#mobage world problems

[otoroll]

While I was driving myself insane over the A3! event, SINoALICE had two new extra jobs come and go: Proud Lion Breaker Kaguyahime and Greedy Crow Paladin Snow White (translated names courtesy of Warusou & Nashoki over at the SINoALICE discord, because when A3! events are running I forget everything else.)

The news is also two weeks old by this point, but SINoALICE joins A3! on the list of mobage I’m running that are getting English versions.

These days my mobage schedule is pretty set: A3! event > bumrush through the remaining days of whatever SINoALICE or Granblue event (and maybe squeeze in some game time in other games) > back to A3! event > SINoALICE/Granblue > A3! event > probably burnout > A3! event is back

It’s a vicious cycle, and I’ve already mentally committed myself to simultaneously running English and Japanese A3!, so I wonder what happens when I throw English SINoALICE in the mix?

[otoroll]

EVENT FOUR-STAR ZEKUU SCORE.

Now to earn the 30,000 Crimson Points I need to be able to awaken both him and event Serpico because I’m not here for this field of flowers shit I’VE BEEN GRINDING FOR DYNASTY WARRIOR ZEKUU DAMMIT.

[otoroll]

And at the end of the year, here’s my current status in mobage. (Feel free to compare to the beginning of the year!)

A3!: by far and away my most played game this year, I can’t believe I went up 112 levels... I won’t lie, there were times I considered spending money on this game in these past twelve months - haven’t yet, but sometimes I think I’m breaking. Rank 246, featuring Fushimi Omi.

Stand My Heroes: In contrast, I totally stopped playing Sutamai towards the end of the year. The UI changes got finalized early on this year, and we got the introduction of Seo Labs to the cast, with my new favorites. At the very least, I can definitely say I like Ikuto as opposed to being vaguely into Sosei. I do want to get back into this game, honestly; Match-3 are easy time sucks. Featuring Saotome Ikuto.

On Air!: The new coly game of the year, where the popularity and longevity of Sutamai meant they could make a move onto the same territory as A3! and Enstars. I give it grief given that I didn’t really play it much, but I did like my time with it. Also has a teacher character, and I’m Hot for Teacher type, so I’d like to give it a little more attention in the new year. Rank 6, featuring Kokuyou Mamoru.

Granblue Fantasy: The mobage king. I have a Mobage account (two even), so the best part about this game is that I’m never losing my data. The English is nice and convenient but I still skip stories, so my representative “favorite,” Holy Saber (female player avatar) Djeeta, is more “This is who I’m leveling right now.” This game feeds the part of the brain that likes numbers going up, in a traditional fantasy setting, and the collab events have me paying more attention to this one than A3! at times. Rank 58, featuring female Holy Saber.

SINoALICE: My other major game this year; it’s been a toss between A3!, GBF, and SINoALICE for which game has held my attention at any given time. If GBF feeds the numbers-go-up part of the brain, SINoALICE does the same in its sadistic fairytale bent. I guess my major gripe, if anything, is that all the jobs are so pretty that I want everything. Rank 106, featuring Invader Three Little Pigs.

THE iDOLM@STER SideM LIVE on ST@GE!: iM@S block! There were times I got really focused on events this year, then the grinding got to me until it came back with a vengeance for the Christmas event. BEST IDOL JIRO summoned, okay. P-Level 33, featuring Yamashita Jiro.

THE iDOLM@STER Million Live Theater Days: The way Mirishita’s home screen is set up, oshi units aren’t really a thing, because the idea is that you’re in the 765 office and you’ll run across the girls. But I love basically all my 765 daughters so picking a favorite is just too hard. That’s a lie. Mizuki. It’s Mizuki. Unlike MSte, the bulk of Mirishita’s event play definitely focuses more on the rhythm game side, so I’ve practically dropped it; but I swear I’m clinging to the daily login ritual just because there’s nowhere else for me to find these babies now. Level 54, featuring Yabuki Kana & Julia.

THE iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors: The new kid on iM@S block started up this past June? Ish? And after we all got freed from the hurdle of overseas players needing VPNs, has kept true to iM@S style with gorgeous character art and “idol production” gameplay. Shanimasu is more like traditional iM@S games than all the phone games, with zero rhythm element - the flip side is this is a game that needs babysitting, and so I just can’t deal with the attention it needs. Featuring Morino Rinze.

Shinen Resist: Or what I unfairly call “Apocalypse A3!” - Shinen Resist is honestly a pretty good game in its own right, with nice graphics, a level-up system, and a battle system that actually feels like your participation is valid. (But if you’re like me, you can still totally auto it if you want to.) Rank 9, featuring Volker.

World End Heroes: And yet another attempt from Squeenix to hit the otome mobage market this past year (after iFan), Wahiro’s biggest contribution to mobage is bringing Ogata Megumi on for a role. It’s got a lot of kinks to work out that it won’t ever because it’s a quick cash grab from Square Enix to see what will stick, but I played one event and hit a higher rank than I did for one event in Shinen Resist, and you can draw your own conclusions. Rank 23, featuring Hisamori Akito.

2018′s been a crazy year for mobage, with a lot of new games starting up; some being postponed (Palette Parade...) and others being revamped (Otome Yuusha); and a number of losses. Cocktail Prince, they still have yet to fill your niche. (And also Wiz;Alice, which ended just two months after it started...? Even though an English version was touted? Damn.)

But there’s already some stuff to look forward to in 2019, so here’s to more mobage amazement!

[otoroll]

New Year’s means all the New Year’s events and special gacha has started and hey, if this were a news blog there would be so much to post!!!!

Also it’s a new month and that means new games to be trying, especially now that LIVE on ST@GE! has forcefully removed itself from my rotation well crap the games are racking up.

But first, it’s been a crazy half year so I wanted to take a quick look over my current games.

A3!: I started this up in July after being sucked back into the gacha craze by Million Live! Theater Days. I fell in love and have never looked back. It’s got a feature where you can have rehearsals auto-continue without requiring you to mash your finger against the screen, which is a quality-of-life thing I greatly appreciate from OG Million Live! and which no other game replicates, and that is to say no other game will ever capture my heart quite the way A3! does until that happens. There’s outside supplements to A3! that I haven’t even looked into, like the voice dramas/character song CDs, or the official fanbook. Rank 134 (!!), featuring Fushimi Omi.

Cocktail Prince: Probably my second great love, if you go by number of posts on this tumblr alone. The timing and memory minigame are not faves, it’s true, but the event minigame certainly is. But most importantly, Kakupuri also gives you the option to autoplay its minigames a limited-but-rechargeable amount of times, and I’d dare say that actually of all the games I’ve played, it hits the widest variety of otome types with some beautifully HQ art. Rank 82, featuring Kiss in the Dark.

Stand My Heroes: I give Sutamai so much grief about making generic love interests, but I do think I also give lots of love for what it does excellently with its Match-3 gameplay. Featuring Arakida Sosei.

THE iDOLM@STER SideM LIVE on ST@GE!: Friends, it was a hectic 24 hours there when I thought LoS! was a game I might never play again. I redownloaded OG SideM, y’all, and we had issues. So it was a happy happy moment when I realized what my data transfer issue was and got it all back. I still hate rhythm games, but I love my 315 babies. P-Level 14, featuring Fuyumi Jun.

Tsukino Paradise.: Speaking of “I hate rhythm games,” LoS! has gameplay sections where I don’t have to do lives/the music game part, but Tsukipara’s core gameplay is all rhythm. It is super good for it that I’m so in love with End of Night that I forgive everything else. Rank 17, featuring Murase Dai & Haduki You.

Hiragana Danshi: Poor poor Hiradan. I was supposed to be giving you a try in December, but my curiosity got the better of me with TsukiPara and then add in Otome Yusha coming out and you just got shunted to the side after the Mikan event. To be honest, I prefer even the mindless gameplay of rhythm games to the word-forming of Hiradan, and also I’m just straight miffed that I have to play events enough times to be able to unlock Ba and then again to be able to use my 4-star Ne. But mostly about Ba. Level 13, featuring No.

Otome Yusha: And the newcomer of the bunch, Otome Yusha, has all of otome mobage a-twitter. It’s pretty unique gameplay for its specific demographic, and some very nice production quality. I’m working on getting over my aversion to babysitting phone games, and this is a pretty good start. Rank 18, featuring Ixa.

What’s coming next for January? Well I actually do have a small idea. But I have all the New Year’s events to start and finish first!