The game that I talked about a year ago has reborn and I've been testing it. Long story short, the guys at Sparkplay Media filled bankrupt and then sold the game to Asian development company called Sankando, whom re-branded EE to the Japanese market under the name of Ikimonogatari. This was last January and included with the re-brand of the game came A LOT of changes in aesthetics and functionality. Almost three weeks ago we got our beloved EE back by the hand of TurnOut Ventures and it is looking quite good... kinda!
The game still has bugs and erratic behavior, the memory leaks have not been resolved, the game is now stuck as a "browser game" and no standalone faster client is available, we lost 10 races and the characters now look too chibi-uguu-kawaii to my taste. But perhaps the worse thing one could argue is that now you NEED a valid Facebook account to play.
It's still F2P with micro-transaction (that for now is closed) but whenever they open the store, if you buy some virtual goods and then the Suckerburg squad decides to close your FB account for whatever reason your account will be locked and no refunds will be given (the most common "offense" being for using a Nickname instead of Real Name, like a lot of furries and defenders of the privacy I know do.) Not that I have a problem, I use my real name on FB. I'm okay with it, but I can see why people do not like their personal information online.
The game is still good, their community is great, terrific staff, no griefers/trolls at all. The changes were mostly positive, the mechanics make much more sense as they were simplified but they are still unique, although most of them needs rewording and/or a good buff (like the AoE spells). Whatever I said in my original review about races and classes still applies. Yet, we lost 10 races: No more Broccan (badgers), Caprican (rams/sheeps), Clockwork (constructs), Cyclops, Daemon (demons), Grumkin (goblins), Lisian (geckos), Sylvan (treefolks), Tusken (boar) and Yeti. Perhaps they will come back as premium (read pay) races as you can see many allied NPCs of said races. No effect on me. I play a Longtail Knight and a Foxen Mage.
Also, now I look stupidly cute. Not sure if is good or not. Perhaps is that damn new beret I bought as a "helm". Judge yourself.
I'm still very busy with school, exams and junk so I do not play everyday. If I'm lucky I play twice a week. My laptop also don't help the matter because it can't play the game for longer than periods of 2 hours before I have to reload the game (damn memory leaks). But If you still want to play, send me a message so we can get you started and once you reach Corsica (for Lv. 4 Rusuko) or Anglorum (Lv. 14 Roderico) we can form a party :3
---
Oh, people keep asking me if I saw redrawn crocodiles and birds / Clean sky after Mufasa's ghost / redrawn background in Feel the Love Tonight Scene / etc. in TLK 3D. Well, I'll be honest, my memory is hazy and I was too busy having an eye orgasm to notice the IMAX edits. I say that yes, I saw all the new stuff, but I'm not bothered. IMHO it looks better. Also, you can't complain: they got rid of stupid The Morning Report :3
---
And now, Cuteness Meme Test Time!
Appearance: [ ] = You have blue/green eyes. (What!? So Dark brown doesn't count? And people say I have cute eyes :[ ) [ x ] = You blush a lot. [ x ] = You giggle. (Quietly~) [ x ] = You are quiet. (Until I warm up to people. But still, I prefer silence.) [ x ] = You say random, silly, things. (I like to quote silly things so much XD) [ x ] = You have a baby face. (I look 10-13 years younger!) [ x ] = You wear a more down-to-earth style of clothing. [ x ] = You do not wear halter tops or anything too showy. [ ] = You are under 5 feet 6 inches tall. (Nuh. 5' 8'') TOTAL SO FAR: 7
Innocence: [ x ] = You are a virgin. (*Blush*) [ x ] = Just thinking of sexual things makes you blush. (It's not what you are thinking!) [ x ] = Your idea of a date is really romantic. [ ] = You sleep with a stuffed animal. [ x ] = You like to cuddle. (It's nice~) [ x ] = You have never played the nervous game. (wat.) [ x ] = You do not even know what the nervous game is. (wat.) TOTAL SO FAR: 13
Colors: [ x ] = You like the color light blue. [ x ] = You tend to wear bright colors. TOTAL SO FAR: 15
Personality: [ x ] = You can be ignorant/oblivious. (Much to the chagrin of many people...) [ x ] = You would consider yourself shy. [ x ] = You like happy upbeat music. [ x ] = You like "cutesy" music. TOTAL SO FAR: 19
What YOU think is cute: [ x ] = You like small animals. (HAMSTERS!) [ ] = You like babies a lot. [ x ] = Small/mini versions of things make you go "Awww <3." TOTAL: 21
Multiply how many you got by 4 ... this states I'm 84% cute!
