Sony ending service of Destiny of Spirits

We regret to inform you that Sony Computer Entertainment will be ending service of Destiny of Spirits on June 30, 2015 (Tuesday). After this date, you will not be able to play or access the game, and all unused Destiny Orbs will expire.

http://www.jp.playstation.com/op/players/dos/en/important/info_20150326.html

Destiny of Spirits review

I wrote the first guide and I've spent more than 4 months on the game and beat it without relying on premiums, so this's probably the best review you can get on the Internet.

The Good

• You can "beat the game" (clear all the areas) without spending real money
• At one point, you can farm (for Summon Stones/Spirit Points) all day long without resting
• Combat is simple and casual-friendly
• Friend List is huge (up to 100 slots)
• Destiny Summon gives away a free spirit daily
• Spirit Hunting feature gives away free spirits
• It has trade function
• Raid Point generation is fast

The Bad

• Practically only 1-2 Super Rare allowed in the party
• All party members share SP gauge for abilities
• Some spirits have abilities so good it makes other spirits useless
• Super Rare is useless at endgame without Limit Breaking 4 times
• Limit Breaking a Super Rare 4 times is difficult (requires 4 Jokers or duplicates)
• Touchscreen input only
• Transition between windows is slow
• Long wait at start screens
• Spirit renting fee is too high, even from friends
• No deck saving (no switching between decks)
• Cannot confirm Raid Point number at main screen
• No ability and status preview of the spirits in the shop

Biggest Problem: Gameplay Limitation
In order to fill up all 5 slots in the party, you can only use 1-2 Super Rare, to maximize the damage at endgame. There're not many reasons to collect lower-tier Super Rares since you don't get to use them anyway. Furthermore, since all party members share the same SP gauge, you're forced to use only the best abilities for the entire fight. It kills creativity.

In my opinion, most of supportive abilities are useless because it costs too much SP. The cost of these low priority abilities should be lower. This's the best solution that requires only little tweak and doesn't ruin the game balance.

This game also should have a synthesis that lets you overwrite spirit's ability and skill. This will change the game dramatically as you'll be able to create a good looking spirit with the meaningful ability and skill.

Let's play Chain Chronicle V

I wrote a guide of Chain Chronicle V. If you can access JP PSN Store (and are not afraid to try new things) you should try this game.
 

My Progress 20140716

Start: March 20 (10 PM)
Area cleared: 458
Max Party Cost: 16.0
Real money spent on paid summon: 0
Real money spent on continue: 0
Real money spent on healing: 0
Real money spent on changing fortune: 0

• None of my Rs reached LV50 (LV43 at best)
• None of my SRs reached LV65
• Highest LV: 60 (Yellow Emperor)
• Highest HP: 1985 (Yellow Emperor)
• Highest ATK: 507 (Yellow Emperor)
• Highest SPD: 540 (Hattori Hanzo)
• Main party formation: 1SR+4R (or sometimes 2SR+2R+1UC)

I finally cleared all the areas!

My Progress 20140711

Start: March 20 (10 PM)
Area cleared: 454
Max Party Cost: 16.0
Real money spent on paid summon: 0
Real money spent on continue: 0
Real money spent on healing: 0
Real money spent on changing fortune: 0

• 4 areas left (Light or Dark bosses)
• 1,028,432 Summon Stones
• 213,742 Spirit Points
• None of my Rs reached LV50 (LV43 at best)
• None of my SRs reached LV65
• Highest LV: 60 (Yellow Emperor)
• Highest HP: 1985 (Yellow Emperor)
• Highest ATK: 507 (Yellow Emperor)
• Highest SPD: 540 (Hattori Hanzo)
• Main party formation: 1SR+4R (or sometimes 2SR+2R+1UC)

To answer reader's question: "Which stat do you prefer when you select your party? Attack? Speed? Level? HP?"


My rules

1. Whoever has better attacking ability
2. HP/ATK/SPD doesn't really matter to me (the more the better)
3. Try to fit all 5 slots
4. I don't use Uncommon that has low HP (1000 or less)

My Progress 20140703

Start: March 20 (10 PM)
Area cleared: 432
Max Party Cost: 16.0
Real money spent on paid summon: 0
Real money spent on continue: 0
Real money spent on healing: 0
Real money spent on changing fortune: 0

Full month without any normal summon (since June 3) but I used old teams to clear 77 more areas. I have 26 areas left (until I conquer the world).

I can't play this game intensively anymore. Even if I get a Super Rare, it's useless without 4 Jokers. And Jokers are very rare.

When looking closely, Million Arthurs is better in this aspect. In MA, it's much easier to get a lot of good cards, AND much easier to upgrade it. I have plenty of good cards at max level and too many choices. I didn't spend any money.

That said, I like MA more than DoS at the moment. (I switch between games when I have to wait for the regenerations.)

PS.
To answer question of reader: I don't know how to spawn the Bahamut. Sorry.

Daily Raid Event "Dragons Summit"

The new raid event Dragons Summit satisfies me, because it addressed the last problem in previous raid events.

The Joker rewards now can be obtained only by raising Conquest Number, and there're rewards beyond CN 300. This will encourage players to help each other more.

In previous raid events, I stopped helping friends when my CN is about to reach 300. Make no mistake, I wanted to help, but it was better to spend Raid Points to raise Conquest Level for more rewards.

There's a new complaint though. For example, most people set Wood spirit as leader in Friday to fight Earth dragon. This makes clearing an area more difficult since you have less choices.