Ardenium Seekers

"League of Legends meets Devil May Cry"
Ardenium Seekers is an hero action RPG by Morandal Games released in April 20, 2017. It is considered a "hero" action RPG because there is a selection of heroes which fight differently from eachother. In response to the canceled Platinum game Scalebound, Morandal Games asked Platinum for the rights of the character Drew, which resulted in the collabration character with Scalebound exclusive for Xbox One.
The game has been noted to be an cooperative action RPG with fantasy elements and character action elements, and it was announced that players will battle to be a legend.
==Plot==
Claudius von Kalmurg, has planned to steal the Ardenium Crystals to destroy the universe. Witness discovers by Kalmurg's warriors invading the kingdom of Rorin. King Daras, the ruler of Rorin, decides to strike back by forming a team called the "Ardenium Seekers", a group of heroes that aim to fight against Claudius in the name of the three Kings of Ardenium; Macbeth of Asmodian, Darius of Elandia, and Garrel of Rorin. 
The heroes have to plan and attack ahead before Claudius plans ahead, yet they stumble on his tricks and traps...
==Gameplay==
The game starts out with you choosing from a group of heroes to create. Each hero has their own fighting style and own Action Skill (it's special move). There is a max cap of 100 (so all skills could be maxed). It plays more like action RPGs similar to Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy except with a haul of combos to pull off. Light attacks can be pulled with X/Square, and heavy attacks can be pulled with Y/Triangle. Heroes can be customized through weapons, armors, or rings they can obtain would add more to additional stats or skills.
Campaign and multiplayer is set through stage to stage like Monster Hunter, where you select a stage and the 4 players confirm. After the 4 players confirm, they enter the stage. Note that when a player is not revived in time, the player dies and is out of the game. If all 4 players are eliminated, the game's over. Since players cannot be revived if they're soloing, they get a 2nd life. 
Each character has an Action Skill which is filled between 40 to 120 seconds. Pressing L1 will activate it. Skills can reduce the Action Skill timer by up to 50%.
Each character also has it's own Battle Gauge which affects how you perform your magical combos and special attacks.
Exclusive to the Wii U, one player could use the GamePad as a TV screen similar in fashion to New Super Mario Bros, Bayonetta 2 and a select few games while the player uses a Wii U Pro Controller. 
==Heroes==
A * indicates this character is to be released in a future update as free DLC. The updates ended December 12, 2017.
Hero Name 	Class Name 	Weapon 	Skill Trees 	Combos 	Battle Gauge 	Range 	Fighting Speed	Action Skill 	Difficulty (to use this character's abilities)	Tier List Rank
Ark 	Crusader 	Broadsword, runes 	Runes/Blade/Resistance 	High (16 combos) 	Runes x8 	Average	Average 	Rune Buster (60) 	Easy 	S
Mila 	Guardian 	Mallet, holy magic 	Light/Charge/Arcane 	Medium (8 combos) 	Holy Gauge 	Average	Average 	Arcane Circle (60) 	Easy 	A
Sera 	Witch 	Magic wand, element 	Elements/Arts/Mana 	Low (4 combos) 	Arcane Gauge 	Long 	Slow 	Meteor  Shower (90) 	Hard 	B
Noah 	Berserker 	Spear 	Speed/Spear/Survival 	Med (8 combos) 	Fury Gauge 	Average	Average 	Twister (90) 	Medium 	A
Brinks* 	Captain 	Rapier, war cries 	Strategy/Blades/Determination 	Med (8 combos) 	War Gauge 	Low 	Average 	War Cry (60) 	Easy 	B
Alex* 	Gunner 	Dual Guns 	Trickshot/Silverbullet/GoldGuard	Low (4 combos) 	Heat Gauge 	Average	Average 	Sentry Turret (60) 	Easy 	A
Felice* 	Kanna 	Fan, Orochi summons 	Orochi/Fox/Charms 	Med (8 combos) 	Orochi Orbs x8 	Average	Average 	Orochi Dragon (120) 	Medium 	S
Lucius* 	Wind Warrior 	Bo staff, wind magic 	Cyclone/Channel/Finesse 	High (12 combos) 	Wind Transistor 	Long 	Fast 	Wind Channel (120) 	Hard 	SS
Elysia* 	Starlet 	Chakram 	Beauty/Action/Faith 	Med (7 combos) 	Magic Hearts x8 	Low 	Average 	Angelic Idol (90) 	Easy 	C
Aero* 	Mechanic 	Cyber cube, constructs 	Construct/Cubix/Energize 	High (12 combos) 	Kinesis Orbs x8 	Long 	Slow 	Sentinel Cubeguards (120)	Hard 	SS
Drew* (Scalebound)	Dragon Knight	Gladius, dragon calls 	Dragonfriend/Gladiator/Endurance	High (14 combos) 	Dragon Gauge 	Low 	Average 	Dragon Call (90) 	Easy 	S
Maryanna* 	Harbinger 	Ultima, Demon Magic 	Calypso/Magichand/Ascension 	Medium (8 combos) 	Demon Orbs x5 	Long 	Average 	Lock-On Eye (90) 	Hard 	S
Carmilla* 	Valkyrie 	Glaive, vampire magic 	Vampira/Lancelot/Absorption 	High (15 combos) 	Blood Orbs x8 	Low 	Fast 	Vampiric Phantom (120) 	Medium 	A
Asin* 	Chancellor 	Sword-whip, Light/Dark Orbs	N/A 	Very high (28 combos)	Luminous Orbs x8	Long 	Fast 	N/A 	Easy 	SS
==Achievements==
Achievement Name	Description 	Rarity
First One 	Complete chapter 1. 	Bronze
Next Step 	Complete chapter 2. 	Bronze
Stalwart Defense	Complete chapter 3. 	Bronze
Frosty Frigid 	Complete chapter 4. 	Bronze
Double-Tasking 	Complete chapter 5. 	Bronze
Forever Forest 	Complete chapter 6. 	Bronze
Topsy Turvy 	Complete chapter 7. 	Bronze
The Three Kings 	Complete the final chapter.	Silver
Getting Good 	Reach level 50. 	
Maxed Out 	Reach level 99. 	
==Reception==
Ardenium Seekers received mostly positive reviews, while praising for being the spirtual successor to Monster Hunter (as it would be a co-op action RPG but with a mixed variety of heroes similar to League of Legends). One of the biggest criticisms from fans as the updates went by was the power creep: later characters like Lucius and Aero were either too weak or too strong (Lucius has a hidden combo that can summon a swarm of homing tornados that can touchdown the entire field of enemies with full Wind Transistor, and Aero can summon a squad of backup androids that have rockets and guns that act much more stronger than the other action skills)
It scored 80's on Metacritic, an 8/10 on IGN and GameSpot. It has been noticed as an character co-op action RPG because it involves co-op action and every character has an unique fighting style and combos rather than just simple button mashing tactics. The game had more combos than Monster Hunter as it was also an co-op action RPG with some combos. 
Some of the criticism back when it was released was that they started off with 4 which was a limited amount of heroes, and decided to add more and more until around 14. (Crusaders of Hasla started with 12 and had up to around 21 post updates). 
==="Borderlands" killer?===
As the success of 2017's Ardenium Seekers went on to 2018, players tried to compare it to the upcoming "Borderlands 3" game. They noted how the disasterous launch of NBA 2K18 (which demonstrated putting F2P levels of microtransactions in AAA games) showed how 2K's quality was getting worse. Hans Wolken, even ripped that  game apart on a Twitter post, calling it "nothing but greedy businesses". This led to many people fearing that Borderlands 3 might have loot boxes when it releases in 2018, where if they do that wrong it might become a flop and Ardenium Seekers would still go on. In fact, someone made a video about comparisons;
*Ardenium Seekers: 14 classes with unique fighting styles.
**​Meanwhile in Borderlands: 4 classes with same weapons, but with different tactics.
*Ardenium Seekers: More diverse missions (assassination, delivery, collection, spying, etc)
**​Meanwhile in Borderlands: Bosses, survival, getting from point A to B.
*Ardenium Seekers: Better diversity of stats (critical rate, defenses, etc)
**​Meanwhile in Borderlands: Attack, shields, and HP.
After that comparison, Ardenium Seekers did prove to be that "Borderlands" killer as their both cooperative action RPGs with emphasis on character-building and cooperation. In fact, players did correctly predict that the real Borderlands 3 would have loot boxes, but they saw that 2K learnt from their mistakes on NBA 2K18 (where they bribe critics to give them positive reviews and bash them for negative reviews) as loot boxes can also be done via grinding, and Gearbox did manage to take some from Ardenium Seekers (better diversity in stats and missions), but Morandal would later go even bigger with 2019's Crusaders of Hasla (the sequel to Ardenium Seekers.)
===Ardenium Seekers 2?===
As fans beat Ardenium Seekers more and more times, fans are hoping for a sequel to Ardenium Seekers. As Morandal is not working on any projects aiming for a 2018 release date, Wolken tweeted this:
"Yeah, I know you guys are hyped up for more, but we are working on a really cool project that will be way better!"
Fans wondered like "Ardenium Seekers 2" or more DmC-like games. but it would be revealed on January 2019 with the title "Crusaders Quest: Ten Years Later". As the name "10 years later implies" fans thought Crusaders Quest was planned for 10 years.
Fans noticed that there was originally going to be a sister game released called Crusaders of Hasla: Miasma, but due to financial difficulties it was pushed back. There was a demo for it the same year, but it was just a gameplay with only one hero, but on the next gameplay trailer there was more heroes in it. After the success of Ardenium Seekers, and with Cygames they would get the project back "there, and back again." Wolken tweeted this as fans solved the puzzle.
"That's right, that's your Ardenium Seekers 2. We wanted to do two sister video games at once; Ardenium was realistic and Crusaders was anime-ish. However, due to financial difficulties we put it on hold, and with Cygames's success of Project: Re:Link, we finally got it back to make an even better action RPG, or the world's first all-in-one action RPG ever! And yes, we are doing this with the help of Astralitz Games while their doing Optimus also. Now, we need some of your help. What can we brainstorm to help improve the game?"
As the new game was released, fans began a search of references to Ardenium Seekers to see if their big project is a sequel or something else. Crusaders was actually a prequel as it took place before Kings. The thing that Ardenium Seekers had was that each character had a battle style that is hard to master, but is rewarding if you do so. (Crusaders didn't have the heroes utilize any battle gauges, only a magic gauge)
On Miiverse, the following popular posts are seen;
*Gameplay victories
*Strategies
*Achievements on the harder challenges
*Fanart of the game/heroes
*Theories and wonderings (What's the continuation on the Kings and what started the Kings?)
*Hero reviews/tier lists
===Legacy===
The Ardenium Seekers game brought a new genre of action RPGs, where you would select a hero with their own fighting style, and you get combos also so it isn't just generic button mashing or shooting in most action RPGs. It was regarded as one of the first non-competitive fantasy games that use a variety of heroes in an RPG style with character action moves.
Although it was a original success, Wolken had tweeted that Ardenium Seekers isn't coming to the RazerPocket or AstralBox in 2020;
*"So, this game did have an original success on hero action RPGs, but the thing is, the crusaders have already come and taken the Ardenium. Looks like the Crusaders of Hasla did it again." (A joke post by Wolken on why Ardenium Seekers is not coming to future consoles)
==Trivia==
*Ark's sword, the Ardenium Edge, has a ribbon that says "Love, Cora." which is a reference to the Crusaders of Hasla as Kings of Ardenium was a successor to the Crusaders timeline. The next timeline was Lords of Elysium, which takes place in the 2000's A.D focusing more on reality.
*The idea of Ardenium Seekers was taken off from Monster Hunter, Scalebound, League of Legends and Nier. Automata as they combined character action, heroes, and cooperative action RPG mechanics into one.
==Subpages==
Ardenium Seekers/Campaign
Category:Action Role-Playing Games
Category:2017
Category:Nintendo Switch Games
Category:Xbox One Games
Category:PlayStation 4 Games
Category:Wii U Games
Category:Rated 16 Games
Category:Rated C CERO Games
Category:Rated T Games