TemTem went on deep sale for a few days last month, so I grabbed it. It's basically "Pokemon as an MMO," with just enough differences to avoid getting sued into the ground.
I've really just gotten past the first Dojo (Gym) and unlocked the ability to travel on water, and it looks like a lot of the PvP content is intended for those who have finished the entire Main Story Quest line...fine by me, not really interested in PvP.
One somewhat annoying thing about the side quests is that you often cannot complete them until you've made progress in the MSQ. I have side quests from the first night of play that I still can't complete because they require going to a town that's still locked behind other quests (at least I've gotten far enough to get what looks like the last MSQ "find a missing person" quest, so I should be able to get that done next time I spend serious time playing).
There's very limited fast travel so far. Basically a Smoke Bomb item that returns you to the last Temporium (Pokecenter) you visited. A surfboard helps make some stuff faster, and Scent lets you reduce the random encounters so once you've cleared the mandatory NPC fights in an area you can go more quickly. Some TemTem can be used as mounts, but that's probably pretty far off in the MSQ if not outright a real money transaction.
Oh, on that topic, this is a "buy to play forever unless you get banned" game, but plenty of cash shop items and likely paid DLC later on. Basically the Freemium model, but the base game when not on sale is $45. You can buy a premium membership which unlocks a lot daily rewards and stuff, but most of it appears to be things that aren't even useful until you've made it pretty far in the game (e.g. furnishings for your home, once you get one).
I will say that the setting is pretty gay. I've run into several same-sex couples with zero indication that anyone thinks this is unusual. One fight-NPC was clearly into the PC and trying to get sempai to notice her, regardless of the PC gender. (I am playing a version of the same female character I make up on most MMOs, although this is not a game with jiggle physics...yeah, I tend to make female characters to see how close I can get to a real human and not a realdoll waifu. Not a problem here, all the PCs are tweenagers.)
I've seen help pop-ups suggesting that you can team up with another player (the fights are 2 v 2, so no large parties), but that's probably only for PVP. Also, according to one NPC taunt, if all your TemTem faint, you wake up in a Temporium (as if you'd used a Smoke Bomb). I've managed to avoid dying yet, though. You get a one-use refillable item that brings your entire 6-TemTem roster back up to full, which slightly reduces the time spent running back to heal.
Anyway, if any of you are also playing, my character is Kath Anders, for purposes of friend requests.
---Dave
I've really just gotten past the first Dojo (Gym) and unlocked the ability to travel on water, and it looks like a lot of the PvP content is intended for those who have finished the entire Main Story Quest line...fine by me, not really interested in PvP.
One somewhat annoying thing about the side quests is that you often cannot complete them until you've made progress in the MSQ. I have side quests from the first night of play that I still can't complete because they require going to a town that's still locked behind other quests (at least I've gotten far enough to get what looks like the last MSQ "find a missing person" quest, so I should be able to get that done next time I spend serious time playing).
There's very limited fast travel so far. Basically a Smoke Bomb item that returns you to the last Temporium (Pokecenter) you visited. A surfboard helps make some stuff faster, and Scent lets you reduce the random encounters so once you've cleared the mandatory NPC fights in an area you can go more quickly. Some TemTem can be used as mounts, but that's probably pretty far off in the MSQ if not outright a real money transaction.
Oh, on that topic, this is a "buy to play forever unless you get banned" game, but plenty of cash shop items and likely paid DLC later on. Basically the Freemium model, but the base game when not on sale is $45. You can buy a premium membership which unlocks a lot daily rewards and stuff, but most of it appears to be things that aren't even useful until you've made it pretty far in the game (e.g. furnishings for your home, once you get one).
I will say that the setting is pretty gay. I've run into several same-sex couples with zero indication that anyone thinks this is unusual. One fight-NPC was clearly into the PC and trying to get sempai to notice her, regardless of the PC gender. (I am playing a version of the same female character I make up on most MMOs, although this is not a game with jiggle physics...yeah, I tend to make female characters to see how close I can get to a real human and not a realdoll waifu. Not a problem here, all the PCs are tweenagers.)
I've seen help pop-ups suggesting that you can team up with another player (the fights are 2 v 2, so no large parties), but that's probably only for PVP. Also, according to one NPC taunt, if all your TemTem faint, you wake up in a Temporium (as if you'd used a Smoke Bomb). I've managed to avoid dying yet, though. You get a one-use refillable item that brings your entire 6-TemTem roster back up to full, which slightly reduces the time spent running back to heal.
Anyway, if any of you are also playing, my character is Kath Anders, for purposes of friend requests.
---Dave
