Agreed. I'm just stunned that someone could play for that long and not finish the main quest. Grinding is fun, but not that much fun. BTW, I would be surprised if this problem is there in the PSP version as well.
No, I haven't played all that much. The problem is that, when you left you iPod in stand by mode, I mean, only with the screen turned off not the device, the time keeps counting. So a few nights that I forgot to turn it off and PUFF! 99 hours of gameplay... Any idea?
I'm experiencing the same thing. Game time counts even when the device is put to sleep. Which is a shame, because since the game doesn't use IOS4 switching or remember your state, hitting the power button is the only real method to suspend things without having to relaunch the whole program.
You can also save before you go on stand by then reload when you want to play again. That way you'll freeze the play counter even if you don't shut down the game.
Yes, that would be a good solution... The problem for me is that I didn't know this would happen, so I got no turn back. I'm waiting for Atlus answer...
My counter is at 6 hours and I'm only at the first dungeon (the Dead Man Tower or something). Some time is wasted due to leaving the game on and doing something else, but a majority is wasted from repeated saving and loading (good thing no auto-save) since it's frustratingly hard to ambush an enemy at this point, when enemies have absolutely no pattern of movement and can turn around and see you at any moment. In all turn-based RPGs I've seen enemies always have a patterned patrol movement, but in this one it's more "realistic" I guess but also 10x as annoying that they turn around right when you're about to ambush them. And there's basically no point attacking any enemies unless you ambush them, since certain characters in your party are ridiculously weak and will lose most of his health in just one battle, and healing items aren't exactly common. Also something I can never figure out is, during a certain boss encounter the main character can't even inflict any damage on the boss, and the entire party is about to be killed, but the boss is defeated and driven away by a single thrown hammer. Later the hammer thrower joins your party and guess what? As a huge and ugly musclehead, he is the weakest of the entire party, with the second lowest defense, second lowest speed, second lowest HP, lowest MP, lowest attack power, and highest level. WTF? A huge man with a stone hammer who can defeat a boss an entire party can't even scratch on in one hit, is weaker than a girl with a dagger in the same party?? That guy is basically completely pointless. Also unless I missed something really important, there's really no strategy in this game at all. You simply win an extremely easy fight by starting an ambush, or you simply spam healing items, as every character has only one skill when you're 3 hours into the game. The boss in the tower kills any member on your party in one hit even though I purposely grinded a bit, and with no "dodge" stat, no "defense" items, no useful weapon/equipment pickups/drops, and no formation (ie frontline characters can take the hit for characters in the back), I really don't see what "strategy" is involved here. You simply get lucky and hope the boss doesn't use that attack, or you just grind for a few hours for enough money to get 100 or so revive items. I'm extremely disappointed at this game, it had so much potential and reminded me of some really classic turn-based RPGs, but sadly it is a huge annoying chore to play. At first I was surprised at the 5/10 rating on that gaming website (was it IGN or gamespot), but now I can totally understand, even if it's for different reasons than ones I listed.
HAHAHA, I finished the game 2 times, first time around 50hrs, second time around 20hrs... 100 hrs even more than the sum of my 2 plays.
I would suggest that you check out a walkthrough (plenty of them online). You are missing way too much about the game to deal with here. Needless to say, there's plenty of tactics to combat, you should have plenty of skills by this point, there's a reason the burly guy was able to scare away the boss (and once he levels up he kicks ass), etc., etc. It's not necessary to use a walkthrough, but some people news the help -- clearly, you do. BTW, I'm not sure why saving would take you more than a few seconds.
WTF? How can the hammer guy be useless? He's very useful to me. Maybe you're just not using him properly. Henson was kinda useless for me too at one stage until I realised there's a better way to use him. And trust me, I almost never use healing potion in fights. The boss in the tower defeats you easily? Are you sure he can even be defeated? because some boss are scripted to defeat you easily so no matter how much you grind, you'd lose the first time round until you collect a certain item. I'm amazed that you've spent 3 hours into the game. Sounds more like 15 minutes.
Yeah he definitely needs a walkthrough, lol. I suggest checking out the skill tree PDF since that's very helpful. November's Chopin, what device are you using? Saving is instantaneous on my iPhone 3G.
In every game that I've played, there's a pattern to how an enemy moves. It's hard to notice in this game but it's there. You have to spend some time looking for it. It's also understandable when an enemy walk away from you, only to turn around just when you're about to ambush them. Think of it as intuition or their spider senses are tingling, if you like. It makes the game challenging. This isn't like Final Fantasy where grinding your way up means that you're "Super Amazing omg I can one-hit kill Everything in sight". Also, it's up to you on whether you're able to master the art of ambushing in this game. If you fail, you get your ass kicked and hopely you learn your lesson. Everyone here can say hand on heart that they too have had to learn it the hard way, me included, but it comes easier as you progress. This isn't your typical "insert stats into Str, Def, Agi, Atk, Int". It's a "level up char, level up skills, get better weapons, armor, accessories and items" kinda game. So ok, Gelts was able to repel Larmont the Undead Knight and your team wasn't able to do so. Your team didn't have the potential to do so, plain and simple. I love a good story line and for some reason, I didn't over-analyse (and I tend to over-analysing things) that part of the story because I knew that my team is weak and I'll explain why in the next paragraph. Later on, you kick Larmont's ass because you've become stronger. And I'll have you know that Gelts is way stronger than Spinel once he gets Doom Hammer. If you have a read about what I've said a few pages back, you'll find out why Spinel sucks hard. Again, just keep grinding. First time I played this game, I knew I had to grind quite a few levels up in Deadman's Spire because I remembered how many times I've died when I was in the caves before heading to Mirage Village. That itself was the indicator. I was dying too much and that meant that I had to grind to higher levels. Give this game a chance. It has great gameplay if you do your bit and level up. It's got an amazing storyline, you can hear the characters actually talk and quarrel (it's the first I've seen on an Iphone), it has emotional expressions, the skills tree is big. It's all plus plus plus. The only slight negative in my book is the controls and even that can be sorted out if you have patience. If you want a fast paced game, this isn't the game for you. If you take the time to understand the game, you will love it. By the way, don't always trust Reviews. At the end of the day, it's just one person's view of something. You've given reasons on why the game is 5/10 in your books but I don't think you're giving the game a chance to shine at all. You're entitled to your own opinion as with everyone else but since I've personally played the game to the near end, along with loads of people and I believe that if a ton of people say this game is great and a very small handful of people say it's bad, there better be a bloody good reason why someone would say it sucks. FYI, I've got a 1st generation Ipod Touch, so I know what the gaming platform on an Ipod Touch/Iphone is all about when it first started. I'm coming from a point where I've played and finished tons of RPG games that are catered just for the Iphone platform. You name it, I've played it. Personally, I've found Crimson Gem Saga and Chaos Rings to be the pinnacle of RPG games on an Iphone platform. For now anyway. Just my honest opinion. No hard feelings.
It IS a little confusing about how the skill system works. I don't know if I missed something or what, but I also didn't know about skills until several hours into the game. By then, I had quite a lot of SP though Gelts is relatively useless as an attacker early on. I started using him as my 'white mage' later on, once he got the more powerful healing spells. I think he also learns some good holy attacks later, but I haven't gotten them yet.
MP Regeneration BUG MP Regen BUG report: - Henson Wizard Aura is not regenerating any MP at all. - Amulet of Restoration works when you first equip it. After saving the game with Amulet of Restoration equipped, restart the game, and then loading the save, it no longer works. Solution: Don't equip Amulet of Restoration before saving, equip it after loading the save. Anyone know the solution for Henson Wizard Aura not working? Playing on iPad 3.2 Thanks~!
Everyone should try out Gelt's Doom Hammer skill. It's like complete destruction wrapped in 10 seconds of awesomeness. I got him from level 32 to level 46 in just an hour spamming doom of hammer haha.
