My fascination and curiosity in gacha video games surged with the discharge of 2020’s Genshin Influence, which just about raised the bar for what gacha video games might probably develop into. MiHoYo’s glorious open-world RPG weaved its gacha components into its story in an unobtrusive method and you might have interaction with that as a lot or as little you need; the true focus was on exploration. Enter Tower of Fantasy, one other gacha recreation whose aesthetic appears to be like remarkably much like that of Genshin Influence’s.
It’s clear that Stage Infinite wished to compete with MiHoYo’s monster recreation. After spending about 20 hours within the closed beta check, I’ve come to comprehend that Tower of Fantasy isn’t a lot of a Genshin Influence killer than it’s a Genshin Influence various which will falter in some areas, however excels within the ones the place Genshin falls brief.
Let’s speak about a few of the apparent similarities: Tower of Fantasy begins with you selecting a male or feminine avatar (although this rapidly turns into irrelevant), the fight has some elemental synergies you may make use of, it options a big open-world so that you can discover and farm sources in, and it additionally has an annoying mascot character that’ll get previous actual quick. Oh, and it’s additionally a gacha recreation. And that’s just about the place the similarities finish.
I wanna spend a while on the gacha system first as I do know that’s the one side that each gacha lovers and RPG followers alike would be the most interested in. For the latter group, you’ll be able to relaxation assured that, much like Genshin Influence, the gacha system isn’t all that intrusive and you’ll definitely clear a lot of the content material with out pulling for brand spanking new weapons. It’s too early to say whether or not you’ll be able to beat your complete recreation with out even touching the gacha, however from what I’ve performed thus far, I’ve solely achieved a few pulls and haven’t had a lot of a difficulty clearing the PvE content material with the gear that the beta check began me with.
And for the gacha lovers, I’m additionally happy to report that Tower of Fantasy has a fairly incredible pity system. As at all times, there are a number of rarity tiers of weapons on this recreation: R, SR, and SSR. Most of your pulls will likely be trash R weapons, whereas the SSR weapons solely have a measly 0.3% change of exhibiting up.
Nonetheless, the pity system ensures that you simply’ll at all times get an SSR on each eightieth pull. Along with that, the pity counter doesn’t reset in case you occur to get fortunate and pull an SSR earlier than you attain 80. Which means in case you pull an SSR at 79, you’re nonetheless assured to get one other one in your subsequent pull, which could be very good.
The summoning foreign money, generally known as Nucleus (which is available in gold and black variants), will be obtained by both buying them with actual cash, or by exploring the open-world, finishing quests, and progressing within the story. You’ll be able to anticipate the Nucleus to be dripfed slowly as you get additional into the sport, making it progressively tougher to tug, however that’s simply how most gacha video games are.
That mentioned, I did discover myself considerably dissatisfied with Tower of Fantasy’s number of weapons. You’ll discover that I mentioned weapons, not characters, as a result of this recreation’s gacha system doesn’t pull characters. As an alternative, you’re pulling for various weapons that you would be able to equip, and every SR or SSR weapon then comes with a personality pores and skin that you would be able to placed on. The skins are utterly beauty, so that you aren’t getting new characters you’ll be able to add to your celebration or something like that.
Personally, I discovered this somewhat disappointing as Tower of Fantasy is unquestionably lacking a little bit of the appeal that made Genshin Influence so compelling within the first place. Each character you met in Genshin Influence got here with their very own quirks and distinctive character traits, and eventually pulling them and including them to your celebration got here with an actual sense of pleasure.
Pulling an SSR Icewind Arrow weapon isn’t even remotely corresponding to that point I pulled Hu Tao on day one among her banner. You gotta have some form of attachment or connection to the stuff you’re pulling for, and I’m undecided Tower of Fantasy’s weapons could have that very same attraction.
Regardless of that, Tower of Fantasy undoubtedly excels in a few key areas the place Genshin Influence is severely missing. The character customization choices are good, and even with out the skins you get out of your weapons, you’ll be able to alter your character’s bodily look to make them match your individual particular person type. As somebody who loves character creation, this was an enormous plus for me.
Tower of Fantasy can also be an MMO, which implies there’s an even bigger deal with multiplayer and group content material. You’ll be able to have a enjoyable solo expertise, and also you’ll get lots of that whenever you’re powering by the story and exploring the huge open-world, however proper off the bat, the closed beta check comes with fairly a number of dungeons that you would be able to try with different folks.
Matchmaking is fast and hassle-free, so in case you’ve at all times wished an open-world gacha recreation that had strong multiplayer options, this could possibly be one to look out for. Particularly for Genshin Influence gamers who’ve been ready for correct multiplayer dungeons and raids for a very long time now, Tower of Fantasy is proving to be a really viable various that you would be able to take a look at.
The one draw back is that Tower of Fantasy’s fight can really feel quite floaty at instances, and from what I’ve performed thus far, it doesn’t appear to have that very same degree of strategic consideration on the subject of celebration and elemental synergies. You’ll be able to equip as much as three totally different weapons directly, and change between them to make use of assorted abilities and skills. The fight is straightforward and fairly enjoyable, usually solely requiring you to button-mash to string collectively cool-looking combos. It’s much more streamlined for positive, which can or will not be a very good factor, relying in your preferences.
With all that mentioned, it wouldn’t be correct to name Tower of Fantasy a Genshin Influence killer as each video games are targeted on very various things. In the event you’re an enormous Genshin fan and also you don’t have a ton of different gacha video games taking over your time exterior of that, I might see Tower of Fantasy turning into an excellent complement for you. It’s nonetheless early days, however that is undoubtedly value maintaining a tally of when it will definitely will get its full launch later this 12 months.
