your party down a path to the next combat encounter, taking out the monsters that get in your way, and moving on. The action aspect keeps things fun, but I would have preferred a bit less linearity in the setup (most “alternate routes” are blocked by hulking monsters that cannot be attacked). I’m just getting started though, so hopefully the layouts will improve as I get further into the game.

That should wrap it up for my initial thoughts on the game. While I wish that the touch controls worked a little better, I’m still having a lot of fun playing Reign of Mana, enough to forgive it for its flaws. Check out the gallery below for more screen captures (we took quite a few). I may revisit this title with some further impressions soon, so be sure to check back with us!

(Seiken Densetsu: Rise of Mana is available on Japanese App Store for iOS devices)

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Million Arthur Tops Puzzle & Dragons (in Korea)

Posted 17:02 EST on 05MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » financial reports, kaku-san-sei million arthur, square enix

As of today, March 5th, Square Enix smartphone title Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur is outpacing the mighty Puzzle & Dragons in sales.

…At least in Korea.

The Korean-language version of Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur sits at 12th place of the iPhone sales rankings, 8 spots ahead of GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons.

Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur was translated by Korean localization studio Actorz Soft. The natural dialogue and ease of use has likely helped boost the title’s appeal.

News and image source: Social Game Info

Square Enix Announces Rise of Mana For Smartphones

Posted 10:25 EST on 26FEB2014 by: tim walker in news » rise of mana, secret of mana, seiken densetsu, square enix

Square Enix have announced Seiken Densetsu: Rise of Mana, the latest title in their Mana series of Action RPGs. The game will be released “very soon” on iOS, and will be available on Android as well later this year. Rise of Mana will be free to download and play, and will include in-app purchases.

According to Japanese gaming website 4Gamer.net, the player will control an angel and a demon who have somehow become trapped in a single body. While adventuring, players will discover exactly how this happened, and will try to find a way to return home to the heavens.

A post on Ameblo offers a few more details on the upcoming title, which appear to come from this week’s Famitsu magazine:

• Players will be able to switch between angel and demon forms on the fly.
• The main hub for the game will be a town called Miste. You will be able to purchase weapons and items here, as well as raise pet demons to help you out in your quest.
• The three main weapons in the game will be swords, spears and bows.
• Up to 8 players will be able to play together in real time.

The official website also notes that the soundtrack for Seiken Densetsu: Rise of Mana will be released on April 23rd, and can be purchased directly from Square Enix for 2,700 Yen (around $27 U.S.) plus tax.

Survey Results Reveal Which Final Fantasy Characters Players Refuse To Use

Posted 10:34 EST on 25FEB2014 by: tim walker in news » final fantasy, RPG, square enix, survey

We all have our favorite characters in RPGs, but what about those characters we decide not to carry with us into battle? Phantasy Star II players know what I’m talking about: Kain the Wrecker and Anna with her double slashers were both pretty great, but Hugh the Biologist? If you’re like me, you probably left him in your house on Motavia to make sure your plants got watered.

A survey conducted by the Japanese website MyNaviWoman in January asked their readers to tell them which characters they opted not to use in any of the Final Fantasy games they had played. Out of 687 readers surveyed, 175 had played a Final Fantasy game before, and 50 of these readers (28.6%) responded that there was at least one character that they had neglected to use when they played. Also, readers who responded “Yes” to this last question were allowed to mention more than one character whom they had elected to ditch.

The results reveal that Japanese players appear to prefer characters not covered from head to toe in fur: Kimahri Ronso, the blue beastman from Final Fantasy X, took the top spot with 16 responses, narrowly beating out Yeti Umaro from Final Fantasy VI (15 votes).

Other respondents were far less unanimous in their selections. Here are the runners-up, along with the number of readers who chose them, and a couple of thoughts from readers on each of them.

Quina Quen (Final Fantasy IX, 6 responses)

“It was a pain in the rear to try and make him/her stronger.” (26-year-old male)

“Seems like not the greatest character at first glance, and he/she really is weak.” (38-year-old female)

Rikku (Final Fantasy X, 5 responses)

“There were other characters that I could use instead.” (28-year-old male)

Barret Wallace (Final Fantasy VII, 5 responses)

“I don’t like the way he looks.” (33-year-old female)

Quistis Trepe (Final Fantasy VIII, 4 responses)

“Because her special ability is her bad breath.” (24-year-old male)

Gau (Final Fantasy VI, 3 responses)

“He’s a poor character to use since you lose control of him sometimes.” (29-year-old female)

Rinoa Heartilly (Final Fantasy VIII, 3 responses)

“I just don’t like the character herself very much.” (30-year-old female)

Auron (Final Fantasy X, 3 responses)

“He looks like he smells bad.” (31-year-old female)

Cait Sith (Final Fantasy VII, 3 responses)

“Because he’s weak and doesn’t have any special abilities.” (26-year-old male)

Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII, 2 responses)

“I’m an Aerith player.” (27-year-old female)

Wakka (Final Fantasy X, 2 responses)

“I didn’t really get how to use him.” (23-year-old male)

Edward (Final Fantasy IV, 2 responses)

“He’s weak and leaves your party pretty quickly.” (35-year-old male)

Irvine Kinneas (Final Fantasy VIII, 2 responses)

“His abilities are mediocre compared to those of other characters.” (23-year-old male)

Sazh Katzroy (Final Fantasy XIII, 2 responses)

“He’s not useful in battle.” (28-year-old male)

Minwu (Final Fantasy II, 1 response)

“He’s weak and leaves your party pretty quickly.” (33-year-old male)

Selphie Tilmitt (Final Fantasy VIII, 1 response)

“I just hate her personality.” (25-year-old female)

Cid Highwind (Final Fantasy VII, 1 response)

“I like the other characters too much to bother with him.” (29-year-old male)

Shadow (Final Fantasy VI, 1 response)

“I left him alive, but ultimately didn’t end up using him…” (35-year-old male)

Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy VII, 1 response)

“It’s hard to use him effectively when he transforms.” (31-year-old female)

Who did you end up leaving behind in an RPG? Drop us a line and let us know!

Guns N’ Souls Hands-On Impressions: More Chinese Democracy Than Use Your Illusion

Posted 18:09 EST on 21FEB2014 by: tim walker in hands-on » guns n souls, iOS, square enix

Guns N’ Souls: feat. Song Summoner is Square Enix’s latest attempt at the free-to-play model on iOS. Billed as a “Hyper Action RPG” (and as a sequel to the tactical RPG Song Summoner), it’s really more of an endless runner broken into chunks, with plenty of glitz, McGuffins, and numbers thrown in for good measure. It’s far from the worst thing on the platform (and not even the worst Square Enix game on iOS ), but it’s pretty hollow for such a high-profile release from such a high-profile publisher.

Guns N’ Souls aims to wow the player right off the bat with a beautifully-rendered opening sequence set to a song by Japanese pop group Larval Stage Planning. It’s nice to look at and listen to, but once you’ve played the game for some time, you’ll start to wish they’d spent more time working on gameplay and less on razzle-dazzle.

     

The game starts off with a few brief lines of exposition before putting the player through a tutorial level to learn all of the game’s controls (there are roughly six). Anyone who has played an endless runner on iOS should know the drill by now: Flick left and right to move protagonist Ziggy between the three invisible paths as he runs, up to jump, and down to slide. In addition to running on his own, Ziggy also targets and fires his weapon at enemies automatically; just position him correctly, and he’ll take them down. Though it’s not shown during the tutorial, you can also jump-cancel by flicking down right after jumping.

The main unique control element in Guns N’ Souls is tapping your cards: Certain cards in your deck can be used once per stage to create certain effects (powering up your gun temporarily, restoring HP, etc.). Oh, we didn’t mention the cards yet? Don’t worry: We’re about to reach the point where the game will teach you more about the cards then you’d likely care to know….

Once the tutorial is done, the game designers decided to do everything they possibly could to make you uninterested in playing further. You’ll start off being bombarded with text walls detailing the card system, evolving your cards, and organizing your deck. You’ll then catch a slight reprieve in the form of some cut scenes that fill you in on why exactly Ziggy is doing so much running about. After that, it’s back to your blonde shopkeeper/emcee for some in-depth discussions on crystals, rare card drawing, and the like.

     

Also, somewhere around this point, the game decides to kick you while you’re down by pausing to download more data. And we mean a lot more data: This download took about 75 minutes on an iPad Air. I started this forced download on my iPhone 5 around the time I started typing up this review, and it’s sitting at around 30%. It’s also notable that closing the app completely sometimes results in the game needing to re-download some data once you load it again, though not for nearly as long.

Gameplay is basically divided into two parts that feed into one another. First, there’s the card management side of things. You begin the game with a few cards in your inventory, and can use them to create custom decks. Each deck can have up to five cards, though each card “costs” a certain amount of points to place in your deck, so you may not be able to equip all of the cards you want right off the bat. Cards basically serve three purposes: 1) They dictate how powerful your gun is, and how many hit points Ziggy has, 2) They allow you to gain both offensive and defensive bonuses if you match their suit with the stage’s suit, and 3) As mentioned above, certain cards grant you special abilities for a limited time once per stage.

Keeping in line with the music-based theme of the game, the three suits of cards are Rock, Pop, and Punk. The action stages are divided up pretty evenly between these three suits, so it’s to your benefit to build at least one custom deck for each suit in order to take advantage of the stat bonuses for particular stages. You can mix and match cards of different suits freely, and sometimes it makes more sense to do so since a powerful Punk card would still be more effective even without the Rock stat boost offered. The names of the cards all allude to album and song titles. The art on the cards themselves is a bit on the risqué side of things, but perfectly in line with the industry to which Guns N’ Souls pays tribute.

     

The stats of an individual card can be boosted permanently by sacrificing other cards to bond with it. Sacrificing an identically-named card normally offers a larger boost, and has the added bonus of increasing the maximum possible level of the card being boosted.

With this in mind, you would think that the designers would implement a simple way for you to sort your cards to make boosting easier, but sadly, Square Enix appears to have dropped the ball on this one. While you can sort your cards in six different ways, there is no option to place identically-named cards next to one another. So, for example, boosting your Firestarter card by burning up her two twins in your deck basically requires you to hunt through all of the cards you’ve acquired until you’ve located the ones you need. Since you’re limited to 50 cards, it doesn’t take long to find them, but it’s a minor annoyance that could have been corrected with just a little bit of effort on the development side.

Along similar lines, you can filter by suit type, but the game ditches these filters whenever you return to card selection, even if you’re in the middle of boosting. Also, though you can filter by suit, you can’t sort by suit, though you can sort by the most recent card to oldest (hooray?).

Cards can also evolve into other, more powerful cards by combining them with bizarre animal mascot cards once the card you’d like to evolve has reached a certain level. The problem is that raising a card high enough to do so takes quite some time, and while you’re waiting for this to happen, those same (otherwise useless) mascot cards sit around in your inventory. Again, this isn’t a deal breaker, but being able to put them elsewhere (so that you don’t have to constantly scroll through them) would have been a smart move.

     

The other half of gameplay revolves around the endless-runner-style action sequences introduced during the tutorial. Stages are earned one at a time, and you can replay a stage once it’s been beaten (in fact, unless you want to spend real-world money to advance, you will be replaying them. Often.). Once you’ve selected a stage from the menu, the game will allow you to choose a support card, offered either by someone on your Friends’ List, or from a random guest. You’ll then be prompted to choose a deck from the decks you’ve already created.

Stages are about 2-3 minutes in length and do not offer much in the way of variety. While the graphics look nice, there’s little of substance here: Avoid the obstacles, avoid getting shot, shoot down the enemies that appear, and collect the crystals (LUNA) that line the ground. There are also 3 special crystals per stage (SPLUNA) that are pretty much required pick-ups to get a decent grade (and a decent XP bonus) for the stage. Occasionally, you’ll stop running and be whisked away to a boss stage, where the controls remain the same.

Finishing a stage successfully will net you a certain rank, which earns you a certain amount of experience points. Earn enough to level up, and you’ll improve Ziggy’s Stamina (the currency used to play the action stages) and Cost (which allows you to have better cards in your deck). Beating certain enemies in a stage and completing the stage successfully also earns you new cards for your deck, and there are also achievements (collect all LUNA crystals in a stage, don’t jump more than 3 times, etc.) that can be completed to earn more of this in-game currency or that in-game currency. At the end of the day, it all feeds into each other in such a convoluted way that it made me want to shove the game aside and go ram into trees to collect Rupees.

     

This piling on of rewards and systems illustrates another issue with Guns N’ Souls: Like many modern games, it’s way too busy for its own good. This includes not only the reward structure and card systems, but also the sheer amount of garbage text you’re confronted with constantly throughout the game. Every menu screen is busy, Busy, BUSY, with in-game hints plastered all over the menus, reminders of log-in bonuses, and scrolling text alerting you to ongoing events.

Since I can read Japanese, the menu system is not hard for me to navigate personally, but it would probably be difficult for anyone who doesn’t speak the language to memorize it due to the sheer number of sub-menus and shortcuts crammed in here. Again, it’s just too much.

There are a couple of nice things I can say about the game. First, aside from the opening dialogue section, the story sections of the game are not forced upon you. Instead, you are alerted whenever there is a new portion of the story available, and can read through the scenes (or listen to them: The game allows you to download voiceovers as you wish) at your leisure.

Second, although the game restricts your stage runs through its Stamina meter, it’s rarely drained: Every time you level up, it replenishes completely, and might even grow a bit. (to be fair though, I’ve only spent a few hours with the game, so this could become an issue later on)

Finally, while the game does allow you to purchase McGuffin crystals with real-world money to earn rare cards and purchase Stamina, it doesn’t beat you over the head to make a purchase. The crystals are there to buy if you choose, but the game isn’t going to ask you to cough up your iTunes ID every 5 seconds.

     

Despite these minor points, Guns N’ Souls is really not something I’d recommend spending time on, even though it’s totally free. It’s 2014, and we’ve suddenly regressed back to a Dragon’s Lair-level of gameplay from a company that was once the darling of the industry (not to mention the developer: Have I mentioned that this was made by the guys who made Devil Dice?). And unfortunately, all the sexy girl cards in the world won’t do a thing to change that.

Guns N’ Souls is a free-to-play app from Square Enix on iOS. It is exclusive to Japan at this time.

Additional Details From the P&D Press Conference

Posted 18:46 EST on 20FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » gungho, puzzle & dragons, puzzle & dragons battle tournament, square enix, tetsuya nomura

GungHo today held a press conference to celebrate the two-year anniversary of the release of Puzzle & Dragons. The big news of the day was the reveal of a semi-follow up to Puzzle & Dragons. However, GungHo also took the occasion to discuss other information relevant to the franchise.

From Square Enix, Nobuki Kadoi and Masashi Kunisawa were on hand to discuss Puzzle & Dragons Battle Tournament, the arcade version of Puzzle & Dragons that Square Enix is developing.

Players will be able to select from avatars designed by Tetusya Nomura, Square Enix’s chief character designer and the man behind the designs for Kingdom Hearts and the Final Fantasy titles beginning with Final Fantasy VII.

In Battle Tournament, players solve puzzles inspired by those in the smartphone version of Puzzle and Dragons while competing in real time against up to 15 other players across the country online. Square promises the competition in Battle Tournament will be fast and furious, with Nomura’s designs brought to life on-screen by animation by Satelight.

Like Puzzle & Dragons W, release of Puzzle & Dragons Battle Tournament is slated for this coming spring.

Finally, GungHo also released information regarding its upcoming tournaments to determine the number one Japanese players of Puzzle & Dragons and Puzzle & Dragons Z (the Nintendo 3DS entry in the franchise). This will be the second year for the Puzzle & Dragons Japan Cup (as GungHo is calling it) and the first year for the Puzzle & Dragons Z Colosseum Cup, Puzzle & Dragons Z having been released in Japan this past December.

Puzzle & Dragons Japan Cup will draw its participants from the winners of 7 regional tournaments, and will be held at Tokyo Big Sight on the 25th of May. The Puzzle & Dragons Z Colosseum Cup will be held toward the end of June, at some as-of-yet-undetermined location near Tokyo.

News source: 4Gamer

Square Enix Reveals Glorious Blaze Details

Posted 18:21 EST on 12FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » glorious blaze, square enix

Square Enix has released information about the development team behind its upcoming collaboration with mobile developer gloops, as well as information regarding the story and battle system.

Smartphone gamers worried Glorious Blaze will be disposable fare will likely take some relief in knowing that Takashi Tokita is in the role of creative producer. Tokita has been with Square for nearly thirty years, in which time he has worked as lead designer for Final Fantasy IV, and as the director of hit titles Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger.

Character design is being handled by Toshiyuki Itahana, who made a name for himself with his designs for titles like Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. Most recently, Itahana has handled the design for costumes in Final Fantasy XIII sequels Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns.

Game system design is being overseen by Hiroyuki Katou of gloops.

Story

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Battle System

Glorious Blaze uses a command-based battle system that will be familiar to fans of JRPGs. Different from the typical turn-based battles, players are able to set the priority of battle commands from high to low, timing attacks and other commands to the greatest tactical advantage. Square Enix explains, “Selecting from four command types the command that is the enemy’s weakness is the key to victory.”

Battles take place between opposing parties of up to five members each. Square Enix promises characters of various “job units” will be on hand to help turn the tide against the forces of darkness. According to Square Enix’s press release, the job units available in the beginning of the game are warrior, mage, monk, martial artist, thief, explorer, and minstrel.

Player characters, job units, and enemy monsters each have one of eight alignments: fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, ice, light, and darkness. Naturally, alignments are weak toward some alignments and strong toward others, adding to the strategy.

Square Enix has given no definitive release date as of yet, but given the pedigree of those involved in the project, JRPG fans may have something too look forward to in Glorious Blaze.

Images and news source: 4Gamer

DQM Super Light Back in Top Five Following Gacha Changes

Posted 21:39 EST on 09FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » dragon quest monsters super light, square enix

In response to criticism of the gacha system in Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light and the player backlash it inspired, Square Enix has made several changes.

In addition to the changes to the price per gacha attempt and the reconfigured odds previously reported on, Square Enix has changed the background used for Super Light‘s premium gacha:

Left: the original background. Right: the updated background. Images source: Social Game Info

Users had demanded their money back, claiming the background image greatly exaggerated the odds of receiving one of the gold maps that rewarded players with an A- or S-rank creature. In response to these claims of false advertising, Apple surprised many by giving users refunds, prompting Square Enix to take action.

Square Enix has also changed the names of the standard and premium gachas. The regular gacha‘s name has been changed from “Silver Map Lottery” to “The Magical Map Lottery (Light)”. The premium gacha has had its named changed from “Gold Map Lottery” to reflect whatever special campaign event is tied to the premium gacha at the time.

For example, in line with an ongoing event, the premium gacha is being referred to in-game as “Iru and Luca’s Map Lottery”.

As of the 9th Super Light has jumped back up to second place on the App Store sales rankings from 23rd place just one day before. Square Enix’s quick measures seem to have gone over well with fans.

News and image source: Social Game Info

Controversy Over DQM Super Light Gacha Leads to Refund Ruckus

Posted 18:37 EST on 07FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in features » dragon quest monsters super light, gacha, square enix

There are numerous ways developers monetize their otherwise free-to-play titles, with a few standing out in their ubiquity. “Stamina” systems place caps on daily play time, allowing users to “regain stamina” by purchasing it (usually through in-game currency) or by sending tweets and Facebook invites to their friends. Another, more straightforward system, offers powerful weapons and armor for purchase. Some games allow defeated players to purchase what amount to extra lives and continues.

Japanese developers of smartphone and browser titles have been quick to incorporate all of these methods, but in Japan the gacha reigns supreme. Gachas are essentially lotteries. Players purchase gacha chances in the hope they’ll receive premium prizes. Instead, users usually receive mundane prizes, and sometimes no prize at all.

Many people argue this system is too similar to gambling, and the Japanese government seems to agree. In 2012, the Japanese government banned a particularly controversial form of gacha known as kompu gacha.

The “kompu” is short for “complete”, and the idea was to do just that: to keep earning or purchasing chances at the gacha lottery until winning every item in some set. Completion of the set netted a powerful item that could not be earned any other way. Of course, some of the items in the set were extremely rare, leading to instances of people spending the equivalent of hundreds and even thousands of dollars to complete their collections, in the end not managing the feat.

Japanese players have tolerated gacha systems, but few would say that they like them. The negative press and consumer outrage surrounding kompu gacha systems (and their eventual banning) did little to endear gacha systems to the public.

Although the non-kompu variants have continued to be ubiquitous, news surrounding the gacha system in Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light is indicative of players’ mounting frustration with the system.

The controversy started when one Youtube user took Square Enix up on its claim that the odds of winning a particularly rare creature had been boosted as part of a campaign. Enthusiastic to show off the rare monster on his Youtube channel, he documented his gacha attempts — all sixty. In the end, although he received a few A-rank monsters, after spending somewhere in the region of the equivalent of 300 dollars, he had not one S-class monster to show for it. Not even the monster Square Enix had claimed was “easier to win” as part of its campaign.

As the video made its rounds around the Web, other users incensed over similar experiences demanded of Apple they be given their money back. They pointed out that the graphic used for the gacha greatly exaggerated the odds of receiving a gold-colored rare monster map, and argued that this was false advertising.

To the surprise of most, Apple took the claim seriously, giving many users App Store refunds. At this point, Square Enix had little choice but to respond, temporarily shutting down the gacha system.

Square Enix’s response was vague: it would “change the specs” of the gacha system. Of greater interest is the action Square Enix took: those who’d used the gacha were given a “present” of in-game currency determined by how many times they’d played the controversial gacha. In other words, a refund.

DQM Super Light developer Takamasa Shiba also responded, reiterating that Super Light can be played and enjoyed without using the gacha system. Shiba promised Square Enix would “expand the game contents that can be enjoyed without spending money”, and that it would “make the fact that the game can be played without spending money more clear to players”.

Users were less than impressed with these vague promises, so today Shiba went into the specifics. Square Enix will reduce the in-game cost of the gacha from 500 to 300 gems per try. The odds of receiving prizes will also be adjusted:

• S rank: changed from 1.3 percent to 3 percent
• A rank: changed from 4 percent to 6 percent
• B rank: changed from 10 percent to 18 percent
• C rank: changed from 45.7 percent to 48 percent
• D rank: changed from 39 percent to 25 percent

The updates will go into effect over the weekend, Saturday at the earliest.

The story doesn’t end there, though. In its coverage of the unfolding events, Yahoo describes a “spreading fire” on the notorious message board 2 Channel, as users demand refunds from the publishers of numerous titles featuring gacha systems.

Yahoo News describes numerous threads where “refund templates” have been upped for other posters’ convenience, and threads where users have posted proof of actual refunds. Yahoo’s writer acknowledges the images may be fakes, but points out that with the abundance of similar stories, there’s a strong possibility there’s some truth to the reports.

Among some of the demands for refunds:

• colopl’s Quiz RPG: the Mystical World of Wiz: “Accidentally selected the most expensive gacha“
• Bandai Namco’s Gundam Conquest: “Updates lowered the value of my in-game items with no prior warning”

Yahoo’s article reports that, in light of the news of refunds, posters are sending in demands for all manner of reasons, with gacha systems and unannounced spec changes the most common.

2 Channel users are notorious for being confrontational and over-the-top. The ruckus should be regarded accordingly. However people may feel about gachas, they’re extremely lucrative; this controversy won’t bring the system toppling down. Instead, developers will adjust their games’ gachas while keeping a close eye on the changes their competitors make, arriving at a new equilibrium players will tolerate.

Still, in its own provocative way, 2 Channel is also a bellwether. The reactions of its posters cast into sharp relief that the gacha system is something many smartphone players simply tolerate.

Square Enix Earnings for OCT through DEC

Posted 15:52 EST on 05FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » final fantasy xiv: a realm reborn, financials, million arthur, square enix

February 5th: Square Enix released an earnings briefing with figures for its OCT through DEC quarter (Q3 for Square Enix). Square Enix’s consolidated cumulative third quarter sales totaled 102.47 billion yen (approx. USD 1.02B), which was a a 0.3 percent decrease from the same quarter one year prior. Square Enix reported operating profits of 7.8 billion yen (USD 78M), a market improvement from its operating loss of 4.8 billion yen in Q3 one year ago.

Breaking down these figures, Square Enix reports 56.5 billion yen (USD 565M) came from its digital entertainment operations, a 2.2 percent improvement from the previous Q3. Operating profits were 6.7 billion yen, up from a 392 million yen operating loss.

Revenues through digital downloads to home consoles have gained steadily in North America, and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is selling well. Both have contributed to Square Enix’s financial improvement.

The browser-based title Sengoku IXA (developed in collaboration with ONE-UP , the developers of Browser Sengokushi) has steadily gained users. Square Enix’s Million Arthur series is also performing well, with a PlayStation Vita port in April 2013 and expansion of services for smartphone versions of Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur to Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China.

Square Enix reports its “amusement” operations (under which Square Enix categorizes its arcade offerings) produced sales of 36.1 billion yen (USD 361M), up 7 percent from last year, and operating profits of 4.3 billion yen (USD 43M), up from an operating loss of 316 million yen (USD 3.16M). Square attributes this turnaround to titles like its “multi-player online battle arena” game Lord of Vermillion III and the arcade version of its title Groove Coaster.

In addition to licensing and the sale of merchandise such as character goods and soundtracks for its own properties, Square Enix bolstered its lineup with popular properties licensed from other companies, and expanded the extent of such sales in countries outside of Japan. As a result, Square Enix reports sales of 2.6 billion yen (USD 26M) and operating profits of 642 million yen (USD 6.42M) from licensing and merchandise. This works out to a 10.7 increase in sales, and a remarkable 70.4 percent increase in operating profits from the previous Q3.

Earnings through Square Enix’s publishing efforts were not as positive. Sales of Square Enix’s popular manga series declined, with no new franchise stepping in to take up the slack. Although Square Enix reports sales of 7.5 billion yen (USD 75M) and operating profits of 1.6 billion yen (USD 16M), in comparison to last year, these are decreases of 13.9 percent and 18.5 percent, respectively.

News source: Famitsu.com

Square Enix Trademarks “Shinra Company” — New FF7 Spinoff on the Way?

Posted 15:36 EST on 30JAN2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » final fantasy vii, shinra company, square enix

Square Enix has filed a trademark for a product called “Shinra Company”, a name that will be instantly familiar to Final Fantasy VII fans. Square Enix has filed the registration under the Japanese Patent Office’s categories 9 and 16, which cover electronic devices & software and paper publications, respectively. As this astute poster points out, this is Square Enix’s usual M.O. before releasing a new title, to cover the game itself as well as the strategy guides to go with it.

Will gamers finally get chance to raise a cozy ranch of Jenova-human hybrid abominations and battle them against their smartphone-owning friends? We can only hope!

News and image source: Hachima Kikou

Social Game Info Market Movements: Square Enix, colopl, GungHo Continue to Shine

Posted 17:10 EST on 29JAN2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » colopl, CyberAgent, financials, gungho, square enix

The following is a partial translation of Social Game Info’s daily report on noteworthy market movements

Tokyo Stock Exchange, January 29th: games industry share prices saw general advances across the board. In particular, gains stood out for GungHo Online Entertainment (which has recently had its earnings reported upon), Square Enix Holdings (benefiting from the overwhelmingly positive response to its smartphone title Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light), CyberAgent, and colopl (despite colopl refraining from making an earnings announcement).

GungHo’s share price rose 53 yen to land at 673 yen, spurred on by an estimation in the January 29th edition of the Nikkei that GungHo’s operation earnings for the period ending in December were in the vicinity of 90 billion yen, a 10-fold increase from the previous period. In its quarterly estimate, GungHo had predicted operation earnings of 88 billion yen, so the Nikkei’s report was not out of line with expectations, but the positive news still had a beneficial effect on GungHo’s share price.

Image source: Social Game Info

colopl’s share price also rose, up 240 yen from the previous day to finish the day’s trading at 3,920 yen. colopl refrained from making an earnings announcement after the close of the trading session, leading to speculation that the bump in share price is the result of high investor anticipation.

Previously, colopl revised its earnings forecast for the period which will end in September of this year, raising its operations earnings estimate from 12 billion yen to 18 billion. Touyou Keizai’s Japan Company Handbook had also pinned its estimate for the period at 12 billion yen, so there is keen interest in how Touyou Keizai and other institutions react to colopl’s forthcoming announcements.

Image source: Social Game Info

There was also more good news for Square Enix Holdings, its share price rising 161 yen in the course of the day’s trading to end at 2,830 yen. Square Enix Holdings’ share price had risen dramatically in response to its title Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light rocketing to second place of the Japan App Store sales rankings in the games category, where it remains as of today behind only GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons. Today’s increases are attributed to Super Light making it to 11th place in the Google play Japan rankings (games category), where it threatens to crack the top ten.

Images source: Social Game Info

CyberAgent, part owner of Super Light developer CyGames, also saw an increase in share price to the tune of 260 yen, ending the day at a total of 4,985 yen.

Images source: Social Game Info

Noteworthy movements in the games industry and mobile market are as listed below:

news and images source: Social Game Info

DQM Super Light Tops 1M DLs in Four Days, Spurring on Positive Investor Response

Posted 15:49 EST on 27JAN2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » dragon quest monsters super light, financials, square enix

Square Enix Holdings’ share price reached its maximum allowed single-day gain of 500 yen per share to finish January 27th trading at a share price of 2,581 yen. The continued growth in share price is in response to news that the company’s smartphone title Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light exceeded a million downloads in the space of only four days.

Image source: Social Game Info

As of today, Super Light is behind only Puzzle & Dragons in the Japanese App Store sales ranking. The positive response has brought Square Enix Holdings’ share price to its highest figure in over four years.

News source: Social Game Info [ 1, 2 ]

Square Enix Shares Soar as DQM Super Light Leaps to 5th in Sales

Posted 17:20 EST on 24JAN2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » dragon quest monsters super light, dragon quest viii, financials, square enix

January 24th: Square Enix Holdings’ share price reached its maximum allowable single-day gain of 400 yen to finish the day’s trading at 2,081 yen, an increase of 23.8 percent. The gains are attributed to Square Enix’s January 23rd release of Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light, which rocketed to 5th place on the App Store sales rankings games category within a single day.

Image source: Social Game Info

Dragon Quest Monsters, a spin-off of the ubiquitous Dragon Quest series, has become a popular series in its own right, spawning countless titles across numerous consoles and mobile devices. Super Light is the first Dragon Quest Monsters title developed from the ground up for smartphones and tablets. It is also the first free-to-play title in the series, monetized through in-game purchases.

Super Light has been a tremendous hit with smartphone and tablet owners, going from 12th place in the App Store rankings (in the games category) at 10:00 AM (Tokyo) to 9th place at 2:00 PM, finally arriving at 5th place as of 5:00 in the evening. News of Super Light‘s success drove up Square Enix Holdings’ stock price through the course of the 24th, bringing the company’s share price to its highest level in over four years.

Image source: Social Game Info

Super Light was developed by CyGames, a subsidiary of CyberAgent. Like Square Enix Holdings, CyberAgent’s share price rose steadily through the day in response to Super Light‘s success. During trading on the 24th, CyberAgent’s share price briefly reached its maximum allowable single-day gain of 5,350 yen before dipping slightly to end the day at 5,170, an aggregate increase of 11 percent. This is CyberAgent’s highest end-of-day share price in ten years.

Image source: Social Game Info

However, it’s worth noting the trajectory taken by another Square Enix title: Dragon Quest VIII. Like Super Light, Dragon Quest VIII brushed aside popular and established mobile titles as it rocketed to the top of the sales rankings. Despite its 2,800 yen price, Dragon Quest VIII jumped past Quiz RPG: The Mystic World of Wiz and LINE Corp.’s Pokopan to seize the second spot in terms of sales, unable to dethrone only GungHo’s indomitable Puzzle and Dragons. Dragon Quest VIII‘s sales went on the decline steadily before slipping outside of the top 50 by mid-January.

Image source: Social Game Info

Still, for Square Enix, having struggled to regain a steady foothold, this show of investor faith in its decision to release versions of its big-name titles for mobile devices must come as a powerful reassurance.

At the end of trading on the 24th, notable shifts in share price of 25 top games publishers were as follows:

News and images source: Social Game Info articles: 1, 2, 3

Square Enix Releases DQM Super Light to iOS and Android, Announces DQIV

Posted 16:43 EST on 24JAN2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » dragon quest iv, dragon quest monsters super light, square enix

Square Enix has released Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light to iOS and Android devices in Japan, and announced that its classic title Dragon Quest IV will also be available for iOS and Android shortly.

Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light is the first title in the popular spin-off franchise to be developed from the ground-up for play on smartphones and tablets. As in previous entries in the Dragon Quest Monsters series, players capture a motley assortment of monsters and train them for battle against friends and other players. However, Super Light stands apart from its predecessors with gesture-based controls designed for a smooth and simple smartphone or tablet experience.

To move through dungeons, players need only slide their finger in the direction they wish their avatar to travel. Treasure boxes and other items of interest are interacted with simply by tapping on them. In battle, players can navigate the familiar Dragon Quest menus, or use flicks and taps to set their team’s battle plan.

Super Light is available free to play through the App Store and Google Play. New dungeons are obtained from in-game gacha prize machines. In-game currency can be purchased and used toward additional gacha tries, as well as to buy in-game items and to increase the odds of finding rare and powerful items in dungeons.

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For fans looking to enjoy an old-school favorite once again, Dragon Quest IV will be available shortly in Japan via the Dragon Quest Portal for iOS and Android devices.

News and images source: Social Game Info and Famitsu.com