Christmas 2014

It is that time of the year again, the day of the Christmas celebration.

Do take a moment today to remember the reason for the celebration.
Remember Jesus who came to bring Peace, Peace between Man and God.
Say a silent prayer of thanks for God's Gift of Life.

May you have a good day.

Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 4

Today is the start of the fourth and last Special Summon Event for Phantom Chronicle's first anniversary. On offer this time is the opportunity to summon Indian gods.

Special Summon for Indian Gods.

I did a 10x Special Summon. It is not possible to do Advanced Summon by mistake since Advanced Summon now only allows single summons.

Advanced Summon!?

Normally, the result would be considered okay since I obtained four Phantoms that can be evolved to ★★★★★. Unfortunately, I already have Lakshmi, Goddess of fortune +2 and Sun God Apollo +2 (what's a Greek god doing here, again!?). Such is the risk of having collected so many Phantoms.

If I had received Lakshmi (the ★★★☆☆ version) it would not be so bad as it would fill a specific empty spot in my Album.

I already have Cu Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster +2!

As for the other Phantoms, I either already have +2 versions of the Phantoms or have enough copies of that Phantom to Limit Break it to +2.

Thus, the only really useful Phantoms from this summoning exercise are the two Vishnus:

Vishnu, the many-formed God, Phantom No. 327.

Lakshmi, the lotus princess and Apollo are not worth that many cores for sale. And I need a lot of cores to use Limit Breaker IVs.

Core value of Lakshmi, the lotus princess and Apollo.

Lakshmi, the lotus princess is worth quite a bit as Level-Up material but it would be waste to use her considering the e-Crystals I just spent to get her. Apollo, not as much.

Gain Exp values of Lakshmi, the lotus princess and Apollo.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 3

The third Summon Event, for Egyptian Gods, started yesterday.

Special Summon for Egyptian Gods.

As before, I did a 10x Special Summon, hoping that the results this time would be better:

Advanced Summon!?

The result was quite good this time, with five Phantoms either at ★★★★★ or with the potential to be ★★★★★. Well, only one Phantom is the former.

I received an Arianrhod:

Arianrhod, the Silver Wheel, Phantom No. 195

I received an Artemis (a Greek God!?). This is okay since I needed a third Artemis anyway.

Artemis, Phantom No. 170

I received Set, among other Egyptian Gods:

Set, Phantom No. 299

Horus was the only ★★★★★ Phantom I received from this Special Summon:

Horus, the Falcon-Headed God, Phantom No. 298

There is one more Summon Event left next week for Indian Gods.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 2

The second Summon Event has arrived with the opportunity to summon Scandinavian Gods. I was waiting for this event since my collection of Scandinavian Gods is lacking.

Special Summon for Scandinavian Gods.

I did a 10x Special Summon. This time I was certain that I had chosen Special Summon and not Advanced Summon.

Advanced Summon!?

The result was very disappointing. Of the ten Phantoms, four of them I could do without.

I already have a +2 Minotaur!

Of the remaining six, three of them I could get from other sources that do not require e-Crystals.

Of the last three, only one was a Scandinavian God, though it was ★★★★★.

Odin, God of the Battlefield, Phantom No. 274

I hope my remaining Special Summons will give good results.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 1

Phantom Chronicle had its first Anniversary on the 27th of November. As part of the celebration, there are Special Summon Events available that have a good chance to summon ★★★★★ Phantoms (or Phantoms that can evolve to ★★★★★).

The announcement of the Special Summons.

I have been saving e-Crystals for events like these. I had enough e-Crystals to perform a 10x Special Summon for each of the four summon events.

Special Summon details.

Hoping that I would not get another Hades, I performed a 10x Special Summon for the first summon event, Greek Gods. I was pretty sure I did a 10x Special Summon:

Advanced Summon!?

Anyway, I obtained 4 Greek Gods. Not a bad haul. I even scored my first Basilisk:

Basilisk, Phantom No. 134

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Happy Acres (farming)

Happy Acres by FunPlus is a farming game on Facebook (you should not need a link for this). Typical of farming games, the player farms crops, harvests fruit trees and/or tend animals for farm produce to process into products. Produce and products can be sold for coins, which may be spent to farm more produce and to purchase improvements to the farm.

What attracted me to this game was the fact that crops do not spoil. This fact meant that I can step away from the game and take a break whenever I want. I do not have to follow strict schedules to avoid losing my harvest. This is a relief when and if the Internet decides to take a day off.

The front of the farm, where most of the orders are.

As stated earlier, the basics of the game is to produce farm produce to process into products to sell. Products are sold by fulfilling orders, which may come from several sources. There is the notice board where NPCs (non-player characters) post their orders. NPCs also visit the farm to directly place small orders. In addition, there are two (at the time of writing) special NPCs with time-limited orders.

Orders give the player short-term goals. Otherwise, the farming process would be aimless with the player spending time deciding on what to produce.

There is also the market stall where the player can sell extra products at possibly exorbitant prices. One of the market stand products can be promoted, which will then appear in the newspaper where other players may find the product.

The newspaper allows the player to purchase products from other players. In addition, it allows the player to visit other market stands. It also allows other players to be added as in-game friends without the need to add them through Facebook. This makes it easier to find friends to play with.

Material required to upgrade a machine.

It should be noted that buildings and machines (to process produce into products) in Happy Acres can be upgraded to provide more storage space and longer queues for orders. Material required for upgrades are obtained through harvesting crops and fulfilling board orders, and through direct production in the workshop. Most of the material can be obtained with a lot of patience. However, upgrades for machines to level 5 and above require special upgrade items.

These special upgrade items can obtained through posts on Facebook. Unfortunately, friends made through the newspaper cannot access the Facebook posts of the player. This is the main downside to the game that I have found so far where it requires the help of Facebook friends who would read the player's posts and help.

Without those special upgrade items, the player will be stuck with a queue length of four orders. There are other methods to gain those items. Other players may sell them in the newspaper (at exorbitant prices). In addition, the items can be bought with a large amount of sunstones (premium currency).

Storage space is limited.

Happy Acres requires resource management and planning on behalf of the player. The player has to plan production since crops takes a certain amount of time to grow. It is the same with manufactured goods.

In addition, inventory space for produce and products are limited. The player has to plan production to meet demand while managing inventory. Preparing for large orders take a lot of inventory space and this can limit space to prepare for other orders.

An order on the board.

It should be noted that the game progress eventually gets slow. Latter machines and land area cost a lot of coins, which may take a lot of time playing to gather. In addition, it takes time to gather material for upgrades.

On the other hand, once everything is bought and upgraded, there is nothing else to strive for. Considering this possibility, perhaps it is better for it not to be so easy to progress.

A typical farming day.

On the technical side, the game has a low loading time and does not lag. This is probably due to lesser art and sound assets compared to other graphic-intensive farming games, though this unfortunately leads to lower presentation quality. It should be noted that the presentation is still adequate. Players who intend to play the game for a long time will probably not mind the presentation quality in favor of faster gameplay performance.

Happy Acres is an adequate farming game. The game provides a decent challenge in the form of planning and management of production. There are no serious requirements for friends to help progress in the game and any necessary items that can be obtained from friends can be procured in a roundabout fashion with time and patience. Patience is required, though, since progress takes a lot of real world time, especially in the latter stages.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Since there are a number of articles on Phantom Chronicle, I decided to list them in one place here... before the list gets any longer and even more tiresome to create.

Phantom Chronicle by Good-Feel is a game where the player collects Phantoms to battle other Phantoms. The official game description called this a 'card battle game' but the game mechanics are better described as a pet battle system.

Phantom Chronicle (Pet, Turn-Based)
Phantom Chronicle: Leader Tricks 1
Phantom Chronicle: Third Medal
Phantom Chronicle: Billy the Kid assault
Phantom Chronicle: Moon Goddess, Artemis
Phantom Chronicle: 5-Star Released Madness
Phantom Chronicle: Phantom Dragon assault SS
Phantom Chronicle: Login Prize
Phantom Chronicle: Supporter Mimic 291
Phantom Chronicle: TUTA Cannonball 293
Phantom Chronicle: Osiris 300
Phantom Chronicle: Ancient Egyptian Gods
Phantom Chronicle: Login Prize 2
Phantom Chronicle: Arena 3
Phantom Chronicle: Ancient Indian Gods
Phantom Chronicle: Ancient Indian Gods 2
Phantom Chronicle: Anubis
Phantom Chronicle: Halloween 2014
Phantom Chronicle: The Lucky Time Quest
Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 1
Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 2
Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 3
Phantom Chronicle: Anniversary Summons 4

Phantom Chronicle: The Lucky Time Quest

Starting on the 8th, the Lucky Time Quest randomly appears for an hour. This is said to happen six times a week.

The Lucky Time Quest

The Sphere Quest costs 30(!) Stamina and gives a Sphere and lots of Gems plus the possibility of Grimoires as reward. The Cluster Quest costs 20 Stamina and gives a Cluster, Gems and the possibility of Tomes and Grimoires. The Gem Quest is not worth mentioning.

Rewards of the Sphere Quest.

A Gem, a Cluster and a Sphere are respectively worth 10k, 70k and 150k experience. Remember that experience value is worth 50% more if used to level Phantoms of the same element as the Gem, Cluster or Sphere.

Experience value of a Gem, a Cluster and a Sphere.

The Gems, Clusters and Spheres may be sold for Core. Though they are worth more than the regular Phantoms, their sale value is still not very high.

The Core value of a Gem, a Cluster and a Sphere.

Since the Lucky Time Quest can occur unexpectedly, it is best to be prepared with methods to restore Stamina:

Items to restore Stamina.

With the Lucky Time Quest, it is easier to level up Phantoms. However, it is going to cost a lot of Core to do so, especially for high-level, high-Grade Phantoms.

Scored a Green EXP Cluster.

Scored a Blue EXP Sphere.

Updated 3 December 2014:
The Lucky Time Quest now appears more often and at different timing for each player.

Announcement of the Lucky Time Quest.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Phantom Chronicle: Halloween 2014

This year, there is a special Halloween Summon that costs Halloween Tickets, which are obtainable from the Halloween Event taking place at the time. Among the possible summons available are Pumpkin Phantoms of each of the five elements.

Halloween Summon

The Pumpkin's Leader Skill is 'Play a Trick', which increases the party's (deck's) ATK and INT. The effect of this Leader Skill increases with the number of other party members that have the same skill.

A party (deck) of Pumpkins.

As it turned out, having a full party of 6 Pumpkins, including one from the Guild, increases ATK and INT by almost 3 times. This would make it much easier to complete Quests that requires Phantoms of cost 4 or of ★★ rarity.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Phantom Chronicle: Anubis

Anubis, the Phantom based on the ancient Egyptian god, has the skill "Soul resonance", where he adds all allies' Atk to his own before attacking.

Anubis, the guide of souls, Phantom No. 306

I tried out a party (or 'deck' as the game insists on calling it) of Phantoms with the ability of increasing Atk to take advantage of Anubis's skill. I put Anubis as leader as his Leader Skill increases Atk.

Needed a target with enough HP for the experiment.

I brought Joan for her ability to increase everyone's Atk and Int:

Joan, Maid of Orleans, Phantom No. 188

The "Power Attack" Skill actually increases a Phantom's Atk for the one round it attacks. Taking advantage of this fact, I brought along Siegfried and Minotaur:

Siegfried, Phantom No. 143

Minotaur, Phantom No. 58

I brought along Pirate King Barbarossa, who has the ability to raise his Atk by absorbing all allies' Int, Int that will be buffed by Joan:

Pirate King Barbarossa, Phantom No. 184

I borrowed a Master Ninja from my Guild Member to increase Atk even more:

Master Ninja, Phantom No. 100

The result of all the buffs to Atk, which was borrowed by Anubis:

Ouch!

That damage was despite the fact that Anubis was at a low level of 63. It seems that his damage is independent of level.

200% damage to Light.

Note that Anubis's Leader Skill increases damage to creatures of Light Element, resulting in 200% damage.

Also, despite the description of the Skill, Anubis does not actually increase his Atk. Thus, if there were two Anubis in the party, one Anubis cannot increase the damage the other with his Skill.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents

Building Rush (time management, strategy)

Building Rush by Barbarian Games is a time management game where the player dispatches trucks to supply construction materials. The game starts off simple to allow the player to learn the rules. Latter levels are on larger maps with more details involved. The player would require skill to immediately assess the changing situation and issue orders.

Update 16 July 2016:
Building Rush 2 has been released and it is a recommended successor to Building Rush. 

A typical game in a typical map against a less than typical rival.

The rules of the game are easy to learn and understand. The player places a plant (a factory, not the biological one) from which trucks will be sent out to deliver construction material. Orders appear around the map where the player may send trucks for a price. Payment is given upon completion of delivery. Completing the last order of a location gives bonus pay.

Orders tend to appear more often where buildings are being constructed. Also, orders further from a plant cost more to deliver. Thus, it is beneficial to have plants at different parts of the map to supply orders in different locations.

Later levels will have rivals who may try to fulfill available orders (and steal the pay).

There is a tutorial to explain the rules better than the above text.

The goals of a level.

For each level, the player's performance is rated by the amount of profit earned, which is unaffected by expenditure. A medal may be awarded based on performance. Upgrade points are given based on the medal earned. Additionally, upgrade points are also given based on the amount of profit in excess of the requirement for the gold medal. There is a limited time in each level to earn as much profit as possible.

When a level is replayed, additional upgrade points is given only to and base on performance that is greater than the previous level record.

No rivals in early games.

Upgrade points can be spent on abilities such as increased truck speed and decreased costs of purchasing assets. Upgrades help the player improve his/her performance, which earns more upgrade points.

The upgrades available.

The game is the simple to learn but requires practice on behalf of the player to master. There is also the element of luck since there is a fair amount of randomness involved in where orders will appear. The latter levels have lots of details on maps larger than the game screen. Practice is necessary for the player to gasp information instantly, navigate the map and issue orders continuously.

Out of time.

Note: Gold medal in the level above screenshot required $10000. There was not enough space to display the last digit.

Phantom Chronicle: Ancient Indian Gods 2

The event where an ancient Indian God is guaranteed in an Advanced Summon of 5 or 10 Phantoms is still ongoing. The recent 4th Arena gave extra rewards for the top 100, which was:
1-10th: 25 e-Crystals and High elf arcane warrior,
11-50th: 15 e-Crystals and Cavalry Goblin,
51-100th: 5 e-Crystals.

With the e-Crystals I was awarded, I decided to do another Advanced Summon of 10 Phantoms. It was a good haul with six Phantoms with the potential to be evolved to ★★★★★:

Result of the 10 Advanced Summons.

I received Kali:

Kali, Phantom No. 329

I received two Lakshmis. Along with the one I received earlier, I can limit break her to +2.

Lakshmi, the lotus princess, Phantom No. 321

I also received Parvati:

Parvati, the divine consort, Phantom No. 324.

I got my first Norse mythology Phantom:

Jormungandr, Phantom No. 269

I got a second Poseidon, allowing me to limit break him to +1:

Poseidon, Phantom No. 167

I got a second Scathach. Although Scathach may only be evolved to ★★★★, she is only obtainable through Advanced Summons (at the moment).

Scathach, Phantom No. 200

Note that the Phantoms summoned with Advanced Summoning came with some Experience.

Also today, I received the following Phantom from the Achievement of earning 100k BPs in the Arena:

Achievement reward for 100k BPs.

***

The Advanced Summoning screen, since it is so rare to see one.

Phantom Chronicle, Contents