TL;DR This article is divided into the following chapters: 1) Introduction to blockchain games 2) Review of Defina Finance gameplay 3) Analysis of profitability/ROI 4) Guide on how to start playing Defina Finance 5) My closing thoughts
Blockchain games for dummies
Over the last few years, the emerging concept of cryptocurrency, blockchain, and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have been slowly but steadily gaining momentum. It is still not mainstream, and it is still controversial, but it is clearly here to stay.
Within the exploding crypto ecosystem, there is a concept of crypto gaming, namely that of games that use NFTs to represent player-owned items. Known as blockchain games, NFT-games, play-to-earn games of GameFi, such games promise their players that they’ll not only own such items, but that they’ll also be able to resell them on a free market, and make legal, real-world profit, either through those sales of such items, or in-game crypto-currency. The NFT game concept is only a few years old, and until now has not been connected to the anime and manga (although occasionally one of the first NFT games, Axie Infinity, has been compared to the Pokemon franchise, as it is based on the concept of fights between cutesy-looking critters…). In either case, this is beginning to change, as the number of NFT games is growing. There are now at least several hundreds if not thousands of blockchain games announced, although many of them are not yet open to the public. Below is my review of one that I have been trying for the last two weeks or so.
Review of Defina Finance
The game in question is known as Defina Fiance. Defina Finance is also the name of the Malaysian company that operates the game, founded in 2020. It has received support from the blockchain game incubator EnjinStarter, as well as some start-up funding from a number of investors. Defina cryptocurrency is called $FINA. It is a BEP-20 token, The token launched in October, rising from about 0.5$ in value to about 9$ ATH, then falling to about 2.5$ as of the time I am writing this. The token is required to purchase the game NFTs, can be mined within the game where it is also used as the in-game currency and is the main element of the play-to-earn concept, as it can be traded for other crypto currencies (like bitcoin).
The game's underlying concept is well established in the gaming industry - players will collect hero characters (in the form of NFTs), assemble them into teams, and use them to fight enemies, in PvE and PvP modes. What makes the game innovative is that it is the first anime-art-like game that is also using the play-to-earn model, earning the said FINA crypto currency. There are plenty of blockchain games, and plenty of games in which you can collect waifus and husbandos, and pit them against similar enemies, but this is the first that that combines waifus with the play-to-earn model. Several competitors are in development but as far as I can tell Defina is THE FIRST to launch to the public (open beta started around the 30th November 2021, and a closed beta took place around the summer already). The game is available for Mac and Windows platforms.
So now, time for the main review. First, I'll talk about the gameplay, and second, about whether the earnings and profitability part.
Visually, the game has plain but serviceable 3D functionality which you can see from the images. The visuals are ok but there is nothing revolutionary here - this is the standard introduced close to a decade ago by games like Fate/Grand Order, and nothing in Defina takes it further.
To play, you form a team of four heroes, which later you will be able to equip with weapons; each hero and presumably weapons having varying stats and potentially unique skills. The heroes, of which currently there are 28 in-game, are divided into four rarities, obtainable at random through in-game purchases (which reminds me heavily of the gacha mechanic). The character designs seem heavily inspired by popular franchises such as the Fate-verse, given the presence of heroes like electrical-guitar wielding Nicholaus Copernicus, or mecha-armor encased George Patton, not to mention gender-bent Oda Nobunaga or Hercules. If Delfine ever becomes a major thing, I am looking forward to Hercules memes.
Your four heroes can be used in several gaming modes. Most of them are based on assembling a team of four of your heroes (assuming you have more than four cards to choose from), then seeing how they fare in the AI battle - you have no controls over the battle itself, so any and all strategy takes place before the battle, in the form of leveling up your units and choosing their formation to get the best synergy and exploit the enemy AIs weaknesses. This is not very complex, as you simply arrange your 4 heroes into six slots (three in front, three in the back), which hopefully nerfs some enemy units which target back or front rows only. Other than that, you want to achieve synergy from your units faction and elemental abilities (for a detailed guide for these, see the wiki articles on faction and elements - I refer you to the wiki as I have written the guides there and I'll try to keep them up to date more so than this article). If the battle is too hard, you'll need to level up your units or use stronger ones (in the four rarity classes, the main difference is that each higher class has better stats - again, just like in FGO. In Defina, you can think that lv1 SSS class = lv 3 SS class = lv 5 S class = lv 7 A-class... and the max level for each unit is lv30).
The first gaming mode is Adventure, a simple face-off against NPCs (also using the same 28 characters; as you progress through the adventure mode, the awarded EXP as well as number and difficulty of enemy units raises; I am not sure if the item drop rate increases as well). Sadly, the adventure mode has no story, it is very simple and forgettable, although you can challenge yourself to craft teams if you have more than 4 units, trying to choose the best layout to defeat the NPCs you are facing at the given adventure node. Once you achieve 3 stars on a node, you can quick battle it, which shortens the battle from 1-2 minutes to one second. Effectively Adventure mode at your highest 3-star node is the best way to earn EXP on units (important tip: once cleared at 3-stars, you cannot loose the battle in quick mode, so you can start throwing your lv1 heroes at it to farm their EXP too). You'll probably spend most of your daily stamina here farming EXP. Also note that each win in Arena and Adventure mode generates a tiny amount of FINA (0.025 currently).
The second mode is Arena. It's the PvE version of Adventure mode where you face off against another player, based on your and their ranking score. Sadly to get any rewards here you need to have at least one SS unit, otherwise, you'll not make it to the Top 300. For casual players, just hit Arena a few times until you get 4 wins a day for daily reward and move on.
The third is Mining. This is the primary FINA farming node. Based on your hero rarity, you can capture a mining node, which generates FINA every hour. Most of the good nodes are occupied by players but every now and then an empty spot appears, or a player shield expires, allowing a new person to move in. This is the mode that requires the most effort, as every few hours you will need to refresh your shield and/or look for new spots. Difficulty varies - NPCs in empty mines are pushovers, but player-defended mines are defended by, well, whatever other players put in them. Expect the difficulty to keep raising here as players level up their units (although new players always have the chance to find an easy NPC target).
Lastly, earlier this week (Week 2 of open beta), a new mode was released: the Vyrkos Tower. You can send in your units to do a slow battle (over several hours, off-screen). The higher their level, the higher the chance of success. Sadly, the difficulty of this mode seems geared towards players with SS/SSS units, and the rewards for players with A/S units at lower levels are very small. Also keep in mind that if the odds are not 100%, and you lose, there's a penalty - each quest here costs some FINA to start, and if you lose, the cost is not refunded (if you win, the reward will cover the cost and then some).
Devs are planning new modes in the future (Squid Game which you can play with just one NFT, and a Land mode where you can buy and sell land NFTs). Weapon NFTs are also announced. For more, see the [roadmap] (https://defina-finance.fandom.com/wiki/Roadmap).
Profitability/ROI
Now, let's talk about earnings. Is investing in Defina a good idea? Frankly... nobody knows, as a lot of this depends on the price of FINA when you buy and the price when you cash out (or at least do some profit taking). Let's look at some numbers, but first, a note of caution:
- hero NFT price has fluctuated widely since they were released, right now they are ATH at about 2x the lowest price. The current ROI is based on that NFT price. If the heroes reach 4x price, all ROI would presumably be twice as long.
- afk mining profitability will presumably decrease, according to what the devs said
- some current modes like Arena and VT have very low profitability for people without high-end units. A new mode for people with one NFT is planned, and other modes have been alluded to. How this will affect the profitability of various setups, in the long run, is unclear
- if you can buy FINA cheaply and it moons, that's great. If you buy before it crashes and stabilizes, your ROI will be much worse...
Numbers
- cost to enter the game: at least 4 hero NFTs. Based on my two weeks of market observations, the cheapest A-class heroes have varied in price from 30-60 FINA, S-class heroes, from 60-110, SS from 250-450, and SSS, from 1700-3500. The price dips when new NFTs are released and then seems to creep up again.
- daily tasks award is 1.8 FINA, weekly is 8.4 and both are very easy to get right now (so it an easy 21 FINA per week).
- using stamina in Adventure and Arena mode (note: you don't lose it if you are defeated so it's 100% safe) gives you 0.025 FINA. You get 20 stamina a day if you have 4-7 cards, 40 if you have 8-15, and 60 if you have 16+. So it's 0.5 FINA for 4 cards per day and it doesn't scale up very well. Let's say 3.5 FINA per week for the cheapest entry of 4 cards.
- Arena: Top 300 players will get some rewards but that's for people who get good cards (SS+). It's hard to estimate rewards, right now places 150-300 are looking at ~15 FINA reward, and the winner in slot 1, ~750 FINA. Good luck being #1 :)
- mining: first, note that to get 100% profit you need to have some FINA staked in the in-game mines (otherwise the profit is nerfed by up to 50%). You need 30 FINA to fully stake the A-level mine, 120 for S, 180 for SS, and 240 for SSS. You can occupy multiple mines - each team of 4 heroes can occupy one mine. Profits from the fully staked mines right now (note: there was a 25% income nerf after Week 1 already and devs have announced long term plans to nerf this income further) are: A-level mine, 2.93 FINA/day (20.5/week), S-level, 15 FINA/day (105/week), SS mine, 22.5 FINA/day (157.5/week) and SSS mine, 45 FINA/day (315/week). Note that 24/7 occupancy is hard, 23h a day is more realistic (you'll spend few minutes, maybe even half an our each day looking for open slots while your team is idle), but you also get some rewards for conquering player's mines so it more or less balances itself out.
- Vyrkos Tower: it's a bit hard to estimate as the mode was live for just <3 days now and there are many variables. For 100% safe runs, I estimate players with A/S units are looking at 1-2 FINA returns per day, players with some SS units at several times that much (5-20 FINA), and players with a bunch of SS maybe ~50? There is also the factor that you can pay FINA to permanently unlock more quests per day, but RNG can give you quests that are too hard (or weak), and the refresh cost for all quests is 0.5 FINA. This hurts low-end players more (if your income is 1.5 FINA per day, 0.5 for refresh if you get bad quests is a lot, if you are making 10-50 FINA, a few refreshes are nothing).
So what is the ROI in pure FINA (not $, since that again depends on the FINA price when you buy and sell the tokens; obviously if you buy FINA cheaply and then it moons your profits will be higher).
The following estimates assume full staking in mine which might take you few days to achieve, a bit longer for higher-level mines.
A team of 4 A represents an investment of ~200 FINA. Weekly income not counting VT mode is 45/week. A rough VT mode estimate makes it 52.5/week but all VT estimates should be seen as +/- 10-20%.ROI is 4.5 weeks.
A team of 4 S is ~400 FINA. Weekly income is 129.5, or ~150 with VT mode. Similar results can however be achieved with 3 A + 1 S which is just ~250 FINA. ROI is 2.5 weeks for 4 S, under two weeks for 1 S with 3 As.
A team of 4 SS would be ~1600 FINA (but you can also try 1 SS and A/S, 1 SS + 3 A would be just ~550 FINA, note that the VT and Arena mode will be less profitable). Income here is ~180 FINA per week, more with VT - maybe ~250? Again, VT income is really hard to estimate at this level right now. ROI is 6-7 weeks for 4 SS, but 2-3 for SS with 3 As. (Note: the better the units, the better the VT return).
A team of 4 SSS would be ~17,500 FINA (!). 1 SSS + lower units would be < ~4,000 FINA, again decreasing VT and Arena profitability. Income? 330/week without VT, ~400-600 with VT mode, add 15+ for Arena mode... Assuming 500/week return, we are looking at 35 weeks of ROI on 4 SSS, or 8 weeks for 1 SSS with some weaker units.
Note that if you run multiple teams, the ROI decreases a bit as you don't get multiple or daily/weekly tasks and stamina doesn't scale up well. On the other hand, the VT mode does reward you for having multiple units, as you can send all of them on multiple quests.
I hope I don't need to say this is no financial advice, just my rough estimates to satisfy my own and your curiosity.
How to get started
Check out the official guide which covers stuff like getting crypto/NFTs and installing the game here and the wiki guide here where I write about what to do in game. Here are the highlights:
you will need a BSC-compatible wallet. Metamask is very popular (and 100% free)
you will need to get some FINA tokens. If you are totally new to crypto, head to a crypto exchange like Binance (here is my referral link), deposit some money into it, then convert it to something like BNB coin. Then you can transfer it to your Metamask and convert it to FINA. I used Coinmarketcap FINA page to do so (here).
- Make an account on Defina's official page here. Follow the links and prompts there to connect your wallet, buy 4+ hero NFTs, create a login/password for the game, download the client, and start the game.
Note: which heroes to buy? I think faction/element matter much less than the rarity. See the wiki elements and faction guides for details, but I'd just get whatever is cheapest. If possible, try to get either 2 heroes from Faction A and two from Faction B, or 3 From Faction A and whatever else to get faction bonuses. You can reroll for elements later in the game.
- In the game, make a team of 4 units, and hit Adventure mode a few times to level up. Keep 4 stamina for Arena. As soon as possible, hit Mining to get the highest level mine you can. It may take a few minutes to find an open slot, and a few days of leveling up (or spending FINA on extra stamina) to get to the level you can attack other players when their shield is down, however. After you grab your mine or mines, hit Arena, collect your daily reward, then see if you can tackle some easy stuff in the VT mode.
Final tip: Don't forget to collect your FINA from mines every few hours and extend the shields. If your mine is attacked before 3 hours (minimum harvest time) passed, you'll lose 50% of the income (but not staked FINA, that is always 100% safe). Managing your shield and harvest time is important to ensure 100% return from the mining mode.
Conclusion
Weill Defina be profitable? Will it be a big hit? Who knows. I think it has a decent chance of being reasonably successful, as the first play-to-earn game with waifus aesthetics. People spend a lot of $$ on gacha waifus, presumably, they'd spend some on waifus that generate income too...
If the idea of playing an anime-like gacha where you are earning money rather than sinking it seems too good to be true, well… yes and no. Like with much other game NFTs, the price of Delfine Finance anime characters is rather eye-watering, ranging from three to even five digits, And you need to own at least four hero NFTs to play (although the devs are planning a new game mode, tentatively called Squid Game, with only one NFT needed, to be released around March 2022). The NFT game market is still very young, so I am not even going to try to predict if this price will go up or down, but I am sure the idea of spending at least a thousand bucks on a video game is putting this game at a price range that is well beyond what most average players are prepared to spend. That said, for those who are rolling their eyes and preparing to forget about Defina because of the attached price tag, I’d like to note the existence of so-called “scholarships”, common for many existing NFT games and planned for others (including this one). The “scholarship” here is a system through which the investors/speculators/whales who invested in surplus NFTs can lease them out to new players in exchange for a share of their profits. In other words, you may be able to play the game for free, as long as you are prepared to sacrifice a portion of your crypto-earnings. If you do so, don’t expect to be raking in heavy profits - but overall, the idea of a game that pays you out something, even if it is just at a pocket-money level, rather than asking you to keep buying hyped out units that are released every few weeks is quite innovative - hence they crypto game hype that seems to be on the rise in some parts of the world.
Frankly, speaking as a relative newcomer to the crypto hype myself, half of what I am reading about - and writing about here - seems like it something from a sci-fi anime. This is not Nervegear, but it could still be a revolutionary game-changer for the gaming industry - if it delivers on its promise. And it is an undeniable fact is that this is happening in the real world; look no rather than places like the Philippines or Venezuela where the play-to-earn model is already quite popular. Whether Defina will be fun to play, and whether it will have a staying power in the growing NFT games market - into which the well-established giant Square Enix has also announced its entry just weeks ago - only time will tell. It is nonetheless clear that winds of change are upon us, and it is likely we will be hearing more and more crypto-related news, including in the realm of our otaku culture. You can wait and see what happens, or you can jump on the blockchain waifu bandwagon right now.