Those who’ve been following the iOS CCG scene the last few years know that before there was Hearthstone, there was another digital-only CCG game, Stone blade’s Solforge (Free), a lane-based CCG with an innovative leveling mechanic that has been in Beta for some time now. Solforge was the product of a successful Kickstarter campaign, but since the company making it isn’t called Blizzard, it has had to work with much less resources and, as a result, the fantastic card collection (the game’s released over 500 cards so far) and mechanics have been occluded by a less-than-stellar UI and client.
Fortunately for all those who enjoy the game – and there are many of them – the days of struggling with Solforge‘s client appear to be coming to an end as Justin Gary, Stone Blade’s CEO, announced yesterday that the plan is for the game to officially release this coming Fall. Gary announced that the company has brought in a team of engineers to rebuild the client codebase as one unified platform (the game is currently in Beta on PC, iOS, and Android). He also provided a UI screen mockup (work in progress, of course) that shows a much more pleasing client (I personally can’t wait for the UI update) and announced that the company is adding an in-game ladder system to continue supporting competitive play.
When it comes to cards, there will be a small 4-card release this month that will end the Reign of Varna saga, the first major story arc of Solforge‘s campaign. Players will be able to get the new cards by completing story missions, which will be unlockable with both silver and gold. Gary spoiled one of the new cards, the Legendary Tempys Spell Dragonwake, that introduces a new mechanic into the game. Dragonwake allows players to search through their deck for Dragon cards that are then played in a random space on the deck and get Aggressive. I can see this card getting a lot of play because everyone loves Dragons (Brian Kibler is one of the designers of the game, which explains why there are so many dragons).
Stay tuned for more card spoilers as well as updates on timetables and future plans for this underappreciated App Store gem.
Most games I play with the sound off. Would that keep me from being good at combat, or are there visual queues as well? Also, is there anything to do once you finish the main quest? Side quests, dungeons, special encounters, etc?
Turn the sound on, immerse yourself in the game, don't sweat the small stuff, just enjoy the game. With all due respect, this is not a knock on you, but perspectives such as yours are what is ruining gaming. Why can't a game be just a game? Why can't it be just a story? Why can't it be just an experience? Do you really need to spend more than 5-10 total hours with a game? We never asked these questions when we beat Mega Man, Super Mario, or Zelda a hundred times, so why does it matter now? Why do we complain about lack of content and then complain when companies like Ubisoft add a ridiculous amount of collectables, unlockables, and fetch quests to pad out the game?
I generally find the perspective of "shut up and just accept whatever they give us" as more detrimental, but to each their own.
I'm going to assume the answer is no and no since you dodged the questions completely?
I have no qualms about whatever companies charge for content, I just buy what I want to and don't buy what I don't want to.
And I can only speak for myself, but I never cared about extra content in mario or mega man because I was 13 at the time and didn't use my own money to buy games. However, these days because I am spending my own money I care what I spend it on.
Zelda had plenty of content to work on after beating it.
Next he will be asking if a song still sounds good with the bass turn off!
If they put there full focus into the creation of a solid main game why do you need the extra fluff? I think by detrimental he means the more people wanting all the extra content ultimately take time and money which could go into the main story line, gameplay and cutscenes (if any), but instead developers could feel it will not sell as well if not pleasing these people that want 20+hours for 2.99.
Sounds like a Paper Mario game.
To me, both the weird monsters and the status effects affecting the timed abilities reminds me of the old Shadowhearts games, but Paper Mario works too. Also the creatures make me think of the Madoka Magica anime.
From the screenshots, some of the creatures remind me of ones from The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" movie.
On sale for 99 cents now so i had to get it. Thanks for the tip TA!
Got this on your 4th July list, and wow, what a great game. The battle system is sublime!