I would love to join you in supporting dedicated, passionate, and active developers--they deserve it! ...but I cannot believe there is no way for developers to allow 5th gen iPods to purchase this. There has to be a way around the problem regarding the low RAM 4th gen, without taking away from the capable RAM 5th gen people (I bought the latest and greatest iPod so that I could play games exactly like Bladeslinger, and yet here we are). Sorry to bring this up again but man I am steamed.
The Problem aren`t the Devs. The Problem is Apple. They still haven`t yet updated their damn, crippled iTunes Store so you could setup your Game on the Appstore in a Way that iPod Touch 5th Gen User could buy the App but not iPod Touch 4th Gen or lower. Guess why so many Developer screwed up in the last few Months by launching their Games even they aren`t running on those older iPod Touch 4th Gen or lower iDevices even if the Requirements said something else and then had to add a Text Message into their iTunes Description similar to: Isn`t running on iPod Touch 4th Gen or lower iDevices. Let`s face it: You can`t blame those Developer for something that Apple did screwed up.
Saw that this was out finally in the US. Downloaded and have been playing and decided to visit this thread expecting to hear some praise. Wow, people are really torn on this one. I think it's fresh to see a developer try something other than the usual buttons/virtual stick. The game is pretty damn phenomenal as an iOS game and I can't wait for future episodes to come. To the devs - fantastic game. Please don't be discouraged and please release more! Love it, great job.
Ooouuuccchhh... My fingers.... I went into this game blind; I did not play the Canadian "soft" release, nor did I see any gameplay footage or trailers whatsoever. And I got my arse kicked halfway through Chapter 2 when I booted up the game for the first time. Repeatedly. Could not get freaking past that one stupid fight no matter how well I played. I had read through the forums. I understand how the controls work, and I can work them fine. I can do every gesture accurately. So that's not the problem at play here. Now, it could be that I just suck horribly at action games in general. But that can't be the case; I perform well in Lili, Infinity Blade 1 and 2, The World Ends With You: Solo Remix, Horn, and other action-oriented games, so it cannot be a lack of player skill or unfamiliarity with touch-oriented combat that eschews traditional controls. And I do play this game well! So I came to a realization: THESE BLOODY ENEMIES, ON THE BASE DIFFICULTY, MOVE FAST AND TAKE UPWARDS OF 50+ ATTACKS BEFORE THEY GO DOWN. ON THE BASE DIFFICULTY. Add to the fact that they engage you two at a time, with more enemies replacing fallen ones, and you have a recipe for hair-pulling frustration similar to what I experienced. This is a problem in another way as well: if a player does not survive the fight, they are left with one-third of their health, and are tasked with fighting the exact same restarted fight with this health level. However, gold spent in the middle of the fight ISN'T RETURNED TO YOU IF YOU FAIL THE FIGHT, which means that if you spent a chunk of gold in the middle of the fight to heal and died anyway, you either have to become a master player immediately to beat the fight with little to no damage, WHICH IS EXTREMELY HARD FOR A NEWCOMER, or break out the wallet just to have a fighting chance and move the story forward. This is extremely sadistic for a game with combat this complex and involving, coupled with the somewhat high initial prices for items like healing potions and special moves when you're just starting with the game. While it is true that with time and judicious grinding of previous chapters any obstacle like this can be overcome, that's no excuse for the game to bend n00bs over its knee and take a knife to their rumps instead of a paddle unless they forfeit their lunch money... to use an extremely colorful metaphor. It's painful to experience and is not fun in any way, shape or form, AND it skill-locks players out of the story until they "nut up, pony up or shut up", which is, again, extremely rude and zero fun to play through. This was my experience of the first twenty minutes of the game these great people made. And the conclusion from that first twenty minutes is that it hurts to play, maybe not in the fingers, but in the enjoyment and the engagement, which are bad for any player's desire to continue with the game. So, to clarify: Devs, you're awesome, but your game hurt me and turned me into an Internet jerk whining on a forum thread instead of having fun with your game. I'm gonna go cry in a pillow and grind Chapter 1 until my ears bleed enough gold to not go through that debacle ever again. 3/5 stars, for being a technically excellent but painful game for me. Sincerely, Mr. Album
Dear Brett, I love this game don't get me wrong but the in app purchases are just keeping it from being perfect I'm the only on in my whole family and friends who likes the game everyone says its to hard with the controls and they die to easily. But anyways can you lower the prices of the health potions and powers. Thanks
Jumping on the bandwagon here- This is going to be blunt, but the controls stink (sorry dev). I know you were trying to come up with something innovative but why reinvent the wheel? I know you think they're great, but they just don't work, ESPECIALLY when played on an iPhone which is what I play games on the most. I like to get immersed in my games and these controls completely prevent that from happening. They prevent it from reaching its true potential, and completely break an otherwise amazing game. Someone stated earlier in the thread that Gameloft-style controls wouldn't take anything away from the game, but that's an incomplete statement- not only would they not take anything away from it, they would add so much to it and turn it into the game that it tries so hard to be. I hate to say it, but as of now, this is a huge letdown for me. You guys clearly put a lot of incredibly hard work into this game- it is absolutely gorgeous- please don't let one bad idea ruin it for all the people who have been waiting sooo patiently for it to be released. And don't let it ruin this incredible piece of art. I can say for certain that if the controls remain this way with no other option for all the remaining episodes, this will be the only episode I buy. I just can't play it this way. Give me another option and I am on board for the full series.
I think the controls are great and I've been playing video games for more then 35+ years. I like the tapping to shoot and swiping for close attacks. To me there is almost nothing fun about gameloft's tapping a fire button on a person or object that was automatically targeted. This is infinitely more immersive. I get what the developers did here and I think it's inventive. Good for them for not following the paradigm. I hope the game takes off and other developers give this control mechanism a try. I'm bored of control pads on a touch screen. About time to start mixing it up. I played this on both an iPhone 5 and iPad 3 and felt the same way on both devices.
AGREED! These "because that's how it's always been..." Kind of bland people are very irritating. TO THE DEVS: WHAT YOU HAVE DONE HERE IS NOTHING LESS THAN AMAZING! You have done so much more than any GAMELOFT game could ever do! Please do not copy a thing from GAMELOFT... Then we would have a copy of a copy.
I want to subscribe to your YouTube channel Tangents! What is the name of it? Excellent very well done review. I want to see more from you Alex
Dude, no one is asking for buttons. A simple invisible d-pad on the left, and right to control camera. The rest will just work as it is, mostly. Now, I join in the prayer will all those hoping for an alternative control scheme, and hope the gods side with us on this and bring enlightenment to the otherwise amazing game developers. /amen
SO, you are the type of "gamer" who leaves "1-star reviews" based on something so irrelevant. Go buy some candy bars and buy a different game to complain about. Just leave innovative marvels such as this to people who enjoy something new.
It is a great game for sure, yet to spend enough time on it but I can see myself enjoying it ... but I just want to point out to lazynahte and bunch of other people here that the fact that people are so willing to compromise on controls/story/content just because a game is cheap(or 'free'?!) is what makes the App Store an amazingly attractive place for indie-developers....just try to pull that on Steam.
Dude, a d-pad - invisible, translucent or opaque IS buttons. Enlightenment is what occurs when you play with this control scheme. No need to request assistance from any higher authorities.
If I were you, I'd save up 3 green tokens and buy an unlimited use healing card. I did that and it has made it much much easier to get through the game. I rarely spend any gold on healing potions etc. Back to game suggestions, I think the first thing that needs fixing is the buttons that show up on the sides of the screen when fighting multiple enemies. They just don't work. I just finished fighting the boss in the pit near the end of chapter 3 and having to constantly worry about the two respawning minions was a nightmare because I couldn't switch targets without two finger swiping around to find them, which took my focus off the battle and resulted in a lot of damage I could have otherwise avoided. Again, some type of floating stick and a dodge button combined with the current combat system would be great... And streamline the game... And make it easier to play... Just sayin
I'll second that! I love the controls, the graphics and the gameplay - the fights are very well done - but whether its my own inadequacy or not I just keep having to buy health potions - at least one (sometimes more) in each fight. As you get less than the price of a basic health potion in gold after each fight, I found myself buying some iap gold - but even that's running out now. At the rate I'm going I'm spending anything from 400-1000 coins per battle on health potions just to stay alive, only to be rewarded with 100-200 gold for finishing the fight. Am I missing some basic gameplay or just a rubbish player? I certainly don't want to have to be buying iap gold frequently just to proceed. It's really frustrating as other than that its a superb game. I'm a bit confused as I read somewhere that the devs didn't want to make iap compulsory but just an 'added extra'... Edit : I just bought the infinite health regeneration card which makes the fighting much more manageable. Just kicked ass without using any health potions - yay!
@Prhaber: Remember to dodge and block! Dodge especially, as you can't be hit for most of the move (and it builds up for one of the unlocks). I think the last time I played I only used, like, three health potions in the whole of the first two chapters, and two of them were in the boss fight. (edit: And meant I could assign more gold to getting Unrelenting Assault too. )
Hey all, yet another Bladeslinger dev here. First of all, thank you! It's amazing to see all the discussion, and that generally it seems you are all enjoying the game. We put tons of blood, sweat and tears into it (not to mention time and money) so it's incredibly rewarding to see it in people's hands and have them enjoy it Controls Again, we appreciate the feedback. To answer specifically to those suggesting a dual stick (movement and camera) approach in nav, this is an idea we kicked around when doing early control tests, but we killed it early on for two very specific (and we think important) reasons: 1) From the get go we wanted combat to be engrossing and visceral. We felt IB did this really well and wanted to capture that same feeling or improve on it. This meant gestures and not buttons for combat actions, so it really felt like you interacted with the enemies in a way buttons can't portray. What does this have to do with navigation? Well it meant that you'd be doing combat sequences one-handed, so it made no sense to have to reposition your hands every time you went into navigation (which would be the case if we went for dual sticks), that was just horribly clunky. 2) We wanted you to be able to move in combat as well, which meant that having a movement scheme that would work one handed was even more important. As MungeParty suggested previously, this doesn't mean we're completely opposed to introducing new schemes. It really wouldn't be trivial though and at this point it necessarily can't be the highest thing on our priority list. Why? Because we need to focus on getting other cool stuff in (you didn't think we'd actually rest after releasing the game do you?) IAP We really went out of our way to try and balance the game to be fun for those that bought it and wanted to play through without having to purchase through IAP. Absolutely everything in the game can be unlocked by just playing. The game isn't a cakewalk, but as core gamers ourselves that's how we wanted it. We wanted a game that keeps challenging the player and gives them a reason to come back for more. One of the examples of this is the unlocks, which encourage trying new play styles to gain access to the upgrades for your existing approach. We've worked hard to not make the IAP overly intrusive, and it's perfectly possible to play the game without ever being "bothered" with it. We do go out of our way to make it completely clear what something would cost you at any given time versus how much G/S you actually have and if an IAP would be needed, but that's just as much for the sake of a pleasant UI experience as anything else. Combat difficulty Thanks for the great feedback on this, notice that when you buy and use items and upgrades in combat, you don't lose those when you die. Having to restart the battle with lower health is a good point though, we're discussing what can be done about that. Again thank you all for supporting us, it really does make all the hard work worth it
