#which means there's a good chance we're getting the teaser for no. 3 this week

[teecupangel]

I've been playing Reverse 1999 for about 3 days now absolutely because of the announcement that they're doing a collab with Assassin's Creed so I figured I would make this for those curious to play Reverse 1999 for the collab.

Before anything, this isn't a comprehensive guide. This is merely my experience and my tips as a 'veteran' gacha player (also a veteran "welp, we're starting this game while the current event is gonna end, guess we're going to accelerate our progress to try and clear it before it goes away lol" gacha player)

Should I try Reverse 1999 even if there's no AC collab? ... You should try it but it is a gacha game so be wary of the 'summon' mechanics because that is gambling with better rates than a casino. The story is pretty good especially if you like time travel and the gameplay is alright (there's also autobattle later on). the EN dub is awesome as well with lots of characters speaking their native language (like French and Russian) and have accents based on where they're from (the game is primarily set in Europe). If you're just here for the AC collab, you can skip the story but I would suggest at least going through the 1st main story to see if you enjoy Reverse 1999. Be warned though... this game is very angst-filled XD

When is the AC collab going to start? There have been no official date. There's a twitter post that says early 2025 so my best guess is before or during the first week of release of AC Shadows to promote the game (Feb 2025)

Will it be an event with playable characters or just skins? No idea. This is the first global event of Reverse 1999. Usually, gacha games that are released globally a year or so after the first server (like Blue Archive, Punishing Gray Raven... for now, Azur Lane before they integrated all servers to name a few), we would have a head's up using the first server's past events and collabs. This is a global collab though so there is no information at the moment. There is a possibility that this is just skins which would be sad. Only delivering skins after that teaser? ... Well... there's gonna be backlash for sure.

What should we prepare then? I would suggest preparing for the worst case scenario: 2 separate banners for Ezio and Kassandra as 6 star characters.

There's a possibility it will be a 1 banner with Ezio as a 6 star character together with Alexios and Kassandra as 5 star characters but I doubt they'd go down that route tbh.

There's also the possibility that they'd do 1 banner with Ezio and Kassandra in it as 6 stars characters like this:

This is the worst-worst case scenario because I cannot confirm if this setup will remove the other choice if you already have it (aka: if you pulled Kassandra, it's a guarantee that you'll pull Ezio as your next 6 star). If this is what happens, we shall have to pray to the RNGods.

Pity starts at 60 and guarantee is at 70 with a chance to lose the first one (if you get a 6 star that isn't the rate up character, let's say Ezio for this example, then your next 6 star will be Ezio) which means our worst case scenario would 140 pulls (losing the 6 star at 70).

So if we go for our worst case scenario of separate banners for Ezio and Kassandra, we'd need 280 pulls before or during the event.

Can this be done? Maybe. XD

The next banner which will start this week is approximated to give 100 pulls for everyone but that does assume that you'll finish the next event (which means you'd have to have good characters) and that you do the dailies and weeklies for the entirety of the event. The AC event should also give free pulls and, if it does include it's own event, then it should give pulls as well by clearing the event. I cannot confirm how much though. The other pulls you might need will have to come from the main story content and the beginner bonuses but I'm not going to calculate that XD

Note that you need to build your characters to clear the events so make use of all the free candies that give extra stamina to speed up the process.

So what can we do to save up? Use free characters to clear content which is absolutely doable.

Here is my current team:

You only need to focus on 3 characters with the 4th character lagging behind. A main damage dealer (Eagle, who is free), a support (Sonetto, who is also free) and a healer (mine is Yenisei which I got by pulling BUT there is a free healer which you'll get on your 8th day of login so you can build her instead)

There's also this (from reddit):

Yenisei is in the 5 star selector so you can get her there. I read that the 6 star selector can only be picked if you've played for an entire year but I have no idea where it's from, so yeah, no getting our hopes up for that one hahahaha.

Build those three and you should have an alright time to clear the main story content and the events.

(this is for a f2p experience btw, you can buy stuff that can grant additional pulls in game but, if you really want to and you can take the hit, my suggestion is to buy the Roaring Month which grants 90 drops for 30 days as long as you log in daily, 1 pull = 180 drops so an additional of 15 pulls, anything else can ranged from a bit scummy to "this is a scam")

[razberryyum]

TGCF donghua Special Episode Thoughts (SPOILERS for episode & novel!)

Favorite moment:

Of COURSE that amazing ending sequence, which is the mirror of Dianxia's backstory at the end of the first episode, except this time from Hua Cheng's point of view. Speaking of, holy mother of YUM, dear gods, Hua Cheng:

Look at this "hideous" man. I am DROOLING.

Funny thing is, I didn't even know his appearance was supposed to be a secret, that we technically hadn't seen his face yet all this time. I remember we had a super quick glimpse of him in the Banyue pit and I thought that was his reveal, that that'll be all we'll get for now and I was fine with that...that is, until this ending sequence happened and we actually see him in his entirety. My eyes will forever never be the same. What was I even thinking??? The flashes in the pit were absolutely inferior to the real thing. No comparison. He is so gorgeous; I can't WAIT for Xie Lian to meet him next season.

Second favorite moment:

What I love about this scene is first of all it features some of my favorite lines from the novel, "If you don't know what to live for, then just live for me. If you don't know the meaning of life, then take me as the meaning your life." Even though Dianxia was playing it up for dramatic effect, I loved how he crawled towards San Lang and then uttered the lines with such conviction. I LOVED the way the music reached a cresendo during his words--hell, I love the music in this entire episode, this entire show, period. I also love how bittersweet this scene is: here Dianxia is so embarrassed by his own words that he even laughs about them, dismisses them, not know just how much of an effect they had on the person he said them to, how they really did serve to motivate that person to live on, to exist, utterly for him. Not knowing at all that that person he said what he now thinks were silly words to is right in front of him. The irony!

I'm still making my way through the book so I haven't gotten to the part where all is revealed to Xie Lian yet, but I can only imagine how shocking and emotional this particular revelation would be. It'll probably be ten years before we get to see all that in the donghua, if we ever do, but I'm gonna keep on crossing my fingers and hoping.

"I swear, whether in Heaven or or on Earth, you cannot find someone more sincere than me". The subs left out the Heaven or Earth part but it's still such a good line. Love also how San Lang precedes that by trying to reach out to touch Dianxia but is like too afraid to. The donghua really captured his feelings of...I guess I'd call it timid inferiority...so well.

I have a strong suspicion what that ring is (irl, I've seen companies advertising turning ashes into diamonds as a keepsake of your loved ones...never tried it so I don't know if it's the real deal or some kind of scam) and I cannot wait to get to that revelation as well. Putting aside the potential significance of this momento, the fact that Hua Cheng left Dianxia a ring to wear around his neck is already a beautiful gesture on its own.

I already miss seeing how San Lang looks adoringly at Xie Lian. In fact, I think I'm going to miss San Lang for quite a while since next season I think we'll be mostly spending time with Hua Cheng. Not complaining at all since Hua Cheng will no doubt look at Dianxia just as adoringly, but I will miss this cute guy.

Also already missing the cuteness that is Dianxia. I love all his expressions...the way he said "San Lang" just made my heart explode. How can he be this adorable??? Really, bravo to Jiang Guangtao-laoshi, his voice actor, for such an endearing voice performance. I actually started listening to the Qiang Jin Jiu audio drama because I've become a fan. Imagine Xie Lian being super seductive all the time. That's the ear candy I'm enjoying now, even though I only understand like less than half of the plot due to my shoddy Chinese comprehension.

Proud of how San Lang didn't just lose it when Dianxia cradled his face like that. This man really has unbelievable self control.

I loved that they were chatting in bed like an old married couple. I'm sure this is a glimpse into their future married life. 😁

Besides SanLian, I know Banyue was in this episode as well, I still think she's adorable and love her voice, and I'm glad she gets to enjoy a torture-free life now (I am assuming she does).

I'm glad we got this special episode to really close out the season, but I'm still kinda confused as to why we didn't get it at the actual end of the season but rather as an odd stand alone episode like this. Obviously it picked up right where the 11th episode left off, so it would've slotted in perfectly well. I was hoping the reason they held on to it was because they were going to attach a teaser PV for the next season, but alas that wasn't the case. I wonder if they just needed more time to finish the episode. I still don't quite understand how the Chinese donghua industry works: for something seemingly as popular as TGCF, you would think they'd have good enough budget and resources to finish episodes in time and to make more than just 12 episodes. There are other donghua shows I've seen on Bilibili that have blown way past 12 episodes, so I don't understand why they have to stubbornly stick to a dozen only for something like TGCF. Or is it a danmei thing, I wonder. They just don't want to devote the time and resources to danmei shows beyond just 12 episodes? So weird. Again, VERY GRATEFUL we're getting a second season. SINCERELY praying that we get many more seasons after so that eventually they'll finish out the book. God I hope I finish reading before the donghua team finishes putting out the show.

And that brings me to: Current Reading Progress...chapter 160. Look, I'm gonna be honest, I'm just not a fan of the whole jinx demon concept or the Brocade Immortal. I know all mysteries of the week lead back to the gods and their backstory, but as CONCEPTS, I was just NOT into them so I constantly got distracted. I know MXTX-laoshi was under a LOT of pressure from both censorship and just ridiculous deadlines (I was told she had to produce a chapter a day, which is INSANE), so I feel like a douchebag for even thinking anything negative about the book...not to mention I'm only on Book 3 still so maybe all of this will be wrapped up nicely at the end. But for now, yeah, those two as ideas are a bit underwhelming and almost silly (especially the Brocade Immortal) and maybe I don't need the backstory of ALL the gods. Anyway, before anyone yells at me, there's always a chance I might change my mind about all this by the end...which I hope to get to soon. Didn't finish the book in time for this special episode which was my goal, so readjusting the goalpost back a little further...hopefully just a tad...like a few weeks, because I DO want to get to the unrelenting pain soon so that I can get through the suffering and finally to the HuaLian happily ever after ending.