What is Taichi Panda?

Taichi Panda is a rapidly growing game for Android, and you need less than 10 minutes to really understand what the hype is all about. There are multiple reasons due to which I believe that Taichi Panda is arguably one of the best MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) for the Android platform in recent memory.

While it does give the impression of a Freemium, or a pay-2-win game, it has a fairly decent slope towards the top. Of course, if someone paid money in the game, they’d progress faster than the ones who did not. But that is the case for every casual, single-player, competitive, or multiplayer game.

What Taichi Panda does differently

However, most MMORPGs on the phone and even on the PC, sacrifice certain key features of the MMO genre, to make sure that newer players understand the game better due to it being extremely easy to get into. But, by doing that those games reduce retention as the more number of people reach the top, the less the competition level becomes. Taichi Panda has a very obvious learning curve that is not very easy to notice at first, and even more difficult to grasp. I progressed to a Level 10 Fox Mage rather quickly and engaged in various battles against other players to test my might as the Fox mage who would rule the land, which are all fought in real time. While I was able to beat many Level 15 players, I also lost to a couple of Level 6-9 players, proving that in this game, equipment is not everything.

On launch, the game may seem overwhelming, but by the time you have been spoonfed what exactly you have to do, can do, and how to do it better, you’re already invested in the game, and it is difficult to stop playing the game.

The game is also updated fairly regularly, reassuring us of a good team present at Snail working super hard on all the updates and fixes. They also hold regular events with exclusive rewards.

The game keeps classic, loved features of MMORPGs intact while adding new systems to add an element of skill over loot.

Why do I play it in Bluestacks, and not on my Android device?

• The screen size

  • Perhaps the biggest problem that accompanies playing Taichi Panda on the Android device, is the small size of a handheld. On a normal in-game screen, i.e. when you’re not in a fight, there are roughly 15-25 buttons that each do something different. It doesn’t matter what phone you have, the screen will look very cluttered, and can be a bit frustrating at times. Playing Taichi Panda on Bluestacks, every icon is much bigger and is properly scaled depending on the size of the laptop/desktop screen. This guarantees that NO misclicks occur, while shopping, upgrading, or while fighting.

• • The game has 1 DPad for movement, 1 Attack, and 4 spells the buttons for which are so close together, it’s a lot like just one big button divided into 5 sections, making it very easy to click the right button bu have the wrong spell being activated. In addition to that, the screens are almost too cluttered to even see your character properly. The game tries to fix this issue by making the icons smaller, and further narrowing the distance between two spells/options. It can get frustrating because you’ll end up clicking something you don’t want to select. Bluestacks, bigger screen, properly separated icons and a glorious display of the artwork of the game. As shown in the picture, it can be seen clearly how the game display gets smaller and more cluttered as the size of the device screen decreases.

    

• Easier multitasking

• • The game has a control system similar to most games with complex mechanisms in place, each designed to fulfill a specific function in the game; A DPad to the left of the screen, and attacks + spells at the right. The problem arises in trying to multitask. Games that use the DPad are notorious for not being a very good experience because you’re pressing 3-5 buttons with your right thumb, all the while handling the movement with a virtual joystick using the left thumb.       

• • Bluestacks fixes these issues easily, as anyone who has played any games on the PC is accustomed to using the WASD keys to move. The WASD keys are almost universal for PC gamers as the movement keys. They allow easier and more precise movement in Taichi Panda while attacking is as simple as pressing the attack button (Spacebar) or the Spells.

• • The WASD movement option makes it a LOT easier to maintain distance with magic characters against characters like the Rogue and Panda who spam their attacks and knock you up killing you without you being able to put up much of a fight.

• Keymappings that increase speed of casting spells

• • On the handheld devices, whenever you play Taichi Panda, you’ll notice a major drawback whenever you’re engaged in combat. That disadvantage is having to tap the spells, and have only one finger or thumb dedicated to all of them.

• • Playing Taichi Panda on Bluestacks, I noticed a clear advantage as I could use my entire right hand, to attack, and my left hand to move around. This not only gave me more inputs at the ready to use different combos and attacks but also reduced any delays in casting spells that you could experience when you only have a thumb available for all the spells as opposed to 5 fingers, one for each spell and the thumb for the basic attacks. With the default keys, you would have the Right Thumb on the Spacebar, and each of the fingers (From the Index to the smallest, V – B – N – M respectively).

• Special trick for special hardware (Gaming Mouse)

• • This is for people with special gaming gear, mainly a gaming mouse with multiple programmable buttons. I have a gaming mouse with 5 programmable buttons, 2 on the left side of the mouse near the right thumb, two on the right side of the mouse near the ring finger, and one below the scroll wheel. You have 5 extra keys available on the fly for your most used functions, or in this case, to give you a distinct advantage in video games

• • Most of you know that you can go to the device’s driver software, and map any of the buttons to do whatever you want. From any of the keyboard’s buttons to special functions exclusive to the mouse buttons. You have 100% freedom to do whatever you want with the extra buttons.

• • While you could assign the buttons to correspond to V-B-N-M (The 4 spells each character has) to each of the mouse’s extra buttons, here’s a solid tip, use MACROS. Just go to the Macro settings in your mouse’s driver software, and add a new macro that is a combination of the buttons assigned to the 4 spells in Taichi Panda in Bluestacks, with a short delay. All you have to do during a battle is press one button, and all 4 of your spells will be cast one after the other.

• • Setting macros allows you to use all the spells at your character’s disposal with the simple click of a button on your mouse, reducing the time gap between multiple presses as well as further eliminating any spell left uncasted as it casts all the spells that are off cooldown. While it does not guarantee a victory, it does give you an advantage in real-time battles against other players.

TL;DR – Although Taichi Panda has a system that allows people who spend money to progress quicker, it is by no means restricted to that. As an avid RPG gamer, I actually enjoy grinding for resources and loot, so when you grow and get stronger, it feels like you’ve worked for it.

The game also has a very good distancing system that you must master to effectively play any character. Mages and magical characters need to stay far and use their spells properly to win, while warriors and melee fighters need to cut the distance quickly and pull off successive combos to keep the distanced heroes disabled and locked.

Bluestacks just makes it easier to maintain, and handles the steep learning curve rather well, so that you can learn the ropes and I believe that once you play it with the advantages offered by the keyboard and mouse, it’s difficult to go back to Android and two thumbs.