Leave all hope you who download it.
Because I doubt there is more salvation for you. You have signed a deal with the devil, and now you'll have to live with the King of the Games. The puzzle of the millennium, however, is your cell phone; not some cheap gadgets from the Egyptian museum in Turin. But fear not, lost souls, because I will be your Charon. In place of the Styx, I will take you to the other side of the limit needed to pass the beginner stage in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links. My mission? Get carried away with this shadow game.
If you think you don't need it, you are just deluding. Before you you have ravines, ditches and lakes of fire to cross. Come with me, and you don't really have to die. Because the risk is there; if not for you, for your wallet or your patience. Here's how to start playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, from hell to earthly paradise. Or from the stars to the stables, as you prefer. The Mask is a beautiful film.
Welcome to hell: destination, center of the Earth. Prepare your decks.
Kalin Kessler's deck (in this image), Demoneterno, is called "Infernity" in English.
Anti-Hell - The beginning of your journey is at the beginning
As I always say, you must always start with history. Quite simply, because that's where most of the useful information comes from. The roots of everything we do or say are, in part, strongly attached to our past.
What is certain is that what you have in front of you is an imposing structure. The game we are talking about is nothing less than one of the most important products of what, in turn, is the most played card game in the world. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is in fact nothing more than the son of all the ramifications of a series that has been going on for a decade. He accompanied us more or less all of us in our adolescence and, starting with Kazuki Takahashi's incredible manga in 1996, he created an imposing structure which then expanded into different mediums.
Like the fall of Lucifer from Heaven, this created a chasm in our culture, which was then filled in gradually. The first piece of the puzzle (of the millennium) was probably theanime, which with its historic first season, Yu-Gi-Oh !, gave the pillars to everything that followed him and took the name of this franchise. In order not to have to tell all the various branches that the series has taken, however, I will limit myself to saying that Duel Links is nothing more than the result of a recovery of the origins of the first historical anime starring Yugi Muto.
This video game, initially only mobile, is, in fact, the son, in turn, of the anime film that was the bridge between the present and the past of Yu-Gi-Oh !, The Dark Side of Dimensions, one of the last works of its original creator. Together, these two products are part of Konami's much larger and smarter operation of creating a soft-reboot of the card game. Adapted, however, also to the formula of the famous gacha games, which exploded in Japan at the time. As a kind of glue, in turn, among all the mediums in the series, he therefore brought together all the best components of Yu-Gi-Oh! under the same flag, that of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel links.
Soft-reboot - Aeneas in the Underworld
So what does this operation set in motion by Konami with their mobile game consist? Aside from their huge hunger for money, of course? The answer lies precisely in its particularities and differences compared to the real Yu-Gi-Oh! Card game! and the animated version.
Bringing back the main historical characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Animated series, this mobile title seeks first and foremost to glorify the history of the series. This primarily helps people who know little about the real game or who have abandoned it, pushing on their emotional ties to the anime they watched as a child. This remembrance operation is very clever, as it de facto unites all its players with common memories and the promise to bring them back to the years when duels were on TV. At the same where Dante takes Aeneas back to glorify his descent into hell, Konami tries to resurrect everything the series has become famous for.
On the other hand, however, the company does not get caught unprepared even on the side of its most close-knit fanbase, slowly adding everything we veteran players have learned from the original game. The cards we will get from the packs will be the same ones that we find or have found by going to the newsstands. This move also draws into this big shooting project those who were already a lover of the game from its inception.
This does not mean, however, that Konami has made the same mistakes of the paper game inside its time machine.
The “Navenera di Corn” (in this image) is a card that has been used a lot in competitive paper play.
There is room for all penitents in their own personal hell, and that is why they have completely reshuffled the cards on the table, without ever making it too obvious. Those who remain the most screwed are precisely those who already knew the game, because what they can now play on Steam and on their mobile phone stores is a completely different experience from what you can get in the card shop.
A different and unique experience - Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links and the law of retaliation
Again, don't take Konami for fools. As often as they make mistakes, they won't be there to redo them twice. At least they regretted it. What exists within Duel Links is the law of retaliation. Your penance will be in analogy or contrast to the reason you entered it.
The rules in Duel Link are extremely simplified, at least at first glance, so as to allow novice or novice players (like you are) to quickly learn the main rules or take them back from anime. Instead of 5 magic / trap zones and monsters, there will be 3. Instead of 40 minimum cards e 60 maximum per deck, there will be respectively 20 e 30. Hands are from 4, and all the new mechanics are added gradually, with the necessary tutorials.
As long as you play with NPCs, there is nothing impossible. Just put some monsters with a lot of attack and have no problems. But you just need to try to challenge other players to understand that the learning curve is much steeper than what it might seem. If, on the other hand, you know the game, it will take you very little to see how rare and expensive the best cards of each deck are, and how much dedication it will take to build a deck in a completely different format from any that has ever existed in the paper game. There is no soul in hell that suffers less, after all.
And it is at that point that you should realize that you really need your trusty Virgil to overcome the wild beasts.
How to start playing: Know your demons
As I consider my able-bodied readers, I will not stand here giving you unnecessary advice. For example, I will refrain from telling you to connect a Konami ID in order to keep the game saves between the different platforms (for example if you want to play on Steam). I won't even tell you that at the beginning of the game you can choose between Yugi and Kaiba, because ultimately your choice will not change your game in any way. At phase 15 you will get the other duelist, and unless you want their main cards right away, namely the Black Wizard and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, you can get these cards in triple copy later on.
What is important to know is how the game works, in all that its (however minimal) gameplay offers. Why in the end it's like playing the game that is never said. Data is poured into the player, hoping that he understands what the game is and what he wants from the player. Yet often these are unspoken perceptions. Conclusions, which only a few people arrive at, but who refuse to really lend a hand to others. For once, I want to fill that role. But to understand this, you will first need to understand the game world.
Within some "worlds" of the game, which are essentially hubs for the various functions that the gameplay offers and which represent one of the animated series, such as Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or Zexal, you will have missions to “phase up” and get rewards. These will represent, in essence, the core of the game, and are your main way to advance in the title, along with the experience of the individual characters who will be linked to these worlds. It might sound complex, but you'll find yourself doing these simple missions most of the time, so you shouldn't have any problems getting used to them.
As you progress through the stages, you will unlock worlds that you do not have initially, and you will gain the ability to access the other worlds and other features of the game as well. This is important because the different characters will allow you to get gods benefits for your decks, cards and lots of gems. While there are ways to get cards easily, such as exchanging them for materials from the card merchant, or using tickets that can be obtained from ranked duels or events, the primary way to get all the cards you need will be to use the in-game currency. important: the gem.
These allow you to open small packets of cards to gradually obtain all the cards in a box. Almost like on newsstands, right? But let's remember that we are in front of a gacha. Because, after all, we are in Japan. They are sad if they don't make anything a porridge, and an experienced gambling company couldn't miss this opportunity.
Sin of greed - Did you think it was all free?
Sure, the game on the App Store says "Free", but remember it also tells you there are in-game purchases as soon as you open it. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is deeply rooted in the genre of gacha games, and as much as it pretends to be as harmless as the paper version, remember that Konami is the first distributor of pachinko in the Rising Sun.
As per the tradition of the worst elements of this genre, the game will be filled with microtransactions of all kinds. There are a lot of currencies, like keys to card farming or character experience, and the game will never stop reminding you that there are easier ways to get what you need. After all ...
I said it from the beginning: what you signed is a pact with the devil. In all senses. Your sin is to greed.
Every time you open the game you will be bombarded with alerts, notifications, ongoing events. Each action will require the use of materials and each objective will require some degree of planning. It's hard to get used to it too soon, but it's something that is an integral part of the title in its complexity. The game will make no reservations from proposing purchases perpetually at a loss. After a game your frustration could really push you to really spend those few euros that would have much more value if spent on real cards.
But despite that, I can't help forgiving him for his essence. In truth, the gameplay is king for the duration of the game. Perhaps, then, its exaggerated design only reminds the player what he is playing. Far be it from me to defend it; I was the first to fiercely criticize the gachas, but in this case there is a lot to save. Just remember it's a game, not your life. Sometimes, I should remember that too. My first and real advice is to be careful: do not get eaten by the game.
It is, as always, a question of attention. Of awareness and ability to understand one's limits. Spend well and discreetly: the game tells you exactly how many cards there are in a box, and as long as you continue to unfold you will get the card you need. However, you will have to do wide accounts. To get what you want you will need a lot, but a lot of patience. However, there is some salvation for you too.
Play an Experience - The City of Say
The trick to not falling completely trapped in this God-forsaken place is to get used to the pain. To become demons yourself. Give yourself some concrete goals, such as a favorite deck, and stick with it. Make good use of the money that the game gives you every time a new box comes out and try to cheat it with its own methods. If there is something beautiful about this game it is that you can live it however you want, it is an experience.
If you really want to enjoy it, play it with friends, try to try new decks you don't know or, at least, enjoy playing. Because that's what they didn't tell me when I started. The reason I love this series is because I was blown away by it in the first place. Hit and sunk on the banks of a card game. To really appreciate it, you have to love it.
So I don't think you should be asking how to actually play. There is no right way to play it, nor a prophet to listen to. There isn't much more to say beyond what Konami already said in his tutorial. The beauty of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is that it is, in itself, an experience: you can play it however you want, and mine are just tips for how to fully enjoy it. Advice from a person who has taken it up and abandoned it several times. Who has a love that comes and goes, but who can't stop playing because it is, a little, his passion.
Doors open on the right. We have arrived at the earthly Paradise.
