Tales of Wind x Fairy Tail PC MMORPG Gameplay Impressions

Let's talk about this game called Tales of Wind, an insanely popular mobile and PC MMORPG that was released globally last year. It is the western release of a game that you may have heard of already, Laplace M, and takes inspiration from classic MMOs such as Flyff, Ragnarok Online, or Fiesta Online while catering to the modern crowd. This means that it starts smoothly, captures your attention by gradually opening up tons of events, and then it asks you to shape up or ship out. Publisher Neocraft asked us to take a look at the game and since it has tons of players and very positive reviews, we felt compelled to give it a go. Furthermore, you can grab a gift pack by using the code TOW231.

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But that wasn’t the only reason for us to try Tales of Wind. As fans of every kind of crossover in online games, from hero collectors to RPGs, we couldn’t say no to an event featuring some familiar faces from the Fairy Tail anime. You know, the one with Natsu and Lucy, to name just a few. You’ll stumble across these two fellows in Laplace City, so go ahead and say hi, they may have something to ask you. But that’s not all – if you take a trip to the shop you’ll find that you can get shards to transform into Natsu or Erza, for example, and you can even get Happy, the anthropomorphic blue cat as a gold guardian.

Tales of Wind is played from an isometric top-down perspective and it looks pretty good if you fancy this anime style, but you can zoom a bit and enter the photo mode if you truly want to appreciate the new outfit from every angle. This costume works for males of every class, while Erza’s rabbit armor does the same for every female character. You can also grab Lucy’s outfit, which I’m pretty certain will be one of the things many players will be looking forward to.

I could go on and on about this Fairy Tail crossover, but for those who haven’t heard of Tales of Wind before, let me get right into it. This game is available on Android, iOS, and PC and is a story-driven MMO. There’s a big world with charming characters to meet and cute pets to foster, along with big baddies of all shapes and sizes. As I’ve said before, it mixes old and new MMO standards, which means that there’s the inevitable auto-play feature to take you through most of the early game content. Take this time to get acquainted with the characters and the world, to learn where everything is, and where you should be going instead of wandering aimlessly like a fool. After all, it’s not like things are going to get hardcore when you’re just a few days into the game, you have to progress a bit and unlock most of the relevant features.

But first, let’s take a look at the available classes. There’s no gender lock, so that’s a good thing already, you’re not forced into controlling a loli character or something like that because it just so happens to fit the role that you prefer. Pick your favorite guy or girl from one of the following classes: Warrior, Mage, Cleric, Assassin, Summoner, and Samurai. Each class is clearly labeled so that even casual players know what they are getting themselves into – for example, the Samurai is a melee class focused on burst damage, while the Cleric is the traditional healer class with a primordial support role. You can also check the skills and advancement jobs for each class – at level 48, the Summoner evolves into a Spirit Master, and the Mage has the choice between a Pyromancer and a Frostweaver. Tough decisions ahead, for sure.

Character customization is simple but effective nonetheless. Don’t go in expecting to create the most detailed avatar in the world; instead, you get a few presets for hair and face that should result in the kind of hero that you are used to seeing in anime MMOs. It’s as kawaii as it can be, and the different kinds of outfits and weapons will be the things that ultimately distinguish you from the other adventurers. Overall, it’s cute, as cute as a game where an enemy turns you into a harmless concertina with a sad face can be. I guess that there are worse things that a boss can turn you into, and this one at least made me smile the first time that I saw it happen.

I decided to go with the Samurai class because burst damage is right up my alley. To me, it’s either dealing high amounts of damage in a short period of time, or safely attacking everything that moves from a safe distance. I know, those two stereotypes are completely opposed, but that’s the funny thing about MMORPGs: you create one character and then you try a second role, and new classes are released, and you discover that your life is slipping away because you spend too much time gaming and leveling up several classes. No regrets, I wouldn’t trade my years playing on PC and consoles for anything, it’s been a blast.

Anyway, Tales of Wind offers many cutscenes to set up the world and your epic quest. Early on you’ll find some bad guys and quickly discover new locations and allies. By level 14 you should face one of your toughest decisions yet: who will be your first faithful pet? You can choose between a Fairy, Plant, and Animal egg, and in five minutes it will hatch and reveal the true nature of your valuable companion. I got a cute and chubby Wombat, but later you’ll discover others such as an ancient ent.

Pets, just like almost everything else in Tales of Wind contribute to your character’s battle rating. Your gear can be enhanced, and you can socket gems to make it more powerful. Cards that you earn can be embedded in your weapons and equipment, once again boosting your overall power. Becoming stronger is just as important as leveling up your character.

While Tales of Wind may initially feel like a pushover and the kind of hands-off experience that many players aren’t too excited about, things quickly take a turn as you unlock other options. Kingdom, for instance, is where you’ll be spending a lot of your time when you need to step up your game. Many dungeons and diverse challenges await you here, most of them requiring that you team-up with other players in parties of up to five heroes. Thankfully, there is no shortage of players around, or at least there wasn’t during my playthrough, and you can easily create or join a party.

It’s an easy and tried-and-tested system that works, but if for some reason you can’t find a capable team for a specific game mode, you can use the option to recruit mercenaries and fill up the remaining spots with AI characters. It’s nice to see that the game isn’t trying to fool you into thinking that everyone is a human, because you’ll notice the A.I. letters right beside the name. When you think about games such as Mario Kart Tour that launched without true multiplayer for months and fooled many players into thinking that they were racing against humans, when those seemingly real usernames were nothing but bots… Not cool, man, not cool.

You can participate in PvP arena battles, where players showcase their skills in one-on-one battles, but you can also enter fully-fledged guild wars. This is where auto-play simply isn’t going to cut it, so you have to grab the bull by the horns and show your true might. Auto-combat is functional, but it is never going to help you beat other players, unless you have a character with a much higher battle rating. Besides using skills at just the right time and properly judging things like range and cooldown times, manual action will allow you to move around and dodge with the kind of precision that auto doesn’t have.

Other events such as racing courses require you to beat other players in a mounted race where every second matters and a keen eye is crucial to snag those power-ups or make those sharp turns. These are just a few examples of activities where Tales of Wind won’t let you sit back and relax.

You can steer off the rails whenever you feel like, because there are other options out there worth exploring. Take the true sight mode, for example, where you enter this surreal world state where everything is black and white, except for the good stuff that you can find. It may be items, experience, or side quests, so it’s worth checking every once in a while. Furthermore, not every quest is listed in your quest tracker, so make sure that you stroll around and pay attention to NPCs who may be in dire need of an adventurer’s help.

Leveling up is a mix of many quests and events, including escort missions, card and equipment realms, and even weddings, if that’s more of your thing. Sadly I wasn’t able to attend a wedding during my stay in Tales of Wind, but I saw a few videos to satiate my curiosity. I can confirm that it’s a lively and colorful ceremony with tons of gifts for everyone who attends, so I’ll keep trying to see if I can sneak into one, wedding crashers style.

Still on the subject of distractions from your main quest, you can take some time off to tend to your farm. The Stardew Valley effect is strong with this one, as you go about planting wheat and flowers, bake some bread, collecting honey and eggs, among other things. The products that you make can be sold to eager customers who are willing to wait in line for ages, possibly a testament to the quality of your products. As your farm level evolves, you unlock new stands and make a thriving business in no time.

I’ll gladly admit that the engine running Tales of Wind does a pretty decent job, especially on mobile. Things can get hectic with all those visual effects and many characters moving around, but I never noticed any sort of slowdown. The art style is very competent albeit cliché, and the environments are pretty and include some nice little animations to make everything feel lively.

As for the elephant in the room, also known as pay-to-win… I have yet to reach the part where I feel that I must reach to my wallet to progress. In fact, going through PvE content is going to give you many days of adventures, so unless you are a die-hard PvP fan that wants nothing else than to shame other players by the sheer power of the credit card, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Tales of Wind is the kind of easygoing MMORPG where you have a wealth of content to delve through every day, and the dailies don’t put too much strain on you, because you can auto most of them. Crossover events such as the one with the anime Fairy Tail only serve to enhance the appeal. As far as mobile MMOs go, it may not be groundbreaking, but it is one of the best examples of the genre, covering every basis and offering something for everyone, casual or hardcore. Give it a go either on mobile or PC by following the link in the video description, and until next time.

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