Odd that y'all haven't put up an actual preview yet. I want some actual screenshots not just some cam footage =)
Yessir. My first addiction on the iOS. I played through the first game 6 times since back then, there really weren't any iOS RPGs. Here I am 2 years later still loving the series. Can't wait for this third game.
I don't see why Zenonia is so popular. Both games had absurd amounts of grinding, especially towards the end. In Zenonia 1, I probably put 35 hours into it, and 20 of those were in the last dungeon fighting those demon knights, even with the experience bonus items. The story is only OK (definitely doesn't make sense at times), there are way too many "fetch" type side-quests, and there were a lot of glitches. Do people just like the customization? That might have the widest appeal to most people, although it isn't nearly as important as general level of fun (which is inversely correlated with amount of grinding necessary). To be fair, the controls, graphics, and sound are all decent / above average. I thought both Ash and Across Age were far superior to Zenonia, both requiring far less grinding, although people tend to complain more about grinding in those games.
Those games are not even in the same gameplay vein as zenonia. It's like comparing apples to oranges.
I hate grinding, but it's just something about gamevil's games that make me love the mindless grinding that they have. Zenonia 1, Zenonia 2, Illusia, I love them all. I could keep slashing and slashing, quests after quests, and i'm not sure why I do it, but it could be the cute charm and slashes that u do (makes you feel satisfactory when u kill each monster, and level up), just to anticipate which skills u should put your points in next. I know this goes for other KRPGs too but there is no competition in terms of the "flashy" factor. cant wait for zenonia 3
Lol if you took 35 hours to beat Zenonia, there's something really wrong. Out of my 6 playthroughs, none of them took over 20 hours. After my first playthrough, they took around ten hours each time to complete. Zenonia is more about knowing how to fight smart, unlike Ash which allows you time to play out everything.
Honestly, Zenonia's main appeal to me is its polish. I can't stand games with bad UIs (with a few exceptions).
http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/zenonia-3-hands-on-videos "In Zenonia 3, you play as the son of Regret, the main character from Zenonia. Instead of different playable characters, you'll instead have four different player classes to choose from. Zenonia 3 will be available in April for $4.99."
Well, I forget the exact number, maybe it was more like 24 hours, but I know the ratio of grind to actual playing was more than 1:1. And I didn't try it a second time. Plenty of reviews of Zenonia have the same complaints that I have. Still, I'm a sucker for good rpg style games on the iPhone, I'll probably buy Zenonia 3. I am just of the opinion that a game's difficulty should be just about where your character's level is as you progress, if you kill every monster you see, without taking extra time to fight just for the sake of gaining XP. I was raised on NES, Super Nintendo, games like Final Fantasy II (US numbering), Chrono Trigger did this perfectly. If the game makes you grind, it is just a cheap way of lengthening the actual gameplay time without adding to your experience. Some people enjoy this though, like someone else in this thread, I'm not knocking them, just not my style.
You are right with Ash, but Across Age is a good comparison. There are fewer puzzles in Zenonia, and only one character to control, but the general gameplay style is quite similar. I liked the writing and storyline in Across Age better though, and these are one of the top things I look for in a game.
True enough, but the developers personally call Across Age a JRPG. I agree that the story is excellent and that the grinding is low, but that's the point of the sub-genre. They depend ok memorable characters and a moving plot. When you buy a KRPG, you should know that it's all about grinding, getting better equips, and figuring out how to allocate stat and skill points. That's what all KRPG are based on, not a great storyline. Zenonia, Inotia, and Wild Frontier are a few games that fall under KRPG on the iOS.
In my opinion, the only problem I had with Zenonia was that there was too much grinding, especially toward the late game. But everything else I absolutely loved, and the game still remains one of my favorite games on my iPod, even though it was so old. Like other users here, it was the first actual game that I bought for my iPod, and what got me started on iOS gaming. I passed on Zenonia II because I heard the game was not alot changed, and that was actually more linear than the first game, which I consider a real drawback. But I am really excited for this game, Zenonia 3, because it looks pretty promising. Gamevil is just awesome for creating this series!! Btw I liked the story in Zenonia alot, it was really good in my opinion. For a krpg especially.
fair enough. I actually didn't know the difference between KRPG and JRPG until maybe six months ago, and since then have realized these aspects of each. So JRPG is definitely my strong preference, and I don't really see the appeal of doing the exact same thing in a game over and over for ten hours, but to each his (or her) own.
