Chaos Rings brings classic JRPG action and hefty pricetag to Google Play

By Simon Sage  | Oct 10 2012 | 10:35 am  | 24 Comments

Android Central

Chaos Rings, a role-playing game franchise created by the venerable Square Enix about two years ago on iOS, has found its way to Android. If you remember the ports of their classic Final Fantasy titles, you'll know that Square Enix has a habit of charging a fair bit for their mobile games, and Chaos Rings is no different with a $12.99 pricetag. That said, reviews for the iOS version have been unanimously good, so at least you're getting quality for what you pay for.

The game's story revolves around a mysterious tournament where pairs of contestants fight for their lives in the imposing and surreal Ark Arena. There are 8 characters to chose from, spread between 5 pairs, each with their own histories and plotlines to unfold. 

On the one hand, it's easy to laugh openly at just about any app trying to get away with a pricetag of more than $10 in Google Play, but on the other, I admire developers that have the moxy to try to stem the race to the bottom in app pricing. Only really big-name publishers can afford to create high-quality apps for bargain basement prices, and even then, they only work if supplemented by ad and in-app purchase revenue. What do you guys think - is the labor that goes into making an application just as valuable as it used to be (as Nintendo would contend), or is the app market so saturated now that old models simply don't work anymore? Is it worth paying a premium up-front to combat the trend in in-app purchasing?

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There are 24 comments. Add yours.

Spook81 says:

2 years ago in iOS... enough said. hehe BTW, aren't Chaos Rings whatever Sonic was trying to collect or destroy or eat?

OniDroid says:

10+ isn't that bad for a good quality app (Game). It only seems like a rip because most apps do not even come close to charging that amount. Not interested though, I have enough rpg type games on my various emus..LoL

Averix says:

Chaos emeralds were Sonic's deal.
Yeah, this is old from iOS. I wish they'd ported Chaos Rings II instead of wasting time doing the first one. Hopefully that won't take a year to do...
As for the pricing, I'm sick of paying in-app fees just to make a game worthwhile. Charge me more up front so I don't get ads and don't have to buy "mobi coins" or "super birds" to get through a game. $.99 is the throwaway amount for crap titles. You're still paying substantially less than a 3DS or Vita game here.

Shadowriver says:

maybe thats part of the plan, they port first one to port 2nd later :)

Mike77 says:

Final Fantasy 3 was 16 bucks and well worth it. Better then buying 10 one dollar games that are more or less the same thing with different skins. Games like this actually make a tablet some kind of competition for the portable gaming systems who charge 40 bucks for games.

evallee says:

does anyone know if the game is in englisH, I am intrested but would like to be able to follow the story, and based on the trailer I am not sure.

jean15paul says:

If the game is good enough and has enough gameplay, I could see spending that price. But the problem that I see is that most high-end mobile games just don't have enough gameplay for that price. Most high end games I've played (e.g. Shadowgun, Dead Space, MC3, NOVA3) only have around 20 hours of gameplay. That's not enough to justify more than $4 - $6 dollars, imo. If you're going to give me 50+ hours of GOOD gameplay, then that's a fair price.

Mike77 says:

Can't speak for this one but FF3 i am between 35-40 hours and close to the ending in that, another Square game.

ExtremeNerd says:

50 hours of gameplay is console worthy, which runs $60. If I get a solid 25-30, I'm more than willing to pay the money. Devs like Kotobuki (Symphony of Eternity) charge $5 for ~12 hours. Once I see a few reviews, I will likely buy this.

bawboh86 says:

I'm buying this one. I love me some JRPGs, and this one is highly ranked. $12.99 for a quality app with no ads and no in-app purchases > ANY other game out there that has either of these.

bschrib says:

I'm A-OK with paying more for quality apps -- what is disappointing me with Square Enix (and I've bought their past apps..) is that these are literally ports. We tend to see the boxed off ends so that it displays properly on our widescreen phones as opposed to iOS. If they'd just rework it I wouldn't have a problem with buying from them.

As it is with these iOS-y ports I'm putting a hold purchasing anything from Square Enix.

ottscay says:

I'd happily pay $10 for a game I really enjoyed that rivaled what I like about PC gaming. That said, most mobile games, even fun ones, are of the time-wasting variety (e.g. Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja) that are fun to spend 5 minutes at a time on, and I won't pay more than a couple of bucks for one of those.

Suntan says:

I'm fine with the cost up front, but I want a *good quality* rpg that is actually tailored to a mobile, touch interface. That means more than just a virtual D pad and buttons with fights that last 20minutes (spectral souls, I'm looking right at you.)

That said, I'm part way through Horn, which I paid all of $.25 for. $12 or more for a game seems offsides.

-Suntan

tntbandicoot10 says:

This game is simply awesome, a must buy folks

Regards,

HD and 3D Android Games

jckwong says:

$10+ is not a deterrent if it has no IAP and no ads. Counter that with portable gaming devices and their games, which are often $30-$40.

hmmm says:

Depends on the quality of the port. I feel ripped off by the Final Fantasy 1 port that is letterboxed all the way around on my phone and plays like garbage. It even comes with a virtual d-pad...yay. A port from the actual company should play better than an emulator and ROM of the game. However, the port of Final Fantasy 3 was well done. I'll have to check out the reviews in the Play Store before considering it.

Also, where the hell is Final Fantasy Dimensions?

aaronwe says:

I actually paid $13 for this on an iPhone 3GS. It was impressive, especially considering no one had done a game of that scope and size on mobile before.

But that was 2 years ago. Unless they've seriously upgraded the game, it's certainly not going to be worth that today compared to other RPG titles that sell for much much less.

diskoman69 says:

I'd pay that much for a game if it was a quality NEW game. This is not a far cry from $5-7, and I've paid that for a few. That's a lot less than paying $40-60 on a console, handheld or PC.

The problem is that Square is not designing Android games. They are porting over iOS and PS games...old games...and putting a premium price tag on them. I love the FF series, and literally bought a SNES for the US FF3 (really FF6 in Japan). It has been a while though since Square has released anything that really wowed me, and I just can't see paying a premium price for nostalgia's sake. I'd rather just fire up Steam and get my nostalgia fix that way a lot more cheaply.

nulldog says:

I would rather pay once, instead of in-app billing,
because of the possibility of multiple bank charges/service fees.

cegc135 says:

That boss sure looks a lot like Copy X with the Seraph Armor from Megaman Zero 1.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs16/f/2007/206/e/e/Copy_X_Seraph_Wallpaper_b...

Chocoburger says:

The game doesn't work on rooted devices? Well I'm out! I would never buy an Android device and not root it (TiBupPro!), so S-E just shot themselves in the foot. Good job.

diestarbucks says:

And I think they added that to the description at a later time. I don't remember seeing it when I bought it shortly after it was released. I didn't have a chance to try it until this morning and it won't work on my rooted EVO LTE...

jeres88 says:

If the app is high enough quality, then I would definitely pay over $10 for an app. I bought Spectral Souls awhile back and have not regretted it once. I've put more time into that game than most $60 console games!

TenshiNo says:

So... SquareEnix doesn't want my money because I'm rooted? What on earth does being rooted have to do with anything. You can't claim it's to prevent piracy, because that's just as easy on an unrooted device. I don't get this one.

At the same time, though, as much as I love the old SquareSoft games, they have not exactly had a stellar reputation for their Android ports. There are a number of people complaining about the root issue with this one, and several of their other games have *huge* problems, even to the point of somehow making the digitizer on people's devices stop working until a reboot.

Come'on, SE. Android powered devices are selling more than a million unit per day, but you're obviously not taking this seriously.