K guys I got one question before I buy it. Is this better than Linkoidz (to those who bought both apps)?
Well Linkoidz is more of a bubble pop type game. This is much closer to a Puzzle Quest type game. Linkoidz has power ups, but this really does work more like an RPG as you are gaining levels you are upgrading attributes, skills and equipment.
I was on the edge for awhile, but you'll be happy to know the YouTube video sold me on it. Played it a bunch so far and it's great! I love games played in portrait, easy to play standing up on the train. +1 to the idea of different monsters and monster abilities, the variety would be great. The only thing I can think of, and it's very small...would be cool if there was a sense of moving through a dungeon somehow. Maybe when you're Level 1 - 10 you could be in an area called The Courtyard or something and the whole game has a grey theme, then 11 -20 you move into The Great Hall and the colour theme switches to an oak panelling, keep progressing through "rooms" like that so you have a greater sense of moving forward through a dungeon. Sewers, green theme. Final area might be The Ninth Layer of Hell (! - I'm pulling these out of thin air) and have a red/orange theme. Maybe skip the theme colours, that'd be a lot of extra artwork I guess, but yeah just a thought! Just to imply a sense of moving through rooms. It's a great game though as it seems very modular, you could easily expand it in new directions. New bosses, abilities, loot. Great for a puzzle game as that genre tends to come as they are and that's it. (For the record in case I have any details wrong, I'm still on my first game! Clicked tutorial then just kept going, climbing up in levels...I assume I'll die at some point but only come close once so far. I'd close the tutorial and start a real game but I don't want to lose my progress, hehe).
Hey guys, just a heads up to everyone playing, I'll be submitting the new update to the app store in the next few days, it'll include a lot of the suggestions from this thread and other feedback I've received during the week since the game's been out, such as: - 15 special new enemies with fun and varied properties to defeat - 10 new skills to learn when levelling up, including one that converts health potions to mana potions which decrease cooldowns when collected - 20 new intro stories - A new difficulty level in between the normal and hard - Difficulty ramps up faster at higher levels (except on easy) - Slight tweaks to existing skills (e.g. longer cooldown on enchant, slash now useful for clearing out burning & acid tiles) - Last played character name & difficulty are saved for next time - Added support for fast app switching in iOS 4 - Fixed a number of bugs, including the one that doesn't properly save damage greater than 255 Hopefully the update will get approved for app store this week, but in the meantime any other suggestions for this update or the next are very welcome
Game Impressions Having been fortunate enough to get a sneak peek let me assure you that it will BLOW YOUR MIND!! These new monsters (Specials) are too cool! They remind me a lot of something like mini-bosses (much tougher than your normal fare to take out, worth a lot more xp, cool unique powers, but not anything as nasty as some full fledged screen filling boss monster). I have yet to see two specials on the grid at the same time but am not sure if I'm just not far enough in or if the game simply won't allow this (it might be the dev held this possibility as not only would it be Living Hell for the player, it might be confusing deciding on how to handle things like Mr. Burns and Mr. Freeze on screen at the same time). I also love how he handled the art on these new guys as they're more than simply color coded. The Poison Skull is purple with a typical skull and crossbones symbol on his forhead while the Healer (no, not your ally by any means) is white with the little red cross on his forehead. Even if the symbols and color coding isn't enough, no worries, hovering over a given Special will pop-up a tool-tip detailing what his special powers are.
+1, very fun. I'd bet the game goes to .99 eventually, but clearly I'll have already got the extra 2.00 worth by then. I stink though, played 6 or so games on normal, cant get past level 7. Tried the above tips to focus on damage and get skull clearing specials, and clearly this is a valid tip, as you just dont get enough swords to be burning 3 or god forbid 4 on skulls. At the same time though, you do need some healing upgrades -- clearly this is a close second priority. Luck has been pretty easy for me to get and is obviously good. However, leach is rare for me. I got 5% leach on a weapon twice . . . once they didnt offer me a weapon from the shop with that, had to take the better weapon with no leach or get behind on dps, once I just didnt get a 10% before I died. I have tried +xp or +shield%, but they never seem to show up in the shop, so I dont know they are worth it unless you plan to keep the particular item a while -- i.e. never put those on your weapon. The more repair per shield collected sounds sensible, but not sure how many points one can spare for that? + Defense is obviously useful but when the shit hits the fan you usually have 0 defense so you cant go overboard. Those are my thoughts, but clearly at least some of them are wrong! One question which might implicate strategy: is difficulty tied to moves or experience level?
I finally figured out something about the upgrading that eluded me for a while. If you really want to maximize your sword's power (or really any individual piece of equipment) you might want to take even seemingly useless enhancements to it. Why? Because once you go to the shop to swap your weapon it will almost invariably will give you a better weapon than you currently have with each enchantment counting as an extra point to the base damage or another enchantment. Example: Your base 3 sword with a +1 VIT, and +1 DEX would likely get you a base 6 sword or maybe a base 5 with some random enchantment. On the other hand if you never enhanced that base 3 sword the store would offer you a base 4 sword.
You guys sold me on this. I took the plunge and I am loving the game. This along with 180 and Wordspector, I am having a great time! Not getting much done but having a great time!
Hmm, does seem like you get the same enchant offered at the store on your next item more than chance though? Maybe there is some chance of the enchant "sticking," and some chance that the point will be spent elsewhere? I had taken to accumulating useful enchants on one item with the plan of not buying a new one, so as to keep the chosen enchants and not get random ones, but perhaps that isnt the best idea given your discovery.
I think so or having at least stuff mostly matching your last item. I've often seen stuff like offering to replace my 10% Leech with 5% Leech and +.5 exp or something but at other times they will match it exactly with just a +1 to the base value. Lastly I've seen times where I think they're trying to screw you a bit where it isn't an upgrade at all but the same base value and just a couple of random enchantments (so more of a lateral move than an upgrade).
Enh, that's your call but I think, even though this game lacks the questy bits and is far more abstract, there is also a LOT more depth to the gameplay (every match you make means so much more than just raising a specific mana for a spell) and there is so much more freedom in how you decided to improve your character (not pigeon holded into one set of skills for your class).
I do think its a fair comparison to puzzle quest, minus the questy bits, as the matching gameplay feels fairly similar. However, its Puzzle Quest minus the questy bits AND mated with a roguelike. Its the cross-breeding with a roguelike that does it for me. Puzzle Quest is a die and keep trying game, and if you chose, you can grind or cheese your way to over-power battles. Got a massive amount of fun out of it, but didnt quite finish as the joy wore out at some point. Whereas this has the "just one more time" addictiveness of roguelikes. Toss up as to whether I'll eventually play this more than I did PQ.
Yeah, there you go, it's this game's starting from nothing and trying to build yourself up to great heights (or at least a higher score) before being overwhelmed with no real goal but the end score. Also different is that you aren't taking turns with an opponent, per se, but the opponents appear on the board itself and do damage to you each turn until cleared. Later with this insane update you'll meet opponents that will manipulate the board in strange and annoying ways to further complicate your resource gathering and baddy smashing.
Is this game going to be on sale anytime soon? At least make a lite version, because I don't know if I am really into this kind of game.
Gotta say I've played a lot more of this game and really enjoying it. It feels a lot more tactical than your typical Match-3 type game. Random thoughts! I've been having some more success recently by trying to use the swords towards the bottom of the field, where possible. since the enemies end up at the top it keeps everything moving. Otherwise I eventually end up with swords at the bottom, a layer of coins or potions (more likely potions) and then new enemies falling into the top without any way to make matches. I'm also a huge fan of spike damage. I got it up to +9 spikes once and kept alive by matching shields to keep them up and letting everything kill itself. In fact I lost that game when I got greedy and matched a ton of coins, which brings me to my next point... I love how balanced it is that matching a ton of coins or shields for an upgrade runs the risk of getting flooded with enemies all at once. You can do safe little three-matches but miss out on bonuses. Extended from that, I find it much safer to, if you are going to make a big match, try to match them in columns, like a 2x5 column block (as much as possible). Feels easier to deal with, gets the skulls down near your trapped swords if they're there and more opportunities to makes matches...that's why I avoid the sides as well if I can, less pieces to work with for making a match (I may be overthinking this, hehe). And man I'm excited for that update!
Consider allowing folks to keep the gold and buy something at the store next turn. Its frustrating when you are offered three downgrades/useless side grades.
