Fantasy Tales Gets You in the Gacha World
Like most mobile MMORPGs, Ling Chai’s Fantasy Tales: Sword and Magic’s main focus is engaging players for as long as possible with shiny new upgrades and gadgets while maintaining a fun and exciting combat experience. At this point, the formula has become stale for most games in the genre. Although Fantasy Tales: Sword and Magic encounters many of these pitfalls, it does have aspects that make it stand out compared to its counterparts.
Easy Start!
Compared to other games in the genre, Fantasy Tales takes little effort to get into. The game minimizes the complexities of aesthetic customization during class and character selection, pushing most players towards defaulting to their preferred visual or gameplay styles. The classic offerings of warrior, mage, fighter, healer and assassin are all present, with visuals adeptly conveying the essence of each class. Without the labels given to the characters, one can easily see which character belongs to which class.
This easy startup process, along with the great tutorial and informative main story, makes the game quite accessible for seasoned MMORPG fans. The main story serves as a vehicle to teach basic combat and skills to the player and the game does an excellent job of keeping this concise while educating the player on all available features. Progressing through this story unlocks features at a quick but not overwhelming pace.
Fighting Enjoyment
Fantasy Tales’ progression is mostly built on quest lines from the main story. However, the execution of these quest lines tends to lean toward the stale side, particularly in combat. Although the combat is no different from other mobile MMORPGs, the animations from the player character are uninspired. The enemy design and combat are also unoriginal, making it easy for anyone to anticipate how characters and enemies fight.
While the progression may be boring, the UI does an excellent job of keeping players engaged. For players who enjoy clicking through different achievements and upgrades, Fantasy Tales will likely prove a solid first-rate experience. Even the game’s Adventure Tome, allows players to click through every character or new enemy encountered. This allows completionists to polish off a checklist in a satisfying way. The sound design and UI built excellently.
Echoes of Disappointment
However, the English voice acting needs improvement. The quality of the voice actors and their performances range from okay to terrible. There are instances where it’s evident that no mixing has been done on the audio. This results in varying volumes and abrupt moments of echo. An annoying bug in the game sometimes changes the English audio to Chinese at random points in the story, further detracting from the immersive experience.
Although the guild system is well done, providing an enjoyable experience with little to no visible lag between players and the different events and microtransactions do not feel forced, it’s essential to address the numerous drawbacks that significantly diminish the overall appeal of Fantasy Tales. The accumulation of bad audio design, uninspired combat and others not mentioned make it challenging to wholeheartedly recommend Fantasy Tales: Sword and Magic.
Is It Hardcore?
No.
Unfortunately, Fantasy Tales: Sword and Magic’s significant downsides inhibit almost every style of play. Except for players solely interested in multiplayer and guild-style play, there’s no scenario where combat is not a hindrance to enjoyment. The immersion-breaking voice acting, even for casual players, can be jarring to the daily dopamine hit. While the game has its merits, at this state, it is not one that can be wholeheartedly recommended.
