Dot Defense
Developer: System Prisma - The creator of Classic Dungeon and when they were part of N1, Soul Nomad.
System = PSP digital download only
Release Date: Available now on JPN PSN, US ???, EU ????
Price = 1200yen (~$15 at terrible current exchange rate)
What is it?
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TOWER DEFENSE GAME
but with that complex stat crazy, loot crazy System Prisma twist
Modes?
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Play:
Campaign - Tutorial & 1 campaign included. Campaigns are 1-50 stages long.
Random Campaign - Start with low-rank random campaign (size/length/difficulty) unlock higher rank random campaigns as you clear it
User Campaign - self-explanatory
Return
Create:
Create Campaign - Create your own campaigns and share them with your friends.
Create Music - 8-bit music creator to make your own BGMs.
Help:
Return to Title:
Save:
Options:
How to Play?
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Here is my basic guide to how the systems work so you can play it even if you don't understand moonspeak!
Some basic understands: Everything is based on MONEY (ガネ
and MANA (マナMoney is used to buy your starting GROUP PANEL and the units you want to include in it. You gain money at the end of each map + from treasures after previous map.
Mana is used to spawn units and upgrade them mid-battle. Mana is gained during battle from killing enemies + from treasures on the previous map.
When you start a stage you will see this screen, the number in the top right is your MONEY
1st option = Buy your panel.
The first number is the cost, the 2nd is how many hits your base can take before dying. Then the faces are slots you can hire people and put them in. The other things are modifiers. A sword pointing to a face means you can put an ITEM in there and it will modfiy whatever it's pointing at. A magic book means you can put a one time use spell in there to summon in battle. A 1/2 block means any unit it modifies has their stats cut in 1/2. At the bottom of the panel there are usually 2 words. Each is a special command you can use in the battle.
1st one = All units of the same type are strengthened and do more damage for limited time
2nd = all units are strengthened and do more damage for a limited time
3rd = for a limited time, unit will stop and defend and recover 20HP
4th = ground attack up / air attack up; unit will stop for a period of time and then gain +1 for either
5th = Heal 10HP for 5 mana
6th = You can remove unit from map and recover 5 or 7 mana
7th = Whatever exp the unit needs to level up, you can pay double that in mana to level them mid-battle
Next option on map screen: Look at upcoming map.
You can see the enemy types whether they are：
地上型 = ground enemy
飛型 = air enemy
and if there's PURPLE under their name it means they're undead [アンデッド] (take ton of damage, instant kill with nun)
You can see the number of each enemy type, the level, the specific stats on the bottom (HP/ATK/SPD/Attack frequency/Attack Range), and the order they will arrive in. You can also see how much mana you will start with in the corner.
Next option on map screen: Select Unit
MONEY cost - to add them to panel
MANA cost - to summon them in battle
HP
Ground ATK
Air ATK
Attack frequency (lower the number the faster they attack)
Attack range
You can level them up by hitting [] which will increase the cost money-wise and mana-wise.
UNIT TYPES at levels 1-3: (Left to Right, Top to Bottom)
New soldier lvl.1 - strong against kraken (クラケン
New soldier lvl.2 - strong against kraken
New soldier lvl.3 - can attack air enemies, strong against kraken
Soldier lvl.1 - strong against kard soldiers (カード兵）
Soldier lvl.2 - strong against kard soldiers (カード兵）
Soldier lvl.3 - can attack air, strong against demon king (魔王）
Dwarf lvl.1 - strong against slimes (スライム）
Dwarf lvl.2 - strong against slimes (スライム）
Dwarf lvl.3 - strong against slimes (スライム）
Samurai lvl.1 - Only attacks on counter, strong against clown (ドーケ）
Samurai lvl.2- Only attacks on counter, strong against clown (ドーケ）
Samurai lvl.3 - Only attacks on counter, strong against clown (ドーケ）
Knight lvl.1 - good def, strong against saiku (サイク）
Knight lvl.2 - good def, strong against saiku (サイク）
Knight lvl.3 - good def, strong against saiku (サイク）
Dark Knight lvl.1 - Ultimate warrior, weak against certain enemies
Dark Knight lvl.2 - Ultimate warrior, weak against certain enemies
Dark Knight lvl.3 - Ultimate warrior, weak against certain enemies
Thug lvl.1 - 1 cost, 1 damage
Thug lvl.2 - extremely weak and useless
Thug lvl.3 - Huge boost, strong against shadow (シャドー）
Decoy lvl.1 - eats damage from enemies
Decoy lvl.2 - eats damage from enemies
Decoy lvl.3 - eats damage from enemies, strong against zutanunu (ズタヌノ）
Elf lvl.1 - attacks air, recovers HP of those around her when summoned, strong against chibi-dragon (チビドラ）
Elf lvl.2 - attacks air & ground, recovers HP of those around her when summoned, strong against chibi-dragon (チビドラ）
Elf lvl.3 - attacks air & ground, recovers HP of those around her when summoned, strong against chibi-dragon (チビドラ）
Magician lvl.1 - shoots airborne homing missile from afar, strong against dragon (ドラゴ）
Magician lvl.2 - shoots airborne homing missile from afar, strong against dragon (ドラゴ）
Magician lvl.3 - shoots airborne homing missile from afar, strong against dragon (ドラゴ）
Mage lvl.1 - rapid fire magic, strong against sakyun (サキュン）
Mage lvl.2 - rapid fire magic, strong against sakyun (サキュン）
Mage lvl.3 - rapid fire magic, strong against sakyun (サキュン）
Spirit Sage lvl.1 - ultimate airborne attack from afar, strong against kaenbi (カエンビ）
Spirit Sage lvl.2 - ultimate airborne attack from afar, strong against kaenbi (カエンビ）
Spirit Sage lvl.3 - ultimate airborne attack from afar, strong against kaenbi (カエンビ）
Gas Soldier lvl.1 - slows them down with gas, slow rate of fire
Gas Soldier lvl.2 - slows them down with gas, slow rate of fire
Gas Soldier lvl.3 - slows them down with gas, slow rate of fire
Bard lvl.1 - Increases range of allies around him by 10
Bard lvl.1 - Increases range of allies around him by 20
Bard lvl.1 - Increases range of allies around him by 30
Dancer lvl.1 - Increases rate of fire of allies around her
Dancer lvl.2 - Increases rate of fire of allies around her
Dancer lvl.3 - Increases rate of fire of allies around her
Priest lvl.1 - Instant kill attack against undead (アンデッド）, heals HP of those around her when summoned
Priest lvl.2 - Instant kill attack against undead (アンデッド）, heals HP of those around her when summoned
Priest lvl.3 - Instant kill attack against undead (アンデッド）, heals HP of those around her when summoned
So yeah, take in mind when looking at the upcoming map the enemy types (try to match the names at first. There's only like 10 types and dragons look like dragons, slimes look like tall walking slimes, etc...you'll associate what's what pretty quick)
Next option on map screen: Equip MAGIC - if you have any disposable spells you can equip them in magic slots.
Next option on map screen: Equip ITEM - same but with items, can use to remove members from panel
Next option: Quit Game (are you sure you want to quit without saving, etc...)
Next option: Save game
Next option: Start battle
BATTLE
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This is actually pretty straightforward:
-DROP in the corner is the drop rate. When an enemy drops a treasure it goes down by 10 I think. Your next number is your mana, then high-score, current score, and hearts (hits until base is dead)
-pick a spot outside the path (green area) hit the button, spend mana to summon a unit
-enemies will move along the line when their turn comes up (hold square and press R to summon the next batch of enemies if you don't want to wait)
-you'll see the range of your units attack when you place them
-click on a unit to use one of the special commands allowed by the panel you chose
-you'll see items on the green field, they're usually self-explanatory (ATK+3, HP+5, the green gems are SUMMON UNIT FOR ZERO COST, blue gems are Mana + 5)
-If you see items on the enemy path they'll usually help the monster like speeding them up when they pass through them.
-kill the monsters before your base is destroyed
POST-BATTLE
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LOOT TIME
Treasures (red = normal, silver = good, gold = awesome) contain either (disposable equip item, disposable magic, score points, MANA マナ, or GOLD　ガネ. This is all to use on the next map.
When you enter the next map you'll get a base amount of gold, mana, but any extra gold/mana/drop rate you come out with here is added to that amount, so you get a better start. Note that when a map ends your gold/mana is dropped to 0/0 before you open the treasures, so there's no point in saving mana/gold when attacking a map. Use it all for each map.
The chance rates are the chance of the item you will get when you open that treasure. Red means BAD like GOLD - 10000, or LOSE ALL YOUR DISPOSABLE ITEMS (所持アイテム全消滅
, Blue means good! But since you start with 0 MANA/0 GOLD/0 DROP anyhow, open up the ones with high chances of negatives for those first since you don't lose anything since you were at 0 anyhow (there is no negative parameters).Also as you open other treasures, the quality of the unopened treasures and their rates increase.
You get a score bonus if you open all the treasures.
So here I got 45 gold from finishing the map (aka my starting gold for next map) + 63 gold I found in treasures, so I'll start the next map with 108 gold instead of 45.
And that's pretty much that. Go through the levels, kill baddies, get loot, hope to win big loot which will make the next map easier, repeat repeat repeat as the maps get harder until you finish the campaign. You can restart any map by hitting pause and choosing the last option and if you change panels, remove people you get your money back. So you can keep trying until you figure out how to pass it.
I haven't messed around with the level creation stuff, but if you have questions I'll try to answer them.
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Hope that helps and I'd definitely recommend the game if you think it might be up your alley (you'll need to get some JPN PSN points first, but a lot of online places sell them and will instantly give you the code). It's a fun game and even though I really dislike Tower Defense games I'm enjoying it. I think System Prisma are really talented and can't wait to see what they do next!