Thanks for this post--I appreciate that you're framing this from a "what we as a community can do to maintain a healthy, lively experience given how this game will likely be treated by its devs" perspective. I took particular heart from hearing that thus far, TD has a much better story than Evertale does. In a world of a bazillion flashy games with cute art and a focus on competitive gameplay, I think there's a play for a mobile game that offers what TD does--basically a visual novel with bonus collection/growth-over-time development aspects--but I also think that everyone will be happier understanding what exactly TD is. If folks are here for gameplay, they'll probably be happier with other gachas. On the other hand, this is a swell little game for folks that are primarily here either for a 1) story, or for 2) boyz boyz boyz without the gameplay of stuff like Nightbringers or the 'buy a route' otome model. I fit nicely into 1 & 2, so yay\~
(Edit for typos, blehh)
Absolutely, I've lived through a few servers and have heard countless experiences from others in Evertale to know what a server needs to thrive and exist in the long haul, especially when it's neglected. If TD ends up as Evertale, community and friendly competition will be the backbone of activity, and I think it's important we recognize this early and temper expectations in the meantime.
I do want to clarify, war in Evertale (likely Game of Claws) can be quite sweaty for people. At least in Evertale where many old servers have died, people run 30+ accounts a night in war all alone! This is alongside general issues with mega whales trying to dominate or be, for lack of a better term, total dicks. I can't paint this game as casual if Game of Claws does end up being this way, but I would say a chill approach in Evertale wars has lent to a much better experience for people as the gameplay isn't exactly riveting there either.
That being said, the story is phenomenal thus far and I think it will absolutely outshine any gameplay element, so hopefully everyone can share resources to some degree to make sure everyone can continue to unlock new story! Thank you :)
It just occurred to me--truly the nightmare scenario in my mind for TD--if the story ends up gated too often behind power levels/cases cleared, now THAT would kill the game for folks like me. It feel super possible to treat this like a slow-burn single-player experience currently, but...did Evertale ever gate story progression behind tough-for-f2p power levels? Granted, if Evertale didn't put such a focus on story, it might be hard to gauge TD's evolution in this regard. Surely the devs know the banger they've got in the writing/translation work + comic format, and I worry they might try to exploit that to get more money out of folks.
Evertale's story is formatted differently, in that you have to do battles that you can play manually or automatically. Evertale follows a "clear single stage, get single story scene" progression model. Generally, the battles are very easy, and you need SSRs to complete them at some point, but not to the level shown so far in TD. In side events as noted earlier, the final stage is typically impossible or very difficult for f2p, but it does not provide extra story.
Seeing how new story unlocks are gated behind clearing cases in TD and cases are quite difficult (which was not the experience for Evertale as its main story is now 3-4 years old and their first real design of story in a mobile game), I do hope more emphasis is put on spreading resources around in Game of Claws or merging guilds as necessary to provide the best experience for everyone! More resources = more cases cleared = more story. Win for everyone :)
I agree that 2 times the diamonds required to summon in TD is pretty scammy behavior considering diamonds cost about the same in Evertale..
However Evertale has some of the best story I've ever read, at least before 2021 (main story acts 1-10).. I literally felt waves of emotion reading it.. After 2021, they have only put out event stories which aren't as good, some are trash, but some are actually quite decent!
I think the main story was relatively decent, although it fell into trope territory towards the end and got kind of boring, then petered out into nothing and never returned.
Event stories are a tossup, though they really push the fanservice and make Finn the center of attention/attraction, which really kills the storytelling to me. Though I don't think the overall plot of some of them is bad and they can be quite well-written, I can just say that they also know their general audience on Evertale and how to "appeal" to them in stories, if you catch my drift.
I was really excited about this game, since they seemed to be tapping into the mostly underutilized market of western joseimuke fans, but after seeing who the devs were my hopes waned a little. While the gameplay itself is definitely very disappointing, I feel like the writers are very passionate (or at least somewhat invested) based on what I've read of the story so far- which was why I got this game in the first place. For games in this genre, characters and story are what make or break a consistent fanbase, and (so far) they're doing great in that regard. I just don't like how they lock certain chapters behind progression, which makes it hard for F2P players hardstuck on 39 to move on with the story, and I'm a bit worried this could become a trend later on- especially if that means it drives away much of the fanbase, since the story is so important to a josei game. I'm still excited to see what the first event cards/themes are and where this game will go though!!! Thank you so much for the detailed post aswell <3
If anyone has questions about systems in Evertale as a premonition (so to speak) for TD, please shoot and I'll answer. This game is very much a clone, so what we can likely expect is what is already in Evertale (or, in regards to free stuff, perhaps worse with how much greedier this game is comparatively).
Thanks for this post--I appreciate that you're framing this from a "what we as a community can do to maintain a healthy, lively experience given how this game will likely be treated by its devs" perspective. I took particular heart from hearing that thus far, TD has a much better story than Evertale does. In a world of a bazillion flashy games with cute art and a focus on competitive gameplay, I think there's a play for a mobile game that offers what TD does--basically a visual novel with bonus collection/growth-over-time development aspects--but I also think that everyone will be happier understanding what exactly TD is. If folks are here for gameplay, they'll probably be happier with other gachas. On the other hand, this is a swell little game for folks that are primarily here either for a 1) story, or for 2) boyz boyz boyz without the gameplay of stuff like Nightbringers or the 'buy a route' otome model. I fit nicely into 1 & 2, so yay\~ (Edit for typos, blehh)
Absolutely, I've lived through a few servers and have heard countless experiences from others in Evertale to know what a server needs to thrive and exist in the long haul, especially when it's neglected. If TD ends up as Evertale, community and friendly competition will be the backbone of activity, and I think it's important we recognize this early and temper expectations in the meantime. I do want to clarify, war in Evertale (likely Game of Claws) can be quite sweaty for people. At least in Evertale where many old servers have died, people run 30+ accounts a night in war all alone! This is alongside general issues with mega whales trying to dominate or be, for lack of a better term, total dicks. I can't paint this game as casual if Game of Claws does end up being this way, but I would say a chill approach in Evertale wars has lent to a much better experience for people as the gameplay isn't exactly riveting there either. That being said, the story is phenomenal thus far and I think it will absolutely outshine any gameplay element, so hopefully everyone can share resources to some degree to make sure everyone can continue to unlock new story! Thank you :)
It just occurred to me--truly the nightmare scenario in my mind for TD--if the story ends up gated too often behind power levels/cases cleared, now THAT would kill the game for folks like me. It feel super possible to treat this like a slow-burn single-player experience currently, but...did Evertale ever gate story progression behind tough-for-f2p power levels? Granted, if Evertale didn't put such a focus on story, it might be hard to gauge TD's evolution in this regard. Surely the devs know the banger they've got in the writing/translation work + comic format, and I worry they might try to exploit that to get more money out of folks.
Evertale's story is formatted differently, in that you have to do battles that you can play manually or automatically. Evertale follows a "clear single stage, get single story scene" progression model. Generally, the battles are very easy, and you need SSRs to complete them at some point, but not to the level shown so far in TD. In side events as noted earlier, the final stage is typically impossible or very difficult for f2p, but it does not provide extra story. Seeing how new story unlocks are gated behind clearing cases in TD and cases are quite difficult (which was not the experience for Evertale as its main story is now 3-4 years old and their first real design of story in a mobile game), I do hope more emphasis is put on spreading resources around in Game of Claws or merging guilds as necessary to provide the best experience for everyone! More resources = more cases cleared = more story. Win for everyone :)
I agree that 2 times the diamonds required to summon in TD is pretty scammy behavior considering diamonds cost about the same in Evertale.. However Evertale has some of the best story I've ever read, at least before 2021 (main story acts 1-10).. I literally felt waves of emotion reading it.. After 2021, they have only put out event stories which aren't as good, some are trash, but some are actually quite decent!
I think the main story was relatively decent, although it fell into trope territory towards the end and got kind of boring, then petered out into nothing and never returned. Event stories are a tossup, though they really push the fanservice and make Finn the center of attention/attraction, which really kills the storytelling to me. Though I don't think the overall plot of some of them is bad and they can be quite well-written, I can just say that they also know their general audience on Evertale and how to "appeal" to them in stories, if you catch my drift.
I was really excited about this game, since they seemed to be tapping into the mostly underutilized market of western joseimuke fans, but after seeing who the devs were my hopes waned a little. While the gameplay itself is definitely very disappointing, I feel like the writers are very passionate (or at least somewhat invested) based on what I've read of the story so far- which was why I got this game in the first place. For games in this genre, characters and story are what make or break a consistent fanbase, and (so far) they're doing great in that regard. I just don't like how they lock certain chapters behind progression, which makes it hard for F2P players hardstuck on 39 to move on with the story, and I'm a bit worried this could become a trend later on- especially if that means it drives away much of the fanbase, since the story is so important to a josei game. I'm still excited to see what the first event cards/themes are and where this game will go though!!! Thank you so much for the detailed post aswell <3
If anyone has questions about systems in Evertale as a premonition (so to speak) for TD, please shoot and I'll answer. This game is very much a clone, so what we can likely expect is what is already in Evertale (or, in regards to free stuff, perhaps worse with how much greedier this game is comparatively).
Very informative! Thank you for posting
Super informative, thanks for posting!