Yeah, it's "extreme baseball" -- The match typically plays itself, so you're just picking the right answers (or you fail), not too different really.

not with this setup. And it really, probably, shouldn't have been one at all. x)

Kodaka is fully capable of doing artwork for and helping design non-VN games is my point x) I think what killed it is that they were expecting his name to carry the game more than it ultimately did, so poor advertising, mixed with a bad launch.

It could've worked as a gacha, but...

Actually, the game does have a similarish confrontation mechanic at the end of each chapter. XB is basically the same as a trial.

That said, gameplay of this compares more to Kodaka's non-DR works. Hundred Line is doing really well even though it's not entirely a VN.

The grind actually wasn't too bad! It wasn't a very predatory gacha at all, but that's probably one of the things that contributed to its failure :/

Luckily, Tribe Nine has a fantastic archival community (of which I am a part of) and you can easily watch the story on YouTube if you're curious + read translations of what was to come (and the doujin that Neoneon is working on). I've heard there's even an offline fan ver. in the works.

Aside from some advertisement at TGA a few years ago, Akatsuki didn't advertise this game a lot and I don't blame people for not knowing it existed. It's a tragic case, really. It absolutely did NOT need to be a gacha -- I would have gladly paid for episodes instead. :/

Quan Chi was also planned DLC I think. I'm not sure what the deal with Braniac is, but you can find more about it in the TCRF thread for the game.
tcrf.net/Mortal_Komba...