I've never expected that an Internet Explorer or a Safari game could compete with Sony's, Microsoft's or Nintendo's game consoles. The damsel in distress is a browser game called Kantai Collection (KanColle), that currently is available only on Japanese market..
We come across the first surprise upon registering to one of the game dedicated servers. All new members need a little bit of luck to start enjoying the game. I don't know if it is a standard in F2P world (free to play), but some enthusiasts might find it annoying that on top of registering an email address you still need to have some good karma on board. To start playing, it is necessary to follow game updates via Twitter, where you can find information about the time when servers are going to be open for new Kancolle enthusiasts. If you miss the first 'window' you can still refresh the page hoping that you still have for some luck on your side
Generally speaking, Japanese people love queuing. They can line up for long time to enjoy a good meal, etc. (a queue = popular product = high quality). I was lucky to finalize the registration on the second day. One of the indicators of KanColle's popularity is.. cosplay! If you saw some photos from Comiket or Anime Japan 2014, then you might be able to tell a bit about the fan base There is also a lot of merchandise for sale which includes the female (Kanmusu), characters' mugs, figurines or manga.
As it is celebrating its first birthday, it currently has over 1,8 million registered users. One of the recent issues of Famitsu features a large coverage of the game and its system.
Some of the key factors that make Kantai Collection so popular are without a doubt:
1) free-2-play - well you actually do not need to spend even a single yen to enjoy it.
2) interesting characters called Kanmusu - they are with us all the time. I felt sometimes like a big daddy, fixing, upgrading or training them.
3) voice acting - the voice actors have done a really great job. It is so nice to hear our Kanmusu commenting lively during battles. One of the voice actors is actually Saki Fujita (aka Hatsune Miku- surprised??)
Having spent some time with DMM's and Kadokawa Games' production, I would like to share my humble opinion about it. It is very interesting that in times of smartphone games being so popular, Kantai Collection is a strictly PC game (for now). The game itself is a sea battle online card game. But the key here is that the main role play female characters who represent ships. KanColle is is a bigger phenomenon than just the browser game. It has also been released as a table top game, manga and there is a PSVita version codenamed Kan Colle Kai being developed (to be released sometime in 2014)
So the female ships are called Kanmusu and they represent destroyers, aircraft carriers, warships and other sea-related means of destruction. The type of a ship relates to the size of a character that represents it (i.e. breast size;) What does it mean in practice? For instance, destroyers will be more sleek and more mobile. Warships, on the other hand, might look like Dolly Parton (small exaggeration:). Developers also tried to give all the girls characteristics of the historical ships they represent. Shimakaze, for instance, was one of the most famous Japanese ships in WWII.
Kanmusu Shimakaze (below)
Some of the key factors that make Kantai Collection so popular are without a doubt:
1) free-2-play - well you actually do not need to spend even a single yen to enjoy it.
2) interesting characters called Kanmusu - they are with us all the time. I felt sometimes like a big daddy, fixing, upgrading or training them.
3) voice acting - the voice actors have done a really great job. It is so nice to hear our Kanmusu commenting lively during battles. One of the voice actors is actually Saki Fujita (aka Hatsune Miku- surprised??)
Having spent some time with DMM's and Kadokawa Games' production, I would like to share my humble opinion about it. It is very interesting that in times of smartphone games being so popular, Kantai Collection is a strictly PC game (for now). The game itself is a sea battle online card game. But the key here is that the main role play female characters who represent ships. KanColle is is a bigger phenomenon than just the browser game. It has also been released as a table top game, manga and there is a PSVita version codenamed Kan Colle Kai being developed (to be released sometime in 2014)
So the female ships are called Kanmusu and they represent destroyers, aircraft carriers, warships and other sea-related means of destruction. The type of a ship relates to the size of a character that represents it (i.e. breast size;) What does it mean in practice? For instance, destroyers will be more sleek and more mobile. Warships, on the other hand, might look like Dolly Parton (small exaggeration:). Developers also tried to give all the girls characteristics of the historical ships they represent. Shimakaze, for instance, was one of the most famous Japanese ships in WWII.
Kanmusu Shimakaze (below)
You will also find resources to collect. They can be gathered by accomplishing quests or taking a break from playing. Their amount restores automatically and after 2-3 days without playing I am always maxed out. They are fuel, ammo, bauxite and steel. We need quite a lot of them, as they are used during sea maneuvers, battles, repairing the damaged ships, or creating new ones through combing the resources together. 'Ni no Kuni' fans will find creating new items or cards familiar. It works similarly to the cauldron that was used in Ghibli's game. However, here we do not have recipes and the greater amount of resources we will mix together (capped at 999 units) the stronger our new Kanmusu will become.
Available missions and resources for successful completion.
Available missions and resources for successful completion.
Just like most of the card games, Kantai Collection has some RPG elements implemented. All cards (Kanmusu) are described with parameters that tell us how useful they might be in battle. These include HP, firepower, torpedoes and armor. The result of a battle depends on the parameters and.. luck(!) as once a battle starts, all we can do is watch. Our Kanmusu act automatically and we get to decide whether we want to continue a battle or withdraw in the middle if it.
Our fleet is made of 6 ships and we can have four fleets. When we start the game we choose one Kanmusu and begin exploring the first location. Generally, there are 5 locations with four smaller ones within the big ones. Your goal is to defeat the boss they in each of them who usually can be found somewhere close to the furthest spot from where you start (not a big surprise here). Our task is to get to the boss without refilling the tank/ammo and without having a chance to restore HP of our ships. Too easy?? Well, I forgot to mention that once your Kanmusu's HP drops to 0 it means sayonara. You will loose the card (no sands of time;). Fortunately, if you are after a fiercefull battle and your Kanmusu look more like wrecks than beautiful war machines, then you can still return to the headquarters (harbor) to lick your wounds. The only 'penalty' will be necessity to restart the location.
When we choose a map, we need to select a formation and stop a compass that would determine where we will be headed. A sheer matter of luck. When the battle starts we are in the left side of the screen, and the opponents on the right. We win if destroy the enemy units or deal more damage after two rounds of attacks. After each battle we also receive a score and new Kanmusu to strengthen our collection.
Our fleet is made of 6 ships and we can have four fleets. When we start the game we choose one Kanmusu and begin exploring the first location. Generally, there are 5 locations with four smaller ones within the big ones. Your goal is to defeat the boss they in each of them who usually can be found somewhere close to the furthest spot from where you start (not a big surprise here). Our task is to get to the boss without refilling the tank/ammo and without having a chance to restore HP of our ships. Too easy?? Well, I forgot to mention that once your Kanmusu's HP drops to 0 it means sayonara. You will loose the card (no sands of time;). Fortunately, if you are after a fiercefull battle and your Kanmusu look more like wrecks than beautiful war machines, then you can still return to the headquarters (harbor) to lick your wounds. The only 'penalty' will be necessity to restart the location.
When we choose a map, we need to select a formation and stop a compass that would determine where we will be headed. A sheer matter of luck. When the battle starts we are in the left side of the screen, and the opponents on the right. We win if destroy the enemy units or deal more damage after two rounds of attacks. After each battle we also receive a score and new Kanmusu to strengthen our collection.
Our damaged Kanmusu need to repaired in the port, which eats up resources and takes time. The time until our Kanmusu can be used again, depends on the amount of endured damaged and can take a few minutes up to over one hour. You can also speed up the process, but that is when real money comes into play.
As our Kanmusu gain experience in battles, they also level up and become stronger. It is not the only way to strengthen them though. If we have cards we don't need, we can always feed them to other Kanmusu or disassemble to get a small amount of resources from them. We can also modify our cards' parameters by using add-ons, such as turrets, torpedoes, sonars, etc.
If you had a chance then please check KanColle by yourself. I enjoyed listening to voices of our Kanmusu as they comment what is happening in the game. However, if games where there isn't happening much and quite a lot of repetitiveness is involved are not your pair of shoes, then I don't think you will find your Titanic romance here.
Wrapping up, I am leaving you with two things:
1) An interesting wallpaper.
2) An 'interesting' Shimakaze cosplay.
Cheers!
Rikimaru
Wrapping up, I am leaving you with two things:
1) An interesting wallpaper.
2) An 'interesting' Shimakaze cosplay.
Cheers!
Rikimaru