Chaos Rings

Titles

The series extends across four titles, all released on iOS and Android. Other platforms include Windows Phone, PlayStation Mobile and PlayStation Vita. A multiplayer social game, Chaos Rings Sigma, was originally in development for mobile platforms. First announced in July 2013, its scenario was written by the first game's writer Yukinori Kitajima, and featured all the series' core characters along with characters exclusive to Sigma. It was cancelled in 2015 for unspecified reasons.

Series gameplay

The gameplay of the Chaos Rings series has remained consistent throughout its lifetime: players navigate dungeon or open-area environments in 3D, navigating the game's chosen characters with touch screen controls. The series follows fairly traditional role-playing mechanics, with players progressing the story through quests, and accepting side quests for rewards of experience points and in-game currency. The first three games restrict the player party to two people, while Chaos Rings III uses a traditional three-person party with backup characters in reserve. In addition to attack, the player also has the ability to perform varied forms of magic using card-like objects known as "genes", to use items, or to simply defend against an enemy's attack. A special feature in combat is the 'break' feature. Attacks made by the couple will decrease the break gauge if it is red (and thus on the enemies' side), and will increase their own if the attack kills a foe. When the break gauge favors one side, their attacks are more powerful, and the foe's are likewise weakened.

Development

All entries in the Chaos Rings series were developed by Media.Vision, a Japanese game developer whose most notable previous work included the Wild Arms series. The series’ creator and producer is Takehiro Ando, whose previous work included Crystal Defenders. While developing the game, one of the elements that prove challenging was the incorporating of 3D character models within a mobile environment. While working within the standard gameplay functions of a Japanese role-playing game, Ando wanted to focus on the main characters' psychology within a limited world. Media.Vision was brought in due to their technical knowledge, and managed to expand the previous limits of development for mobiles. Omega was developed to expand upon the story of Chaos Rings using the same systems. Chaos Rings II was in development alongside Omega, with the game's engine being rebuilt from scratch. Like Chaos Rings, it adopted a dark tone to its story. For Chaos Rings III, the game was restructured again, but this time they revamped the gameplay and adopted a lighter tone for the story. The series' music was handled throughout the entire series by Noriyasu Agematsu, composer and songwriter for Elements Garden. All titles apart from Chaos Rings III were seemingly permanently removed from the App stores in the wake of growing technical issues.

Reception

The original Chaos Rings was a commercial success upon release, generating 200,000 downloads worldwide within a year of its release. When it released, the physical Vita collection Chaos Rings III: Prequel Trilogy receives strong sales, reaching the top five in Japanese gaming charts with initial sales of 12,436 units. In the following weeks, the release had dropped substantially in the charts, but still achieved accumulative sales of 22,193. As of 2015, the series has received one million downloads worldwide, making one of the more successful mobile role-playing series available.

The Chaos Rings series has garnered critical acclaim from critics worldwide. Aggregate website Metacritic gave each game respective scores of 92/100, 82/100, 86/100 and 79/100. The original Chaos Rings received the highest score based on 16 reviews, while Chaos Rings III received the lowest score of the series based on 6 reviews. IGN, in an article on mobile gaming, mentioned the Chaos Rings as a high-quality role-playing series.