Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire is an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) strategy game developed by Epic Action and published by MZ. The strategy game launched in June 2017 and according to Sensor Tower, it has made $375 million in 2018. The total revenue of Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire sits at $518.4 million with over 51 million downloads.

If you’ve played similar games, you would have no problems maneuvering your way around this game. As the title states, “A New Empire” gives you an idea about what the eventual goal of the game – building your very own empire.
Is this the game for you?
The most important question of them all, is this what you’re looking for in a mobile game? After all, you would want to play something that interests you and worth your time. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you with that.
The game play of New Empire revolves around a couple of things –
- Producing resources
- Strengthening your army
- Building up your defense
- Leveling up multiple characters
- Conquering other empires
As you can probably tell, Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire is very grindy, it takes a lot of time to build up your army and leveling the resources that you’ve built. For example, when you upgrade your Citadel, the time taken to complete can be ranged from a minute to 3 days.
Citadel – This is essentially the heart of your base, by upgrading the Citadel you can increase your resource productions level. (E.g. Stone, Energy, Metal, Food, Gil) This can also increase the amount of troops your empire can shelter.
To note, you can shorten the time taken to upgrade by purchasing their VIP levels. At level 1, you’ll get instant construction speed up as well as food production bonus of 4%. If you do decide to buy the procure the VIP levels, at max level 10 you’ll unlock troop attack bonus of up to 24%, bonus hp and armor bonus as well as speed upgrades.
This might put some of you off, even though its a free-to-play game, the amount of pop-ups to prompt you to buy their in-game items appear quite often.
I’m trying to upgrade my Citadel but the game doesn’t allow me to, why is that?
This is probably happened due to your upgrade requirements, if you select upgrade in your Citadel, it’ll tell you what are the requirements.
Taking this screenshot as example, you would need Hero Monument at level 3, Watchtower at level 5 and Wall at level 5 as well. You can find the buildings in your home screen, below are pictures for reference.
As you dive deeper into the game, you’ll come to a realize that resource buildings are co-dependent. You cannot simply upgrade one without upgrading the other.
Should I join a guild and why?
Couple of reasons –
- You’ll receive 100 bonus gold bars (to upgrade your VIP level)
- Getting free “speed up” tickets
- Free gifts from Guild Members
- Access to exclusive Guild Store
- Earn valuable loyalty points for helping allies
After joining your desired guild, you’ll get access to change your player name, empire name and a free advanced teleport item. This item allows you to teleport nearer to your guild, why? Think about it this way, you’ll be more likely to become a victim if you’re alone as compared to being together as a whole.
Now, in your guild tab you’ll often see a red number notification, that signifies that one of your guild member is asking for some sort of assistance, take of that immediately and you’ll be able to acquire loyalty points. Loyalty points allows you to purchase items from the Guild Store and also to level your VIP subscription. (TLDR: yes join a guild for free stuffs)
I don’t understand the different types of quests
There are a variety of quests in this game, namely – Empire Quest, Hero Quest, Guild Quest, VIP Quests as well as Recommended Quests.
The good news is that all of them are relatively similar. Hero Quests are segmented into 3 different types – Basic, Common and Uncommon. Each of them is tied to a time limit that you have to wait it out until it’s finished. However, you can only take on one quest from each category stated above, meaning, you’ll only be able to activate one quest at a time.
Recommended quests are found at the bottom of your screen, these quests are always Empire quests. So tapping on them will take you directly to the quest at hand, completing them when you have the resources is a breeze. You’ll get a free speed up ticket that you can use immediately.
What are the different type of units available?
Good question, this will clarify your doubts momentarily. There are 4 different type of units, namely Warriors, Mages, Cavalry and Siege Engines.
- Warriors are strong against Cavalry and Siege Engines, but weak against Mages and Traps.
- Mages are strong against Warriors and Siege Engines, but weak against Cavalry and Traps.
- Cavalry are strong against Mages and Siege Engines, but weak against Warriors and Traps
- Siege are strong against Traps, but weak against Warriors, Cavalry and Mages.
It sounds complicated initially but once you get the hang of it you’ll do just fine.
Tip: Do focus on your Training Grounds, the higher level your Training Grounds is, the faster your units get trained.
Now that I know my units, how do I strengthen them?
By conducting research upgrades for your empire. This can be split into 5 different categories –
- Economics
- Combat
- Defense
- Hero
- Adventurer
For instance, by researching and upgrading Economics, you’ll be able to reduce construction time. Another example, by upgrading your Hero tab and researching Monster Tactics enables you to have a chance of fending off level one creatures out on the Realm.
Can I have an overview of what all of the resource building do?
Yes, these are the abilities of the resource buildings-
- Armory – Enables you to craft gear for your Hero
- Bank – Generate and increases Gil capacity
- Banishment Portal – You’ll receive boost when you banish an enemy
- Barracks – Enables you to train troops
- Citadel – Your Empire’s heart
- Hero Monument – Gain extra exp
- Hospital and wards – Helps to house the wounded troops
- Prison – Holds enemy Heroes
- Proving Grounds – Arena that rewards you for slaying minsters
- Treasury – Allows you to deposit Gold
- Training Ground – Similar to Barracks
- University – Unlocks new improvements for your Empire
- Wall – Helps defend your Empire
- Watchtower – Provides information on incoming attacks
Reviews
Based on online reviews it seems that general consensus is that the game is relatively pay-to-win. Players worldwide are saying that you’d need to spend some money in order to keep up with the minnow and the whales of the game. Some has also mentioned that they have been harassed and unable to progress in game.
Conclusion
All in all it comes down to your curiosity to try this game out. There are many games out there that netizens banish or ostracize because they don’t like the structure of the game, but, there are avid fans that stay supportive towards these kinds of games. So don’t let them cloud your judgement, give it a go, maybe you’ll like it, maybe you won’t. Who knows?
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