What is Fantasy War Tactics R?
Fantasy War Tactics R is an update to Fantasy War Tactics that has completely overhauled the game's UI, streamlined many of the gameplay systems, and introduces the second season of story content. To celebrate the occasion the game is giving away crystals (the game's premium currency), a new 5 star character, and tickets for your choice of equipment sets! This makes it an ideal time for new or lapsed players to join.
Use a team of up to 5 heroes to defeat enemies on classic SRPG style maps. Despite being a mobile game, FWT has similar mechanical depth to console SRPGs with a variety of subsystems including terrain effects and advantage, directional advantage, and a rock, paper, scissors typing system. Characters can level up, be given equipment, augment their stats or gain status resistance with Potentials, and get skill augmentations through Soul Gear.
Progress through World Conquest mode to earn new characters and learn the story of the Lord's battle for world domination. Challenge the Tower of Dawn on 3 difficulty modes to earn useful rewards including an exclusive hero and a guaranteed equipment set. Play through side stories defending NPC from waves of enemies in the Library in the Sky for currency to use in the library shop. Earn strong heroes over the weekend or during special events from the limited time Lost Island.
You can also fight against other player's AI teams in Battle of Honor for weekly rewards including crystals or fight increasingly strong teams with no healing between rounds in Dimensional Breakthrough.
A young wizard succeeds in cloning an ancient warrior-hero, declares himself to be her lord, and begins his first steps toward world domination. Only it turns out while he was holed up in his lab some jerks calling themselves the World Reformation Council already beat him to it! They've placed administrators across the islands of the Arc Continent to enforce martial law over the territories. Can a clone, a cat person, and a muscle wizard free the world from the Council's nefarious grasp so that the Lord actually conquer something?
The story plays out as you progress through World Conquest mode. Each island has stages that must be completed in order, with scenario stages after every 3-6 normal maps which progress the plot, as well as Boss stages which pit the party against one of the World Reformation Council administrators. Many characters also have recruitment scenes that show how they join the party and after being recruited short skits under the ”Story" tab unlock showing how various characters interact with one another.
The lord has amassed a great deal of power, but a new threat emerges from a strange being who had been manipulating the World Reformation Council. It brands the Lord with a curse that no known magic can remove, but a stranger from the continent of Sia arrives claiming to know a way to remove the brand. The Lord, Chris, and Ian travel east across the ocean to an unknown land where new peril awaits.
Heroes are the units you deploy in battle. Unlike many other F2P games heroes are unlocked 1) By progressing the story 2) Grinding for genes to unlock them 3) Purchased directly using crystals for specific collaboration heroes. No rolling involved or gacha for heroes. Heroic genes are earned by beating certain levels (usually that hero's boss level) and genes always drop. There's some randomization in exactly how many drop and more genes drop on higher difficulties, but you'll always get something for your effort.
A hero can be from 1 star to 5 star, with a new star "6 star " awakened form being newly introduced in this latest update. To raise a unit's star rank, they must be at their current level cap and require a certain amount of rebirth materials plus gold. Completing the rebirth raises them one star rank and resets them to level one. However each rank increases their stats, unlocks new skills/cooperation partners, raises the level cap, and allows a new tier of equipment to be used.
This is the part that uses the gacha. Normal equipment can be obtained by beating stages. However there is also rare set equipment which, when you have 2 or more pieces of equipment from the same set equipped give bonus effects to the hero. This is mainly obtained through set equipment summoning which costs crystals and sometimes outputs set equipment, but can also give normal tier equipment. Each set pull gives 3 pieces of equipment: a weapon, armor, and accessory. Players get 1 free pull per day, with additional pulls costing 120 crystals or 1200 for 10 with a guaranteed 4 star. Equipment comes in the following ranks.
1*: Normal equipment with no special effects.
2*: Formerly known as platinum equipment. This is obtained by destroying equipment through extraction. Each time the gauge is filled the player gets one random piece of platinum equipment or a single set item. Gives small % bonus to specific stats. Can be transcended up to +12.
3*: A new tier added with the season 2 update. This is set equipment that gives extra raw stats for having 2 or 3 pieces of the same set. Can drop from beating stages or from the gacha. Can be transcended up to +15.
4*: Formerly A rank equipment. Gives extra stats or other minor special effects for having 2 or 3 pieces of the same set. Maybe slightly better than 3*, though less abundant. Mainly from gacha or set tickets.
5*: Formerly S rank equipment. Gives extra stats and other useful special effects for having 2 or 3 pieces of the same set. These sets can drastically alter the abilities of a hero and enable specific builds. Mainly from gacha or set tickets.
6*: Formerly SS rank equipment. Gives lots of extra stats and fantastic special effects 2 or 3 pieces of the same set. A hero with SS sets has a huge advantage and enable some of the best builds for specific heroes. Mainly from gacha or set tickets.
Just to be clear, this is nothing like an MMO guild raid.
Players can form guilds with up to 20 members. There are 7 raid bosses, one for each day of the week and each day guild members individually challenge the boss with a team of 5 plus one mercenary character belonging to another guild member. These battles are automatic with the player only setting the initial deployment for the characters and activating the lord skill as needed. Each time the boss's HP is reduced to 0, it respawns as a more powerful version. The objective is to get as high a score as possible before the boss defeats you. Players receive rewards for the rank they achieve individually as well as how their guild fared as a whole against the other guilds.
Fantasy War Tactics will occasionally hold crossover events with other properties allowing you to obtain heroes drawn from other worlds. To date there have been collaborations with Noblesse, Blazblue, and Maple Story. Typically each collaboration comes with 3-4 new heroes that can be earned through the event shop, Lost Island, and typically 1 hero that can only be obtained by paying crystals. They frequently feature limited time sets including these characters, an exclusive costume, and exclusive equipment. It's a good idea to stockpile crystals in preparation for collab events.
For returning players or people just curious about why they've added an ”R" to the game's title, here's a partial list of changes:
6 star Awakening: Characters can get even stronger, can use a new type of equipment called runes, and gain an awakening skill. A flashy, once per battle attack with power to match.
Season 2 Launch: A continuation of the World Conquest story mode. As of this update the Sia Continent has been added with 2 new areas, Monghyeon Harbor and Muhan. Each has 6 normal stages, 2 bosses, and 2 scenarios. 3 new characters can be recruited across these 2 areas. Additionally there's an island between the continents with 3 new scenarios and 2 boss battles.
Season 1 Streamlining: Presumably in an effort to make the game more approachable to new players, difficulty modes have been combined and daily caps on the number of times players can run a stage have been removed.
Daily reward: Gain extra stuff the first time you beat each dungeon each day.
Auto Complete: By spending a new currency called Subjugation Tickets, players can instantly auto complete dungeons, saving time. Note that the auto option, which gives the AI control of the team, is still available.
Streamlined Equipment: Upgrading equipment has been improved by condensing upgrade materials into a single type used for weapons, armor, and accessories. Players can now easily mass de-equip heroes or swap and entire equipment loadout between characters.
UI Update: The jury's out on whether it looks better or worse than the old style, but everything is laid out in a much more approachable manner with fewer layers of sub-menus. The interface is a laggier though.
I'll update this if I see any recurring questions pop up.
Q: What platforms is this on?
A: iOS and Android
Q: What server should I pick?
A: Global
Q: I have questions about a specific game mechanic.
A: Try checking the Useful Tips section on the official website. It has a rundown of most of the games mechanics and features. If you can't find the answer there feel free to ask in the thread.
Q: Is this game pay to win?
A: Yes. While FWT is much more fair than many other F2P games, players with money will still have an easier time. Particularly in the Battle of Honor AI PvP mode, having good set equipment and sometimes premium Soul Gear can make a huge difference. However anyone can play through the World Conquest mode without spending a dime. Additionally the game has been very generous with freebies and at least for Season 1 F2P players could obtain most of the same premium stuff as whales, just a lot slower. Aside from the highest ranks of PvP, time generally pays off more than money.
Q: Help! I want to be some sort of fish or aquatic mammal that spends money on mobile games, what do I do?
A: I'd recommend doing F2P for a bit to see if you like the game before spending any money, but if you've decided to open your wallet I recommend getting Coocoo's Gift. It's basically a $5 monthly subscription that gives you several times the cash value in crystals. It just pays them out over the course of a month. You don't even have to log in every day to get them, they'll just pile up in the mail tab. There's also a new Leveling Package that pays out a total of 2000 crystals for $5, doling them out as your lord level goes up. For returning players, I was able to buy it even though I'm way over LV 30 and got it all at once. If you've still got money that is literally on fire and threatening to burn your wallet, I'd potentially suggest one of the limited time offer boxes. It entirely depends on the content of the box, but sometimes they offer decent deals. That said, I generally find buying crystals at normal price to be a horrible value proposition. Avoid if you can.
Q: How to do I go about getting crystals if I've got more important stuff to do with my money, like save for retirement?
A: Early on the game will throw some crystals your way just for progressing. In typical F2P fashion, this will drop off. You can still earn crystals doing daily achievements, get some weekly for ranking in Battle of Honor, and you can find them via Expeditions. Also sometimes the game hands out free crystals as part of an event.
Q: Will (insert collaboration name) ever come back?
A: Dunno. Noblesse came back once, but I think there's contracts and stuff involved with the collaborations so both companies have to come to a new agreement each time. The Maple Story collaborations probably have the greatest chance to return since both are Nexon games, but they both ran fairly recently so I wouldn't expect it for a while. Blazblue is back as of 4/27/17!
Q: When are they adding more Season 2 stuff?
A: No idea. I believe the update schedule for Season 1 was a new island every couple of months, but it launched with more islands at the outset. Then there was a loooooong wait for Season 2.
Season 2 has launched!
4/20-???: 7 Day Check in Event- Check in each day (doesn't have to be consecutive) to obtain the following:
6/29/17-7/20/17 Recruit Yeka- Earn red gemstones from the new Skybrary level "Wonderland" to recruit Yeka, buy Yeka's equipment, and get a wonderland themed costume for Persona and Angela.
