Chumps Preview is a special kind of post where we unofficially preview games in Early Access, Beta, or are otherwise “unfinished.” This kind of preview is meant to be a first impression rather than a definite review where we provide a rating to determine a game’s value. As such, we fully expect a game covered in a Chumps Preview to have rome for improvement, some bugginess, and other features associated with similar games in the category. For the case of Tower of Fantasy (ToF), we were given access to a private test server to experience the game before ToF’s worldwide launch on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Our review experience contained features that were not yet available (but will be this week) as well as features for us to preview before their eventual release later in 2022.
You’ve probably grown to know Genshin Impact is more of a gacha game than an action JRPG with MMO elements, and this is probably because of players’ stories spending real-world dollars on lootboxes. However, there’s reasons why Genshin is successful, and its microtransactions are but one piece of Genshin‘s puzzle. It’s a fun action-JRPG. It taps into tried and true MMO-elements that encourage repetition and cooperation. And even more, its world is unique and visually appealing to those who want a live service game that takes place in a fantasy world.
Enter Tower of Fantasy. Up until now, this action MMO was only available in China. But starting Wednesday, Tower of Fantasy (ToF) will be available worldwide, on PC (Steam and Epic), iOS, and Android, too! I do not recommend dismissing ToF as a straight-up Genshin clone, because it isn’t. While it may share some similarities with Genshin (and other MMO/action JRPGs), I personally enjoy the gameplay loop and the aesthetic of ToF. Wednesday cannot come soon enough.
We spent the past week reviewing Tower of Fantasy on PC, and I am pleased to report that ToF is fun. Sure, we did play a very restricted and narrow version of the game that will be available later this week, but what we had access to is just enough for us to confidently understand what ToF brings to the table. And, contrary to popular belief, it brings much more than futuristic Genshin gameplay.
Tower of Fantasy takes place in on the futuristic planet of Aida that has suffered a near-apocalyptic event. Your character is tasked with restoring order between two warring factions who are attempting to take control of Omnium, a limited but magical resource that was found in a comet.
For those with experience playing Genshin or other action JRPGs, the core gameplay loop of ToF is that blending exploration with action. You explore the beautiful alien world of Aida while defeating foes using magical weapons you acquire and upgrade. At first glance, the attack/battle system may seem like mindless button mashing, but ToF offers players the ability to swap weapons mid-battle, activate their abilities, and execute combos to maximize dealing damage while minimizing receiving damage. It is also possible to chain attacks by launching enemies into the air. If you time your dodges correctly, you can stop time, rendering foes unable to block you and your allies’ attacks.
My experience with similar action JRPGs may be limited, especially on the Genshin front, but I find this battle system to be similar to the battles of Tales of Vesperia and NEO: THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU. The key differences setting ToF apart from these titles are its weapons, timing, and combo system. The elements of your weapons matter, too, meaning that they can sometimes deal more (or less) damage to enemies. Thus, selecting and using weapons you acquire is less of a mindless affair and more of strategy as you prepare for endgame content.
The world of Aida is gigantic, and I had a good time exploring during my playthrough. At launch, you’ll be able to explore several continents as a part of the story. If you’ve played Breath of the Wild, or even Genshin, this exploration should feel familiar. You can climb just about anything within a certain extent. Your character’s stamina depletes as you climb and/or swim, so you’ll have to be mindful of your exploring. Whenever I branched off the main story’s path, or even traveling from point A to point B in the story, I was pleasantly surprised to see hidden chests scattered throughout the world. Thus, my going off the beaten path was rewarded with currency and other upgrade materials.
Not all of ToF‘s story involves traversing from point A to point B. ToF is designed to primarily guide players to their main destinations or allow players to explore the world of Aida without serious concern. Of course, some parts of the map feature hostile environments that can hurt you if you lack the equipment, but the main story gradually introduced me to new gameplay mechanics so that I could survive the world. I didn’t feel too compelled to keep myself on the main path, thanks to the side missions that become available as I leveled up and proceeded through the story. These side missions ranged from clearing Hyena camps to playing soccer against the AI. While some of these side missions were less fun than others, I appreciate that there will be some variation, albeit surface level, in the quest system at ToF‘s global launch.
When playing the story, I could not help but appreciate the NPCs’ character designs as fully realized in a futuristic yet post-apocalyptic world. While it may not be fully fleshed out like other MMOs (yet!!), I appreciate how each character I came across felt like they had a place, a backstory (some more than others, of course), and those that had voice actors felt connected with their character. Even the English VOs felt committed and humanized, rather than sounding like the VO was phoning it in to attempt to add vocal flavor to an MMO. I wasn’t emotionally connected to the characters, but I believed their emotions and their sentiment. Their designs seemed to exist as a cross between Blazblue, Genshin, the Tales series, and the futuristic designs of the Metal Gear series. Real talk: I dig the characters’ designs, as well as what I could do to customize my own character.
ToF‘s character customization looked and felt fully realized, and I appreciate how I was freely able to customize my character’s design without compromising my loadout. While frequently changing your character’s design may cost you some currency, you should still feel empowered to design your character as you see fit. My only complaint is that the armor I was acquiring impacted my characters’ stats, but not its design. I would have appreciated my armor showing up on my character’s model in some capacity, even if it only appeared while I was in battle.
The main gacha element of ToF is its weapon acquisition, in which players obtain, unlock, and roll for unique characters’ (Simulacra) weapons. Unlike Genshin‘s gacha system that unlocks characters to add to your party and swap to, ToF‘s gacha system focuses on weapons, thus preserving your own character’s unique looks but switching up their attacks. Other than that, chests can also contain materials that can be used to improve the individual weapons you unlock, so rest assured that opening boxes offers you some value, even if you’re not hitting the top-tier SSR-rank weapons.
Each of the weapons I used felt unique and satisfying when I used them, and I also felt as though I was powerful even when I was a lower-leveled character. Each weapon’s special ability and charged-attack functioned differently, and switching between weapons during battles felt like I was switching fighting stances. Being able to chain abilities and swap between ranged-and-melee at-will is a fluid affair, although I wish that I could switch by simply rolling my mouse’s wheel. If that feature could be added, it would make battles even more fluid than their current state.
During our playthrough, we were given access to two characters: One that we could level on our own, as well as a fully maxed out character with unreleased unlocked content. The developers were kind enough to give us a preview of upcoming weapons and story-content with this unlocked account, and I’m excited to say that I cannot wait until some of these weapons are available on the live servers. It also assures me that there’s upcoming content that will be making its way to players who are patient enough to stick with ToF.
The developers were also kind and patient enough to carry me and several other folks through some boss battles over the weekend. Despite using an account fit for endgame content, I died frequently. These bosses will be no cakewalk, and their unique attack patterns and defenses will require you to coordinate builds with friends similar to how one may coordinate in Destiny 2-style raids. During our playthrough with the devs, we successfully defeated Robarg but were unable to defeat Sobek.
I have to hand it to ToF–the bosses’ designs are gorgeous and their gameplay patterns are moderately unique so far. Robarg can best be described as a metal humanoid who was half woman, half thorny lotus. The Robarg battle itself spanned several phases, each phase requiring us to shift our loadouts and fulfill certain duties. I took on a half-healing half-damage role, but I probably would have fared better if I had prioritized healing my team over dealing damage. Frankly, I loved Robarg’s design and the arena where we fought her. The same can be said for Sobek (despite not being able to defeat him).
Rest assured, bosses will require strategy and good communication. Bosses may also require some trial and error, too. During our runthrough, I was dying moderately frequently, but I was still able to respawn at a nearby camp and return to battle within 10 seconds without forcing our entire party to restart the battle. I love this feature, as other MMOs’ endgame content is quite punishing and require a level of precision that forces players to replay boss battles if merely one player is weaker than the rest of the party, or god-forbid, learning to play the game. As one who became a sherpa for Destiny 2 and helped many new players complete their first raids, I am relieved to see the player-friendliness of ToF‘s endgame content.
As we mentioned at the start of this article, it is too early to review Tower of Fantasy in its current state. The primary reason behind this is because of how we were given access to the game by Hotta. The private test server where we conducted this review is just a taste of how the game will play later this week, and your experience playing Tower of Fantasy this coming Wednesday will surely be in a public server with more features active. Knowing this, it becomes quite difficult for us to evaluate several critical gameplay features that some of you may be looking for.
Let’s talk pricing, for instance. Part of the gacha experience may involve spending real-world money for more, or sometimes better, lootbox roll odds. We do not know how much the microtransactions will be, or what bonuses may exist if you decide to purchase large amounts of nuclei and tanium. While ToF‘s pity system is well known (and praised, by some) in China, we cannot yet say if the same system will be active worldwide. I’d like to think that some region-specific promotional bundles will be available at launch, but it remains to be seen how those will end up manifesting beyond what is currently advertised. Yes, there will be launch-time rewards in the form of outfits, dark crystals, and more, but we do not know what other launch microtransactions will be present.
Grinding is a legitimate concern in MMOs, and I want to think that players won’t be required to grind their lives away for currency and access to end-game bosses. Again, I had a good time raiding with the developers who were kind enough to carry me through two ridiculous battles, but I was using a level 50 account. I do not know how long it will take you from starting your character to level 50, nor do I know how many side missions will be required for grinding through in order to get the SSR-rank weapons. I know for sure that SSR-rank weapons are available at low rates in the lootbox system, but it may take some of you many hours to acquire them.
Will these weapons be worth the grind? Sure, they could be. If you want to use cool-futuristic guns and weapons that deal ridiculous levels of damage and have visually gorgeous and satisfying effects, then they could be worth obtaining to carve through bosses with friends. They’re definitely worth showing off, and using them is satisfying. I cannot say this enough: Some of the endgame weapons feel exhilarating, and offer unique action-gameplay.
We also cannot say for certain what the free-to-play path will be like. During our runthrough, we did notice that main quests and side quests were quite generous with rewards. I also noticed that the open world was chock full of hidden chests and missions that gave you rewards. However, my experience with other MMOs of this style (namely Genshin) is that there will come a point where microtransactions will be near-mandatory in order to obtain high-level endgame content in a timely manner. Again, we cannot say what that extent will be in ToF, nor how long one can remain a free-player without needing a bit of a boost.
As it stands, I can see ToF offering several gameplay loops to players beyond hack-and-slash-and-shoot action. But, like all MMOs I’ve played, variety is a boon that keeps players invested in the franchise while also bringing in new players as well as veterans who decided to take a break. Beyond what we had access to, I do not know what the long-term plan for ToF, nor do I know if it will end up on consoles. Even more, I am aware that power creep is a significant issue present in MMOs and other live-service games. As it relates to ToF, I cannot help but wonder how players’ monetary investments may be preserved if new content is introduced in a rapid pace that makes older, but still high-level, weapons obsolete.
While ToF is not yet available on consoles, it will be available on mobile (iOS & Android) as well as on Steam and the Epic Games store. Even more, crossplay will be available. This should alleviate players’ concerns with being able to group up in a Guild in a timely and accessible manner. While the Guild system was partially functional during our review session, we were unable to gauge the extent of finding other players on other platforms and playing with them. This is not to say that we did not experience multiplayer at all; we played with the developers and ran through some boss battles. There did not seem to be any issue with lag. On Wednesday, we hope to see how the Guild system works, as well as how easy it is to add friends and create/join guilds for easier collaboration with others.
Tower of Fantasy is much more than a sci-fi iteration of Genshin Impact. It builds upon a tried and true model of an arcade-style MMO, offers visually appealing character customization and weapon gameplay, and has many tools to succeed worldwide. Sure, there’s a level of gacha that will benefit those willing to spend money over those who play for free, but this shouldn’t deter you from trying out a fun MMO later this week. While there’s much I cannot evaluate at this time, let my excitement guide you. Even though I’ve spent several hours on a playthrough that won’t carry over to the live servers, I’m excited for Tower of Fantasy to release this Wednesday. So excited, in fact, that I’ll most likely be playing (and replaying my runthrough) when the game launches. Hopefully, my friends play, too.
