Tower of Fantasy arrived earlier in August and the game has garnered over 10 million downloads in less than two weeks. Developer Hotta Games has done a good job with the gameplay systems but there are also some underlying problems that are holding the game back. Here are some of the things I wish I knew before I started Tower of Fantasy.
Keep Up With the Level Grind
Try to keep up with the level grind and reach the current cap as much as possible. You will unlock tons of new content including dreams, Wormhole, Frontier Clash, PVP, and more as you level up. There are a lot of activities to do in this game and you will be missing out on a lot if you are not leveling yourself up.
Start Working on Traits
Each SSR weapon has a passive ability or Trait that you can enable. You can use the Trait even without having the associated weapon equipped. For example, You can take advantage of Huma’s shield trait while being onfield with your DPS loadout.
To level up traits you need to get Gifts for your Simulacra and different items can net you different amounts of points. You can check how many Awakening points you can get per item, to fasten the level-up process. It takes 1200 points to receive your first Awakening trait and 4000 points to get a better version of it.
Optimize Your Gameplay Settings
Two things you should do is turn off your skill animations and auto-climb. While skill animations can be a lot of fun to look at the first few times, they actually take too much time in some cases. If you are playing Bygone Phantasm or need to pull off an urgent ultimate during a boss fight, you want to save those precious seconds.
Turning off auto-climb is also very important in Tower of Fantasy. The climbing mechanics are very frustrating in Tower of Fantasy and auto-climb ends up being more of a nuisance than a help. Exploration becomes significantly easier once you have the jetpack and Cybernetic Arm, which can save you from climbing most of the time.
It Can be Very Difficult to Get Your Favorite Weapons
Tower of Fantasy is a very generous game when it comes to giving you Gold Nucleus, which is essentially the “standard” banner currency. The game also gives you a lot of Black Nucleus, which is yet another permanent banner with much lower drop rates.
However, Dark Crystals can be a lot more difficult to get. The game gives you enough Dark Crystals to obtain Nemesis or save up for a future weapon right now. But once you reach the endgame, the number of Dark Crystals you get will dwindle in comparison. It is impossible to get every weapon in the game as a free-to-play player unless you are absurdly lucky. So you need to save up for weapons that you really want to use.
Building The Right Team
To build a team that can help you clear content solo, you want a Charge weapon, a Shatter weapon, and some synergy between your weapons. You can go for double tank/healer/DPS weapons or you can have a balanced loadout. Having multiple elements can also help out a lot.
High Charge weapons help recharge your other weapons faster while high Shatter weapons have an easier time breaking shields. Ideally, you want to have one of each type so the third slot can be flexed. It is a good idea to have some form of healing to ensure you do not have to rely on food all the time.
Addressing The Power Creep Concerns
Unlike the Chinese version of the game, Hotta Games is taking measures to address power creep in the game. Some of the weapons that did not have elemental or physical resonance now have access to it according to leaks for upcoming Simulacra (Claudia and Cobalt-B) which can help bridge the gap between them and future Simulacra.
Global versions of Simulacra are also weaker in some cases to address balancing concerns. You may have heard that Tower of Fantasy is notorious for power creep in the China servers but it may be a little overblown. Unless you want to be on the PVP and PVE leaderboards, you will be able to clear content just fine and you shouldn’t struggle long-term with well-invested weapons.
Be Responsible With Your Money
Gacha games or any kind of game with “gambling” mechanics can be risky. Just because you see someone around you running around with the shiniest new weapon does not mean that you should give up a chunk of your savings to obtain it. The monthly pass might be one of the better ways to get Dark Crystals if you really want an extra chunk of crystals but even that adds up to $60 USD per year, which might be a lot for some players depending on their circumstances and where they live.
You should spend on the game only if you can afford to and really want to get certain weapons, or if you simply want to support the devs. Do not fall into peer pressure and be responsible with your money. Getting every weapon in the game itself can be very expensive and if you add the cost of matrices and extra copies for advancements, it can run you tens of thousands of dollars over time. If you are someone with an addictive personality and are prone to spending too much money, you need to be extra careful.
Closing Thoughts
Tower of Fantasy has been a blast to play despite some shortcomings. The game requires some polish and Hotta Games has shown its willingness to offer long-term replayability and has taken measures to reduce power creep in the global version of the game. The title has potential and if it gets a proper endgame, it might end up being one of the better free-to-play MMO releases in recent years. Despite its “gacha” mechanics, the game can be a lot of fun considering you get a few free SSR weapons if you put in some time in the game and earn those launch rewards.
