Saturday, April 28, 2018

(Nintendo Switch) Hototogisu Tairan - First Impressions

Yeah, I kinda skipped a new game post to go right into the first impressions, but that is because this isn't one of those games that you can "complete", since the main content are single battles against CPU and Players, with only a tutorial for a scenario.

...Yeah, I think I play too many card games these days...

Let me just put down some information before going into it

Official Site:
Official Twitter:

Nintendo Switch JP eShop only
1000 Yen (10 dollars)

BTW, some gameplay videos I uploaded
Pictures can speak a thousand words, as they say

Yes, I am shown using Yoshimoto in the above video, but I later reset and switched for Nobunaga instead.

To be honest, the biggest "con" of this game is that it was released at near the same time as War of Brains' new pack. Because I'm all excited about that, and have not as much time to explore this game.
And in War of Brains, all characters have different voices, while in this game, there aren't specific voices for the characters.
But that really isn't part of the game content, so put that aside.

As far as it goes for me, I am just playing against myself and not humans, since I am busy focusing on other stuff, but as far as a 10 dollar Card Game goes, I think it is satisfactory.

The UI itself isn't bad, with the ability to fastforward and skip animation in battle. The battles don't take that long, being around 10 minutes or so at most.
There is narrations for all "Spell" cards as well as abilities when they are used, and as far as it goes for me, it is interesting to learn how to pronounce them. But as said above, these can be skipped.

I have not played the game long enough to really understand how balanced or not balanced it is, so I can't really say if the balance is good or not. Considering there is a simulation aspect to the game, you can't really... how do I say it, it isn't that black and white.
Other than Common-rarity cards, there is a limit to how many of each rarity you can add to your deck.

You get missions every day, and by just winning against the CPU 4 times a day, you get enough to open two booster packs. You can earn more if you choose to fight and win against human players.
The available booster packs are
-Completely Random
Completely random has all of the cards, including Neutral. Because there are less cards, there is a lower chance (I think) of getting rarer cards, but it is cheaper. And it is the only way to get Neutral cards.
The color-specific packs literally only gives you cards from that pack.
So you are given enough resources to play the game to its fullest without spending extra money. Of course, if you can't wait, then you can pay real money to get in-game money to buy cards.

As far as CPU AI intelligence goes, they aren't that great, but I think they are okay. Not so stupid they are absolutely predictable, but not so hard that it gets stressful to win.

For visuals, there isn't too much to say. What do you expect from a card game? I mean, the high-level rarity units are understandably drawn by better illustrators, you may say. You can check from the official website, but for people that cannot understand Japanese and move around the site, here

In conclusion, I think it is a worthy buy if you like card games. I mean, 10 dollars to play a card game? That is actually pretty cheap, if you think about it. And perhaps the game is even better if you are a maniac of the themes of the game.
Also, the game('s staff) says that they will continue to provide updates to the game, and there are parts of the menu that exist but are inaccessible at the moment. As far as that goes, time will tell.

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