Chaos Rings Omega
After Chaos Rings, MediaVision created a prequel starring Olgar and Vahti, the last pair in the first game. They’re the previous winners of the Ark Arena, so this details what happens on their first time participating. Unlike Chaos Rings I, where you had four pairs and each pair’s story had the same structure of vs. 1st pair—->vs. 2nd pair—->vs. Agent—>vs. final boss(Almighty? Have no idea what they localized it to), this time you only get to play as Olgar and the tournament goes awry pretty early on.
Omega takes places 10000 years before Chaos Rings I, and stars Olgar from when he was still called Vieg. He and Vahti, as well as the latter’s parents, are summoned to the Ark Arena. As if that isn’t already a horrifying setup for a tournament to the death, Vahti is also pregnant with Vieg’s first kid. The structure of the tournament gets destroyed in round one, but that doesn’t mean the story is any more cheery. In fact, the parts at the end get far darker and nightmare-worthy than the first game.
However, the middle of the game is dull and it doesn’t help that the game uses palette swaps of the first game’s enemies and dungeons. It makes sense given the setting, but if I got tired of these dungeons 2/3 of the way into the first game, imagine my excitement at going through them yet again! On the bright side, the game is more challenging all around.
This game focuses on the bond between parent and child, but the writing is pretty shaky. There were a few scenes I liked, and the story overall is more emotionally charged, but something on a whole felt very forced. A few of the scenes had me rolling my eyes, especially with the main villain. And while Vieg is a cool protagonist that’s a refreshing change of pace from the usual JRPG hero, the writing around Vahti rubbed me the wrong way. I blame it on the fact that’s she’s off-screen and out of focus for a long time (in both this game and Olgar’s route in the first game) that it’s difficult to see them on the same level. Or perhaps she just lacks the charisma of a main heroine (for the lack of a better term). Her parents are cool people and more entertaining than the main pair. I was looking forward to seeing more of a certain someone who was also in Chaos Rings I, but they didn’t put as much focus on him as I thought they would.
Overall, Omega felt like a game they put out to buy time for the real sequel, hence all the reused stuff. It has a rich post-game though, with an all-new joke scenario. According to some people, this is the true meat of the game.
Next: Chaos Rings II
カレーまみれ勇者の冒険 Curry Chronicles 
December 2, 2014 at 00:39
I played the first Chaos Rings when it was released on iOS and found it to be pretty average. Compared to other games available it certainly looked and sounded nice, as you say, but it didn’t have the fun factor or story to keep me playing through those repeated dungeons. I also found it a lot easier to play without the dual attacks, which meant the system didn’t appeal either XD
For someone who didn’t particularly enjoy the earlier game, are the later games worth trying? It looks like they’re not translated yet but that could always change.
December 2, 2014 at 01:09
I actually found it much easier to pair cast magic the boss is weak against (dead in 2-3 turns) but yeah, you can play through the game without ever utilizing pair with relatively little trouble.
If you didn’t like 1 then you won’t like Omega because it’s a copypaste of 1’s system. There’s a possibility that you might like 2. I’m pretty sure it’s translated, I’ve seen it floating around the App store somewhere. Battles are more balanced like a normal RPG in 2.
December 2, 2014 at 05:40
Was thinking of playing these (the mobile versions, I mean) at one point but since I didn’t really trust a mobile JRPG to be that good, I never really bothered.
Some of the stuff you wrote about the earlier games has me worried (abrupt/forced story bits, not enough development, etc.) so I’m thinking if I ever get around to this I might have to just start with CR2 right away.
December 2, 2014 at 14:11
It’s probably better to start with CR2 right away since it has a better system and balancing, not to mention pacing. I heard good things about the third game which apparently feels like a full-fledged JRPG and not a mobile game (makes sense since they made it for Vita as well).
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