(Apologies if this is slightly off-topic as I’m not up to date on this manga)
I played a bit of the gacha game for this and read a small handful of the early manga chapters. I loved the character and clothing designs, leaning heavily on “cool” and “badass” more than sex appeal. Not that I dislike the latter at all, just refreshing to get a different aesthetic sometimes. The game was also impressive for a phone gacha game.
So my question: Is it worth following the manga, especially if I no longer play the gacha game? Does the story feel like it’s leading to a conclusion, or is it going to be drawn out forever, as a perpetual promo for the game?
Outside some minor changes that come from this being an adaptaion (player commander being replaced with an actual character, expansion on what happens between and during missions etc) it’s pretty faithful. Definitely way closer to the game than the anime was… (￢_￢)
There’s also additional characterization of all of the units which I appreciate - game was a lot less expansive on that front in the early days.
They don’t seem to be doing any actual filler if that’s what you’re worried about but don’t expect an ending anytime soon. While we’re entering the final arc in the game, we don’t know how many events it’ll take to actually finish the story. Manga is currently at event 3 out of 15 (?) major ones and doesn’t update that often so it’ll be a while before it reaches game parity - especially since later events got quite a bit longer.
I think I read that release schedule might improve but don’t quote me on it as I need to confirm whether that comment was about this series or one of the spin-off ones.
All in all, I’d say it’s a pretty good alternative if you don’t want to play the game. There’s plenty of good story waiting to be adapted, you just have to hope we won’t die of old age before it happens.
Edit: I’d also like to add that translator of this series tends to add joke’y comments on some of the panels. They are easy to recognize and kind of hidden but don’t be surprised if you see something that doesn’t necessarily fit the mood. Unfortunately, there’s no alternative in this case.
Thanks for the detailed reply! That story sounds longer than I expected, and interesting that it’s faithful to the game without much filler, maybe I’ll keep an eye on the manga then.
No problem, I’m always happy to write about something I like.
Fun fact, the next event to be adapted in the manga was suppose to be the end of GFL story - what we got instead was a huge expansion of the world, factions and characters to follow. It’s a labor of love to a huge degree.
(Apologies if this is slightly off-topic as I’m not up to date on this manga)
I played a bit of the gacha game for this and read a small handful of the early manga chapters. I loved the character and clothing designs, leaning heavily on “cool” and “badass” more than sex appeal. Not that I dislike the latter at all, just refreshing to get a different aesthetic sometimes. The game was also impressive for a phone gacha game.
So my question: Is it worth following the manga, especially if I no longer play the gacha game? Does the story feel like it’s leading to a conclusion, or is it going to be drawn out forever, as a perpetual promo for the game?
Outside some minor changes that come from this being an adaptaion (player commander being replaced with an actual character, expansion on what happens between and during missions etc) it’s pretty faithful. Definitely way closer to the game than the anime was… (￢_￢)
There’s also additional characterization of all of the units which I appreciate - game was a lot less expansive on that front in the early days.
They don’t seem to be doing any actual filler if that’s what you’re worried about but don’t expect an ending anytime soon. While we’re entering the final arc in the game, we don’t know how many events it’ll take to actually finish the story. Manga is currently at event 3 out of 15 (?) major ones and doesn’t update that often so it’ll be a while before it reaches game parity - especially since later events got quite a bit longer.
I think I read that release schedule might improve but don’t quote me on it as I need to confirm whether that comment was about this series or one of the spin-off ones.
All in all, I’d say it’s a pretty good alternative if you don’t want to play the game. There’s plenty of good story waiting to be adapted, you just have to hope we won’t die of old age before it happens.
Edit: I’d also like to add that translator of this series tends to add joke’y comments on some of the panels. They are easy to recognize and kind of hidden but don’t be surprised if you see something that doesn’t necessarily fit the mood. Unfortunately, there’s no alternative in this case.
Thanks for the detailed reply! That story sounds longer than I expected, and interesting that it’s faithful to the game without much filler, maybe I’ll keep an eye on the manga then.
No problem, I’m always happy to write about something I like.
Fun fact, the next event to be adapted in the manga was suppose to be the end of GFL story - what we got instead was a huge expansion of the world, factions and characters to follow. It’s a labor of love to a huge degree.