This is the best written long form video essay for Tower of Fantasy on RUclips. The video creator actually played from the beginning, through the latest expansion, touching up on the key details such as the constant improvements to the game.
The videos begin with Genshin and conclude by comparing nearly every aspect to Genshin. This heavily biased review from a Genshin enthusiast who is unable to play an MMO without drawing comparisons is now being hailed as "the most well-crafted essay" for TOF. I suppose this is the best a dead game can hope for.
It has multiple story like genshin but I have seen so far it's like this To know the origin of Zeke and shirli and what's is their connection to grey space entity And the rebel against the tower that destroy the underground environment To get our memory back And we traveler wonder how we could stop time like when we seen in gameplay Should we trust the archon that handle the tower or not(this is the part where it's similar to genshin) If you say it's similar to genshin yes almost but the differences is lumine and aether doesn't lost their memory like wanderer does And that's the main story
Finally, someone with a damn proper review with enough information and hands on experience to back it all up. Day 1 player here still actively playing today and I must say, this has to be the MOST realistic, dedicated, educated, and (most importantly) unbiased review anyone has ever done for ToF and I seriously appreciate every bit of it! ❤ 🎉 you touched up on everything from start, to the memorable bugs and "features", up to the latest expansion and I am very impressed to see someone actually review a game while actually knowing what they are talking about. I alslo love the format, the humor, and the music choices! Such a fun but informative review!
Being a day-one player that has been playing daily, I really loved this so dedicated review. Many facts were said here and seeing you referring to mythic bugs like the cyber arm and harrah ones, it makes clear that this game has made its place in your memories. This days I'm enjoying the game a lot because of new OOW season and other stuff with friends in game and I really want to see how this game improves over the years. Awesome review again 😊
@@Xehna959 the thing is this game has mmo aspect so if you don't mind grinding hell, go for it, from my experience many ppls are upset about how grindy the game is while that's normal in mmo edit: forgot to add the powercreep thing, its still there, so yap if you don't mind and enjoy yourself that's should be fine
I literally never wanted to play this game, even during the hype. You actually made me consider downloading it. Congrats. Also this was very well edited!!
i tried it. it felt like a cheap genshin impact ripoff in the worst sense of it. as in the controls feel bad, floaty, weightless, imprecise. It's core mechanics are much worse, and that's hard to ignore. The design of the world, quests and puzzles seem way more thoughtless. it also looks worse while demanding better hardware. i just lost interest after finishing up the introductory quest. the girl got the sick virus thing of death, then i went to some ship, and there was someone sabotaging it or whatever, then i saved the base-ship and went back to the ground and never touched the game again. A shame, because i like the mmorpg aspect. my sister played it literally until it fried her galaxy s20.
This review is easily the most realistic and forthright review of the Tower of Fantasy experience. It is why I hold out hope for the game despite all its numerous flaws. It talks about the "he who shall not be named" G-game without having to bash it and compares objectively. It's ok to enjoy incomplete games - but its craziness to accept and even defend broken design and shady business practices. What really resonated was the comparison of ToF to Firefall. There was an MMO game called Star War: Galaxies (SW;G). It was a broken , buggy mess with some absolutely non-sensical design decisions. For example, becoming a Jedi was totally random and required grinding to max level non-related skill trees (ex one Force user had to master Architect, Animal Trainer and Pistols) . However, the social aspects, exploring canon universe worlds and taking missions from characters like Leia and Chewbacca made it endearing despite all the jank. Even though I made a Sniper in SW:G, I proudly wore my "Master Bartender" occupation tag and gave out free Telarian Starburst ATK buff drinks at cantina's or out in the deserts of Tatooine. When it closed down due to the upcoming release of Star Wars: the Old Republic, there was a gigantic server wide meetup that lagged so badly with all the players, dancing, music, ship flybys, fireworks and other nonsense the Galaxies threw in. Tower of Fantasy is that spiritual successor for me.
The shocking part to me is that this game miraculously runs on PS4, though I can't AFK farm for vehicle parts because it'll not only make my console scream for mercy but also crash it. Its weird too considering the game doesn't look that very demanding but in certain zones, it runs pretty badly-
The game needs a lot of optimization. Yes, it's better than what is use to be (playing since day 1 of global pc release). As mentioned, some areas are more taxing on hardware than others... should not be the case for something made for mobile.
PS4 is starting to show it's age these days. I don't use mine much anymore but even back at Genshin PS4 release as well it sounded like a jet engine. I imagine it's the same for ToF. I only casually play my ToF PS5 acct and of course runs better there.
@@luckysgi-5karrow378 Not really, ToF has this issue on every platform crashing, stuttering, fps drops, etc. Blame goes to devs here. Also a ps4 fan being loud isn't a bad thing, it means it's doing its job keeping your ps4 from overheating or you haven't cleaned it and it's clogged with dust.
I'm glad I found ur vids, they're not surface-level "reviews", but lived-in experiences that paint a succinctly informative picture, as much as a 20 min vid may allow.
Tower of Fantasy really feels like a game that knows its not the best but instead is always trying to be the best itself it can be. Its jancky and weird but they know that
i really like this game, and i played untill 2.0 i saved for maxed lin and all, but this game is such a fking mess that i just cant, i left a little after and never came back, no matter what they offered, and it shows, the game now only earns around 1 million each month, and decreasing rapidly, it will be dead next year for sure.
@@Wolfrich666I think Hotta has given a statement that those you see in gacha communities about their revenue aren't accurate and they earn more than that (we can say it's the same as other gacha games). Gateoo also said that ToF became a practice ground for new hired developers in Hotta (basically a guinea pig) and said that ToF might last long even with low revenue since it's a practice ground
The game seemed bad but I still played it, even when my computer kicked me out of the game many times I still logged in every day for a year. And after getting my first salary a few weeks ago, the first thing I thought of was upgrading my computer to be able to play it more smoothly. If someone says this game is garbage, yeah I love this garbage so much❤
The power creep in this game is the sole factor of what made me unmotivated and drop the game. I loved everything else about this game, despite its flaws and jankiness (which somewhat adds charm to this game), but not even all the good/social aspects of it are enough to keep me playing compared to the power creep. Everything you do in this game really boils down to that, so I just stopped playing at that point.
i played this game from day one for about 1 month and dropped it. as a genshin fan, I can feel that this game was so unpolished that it put a bad taste on me. which is really sad because it has everything that i wish genshin had. It has good mechanic but very bad writing and optimization. but over time i can tell its improving and watching this vid makes me wanna pick up the game again. well done review.
I'm impressed you were able to convey the horribly mixed feelings players experience with this game. The jank and glitches have been some of my favorite moments with ToF (RIP grapple bug, or teleporting under Asperia while dodge attacking turtles). The multiplayer aspect is great while your friends stick around, however as you mentioned with the boring time-limited events and strong powercreep, it's hard to keep your friends playing xD. I have also not recommended the game because of it's predatory nature, even though i wanted my friends to play. This is the best 'state of the game' video to date. P.S- Loved the 'angry geometry' comment haha
Hot take, but I actually like ToF's story and lore, I'm also a day 1 global player who's played... every day basically since launch, and the big issue with the story is really just, their translation and presentation is incredibly awkward, but the whole Shirli/Nemesis arc, most of Vera, and even D9 with recent updates actually makes me want to see MORE, and they're wrapping up a lot of Aesperia's story well into Vera and D9 in recent story updates, they've brought back a lot of concepts and events that felt forgotten in a way that felt pretty good in the last story update, supposedly because after D9, they're revamping Aesperia and we're going back for 4.0 Also i know it's a joke bit, but the memory wipe is brought back and explained pretty well before the end of the launch story portions :p and pretty much all the loading tip lore is shown in game normally too
For me it's just that the story had a ton of missed opportunities, _especially_ pre- 2.0. they basically forgot to integrate any of the launch SSRs into the main story beyond having King show up for like 30 seconds one time, character motivations are only vaguely touched on, and Shirli didn't really do anything to earn the title of "Nemesis". I have a partially completed script for a video describing the edits I would make to the story to really flesh out Aesperia's storyline, at some point I'm hoping to get around to finishing it.
@@CDVermilion I totally agree. The awkward animations and your own character becoming a midget also takes away from it. It was hard to take any of it seriously. LOL But I don't really play the game for the story, anyway. I play it to have fun with friends. Still, a more engaging story would've been nice. I hardly care about any of the characters from the story, unlike I do in say, Star Rail.
I've been a Genshin player since day 1 (on and off) and a new player in TOF for 2 weeks now and counting. I decided to try out TOF since I've finished most of Genshin and there's nothing to do except commissions every day. Day 1 of playing TOF I've met some friends and have been playing with them every night until now. In a way, it is a spiritual successor of not only Firefall, but many MMORPGs in the past. When I play with friends every night, I can feel the nostalgia.
Delusional redditors still try to gaslight me into thinking Tower of Fantasy is not that bad or that it got better and I can't disagree more. Your video sums up pretty much everything why this game sucks except one detail: The boss mechanics are not built around the actual combat system of the game, making every boss actual cancer to fight against (without mentionning the horrible server freezes). So yeah, good job explaining all that my guy.
Bro who the hell are you? Why is this such a high quality video and why do you not have more subs? like god damn. I don't even play Tower of fantasy, but this video was solid
Good job dude, nice video edit: I come from Asmon channel. I played the game at release for a week then quit, I was considering returning but then I play PGR and I just cant be bothered now
18:31 that's why I don't care about powercreep. Also the game does give you enough to get the current character for your element for free. So. It's mostly a win/win situation. Returning /new /veteran players can be at the same level pretty much always. With some slight difference. Obviously paying users will do more dmg like in any other game. But it doesn't really matter since 95% of the game is PVE.
It has the standard gacha powercreep model, but I think this model works less in 3d games where people can get attached to a certain playstyle or character. At least we can use the simulacra, but still it means you end up completely benching weapons that you spent money on, some of which you actually liked to play. I know this isn't the only reason the game has been on the decline for a long time, but I do think it's a major reason.
@@wellwellwell881 i agree, kinda wish they would just buff all old weapons enough to be relevant, and make the powercreep for newer units smaller, that way it opens up more team options for chosen elements.....but instead of doing that they make a "classic" version =/
Man, how badly i wish genshin had a skip button like that... You really dont know how blessed you are. Thats the reason i stopped playing altogether... Endless bickering, meaningless choices, and you are forced to watch every second of it.
Ngl i tried ToF coz I've seen people from YT comments that are shittin on it and seen couple of videos saying it was bad and see myself how bad the game really is just to be surprised how the game works and how active the community and player base is. I'll be honest, i got more enjoyable experience from Tof than Genshin. But i do agree about the storyline and the powercreep part
Dude thank you so much for reminding me that FireFall was the game I remember playing back when I was a kid, I forgotten the name of it but not the memories I had from the game. I remember one aspect of the game where there were these elephant-like creatures roaming around and if you shoot at them they would relentless chase after you... literally across the map. I remember just shooting once and then proceeding to run as far as I could to one of the watchtowers only wait a few moments before seeing them pop into existence on the horizon of my area of view as they continue to hunt me down. They would also attack any enemies that attacked them which I had fun just baiting enemy gunfire into them and then watching them charge towards them and demolish them. Good times.
I honestly loved this review. I'm a day 1 player, and remained 100% F2P up until 3 months ago, where I got gifted a supply pass and an Advanced pass, and have been consistantly getting both ever since. Even so, by "whale standards" I'd say my account is F2P+. If you're not willing to spend money, you have to spend something else to get results = time. That means putting in the hours to farm every reward available on every map, all the events, and consistantly farm vehicle parts to level up your mounts in order to get Dark Crystals (even though 40 DC every 5lvls doesn't sound like much, it stacks up trust me). I feel like players who say this game is purely P2W don't seem to want to actually spend time playing it. ToF has been quite generous with resources, and even if you don't get to whale level dmg (which is a given in any game), you'll do quite well if you're committed and have a plan for your account. You can't, as F2P, get every single weapon that's released and expect a miracle. Pick an element, and stick to it. That's the path of least frustration to keep up with powercreep. I'd like to add that I lol'd at the memorable bugs part. I actually encountered one of the best bugs ever on launch day: I was exploring Astra region with some friends, getting to know the map or whatever. Mind you, I was feeling adventurous that day, trying to see how far the climbing mechanic went (aka: what did/didn't the game LET you climb). So I was climbing a plant pot thingy in Astra, and by the power of ✨bugs✨I landed in Banges. This was DAY 1, Banges wasn't even unlocked yet lol so I didn't know where I was or how to get back. I've encountered many other bugs as time went by, but that's by far the funniest haha
For anyone who has played Honkai impact 3rd the combat is pretty similar feeling. There are noticeable differences, but the concepts feel quite the same. Just don't expect the crazy team synergies that can be achieved in hi3. That just isnt found here. Its still a lot of fun regardless!
The combat and character weapons/styles is what makes it better than Genshin for me. It also has amazing traversal gear/characters since the world is very big now and they keep adding to it. But the main aspect is that ToF actually has endgame. You can do it solo (if you're a whale) or you have the option to group up with other people and try to tackle challenges together. That is another positive for me, is that you can do literally everything with other people. I also find TOF's events/mini games to be much more fun than Genshin. Genshin events put me to sleep lmao. But in the end, each gacha has what the other one lacks. Genshin has the story and polish, TOF has the amazing combat (also air-combat/combos is a plus) People need to just stop comparing every gacha to Genshin. There are way better gachas out there but it's like a hive mind if someone says anything critiquing Genshin xD TOF appeals to different people, leave it at that.
A qol feature that ToF has that I really appreciate is how you get some xp and related rewards for missed daily bounties and overflown vitality/energy. It’s always nice to log on the following day and see the “here’s your Mia buff goodies from yesterday since you missed it”
That was a surprisingly good review, way closer to reality than the usual "genshin clone with bugs and cheaters, i only played for a week in 1.0" story. I played this game very actively for almost a year, had to stop because the chores took WAY too long and the reward for that effort was being "useless" in coop due to a whale being present on almost every team. Would only recommend TOF to oil princes or casuals who got bored with G game. I'm still on a mission to learn all Fenrir songs without knowing any chinese though.
Good points and good editing and easily the best review of the game I've seen. 11:32 Boy, do I miss the grappling glitch. 2.2 might've been the worst update because it patched it out.
I used to love this game but had to drop it cause I only had time for one game, which was Genshin. I also am a f2p player so i am one of the weaker players. The problems you mentioned are really what I and many other players experience, which also contributed to why i dropped it. However, I can say that ever since launch it is still a fun game. I remember being kicked out of the game after gacha and haad to look up a RUclips tutorial to fix it, there were many bugs, the story was rushed and lame (though had some good parts), but it was still fun. The rewards are also better when it came to doing world quests and events compared to Genshin as in ToF you can find wishes everywhere compared to Genshin where you have to find multiple chests for 1 wish. I'm glad that the game is still improving for those who still play and I hope ya'll still have fun with it. A very goog review imo.
Domt force yourself to keep making videos if at any point you stop enjoying making them but for as long as you continue to enjoy makong them PLEASE DO KEEP MAKING THEM ❤❤❤❤ Anyways much love, keep up the incredible work
Good video. TOF reminds me of Phantasy Star Online and Star Ocean. Someday I will come back from launch. I got so much catching up that it will be like a full new game.
after experiencing the movement in ToF i'll never be able to be content with genshin exploration ever again. Im forcing myself to use wanderer, yelan, and sayu just to feel a fraction of the movement I got in ToF
Another important aspect that you kinda bring up near the end is that this game respects your time, which means that when I'm busy, I can be done with the game in around 45 minutes for the day, but if I want I can also spend 4 or more hours exploring, catching up with the story or events, and having fun with friends etc. Also, I like most of their events, and I think the system of having 3 phases with the last one being generally the easiest to gather points in is a good idea. Aside from these, I think you nailed this review, as a day1 player, I approve!
Been recommended on my timeline This game could be one of weird things that does give both bad and good feelings for me I actually interested to play it and decided to play on day one because the combat system that pretty similar with hack and slash games like PGR and Honkai Impact 3rd (which latter I still actively playing) and character customization, also the weapon-character system which let my character do any cool moves with just change weapons. I immediately found out after few hours of playing of boring stories, bad NPCs design, and relatively empty open world on first map but the combat was thing kept me playing since I got Samir that I really love the gun gameplay. I eventually stopped playing it because my friends also stopped and some one update that require me to redownload the entire game (oh and also the bad optimization on my laptop despite HSR and HI3 run smoothly) I wish I still have a chance to at least return to the game but daily chores on the other games and my IRL stuffs probably don't want let me to ever touch another chore form another game lol
I started ToF because... SEGA decided to put "New Genesis" behind PSO2 I basically lost all my friends and teammates for over 6 years within 6 months.. And now I can't stop playing ToF even tho.. it's still worst than NGS, ToF is more creative and and have way more varieties in gameplays... God.. I missed the old PSO2..
I used to feel like ToF had promise. As in, it was decent and steadily getting better. However, while some aspects are still getting better, it suddenly felt like some aspects are getting worse instead. For instance, Mobility creep is too high. I pulled Rubilia exclusively for her mobility, being basically a better and no cooldown jetpack that also lets you glide downwards. She turned the exploration a bit too easy. Combat became so much less interesting. Nowadays, every weapon can shatter shields and charge QTEs quickly. Now in single player content you can basically ignore these mechanics, which I find quite sad after how, in the early days, there were many times I was trying to optimize my rotations and hold off of using skills to break enemy shields quickly enough. This also bleeds into multiplayer fights. You kinda don't need as many tanks, whose main role used to be shieldbreaking. Even if you ignore Shiro who has insane shatter. Also, QTEs are kinda worthless now. They either give you a buff and deal no damage, or give no buffs and still deal no damage, and you animation cancel them both. I heard that it was due to a matrix that buffed QTE damage being too strong, so they can't make any good QTEs or it'll be overamplified due to that matrix; but it's still sad. BTW, while it is P2W since each new character gets powercrept, characters being put into the standard banner and you having an excessive amount of standard banner pulls means you're never too far behind dolphins, though you'll never compete with whales since they have matrices
The reason I stopped playing is because there's nothing to grind for. I played since day 1 and for about 4 months I'd say. Daily. The story was mid at best but even then I'd keep playing BUT majority of map collectibles are Black nucleus. Which are utterly useless after playing for a while. I managed to get 3 characters from standard banner to max constellation in like first 3 months of playing, so Black nucleus is useless. The gold ones are more rare, but it just makes you feel like you're not grinding for anything. Collectibles/Cheats difference is a big thing. At least every chest in genshin gives you primogems. Actual currency to buy whichever type of wishes you want to use. But being forced to pick up hundreds of black nuclea for exploration when they bring nothing (And their banner has no pity) has become meaningless. I genuinely enjoyed and had fun playing it, I was cheering hard for the game but for multiple reasons I don't think I'll be coming back.
That's also my reason to continue to play this game, The new SSr charcater design, their skin and the Godly Combat mechanic. I've never played an MMO as good as TOF combat system.
The analysis is accurate but I feel overly harsh. The game is fun, the pricing is on-point, and the depth of systems is complex enough to keep me here for a long time. I get nostalgic about other mmorpg games I've played, but I'm not here for the nostalgia.
I started playing near launch week, when Frigg was new, and took a break for some months, I don't remember exactly when, but got back into it earlier this year, and I'm loving it so much. The Overworld content QoL updates are extremely appreciated, like how you can Level it up to make it harder and access more World Boss Chests. I'm only at 80k CS, am trying to become an actually good player, but it's been a struggle. But it hasn't been frustrating. It's just the way of the grind, and I'm way cool with that. Currently a Frost main, looking forward to Ling Han when she comes, I am saving for her. My only big complaint is it needs serious optimization. Like with Pokemon SV, there are lag issues, frame issues, and loading issues. It's so bad. I personally want a marriage system introduced to the game, but it doesn't have to happen. Other than that, the game is basically perfect.
Well, I forgot about Innars. As always, bad underwater combat, fck Innars fck Innars fck Innars fck Innars. It's not fun. Barely anything above the surface. I understand it's supposed to be focused on underwater, but I'd like more islands, man.😊
If tof is garbage, consider me a raccoon It's a long essay but I am still eager to try to get more people into tof haha I've been playing since day one and as much as I love genshin, I'm usually done with it in like a week of a new patch but with tof I still spend hours and hours doing more and more new things and never get tired of it. New map? Nice, I LOVE collecting stuff and just running around of new pretty maps. Some people try to speedrun the exploration (hello, Innars) but it's better to pace it and it's more fun this way. The new pokemon feature? Sign me up! I didn't even know I would be so hung up on the trading with mini quests! The new mechanics we get almost every patch is something that keeps me engaged for weeks. The social aspect tho being cringe at times (bc... well, gamers) is still fun, especially when you join a crew with a discord server. Bugs? Most of them are just funny and get patched pretty fast. Powercreep is whatever, being the waifugamer I am, I got almost all of the event SSRs having just monthly subscription and battle pass. Most of them are at least A1, alters being A3-A4. Even got some event matrix. Gacha here is really generous and even tho you won't be in the top of ratings, for a casual player it's enough. By just playing and leveling my gear and weapons rn I can do almost any activity and kill any boss solo (even tho it can take more time but not too much), I'm currently stuck at boundless bygone at lvl 25 (with lvl 50 being last lvl for whales). And whatever content I can't do on my own, I have a ton of people I can team up with in almost no time. I've tried other gacha games, HI3, HSR, PGR, but no game (except for genshin in the first year) got me playing for so long
Accurate review. Game is jank af and far from perfect but does many things right that makes it worth playing. I actually prefer a ton of things in this game over Genshin. Combat feels more fast paced which I prefer, I love the higher mobility too and the high level of customization. And for me, the simpler puzzles and exploration is actually a big fat plus too. I find the exploration in both ToF and Genshin tedious, but in ToF it feels a lot less annoying regardless.
I want to love this game. I love that you can make your own character, I think the graphics are amazing and as ""shallow"" as it is, I actually like the more dynamic combat. But with the story and characters feeling so shallow (and often poorly translated and voiced), I just can't bring myself to play it over Genshin.
That is the PV trailer for the character Huang (Mimi). She is the latest and current banner. You can find the trailer on the official Tower of Fantasy channel.
My Tof experience in a nutshell: -"This game is f2p friendly" said that one guy like years ago -Actually had fun because combat system is fun and the modes are fun -Coop is fun but sometimes not fun -oh well looks like I got saki alyss and lin now sorry frigg I know I spent like a whole pity's worth on you but you are forever benched bye -2 weeks later and my saki alyss lin are now outdated because fenrir exists, even though I slaved over hours of my life trying to scrape whatever I got in my map to save for getting A3 Lin, A2 Alyss A0 Saki (I ran out of pulls to get A1) -oh well guess I cant play the game anymore because as soon as I get in the proximity of more than 12 players (usually fighting those world bosses) my game just L bozo and the hud dies too. Fun gameplay 10/10 -wow new map, 12 fps, underwater combat system that makes me want to kms (cant use alyss effectively) -wow more units that bench the previous ones even harder -cant clear any of the endgame content because I didnt whale. Proceeds to get berated by coop players because Im doing crippling damage numbers despite me perfecting my rotation -ok bye
Playing from release, i have own crew where is 170 active players. On crew war we was in one VC with 30 people doing teamplay. Doing with my crewmates new hard raids, with coordinating and stuff. Its most lovest thing what im loving. This game realy alive gacha in gacha, and im love it. Bc im doing well with my f2p account. And a most of the time, a good players who will be all time active playing. Its a players who dropped other MMO games, and come from. Like Wow, Bns and others. Also this game really hard, and im love it. Thank you very much, for good video about REAL TOF
lmfaooo.. this is the most accurate video.. i play both genshin and tof.. i played genshin for like year then tof came out.. i just wanted to gave it a try.. play for maybe few days and then leave.. but once i got used to tof fast movement and exhilarating combat there was no turning back.. after playing tof for like month i just lost interest in genshin and left it.. sure tof is buggy and unbalanced af but its super fun as well.. after like 6 months i took break from games ig cuz of work and stuff.. then i saw genshin fountain update and tof recent patch.. started playing both.. and again I played genshin just for like 3-4 days and uninstalled after finishing few story quests (spacebar broke spamming skip dialogues) meanwhile when i came back to tof there were massive qol differences.. its actually one of those games which i certainly cant recommend to friends but cant stop playing myself.. also jumping back in game and meeting my old ingame friends was so good moment.. there were also lotta friends who left game as well.. rn tof has very low playerbase but those who continue playing knows how far this game has improved.. and if it had launched in current stage.. it would have rivalled genshin or atleast would have far better recognition..
Loved firefall so much; my pc was so laggy and slow that I had to uninstall it but love it. Meh, I felt like I played TOF with this video, seems fun but I won’t even try it. Thank you !
Great review man. If the game wasnt power creeped that bad I'd keep playing. I played it a bit and took a break for maybe 3-4 month? thats when they launched the pyramid city area. I went back to the game and realize sometimes I even cant finish the daily due to the mobs in the open map being too strong. The solution was either suck it up till I grind enough on my own gear or I can instantly get stronger with the new character if I swipe.
I think the worst part of this game was the scaling system that wasn't corrected until July 2022 (a full seven months AFTER release); basically an unplayable game once you got around to the level 60 range if you weren't farming constantly for gold equips and memories because the scaling would force you to fight higher-leveled enemies than your equipment could keep up with. For comparison, imagine having a gold artifact drop rate of 2% at World Level 6 in Genshin while the enemies are at World Level 8's health pool -- by no choice of your own. And you can only run a full domain once a day. That would break most people, and it broke me. It's fixed now with the introduction of world levels, but oh my god I had quit the game long after Vera released because I was convinced they didn't fix the core gameplay loop. I've been telling others to back off from this game for months AFTER July 2022 because there was not much news about ToF until another Day 1 player proved me wrong. It's a LOT more manageable now, but I don't think I've ever seen such a harsh difficulty curve since Dead Frontier. But to me Tower of Fantasy really built the world for scale, and it shows in the vehicles and diversity of traversal. Wall-running boots, grapple hooks, jetpack boosters and surfboards...Genshin just cannot compare. I hope this game improves going forward, even if I'm never going to play it again lol
Idk why I like this game so much, either because I like underdogs or because the only other option is Genshin and Genshin has laughably terrible multiplayer that feels like it was just nailed to the game last minute and has not seen any improvement in the past 2 or so years and the combat is fun to figure out what artifacts work the best together but the elemental system is pretty annoying and boring it isn't hard but it feels like it just makes fights last longer than they should
I played it at launch. I signed up early and everything because my dad thought it would be cool. Basically, my whole family (but my mom) got involved. also this is just me rambling about my experience, so, have fun with that. My dad enjoyed it, he liked the mechanics since it was like other games he plays... he has not open the game since. I play a lot of gacha already, Genshin Impact, Honkai (series), Cookie Run Kingdom, if it's out there, SFW and 3D AND A STORY? I probably played it. I enjoyed the game for the character customization. It was nice somewhat, I just didn't enjoy the eng dubbing at all. Not VA's fault, the translations were very weird. I still rarely play it, the mascot character that follows us around in some quests is also really cute. My sister... oh. So we got an install that was leaked? and we got in early. The character creator was fun for her too... but then she couldn't enter the game again without it crashing as soon as it loaded to the start screen. We had no other issues but she was the only one with said issues. I believe it was just her laptop though, as she did have one with limited space. Same thing happened when she installed the lightest of games such as Onigiri.
All I can say bout this game the story never was a thing to consider to play it . Day1 player and still dont know whats going on in story.😅😂 I play it for the gameplay And lategame content.😌
Ive been playing for 3 weeks and i have 12 SSRs 4 weapons past level 100 the dragon smart servant all Exotic(gold) gear and have only spent 5 dollars for the grapple arm.. Somebody send Help 😅 tbh this is the most forgiving gacha game I've ever played 👌
My Firefall Steam achievements continue to be the rarest achievements on my Steam profile. Man, thats a game I haven't thought about in a long time. I really miss SciFi MMOs. Anarchy Online, Global Agenda, Eve Online, etc.
At 12:35 there's a remix of Sensei's theme from Advance Wars playing in the background This information will help no one but I just wanna point it out e.e
Watching the video as i type this: - Fun fact: if you let go and jump fast enough, you'll do the first jump as opposed to the double jump, so you could "double jump mid climb" and actually bypass the climbing system to pretty much climb anything no matter the height. If youre in domain 9, its easier to use the wall running shoes though. *Edit:* if I didnt hit my first loss 50/50, id call you out saying that didn't exist because I legit only lost that once to date... maybe its 80/20 or something? (80 being the win)
Honestly what makes this just so much better than genshin for me is literally 3 things. 1: character creator, i like being able to have the blank slate protagonist be customizable 2: multiplayer aspects, world bosses, teams and just generally all the options make it way more fun to play with a friend 3: the setting, the general sci fi setting that exists is just so much more appealing to me. Do i wish ToF was much more polished? Obviously, it has a lot of this feeling the game isn't made on the same level of quality as something like genshin but despite lacking in quality i still enjoy it a lot more
to this day the dev still refused to fix void abyss bug where your connection blocked from server side so initial rendering is not complete. the result? you can't attack, use skills, enemy and boss didn't move, also your teammates stopped. but on another player perspective everything went normal. imagine, major bug is not fixed for years and they still had the audacity to release pay to win gatcha. EDIT : forgot to mention few things like some button missing, can't dodge, and weapon switching is not possible. i spent at least $3k for pay to win and what did i get? lazy ass employee refused to fix bugs. also, for any of you who accuse internet problem, the bug only happen in void abyss and not anywhere else in the game. if i was lagging why other content are smooth except VA?
It's a good game to kinda turn off your brain and just have fun and differently from Genshin it's not as much of a grindy chore for a F2P player either
vermilion explaining how a game can be the worst yet addictively fun is something i thought no reviewer could ever do.
basically an overwatch xD
League of legends is an ilness and im terminally ill
Destiny 2 and Cod
Your pfp is so cute😭 I gotta play ahit again
This is me with league of legends
This is the best written long form video essay for Tower of Fantasy on RUclips. The video creator actually played from the beginning, through the latest expansion, touching up on the key details such as the constant improvements to the game.
And it still us one of the most annoying games to play. Makes me want to court death.
He should show Ling Han flying ability
@@FoxDehunter-pg4nh this video was made before Ling Hang banner
The videos begin with Genshin and conclude by comparing nearly every aspect to Genshin. This heavily biased review from a Genshin enthusiast who is unable to play an MMO without drawing comparisons is now being hailed as "the most well-crafted essay" for TOF. I suppose this is the best a dead game can hope for.
@@iamcoconut0 I will remind you in another 12 month on the third anniversary of ToF, so that you can proclaim ToF is dead, again. 🤗
As a day 1 player I have no idea what the story is about
Same. Never really understood the objective of our character.
bro this is me whenever i play this type of games.
Me with Honkai Impact
LMFAO literally same
It has multiple story like genshin but I have seen so far it's like this
To know the origin of Zeke and shirli and what's is their connection to grey space entity
And the rebel against the tower that destroy the underground environment
To get our memory back
And we traveler wonder how we could stop time like when we seen in gameplay
Should we trust the archon that handle the tower or not(this is the part where it's similar to genshin)
If you say it's similar to genshin yes almost but the differences is lumine and aether doesn't lost their memory like wanderer does
And that's the main story
Finally, someone with a damn proper review with enough information and hands on experience to back it all up. Day 1 player here still actively playing today and I must say, this has to be the MOST realistic, dedicated, educated, and (most importantly) unbiased review anyone has ever done for ToF and I seriously appreciate every bit of it! ❤ 🎉 you touched up on everything from start, to the memorable bugs and "features", up to the latest expansion and I am very impressed to see someone actually review a game while actually knowing what they are talking about.
I alslo love the format, the humor, and the music choices! Such a fun but informative review!
yeah, I agree unlike other doomposting such as stix.
how miserable
Day 1 players are the only ones still playing lmfao
Being a day-one player that has been playing daily, I really loved this so dedicated review.
Many facts were said here and seeing you referring to mythic bugs like the cyber arm and harrah ones, it makes clear that this game has made its place in your memories.
This days I'm enjoying the game a lot because of new OOW season and other stuff with friends in game and I really want to see how this game improves over the years. Awesome review again 😊
would you say its worth playing as a enw player ?
@@Xehna959 the thing is this game has mmo aspect so if you don't mind grinding hell, go for it, from my experience many ppls are upset about how grindy the game is while that's normal in mmo
edit: forgot to add the powercreep thing, its still there, so yap if you don't mind and enjoy yourself that's should be fine
I literally never wanted to play this game, even during the hype. You actually made me consider downloading it. Congrats.
Also this was very well edited!!
i tried it. it felt like a cheap genshin impact ripoff in the worst sense of it. as in the controls feel bad, floaty, weightless, imprecise. It's core mechanics are much worse, and that's hard to ignore. The design of the world, quests and puzzles seem way more thoughtless. it also looks worse while demanding better hardware. i just lost interest after finishing up the introductory quest. the girl got the sick virus thing of death, then i went to some ship, and there was someone sabotaging it or whatever, then i saved the base-ship and went back to the ground and never touched the game again. A shame, because i like the mmorpg aspect.
my sister played it literally until it fried her galaxy s20.
@@GraveUypowell, I wouldn’t really play it like genshin if I were you
@@GraveUypoLet me guess, do you only play Gacha games?
Shouldn't it be the opposite? He just said the game is trash.
@@Kumire_921 You take things too literally huh?
This review is easily the most realistic and forthright review of the Tower of Fantasy experience. It is why I hold out hope for the game despite all its numerous flaws. It talks about the "he who shall not be named" G-game without having to bash it and compares objectively. It's ok to enjoy incomplete games - but its craziness to accept and even defend broken design and shady business practices.
What really resonated was the comparison of ToF to Firefall. There was an MMO game called Star War: Galaxies (SW;G). It was a broken , buggy mess with some absolutely non-sensical design decisions. For example, becoming a Jedi was totally random and required grinding to max level non-related skill trees (ex one Force user had to master Architect, Animal Trainer and Pistols) . However, the social aspects, exploring canon universe worlds and taking missions from characters like Leia and Chewbacca made it endearing despite all the jank. Even though I made a Sniper in SW:G, I proudly wore my "Master Bartender" occupation tag and gave out free Telarian Starburst ATK buff drinks at cantina's or out in the deserts of Tatooine. When it closed down due to the upcoming release of Star Wars: the Old Republic, there was a gigantic server wide meetup that lagged so badly with all the players, dancing, music, ship flybys, fireworks and other nonsense the Galaxies threw in. Tower of Fantasy is that spiritual successor for me.
The shocking part to me is that this game miraculously runs on PS4, though I can't AFK farm for vehicle parts because it'll not only make my console scream for mercy but also crash it. Its weird too considering the game doesn't look that very demanding but in certain zones, it runs pretty badly-
Turn off shading
The game needs a lot of optimization. Yes, it's better than what is use to be (playing since day 1 of global pc release). As mentioned, some areas are more taxing on hardware than others... should not be the case for something made for mobile.
PS4 is starting to show it's age these days. I don't use mine much anymore but even back at Genshin PS4 release as well it sounded like a jet engine. I imagine it's the same for ToF. I only casually play my ToF PS5 acct and of course runs better there.
@@luckysgi-5karrow378 Not really, ToF has this issue on every platform crashing, stuttering, fps drops, etc. Blame goes to devs here.
Also a ps4 fan being loud isn't a bad thing, it means it's doing its job keeping your ps4 from overheating or you haven't cleaned it and it's clogged with dust.
I'm glad I found ur vids, they're not surface-level "reviews", but lived-in experiences that paint a succinctly informative picture, as much as a 20 min vid may allow.
Tower of Fantasy really feels like a game that knows its not the best but instead is always trying to be the best itself it can be. Its jancky and weird but they know that
Idk why but once every 3 months I redownload this game just to uninstall it after a couple hours
i really like this game, and i played untill 2.0 i saved for maxed lin and all, but this game is such a fking mess that i just cant, i left a little after and never came back, no matter what they offered, and it shows, the game now only earns around 1 million each month, and decreasing rapidly, it will be dead next year for sure.
@@Wolfrich666 yeah I played at launch and maxed out asperia and then I played more or less once every major event
@@Wolfrich666I think Hotta has given a statement that those you see in gacha communities about their revenue aren't accurate and they earn more than that (we can say it's the same as other gacha games). Gateoo also said that ToF became a practice ground for new hired developers in Hotta (basically a guinea pig) and said that ToF might last long even with low revenue since it's a practice ground
Well, just to be clear, I'm not trying to defend ToF. I'm just sharing some info especially about the first part about revenue
@@Wolfrich666 when did you got the information about their earnings? Cuz it's pretty low than what the devs stated about their revenue.
The game seemed bad but I still played it, even when my computer kicked me out of the game many times I still logged in every day for a year. And after getting my first salary a few weeks ago, the first thing I thought of was upgrading my computer to be able to play it more smoothly. If someone says this game is garbage, yeah I love this garbage so much❤
The power creep in this game is the sole factor of what made me unmotivated and drop the game. I loved everything else about this game, despite its flaws and jankiness (which somewhat adds charm to this game), but not even all the good/social aspects of it are enough to keep me playing compared to the power creep. Everything you do in this game really boils down to that, so I just stopped playing at that point.
Same.
I don't even play this game, but I stayed and respected the production value of this vid.
Been waiting for a new Vermilliom upload. Really excited about this one!
i played this game from day one for about 1 month and dropped it. as a genshin fan, I can feel that this game was so unpolished that it put a bad taste on me. which is really sad because it has everything that i wish genshin had. It has good mechanic but very bad writing and optimization. but over time i can tell its improving and watching this vid makes me wanna pick up the game again. well done review.
I’d say try it out again. It’s free and you’ll definitely have lots to do now lol
The latest content is leagues above the initial release. The underwater area being the best the game has to offer so far.
I'm impressed you were able to convey the horribly mixed feelings players experience with this game. The jank and glitches have been some of my favorite moments with ToF (RIP grapple bug, or teleporting under Asperia while dodge attacking turtles). The multiplayer aspect is great while your friends stick around, however as you mentioned with the boring time-limited events and strong powercreep, it's hard to keep your friends playing xD. I have also not recommended the game because of it's predatory nature, even though i wanted my friends to play. This is the best 'state of the game' video to date. P.S- Loved the 'angry geometry' comment haha
Hot take, but I actually like ToF's story and lore, I'm also a day 1 global player who's played... every day basically since launch, and the big issue with the story is really just, their translation and presentation is incredibly awkward, but the whole Shirli/Nemesis arc, most of Vera, and even D9 with recent updates actually makes me want to see MORE, and they're wrapping up a lot of Aesperia's story well into Vera and D9 in recent story updates, they've brought back a lot of concepts and events that felt forgotten in a way that felt pretty good in the last story update, supposedly because after D9, they're revamping Aesperia and we're going back for 4.0
Also i know it's a joke bit, but the memory wipe is brought back and explained pretty well before the end of the launch story portions :p
and pretty much all the loading tip lore is shown in game normally too
For me it's just that the story had a ton of missed opportunities, _especially_ pre- 2.0. they basically forgot to integrate any of the launch SSRs into the main story beyond having King show up for like 30 seconds one time, character motivations are only vaguely touched on, and Shirli didn't really do anything to earn the title of "Nemesis". I have a partially completed script for a video describing the edits I would make to the story to really flesh out Aesperia's storyline, at some point I'm hoping to get around to finishing it.
@@CDVermilion I totally agree. The awkward animations and your own character becoming a midget also takes away from it. It was hard to take any of it seriously. LOL But I don't really play the game for the story, anyway. I play it to have fun with friends. Still, a more engaging story would've been nice. I hardly care about any of the characters from the story, unlike I do in say, Star Rail.
I've been a Genshin player since day 1 (on and off) and a new player in TOF for 2 weeks now and counting. I decided to try out TOF since I've finished most of Genshin and there's nothing to do except commissions every day. Day 1 of playing TOF I've met some friends and have been playing with them every night until now. In a way, it is a spiritual successor of not only Firefall, but many MMORPGs in the past. When I play with friends every night, I can feel the nostalgia.
Delusional redditors still try to gaslight me into thinking Tower of Fantasy is not that bad or that it got better and I can't disagree more. Your video sums up pretty much everything why this game sucks except one detail:
The boss mechanics are not built around the actual combat system of the game, making every boss actual cancer to fight against (without mentionning the horrible server freezes).
So yeah, good job explaining all that my guy.
Bro who the hell are you? Why is this such a high quality video and why do you not have more subs? like god damn.
I don't even play Tower of fantasy, but this video was solid
Good job dude, nice video
edit: I come from Asmon channel. I played the game at release for a week then quit, I was considering returning but then I play PGR and I just cant be bothered now
18:31 that's why I don't care about powercreep. Also the game does give you enough to get the current character for your element for free. So. It's mostly a win/win situation. Returning /new /veteran players can be at the same level pretty much always. With some slight difference. Obviously paying users will do more dmg like in any other game. But it doesn't really matter since 95% of the game is PVE.
In this game that's a mmo, it matters hella much, quit coping
It has the standard gacha powercreep model, but I think this model works less in 3d games where people can get attached to a certain playstyle or character. At least we can use the simulacra, but still it means you end up completely benching weapons that you spent money on, some of which you actually liked to play. I know this isn't the only reason the game has been on the decline for a long time, but I do think it's a major reason.
@@WeAreGhurabaits not even a real MMO. Stop using that term for this shit
@@wellwellwell881 i agree, kinda wish they would just buff all old weapons enough to be relevant, and make the powercreep for newer units smaller, that way it opens up more team options for chosen elements.....but instead of doing that they make a "classic" version =/
Man, how badly i wish genshin had a skip button like that...
You really dont know how blessed you are.
Thats the reason i stopped playing altogether...
Endless bickering, meaningless choices, and you are forced to watch every second of it.
Yea the unskippable cutscwnes are the worst
Ngl i tried ToF coz I've seen people from YT comments that are shittin on it and seen couple of videos saying it was bad and see myself how bad the game really is just to be surprised how the game works and how active the community and player base is. I'll be honest, i got more enjoyable experience from Tof than Genshin. But i do agree about the storyline and the powercreep part
Dude thank you so much for reminding me that FireFall was the game I remember playing back when I was a kid, I forgotten the name of it but not the memories I had from the game.
I remember one aspect of the game where there were these elephant-like creatures roaming around and if you shoot at them they would relentless chase after you... literally across the map. I remember just shooting once and then proceeding to run as far as I could to one of the watchtowers only wait a few moments before seeing them pop into existence on the horizon of my area of view as they continue to hunt me down.
They would also attack any enemies that attacked them which I had fun just baiting enemy gunfire into them and then watching them charge towards them and demolish them.
Good times.
I honestly loved this review. I'm a day 1 player, and remained 100% F2P up until 3 months ago, where I got gifted a supply pass and an Advanced pass, and have been consistantly getting both ever since. Even so, by "whale standards" I'd say my account is F2P+. If you're not willing to spend money, you have to spend something else to get results = time. That means putting in the hours to farm every reward available on every map, all the events, and consistantly farm vehicle parts to level up your mounts in order to get Dark Crystals (even though 40 DC every 5lvls doesn't sound like much, it stacks up trust me).
I feel like players who say this game is purely P2W don't seem to want to actually spend time playing it. ToF has been quite generous with resources, and even if you don't get to whale level dmg (which is a given in any game), you'll do quite well if you're committed and have a plan for your account. You can't, as F2P, get every single weapon that's released and expect a miracle. Pick an element, and stick to it. That's the path of least frustration to keep up with powercreep.
I'd like to add that I lol'd at the memorable bugs part. I actually encountered one of the best bugs ever on launch day: I was exploring Astra region with some friends, getting to know the map or whatever. Mind you, I was feeling adventurous that day, trying to see how far the climbing mechanic went (aka: what did/didn't the game LET you climb). So I was climbing a plant pot thingy in Astra, and by the power of ✨bugs✨I landed in Banges. This was DAY 1, Banges wasn't even unlocked yet lol so I didn't know where I was or how to get back. I've encountered many other bugs as time went by, but that's by far the funniest haha
For anyone who has played Honkai impact 3rd the combat is pretty similar feeling. There are noticeable differences, but the concepts feel quite the same.
Just don't expect the crazy team synergies that can be achieved in hi3. That just isnt found here.
Its still a lot of fun regardless!
The combat and character weapons/styles is what makes it better than Genshin for me. It also has amazing traversal gear/characters since the world is very big now and they keep adding to it. But the main aspect is that ToF actually has endgame. You can do it solo (if you're a whale) or you have the option to group up with other people and try to tackle challenges together. That is another positive for me, is that you can do literally everything with other people. I also find TOF's events/mini games to be much more fun than Genshin. Genshin events put me to sleep lmao. But in the end, each gacha has what the other one lacks. Genshin has the story and polish, TOF has the amazing combat (also air-combat/combos is a plus) People need to just stop comparing every gacha to Genshin. There are way better gachas out there but it's like a hive mind if someone says anything critiquing Genshin xD TOF appeals to different people, leave it at that.
A qol feature that ToF has that I really appreciate is how you get some xp and related rewards for missed daily bounties and overflown vitality/energy. It’s always nice to log on the following day and see the “here’s your Mia buff goodies from yesterday since you missed it”
You are goateed Fr wonder what game u r going to cover next
This may be the best game review I’ve ever seen bc I truly couldn’t tell when you were giving a compliment or making a complaint 😭 now I want to play
Incredibly detailed and honestly if you don’t know anything about TOF it’s spoiler free. Def got a subscriber out of me !
that is how it should be, not mindlessly hating but also not mindlessly saying the game is the best out there, keep it real
That was a surprisingly good review, way closer to reality than the usual "genshin clone with bugs and cheaters, i only played for a week in 1.0" story.
I played this game very actively for almost a year, had to stop because the chores took WAY too long and the reward for that effort was being "useless" in coop due to a whale being present on almost every team. Would only recommend TOF to oil princes or casuals who got bored with G game. I'm still on a mission to learn all Fenrir songs without knowing any chinese though.
I love this Hyperdimension Neptunia music playing in the background! ♥
I guess i'm the only one playing it because it's fun and not for the gacha
Good points and good editing and easily the best review of the game I've seen.
11:32 Boy, do I miss the grappling glitch. 2.2 might've been the worst update because it patched it out.
This was a damn good write up of ToF after the last year. Great vid, Vermilion.
I used to love this game but had to drop it cause I only had time for one game, which was Genshin. I also am a f2p player so i am one of the weaker players. The problems you mentioned are really what I and many other players experience, which also contributed to why i dropped it. However, I can say that ever since launch it is still a fun game. I remember being kicked out of the game after gacha and haad to look up a RUclips tutorial to fix it, there were many bugs, the story was rushed and lame (though had some good parts), but it was still fun. The rewards are also better when it came to doing world quests and events compared to Genshin as in ToF you can find wishes everywhere compared to Genshin where you have to find multiple chests for 1 wish.
I'm glad that the game is still improving for those who still play and I hope ya'll still have fun with it. A very goog review imo.
Domt force yourself to keep making videos if at any point you stop enjoying making them but for as long as you continue to enjoy makong them PLEASE DO KEEP MAKING THEM ❤❤❤❤
Anyways much love, keep up the incredible work
Good video. TOF reminds me of Phantasy Star Online and Star Ocean.
Someday I will come back from launch. I got so much catching up that it will be like a full new game.
your scripting has a lot of Sseth x Max0r vibe to it. keep it up
after experiencing the movement in ToF i'll never be able to be content with genshin exploration ever again. Im forcing myself to use wanderer, yelan, and sayu just to feel a fraction of the movement I got in ToF
Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power!
I understand how this feels, even with double anemo and Rosalia at night I still feel slow
Another important aspect that you kinda bring up near the end is that this game respects your time, which means that when I'm busy, I can be done with the game in around 45 minutes for the day, but if I want I can also spend 4 or more hours exploring, catching up with the story or events, and having fun with friends etc.
Also, I like most of their events, and I think the system of having 3 phases with the last one being generally the easiest to gather points in is a good idea.
Aside from these, I think you nailed this review, as a day1 player, I approve!
Well said. You are the only one who has described this game so well!
Been recommended on my timeline
This game could be one of weird things that does give both bad and good feelings for me
I actually interested to play it and decided to play on day one because the combat system that pretty similar with hack and slash games like PGR and Honkai Impact 3rd (which latter I still actively playing) and character customization, also the weapon-character system which let my character do any cool moves with just change weapons. I immediately found out after few hours of playing of boring stories, bad NPCs design, and relatively empty open world on first map but the combat was thing kept me playing since I got Samir that I really love the gun gameplay. I eventually stopped playing it because my friends also stopped and some one update that require me to redownload the entire game (oh and also the bad optimization on my laptop despite HSR and HI3 run smoothly)
I wish I still have a chance to at least return to the game but daily chores on the other games and my IRL stuffs probably don't want let me to ever touch another chore form another game lol
0:47 The song used here is Role-Playing Game by Mafumafu
The intro feels like a max0r video without the brain melting editing
"shortly after that" [a-pose slides]
I started ToF because...
SEGA decided to put "New Genesis" behind PSO2
I basically lost all my friends and teammates for over 6 years within 6 months..
And now I can't stop playing ToF even tho.. it's still worst than NGS,
ToF is more creative and and have way more varieties in gameplays...
God.. I missed the old PSO2..
NGS is better than p2w ToF, you can get free cosmetics
I used to feel like ToF had promise. As in, it was decent and steadily getting better. However, while some aspects are still getting better, it suddenly felt like some aspects are getting worse instead.
For instance,
Mobility creep is too high. I pulled Rubilia exclusively for her mobility, being basically a better and no cooldown jetpack that also lets you glide downwards. She turned the exploration a bit too easy.
Combat became so much less interesting. Nowadays, every weapon can shatter shields and charge QTEs quickly. Now in single player content you can basically ignore these mechanics, which I find quite sad after how, in the early days, there were many times I was trying to optimize my rotations and hold off of using skills to break enemy shields quickly enough. This also bleeds into multiplayer fights. You kinda don't need as many tanks, whose main role used to be shieldbreaking. Even if you ignore Shiro who has insane shatter.
Also, QTEs are kinda worthless now. They either give you a buff and deal no damage, or give no buffs and still deal no damage, and you animation cancel them both. I heard that it was due to a matrix that buffed QTE damage being too strong, so they can't make any good QTEs or it'll be overamplified due to that matrix; but it's still sad.
BTW, while it is P2W since each new character gets powercrept, characters being put into the standard banner and you having an excessive amount of standard banner pulls means you're never too far behind dolphins, though you'll never compete with whales since they have matrices
The reason I stopped playing is because there's nothing to grind for. I played since day 1 and for about 4 months I'd say. Daily. The story was mid at best but even then I'd keep playing BUT majority of map collectibles are Black nucleus. Which are utterly useless after playing for a while. I managed to get 3 characters from standard banner to max constellation in like first 3 months of playing, so Black nucleus is useless. The gold ones are more rare, but it just makes you feel like you're not grinding for anything. Collectibles/Cheats difference is a big thing. At least every chest in genshin gives you primogems. Actual currency to buy whichever type of wishes you want to use. But being forced to pick up hundreds of black nuclea for exploration when they bring nothing (And their banner has no pity) has become meaningless. I genuinely enjoyed and had fun playing it, I was cheering hard for the game but for multiple reasons I don't think I'll be coming back.
you quit after 4 months?
That's also my reason to continue to play this game, The new SSr charcater design, their skin and the Godly Combat mechanic. I've never played an MMO as good as TOF combat system.
The analysis is accurate but I feel overly harsh. The game is fun, the pricing is on-point, and the depth of systems is complex enough to keep me here for a long time. I get nostalgic about other mmorpg games I've played, but I'm not here for the nostalgia.
" Tof is trash but its my favourite trash " energy ! 🤣 love ur video , finally someone actually play the game up till this point making a fair review
they've done a way better job lately making the weapons amazing at a1; even tho the power creep is insane at least it's easy to get them
I started playing near launch week, when Frigg was new, and took a break for some months, I don't remember exactly when, but got back into it earlier this year, and I'm loving it so much. The Overworld content QoL updates are extremely appreciated, like how you can Level it up to make it harder and access more World Boss Chests. I'm only at 80k CS, am trying to become an actually good player, but it's been a struggle. But it hasn't been frustrating. It's just the way of the grind, and I'm way cool with that. Currently a Frost main, looking forward to Ling Han when she comes, I am saving for her. My only big complaint is it needs serious optimization. Like with Pokemon SV, there are lag issues, frame issues, and loading issues. It's so bad. I personally want a marriage system introduced to the game, but it doesn't have to happen. Other than that, the game is basically perfect.
Well, I forgot about Innars. As always, bad underwater combat, fck Innars fck Innars fck Innars fck Innars. It's not fun. Barely anything above the surface. I understand it's supposed to be focused on underwater, but I'd like more islands, man.😊
If tof is garbage, consider me a raccoon
It's a long essay but I am still eager to try to get more people into tof haha
I've been playing since day one and as much as I love genshin, I'm usually done with it in like a week of a new patch but with tof I still spend hours and hours doing more and more new things and never get tired of it. New map? Nice, I LOVE collecting stuff and just running around of new pretty maps. Some people try to speedrun the exploration (hello, Innars) but it's better to pace it and it's more fun this way. The new pokemon feature? Sign me up! I didn't even know I would be so hung up on the trading with mini quests! The new mechanics we get almost every patch is something that keeps me engaged for weeks.
The social aspect tho being cringe at times (bc... well, gamers) is still fun, especially when you join a crew with a discord server. Bugs? Most of them are just funny and get patched pretty fast. Powercreep is whatever, being the waifugamer I am, I got almost all of the event SSRs having just monthly subscription and battle pass. Most of them are at least A1, alters being A3-A4. Even got some event matrix. Gacha here is really generous and even tho you won't be in the top of ratings, for a casual player it's enough. By just playing and leveling my gear and weapons rn I can do almost any activity and kill any boss solo (even tho it can take more time but not too much), I'm currently stuck at boundless bygone at lvl 25 (with lvl 50 being last lvl for whales). And whatever content I can't do on my own, I have a ton of people I can team up with in almost no time.
I've tried other gacha games, HI3, HSR, PGR, but no game (except for genshin in the first year) got me playing for so long
Accurate review. Game is jank af and far from perfect but does many things right that makes it worth playing. I actually prefer a ton of things in this game over Genshin. Combat feels more fast paced which I prefer, I love the higher mobility too and the high level of customization. And for me, the simpler puzzles and exploration is actually a big fat plus too. I find the exploration in both ToF and Genshin tedious, but in ToF it feels a lot less annoying regardless.
Greetings from the goblin king himself.
Asmongold's reaction to this video brought me here. You summed up this entire game better than literally anyone else.
Also, the editing is amazing.
Taking inspiration from max0r I assume? (also thank you for making this video, keep it up xD)
I want to love this game. I love that you can make your own character, I think the graphics are amazing and as ""shallow"" as it is, I actually like the more dynamic combat.
But with the story and characters feeling so shallow (and often poorly translated and voiced), I just can't bring myself to play it over Genshin.
11:00 okay I NEED the context
At 3:00 ruclips.net/video/4669EfjFXgE/видео.htmlsi=BZO3SNXYMT8NIAwo
ruclips.net/video/4669EfjFXgE/видео.html
That is the PV trailer for the character Huang (Mimi). She is the latest and current banner. You can find the trailer on the official Tower of Fantasy channel.
Strong video and editing. You gon pop off🎉
My Tof experience in a nutshell:
-"This game is f2p friendly"
said that one guy like years ago
-Actually had fun because combat system is fun and the modes are fun
-Coop is fun but sometimes not fun
-oh well looks like I got saki alyss and lin now sorry frigg I know I spent like a whole pity's worth on you but you are forever benched bye
-2 weeks later and my saki alyss lin are now outdated because fenrir exists, even though I slaved over hours of my life trying to scrape whatever I got in my map to save for getting A3 Lin, A2 Alyss A0 Saki (I ran out of pulls to get A1)
-oh well guess I cant play the game anymore because as soon as I get in the proximity of more than 12 players (usually fighting those world bosses) my game just L bozo and the hud dies too. Fun gameplay 10/10
-wow new map, 12 fps, underwater combat system that makes me want to kms (cant use alyss effectively)
-wow more units that bench the previous ones even harder
-cant clear any of the endgame content because I didnt whale. Proceeds to get berated by coop players because Im doing crippling damage numbers despite me perfecting my rotation
-ok bye
Playing from release, i have own crew where is 170 active players. On crew war we was in one VC with 30 people doing teamplay. Doing with my crewmates new hard raids, with coordinating and stuff. Its most lovest thing what im loving.
This game realy alive gacha in gacha, and im love it. Bc im doing well with my f2p account. And a most of the time, a good players who will be all time active playing. Its a players who dropped other MMO games, and come from. Like Wow, Bns and others.
Also this game really hard, and im love it. Thank you very much, for good video about REAL TOF
Character customization in ToF is HELLA good. Second only to Elsword
2:25 wait, a skip button!? The game's better than Genshin
Finally someone speaks my language
If the player himself doesn't care about the story why not to give the freedom to skip it?
@@diosama4609preach!
The tof community just got asmongold to react to your video, and people love it! Congrats! Hope you will visit tof again to make another video.
lmfaooo.. this is the most accurate video.. i play both genshin and tof.. i played genshin for like year then tof came out.. i just wanted to gave it a try.. play for maybe few days and then leave.. but once i got used to tof fast movement and exhilarating combat there was no turning back.. after playing tof for like month i just lost interest in genshin and left it.. sure tof is buggy and unbalanced af but its super fun as well..
after like 6 months i took break from games ig cuz of work and stuff.. then i saw genshin fountain update and tof recent patch.. started playing both.. and again I played genshin just for like 3-4 days and uninstalled after finishing few story quests (spacebar broke spamming skip dialogues) meanwhile when i came back to tof there were massive qol differences.. its actually one of those games which i certainly cant recommend to friends but cant stop playing myself.. also jumping back in game and meeting my old ingame friends was so good moment.. there were also lotta friends who left game as well..
rn tof has very low playerbase but those who continue playing knows how far this game has improved.. and if it had launched in current stage.. it would have rivalled genshin or atleast would have far better recognition..
You’ve almost made me wanna re-download this game I stop playing after a couple of weeks
The use of the enkanomiya music at the end gives HUGE chills
Loved firefall so much; my pc was so laggy and slow that I had to uninstall it but love it. Meh, I felt like I played TOF with this video, seems fun but I won’t even try it. Thank you !
Pls don't let this be lower views than Asmondbalds react ... bruh this should reach 1M.. at least..
Great review man. If the game wasnt power creeped that bad I'd keep playing. I played it a bit and took a break for maybe 3-4 month? thats when they launched the pyramid city area. I went back to the game and realize sometimes I even cant finish the daily due to the mobs in the open map being too strong. The solution was either suck it up till I grind enough on my own gear or I can instantly get stronger with the new character if I swipe.
“ like a fly on adderall “ is going right onto my list of sayings.
New video lets goooo can’t wait
Day one player here, some of us never left. Why? Because the characters look cool and the gameplay is fun!
same here and yeah the game is fun to play.
New player here same
Im still here from beta testing.
I can't describe why I like these videos but I do and it scares me.
The editing was so on point and hilarious. Loved the vid. Had me laughing all the time 😂
I think the worst part of this game was the scaling system that wasn't corrected until July 2022 (a full seven months AFTER release); basically an unplayable game once you got around to the level 60 range if you weren't farming constantly for gold equips and memories because the scaling would force you to fight higher-leveled enemies than your equipment could keep up with. For comparison, imagine having a gold artifact drop rate of 2% at World Level 6 in Genshin while the enemies are at World Level 8's health pool -- by no choice of your own. And you can only run a full domain once a day. That would break most people, and it broke me.
It's fixed now with the introduction of world levels, but oh my god I had quit the game long after Vera released because I was convinced they didn't fix the core gameplay loop. I've been telling others to back off from this game for months AFTER July 2022 because there was not much news about ToF until another Day 1 player proved me wrong. It's a LOT more manageable now, but I don't think I've ever seen such a harsh difficulty curve since Dead Frontier.
But to me Tower of Fantasy really built the world for scale, and it shows in the vehicles and diversity of traversal. Wall-running boots, grapple hooks, jetpack boosters and surfboards...Genshin just cannot compare. I hope this game improves going forward, even if I'm never going to play it again lol
Howww are you soo underrated???? Nice video btw :D
I feel like this game has a lot of potential but whatever upper management is doing is half assed competent at best
This is a pretty well-made video, and the ending there was just beautiful and sad at the same time, great job dude👍👍
Idk why I like this game so much, either because I like underdogs or because the only other option is Genshin and Genshin has laughably terrible multiplayer that feels like it was just nailed to the game last minute and has not seen any improvement in the past 2 or so years and the combat is fun to figure out what artifacts work the best together but the elemental system is pretty annoying and boring it isn't hard but it feels like it just makes fights last longer than they should
I played it at launch. I signed up early and everything because my dad thought it would be cool. Basically, my whole family (but my mom) got involved. also this is just me rambling about my experience, so, have fun with that.
My dad enjoyed it, he liked the mechanics since it was like other games he plays... he has not open the game since.
I play a lot of gacha already, Genshin Impact, Honkai (series), Cookie Run Kingdom, if it's out there, SFW and 3D AND A STORY? I probably played it. I enjoyed the game for the character customization. It was nice somewhat, I just didn't enjoy the eng dubbing at all. Not VA's fault, the translations were very weird. I still rarely play it, the mascot character that follows us around in some quests is also really cute.
My sister... oh. So we got an install that was leaked? and we got in early. The character creator was fun for her too... but then she couldn't enter the game again without it crashing as soon as it loaded to the start screen. We had no other issues but she was the only one with said issues. I believe it was just her laptop though, as she did have one with limited space. Same thing happened when she installed the lightest of games such as Onigiri.
All I can say bout this game the story never was a thing to consider to play it . Day1 player and still dont know whats going on in story.😅😂 I play it for the gameplay And lategame content.😌
3:15 The “skip cutscene”bit sent me 😂😂 subscribed
Day 1 player and I still love this game.
imo the tower of fantasy movement is the best in the genre
Wow, there's a lot of point that i haven't thinks about this game
Ive been playing for 3 weeks and i have 12 SSRs 4 weapons past level 100 the dragon smart servant all Exotic(gold) gear and have only spent 5 dollars for the grapple arm.. Somebody send Help 😅 tbh this is the most forgiving gacha game I've ever played 👌
My Firefall Steam achievements continue to be the rarest achievements on my Steam profile. Man, thats a game I haven't thought about in a long time. I really miss SciFi MMOs. Anarchy Online, Global Agenda, Eve Online, etc.
At 12:35 there's a remix of Sensei's theme from Advance Wars playing in the background
This information will help no one but I just wanna point it out e.e
Watching the video as i type this:
- Fun fact: if you let go and jump fast enough, you'll do the first jump as opposed to the double jump, so you could "double jump mid climb" and actually bypass the climbing system to pretty much climb anything no matter the height.
If youre in domain 9, its easier to use the wall running shoes though.
*Edit:* if I didnt hit my first loss 50/50, id call you out saying that didn't exist because I legit only lost that once to date... maybe its 80/20 or something? (80 being the win)
Honestly what makes this just so much better than genshin for me is literally 3 things.
1: character creator, i like being able to have the blank slate protagonist be customizable
2: multiplayer aspects, world bosses, teams and just generally all the options make it way more fun to play with a friend
3: the setting, the general sci fi setting that exists is just so much more appealing to me.
Do i wish ToF was much more polished? Obviously, it has a lot of this feeling the game isn't made on the same level of quality as something like genshin but despite lacking in quality i still enjoy it a lot more
to this day the dev still refused to fix void abyss bug where your connection blocked from server side so initial rendering is not complete. the result? you can't attack, use skills, enemy and boss didn't move, also your teammates stopped. but on another player perspective everything went normal. imagine, major bug is not fixed for years and they still had the audacity to release pay to win gatcha.
EDIT : forgot to mention few things like some button missing, can't dodge, and weapon switching is not possible. i spent at least $3k for pay to win and what did i get? lazy ass employee refused to fix bugs. also, for any of you who accuse internet problem, the bug only happen in void abyss and not anywhere else in the game. if i was lagging why other content are smooth except VA?
It's a good game to kinda turn off your brain and just have fun and differently from Genshin it's not as much of a grindy chore for a F2P player either
i played this game on release and. its very bad but its one of my favorites and i want my friends to play it also
PLEASE ANYONE tell me the name of the ambient music were used at 5:30, is this from game, trailer or somewhere else? PLEASE, can’t find it 😭
"Shifting Currents" from In Other Waters OST
All other music I used is in the end credits of the video.
@@CDVermilion thank you very much!!! Such a cool ambient music omg, suddenly that whole game has enjoyable soundtrack