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The creative game developer company Zynga, with their reputation of not being so creative with their games, will be releasing two somewhat familiar monster-raising RPGs on mobile devices.
The icon of the silhouette-Pug in a red background might be familiar to Facebook fans for Farmville, yet most gamers would agree that Zynga is memorable for copying ideas for games from others. Unfortunately there isn't anything legally wrong with this as copying the mechanics of video games is legal. Which means we'll see Zynga release games like The Ville or Dream Heights. This time, it seems like Zynga is stepping into Game Freak's and Atlus' territory with two RPGs being released: Montopia and Ayakashi: Ghost Guild.
In Montopia players will have to collect a series of cute, element-based monsters around the world. Players log each monster found in their 'Monstapedia' and form teams of each monster to fight against hostile ones. Players can also battle their team of monsters against other players to learn the truth of the lost utopia of Montopia.
Ayakashi: Ghost Guild lets players take the role of exorcists that investigate the issues caused by the Ayakashi, legendary ghosts that have power beyond our comprehension. Players defeat these ghosts and change them to demons (Shikigami.), thus using them as team members. Like Montopia, players can put their team of Shikigami against other exorcist Shikigami teams to see which is superior.
Zynga has just released Montopia to the iOS and Android devices right now for Japanese and English users, with Chinese and Korean versions being available in the future. Ayakashi: Ghost Guild will soon be available first in Japanese and English devices. No images has been released yet for Ayakashi: Ghost Guild just yet.
I guess in a way this would be inevitable as the Pokemon franchise is popular for its collection mechanic. Scott Koenigsberg, General Manager of Games at Zynga, states that collecting is a gameplay mechanic that is old enough to be found in baseball cards. However, I wonder if Zynga really wishes to copy elements from the Shin Megami Tensei series considering this brought us spin-off games where demon-infused teenagers fight god or other teenagers shoot themselves in the head to summon monsters.
Source: Nasdaq.