by ByteStixWhat is Tower of Fantasy?
Welcome back to another episode of “what is MMO?” – a series where we take a look at brand new upcoming MMOs and discuss not only the pros, but also the cons of every title on the horizon while simultaneously exploring whether or not we should be eagerly anticipating the game.
Today, we’re discussing Tower of Fantasy, a cross-platform sci-fi Anime MMORPG from Hotta Studio that many players have claimed looks and feels a lot like Genshin Impact.. if Genshin were an MMO.
And while some people think Genshin is.. it really isn’t.
So, I’m quite the avid Anime fan. I’ve watched hundreds of Anime series over the years with some of my favorites consisting of Code Geass, Cowboy Bebop, Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
Tower of Fantasy is right up my alley. This is an Anime MMO that genuinely looks and feels like an Anime game. The graphical aesthetic looks and feels absolutely fantastic. The environments are all large and filled with personality. The character models look like they were ripped right out of an Anime series.
Speaking of, this wouldn’t really be an MMO without layers of customization, right? Well, Tower of Fantasy offers quite a sizeable number of customization options when creating your character. More than most Anime MMOs do.
I’ve found that Anime games offer some of the least creative character choices out of any sub-genre, yet Anime series themselves are so creative in the stories they tell. It’s such a bizarre contrast.
The world is bright and vibrant, your abilities are all flashy and impactful. Albeit not everyone will appreciate that as some complaints I’ve heard about Final Fantasy XIV is that there are too many effects going on at any given time.
And speaking of abilities and effects, I guess that leads me into the combat. The combat in Tower of Fantasy is 100% action. You’re required to aim your abilities entirely and are given no aim-assistance that I’ve seen.
Granted I haven’t seen every class in action, but I’ve seen enough weapon types actively engaging enemies that it’d be weird to have one or two that do.
There are a significant number of different weapons each with their own unique combat style, strengths and weaknesses available for players.
The world is large with plenty to see and explore.
The game provides environmental interaction which isn’t something typically seen within the MMO genre. Players are capable of climbing any wall—any cliff or mountain. They can scale objects large and small to reach areas you wouldn’t otherwise be capable of reaching.
This provides a new sense of depth to not only exploration, but also to the utilizing of terrain to your advantage both within PvE and PvP.
While I’m uncertain to the degree that dungeons and/or raids are available, the PvP is something they haven’t touched on verbally, but have shown off in 2 separate trailers.
Utilizing terrain to your advantage is going to be a crucial part of gaining the upper hand over your opponents and ultimately assuring victory. And given the type of combat we’ve seen, players with good reflexes and a good sense of their environment are going to flourish.
There are plans to provide a variety of different methods of transportation either when the game inevitably launches, or somewhere down the development line, with promises of things like hover boards, jet packs, and various types of land and aerial mounts to earn and obtain. And probably buy as well.
There appears to be a type of narrative present that is going to propel you through the game. It is only in Chinese presently so it’s difficult to really ascertain any type of meaningful information.
Speaking of the language, Tower of Fantasy is a Chinese MMO. This might turn some of you away due to the fact that they’re typically known to either be pay to win or heavy on the grind. However, Korean MMOs are equally, if not even more pay to win and they’re some of the most popular games in the world.
Again, as the game is only in Chinese, we can be certain the game will be a little ways off releasing outside of its country of origin. There is no scheduled release date for Tower of Fantasy right this moment but it is expected sometime in 2022.
It’s doubtful we’ll be capable of playing that without at least a translation and possibly a VPN but I’m hopeful we’ll get the game sometime soon.
It’s also worth noting that there was a beta test that took place recently, however there are no upcoming beta tests on the horizon.
Tower of Fantasy has a gorgeous Anime inspired world.
It has some smooth, impactful looking combat animations.
Being cross-platform compatible means that the playerbase has the potential to be several times larger than it otherwise would have.
There is plenty of customization – both in terms of your physical appearance and your combat style in-game.
Yet I haven’t seen much in terms of build customization.
Since it’s cross-platform compatible it means mechanically, the game might be limited as it will have to function on mobile devices as well.
World PvP isn’t for everyone, and while open-world PvP wasn’t necessarily confirmed, the trailers made it look as though there was the potential for non-instanced PvP.
This is a Chinese MMO – which leaves the potential for pay to win.
This game is still at least a year off releasing.
Ultimately, Tower of Fantasy has been one of my most anticipated MMOs for the last year. It looks gorgeous and plays incredibly well. You can customize some seriously sick Anime characters in-game and the combat looks like a whole lotta fun.
The only competition Tower of Fantasy will have to deal with is probably Blue Protocol, but Blue Protocol is going to be a PC exclusive so I doubt they’ll invade each others’ playerbases. This is what Genshin Impact could’ve been if it were an MMO like we were all hoping it was.
