Yeah, the AI cheats like a mofo. It never overlooks a match and gets insane cascading matches of 4. Feels cheap sometimes but also makes it super satisfying to win.
I was REALLY skeptical and let down when I saw this game being 'freemium' (PQ is one of my all time favorites) but over 10 hours later (level 19 now) I can safely say I found the legit heir to the original Puzzle Quest. I'm LOVING this. After level 10 the difficulty really spikes up, some friends of mine yelled 'PAYWALL'!!! and deleted the game. Not understanding how paying would make the fights any easier, I played onwards and the game really opened up. I'm now fighting against the very first boss of the game (the Wyrm, I *THINK* end of the initial kingdom storyline) and it's utterly awesome. I'm looking at the board trying to decide if matching those 3 skulls, leaving a ton of red gems on board knowing that the Wyrm will use those to destroy my entire party, cleaning the board up a bit, but leaving one character exposed...buidling up a spell to be used next turn....you know...the usual Puzzle Quest fare...then you activate an incredible chain...and die And when I die, I wonder if I choose well my party....if giving the blue/brown kingdom and bonuses was the right choice...or if it's better to respec some characters and spend the souls on new unlocked monsters. Or just wait a bit in this story line and continue the other ones I already unlocked. I have no clue if later I'll hit a paywall or something, but so far it's awesome, really awesome. Also...the main 'currency' is gold...and I always have more than 2K (going up). And the game grants you souls even on defeat, so even when failing you are making progresses (you can't farm here...previous quests are unavailable). Other currencies are diamonds (never used them, no clue on what they do). Of importance are keys to unlock new characters out of the bat (you earn some just playing normally) and wings that the game rewards you for some imho unuseful gear. Anyway...give the game a go and do not be scared about the spike after level 10...it's where things get interesting opening up the game and forcing you to shuffle your party and explore new kingdoms. If it was premium, I would have gladly paid for this game, but so far balance is not ruined by the fermium-ness. (can't deny I would have preferred paying 10 dollars and be done with it). Alos, the app is SUPER slick, great art and voices/sounds, effects...and flawless sync between devices.
Having looked through all the options, I doubt there is one for this (unlike in PQ1 and 2), but does anyone know of a way to disable the durned match hints? It is bad enough that it is visually annoying, and ruins some of the challenge if I take too long to match, but it routinely suggests matches that benefits my opponent (allowing him to match four skulls, for example), to sometimes disastrous results for the player. From the first 30 minutes, I'm not convinced this is he second coming of Puzzle Quest. As cool as the added TCG layer is (in this furious trend of card layers added on top of all kinds of genres, Gems of War is probably one of the games where it makes the most sense), and the troop paradigm, battles are so far a good bit more simplistic than with the scores of abilities, pets, equipment and companions available to the heroes in PQ1, with less board interaction, mana gathering considerations, passive and secondary effects, buffs and multi-stage abilities (effects in PQ1 that in turn triggered other skills, increased the value of gems for attack or mana purposes, or opened up for combo attacks). Pitta's sentiments gives me hope, though. And, really, even a second-hand Puzzle Quest is still more Puzzle Quest, so in this case I am prepared to temper my expectations EDIT: The mach suggestion mechanic is insane. And not in the endearing, quaint way that AIs usually go insane, a la SkyNet. It recommends matching three green gems, when I can instead match one of those gems to another row of green gems, creating a match four and gaining another turn. And whenever there is a match that could open myself up for an attack by opposing monsters (allowing them to match skulls after my suggested turn, usually), it suggests that match. I suspect that this is a way to artificially inflate difficulty, and it is one of the nastiest and clumsiest to date. EDIT 2: I also see a potential problem in the random key drop mechanic. Since there is no replaying missions or challenges, it is entirely possible for players in the end-game to have VASTLY different sets of troops, in terms of rarity and power. Which will, in turn, skewer PvP. Possibly far worse than any IAP. Overall, the distribution of keys will even out, but some players will have found hundreds of iron keys, with the corresponding troops, while others will have one tenth that amount. Normally, as is the rule in most freemium titles based around collecting cards/units, players who receive the short end of the statistical stick can grind to compensate. But in Gems of War, those players will simply be stuck eventually (once they run into missions or challenes they cannot defeat, or when we eventually run out of missions/challenges), with no way to match most other players in power but to pay for IAP.
In my experience, I almost never follow the computer suggestion...but it was the same in PQ1...I do not see it different here. Sometimes it's good to know how the AI works tough...I noticed it favors 4 gems over skulls matching over other options...and this can be good to use certain strategies (like...if you leave a possibile 3 skulls match you are pretty much guaranteed the AI will do that move instead of just using the ready spell that can destroy your entire party). As for the keys...I never bothered. I think that in 20 levels I found 2 keys. One at the end of the tutorial, one as reward after completing a storyline. I unlocked much more powerful characters just by playing. I wish they went premium so these kind of things wouldn't even be considered and in some hardcore gamers (the vast MINORITY) I can see this being even detrimental to the game itself...but this is what we have and it won't change. I honestly can't see how they will make money out of this...I'm playing constantly all day long and now I'm over 3K gold...I could buy 3 keys, go to sleep, and restart tomorrow. They are pretty generous...you earn things even when losing (and you will lose a lot)...not to mention they let you respec characters and the first 4 or 5 (can't remember) give you back A TON of souls (I have like 80 now...undecided who to level up). I'm not complaining of course...my biggest fear was balance...and so far seems fair and it's really fun. I do not know if it will last, but so far I already had over 10 hours of enjoyment scratching that PQ itch. Back being defeated by Wyrm
Ehehehehehe To be honest, I personally witnessed my fair share of incredible luck too. Like 3 criticals in a row out of nowhere. BTW, I finally completed the first storyline (epic ending, took me several attempts), now expanding my kingdom following the next storylines that seem easier (the 'mechanical' world seems easier and a perfect place to level up if you struggle in the first kingdoms). I'm now facing a huge dilemma...my party seems to do ok now (I'm level 21 and I have 3 characters at level 4). I didn't leveled them up since a while because I unlocked more apparently awesome characters so now I have like 200 souls to invest...not sure if I should just continue or trade my trusty party for a ton of more souls and level up another party. So far I went for the single color party, instead of a rainbow one...which is cool when you can use specific color bonuses but same games you just struggle (especially if you have same color of enemies). If I have to find a con in this game so far is that it lacks a proper 'story intro' (Luther comes out of nowhere) and the fact that to continue playing you must hop from one kingdom to another, having to follow multiple storylines at once (I would have preferred a linear progression). But no biggie, this lets you encounter very different enemies and strategies.
It's recall bias. We tend to remember when things go poorly than when they are in their favor. I've actually seen far fewer big cascades than in previous games, but not sure why. As to your group, Luther is amazing. Don't know who else you have, but I would level him up immediately. The problem with using all one color is that you get no benefit from matching anything else.
I have still to try Luther, but yeah he does seem amazing. Actually my party seems now unstoppable....doing the 'mech world' story line (elves are AMAZING, great char design and skills)...game feels a tad easy but bosses. Really LOVING it. This is my party...I still have a TONS of souls to level them up...unsure what to do...I'll probably continue so till I hit another difficulty spike.
This notion you will be out something when an online only game folds and avoiding it because of this belief is no different than not eating your meal because it will be poo the next day if you do. You pay (or don't) for a game, you play it for a little while, and you pretty much never touch it again, already having extracted 97% of the value from it you ever will or ever *could*. And even when you do go back to that "OMGBESTGAMEIEVERPLAYED!!!" gem that held your rapt attention for 4 months straight back in [high school/college/first days getting stressed working full time/etc], the technology has moved on and/or more current games have improved and refined what seemed so mind blowing then such that the experience is almost never worth revisiting because of what it can do to dull such wonderful memories. Yeah, sure, it's a cute psychological perk that I could go into my basement, dig up my old Playstation, hook it into the AV connectors on my TV, and play all my old games... and, yet, it's about 15 years and counting since I actually did that, and unless I do it at some point just to illustrate something to my kids, I'll bet another 15 years goes by without me doing so. So, while I do have the choice to go ahead and replay my couple of thousand dollars worth of games, the truth is that I'm probably never going to touch them again. Objectively, that money was every bit as "wasted" as anything I've ever dumped into a freemium title. There are just too many new games coming out every single week on this and other platforms to get my undies in a bunch over what's going to happen to title foo in 2 years. Life is too short. In 2 years time, odds are I'll have played another 100+ titles and not touched title foo in 1.7 years.
Why are you guys saving your money? What are you saving for? Keys cost 1000 and new kingdoms have cost me 500 or 750 so far. Once I get a grand and change I buy a key. Thats how I got my sweet vampire lord. Im loving the non linear nature of kingdom progression. One of my biggest problems with PQ2 was that it felt much more linear than PQ1. In this game I can decide to start buying kingdoms in whatever direction i choose and end up with a personal story thats different to most other players.
I don't even remember my NZ account info .... Should I dig it up? This is that good? How long until we see full release likely?
To be honest I was saving money just because of preconceptions about freemium games. I'm now not even bothering or looking at gold....I just play. Incidentally, I just unlocked a legendary character, which is pretty incredible (I can turn any same color gem into a skull, for incredible chain reactions). Still I'm dying...(end of the mech world storyline). What I'm really loving about the game is that single powerful characters doesn't really make that much of difference....it's the whole party and synergies that let you win. It's really pretty fantastic. And I thought I would have never said this about a freemium game...but this has GOTY potential and it's certainly the best match 3 I played since the original Puzzle Quest. I have no clue how they will make money out of this, but I'm hoping they will...because this game really deserves it.
When is this coming to Canada? I want this game right now because of great comments on the game. Wish I had an NZ app store account.
Ok, so far, it is glorious. The way you use troops as attack/def and special skills etc, is brilliant. As long as this doesnt go all paywall on me, Im going to love it.
