What's this nonsense about Diablo 1 & 2 (or 3 for that matter) not having replayability? The game constantly ramped up the challenge whether you were level 6 or 60, the constant pursuit of new, hot, randomly generated swag and such, and the enemies always gave you a go for your effort. The game constantly offered a challenge no matter what level you played and you never got to any point where you felt too godlike and the game became breeze to blow through, unless you had put in several hundred hours into the game! If you any are going to use the comparison it would be that this game to Diablo, it would be that they are large contrasts of each other despite the initial similarities. One is built and intended for replay and executes it well (Diablo), where as the other demands but is not built for it properly to support the gameplay it insists to have (Call of Heroes)...
David writes: "What are examples of that? I can't think of any "classic games" that penalize you for playing whenever you want." Here is what I do not understand. There are many games for the iPad that I do not like. Or have gameplay that is cumbersome. Or have a model that is not appealing to me. For me, time is too short. And so, I focus only on those games which I DO enjoy playing. As an example, my name is frisbee10461 because I love Frisbee Forever. If you really do not like Heroes Call, why spend your time on a Forum dedicated to that game? In response to your point, you are looking at the mindset of playing Heroes Call as in being penalized, and you may be missing the point. The goal of the game is not to play whenever you want, but to play in brief intervals. Because you are not aligned with the developers' intent, you believe you are being penalized. When you get right down to it, Heroes Call allows you to play for a few minutes for free. If you choose to play whenever you want, you can do so, but you have to pay for it. This is the mindset behind most time-based classic games. Take, for example, Pigskin 621 AD. You put in your 25 cents (yes, games back then was a quarter), and you played for 5 minutes. When time ran out, if you wanted to play more, you had to fork over another quarter. On the other hand, if you were content with playing for a few minutes a day, you could get by on a quarter. Other examples of this were Turbo and OutRun. I would counter your point by stating that other "free" games have a greedier mindset. For example, you can play only one or two levels, but to play the full game, you have to pony up some real cash. Or, you can defeat the game only by paying, because the "free" equipment you get is not enough to vanquish the higher-level enemies. Or, you pay for the game, and yet, whenever an upgrade is released, you have to pay for that upgrade as well. Don't even get me started on the Pay games which are a greed grab. As an example, co-owner of the Infinity Blade II game, Mustard, admitted that they released the game way too early. as a result, the game was rife with bugs. See a previous post for the interview with him about this. Also, for Dark Meadow, after paying $5.99, the upgrade asked paying customers to pay another $5.99 for the upgrade. To me, that is a HUGE money grab. I agree with Ayjona 100% here. I would like to add that Diablo III, which costs $59.99, already has TWO patch upgrades. After waiting 10 years, there are few changes between Diablo II LOD and Diablo III. And yes, you can replay the same dungeons as different character. However, for the low, low price of 60 dollars, yes, you can play whenever you want. I don't see where the Heroes Call developers are being underhanded or sneaky. You get to play as a character for FREE and you can complete the game (again, for FREE). There are over 40 quests (some quests are unique to the warrior, others to the wizard, and some are common to both). There are many types of monsters. I lost count, but there are quite a few. Heck, there are five different types of spiders. Also, keep in mind that when you face a group of trolls, for example, there are many types of trolls that make up the group. So, you cannot count trolls as one monster, but rather look at the different types of trolls as each troll type being one monster. In fact, if you look at what the developers say, show me where there were misleading: DUNGEON CRAWLING AT ITS BEST AND FOR FREE Visceral combat with a range of weapons. Built from the ground up for touch. Incredible 3D RETINA graphics that showcase the power of your device. Intuitive controls, designed specifically for touchscreen devices, easy to pick-up and offering depth to master. Each hero has a wide range of powers and abilities, level your hero to match your play style. RICH UNIQUE CONTENT Over 40 quests split into different adventures that take you all around Brineside. Quests play out in unique order, so every Hero has a different journey. Over 100 different enemies including Orcs, Zombies, Skeletons and Ogres. Also, you can replay quests if you want. Gems and coveted equipment are dropped randomly, and I am sorry if you have not received any by replaying a quest, but I have. In fact, this morning, while replaying The Auction, I received TWO gems and a sword with a yellow box around it. I would say that if you played more levels repeatedly, you would get more coveted equipment, and yes, more gems. Now, Daviddes (and others), on a side note, which FREE iPad games do you recommend as the games that have the correct model? I am curious to your response. Frisbee10461
Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents (again). I'm not a fan of the business model. Frankly, I'm not a fan of many freemium games' business models. There are games that do it right (since it was mentioned, Frisbee Forever is a fantastic example) and games that do it dreadfully wrong. I don't see this game as being in either of those categories. Games like Smurf Village (or whatever the heck it's called) and other "sim" type games where they nickel-and-dime you for EVERYTHING are the absolute worst types of freemium games and can easily cost users hundreds of dollars. I also hate leaderboard games where IAPs give an unfair advantage over others. This game is far from those extremes. Yes, the wait times can be annoying, but as an iOS gamer, there's very few games (or very few times I can) that I play for more than 10-15 minute spurts to begin with. This game isn't and never should be put on a pedestal like Diablo. But I still feel it's a fairly polished, well-made game that is enjoyable as a dungeon crawler in short spurts. It's not a game that's going to redefine iOS gaming or anything. But if you want to play once or twice a day, it's fine fun. And I shelled out $2.99 for 80 gems to play it again as a Wizard (when the crashes are fixed. Yes, I'll admit that is the one games big fault, for me, at least). Even if every quest only took 10 minutes (which they don't....at least the way I play), you've got 40 of them! 400 minutes or almost 7 hours of gameplay. Even if you pay the $2.99 that's pretty fair IMO. The IAPs aren't forced as much as they are in most freemium games. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm probably one of the most vocal opponents of IAPs. I absolutely hate them. But when I started to think about what I was getting vs. what I was paying for this game, I didn't feel as ripped off as other games. At least in this game, I know that I don't have to pay IAP after IAP after IAP just to enjoy it. It's those endless stream of IAPs in freemium games that I can't stand. Anyway, to each their own, I was kind of upset at the dev and the wait time issue to begin with. But I've gotten over it and am able to enjoy the game for what it was. I could have easily just played the Warrior quests and not have spent a dime.
I'm interested in the theory of game design, and why some games are designed in different ways, and how that appeals to different people. Hope that helps. You're going to compare this to arcade games? Really?? Arcade game have/had a pay-for-time model, because you're renting the physical hardware and no one else can use it while you're playing it. So you pay for the cost of excluding others from playing. This doesn't make any sense at all when you're playing on *your own device*. Straw man. I never said they were underhanded or sneaky. Any game where when I pay to unlock it I can play whenever I want. I could list thousands of those. But I'm not saying they are 'wrong'. I'm just saying I don't like it, and I don't understand your arguments for it. Particularly the idea that they are copying a commendable model from the past where people couldn't play whenever they wanted, and would have to go to an arcade and pay by the minute. I think you're probably the only person in the world who prefers that to getting to play *on your own device whenever you want*.
Daviddes, what I will say is that some people like Heroes Call, while others do not. The same holds true for reviewers. Some reviews are favorable (148apps and gamezebo), while other reviews are less flattering (appspy). Concerning your response of "Any game where when I pay to unlock it I can play whenever I want. I could list thousands of those," I am curious as to which FREE iPad/iPhone games you recommend. Someone who is "interested in the theory of game design, and why some games are designed in different ways, and how that appeals to different people." should be able to come up with a pretty good list. I am curious as to your response. frisbee10461
I'm not sure what you mean by FREE. Only games that have no cost for any element of the game? What about advertising, is that ok? There aren't many games with no IAP and no ads because, well, that's not really a business model, so you are left with hobbyists and amateurs. I can mention some hobbyist/amateur games, but I want to be sure I'm answering your question. If you just mean games that you can play for free OR pay for, then any game with a lite version makes the list, but again I don't want to run through scores of those if I'm not answering your question. I also don't want to get *too* far off the topic of Heroes Call here, because the moderators don't like that.
Sure, advertising is OK, as an example. I would discount any LITE versions because that is merely meant as a teaser to get you to buy the full game. So, although I like King Cashing: Slots Adventure and Wisp: Eira's Tale, I would not list these games as FREE. I'll give you my top ten FREE games (in alphabetic order): 1. 100 Floors 2. Blood & Glory 3. CAPCOM ARCADE 4. DOOORS 5. Frisbee Forever 6. Heroes Call 7. Invaders TwentyEleven 8. Pocket Legends 9. Swordigo 10. Toss the Ball
What I recommend is different from what I think is well done. E.g., I'd much rather just pay (even a large amount) than put up ads or other annoyances. But other people might be more price sensitive. I play Scramble Free with my kids, which i like. It costs nothing unless you play a *lot*, and then you can pay for the unlocked version (which also disables ads). That seems like a pretty common model, it doesn't attempt to dictate whether I should play in shorter or longer sessions, at what time of day, etc. Again, I have nothing against the Heroes Call model if it works for other people. I just think, though, that most people will be frustrated at being told when to play, for how long, etc. People have very different circumstances and they like their autonomy.
Amazed that I was able to play three quests last night (one for the Warrior and two for the Wizard) without a crash. Especially surprised because the Warrior one was quite long. I actually found it's a nice idea to buy the Wizard ahead of time and go back and forth between the two to see the contrasts and also eliminate some of the wait time. Really liking the Wizard, but at least so far he seems a bit overpowered. I blew through the first two levels without any sense of challenge at all (granted the were the first two levels, but still). His ranged attacks make it much easier to take out enemies before they can really do much damage to you. Anxious to see how things play out.
I fully agree with you on this! I guess having a game looking and playing like Heroes Call does, makes comparisons with Diablo and its clones simply inevitable and automatically arouses certain expectations, and when these expectations are not satisfied, this leads to disappointment. I see your point and agree on this, too. However, if you develop a game that plays exactly like Diablo, and simply cuts off 98% of Diablo's playing time by saying "This game ends after 30 quests. Don't play any further.", you really should have a bit more diversity and content. For example, give me randomly created dungeons (instead of permanently reusing them with even the barrel positions being the same). Or some secrets to discover (for example secret rooms). Or any surprising events or twists during gameplay. Or a reasonably presented story. Or at least some Game Center achievements. Also the more dangerous an enemy is (unfortunately none of the enemies is really dangerous, because the game is way too easy), the better loot should be dropped. Fighting and defeating a boss, only to be rewarded with something like 47 gold and absolutely no equipment or gems, is absolutely killing motivation. This is simply bad design. Please note that all this is absolutely nothing new or original, but has been done thousands of times before in other games in the recent 20 years, may they be Diablo type games or not, so I guess it is not unreasonable to expect at least some of this in a title freshly published in 2012. The goal of the game is to make money for the developers. Period. Of course, absolutely nothing wrong with this! Saying anything about the developers' intent is 100% speculation and if it were actually that important to them that you play their game in brief intervals, they simply would have forbidden anything else - instead of letting you pay for it. Playing as a wizard is ridiculously easy, so I really don't see any noticeable kind of "strategy" here: Tap on your enemies to kill them, just like before. Switching from close attack (knight) to ranged attack (wizard) makes things even easier as when playing as knight, but - at least to me - is not a big change in experience or gameplay. Obviously it's a matter of personal taste if you consider the new elements to be enough to justify playing the game again or not. I don't think this is worth about $2 or 10 to 15 hours time of tediously farming 65 gems. Of course, YMMV ... As already said, I finished the game twice, so I certainly must have had some kind of fun playing Heroes Call. I also do not regret having spent some cash on gems. But it's really a shame that such nice graphics and very good controls are wasted to such shallow, generic content and such a dubious economic model, which feels close to insulting my intelligence.
Finally Hello all! OK, today, I finally answered the call as a wizard, completed all 30 quests, and am a hero (again). Will I play this game again as the Shadow Assassin or the other character? Absolutely. Some people have posted that the quests are exactly the same, and I do not see how this is true. On my iPad, there are clearly quests that are geared specifically for the warrior, while there are other quests designated solely for the wizard. As an example, there were three quests for the warrior that contained one room only (used for farming purposes), while for the wizard, there were only two such areas. Also, there were quite a few enemies. In fact, there were over 100 different types of enemies, if you classify troll archers and troll warriors as different enemy types. For the $2.99 I spent (to unlock the wizard character), I gained two weeks of enjoyable gameplay. There are not many games that give me such bang for the buck. Compare this to a game such as Temple Run Brave, released yesterday, which charges you a dollar FOR THE SAME EXACT GAME with a new skin and one goofy archery addition than you can get FOR FREE by playing Temple Run. Now, while the pros of this game far outweigh the cons, here are three suggestions I have for the developers for future upgrades to this game. 1. Fix the Crashes. Fortunately, the game crashed for me only once, and never as a wizard. However, for others, this happened more frequently. One feeling that players do not want to have is that the time they spend on a quest is time wasted because of a crash. So, if I were the lead developer, this would be my first action item. 2. Amp the Difficulty. Between the warrior and wizard, I never died. Not once in 60 quests. In fact, I have no idea as to what happens when a character dies. I've heard people say that they have to spend gems to resurrect their characters, but I have no clue as to the veracity of this statement. Also, I am, by no means, an expert in this type of game. So, I should have died a few times at least. More accurately, I should have died many, many times. However, after you understand the logic behind completing a quest, you simply use that logic again and again, and succeed 100% of the time. For example, if you retreat from an enemy group, your health replenishes; however, your enemies' health remains the same. Also, some of the more challenging creatures (giant trolls) were far too easy to defeat. As a wizard, with superior ranged attacks, the game is even easier. So, as a lead developer, this would be my next action item. Here is how I would do it. Each quest corresponds to a particular level. I would have the level of the monsters range from three levels below to three levels above. So, if you are on a level-10 quest, you will encounter monsters ranging from level 7 through level 13. This will ensure that you will be challenged as you proceed from quest to quest. In addition, the final boss should be the most difficult to defeat. So, for this boss, I would make the level be that of level 20-25. 3. Reduce the Wait Times. I had no problem with the long wait times between quests. However, other do, and I do see their perspectives. I don't think people are going to spend money just to hasten the completion of the game. On the other hand, people WILL spend money to unlock other characters. So, my next action item would be to set a max of two hours as the limit between quests. I would keep the warrior character as a character to play for FREE, and keep the 65-gem fee to play each of the other three characters. This will result in a good revenue stream for you, while, at the same time, appeasing those who are not fans of the long wait times. Congratulations on releasing such a fantastic game! I am looking forward to when the next characters are made available so I can, once again, answer the call to be a hero. Frisbee10461
^^ I'd agree with most of what you mention above. I did die a fair amount at first before I realized how easy it was to just run away from the enemies and not realizing that you regain health automatically. The biggest issue is, in fact, the crashes. The difficulty could and should gradually increase. I actually found later levels are easier than they were at first (guess that's partly because of learning the play style it takes to avoid death). And I do think they'd end up making more money in the long run by eliminating the wait times because more people would be encouraged to buy additional characters. I think more people just get angry and stop playing all together with the wait-times and IAP requirement to avoid them.
100%ed out the warrior, am level 6 ofthe wizard. Completely different strategies... whomever said that the 2 are similar styles was completely wrong.... ranging goblins from a distance is much different than going in, great sword a flayling. Gotta walk so much slower than just running around like the warrior Suggestions: The boss at the 2nd last level end was extremely disappointing, as I took him out much much faster than I would a gold skeleton boss. Very disappointing. I swear, I dropped it in 4/5/6 swings, non frenzied. Granted, I have a nice eq setup, but still, for a "final boss" Gotta make those harder. Rarely do I say "that's it??" from a "final" boss, but when I do (and I haven't used a cheat code or a god mode) I am quite disappointed. I don't know if this is a glitch, but my gold, scrolls, and gems from the warrior, carried on to the wizard. So, rather than grinding it out with the wizzie, it's easy sailing because I have little to no financial constraints. And even if I did, I could just jump to the warrior, make a few dozen grand in 5-10 minutes, and jump back to the warrior. Dunno if this is a bug, but if its not, it seems a bit overpowered to use my 80+ identify scrolls and 50k gold on a different character. Luckily, I have only crashed 3 times (knock on wood) but from what I read from others, yes yes yes, please fix those asap. As for the wait times, I have found a solution: sleep or go out. In other words, wake up, get ready for work, play a level, earn the 8 hour wait, go to work, come home, play another level. If you don't work, insert sleep, go out, engage in cloitis or spend quality time with your loved one/family. Great game, I enjoy it alot. Thanks for those who helped me out (Frisbee) and keep up the good work, Defiant... get those new characters out there soon soon soon
Yeah totally agree with that, apart from the fairly constant crashes it was the wait times and the IAP that just pissed me off and finally made me delete this. All these people saying get your 10mins of play time and go and do something else are missing the the point of immersive game play, I'll play a puzzle game not an arpg for that kind of thing. But I'd happily pay a one off cost to get rid of the wait times
Update is out. Mentions a "hot fix" for iPod Touch 4G. This concerns me as I hope it fixes the crashes on my 3GS. Also says gameplay balances and 4 new missions. Will be interested to see how much more "balanced" it is and hope that also doesn't mean tweaks to their IAPs to favor the need to buy more.... Will report back when I get a chance to play it.
First reaction to the update: Health potions dropping a bit more frequent, maybe. Reporting at the end of quests reduced. Why? For some reason I don't know how much gold I picked up? I'm swamped with identify scrolls. Feature totally broken. Stuff in the store still far better than the crap you pick up. Still grinding, still having fun.
How can i sync the save game between my ipad n itouch? On my ipad, im level 5, but on my itouch, still level 1. I want to buy the wizard, but i want it to be available on my both devices. Otherwise, can someone tell me which device run the game better, ipad1 or itouch 4
