Man, I wish they would at least do a few things that changes your character appearance. Even of you remove the shield your character will still be wielding one. They could at least add new stances and animations for different weapon classes (one handed sword, two,handed sword, etc). Right now it feels cheap, even though some things are well done. And don't get me started on the story presentation. Terrible. Of course not. That would defeat the purpose of the IAP, because the nuties that spend $100+ on IAP would pay the $10 to unlock the game instead.
Played a bit of it this morning here's a short quick review after playing for a while. Graphics - The graphics in this game are very nice I cannot complain here. The dungeon's are well designed the games visuals look amazing and nicely detailed for a small iPhone screen. Although I do wish sometimes when breaking barrels if there are more than one in an area you're character would just smash them all rather than one at a time. Same goes for those little urns/pots why can't those be destroyed? Who knows. Animations - Not for nothing but when it comes to you're character swinging his sword/weapon or enemies maging you with spells everything looks and seems very repetitive. It doesn't seem fluent and realistic which is I guess is something I like and that I was hoping for in a game like this. Controls - The controls in this game can take a bit of getting used to. At first I tried to play this game with both hands but found that takes up too much screen space and did not work out too well. I in fact had to change it so I held my iPhone in one hand and used the other to touch/control the game & characters actions. Still while the controls aren't bad they aren't exactly great either in my opinion. I think other control options such as a joystick & buttons would be nice for players who like those type of controls but they wouldn't exactly be necessary. Also with this alternate control style you would be able to see much more of the screen and not have your finger constantly blocking it. Armour/Weapons - The game seems like it has a wide variety of armour and weapons, I've been getting some from playing the first few quests but it's not much fun to apply new armour and not see any visual graphic difference (Besides your character dealing more damage or taking less damage). This is going to sound harsh but some times harsh criticism is needed. But I feel doing that was in my opinion again taking a cheap way out of developing/coding/designing (Whatever you want to call it) new graphics for armour & weapons in the game. Experience & Leveling Up - Probably the most tedious part of the game for now at least. I've played three dungeons/quests so far whatever you wish to call them and am waiting to start the fourth one. And for the amount of goblins/skeletons/spiders I've killed so far in the game, I feel that I should have been awarded a bit more experience. Mini Map - I think this is in a bad position and is kind of in a "dark" area so to speak I mean come on it's right there in the very corner of the screen can hardly be seen. I think this should be made a bit bigger and should be designed a little different so it stands out more, there should also be an option to toggle it on or off at any time from within the game. IAP - Sure I'll say it this game is BAD when it comes to the IAP's. I mean you will be paying for EVERYTHING. Gems you have to buy them yup and if you want to think about buying Gold in the game get ready to pay for those as well, with Gems. Then there's Scrolls and you'll have to pay for those too with what you might ask? You guessed it, Gems as well. There's no option (Not to my knowledge) to hurry along your Item Identifying process with gold just Scrolls. Verdict - Will I play this game? Sure I'll play it on and off when I'm bored or need to kill time. Will I pay for this game? You bet your ass I certainly will NOT. This game is in my opinion nothing but a money sink that's it.
I agree with some of your criticisms, but so far, I've finished quest four and don't find the IAPs bad at all. I haven't felt the need or desire to get IAPs except if you want to get around waiting periods...or you use too many gems for resurrecting. But, you definately don't need to pay for "EVERYTHING". Gems can actually be found in-game. I've found about 10 so far in the four levels I've played. If you need to or want to resurrect, for instance, it takes 3 gems. Scrolls? No need to pay for them. I've also found at least one per level. And you only need them to identify items (many of which already display that you either can't use them for your class or you aren't experienced enough so I save them up until I need them). I've had a decent amount of gold from gameplay and have bought upgrades to armor, etc. (Yes, it would be nice if your character changed to match your equipment). Anyway, all this may change the further into gameplay I get and as the difficulty increases. But I think it's an overexaggeration to say you have to pay for IAPs for everything. That's just not true. Not saying I agree with the freemium system here. Just saying that the only thing that's really bothered me about it is the wait times, which have been discussed at length here. This is far from a money sink like many freemium "social" games are. EDIT: Oh, did one to throw in one minor criticism that doesn't relate to the business model. It would be nice if the store, like in other games, displayed a comparision between what you have equipped and what you can buy.
i'm not too sure about that. I wasn't as much discouraged about the in app purchases, as I was about the price structure of the in app purchases. When I first saw them, my first reaction was that they were far too high. Unlike, say Gameloft games, these games cost far too much. if I remember correctly, the lowest price tier was three dollars for 80 gems! Gameloft's pricing structure in Order and Chaos (for example) is so cheap that I sometimes impulsively and compulsively buy without even thinking about it. What's crazy, is Gameloft will charge you for the monthly fee as well as for coins in the game, but the cost is so low when considering what you get, that you nevermind paying the fee. Heroes Call, on the other hand, is the opposite. As soon as I clicked on the second playable character there was a fee. As soon as I started the game and noticed that I needed gems, there's another fee. And the gems that you get cost far too much for the real world cash they ask for. I paid three bucks for 80 gems and decided that if this isn't enough, I'm going to have a negative first impression. instead of giving the consumer various class types and play styles to suck you in, They stick you in the role of a knight and charge you real worl cash to find your feel of the game. Heaven forbid if I'm a long-range sorcerer type player traditionally in these types of games. I would be screwed, and immediately by turned off without incentive to continue the experience or, as the developer would rather me do, pay to continue the experience. That's not necessarily a smart business model. however, in response to what you said about it being a silly idea to make two different games, I disagree. for starters, app store prices over five dollars tend to scare off the casual market. when square-enix prices their final fantasy games at premium prices of $10 and more, they already know that they are guaranteeing the hard-core market come to play these games. they rarely have sales, because they don't need them. Offering an alt version of Heroes Call, completely unlocked, at 10 or $15 bucks automatically pushes away the casuals. As evidenced by some responses here, premium buyers are Unlikely to support a freemium model anyway. However, what it will do is guarantee a certain market will come and buy the game ensuring it certain calculable revenue. now Joe casual, who was never going to buy a 10 or $15 game, will immediately go to the free game because it's free. Provided that Heroes Call IAP wasn't insanely priced, those casual fans would continue playing the game and continue supporting those in app purchases. Again, it's a balance of enjoing the game, very cheap in-app purchase incentives, and low-cost/no-cost entry. What bugs me, is who exactly the developer is expecting to continue to support this game? Heroes Call is essentially a hard-core Diablo for the iOS devices, however the verbage and implementation is as if to court the Farmville crowd. this is very wacky logic to me. there is absolutely nothing about this game that courts the angry birds or farmville crowd, whether it be in design or gameplay or tone. however, that is exactly who it seems the developers are counting on to continue supporting the stream. Or, at least that type of mentality. And if you look at Diablo and those games, that gamer has NEVER done that. in fact, isn't the obsessive compulsion about Diablo the rare loot finds? isn't farming for rare items or money or item trading the thing that makes the crowd for this type of game actually compulsively spend real-world cash? the idea that this developer thought that the crowd would pay to speed up wait times between games, and pay for gems to purchase more items in the game, seems to be a miscalculation about who exactly is wanting this game. this is why ultimately, I think that a two-type game structure would work. I will certainly pay $10-$15 for it completely unlocked game with zero cool downs. Hell, i would totally put my money into some type of online structure, where it finds tons of players with items and they've crafted or items that they found that we can trade or even Buy. that's how you get more money out the hard-core gamer who has already paid $10-$15. difficult dungeons with high item drops, that require rare weapons or advanced weapons to get through would be exactly what the doctor ordered. conversely, a free game with very cheap costs would do the same thing for so-called casual gamers. what they have now, unfortunately, is the worst of all situations.
1. It makes absolutely no difference how it was designed, or what the designer or publisher were thinking. All that matters to me is the actual experience I have when playing the game. 2. I don't really have time to play all of the interesting games that come out, not even a small fraction of them. So it's not a problem to me to play for less time, it's an advantage. I also pay more for smaller packs of chips.
In-Abullshit! Really guys, I would purchase your game but I'll never go your heavilly forced IAP-route! Plus I have lost all(!) of my items/armour as I leveled up to 4!? imagine this happens with real money purchased items and you can see whats wrong there. Now I really don't mind to pay some cash for a working game that keeps me busy but the balance of your IAP items is horrible. Everything costs a huge amount of real money and I don't mind waiting time, imagine. Its the items and therefore the second character which are a total ripoff! Sorry guys one star - square one for you! Oh, and talking about Square: I bought Chaos Rings II (16€) in a heartbeat and enjoyed it a lot. It was polished and a "real" game. That's what we need: real games, not halfbaked IAP-festivals. Let the gamers choose at least! Fullprice unlocked items, characters and stuff or IAP F2P for those poor fellas, that are willing to spend a fortune for stuff that should be included in a real game....
That's not quite right. They might be designed to maximize revenue from all players, but that's not the same as maximizing revenue from me personally. The designs intentionally allowed some people to play much longer on a quarter than others, because those people served as an example to other customers, especially when the games are played in a public, social environment. The analogy is strong here. Maximizing revenue in the freemium/IAP world doesn't mean maximizing revenue from me personally. (Although they might do well to think about it, because I'd gladly pay $1000 for the right game, if it existed.)
Actually, it is you who is incorrect, my friend . As Miyamoto himself has stated, the design goal during the arcade era was to maximize revenue from everyone, period. Those "arcade wizards" who could play for hours on one quarter were the biggest "chumps" of all, since they couldn't get there without spending a boatload of quarters practicing -- I know because I was one of them. The design challenge was to make the gameplay fun enough to keep people from noticing the nature of system. By the time folks got good enough to play for a whole day with one quarter, publishers would bring in a new game or a sequel, which arcade owners would buy to maximize their revenue.
It's funny. It seems like people are playing different games. I hadn't even looked at the pricing structure because I haven't HAD to. I've been playing it and enjoying for exactly the price of zilch so far. Also haven't lost any armor/weapon upgrades. Don't like freemium games with IAPs in general, but at least so far this hasn't been bad. I'm just dealing with the wait times, which are annoying but not gamebreaking. To each their own, I guess.
Perfect lead-in to my experience with Heroes Call: I deleted it mainly out of boredom, before I even reached the IAP/tolerance boundary. My reasons: - Boring combat. Maybe it was the lack of classes or slow attacks, but it never felt fun. Archers being able to hit you through walls didn't help. - Landscapes. Not nearly enough variety. Watch the trailer, and then go watch something from Diablo (I/II, let alone III) or Torchlight. You never seem to leave the dungeons. - Barrels. I found myself spending more time smashing barrels than monsters, hoping for a spare gem or identify scroll. - Waiting. Yes I know this is a typical freemium mechanic, but there's nothing that says "stop playing me" like having to wait for a new mission or item.
"It seems like people are playing different games. I hadn't even looked at the pricing structure because I haven't HAD to. I've been playing it and enjoying for exactly the price of zilch so far." Well probably you haven't been at the point to try out the second character I guess ....
Boredom is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Personally I never actually call anything "boring"; I just say that it bores me. In any event, I find the speed of the combat perfect for tactical targeting of enemies, which becomes a big deal when you start dealing with magic users and web-flinging spiders. As you begin to add skills like shield bash (which stun opponents), the combat gets even more tactical. Haven't seen arrows going through walls, though I have seen archers use different elevations to get tactical advantage. On the environments, level 5 takes place in a sewer system and looks different (and kind of amazing with running water, grates, etc. Torchlight, BTW, takes place almost entirely inside a mine.
I was wondering if anyone's having trouble on their iTouch 4th gen, I'm finding this unplayable because it keeps crashing all the time. Can't say I have problems with any other games and it's a shame I was actually enjoying it.
Well, you can post supporting links if you want. I just don't think it's true. Some people are just much better at some games than others, there are lots of games that I could play for very long time while spending little money, while others didn't particularly match my skills. So I was better at some games than others, but I never spent vast amounts of money to get there. I think the distribution of who spent how much money on videogames was quite heavily skewed, just as the distribution of who spends how much money on freemium games today is heavily skewed, although in different ways. But in both cases (and I certainly know the modern industry very well) the goal isn't to extract maximum revenue from each individual player, it's to extract maximum revenue from the community as a whole. If the videogame companies didn't fully understand that back in the 1980s, it's not because it wasn't true then, it's just because they were less sophisticated.
I dont know about you guys, but i find the game enjoyable. The freemium-ism is a bit of a letdown as i'd gladly pay for a fullgame, but so far I havent reached a paywall. Everytime I finish a mission, I redo it to get more gold before the next mission becomes available. Too bad there isnt EXP to earn during the mission replays, but the bit of gold helps me keep my equips updated. I have to admit though, gold is kinda thin. But I still havent had difficulty, and it's all been good times for me so far.
Good to hear that squarezero and I aren't the only ones. Was getting lonely here saying I was actually enjoying it. Haven't replayed any of them yet, but don't think they're random. One thing I DO like about this game compared to others that have attempted a Diablo-type game on the iOS (like Dungeon Hunter) is that the levels have at least some element of exploration to them. It's not just a straight path. I was playing Torchlight just a few days ago and it's a good game, but was thinking that it would be nice if there was a little more variety in its environments.
