Guess some people associate this style with "old", and "old" with "pathetic proto-attempts at photorealism", comparing this to 3D-textured worlds.

Kids, the graphics in this game are hand-crafted, not spat out of an algorithm. Pixels, not vectors. That, to some of us, has its own charm, even though we can ALSO appreciate, say, the graphics in Fallout 3. But that's like comparing a hand-carved stool to an Aeron office chair.

And Lands of Lore was a 3D first-person perspective RPG. How does that even look like this?

I think your game is quite good. I've been hoping for a Diablo type game for a while.

I think the game is quite polished – especially for $5 game. But some things people might be referring to are:
1. Attack animations, I think 2 or 3 more frames would make the normal slashing attack look much better.
2. Music to complete the mood
3. Sometimes I'm attacking with my back to the enemy.
4. Continue leveling progression after level 10…
5. Shouldn't have to hit action more than once when I'm engaged with several enemies. I more than one occasion I found myself just standing there after I killed one in a mob and had to hit action again to engage the next enemy.
Seems odd that you would go to the next enemy automatically.
6. Make it longer. I think 5 hours should be the minimum benchmark for an iphone game. I finish on easy in less than 3. Now trying Hard and had to increase dex immediately so I was not missing on every swing. I assume it will take longer to beat.

All in al a very fun game. 4 stars. Looking forward to updates with more levels and characters.

By the way I think the touch control scheme is fine. Do people realize that you can touch the screen right in front of your character and make them continuous move smoothly? There is no reason to point-move, point-move from place to place.

The iphone has sold over 15M units in the two years it has been out. Plus several million touches. Developers can afford to spend money on developing a "$30 game" and charging $5 because the market is so much bigger and the cost of advertising is nil. You have a captive audience in the app store. I see no reason to charge, nor would I ever pay more than $10 for a game on the iphone.

You can theoretically make several million dollars quickly with a fantastic game priced right on the iphone. It is not about cost to develop, it is about maturity of the iphone as a platform in general and battery life. Just wait. The games will get better.

But seriously this game looks old. Very very old. It really looks like Lands of Lore, not Diablo. And that's what I meant when I talked about polish. First point would be that you don't see your character changing when you equip different items.

That just doesn't work for me in a hack and slay. The items are all I'm working for – and if the story is short and kind of meh what's the point anyway?

iDracula does the trick there.