Dragon Flight for Kakao, the FTP monster collecting shmup

[Danmaku Dussault]

Hello Shmup forum! I'm new to this forum so forgive me if this post is in the wrong section.

Dragon Flight is a limited movement scrolling Shmup (vertical scrolling with movement limited to the horizontal axis) with waves of enemies and meteors bookended by boss fights that become gradually harder the more distance you travel. It was developed by Next Floor and is a Shmup with a progressive level up system and monster collecting gimmick similar to that of Puzzle and Dragons (IOS,NDS,Andoid,GooglePlay,AC) or Thunder Raid (Android/IOS/GooglePlay, (asia only)). Like those game it has serious frontloaded rewards and features a lot of grinding but all bosses can be cleared without actually killing them as they will depart after a set amount of time a la Radiant Silvergun (without the self destruct save for one boss). The sound effects, music, and presentation are high quality and the action feels good with nice hit confirmation and tons of powerups on screen.

You start off with one character (featured in banner) and her dragon but are able to purchase other characters that come with their own unique dragon and shot type. Each of the characters feature some type of gimmick that gives them different utility. My favorite is the witch Iru who launches a number of devastating spells in addition to her normal shot. The characters can be equipped with items and can be accompanied by baby dragons/hatchlings that offer additional firepower or other augments. Those familiar with free to play mobile games will find the usual trappings of Timed Events with RNG rewards, in game currency and a limited play time energy system that can be added to artificially with real $. Truly "Free to Play" But you know how it goes. Play it long enough and the rewards just pile in. When

Dragon Flight "for Kakao" uses a korean social network. Alternatively, Dragon Flight for Line uses a Japanese social network (I have not tried this version). I have been playing it on a Guest account so the social features do not work but the game is perfectly enjoyable without.

I have been playing the game every day for about two months now and I love it even if I can not read Korean. The game, while stated on the store page to be in English is only in Korean. I have been using this blog to help identify and "translate" many of the equippable items etc. But the game, having recently updated to version 4.0.0 to coincide with the new "Season 5" and with the Lunar New Year, has altered its UI and added many new features.

It has been quite a task finding updated information on this game and I figured I would turn to the SHMUPS forum to see if anyone has given this game a shot. There is a new Team Battle system which I think, if people on this forum were to engage in, would dominate pretty quickly. I was only able to be part of one active team (who had one english speaker on it!) but I did not know how to reliably participate in our team's progress.

Lemme know!

[Xyga]

No. FTP can go to Hell.

[clippa]

I don't mind free to play so much. It's normally a warning sign but I've seen a few games that do it right.
It's the touch screen controls that stop me from playing games on mobiles and tablets. Me and my nephew used to play stuff together when he was a baby but he soon got bored and progressed to pc/console around the age of 2. His ipad is just a youtube machine nowadays.

Some games are fine with touch controls, turn based stuff mainly, shmups are definitely not. It either feels like cheating if they give you that "you can move anywhere at any speed" control, or if they give you on-screen buttons it feels like trying to play a violin with a toothbrush on the end of a bargepole.

[Danmaku Dussault]

OH hey I realize I never specified the control type.

It is simple touch screen controls as all you can do is slide your finger left and right (no vertical movement). There are no movement buttons. The movement can set to a 2x or 3x movement speed instead of 1:1 motion. I personally like the 2x speed which allows me to play with minimal movement of just my thumb kind of rocking back and forth.

There is a Laser button and a Slow Down Time/Boss Shot Clear Bomb of sorts button. There are options for these as well which switch the laser to an up swipe and the Slow Down to a down swipe. The game being in Korean, I just used my knowledge of games in general to deduce what these options were. The icons are clear enough but I wish i could read Korean. I am assuming that the "for Line" version of the game is in Japanese which would at least get me through the menus.

[qmish]

No. FTP can go to Hell.

unless it's actual freeware like some doujins/indie

[Xyga]

well yeah of course, freeware is not ftp...

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kakao means cocoa in Polish... also, an euphemism for bumhole. Your title is bound to evoke anal connotoations on that market.

[Danmaku Dussault]

well uhhhh not sure what to say to that. What other English words sound like bad words in Polish? I forgot what country it was but the word Car means Penis. Hey this reminds me, what is the consensus on the word "cute em up?" I don't care for it all too much. Really I just joined this forum to ask about dragon flight and then to see into Scart and XRGB mini tips. Not sure if I should go with a PVM or the Framemeister. I'll look around on the boards.

[qmish]

Kakao means cocoa in Polish... also, an euphemism for bumhole. Your title is bound to evoke anal connotoations on that market.

Do polish ever drink cocoa then? even children?

[Xyga]

Yes they drink children. Damn poles.

sorry

[KAI]

Mhh, bikini armor waifu looks good, but FTP sounds like shit.

[Danmaku Dussault]

FTP is not for everyone. It works for me as it is convenient and there is enough variety and progression to keep me coming back for short bursts or even multiple missions if I have time to kill. When you arent actively playing the game, you can send you other players on expeditions to collect items and money and stuff. If you have the right element or pet dragon sent on teh mission with the character your rewards can become fairly substantial. That combined with the leaderboard ranking system I usually get a bunch of free stuff every day so I am able to play it for a long time without running out of energy.