The global launch of the new open-world gacha MMO Tower of Fantasy is here. Tower of Fantasy was once rumored as a "Genshin killer" and has inevitably been compared to the titan gacha action RPG (one of Android's best games). But after going hands-on with the beta and the stable release, it's proven to be anything but that, as Tower of Fantasy is its own beast entirely. The game focuses on combat while drawing players into its science fiction fantasy world with an interesting story and characters. Tower of Fantasy hits a bit of everything, but more importantly, how accessible it is to liberally play a game with your friends while not worrying if it's too demanding to run on your best Android phone.
MMOs and gacha games on mobile are not afraid to throw in a bunch of grindy systems to keep players busy, so that's precisely why Android Police is here to deliver an introduction on how to get to grips with these early systems; setting up your account for the first time, how exploration and story mode works while breaking down the combat and basic gameplay features, and information on the gacha systems that you'll encounter playing Tower of Fantasy.
You'll create an account tied to your email, but you can also choose to log in via a third party (Twitter, Facebook, Google, Line, and as a guest). Tap Register Now and enter your email address and password. You'll have to verify your information by inputting a verification code.
The character you create will be your in-game avatar in Tower of Fantasy. You'll have options to customize your character the way you want: hairstyles, eyes, body structure, and extra facial features/clothing.
If character customization is too overwhelming, you can select a preset from the default/popular list or tap on Lobby to view other users' creations. Note: Selecting another user's uploaded creation will import the data directly.
Once you're done with character customization, tap Complete and select Ok to save and use this look.
Servers are separated by region, and once you've selected a server, you won't be able to play with friends from other servers; there's no cross-play between servers. We recommend planning and coordinating your primary server before playing.
You can select your sound settings, camera preferences/camera sensitivity, display options, resolution, FPS, view controller mapping (re-mapping isn't available yet), and language settings. We recommend reviewing the controller mapping if you're using a controller and setting your FPS to the highest your device can perform consistently.
You'll always be able to change your settings later while in the main menu, so don't worry about finding the perfect settings immediately.
You'll undergo a brief tutorial and then wake up to select your character/username. Once you've chosen your character/username, you're set to explore Aida.
The story is continued by completing quests; you'll automatically navigate to the next quest marker once you've selected your preferred navigation/exploration option during the tutorial.
You're free to explore around the map, where you'll use a jetpack to traverse from low to high ground (be aware that it goes on a long cool down after using), pick up items, cook, and find chests on top of buildings and around monster camps (note that some chests are shared among players, but these chests will respawn).
Tower of Fantasy encourages exploration; opening up your map lists your exploration progress at the bottom-right. Tapping on a region pulls up your explore progress, where you can claim rewards after reaching a milestone. Rewards can range from Dark Crystals, Gold Nuclei, and upgrade materials.
Traversing the map can be done using the quick travel system (such as Spacerift locations), sprinting (which doesn't consume endurance during sprinting), and riding mounts. You'll depend on your jetpack for vertical movement to land on platforms, reach floating objects, and fly to high ground.
Targets are auto-locked while in combat; you can dodge, normal attack (tap), charge attack (hold), aim down sights on some weapons, and activate a weapon skill. You can seamlessly change between weapons, and if you perform a perfect dodge, time freezes, and swapping weapons unleashes powerful skills.
You'll combo your different weapon attacks and skills to take down enemies. Tower of Fantasy also depends on aerial movement and unleashing weapon attacks while in the air. The combat will feel "floaty" compared to other ARPGs, but performing techs in the air can save your endurance/the need to dodge while chaining together your weapon combos.
As expected from standard MMO practices, you'll acquaint yourself with a role while playing on a team. Your weapon combinations will determine your role. If you pair up two support weapons, you'll gain benediction resonance; if you pair two DPS weapons, you'll get attack resonance, and pairing two defense weapons gains you fortitude resonance.
Conforming to a single role is much easier than choosing the balance option for team play events. The bonuses make it easier to zone into a dependable role; it's a good idea to have at least one dedicated healer and a tank, so you'll look into equipping the benediction resonance and fortitude resonance, respectively.
Elements play a crucial role while you're exploring and engaging in combat. Obstructions on the map are only broken with the correct element, or you may find elemental bombs to aid you if you're missing that element. Only four elements are present in the global version: fire, ice, physical, and volt. Your weapons are tied to an element, and it is always wise to have one of each type upgraded and available for swapping. When you're unsure which element to bring into combat, we recommend bringing physical (not technically an element) for the versatility of short cooldowns and decent DPS scaling.
Once you've determined the resonance you want to aim for, you'll look into elements and weapon specialties. Every weapon will have an element, and some allow element resonance for additional bonus effects. Weapon specialties are determined if you're better at shatter or charge. Any value over 10 by shatter or charge means your weapon specializes in that sub-role. Shatter-based weapons enable shield break; you'll break the enemy shield faster if you use a shatter-focused weapon. Attacking with charged-based weapons increases the energy gauge for your other weapons, used to unleash your skills.
You'll aim to string together shatter and charge weapons since breaking the enemy shields can potentially save everyone from a devastating blow. On the other hand, other weapons require unleashing skills to perform essential duties such as buffs/heals, so you'll want a high up-time on those energy gauges. Having shatter and charge weapons at your disposal will bring you a long way into an intense boss fight.
To collect characters, "Simulacra," you'll acquire their weapons. Simulacra are just character skins for the weapons you'll obtain. The main focus in Tower of Fantasy is your weapons and how you customize your loadout. Weapons have effects, and pairing synergistic weapons together unlocks resonance (bonuses for elements and skills). For the most part, you'll link SR and SSR weapons together; only three rarities exist, rare (R), secret rarity (SR), and super secret rarity (SSR). The higher the rarity, the more challenging the weapon is to obtain. Wearing a powered-up Simulacrum also unlocks traits, which are passives that boost your weapons to enable a play style within the team (e.g., tank, support, shield break, and dealing damage).
You'll be able to pull on gacha banners (caches) once you've completed the Ecological Station story quest, which will jump you straight into ordering a weapon tutorial where you'll receive the SR Thunderous Halberd.
To access the banners open your menu, then tap Special Orders.
Banners are categorized as weapons or matrices. The weapon banners are likely what you'll summon for most of the game; Matrices requires special vouchers and proof of purchase items for summoning, which are available from shops, events, and exploration milestones.
Three types of currency are used to summon on the weapon banner: Black Nucleus, Gold Nucleus, Red Nucleus, and Matrix chips. You can also convert your Dark Crystals into Gold Nuclei and Red Nuclei (150 Dark Crystals for 1 Gold Nucleus/Red Nucleus). We strongly recommend only converting your Dark Crystals into Red Nuclei since Red Nuclei are only used on limited-time weapon banners and are much more scarce of a resource to obtain.
You are guaranteed an SSR at 80 pulls; however, summoning with Black Nucleus will not count towards your pity. If you reach an SSR before your 80th pull, the pity counter does not reset, so that means you are still guaranteed to get another SSR at pull 80. SRs are at least guaranteed every 10 pulls (not counting Black Nucleus), so practice saving up for 10 pulls every session if you can.
If you're playing during launch, global receives a gift pack "SSR weapon box" (700 points milestone reward) during an event where you'll select a starter SSR for free from a list:
You'll eventually acquire more SSRs as you summon on the rate-up banners, so your starting SSR can be whatever you'd prefer to try out or if you have a planned synergy for your team. One popular duo choice initially is Nemesis and Samir (Dual EM Stars) as a support/DPS combo for volt teams. Otherwise, the choice is yours on whether you're aiming to become a support, tank, or DPS main.
You'll notice that completing story missions, doing your daily bounties, and spending vitality will net you many experience points. Eventually, you'll gain levels faster than anything else. Sadly, level spiking is a detrimental feature for overall account progress, making you quickly become underpowered if you can't keep up with upgrades and collect synergistic SSRs. Enemies and bosses scale with your level, so you're put in a position where you must outpace the recommended average Combat Score.
Combat Score is a designated number based on weapon loadout and gear. To increase your Combat Score, you are required to upgrade your equipment. Each weapon displays an individual Combat Score, determining which weapons need more attention and priority when farming weapon mats. The next is checking your matrices; every weapon has four slots to equip matrices. Working on equipping and enhancing SR and SSR matrices is vital if you want your weapons to improve vastly. Improving your weapons is the key to raising your Combat Score!
Upgrading your suppressor also increases Combat Score, but you must reach a Combat Score threshold before upgrading. So this should be the second priority after working on your weapons. You can also equip and level up armor to increase your Combat Score; you'll farm more armor as you complete challenges, don't overly invest in low-rarity armor!
The ability to explore an enthralling world with your friends makes Tower of Fantasy an attractive game that offers customizable playstyles influenced heavily by the gacha elements. The crossover between MMO and gacha might seem like a recipe for disaster, but thankfully, the game is balanced around having built up resources gained just by playing (and some patience). We can expect further improvements to Tower of Fantasy once Vera 2.0 launches, which is coming soon. If you're curious to see if Tower of Fantasy can hold your attention and want to bring your friends along while exploring, we've linked the installation widget below.