When you look at the box price for these games, the lengthy setup and takedown process and the ease in which you can make an incorrect move or call, and never realize it, and the general requirement , at least for more complex games, of an experienced player for you to learn the various steps, you come to understand how amazing a deal these ports are. Being part of the testing team of Waterdeep, I saw the extent of work from multiple people that went into creating and refining just this game, and it's very clear how that encompasses some of the "best" board games on the App Store (Carcassonne, Eclipse, Elder Sign, Agricola). Combine that with the replay value you get, the polish, the extensive and rock solid multiplayer (primarily with Playdek titles) and the fact that I can carry around many of these games in my pocket and you slowly realize how we are getting so much for so very little. If you, or anyone, is hesitant to look at board games around this price point, it is from how the App Store has failed to price their games fairly. Hell, take limbo as an example. That game, in its exact form, goes for triple the price on its console counterparts. Same with Bastion, Carcassonne, Catan, ticket to ride, KotOR, and ESPECIALLY Xcom, the iOS versions (with a whopping $100 entry fee for development, and no cost patching) can be a world apart. And the prices are extremely fair in comparison. People would have bought xcom for $30, but the developers wanted to hedge their bets and pass the savings onto us in exchange for moving more units, a tactic that clearly worked. Anyway, this was a bit of a rambling mess. Point of the matter is that the pricing of these games vacillates between being too cheap and way too damn cheap. But when you put it up next to, say, a $1 angry birds title, it seems excessively expensive. Our brains have been trained, thanks to apple and developers who are all trying to one-up their competitors, to expect cheap or free. Because we take the bait and jump on cheap priced titles, and end up sinking even MORE into these generic F2P experiences than we would have if we weren't so cheap on the outset, we get that crap in kind. Those same people who have complained games are too expensive are often the same people who sink sometimes hundreds into Clash of Clans, or Candy Crush saga or whatever. We are paying for our cheapness. We should just thank the stars that most board game releases are solid, polished and priced fairly, but we are also at risk of these terrible mechanics slipping into these games, too. It's happened with Dead mans Draw and, to a lesser extent , that Japanese Street board game the full name I can't remember. DMD is the most offensive of the bunch, it launched at a premium price and was chock full of consumable IAP. Most CCGs are the same. Moral of the story is that, for the most part, we get what we pay for. These prices are not only fair, they have to stay this way. For the sake of quality gaming, for the sake of polish, stable online play (for those games it would be fitting for) and the licensing costs, we should be paying 2,3,4x the "average". Lastly, this game is phenomenal. I buy the majority of the board game releases, and often end up not touching them after a short time. loW, however, has the same level of magic I found when I got hooked on Ascension. It's easy to understand, much easier than games such as Stone Age even, and while it relies on a decent amount of luck, it is minimal in comparison to the light strategy element. This is one of those games that I can't wait to get back into playing, even if it's against the computer. It's also brilliant on my iPhone, which I didn't get to beta test on, and I think I'll be playing it much more frequently there. I'll come right out and say it, I believe this is the most accessibly deep board game ever produced on the App Store. Much less complex and unwieldy than Stone Age, Le Harve and the other complex euro style titles, and it's better for it. The entire game is rock solid. The cards are detailed, crisp cn clear and perfect. I can't put it properly into words. The fact that in every new game you get a different lord card which alters the quests you aim for, changes the entire way you play. It's similar to Elder Sign, but because you're playing against others, rather than working in tandem, you won't see the same lords as frequently. I just can't say enough good things about the game.
@andsoitgoes: brilliantly stated, and I echo it completely. Just a wonderful game and stellar implementation.
Not sure about the "rock solid" bit. There are several posts on BGG and Pocket Tactics showing that the easy AI is hard and the hard AI is easy.. Oops!
I don't know what to think about the claim that the difficulties have been reversed. I've never played the physical board game and I won my first game against the easy AI while still clumsily feeling my way around the rules and strategy. I'll try a couple on hard now and see how it goes.
Is this really official or just one of those snowballing "seems like" mentions that, via a game of Internet telephone, becomes "FACT".
Not official as Playdek haven't commented as far as I know but the posts did seem conclusive. I've only played a couple of 2 player games, one versus the easy and one versus the hard. I lost both but to be honest I couldn't detect a lot of difference in the AI behaviour.
It also could be that the Hard AI is taking bigger risks that sometimes don't pay off. Like, for example, in this game I assume the Easy AI doesn't even TRY to hide its mission biases, right? It gets a bonus from Piety and Skullduggery missions, great, let's just go for these missions whenever possible. Whereas perhaps the Hard AI tries to be a bit more mysterious about this, which, if not really focusing one this bias transparently could hurt its score down the road? Just a theory.
Still trying to figure out what's going on here. Played a 4 player game v easy, medium and hard AI with me trying to be neutral. Result - easy won, with medium second and hard third. Very strange.
Are people having trouble sticking to the 30 minute timer in multiplayer? I've had two games where one player timed out early on, and the 2nd player barely has any time left in the final round. My last game he finished with 20 seconds left! But I'm finishing with 20 minutes left.
I am VERY dissapointed by online play for the reason that people are usually frustrated by online play in any multiplayer online game. When players get bored/busy/beaten they leave. Now of course I can't blame people for leaving if responsibility calls, or if they are just losing horribly, but it definitely detracts from the fun. Also, I can't figure out how to play a online game with my friend and a couple AI's. Is there any way to play online unranked games with my friend and some comps? I haven't found a way and it's quite disappointing as we want to play but not deal with other people leaving or going afk and slowing te game down. Also, when playing online and the final opponent left I experienced a game freeze/lock/crash as it infinitely tried to load/reload a game which all other players had left. Restarting my phone, and the app, fixed it. Overall this is a great game. Very fun. Very polished. Very accessible to a new player. It does need a small bit of bug polishing... The ability to play unranked/ai online games with friends... And a bit more thought in how to optimize multiplayer with opponents that time out. Still happy with the purchase. Single player offline is enough fun to justify the cost and get my money's worth. I really do hope they address the issues I mentioned.
This is my first worker placement game and i am lost. Went thru the the tutorials twice and think i have the game sequence and mechanics down, but the AI turns flick by so quick i can not figure out what or how they are getting so much accomplished on one turn. Is there a way to slow up the AI turn or a log you can go back to and see what happened? I do not mind losing but can not learn anything from the loss if i do not know why or how i lost. Any pointers will be appreciated. Btw do not expect to see me online, i know that if you can not beat the AI you will just get slaughtered against a human.
I'm kind of lost myself but not totally lost and hopeless like I was with Eclipse and Le Havre. I agree about the Ai being too fast. I've done all the tutorials now, I don't feel totally lost but I don't feel like I have a complete grasp of the game either.
I'm really enjoying this, I could easily see myself sitting for hours but would love to play multiplayer sometime and helps that I love D&D. Visually it's very nice, crisp card details with some nice sound effects. I'm not very good at this yet but if what's been mentioned of the AIs are true then maybe that's why I keep getting whooped by playing on easy. I'm hoping that they might also be contracted to add in the expansion down the line, interested in seeing how that changes things up.
At least you got whooped on easy. I was trounced in the tutorial... iPadNeedsToBrushUpOnIntrigueToSurviveInWaterdeep...
If you click on the gem icon that shows your score, it'll take you to a single-screen summary of all the players. Then click the scroll icon at the bottom of the screen, and you'll get a turn-by-turn recap of everything that's happened.
I'm far from an expert but have won a few games vs. AI in 2 and 3 player games. My most simplistic tactics, that besides sheer luck of the draw, were to focus as much as possible on mission types my hidden character grants end game vp bonuses to and to use intrigue cards, especially mandatory quests, to slow the opposition down.
There are some buildings that will be used every turn if you build them, making them a valuable investment if you can get them early on. For example, the yawning portal will get used every turn. If you own it then you get 1 cube of your choice every turn for the rest of the game, all for the cost of one action. It's even better if the zoastar building comes out as the AI will double dip on your buildings. There are intrigue cards and quests that allow the same effect too.
