Thanks, houseofg. I am glad to know that other player(s) share my sentiment about the game. This is an other superb match-3 JRPG. If the developer is willing to tone down the difficulty and make the game less reliant on chance and more solvable by skills (and to check for situations to make sure that AI will not render the board basically unsolvable), the game will feel much less grindy and more in line with an excellent role-playing game. As such in its current state, however, the game is missing the mark by a long shot for players who are able to look pass the early charm of the game to truly see the remaining parts to rendering a more fitting opinion that the game is being made difficult for all the wrong reasons.
All I can contribute to the "game is too difficult" or "ridiculously unbalanced" discussion is my final stats, finished it in 30 hours with all my characters at level 31. As for the AI rendering your board unsolvable, that's just a fail state. Consider it death by petrification or by frostbite. Numerous RPGs have that, the only issue here is that the game doesn't give you an actual fail screen which is something the devs should definitely add for when you have no available moves.
They have added an easier difficulty level in the latest update. You have to start a new game to use it, but maybe you would enjoy that mode more. I do see what you're saying, and agree that luck plays a part in the game, especially some of the later stages. I also have encountered situations where the board becomes unplayable, and I think sometimes the game overdoes the usage of debuffs, to the point I where hardly feel like I'm playing a matching game anymore, because the debuffs are keeping me from making any matches. However in my opinion you're overstating your case a bit when you say it's difficult for all the wrong reasons. I've found that there's quite a strong puzzle aspect to creating the right kinds of matches when you need them, which can greatly increase your chances of success. If all you're doing is waiting for opportunities to make larger matches to appear, then it will be largely chance. However I've found that by planning several moves ahead I can greatly increase the number of 4 and 5 matches that I get. In addition, I find it quite engaging to figure out the best set of skills to use. Finally though, I think maybe I just think of the game differently than you. For me, despite the fact that there's an RPG aspect to the game, it's primarily a match-3 puzzler. I used to really enjoy Bejewelled, which didn't have any story or persistent progression at all. To me, this is primarily still a matching game like that, and battling aspect and RPG aspects just add layers of strategy which make the matching goals more complex and engaging. But since I ultimately just play it for the match-3 puzzling, it doesn't really bother me if I spend 10 minutes going through a dungeon and get killed, since I still just spent 10 minutes doing some enjoyable match-3 puzzle solving. I can imagine if I was more invested in progressing through the story rather than the puzzle solving, that sort of thing would feel more frustrating.
finished the game at around 49 hrs. got all but one 9th tier emblem at lvl 32. Spoiler not sure which ending i got. but i killed all the three dragons and went up the tower to take on the lord sage. he turns into the demon final form and i had to beat that. got really lucky for those two fights as 5 match crosses dropped when i needed them for the shield protection. after seeing "THE END" it returns me the main menu. not sure if it saved the end game or not. EDIT: nope, it did not save the game. going up the tower again, i had to fight the lord sage/demon once more.
as far as i remember the dev did mention that there is actually multiple endings in this game. That was said during an interview with them. Also as far as I understand from the dev they also did said that the key of winning actually play a part with strategy like the combination of skills and etc. So if I didnt understand them wrongly, it does not mean that having all the highest tier skills = most powerful. That is not how this game works as far as the game mechanic goes. Which the "RPG" element actually really play a part in this game rather than just some straight up mix 3 puzzle RNG thing in every other mix 3 game. And also I believe in almost any puzzle game, luck still play a small part to the entire package. So calling a reliant on chance something wrong is a little off here. Unless the puzzle is being design in a static formation where the drops and sequence are always the same. If that is the case then there is almost no replay value to it at all. Besides that it will also become a pointless game because over time of playing it just become predictable. Overall personally I still feel this is a good game and worth every penny. You wont go wrong with this especially if you like puzzle games.
AppUnwrapper, How much on average is each your grind score you XP and gold? I need to do this now to level up to do the Sun Gate trial and to get enough gold for the 9th emblems. I am grinding the Shayara Kingdom (the last level before the sun gate) and am each about 5000 gold and 20000 XP each run. Is this normal?
I personally never paid close attention to XP/gold from battles. But you can see how much I was earning from all the videos I made. I'm not sure if it's a set amount from killing enemies (I would guess it is) or if other factors play a part. Keep in mind, some of these videos are from my first playthrough and some are from my second. I basically filled in gaps my second time around. http://www.appunwrapper.com/2015/01/09/hero-emblems-gameplay-footage/
I looked at the videos, but I did not see any specific video for grinding, such as by visiting a particularly dungeon that tends to yield more gold or experience. As I am grinding to prepare for Sun gate, I obviously can't use the Sun gate dungeon for grinding. Thus, I am searching for another dungeon with almost matching treasure. Any tips?
I always grinded at the last dungeon I completed. That always seemed to offer the best rewards for my time -- unless it's too hard for you and you end up restarting the battle too many times.
That is also what I have been doing. Do you remember, in your second (not first) playthrough when you did not need to "grind", what levels were your character when you enter the Palace of Dungeon to fight the final 3 bosses? I am currently at Level 28 with all 8th Emblems but only 1 9th Emblem. I started to grind because I felt I was outgunned at my character level. While I was able to win a few fights, they were all won with razor thin margin.
Well, the last video I took on my second run was at High Ground of Wind, and I see my characters were level 28. Alston leveled up from that battle to 29, but the rest stayed 28. I don't think I did any grinding before the Sun Gate, but I can't tell you for sure.
Please do report back if anyone determines the best pre-gate grinding area. Wandering around that island is kind of hit or miss on random encounters. The cave is too long for too little.
Sorry I don't remember but I only farmed it once because it was a lot of time for what must have been less than 3k gold.
to prepare for the sun gate, i mainly grinded Ancient Mausoleum and Cave of the Devil, just because it's closer to the sun gate. once you cleared sun gate, it's easy to get gold. a few runs thru it will net you 100K for the 9th tier emblems.
did i get the bad ending? after defeating the three dragons, i went up the tower going thru 3 or so more waves of enemies. then i fought the lord sage who turned into the demon, which i had to beat as well. i don't see that mentioned in appunwrapper's walkthru or anywhere else.
To add to the grinding discussion I did an Ancient Mausoleum run (paths A, A) and got 4.8k gold and 28k experience. Not horrible.
Finished game (finally). Very ambivalent about the overall experience. Many high high's but also many low low's. Exceedingly difficult game beyond the midpoint because of very aggressive boss attacks (to the point where I am wondering if the game is cheating because it seems to be knowingly placing debuffs at the tiles you need the most at the most inopportune times). Many secrets and bonus objectives add a lot to replay value but require extreme patience and lots of trial and error to discover them. Here is a screenshot showing the supposed TOUGHEST boss battle in the entire game (the final boss in the Palace of Darkness): I am posting this for players who are wondering if the boss is beatable WITH NO POTION OR CROSS consumables. This screenshot shows that it is doable, but only if you are able to make a lot of cross emblems!
i think the trick is to get as many crosses as possible for the boss fight. make sure you have alston w/ s.skill sacred field. then use the shield protection during the fight. this will prevent most dmg and all those nasty debuffs when the boss hits. while protected, do as much dmg as you can to the boss. when the shield expires, rinse and repeat.
