Previous OT
Developer: DeNA
Publisher: Square Enix
Price: Free (with IAP)
Platforms: iOS & Android
Release Dates:
- Japan - September 24, 2014
- Canada - March 17, 2015
- US/Europe - March 26, 2015
Final Fantasy Record Keeper casts you in the titular role of "record keeper", playing a young boy named
You recruit characters from the games,
attempt to
like Josef's Giant's Gloves (II)
multiple times
Combat is pure 2D-sprite based ATB Final Fantasy, and the older and newer entries have been lovingly conformed to this format. The game starts off easy enough, but balloons into near-absurdity at end-game, where juggling abilities, soul breaks (limit breaks) equipment and the ever-overpowered Friend Summon system to effectively come up with strategies to progress.
This game requires a time investment and some modicum of reading up on best-practices, etc.
(Thanks Einbroch I'm lazy)
Is this game pay-to-win?
It's more "pay to advance faster". You do not unlock characters by a gacha system. You can only recruit new characters by advancing in the story. The gacha system in this game is to gain weapons and armor. You gain Mythril by beating stages, and Mythril is used to roll for weapons and armor. You also find weapons and armor from enemies, but this in generally weaker than the stuff from premium rolls.
So, what's the drawback?
It has a stamina system. It's actually pretty fair compared to other games, but it's there. You rarely have to take breaks if you simply follow the main story path.
Why should I play this?
It's super nostalgic. Classic Final Fantasy characters, classic Final Fantasy music, it just oozes nostalgia. It's also probably the best Final Fantasy smartphone (non-port) game. It's fair, it's fun, and it's free. Give it a try.
Why not the Japanese version then?
It's not like you can't. In fact, JP service is just as fun, and actually ahead in terms of progression and features. On the other hand, the global version has the JP version as a blueprint, and allows one to plan in broad strokes what the next few weeks might look like. Depends what you're looking for, I guess. Most of the OT plays on the global/EN version.
This game is extremely laggy on my device!
As of Dec 14th 2015 with the new UI, if you're experiencing menu lag go to Menu > Config and switch to Simplified Display. Should make it faster to navigate the menus. (Thanks MicH)
(Thanks Shouta, etc)
- Make sure you spend your orbs and crystals on raising the level of your abilities. It's really important because they all have limited usage and low level ones only give you 2-4 uses which make it harder to go through the much longer dungeons in the game. So do not forge more than 1 or 2 until you get them to a sufficient level.
- You receive characters by defeating certain dungeons. For some of the high profile ones, they'll have a weekly dungeon that comes up and stays around for awhile. So do not worry about not getting Tidus or whatever now or spending money on Mythril to restore your stamina. Take it slow as you'll have time. Also, the game periodically has mega-events that give you wildcards to unlock from a plethora of characters and Memory Crystals.
- All of the characters are pretty different so make sure you're setting up balanced teams. The Elite dungeons are tough and the later ones will really require you to be prepared for them as some of the bosses will have ridiculous amounts of life and strength.
- When starting out, 2-3 star gear is fine to keep and upgrade to ++ levels But as you get more gear, especially the 4 and 5 star pieces, it's OK to fuse or sell them for gil. Despite being able to upgrade the star level of gear, their base stats and growth are fro them their original star form. So a 2 star gear can be raised to 4 star but it's stats won't be nearly as good as a native 4 star piece. Same with 3 stars that were made into 5 star gear. Native 5 star gear willb e stronger in the long term. Gil is a more difficult resource in the game to get so just start phasing out old gear as you get a bunch of stuff.
- Characters resonate with their individual worlds and get a level bonus making them stronger there. This is really nice but be careful about spreading your time and experience between chars too thin. IMO, it's more important to raise a char to higher levels and break their level limit with their memory crystal as it makes them far more usable overall.
- Record Synergy is a significant power boost. Characters, as stated above, but more importantly gear. The numbers work out that a 2++ (farmable 2* equipment combined twice and upgraded to the maximum) with Record Synergy generally is on the power level stat-wise as a non-Record Synergy 5* item. A 4* Synergy item will often outright outclass a non-Synergy 5*. DON'T THROW AWAY ITEMS JUST BECAUSE THEY APPEAR TO HAVE SLIGHTLY LESS STATS.
- THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB IS: Never, ever pull relics (especially with cash) with the intent of getting a specific item.
- A good medium term goal is to get Black Mage, White Mage and Summoner to 50, to unlock their 2nd Record Materias, which recharge 1 use of each school per stage. This is bread and butter for lv80+ dungeons and events to have enough gas left in the tank when facing the boss. On the flipside, BM/WHM/Summoner themselves really, really suck, so this is a huge chore.
(Again, thanks Einbroch)
iOS link.
Android link.
Official page.
Wikia with basic information.
English Wiki with a lot of information.
Japanese Wiki of the above link, but it's in Japanese (and has content not available to the west).
Steamed Pork Bun FFRK site - a very useful (but non-halal) site with previews of upcoming events.
FFRK subreddit
Nerdery corner (Hard data, thanks Reddit)
Quick Info Spreadsheet useful for e.g. ctrl-f "5 - support" for finding who you can stick Full Break on, etc. Also sortable columns for stats, etc.
Battle Mechanics & Formulae - WHAT DO THEM STATS DO DOC?
Battle Multipliers database for at-a-glance checking and comparing effectiveness of buffs/debuffs/etc.
Auto-updating (& underused) 4* Orb Droprate spreadsheet Results can be off due to low sample sizes esp. for newer entries, but a good resource overall regardless.
Event List Maintained event list of past/present/future (thanks JP) events along with dates/forecasted dates/etc.
Datamined Gacha Banner Images for planning when to save and when to splurge.
Enlir's FFRK Database another comprehensive lookup
LEMME KNOW IF YOU THINK ANYTHING SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE OP
