ccg

The Role of eSports in CCGs: From Casual Play to Professional Competitions

In recent years, the world of competitive gaming has experienced a tremendous surge in popularity, and eSports has emerged as a major force in the gaming industry. Among the diverse genres of video games that have been embraced by eSports, Collectible Card Games (CCGs) have carved out a significant niche for themselves.

Since the beginning, CCGs have always had a massive competitive scene from national tournaments to pro-tours. However, the landscape has evolved rapidly, and CCGs have now become a staple in the professional eSports circuit. Platforms like Twitch have turned competitive tabletop gaming into a spectator sport, bringing the eyes of millions of fans to events people used to have to read about to know what had happened.

Collectible Card Games were introduced to the world in the early 1990s, with iconic titles like Magic: The Gathering and Overpower leading the charge. Since the advent of digital technology CCGs have become a huge presence in the online realm, allowing players to compete with others across the globe. This digital transformation set the stage for this new digital era in CCGs and laid the foundation for eSports to start broadcasting CCG tournaments; the largest of which have 4000 to 5000 competitors. read more

The Role of eSports in CCGs: From Casual Play to Professional Competitions Read More »

Heart of Crown Anime Deck Building Board Game and Video Game Review

Heart of Crown Boardgame and PC Videogame Review

Update: 12/21/2017 – The developers of the PC version of Heart of Crown reached out to me via email and wanted to provide support for some of the issues I encountered, as well as to let me know about new features that are underway, such as full screen mode (currently in the beta client), and a tournament that will take place next year to celebrate the international release of Heart of Crown. They also wanted to let me know that there are (text based) chat rooms available on the Discord server (and I’ve adjusted the score for community based on that feedback). Overall, it is encouraging to see an active Dev team who seem to really care about improving the game and connecting with the community. 🙂 I hope they continue to work on polishing up the PC version of the game, but as I said already in my original review, yes the game has issues, but at the price point of $19.99 (at time of this review) it’s a great game and still a lot of fun, and a worthy purchase.

Original Review Below:

I recently picked up both the board game and steam versions of Heart of Crown, a kawaii anime deck building card game. I love the artwork and the theme of the game (multiple princesses vying for the throne). It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite anime (RE:Zero) so I was instantly drawn to this board game when I attended the Pittsburgh Steel City Comic Con 2 weeks ago. (although I actually purchased this one from the large game store, Mr. Nice Guy Games, at the mall nearby the convention center). And then a few days after that, the PC game released on steam, so imagine my excitement having only just heard of Heart of Crown days prior and being hyped by my new kawaii gaming find. As you will learn in this review, I am happy with both purchases, but each has it’s own unique pros and cons. Find out which version of Heart of Crown is right for you in the reviews below.

Gameplay Explanation:

The gameplay is simple, although it can be confusing at first, and both the manual included in the boardgame, as well as the hidden and horribly confusing tutorial in the PC game, make this gameplay seem much more complex than it actually is.

I will try to briefly describe the gameplay, please bear in mind my experience with this title is still limited to just a handful of play sessions.

To understand the gameplay we must first understand the different card types. Largely these consist of one of the following:

Princess Cards – these cards are available for purchase once you reach 16 points. There are 6 different Princesses in the base game (maybe more in various expansions). Each princess has unique abilities, some passive (always in effect) and some that you can activate during your turn. These abilities may give you advantages such as viewing your draw pile, drawing extra cards, forcing opponents to discard a card, or so on.

The objective of the game is to choose a princess whose ability matches your play style and then “back her” by acquiring points to put her on the throne. I’m not in front of either version of the game at the moment, but I believe the amount needed to back a princess is 21. (might be 20 or 25, somewhere in that range).

When this happens, a “coronation ceremony” will occur. At this time, any other players take one final turn, and if able to do so, may also back and crown a princess. If no other players can put a princess on the throne, you win. However, if another player also gets enough points to back and crown a princess the game enters sudden death where the first player to reach 30 points wins.

But how do you get points you ask? That’s where the other cards come in handy.

Territory Cards: these cards grant you coins (think of it as taxing your people for living in your lands). Coins are used to purchase items from the common shared area known as the market place. Note that cards obtained from the market place go to your discard pile. This is rather quirky and different from most other games I’ve played where they would automatically go to your hand or your draw pile. When you reach the end of your draw pile, your discard pile gets shuffled and becomes your new draw pile, allowing you to finally use the cards you have purchased. Coins may also be spent to activate abilities on some cards.

Action cards – these cards have abilities that affect you or other players such as declaring war to lower their points, or forcing them to discard a card, or allowing you to draw more cards, or take a card from the market place.

Character Cards – these cards all feature a different character, such as a duke, maid, etc. who will grant or sometimes subtract from your total points value. After you have backed a princess, you can play these character cards by placing them under your princess card.

There are also 2 special mechanics in this game.

Keeping Cards: 1 is the ability to “keep” up to 3 cards in your hand by placing them over your kingdom cards (territory cards that were used to back your princess) you cannot keep a card greater than the point value of the territory cards holding it. But by keeping a card, it allows you to use that card on a later turn instead of automatically discarding it at the end of your turn when you would normally discard all of your cards.

Chain Cards: The other interesting fact is that you can chain cards together, some cards have a yellow arrow. This means you can play another card. This is most commonly seen on territory cards.

Putting it all Together:

So the basics of gameplay go like this, draw your cards, play territory cards to get coins, then choose cards from the market place that go to your discard pile. As you run out of cards in your draw pile, the discard pile gets shuffled and turned into the new draw pile, and you may get lucky and draw the cards you purchased from market. Once you reach 16 points, choose a princess to back by carefully considering her special abilities. Continue to play territory cards and purchase more cards from the market – you’re likely going to be looking for cards to increase your point total. Be the first person to reach enough points to crown your princess. Other players may challenge you, so be ready to be the first player to reach 30 points and win the game, or win automatically if no one else can crown their princess after one more turn.

 

Score Card:

Board Game Version

Overall Score: 52/80 65% “D” “Average Game for Girls”

Geeky: 1/5 – the anime theme and cute girls are the only “geeky” thing here. There is little to no strategy involved with this game, no customization, no legacy, no story, no complexity, no hidden things to explore, etc. Just a straightforward, simple, cute family friendly game with great artwork.

Sweetie: 5/5 – And that great artwork is enough to score it a 5/5 on the sweetie meter. Combine that with the theme of the game, a game about princesses, and you have one of the cutest games ever.

Breakdown:

Value for What’s Included: 7/10 – You get a lot of cards, with gorgeous high quality art work, a beautiful box to store the game in, and a lengthy detailed full color glossy manual. However, that manual can be confusing and overwhelming to new players. There is no play mat, card sleeves, tokens, figures, or other goodies, but I still think overall, I feel satisfied with what was included at the $40 price point. Note there are expansions you can buy that add new cards and new features as well.

Initial Learning Curve: 5/10 – setting up the first time and learning what to do can be frustrating. But once you jump into your first game, it really isn’t so bad. Therefore, the learning curve difficulty is somewhere in the middle. It may turn off some casual gamers, but is still simple and friendly enough for family game night or to introduce to your non-gamer friends.

Gameplay: 7/10 – it’s simple, short and sweet. Most games take under 20 minutes to complete. There is a nice variety of cards, from abilities, to characters, and plenty of opportunity to interact with other players. However, the game length is quite short and there’s not much complex or exciting / enticing to help enhance replay value. I think this game will be fun once or twice a month, but don’t see it being a “weekly game board night” staple, when other games offer greater replay incentives and more for even the most seasoned and veteran gamers to discover on multiple playthroughs. Still, if you have young kids, or a significant other who is obsessed with “the kawaii life” they will love this cute little anime game. I bought it simply because I love how cute it is, and I’m not disappointed!

Artwork: 10/10 – I love the artwork, for me it really sold me on this game – Picked it up in a board game store I had never visited before, and had not heard of the game, and bought it simply because of the cute anime girls lol.

Interaction With Other Players: 4/10 – I feel like this is solidly in the middle somewhere. There are plenty of action cards and abilities to play against your friends. But it’s not as social as let’s say cards against humanity nor as encouraging of attacks and alliances as say Munchkin,

Fun: 7/10 read more

Heart of Crown Boardgame and PC Videogame Review Read More »

Pre-Registration Begins for English Version of Captain Tsubasa Dream Team Anime Soccer Game

The folks over at KLab Inc. sent me their press release announcement for the English version of Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team. Captain Tsubasa is a very old and popular anime about soccer. I have not watched it yet, though I’ve heard a lot about it.

I get a lot of Press Releases in my inbox each day, and I don’t always share them here, but this caught my eye with a ton of great giveaways and special events. The fun started yesterday and you only have a short time to take advantage of some of these awesome freebies for new players.

The timing of this Press Release was also timely and the content relevant to my current life. I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve not been updating here as frequently the past few months.  I began seeing someone over the end of the summer, and we’ve spent every weekend together ever since we met, and about a month ago now we made it “official”.

Weekends used to be when I’d work on my blog and schedule posts to go out through the week. But now with a more active social life my blog has been on the back burner. Hopefully I’ll get enough stuff scheduled up over thanksgiving and xmas breaks to kick off the new year with lots of great new game reviews and blog updates.

The new boyfriend happens to live and breathe soccer. He plays and watches it or coaches and teaches it almost every day (and when it’s not super cold outside I go and watch him play). He’s also from Peru and Peru just made it to the World Cup last week, for the first time in my boyfriend’s lifetime, so he’s very excited about that.

We are as different as night and day. He’s the typical jock, and I’m the typical geek, both in appearance and interests. But he’s not really the “typical” jock because he’s very attentive and sensitive and warm and kind hearted. He told me he wants to better understand me / my hobbies / interests because It’s what I’m into and important to me. (He even told me he’d come to my next doll meetup with me LOL. How many “jocks” would subject themselves to that?)

He’s geeky too in his own way, but much more of a closet geek. He dressed up as Captain America for Halloween, and we just saw Justice League together last weekend. But he’s been saying for awhile he wants to watch an anime with me (he’s never watched any before). I’ve been debating what anime to show to him, and then this Press Release came in and brought Captain Tsubasa back to the top of my mind. It’s older and has “bad” art compared to many newer anime, but I think it might be the perfect anime for my soccer loving boyfriend.  And I think I would enjoy the slice of life elements of the series as well. Maybe I’ll even get him to download the new game and play it with me when it comes out next month.

Anyways be sure to check out the Press Release below from KLab Inc, and pre-register to play Captain Tsubasa Dream Team to take advantage of all of the special events going on right now!

Pre-Kickoff Campaign for Global Version of “Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team” Starts Today!

Global Version Planned for Release in December 2017

KLab Inc.

(TSE1: 3656)

Tokyo, Japan – November 20, 2017 – KLab Inc., a leader in online mobile games, announced that pre-registration for the global version of Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team officially kicked off on Monday, November 20 (UTC+9). This head-to-head football simulation game based on the world-famous Captain Tsubasa series is planned for global release in over 135 countries and regions around the world. In addition to the Japanese version released in June 2017, the global release will be localized into six languages—English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese.

The global version of the game is planned for release in December 2017.

The Pre-Kickoff Campaign began earlier today with pre-registration for the upcoming release currently available on the official Twitter and Facebook accounts. Players are encouraged to follow either (or both!) to receive the latest updates on the upcoming title and stay one step ahead of the game. More details can be found on the official website, which opened earlier today in all six languages available in the global version of the game.

About Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team read more

Pre-Registration Begins for English Version of Captain Tsubasa Dream Team Anime Soccer Game Read More »

idolmaster million live theater days

Idol Master Million Live Theater Days Japanese Rhythm Game Review

Title: Idol Master Million Live Theater Days

Genre: Rhythm Game with Visual Novel elements

Publisher: Bandai Namco

Release Date: June 28, 2017

Where to Get: See Below:

Itunes (Japan Only): https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/…

Google Play Store (May also be Japan Only – not Sure) https://play.google.com/…

How to Get: You can check out my review of Aikatsu Photo on Stage to learn how to get free Japanese Itune items by creating a free Japanese Itunes account. In Aikatsu Photo on Stage, I was unable to help android users locate the game as it does not run on Bluestacks (or any rooted devices). I do not know if the same holds true for Idolmaster Theater Days as well. If so Android users may need a VPN Tunneling Service, which I know nothing about. Sorry.

Also in the case of this game when registering for a new account, be sure you select Japan as your country. This cannot be changed later. You can leave “English” as the language, but this only affects emails Bandai will send to you, and does not affect the language actually in the game – which is sadly only available in Japanese. Later, if Bandai ever releases the game in North America and in English you will have to make a new Bandai account to play the English versions of the game. But we’ve never received a single IdolM@ster game, despite success of their Love Live series which is very similar, so I don’t think the chances of English localization are very high! 🙁

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Overall: 66/80 83% B “Very Good Game for Girls”

Overview: 10/10 – I have a new obsession, as anyone who follows me on Instagram may have noticed this past weekend. Idol Master Million Live Theater Days may just be my new favorite mobile game of all time. It takes what I enjoy about Love Live, Aikatsu Photo on Stage, and Idol Master Cinderella Girls and smooshes them all together.

Graphics: 10/10 – The best part about Theater Days is that the girls are rendered in Live 2D just like Ensemble Stars, Dream Girlfriend, and countless other anime games. This technology allows for very lifelike anime renders. While 3D would feel stiff and 2D would feel flat, Live 2D finds a balance between these two. I can’t get enough of these Live 2D games!! In fact I wish to see the technology used even more, not just on mobile games, but PC and Console Games as well. I don’t know if this technology was used on Nekopara, but the result is VERY similar. The models look more clean than the cel shading technologies used in Catherine and School Days. Live 2D is the best thing to ever happen to anime games. More companies need to take notice.

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Not only do they look great, the girls appear on stage as full bodies, not just a tiny face in a circle like in Love Live School Idol Festival. Aikatsu Photo on Stage also has full bodied — but static — images (which kinda “bounced” up and down at times on the screen). But here, in Theater Days, thanks to Live 2D, the girls dance and sing on stage with unique dance routines choreographed for each song and each singer; and it’s just so incredibly cuuuute!!! I can’t stop playing, watching, and taking like a bazillion screen shots, seriously! Just check out my instagram account lol.

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Music 10/10 – Aikatsu Photo on Stage seemed lacking in the quality of the music compared to Love Live, but Idol Master Million Live Theater Days is at least as good, if not even better, in music when compared to Love Live. The songs are seriously addictive. I really like some of the earliest tracks like “Brand New Theater” and “Sentimental Venus”, but all of the songs I’ve heard have been good. I’ve played and watched the music videos (in game after beating the song at least once), over and over, all weekend. The music is so good, and the girls’ dancing is so well timed with the music. It feels so real, like you really are at a concert. The lights on the stage, the audience, the movement, the emotions, omg. It’s indescribable. There’s also excellent voice acting in the story scenes as well.

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Gameplay 8/10 – And like Aikatsu Photo on Stage and Idol Master Cinderella Girls you can dressup your girls in different outfits. I haven’t figured out how to do this yet. I’ve won, what looks like white, wedding dress, looking rewards from several songs, but can’t figure out how to use them or equip them. But I do see that we can change the uniforms for each member of our party, I just don’t have anything showing up when I go to this menu to change their outfits, except the starting red/white/blue outfits they are given at the beginning of the game. Perhaps the white dresses are materials or tokens to draw new outfits or something else useful and related to outfits. I just know there are costume changes, and the costume changes will be represented on stage when playing or watching / listening to the songs.

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There are also visual novel like elements to the game. I can’t read Japanese, but luckily there is only 1 response / option to select. I’ve only found 2 instances where I’ve had to make a “choice”. The first time was when choosing which starter card I wanted. I picked the girl in the pink sweater with side pony tail. The other time that the game asked me to make a choice was shortly after that, when a new girl is introduced, she has very short hair, sometimes in short pigtails with red ribbons and a green dress. — I think the main girl I had drawn already was jealous of the new girl, I think based on their facial expressions / interactions. My “main girl” and 2 other “starter girls” were in another room talking about something/one when the “new girl” overheard them, and they apologized and got embarrassed. I was presented an option, probably something encouraging the girls to get along. Whatever I picked seemed to surprise the girls. Story went on for a bit, then they all sang together, after the performance, my “main girl” came to me and asked something of me. There were 2 options, and the one I picked seemed to make her happy / satisfy her a bit.

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There will be other chances to interact with your girls, any time you are logged in, you can move around different rooms, and find your girls randomly going about their day. Sometimes they will have an “!” or a “…” bubble above their heads, when tapping on a girl, you can listen to what they have to say, which usually doesn’t even require any feedback from you – and rewards you with XP and the rare/summoning currency.

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You rank up as a producer by completing these “quests” and of course by putting on live performances which is where the majority of the gameplay comes from. You assemble a team of 6 girls. They have different attributes such as Princess, Fairy, and Angel. The song attributes change every day. For example, yesterday the songs wanted Princess, and Today they want Fairy. On my first day of play they wanted “All” which I guess would require a balanced approach. You can have several different teams built and saved up and switch freely between them. It also seems you can have it build the teams for you by hitting the pink “recycle” looking icon, and then choosing the attribute you want. For example, Princess would autofill your highest scoring Princess cards into the team. This doesn’t mean that only Princess members would appear, because you might have a fairy or angel who has high Princess points too. This probably all sounds familiar if you’ve played other titles such as Love Live School Idol Festival.

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Idol Master Million Live Theater Days Japanese Rhythm Game Review Read More »

Hearthstone, Heroes of Warcraft, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, WoW, Play WoW on Iphone, Play WoW on Android, Play Warcraft on Iphone, Play Warcraft on Android, Mobile Game, Collectible Card Game, Deck Building Game, CCG, DBG, Card Game, Card, Cards, Jaina Proudmore, Thrall, Magic the Gathering, Mage, Shaman, Rogue, Paladin, Warlock, Murloc, Murlocs, Spells, Mana, Hero, Heroes, Arena, Battlenet, Blizzard, Mobile Game, Mobile Gaming, Online Game, Strategy Game

Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft Mobile Game Review Cardgame Like Magic The Gathering

I was a long-time World of Warcraft player. I quit about 4 years ago now, but still have fond memories of the game. Blizzard has a unique sense of humor and charm with their NPC’s and pop culture references sprinkled into their MMO and strong story and character development. Now, those same characters come to life again in the form of a collectible card game.

For fans of the MMORPG, Hearthstone brings back a lot of fun memories of your adventures, and gives you something to do to pass time when you can’t be playing your favorite MMO. For others, who have never played WoW before, fear not as no prior knowledge of the game world is neccessary to enjoy this deck building game.

In fact, if you like other board games and card games, such as Yugioh, Magic the Gathering, or the Pokemon trading card game, you will absolutely love Hearthstone as it lets you build your own decks and collect powerful cards. There’s a lot of strategy involved also in how you play each match against other players in real time making it one of the best trading card games for mobile devices.

Title: Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft

Publisher: Blizzard

Platform: IOS, Android, or PC

Genre: Collectible Card Game / Deck Building Game

Go here to play it on your PC:  read more

Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft Mobile Game Review Cardgame Like Magic The Gathering Read More »

Game of Dice

A Game of Dice | Review | Free Anime Monopoly Boardgame Cardgame IOS Android App Where You Can Win Real Money!

Name: Game of Dice

Publisher: JoyCity

Price: Free

Grab it on IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/game-of-dice/id946811576?mt=8

Or Click here for Androidhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joycity.god&hl=en

Geeky: 

Sweetie: 

Overall Score: 53 / 80 66% D “Average Game for Girls”NOTE: If we ignore lack of story and not a strong variety in characters, the score would be 53/60 or 88% B+ “Very Good Game for Girls” which more accurately reflects my own enjoyment of this game.

Overview 10/10: This is one of the most addictive and fun and quick little IOS games in my library right now. A Game of Dice is a fast paced online boardgame available for IOS and Android. Not only is the game free, but it also hosts tournaments in which you can win $100 usd if you are able to get 10 consecutive wins in a row at the master level. It’s a game played with other people from all over the world and, from what I’ve seen, there’s never any waiting for a game match while searching for players, so it’s very active, and full of people waiting to play with you.

Gameplay: 10/10 The premise of the game is very similar to boardgames such as Monopoly. You roll dice and move around the board collecting properties; as you pass the start line, your properties level up and the rent charged to players who land on them increases. If you roll 3 doubles in a row, you go to jail, where you can either pay, or roll a double to get out. The board itself is very small, and it is a bit disapointing that the board is always the same regardless of if you’re in a rookie match or a master tournament. I think it could do with some more levels with more advanced boards. But one of the pluses of having a small board is that the game moves incredibly fast.

The twist of this game comes in the form of very shrewd competitive gameplay.  Initially when you begin, if a property is unowned, it’s yours, free and clear. The twist is that should another player land on your property, after paying your rent, they have an opportunity to take over your city, if they have what’s called a take over certificate.

Now these certificates can be bought for cash (real money), or earned through gameplay. You might think it is unfair or game breaking – but the game does have some mechanics in place for damage control. They limit the number of certificates a player can have at any given time to 3 certificates.

Who goes first is chosen at random, and if you get stuck going last, you’ll be given a free take over certificate to help you catch back up. There are squares in the game where you can get additional certificates for free if you land there, or squares which allow you to teleport to and claim an unowned city as well.

The other twist to this game is that it is also a card game. You can take with you 9 cards, which you can customize. Some take money from your opponents, some let you roll more dice, or guarantee a double, others even allow you to claim more cities.

You can summon new skill cards using gems – a special currency, which you can either earn while playing or buy for real money.

In addition to your skill cards, you also draw cards for different stat-enhancing dice sets and characters. You can also upgrade, enhance, and combine skill, dice, or character cards to further increase the bonuses from them. Gold is the currency used to perform these enhancements and is sorta the “Default” or “free” game currency.

Similar to Monopoly, the object of each match is to be the last man standing by making your opponents go bankrupt.

Lastly, there’s another currency called “Joy” which allows you to enter higher level tournaments, purchase “gems”, or “Invest” in your properties during a tournament (which will greatly magnify the cost of rent should an opponent land on your squares).

You win Joy by winning a tournament or sometimes through random events and cards. Higher level tournaments award you with more Joy for your victory.

Graphics: 8/10 – Cute and colorful anime graphics, with high quality artwork on the cards and fully animated “retro” “chibi” styled sprites while in game. Could do with some more variety, there doesn’t appear to be enough characters to summon for this type of game. User interface is good, and the overall experience is very nice.

Music: 6/10 – Music is good, but man, it gets old. There also are some characters that are voiced (in English even), and other characters are not. There’s an anouncer and other vocal cues too. Just wish there was more variety in background music, like different tracks that it would randomize through, or higher level tournaments having different tracks, etc.

Storyline: 2/10 – When you first start the game, you’re presented a story, but it doesn’t really take root within the game. Well this is not a story based game. Monopoly does not need a story to be “fun” right? Still would like to see them implement some more story elements, such as unlocking more story scenes as you level up which you can choose to watch at your leisure.

Characters 4/10: There seems to only be a handful of characters, maybe 6-7 “4 star” or lower characters, and a few “5 star” “exclusives”. I think they need more characters and more variety overall; but each character has destinct advantages and disadvantages in bonuses and enhancements given to gameplay. The artwork is also in the style I like (anime).

Community: 7/10 – Each game is live with other players. There is no chat function, and even if there was, a vast majority of players are from overseas and likely wouldn’t speak english. You can’t trade with other players, and there’s no user marketplace. But the fact that each game pits you against 2 other real live humans in real time is very exciting.

 

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    A Game of Dice | Review | Free Anime Monopoly Boardgame Cardgame IOS Android App Where You Can Win Real Money! Read More »

    Ensemble Stars | Dating Sim | Stat Raising Sim | Trading Card Game | IOS | Android | Anime | Game

    Ensemble Stars – The Free IOS Game That Lets You Collect Cute Anime Boys

    Ensemble Stars | Dating Sim | Stat Raising Sim | Trading Card Game | IOS | Android | Anime | Game
    Ensemble Stars | Dating Sim | Stat Raising Sim | Trading Card Game | IOS | Android | Anime | Game

    I’ve been enjoying Ensemble Stars, a game that lets you collect cute anime boys. When I first got the game, I assumed it was like Love Live School Idol Festival! However, it’s a little bit different. Most notably, Ensemble Stars is a Stat Raising Simulation. Not only do you collect the cards (just like in Love Live School Idol Festival!) but then you train different stats such as vocals, dancing, etc. Also, this is NOT a rhythm game. I initially thought it was, until playing it. There’s no user input in battles; it’s all mathematically determined. Your cards stats vs the Opponents’ stats.

    This game is not available yet in the US app store. And in no app store is it in English; However, you can easily make a free account (must be on a PC (or mac)) by logging out of your main account and then at the bottom of the screen, change location, and select either the Korean or Japanese app stores. Then sync your iphone/ipad with your new purchase (its a free game).

    The company also makes a game called Ensemble Girls which is available in the US app store, however, it is not in English. I just started playing Ensemble Girls lastnight and its gameplay is markedly different from Ensemble Stars. Ensemble Girls plays like a board game. You roll dice and move the corresponding number of squares through each level. You encounter girls to battle and collect points. You can use points to summon new girls for your deck and also get sweet tasting food which if you feed to the girls makes them level up. It’s a cute game, but the gameplay in Ensemble Stars is more fun since it’s a stat raising sim, which Ensemble Girls is not.

    When you first start playing Ensemble Stars you get to select one “team” to be your “starter deck” which will determine your rare card.

    This is the one I chose, because, he is hot as hell LOL. :drool:

    There’s also a dating sim element to the game too. You can date the guys and by correctly responding to their questions (which are not in English), they will level up. Here are a few more screens showing all of these elements of gameplay. The dating sim, the stat raising sim, and the collectible card game (ccg).

    The game is really super fun – even though I can’t understand a word of it. I keep hoping they’ll bring us an English version. It’s in many asian countries already. I think with the rise in popularity in America of otome games and dating sims and JRPGs we would be a good market for this game as well. I have already emailed the company and asked them if they would please release an English or “international” version of their app. The game has only been around since April of 2015. So it is not even a year old yet. That means there’s still a chance they could release it at some point in English.

    Geeky: 

    Sweetie: 

    Overall: 70 / 90 78% C+ “Good Game for Girls”

    Concept: 10/10 finally a game like Love Live School Idol Festival but with all boy cards! Sweet!

    Gameplay: 10/10 – The stat raising simulation and dating sim aspects are really fun, and it’s exciting/thrilling to summon the rare cards that you really want to add to your deck.

    Graphics: 10/10 – one of the cutest games around. The little chibi sprites are so cute as they dance and practice their moves in the stat raising sim portion of the game. The still artwork on each card is beautiful, and the dating sim element treats us to fully animated 2d sprites. (not chibi though, full drawn like the card artwork. Lovely.) The backgrounds and environments are also beautiful, and the user interface is so simple and easy to use that I can easily navigate the game even without it being in English (I can’t say the same for Ensemble Girls which I’ve been stumbling through for the past day or two.)

    Story: 0/10 – Unfortunately until the game is available in English, the story is a 0/10 – It might have a good story for all I know, but I can’t read it.

    Characters: 5/10 – Well the characters are definitely easy on the eyes. But once again I can’t read any of their backstories. So shrugs. If I’m going by character art / concept / design it’s 10/10 – but It would be nice to have the “feels” during the dating scenes by understanding wtf the characters are saying. And getting to know their personality by more than just their facial expressions.

    Replay Value: 10/10 Like most mobile games, there are numerous events every month with the chance to get rare limited edition cards and items.

    Music: 10/10 – I really like the opening theme and some of the background music also

    Voice Acting: 7/10 – I love the voice actors in this game as well. I can’t understand wtf they are saying since there’s no English subtitles (and I deducted points for that), but I do hope that should this game be brought over, that they keep the original voice cast in tact.

    Overall: 70 / 90 78% C+ “Good Game for Girls”

    If it were in English, chances are story and characters would rate higher, but as it is right now today, it’s still totally playable, and quite enjoyable even without understanding the dialogue.

    Additional Resources:

    English Wikihttp://ensemble-stars.wikia.com/wiki/The_English_Ensemble_Stars_Wiki

    Official Japanese Webpagehttp://stars.happyelements.co.jp/

    Reddit Group (mostly English discussion): https://www.reddit.com/r/ensemblestars/ 

    How to get the gamehttp://taemintchocolate.tumblr.com/post/96995527773/how-to-get-the-superstar-sm-game-if-you-dont-live

    The above guide is how to get a different game, but works regardless for obtaining any game from other app stores in different countries. It is the guide I used in order to get my game(s) :). I think she also has info on how to get the game for android, I don’t know since I am an IOS user.

    If you know of other helpful resources for English players, please leave a comment below to share your sources!

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    tanto cuore anime deck building card game for 2 to 4 players

    Tanto Cuore Anime Maid Fanservice Card Game

    tanto cuore anime deck building card game for 2 to 4 players
    tanto cuore anime deck building card game for 2 to 4 players

    Tanto Cuore is a physical, as well as, digital card game that features cute female maids drawn in anime style. It is published by japanimegames.com who also brings us Kanzume Goddess which I may review in future articles. You can find the digital version of Tanto Cuore in the app store here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tanto-cuore/id635555487?mt=8

    Tanto Cuore is best described as a deck building game and is designed for 2 to 4 players. Each player starts with the same cards available to them, and then takes turn “purchasing” cards from a pool of available items.

    Tanto Cuore contains everything you need to play all in one box! And additional expansion boxes are available to add new cards or new gameplay features to your deck.

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    Each card falls into one of the following categories:

  • Maid Chiefs – these are very special and powerful maid cards with enhanced abilities, the starter box set comes with 6 of these
  • General Maids – these cards get discarded after play and may allow for special actions such as drawing another card, etc.
  • Personal Maids – these get stored in your “chambers” and counted towards your score at the end of the game
  • Illnesses – you can play these on your opponent and nullify the effects/bonuses of their maids
  • Bad Habits  – you can play these also on your opponent and at the end if a maid has a bad habit her value is reduced when calculating the final score
  • Love – it’s the energy system used, you need this to play cards from your hand, or purchase cards from the community pool
  • read more

    Tanto Cuore Anime Maid Fanservice Card Game Read More »

    Devil Maker Tokyo

    Devil Maker Tokyo Review

    geeky

    Note: Sadly, this game is no longer available. It was one of my first, and favorite, Ipad Collectible card games. This review will remain up in honor of what a fun game this was.

    If you’re looking for similar games, you can try: Million Arthur: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/million-arthur./id935513908?mt=8

    Lussid Magic School (AKA Sid Story) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sid-story/id983543914?mt=8

    Lastly, you can check out soccer spirits which combines collectible card games with soccer team management here https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soccer-spirits/id808137814?mt=8 or Love Live School Idol Festival which combines collecting cards with a rhythm game mechanics which you can pick up right here https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/love-live!-school-idol-festival/id834030294?mt=8

    Title: Devil Maker Tokyo

    Genre: Collectable Card Game / RPG

    Publisher: Palmple

    Platform: Ipad / Android

    Language: English

    Geeky Factor: 

    Sweetie Factor: 

    Grab it on IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/devil-maker-tokyo/id659867068?mt=8

    Grab it on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.palmple.glodmkr.google&hl=en

    Cost: Free (with additional in-app purchases available.) There’s nothing that you “have” to pay for. There are no cards that you can’t obtain on your own while playing the game, but some people are impatient I guess, so for them, the option to buy additional “summons” to summon new devils exists.

    Overall Score: 77% C+ “Good Game For Girls”

    Gameplay: There are multiple areas when it comes to the gameplay. First there is the story mode, where chapters unlock as you level up in the main game, the story is fairly solid (see story for more details there), then there’s the arena, where you can engage in pvp battles with other players.

    Battles in this game are all done automatically, you don’t have any control over what happens. In the arena, you pay your fee with silver for entry, and then wait 15 minutes to see the results. Not very exciting lol. But you can win rare cards here. Every month (roughly) they will have a new “arena season” with a new devil to obtain that’s only available for a limited amount of time. You typically have to participate in the arena 150-200 times to obtain this reward. There are other smaller rewards like health potions and summoning tickets and experience cards as well.

    Then there’s the “main” game. Here you are free to explore various maps in the game world, each offering various rewards and level requirements to enter. You explore these worlds by clicking on one of three cards that appear at the bottom of your screen. I like to think of it as coming to a fork in the road, you can keep going straight (middle), or turn left or right. Each map has a finite amount of steps, and when you reach 100%, you engage in a boss battle. Boss fights allow you to take up to 2 of your friends’ “leader cards” into battle with you. This is a big help for new or low level players, as some of the boss fights can be very tough. Also, just because you CAN go into a zone (are high enough level to enter), doesn’t mean you SHOULD go in there. I’m level 37 and consistently get my butt whooped by NON-boss battles in the areas with a level requirement of level 35 or even level 32. (My cards are around level 32 on average, rank 6 through 4).

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    I guess I’ll talk about that next, cards have various ranks represented by stars across the top of the card, the more stars a card has, the more powerful it is and the more likely you are to want to place it in your party. You have 6 slots you can fill in your party, and you also have a battle cost on each card, and a battle “limit” meter that increases with each level up. Sometimes you might not be able to fit all of your best cards because of this limit. So have to put some thought into the members of your party.

    Secondly, cards have a level, and they do NOT gain experience in battle – only you gain experience in battle. Confused yet? lol. The cards level up by sacrificing other cards at the shrine screen. You can sacrifice up to 30 cards at once. The higher the rank, level, and rarity of the cards you sacrifice, the more experience you will gain. Also, the higher the rank, level, and rarity of the card you are trying to level, the more experience it will take to level that card up. You can find “sealed devil cards” in the “theme park” and “fallen darkness” zones. The only use I’ve found for these is to level up your cards.

    You can also find “material” cards like otherworldly and celestially armor, etc. You have 2 options for these cards, you can sacrifice them to get a tremendous boost in experience, or use them to transform certain cards at the shrine. When you transform a card, it will go up by one rarity level. The art work will change slightly, and it’s skills and abilities may also improve.

    The other thing you can do in this game is fight against the “core”. Cores are discovered by you or your friends as they explore in the main game. If you discover the core, you get a free card, totally random, can be crap, or be really valuable. A core will stay active for 30 minutes OR until it is killed, whichever comes first. You may fight each core once every two minutes. Your friends will also receive a notice that a new core of darkness has been discovered and will hopefully help you defeat it. Each time you fight the core you get a decent amount of experience and a small amount of silver (currency used for things like sacrificing cards at the shrine or entering the arena). If you deal the final blow to the core, you get about ten times the experience awards as a regular “defeat” against the core. If no one defeats the core, it disappears after the time is up. If you OR one of your friends defeats the core, everyone who fought at least ONE battle will receive a card, once again totally random, there are also 2 very powerful cards that can ONLY be found by fighting the core. I’m not sure if they change or not. since I’ve been playing it’s been Amon (rank 5) and Samuel (rank 6). They drop pretty frequently, with Amon dropping about twice as frequently as Samuel.

    Lastly, back at the shrine you can also “recontract” a devil. Devils also have a letter grade S through D. It goes (from best rank to worst) S, A, B, C, D. Altering a devil’s rank will alter it’s AP (I assume these are attack points), HP (self explanatory), and DP (maybe defense points? or darkness points? not sure). It may also gain new skills and abilities. It’s “battle cost” however will remain the same. You will need a “recontacting ticket”. You can find them playing the main game, or purchase for real money from the cash shop. So that’s a basic overview on the game play.

    While exploring the zones you will find one of 4-5 different “encounters” at each “step” (each time you select a card at the bottom.) They are pink hearts (heal 20-30% of every party member’s HP), Shortcuts (advance further into the dungeon by skipping some steps), Devil (a battle, where you get a random card if you win), Powerful devil (a harder battle where you get a better card if you win, but still random), Boss (sometimes you find bosses before the final boss) you can take 2 friends’ leader cards, and have a small chance to get the boss card that you fight, they almost never drop though, they are super rare and annoying lol. You also can find cores (explained above), sealed devil and equipment cards (explained above), silver, and “empty spaces” where you might encounter new friends to add to your buddy list. Some maps also have celestial, underworld, or other worldly energy cards which deal OR heal damage based on your corresponding devil types (there’s weaknesses and strengths, but I’ve not figured them all out yet.).

    There’s also a weekly “challenge” where you try to approach the core of darkness – basically it’s an endless dungeon with infinite steps, you can keep fighting until you have no party members remaining, you get various rewards for how far you make it. You encounter all the other things you encounter in a normal dungeon too. You can enter once a week for free, and then each time you enter, rather you resume (by paying 50,000 silver), or start over (from the beginning), will cost you light points.

    Light points refill every few minutes and each dungeon costs a set number of light points to enter. There are light potions you can buy or find to refill your meter, and also when you level up, this meter, and all of your devils’ hp are restored, and dead devils are revived. If a devil dies while exploring you can use a revive potion to restore them to full health.

    The gameplay is fun, but it loses some points from me for not having any control in battles, I can’t use items (like health potions) in battle, I can’t select which skills my devils use, or which devils they attack. All I can do is sit and watch or “skip” the battle to speed it up. I’d also like to see a way to trade cards with other players. Therefore, removing 3 points (2 for no control in battle, and 1 point for no trade feature). Final score 7/10

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    Story: The story in story mode is very good. Without revealing too much here is a brief hopefully non-spoilerly synopsis :). You are a contractor, one who can make deals with devils. The devils lend you their power in exchange for “favors” that only a human contractor can perform. When a devil and contractor merge their powers the devils’ full potential is released.

    Also a devil can enter areas of light if it is bound to a contractor. Conversely, a devil who puts darkness into a human, or a contractor of “darkness”, can enter darkness that most normal humans would not be able to.

    There was a fight many years ago against a very strong devil named Oracha. After this fight, a great area of darkness, known as S1 was created. The government controls S1, the people who lived there before the fight, remain, but most people are prohibited from traveling in or out of the area. S1 is infested with demons and highly dangerous. The people living there live in darkness, despair, strife, etc. Sometimes contractors of light help these people, bringing them food and medicine from outside.

    You can’t remember much about your past, but a devil named Yuki tells you that you used to have a contract with her master and that she needs your help to find her master again. You think that she might know more about your past than what she lets on, so you agree to help her in exchange to hopefully regain your lost memories. As the story progresses you begin to realize that you were directly involved in the events which created S1, but no one will tell you exactly how you were related to what happened there.

    Oracha is about to re-awaken and is organizing an all out war, demons, against humans, and the newly found “contractors of darkness” mean that now there are humans fighting on the side of the ultimate evil, making him even stronger than the last time you battled him. You must find a way to prevent Oracha and his army from advancing their plans any further. Still, since the story takes a backseat to the main game and other features, and because it doesn’t feel terribly original, giving it a medium score of 6/10

    Concept: The concept of summoning devils and making contracts is almost like playing Persona on my ipad. While the game play is VASTLY different, the concept is almost identical. Not very original, but then again I like Persona’s theme/concept. I also like that every card can be obtained for free with hard work, and the cash shop items are 100% optional. I also like that my max card size is very large AND it increases as I play the game. I play a similar game called Valkyrie Crusade and it’s cash shop is almost essential to increase your max card size which never increases, so that’s a big plus in Devil Maker’s favor. I think I have to also remove a point though for not having a landscape format, having to hold my ipad all the time instead of using it’s stand is super annoying. No reason why they should not have landscape view!! Overall concept loses 2 points, one for originality, and one for lack of landscape, BUT it gains 1 point for it’s non-essential cash shop, and nice max-card hand size. Making concept 9/10

    Artwork: The artwork reminds me tremendously of Persona. the character designs and environment are very similar, and very nicely drawn. There are some cards which were designed (I assume) by players which palmple has allowed them to autograph the artwork on the cards, which ruins it in my opinion. After many months of play, I gained a red riding hood card which is highly rare. In the middle of the artwork, not even in an inconspicuous place, in huge letters it says artwork by blahblah blah, whatever her name is, a western sounding name, oddly, so that’s why i think maybe it was drawn by a player. None of my other cards have this garish writing on them. I really dislike that about this card, and I worked super hard to get it. orz… But other than that one small point, I think the artwork is beautiful. Some of the artwork does get recycled – a common card and uncommon card are identical except for a hue/color shift, and a rare vs uncommon has a colorshift and sometimes a lineart edit. So I have to ding the artwork 2 points total, making it 8/10.

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    Music: I love the music in this game, it’s very catchy. Completely original, and fits the mood of the game. It is perhaps the best music score I’ve heard in a mobile game. 10/10

    Voiceacting: Not voiced, no score given.

    Characters: The characters in story mode are interesting enough, but take up such a small portion of the game that I can’t really rank them too highly, story is secondary in this game afterall. Character development therefore gets a medium score of 6/10.

    Final Scores:

    Gameplay: 7/10

    Story: 6/10

    Concept: 9/10

    Artwork: 8/10

    Music: 10/10

    Characters: 6/10

    Overall: 77% C+ “Good Game For Girls”

    Devil Maker Tokyo Review Read More »