Exactly my experience so far. I instabought and don't regret it, but so far I'm a little concerned for the same reasons as above.
As a personal recommendation, give easy mode a try. I think that feels like "normal" to me. By playing really carefully I was able to get almost to the 4th world and got around 6 items. I still feel like item progress could be sped up but on easy it's way more forgiving. I eventually was defeated by the "bell enemies" - they have a 50% chance of spawning another bell snag and bell snags don't allow you to discard, so I had to keep fighting over and over until I had no health left (my tile hand was just filled with enemies before I hit the end). The attack mechanic is the sneakiest and most brutal thing in the game - since you lose attack every time you fight you can't keep fighting without placing more tiles to get your attack values back. Odds are definitely stacked against you. Easy run netted me 1086 score with 372 turns taken. That was a fun but brutal 40 minutes And some of the music is decent while others are just beautiful. Feels very dreamy. A tip I noticed is that you SHOULD attempt to summon the Nemesis / discard tiles. You need those experience points and waiting till you beat the level generally won't cut it. It's extremely dangerous to keep him that close but if you don't, the enemies will start beating on you really hard late game. Which comes full circle to my point about scarcity of item upgrades. I was only able to get that far because I got some really good skills from exp leveling so you definitely new items fast. Though it's sad I played for that long and didn't get a single item with a special ability - that should be tweaked because I wouldn't want to survive for an hour+ just to get my 1st item with a special ability. Edit: Btw, best ability I came across was "receive 1 defense point for every attack tile placed." Sounds pretty amazing right? Well it was the only thing keeping me alive :S If you guys see that skill get that one first! ..Unless you see something better.
How do you discard tiles? A couple screens in-game mention effects that occur when you discard tiles. I suppose there are other tiles that allow you to discard those? What an excellent surprise.
In the upper left of the screen you'll see a grey x button, hit it and then decide which tiles you want to toss out. Every tile you tossed in a round brimgs Nemesis closer. The biggest exceptions to this rule is Special Snags can't be discarded and a number of Specials also will interfere with your discarding in general. While you are normally free to toss Normal Snags, each one tossed will grant experience to the Nemesis (still no clue what the level of the Nemesis effects).
I believe it affects how many experience droplets it will consume while pursuing you after each death.
There's so much to this game that I keep the tutorial on to remind me of some of the rules while I get used to the game!!! #
I got 1387 on normal on my second game. I suppose as we're still trying to wrap our head around the mechanics, there will be these imbalances of sorts. What helped me out was a perk for gaining 1 shield every turn my attack was higher than the shields. The Nemesis dynamics aren't yet clear to me, but I think they don't quite work like you said LordGek. I believe I died once and the Nemesis consumed tiles until (something) happened and I got half my health back, but it did not land next to me by any means. It might be related to his experience and/or the amount of yellow droplets it consumes. I still don't really know what the Nemesis experience means, though, and what impact it has on you. Do you think we'll end up fighting it? I've found some difficulty special enemies so far, sadism is over of them, and what killed me was the "distant bells" or "alarm bells", I can't quite remember. They're fun in their own way, I'm actually curious about unlocking more. I suspect that it'll just enlarge the pool of available special enemy tiles, rather than influence their frequency, for game balance purposes, L. Lawliet. So give it a go! Also, when you clear a level you get new tiles, so you don't need to force yourself to kill all the enemies. I also try to have enough attack and shields at all times before starting a fight in order to kill the enemies in one go. Only when I'm out of discards and tiles do I end up going for longer, more costly battles. So far it's been fun - looking forward to hearing more impressions from everyone!
As someone who has been attacked quite a bit by the Nemesis, it does consume tiles when you run out of health. It also replenishes some of my health when that happens. I think the number means it consumes that many teardrops (experience) before it stops and levels up again? So the higher the level, the more likely it will catch up to you and end the game. It seems a number of different things can cause the Nemesis to chase you. So while it does help you get experience faster if you do something to get the Nemesis to move, I think it's very risky to do it on purpose (and not because you're out of other options). Unless it levels up no matter what? If you make it to the exit flawlessly, without causing the Nemesis to chase you at all, it then picks up all the experience for you. But I can't recall if it levels up from that -- probably not? Otherwise there's little incentive to have a perfect run. Edit: Just checked. The Nemesis doesn't gain the experience if you make it to the exit without summoning him. So discarding tiles, losing all your health, or doing anything else to summon him just for your own experience seems like a bad idea, as it makes him more powerful and more likely to kill you.
When you health reduced to 0, the Nemesis will start to eat your tiles until it ate enough yellow droplets = the number on it. If there is not enough droplets on the tiles, you will wake up. I just hope the devs will make a landscape mode, then it will be more playable on ipad air 2.
Started discarding tiles more often in the second world and I think it helped a lot. Makes more sense than risking my health going down to 0.
Use the X in the upper right corner. Only regular Snags. There are perks and events and even snags that might allow you to discard a special snag, but under normal circumstances, you're limited to only basic snags.
It appears to move the same number of tiles as its level. I'm working on a guide here. Still a work in progress, and I'm no pro yet, but hopefully it will help with the confusing bits. http://www.appunwrapper.com/2016/02/23/i-keep-having-this-dream-walkthrough-guide-strategy-tips-and-tricks/
No. As LordGek stated, and as stated it you click the Nemesis, it'll move forward either 1 tile (maybe it increases with its level), or up to the nearest yellow droplet (nearest to the Nemesis, not to you), whatever is furthest.
It says Consumes nearest droplet or 1 tile, but more specifically, Nemesis moves 1tile only when there is no droplets on the board; otherwise Nemesis moves to the nearest droplet, it seems.
Hmm I'm pretty sure it only moved a few tiles when I discarded tiles, not to the next droplet. But I'll do some more testing.
Yeah I think the key is to kill enough and get the nemesis to give you the exp. You have to balance it carefully before you get stuck. Also one of the hardest parts of the game is getting key tiles around the exit. The 3+ ones I spent 10 minuts going around it until I needed the nemesis to clear the board. You have to have the perfect tiles that don't aim into each other. Otherwise if you run out you'll have to summon the Nemesis.
Sorry if unclear earlier, actually I'm even certain some of my assumptions were wrong on Nemesis, but I think I at least get the discarding bit now. The Nemesis will EITHER move 1 space per tile discarded OR until it hits a drop, whichever it hits first. As an added penalty, each regular snag you discard grants him experience. I don't think his experience effects anything with the tile discarding movements but does influence how far he moves when you die from a snag. As far as I can tell, hitting a dead end will always bring him right up to your side regardless of his level. Did I read right that you can make him move just by clicking on him?
