I've always thought that tapping once is enough to harness that Kai power. Tapping earlier nets you more, but because it happens so fast I *think* I see the symbol disappearing right after I tap it (once), meaning further taps don't get you anything...? Yes, I would like to know if the extra loot is worth the extra pain. Lol. And I think it'd be rewarding if Kai disciplines can be levelled up similar to weapon attacks and Sommerswerd attacks. Perhaps less Kai energy usage, or faster cooldown? Or some improvement to the actual discipline itself. Though I see the potential here, I think the combat would become a bit too complex with this, especially for new players. Yeah, played one build where I had pretty low endurance at first which was a bit frustrating. Had to make lots of dexterity-related choices in the story to improve it. Speaking of which, when I use a Kai discipline instead of choosing either a Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence-based option in the story, would I be missing out on some addition of skill points that are allocated at the end of each chapter (i.e. 'levelling up')? Or do they go into Intelligence...?
The TA review was updated for the Act 2: http://toucharcade.com/2014/04/18/joe-devers-lone-wolf-review/ I'd like to discuss with you about the review of the Act 2 and invite Shaun to this thread. What do you think about the Act 2? Are your thoughts in line with the review?
I generally have to concur with the review. My one area of disagreement is that I dont think the new direction is "hokey" or "uninteresting." I found the overall story to be compelling, emerging, and frankly a lot of fun. However, the main issues with this game, as compared to other gamebooks, are the following: 1. No real emphasis on choices that affect the storyline. This is clearly and obviously the most linear high production value gamebook on the market. The choices you make, that actually affect the storyline, are few and far between. There was like 1 or 2 in the first act, and a similar number in the second. In the second act, I think there are some locations that you might miss out on if you make a different choice here or there, but I'm fairly certain is doesn't change the overall trajectory of the storyline. Choices have more to do with affecting the abilities of your character, rather than affecting the story. I dont personally think this is a big deal, as I sorta enjoy the combat (I think i've said enough on that previously). Also, due to the graphic intensity of the game, I guess it would be hard to introduce meaningful storyline choices, but perhaps not. Choices need to have more than just an impact on character stats and affecting enemies in the next battle. Gamebooks are replayable primarily because of all the different storylines one can go through. The only reason to replay Lone Wolf is to try different character customizations, which certainly has a level of replayability, its not the same as trying to find a second or third real ending. 2. Quick moment on combat. The reviewer basically said that combat was rinse and repeat: find the optimum solution for your character, and do it over and over. I tend to agree that this is a fair criticism, though admittedly a criticism that can go for almost every rpg out there. The only part about the combat I think should really be changed is the helplessness one feels when attacked by the opponent several times and you just take the hits. Even the reviewer remarked (i think in the act 1 section), that it makes no sense that you are Lone Wolf, some super powerful warrior, and yet, you can get yer ass handed to you by some small grunt enemies simply because you dont know how to step out of the way of a damn sword. Also, the end boss fights have a feeling of being extremely cheap. Final boss of level 2 got me down to pixels of life before I could even more. Since I made a character building life and dexterity, I was able to survive and heal to full health....but if you had a build that had just a little less life, you could easily die before you could do anything. That's just not right....difficulty in battles should perhaps come from surprising QTE that can throw you off guard, or other tests of skill and intelligence...not from insta-kill before one can attack. I really think to make the battle more interesting you need to include more randomized QTE events that throw us out of the fairly static combat. Every battle is the same, the question is how many enemies will you have to fight, and do you have a strategy that can maximize dexterity so that you arent super tired when the 4th or 5th enemy appears. Regardless, I have thoroughly enjoyed the storyline, and even the combat started to grow on my the second run through. However, combat was only enjoyable once I figured out the min/max method for this game so that combat with pleasant and easily defeatable, rather than having to repeat the same battles over and over and over again, which was really really frustrating. Good luck on the next act! If you have any specific questions I'll be glad to give input.
Thanks for the very detailed feedback. Do you think that it's fair to compare Lone Wolf with the other classic gamebooks? Those are old stories, republished in a digital form and with the classic combat system adapted for touch based devices (rolls dices with a swipe, for example). Sorcery! is a bit different, though, and tried to innovate, adding contents and new gameplay mechanics. And that's what we're trying to do as well: renew the classic gamebook experience, adding a lot more value in term of immersion, combat, graphics, style. So, there are many gamebook style apps out there but I don't think that all of them are the same, so it's a bit tricky to directly compare them. That's the point: back in the days writing a gamebook was a way to tell a story with (almost) no boundaries and you could add everything you wanted. Let's take for example the Book 2 of the original Lone Wolf series, Fire on the Water (we're reading it with the community on the Facebook page of the game, publishing a section every day): the first part was set in the capital of the reign, Holmgard, the second sailing on a big ship, then again on the coast, approaching the kingdom of Durenor. So, in that case, many different locations and places. Developing our game we can't use the same approach, as the battle locations have to be consistent with the story and working on a new 3D environment can impact the whole production cycle, both in term of timing and investment. That's why the writing process and the game development are directly tied together and also choices must be tuned and adapted to what we can and what we can't do. So, the emphasis of the story is indeed on choices and they can impact battles and alter the flow of the events. Major focus is also on characters. Leandra has a big role in the Act 2 and new characters will be added in the Act 3, adding a new layer of storytelling.[/QUOTE] And here's the second point: every combat system has its strengths and flaws and we're trying to develop a deep system, with a lot to do and a nice layer of strategy. We're aware that it's far from perfect and we're constantly improving it, adding contents that also impact the previous Acts. In the Act 3 we will introduce the defensive stance for dual wielding characters, so you're going to defend yourself even without a shield. Dodge move will be triggered more easily but you will damage your weapon blocking an enemy attack in that way. Again, the combat system of the game can't be compared to the classic dices based ones that can be found in other gamebooks of the past, and from this perspective, Lone Wolf can be considered a true RPG, don't you think?
I agree completely that Lone Wolf and other gamebooks should not be directly compared (ie, multiple endings, numerous non- linear choices, etc). However, one must take into account that Lone Wolf is going into a particular niche market that has certain expectations. Rewrites or no (and many of the gamebooks from tinman are all new and original content), most gamebooks have wild branching stories that encourage repeat playthroughs. While their combat is often more a placeholder than anything, it still is usually an interesting distraction from the plot. Is this type of expectation fair? I would say no, because after sinking a good 15 hours into act 1/2, I can see the underlying perspective/ purpose and I appreciate this game for making its own distinct mark. Unfortunately, many reviewers and much of the...shall we say less patient people (yea i can b a hothead too), dont want to give a game the time it needs to b fully developed. So if someone starts lone wolf, gets his ass beat in the first 2 fights, gets frustrated and spreads the frustration elsewhere (ie bad reviews, comments, etc), one can sorta understand where that perspective is coming from too. So perhaps, what is really missing here is a better tutorial and a nicer learning curve at the start? I personally had no problems figuring the game out, though i was fascinated by the immersion and wanted to see the extent of the storyline, so i had alot of patience. I paid $5 for the original game and $10 site unseen for the rest of the chapters and especially after act 2 i have zero regrets. Fantastic game, fun combat once u get the hang of it (with its rough edges, but whatev), and an overall mystical ambience. I do hope it does well and hopefully this rambling of words made sense. Also: defining a true RPG is tricky, but if intriguing combat, a functional and cool upgradable loot system, and several mildly branching pathways, combined with character progression that allows for a bit of diversity, then yes in every sense lone wolf is a fantastic rpg. Really looking forward to act 3!
That's an interesting topic: others feel that the game would require a better tutorial? We tried to add a not so intrusive but also present and supportive tutorial. Consider that a step-by-step one would be hard to implement, so we opted for the series of info panels that you can find in the game.
I think its perfect the way it is, I don't know what else to say. I mean its a 5 star experience in my opinion. Especially in a dark room with headphones on.
I also agree that changing the tutorial mat be more if a headache than its worth, but especially once all 4 acts are released, a nice learning curve in the beginning may help out with positive feelings. Also, the boss difficulty should be looked at. I did play through the first act again after the recent update, and i didnt even notice the wnd boss being difficult like it was the first time around. However, the second boss i would still classify as cheap, even as i admittedly beat him the first time on medium difficulty bc my character is so broken.
For those who wonder what is the Gift for Season Pass : Spoiler you actually receive a huge bag where you can put 20 of your items . Really usefull when you reach a certain point in the game and struggle after every fight to chose what item you'll have to throw away, sadly.
Yes! You only have to update the game. Its our way to say Thank You! for your support and dedication. Talking about that, the new update also includes iCloud support and the backup and restore buttons are in the lower right section of the saves menu. We also fixed some small bugs and improved the memory usage of the game, so it should be more stable and smooth, especially on low-spec devices.
Were thrilled to announce that Joe Dever's Lone Wolf has been named as a Develop award finalist in the Use of a Licence or IP category! Winners will be announced on July 9th and we will compete with many important games like Metro: Last Light, Disney Infinity: Pirates of the Caribbean and... Peppa Pig! http://www.develop-online.net/news/develop-awards-2014-the-finalists-revealed/0192226#licence
Hello everyone! I'm a newbie here. As a fan of this wonderful game, I can't keep silence any longer. Please forgive my bad and poor English. I thought so, too. Tapping the wolf head once is enough. The amount of Kai you get seems to depend on your Kai power. For example, I remember when my Intelligence is 18 and Kai power is 1650, executing a Giak or Drakkarim get me 900 Kai. A few chapters back, when both of them are lower, I can only get 700. That's an excellent idea. It would be great if all skills can be mastered and all items can be upgraded. I mean Kai Disciplines, shield/dual-wielding (using 2 weapons)/knife throwing/crossbow skills and rings/necklaces. Right now they are all excluded, which is strange. Blocking while dual-wielding is a good addition, too. This game has so much potential. The cooldown time for Kai Disciplines is so long that you can only use each of them once per battle.
Yes, tapping once is enough. The amount of Kai Power that you get is tied to your Intelligence. We're looking into that but it would be hard to implement such a feature now and balance everything accordingly.
A little surprise, just before the E3: prepare for Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Act 3! The Shianti Halls is coming this summer on iOS and Android.
I was really looking forward to this game. And then it arrived, I bought the season pass, and found that the combat and shop mechanics come very near to ruining it. After struggling to get through the 1st act, I finally did, at which point I put it away out of frustration. Now I finally got around to playing the second act. And it looks like the developer has done little to address the flaws in combat or the frustrating mechanics like item durability and the relatively scarce access to shops. Seriously, how hard would it be for the developer to just add an option that automatically pauses combat whenever you have a menu open? As it stands now, what happens all the time is I open the melee menu, see that I don't have enough endurance to use any of the moves (or they are all on cool down) and now I have to rush to try and use a Kai skill or something. Even worse is when I pick a skill and the enemy attacks before I can press the button, which then makes me go through the whole menu process again. It just plain sucks, and it doesn't have to - let me have an option to stop time while it is my turn to choose an action, it seems like that would be simple to implement. Item durability is also a big pain in the butt that does nothing to enhance gameplay, because shops are very few and far between. So if your armor wears down, good luck to you, because chances are you aren't going to get to repair it, and it's not like there are multiple armors available (there's enough weapon drops that you can kinda skirt around weapon durability). The other really frustrating thing is that the player doesn't get to pick how stat points are allocated, they just happen as a result of plot choices. Which forces the player to choose on the basis of how they want the character to develop, not how they wish to advance the storyline. And that's especially unfortunate given how a characters HP pool is tied to there strength - if you aren't picking enough strength choices at story decision points (or getting very lucky with item drops), you probably won't have enough HP to avoid getting 1-rounded on the next boss fight you encounter. Bottom line is - I really want to love this game, but the combat, advancement, and item mechanics are just killing it for me. I sincerely hope the developer is doing something about these issues. The rest of the game (good story, beautiful art and music, very immersive feel) is done a huge disservice by the "punish the player" choices of the combat engine and advancement mechanics.
