Three Skies Ascension

This could have been a great game... but it crashes randomly and freezes the game and then I have to force close the game. The occurs during combat and currently makes the game unplayable. Additionally, everything seems like it's connected to some server? Get rewards > server load Get new unit > server load It almost seems like this game was a gacha phone game port or was made in that fashion. Why do I have to login / register an account to play this game? I'm also afraid that if the servers ever go down, I can no longer play the game???? There is a treasure of a game underneath this crude. I've refunded the game, but might come back if they fix this game....

I rarely leave a negative review and am tempted to here, admittedly, since the game is online only, and given the dearth of players, if they shut down the servers, I question whether I'll still have access to the game. Right now, you can't play it at all if you have no internet connection. This should have been better advertised as an online only game (it's not obvious unless you look at the roadmap). The gameplay itself is derivative of Firestone Online crossed with Darkest Dungeon, but it has an anime aesthetic. It's difficult, too. I like difficult games, so this is a plus for me. It has some decent gameplay elements. If you are unfazed by the online-only aspect of this, then it's got a hefty amount of content. However, it could use some QoL improvements. The skip-turn/rest ability is buried under two layers of menus. That should be a top-level menu item. You can collect enemies as party members after defeating them, and while this is not an original feature, it's a welcome inclusion.

Full disclaimer, I am a freelance QA tester for Three Skies Ascension, and I have had an absolute blast working on the game. If you're interested in a game that combines Pokemon and a lite version of Darkest Dungeon, then this is the game for you. I had a great time experiencing the story to the end, and the team has been open to feedback and suggestions since day one. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

This game is not a walk in the park. Its learning curve is rather steep, so I recommend trying the demo before buying. I enjoy the difficulty, although it was a bit frustrating at first. After doing a few runs in the demo, I got the hang of it. The capturing, bonding, and, of course, winning aspects are very satisfying. At the moment, it seems there hasn't been much attention given to this game since its release, which is a pity. Once you master some of the mechanics, the game becomes highly enjoyable.

This is a creative take on "hardcore" style Turn-based games like Darkest Dungeon with the unit development of a Pokemon game. (Natures, Shiny, IVs from Pokemon are all part of unit development in this game.) The map-to-map exploration offers very little uniqueness and encounters get a bit tedious, but the game itself understands what makes both Darkest Dungeon and Pokemon fun and interactive games and captures the blend of both very well. There are some bugs on launch that are noticeable and there are some frustrating mechanics that are left unaddressed at different times (permanent buffs and debuffs are certainly not enjoyable) BUT this game is WELL worth the $12 purchase tag. Good DEVs, good community and a fun overall game. Well worth the money and well worth your time. I am hopeful there will be expansions to online PVP and story or additional missions set up to acquire new units. I would be willing to continue to pay for added content in the future!

I'll keep an eye on this and see if they actually follow through on road map goals, but this game's been in development mode for a long time now and it's still missing a great deal of finesse. The developers would have been better off giving this an alpha and avoiding releasing it to the public in this state, they've done themselves and this game a disservice as most likely people that walk away aren't going to come back when it's "finished". - No offline mode : This is an essential feature, I shouldn't even have the option to play this until this is possible. It should not be an afterthought or a roadmap goal. If I need to be online to play your game, I shouldn't have to pay for it, first. If I buy it, it's mine, I should be able to play it any time, all the time. End of story. - Unnecessary randomness: You can bring multiple characters with you on each dungeon run, but the amount that participate in battle depend on how many enemies attack you and, worse, when a fight starts, it might start with characters you didn't even want in the battle, including monsters you just recruited. So, then, you have to waste a turn using the 'swap' feature, which has the added bonus of adding an extra long cooldown to one of their abilities, or do it without the use of a skill, which costs you the whole turn itself. If I could physically slap across the face whomever thought of this, it would bring me a level of unclench I can't express with words; and I'm very good with my words. - Beginner bugs: I would expect something with as many features, in development for this amount of time, to have basic components of a game down. There's a lot of these little nuisances, but they build up to feel much greater than they are. For instance, when you hover over your character's stats in town, all of them display the same tooltip (about HP, i.e., health). The one, universal stat that every gamer already knows about is the only one you can read the explanation of, the rest just repeat said tooltip. These are the kinds of things one would expect to be cleaned up in the Alpha/Beta stage, not years later when the game is old enough to be offered on discount. This game was developed backwards. They had ideas for character designs and a story someone was excited to write (which, btw, is very forgettable) and started there, making the gameplay feel like an afterthought despite there being 200+ characters to collect. What they should have done was written a Webtoon and left the game development to people that actually want to create video games for people that actually want to play video games.

Gameplay mechanisms are pretty good with lots of characters and scope for customisation. Story is interminable nonsense chatter that doesn't really mean anything and is better skipped. But the main reason for the downvote on an otherwise pretty decent game is that it will often freeze during a fight for no reason whatsoeve (seems to be fixed). This is more an irritation than a deal breaker because the autosave means you wont lose anything but your time but it's still annoying enough for me to change what would have been a positive review to a negative one. The PvP side also gets a negative because even at this early stage post release players are already making certain characters into unkillable self healing metas. And given how hard it can be to beat other players the rewards make "arena" fairly pointless. *edit* Crashes now seem less frequent and when they do happen it seems to be in relation to arena. After more than 80 hours played the addictive nature of building up a ton of characters and the sheer size and value of the game in respect to what it costs can't be ignored. ( I am only just over 1/3 through) Only minor bugs here and there but the story is zzz. *shrug* . Still, this game is more about the mechanics and they are good.

This game plays like a hybrid of Mobile RPG and creature collector but without the usual mobile game nastiness. Feels good to have a complete game for a set price. If you've ever played RAID:Shadow Legends or Epic Seven, you'll feel at home here. It very much reminds me of those two games but without the FOMO elements that push you to spend more money or play like it's your second job. My two complaints: - The game requires you to be online, though there's an offline mode in the roadmap - Navigating the map is a bit disorienting. You'll sometimes reach the end of a hallway and will be presented with the option to move West to the next area. Once you arrive, you'd naturally think "Well, I should move left now" but the game expects you to continue moving right. Minor thing but can get annoying.

So far I am really enjoying the game. My favorite hero is HUGO! Attacks/skills are pretty unique. After the first world dungeons start getting pretty difficult and I love that. I actually need to make calculated choices in order to progress. The bosses are fun and really freaking cool. Some bugs/issues that seem to get patched quickly.

There are some rough edges, but I think this could be a really stellar game with some further polish. I hope it could be something of a successor to siralim ultimate (with pokemon, a gacha, and some DD), and the most recent update's dramatic increase to monster customization is moving in the right direction. Offline mode is needed but apparently on the way. monster/teambuilding has apparently 2x the depth compared to the last time I played. The devs seem responsive and active. This is a positive review because I am confident the game will flourish iff the current trajectory (stellar idea -> passable execution -> polishing!) is followed. bug report: killing the last enemy in a trainer encounter with spikes softlocks. -- particularly selecting 'prayer' when there is no enemy left, in a trainer battle bugs the ui out of existence, but I can't use other moves bc there is no enemy to target. i guess i should be able to escape the mission though. there is too much loading, and what does "super" do???