Save files are stored locally (and on iCloud). So if you don't change your iCloud account everything should be fine. But we do not support these work arounds. We have not tested this, so it might break.
Was hopping it was going to be this week as I'm currently 'in between games' and wanted this to be then next one I start playing. Oh well, I shall have to find a filler game until next week. Now to try that thing they call patience
The subscription is purely optional. It has some great perks, but you don't need it to fully enjoy Castaway Paradise.
My iTunes account took a mini vacation to Canada and I picked this game up. Very, very well done. The subscription is very reasonably priced and the developers have put a lot into it. It has a fun and unexpected mini-game in the stock market. You have three stocks to choose from and can see a little graph of recent performance. I wish you could short stocks but otherwise simple and yet challenging. I also like the bank and ability to earn interest (not on pearls, of course). The max deposit amount is limited, but it can still add up if you just check in from time to time. Since it's at the back of a building, it does take a bit of time to navigate there limiting the farming potential. Overall seems balanced. While the initial load time is slightly annoying, it is a very large world with basically zero lag once you're in. I'm also on a iPad 2, so maybe newer devices perform better. My biggest frustration so far is inventory management. As way of background there are two places to store items -- on-person inventory which is limited to 15 items (multiples of the exact same item only take one slot) and storage which is only accessible at the in-game chests scattered about the world. You cannot see or access storage unless you're standing next to a chest. On-person inventory is quickly filled and then things are automatically sent to storage, which is better than just losing or dropping them. The real issue for me is that I've bought an item while inventory is full and the item was sent straight to storage and I had to go find a chest to use the item I just bought. I guess it would be better if an inventory item went to storage and the newly acquired item stayed on-person. I've learned that if I want to plant a seed that I don't own and inventory is full I can't buy it from the catalogue, but instead buy it directly at the planting prompt. That's a complicated by the fact that you have to recognize the small version of the icon whereas catalogue has text descriptions making it easy to be sure you're buying the right item. There are a few flowers that have very similar icons, so it requires some careful back-and-forth checking. The immediate solution around all of this is better inventory management by the player: selling unwanted items, placing items in your house, and moving items to storage that aren't needed short term. I try to pay attention, but between cleaning up the garbage on the island and picking seeds from trees as they ripen inventory fills up fast. It is helpful that farmed crops go directly to the silo and do not take up slots in inventory. I was very relieved not to see any "buy a bigger satchel" IAP in the game, meaning that I assume inventory management was intended as part of the gameplay and not an oversight or an intentional annoyance designed to extract IAP. For those who hate timers, they appear to be very reasonable and fair. A few high-end crops take 6-8 hours, but there are plenty of planting plots and more unlockable with play and plenty to do while you wait. I've never gotten a quest requiring more than 5 of a crop. Given that this is intended to model a real world, it is more realistic to me that tasks are not instant. My last quibble is with the camera angle / view options and lack of fast travel or ability to set waypoints. While it doesn't take long to walk the entire length of the islands, I frequently miss my target because the view is so zoomed in. The zoom out option is great, but you can't navigate in that view and there is no in-between. So it's, walk a ways, zoom out, look around, zoom in, walk some more. The default view, imo, should be less direct overhead and more at an angle with the horizon visible and showing more world perspective. It would add a greater sense of the world being alive in addition to aiding navigation. Feels a little like tunnel vision as-is. Bottom line is I have really enjoyed my time in the game and expect it to be popular with a wide audience. There has obviously been a tremendous amount of care, time and resources put into it. My complaints are minor and fixable. There is a great potential for new content and storylines built on top of an excellent foundation.
I'm humbled by your detailed review of Castaway Paradise. And I can assure you we'll do everything we can to address the issues you have with the game. Inventory systems are a very difficult thing to pull off correctly. We've not nailed it yet. But we're trying to make things easier by making things context sensitive (when you're at the farm plot you'll be shown only related items, same when you're fishing or in your house). It's not perfect yet, we'll keep improving on it. As for the camera: this is always a very very tricky thing. The angle we show the game in directly influences the performance of the game. For example is we were to put the camera in a lower angle we would draw more of the game world, having to update the a.i. more and thus decreasing the framerate. It's a balance we had to find. As for the initial loading time: we're working on a fix. There are more than 1400 items in Castaway paradise, and players can use them to create a very complex game world. This makes the initial loading time a bit longer than the average app. But we're making great progress on reducing the loading times. Expect improvements before the end of the month!
Same here! My daughter will love this, I think i might too Any idea on an EU release? or UK/Ireland app store? I wouldn't go switching regions just for one game.
This Thursday... Didn't you read TA today? Is there a one-time IAP which makes it more premium-ish? Maybe a VIP welcome pack, a coin doubler or something similar.
The VIP pre-paid subscription will make the game more like a premium game. It's perfect for people who want to play more traditional games.
Finally this game is hitting worldwide this week! I've been watching this game for over a year. Heck, I even downloaded it and played for a few with my Canadian account, but I wanted to wait until it hit the US to actually really start playing. Can't wait until tomorrow night!!
I too have been following this for a while. Really looking forward to finally getting my hands on it! BMH, is there any chance you can 'accidentally' lean on the big red release button a day early
