I love Chain Chronicle. It’s actually one of my favourite mobile games of all time. My wife introduced it to me well before there was an English release, when it was making big waves over in Japan. Then it was announced for the west, and I got hooked. To this day, when I have a bit of spare time, I whip it out for a half hour or so.
Related reading: My review of Chain Chronicle.
But that’s coming to an end, with the game’s English publisher, gumi Asia, announcing that on February 29, the online-only game will go silent permanently as the servers are shut down. This is the first time I’ve been an active participant in a game that is about to be shuttered, and I’m pretty devastated (even though I only spent a small amount of cash on it).
Based on a post on the gumi forums, it would seem that the game simply wasn’t able to meet profitability tests at gumi, meaning that ongoing development of the game couldn’t continue. Can’t really blame gumi for making such a hard decision, but it does suck for the game’s fans – especially those who have made a significant investment into the game.
As much as I loved Chain Chronicle, it never quite managed to hit the highs that the game enjoyed (and enjoys) in Japan. Part of this is no doubt licensing. In Japan SEGA was able to partner with all kinds of different anime and game franchises to do special events in Chain Chronicle. My wife was able to get my favourite Atelier characters in her version of the game, for example, which never happened for the global (English) release.
But nonetheless it was a quality game, and if you are still playing it, you’ve got about a month to make the most of it. From January 18, gumi is going to make it very easy to see as much of the game as possible for its last month:
- AP Cost for all quests will be reduced to 1 AP.
- Gain x5 XP from all quests.
- Premium Recruit cost is reduced from 50 Prysma to 30 Prysma.
- Premium Recruits will now feature a 10 1 promotion with a guaranteed UR.
- UR and SR drop rates at Taverns will be substantially increased.
- Expanding Arcana Limit and reviving during battles will be reduced from 10 Prysma to 5 Prysma.
- A new daily quest with All Enhancers and Blacksmiths will be added to Dawning.
- Great Success trigger rate will be doubled.
Related reading: An interview I did with gumi Asia about this game from about a year ago.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to see about getting Elton John to write a new song for this sad day.
– Matt S.
Editor-in-Chief
