KINGDOM HEARTS Missing Link Coming 2024!

[Luminary]

So the layered worlds is totally how worlds are gonna work in KH4 huh? And I bet Mickey investigating Scala is just a cutscene of him finding the Astral Dimension machine and they use that to try and find Sora.

Months too late on this, but I am now realizing why Nomura named this world Scala Ad Caelum. It literally holds the stairway to heaven. Lol

I think the Astral Plane is just what we know as the final world. It can be layered to mimic a world your heart is connected with or something. This could be what we see Yozora do in the Re:Mind fight when the FW transforms into Quadratum. But this is just an illusion. The real world is where he wakes up after we beat him (or he beats us.)

The warp worlds that Remus is supposed to introduce us to will be the actual worlds like Kingdom of Corona. And however we get to them will be how Sora does it in KH4. Maybe once we unlock those, we can change the layering of the Astral Plane to match that world.

 

[Chaser]

I went out for over an hour, went for a walk along a busy road for about 45 minutes then quickly went into a shopping centre and returned home via train. Had the hands free GPS mode running the whole time. This is the result.

Don't know why only Piglet and White Rabbit are shown there. I got a Merryweather too.

Edit: Grand Chests are a part of the CBT roadmap, so I went out of my way to teleport to like Broken Hill to get one. Defeated the area's boss, unlocked the chest, cost some jewels and AP to get it.

Turns out I can't open it without either spending jewels or waiting 5 real days

 

[Luminary]

I went out for over an hour, went for a walk along a busy road for about 45 minutes then quickly went into a shopping centre and returned home via train. Had the hands free GPS mode running the whole time. This is the result.

Don't know why only Piglet and White Rabbit are shown there. I got a Merryweather too.

Edit: Grand Chests are a part of the CBT roadmap, so I went out of my way to teleport to like Broken Hill to get one. Defeated the area's boss, unlocked the chest, cost some jewels and AP to get it.

Turns out I can't open it without either spending jewels or waiting 5 real days

Oof and I’m guessing you can only put one chest in the slot to open after that time frame? And that’s a lot of jewels or AP. Especially the AP compared to what you earned walking.

At least it also picks up stuff while driving I guess.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Oof and I’m guessing you can only put one chest in the slot to open after that time frame? And that’s a lot of jewels or AP. Especially the AP compared to what you earned walking.

At least it also picks up stuff while driving I guess.

Yeah, this sounds great for commuters who drive. And I think I still have reservations about public transport users using GPS mode but it also seems tailored for them.

But this game is absolutely hostile to the 9-5 worker.

 

[Luminary]

Yeah, this sounds great for commuters who drive. And I think I still have reservations about public transport users using GPS mode but it also seems tailored for them.

But this game is absolutely hostile to the 9-5 worker.

And those of us who work remote and also don’t have super walkable neighborhoods.

(Although it will be good for my health to have some motivation to get out and move more.)

 

[Chaser]

Having gone for that 60 minute walk compared to a 60 minute train ride, it's less a game for walking and more for traveling as far as possible for more of the rewards.

Of course, you need the game running in the background all the time, so it's gathering your location data for the entire day.

 

[Phoenix]

Welp, I'm glad you guys are going to get the story for us, because the game sounds like a battery and privacy nightmare. Also, not much of a game.

 

[Luminary]

Having gone for that 60 minute walk compared to a 60 minute train ride, it's less a game for walking and more for traveling as far as possible for more of the rewards.

Of course, you need the game running in the background all the time, so it's gathering your location data for the entire day.

Does it continue to register your steps and all even if you switch to other apps? Or does it have to be the active app on your screen for it to count?

 

[Chaser]

Welp, I'm glad you guys are going to get the story for us, because the game sounds like a battery and privacy nightmare. Also, not much of a game.

It's a shame because the story is good, just like UX had a good story (though full of pointless filler quests). But people thought that pointing out the flaws of UX as a predatory mobile game meant attacking the story so let's see if they do that this time around as well.

And yes, it is quite a battery drain. Brought my phone battery down into the 30%'s after 3 hours. In fact, you can see that it went from being in the 60's to 30's in an hour in the screenshots above.

Does it continue to register your steps and all even if you switch to other apps? Or does it have to be the active app on your screen for it to count?

It asks to be connected to your health app, which collects my steps. I have an apple watch so that's constantly counting. Not sure how it does it if you choose to not connect it with a health app.

 

[HakaishinChampa]

I figured out my password to come back here just for this.

2) I found the next potential Kairi's grandma and it is the researcher woman.

I'm still Team Ava for Kairi's grandmother

 

[Phoenix]

It's a shame because the story is good, just like UX had a good story (though full of pointless filler quests). But people thought that pointing out the flaws of UX as a predatory mobile game meant attacking the story so let's see if they do that this time around as well.

And yes, it is quite a battery drain. Brought my phone battery down into the 30%'s after 3 hours. In fact, you can see that it went from being in the 60's to 30's in an hour in the screenshots above.

Jesus, your battery's going to melt.

This is going to be a dumb question, but... what's there to do? The phone was running for hours, some enemies got killed and you got some rewards. Did you do anything?

 

[Chaser]

Jesus, your battery's going to melt.

I actually was concerned with how hot my phone got after I unlocked raid battles.

This is going to be a dumb question, but... what's there to do? The phone was running for hours, some enemies got killed and you got some rewards. Did you do anything?

Not a dumb question at all because it was after less than a day of playing did I realise that this game was actually an incremental / idle game.

Years ago, when I was bored, I'd download some apps to play games to try and pass the time and one of those was a game called Adventure Capitalist. You'd have to think strategically at the start, to try and work your profits to maximise itself since it took a couple of minutes before you could redeem the money which was then funnelled back into making things faster, but very quickly you'd have everything automated and then make astronomical amounts of money in currencies that our current world aren't even at.

I realised that Missing-Link was exactly like that. To get the most rewards, you didn't have to do anything but travel a far distance quickly. By setting it to GPS hands-off mode, it'd just follow you and automatically fight heartless and collect treasures and pieces from any stops along the way (which in this mode don't cost AP! And in this mode, battles reward you with AP).

By the time I got home and ended it, all that was there for me to do was redeem rewards to slightly increase my HP, attack power, whatever, and use the thousands of materials gathered to gain a handful of levels for my Keyblade or pieces.

At it's core, it's an automated game; designed to get you into a loop of traveling far for the rewards at the trade off of location data - where you go, how long you're there, all that jazz. Because when you're in one place and playing in the free roam mode, it costs a LOT of AP to fight battles, collect pieces, and attack bosses. That's because they want you to find it's better to use the GPS system, to funnel you into having the app running in the background all day.

Look I say all this but then I'd stick around for the story so I'm knowingly a part of the problem . Sorry everyone.

 

[Squood!]

So basically this is ultimately a ploy to get people to go outside and exercise

 

[Chaser]

So basically this is ultimately a ploy to get people to go outside and exercise

No, it's not.

If it was, everything wouldn't be spread far apart on the map, and the game would accomodate proper commendations for tracking steps outside of coins from a weak weekly pass.

If it was about exercise, then the rewards from the app should be higher.

If you're on a treadmill, the rewards matter very little.

If you're on a walk or a run in your neighbourhood, going through a couple of suburbs, it matters very little.

If you're travelling a far distance in a short amount of time due to being on public transport or in a car, it matters more.

But a problem here is I seem to be the only one in the beta who's also on the forums, so I'm wary of my concerns being preachy or annoying, and I'll step them back because I don't want these initial feelings from a third beta dissuading or upsetting people.

 

[bambii]

But a problem here is I seem to be the only one in the beta who's also on the forums, so I'm wary of my concerns being preachy or annoying, and I'll step them back because I don't want these initial feelings from a third beta dissuading or upsetting people.

I think these are legitimate concerns, it's not like you're railing on the game for the sake of being negative. Idle games are dumb and I doubt many of us here would argue that. It's helpful to get a sense of what we might be getting ourselves into with this game, to set expectations.

As someone who never plays mobile games (I tried with Ux, DR, Nier Reincarnation, Ever Crisis, and gave up on them all very quickly), my intent has been to rough it out and actually play ML, understanding that at the end of the day it's an exploitative gacha game. I'm even willing to spend a limited amount of money on it but hoping to stick to mostly F2P. I enjoy walking around my neighborhood and was hoping that'd be enough to get me by. Based on what you're sharing though, it sounds like that might be difficult unless you commute a good distance every day or something (I don't, I'm WFH). And the battery issue is genuinely concerning. Course, we don't know how the overall gameplay balance is gonna pan out, but it's not sounding great.

I'm gonna give the game a fair shake, but ultimately it'll be on Square if they can't even keep a superfan like me engaged and entertained enough to stick with it.

 

[Phoenix]

I actually was concerned with how hot my phone got after I unlocked raid battles.

Not a dumb question at all because it was after less than a day of playing did I realise that this game was actually an incremental / idle game.

Years ago, when I was bored, I'd download some apps to play games to try and pass the time and one of those was a game called Adventure Capitalist. You'd have to think strategically at the start, to try and work your profits to maximise itself since it took a couple of minutes before you could redeem the money which was then funnelled back into making things faster, but very quickly you'd have everything automated and then make astronomical amounts of money in currencies that our current world aren't even at.

I realised that Missing-Link was exactly like that. To get the most rewards, you didn't have to do anything but travel a far distance quickly. By setting it to GPS hands-off mode, it'd just follow you and automatically fight heartless and collect treasures and pieces from any stops along the way (which in this mode don't cost AP! And in this mode, battles reward you with AP).

By the time I got home and ended it, all that was there for me to do was redeem rewards to slightly increase my HP, attack power, whatever, and use the thousands of materials gathered to gain a handful of levels for my Keyblade or pieces.

At it's core, it's an automated game; designed to get you into a loop of traveling far for the rewards at the trade off of location data - where you go, how long you're there, all that jazz. Because when you're in one place and playing in the free roam mode, it costs a LOT of AP to fight battles, collect pieces, and attack bosses. That's because they want you to find it's better to use the GPS system, to funnel you into having the app running in the background all day.

Look I say all this but then I'd stick around for the story so I'm knowingly a part of the problem . Sorry everyone.

So, I have a question, and I'll try to phrase it right.

When Dark Road came out, players quickly figured out that the best (only) way of "playing" the game was to let it play itself. Now, they had to let the phones run all night because iirc, the game had to be on. It didn't have any of the normal QOL things idle games had, because the game wasn't really intended to be played that way. It's just that the game was so poorly designed that it genre shifted.

The way you're playing ML right now, do you get the sense that this is the intended user experience, or is this a Dark Road situation?

And please don't apologise for being negative or preachy. I think we all appreciate the inside look into the thing.

 

[maryadavies]

...I think I"m going to have to get this power inverter as soon as I can. I also recommend you guys get a power bank for your phone if you are playing this a lot. In the old days before I got my driver's license, a power bank was I survived when I had to use uber/lyft a lot (with at least one of my phones, those were also VERY power hungry.)

..and I might think about getting a new power bank myself. The one I got is a gen back and a little slow to charge my phone.

[Edit] If you like Wirecutter, Here's their reviews on power banks. Wired knows what they're talking about tho I think. But keep in mind whatever you pick, it's best to have one that's not bulky and that you can slip in your pocket; you're on the go after all.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

...I think I"m going to have to get this power inverter as soon as I can. I also recommend you guys get a power bank for your phone if you are playing this a lot. In the old days before I got my driver's license, a power bank was I survived when I had to use uber/lyft a lot (with at least one of my phones, those were also VERY power hungry.)

..and I might think about getting a new power bank myself. The one I got is a gen back and a little slow to charge my phone.

[Edit] If you like Wirecutter, Here's their reviews on power banks. Wired knows what they're talking about tho I think. But keep in mind whatever you pick, it's best to have one that's not bulky and that you can slip in your pocket; you're on the go after all.

Definitely the plan. And getting a new battery replacement…

 

[Squood!]

....yeah this game isn't gonna last long...

 

[Luminary]

So basically this is ultimately a ploy to get people to go outside and exercise

The ultimate goal is to sell your data as Chaser said. Whether from the start or later on, they will also get businesses to sponsor them by having chests, raids, etc. at their businesses. Each time a player sets foot in a sponsored location, they will pay SE a small fee for helping attract customers. This is how the PokeStops work in Pokemon Go.

....yeah this game isn't gonna last long...

I think you’re underestimating the game’s potential. DQ Walk just crossed $2 billion earned in Japan alone. This game could earn half that and still be the single most profitable game in the KH franchise by far. (With maybe the exception of UX. Not sure how much it made.) Even just a quarter of DQW’s earnings would be more than KH3’s total sales.