While it is playing fine on my iPad, it won't even startup on my iPod Touch 4G...not sure if this is something strange with me (iOS 5.0 non-jailbroken but filled with hundreds of games) or just a straight RAM issue (how did Apple think a retina display with half the RAM of the iPhone 4 was supposed to work?).
I've been away from the game since soon after the original's release. I thought it was a neat idea, doing something akin to Dungeon Solitaire but giving it a distinctively Cthulhu spin, but was a bit turned off by the frequent crashes and seemingly unfocused design (what was the point of the little Asylum mini-board game?). Now that I come back I see the game has really grown into something clever. The graphics look great on my iPad and I think I much better understand the mechanics (if an investigator or monster can is rated higher in both stats than his opponents the battle is instantly resolved in the statistically higher one's favor but if there isn't such a clear win a roll-off occurs). What I like about this above Dungeon Solitaire is that there are none of those annoying game long stand-offs and how each investigator can be equipped with several different enhancements (weapon, ally, curse, etc.). This new expansion is also too clever. Pair a resource with the right other card in play and you'll create a brand new card (although this new card is evidently only good for the current game)! I guess my only question is how often does one go through the deck multiple times in a single game?
You only draw through the deck once then it's game over if you can make it all the way through the deck..
Finally a more refined, polished and stable version. I loved this game since early days as you can see on previous posts in the old Necronomicon thread here... By the way, finally had my day to become first (at least until now, lol...) in the Gamecenter ranking... Just made it few seconds ago! @Dustin and his team: keep up the good job guys, I'll always continue to support all of your HPL-themed apps!
Necronomicon Redux Update Thanks All for your comments, suggestions, generosity, and help over the past few days. I just wanted to note that a minor update should post to the App Store in the next 24 hours, there were some start-up issues with iDevices running the new 5.0 OS, but that's been fixed now. Anything else comes up you can reach me here, and we'll look into it: [email protected].
Having just recently praised the game, now I need to bring it down a peg or two. Being able to freely shuffle through one's discards seems far too powerful! While it might once in a Blue Moon force something undesirable like a portal opening as you work your way back through the pile, it means practically every encountered resource will meet its appropriate party and no cool items will ever go completely to waste. As it stands I'm usually able to build up at least one super character with great base stats (can insta-kill a lot) and some great combat mods while I simply feed him all baddies I then encounter the rest of the game. In Dungeon Solitaire it never seems as easy to get that far ahead of the curve. I also now have to admit Dungeon Solitaire's tendency to stalemates in battle mean even if I do have a suped up character there will soon enough come a beasty he can't instantly kill which then leaves my hero blocked for the rest of the game (well or until some arrow cards shift our positions around a bit).
Agreed. I've been holding off saying anything because I like the idea of the game but in practice there seems to be very little skill to the game once you understand the mechanics properly. One thing in particular that I find odd is that you are essentially unable get a good (150k+) score if you win the game anywhere but right at the end of the deck leading to a silly juggling act of trying to ensure you've always got spare investigator slot. Actually winning the game is easy but getting a good score seems entirely down to the luck of the draw. Also having one spell casting enabler and multiple spells just seems less than optimum. I do love the basic idea and for a buck it's great.
Does anyone know where I can find a proper tutorial or gameplay video? I read through the one in the game but still didn't really know how to play...for example, if I place a modifier card on the board across from a monster, there's nothing I can do to get rid of it.
maybe this will helps there are 10 classes/types of cards, most important are heroes and monsters, with using them you're filling slots/places. Any placed card can't be taken off. It can be destroyed or removed with using other cards.
Okay thanks...I'll try it again...wasn't too happy when I played it the first time...extremely confusing! WOOHOO...100 posts!
What's funny is that the game feels significantly more challenging post-update. My first game was a draw, which has never happened, and my second went down to the wire (7cards left in the deck...I actually thought I'd hit a soft lock because I won on converting an Avenger card and at first nothing happened, but after picking up and dropping the card a couple of times it finished the game). Maybe it was just the way the cards fell, but in both games I had some serious nastiness wind up in the top row. It took some major luck to win that second game (I got a +3 on a +0-3 stat boost and anything less would have killed me). I've never haas any trouble winning before. I think the thing is that, once you have that uber-investigator, you're set unless you do something catastrophically dumb (like the one time I had to drop the insta-death curse on my best guy).
Nope, you have to live with the consequences of the card, which can be nasty if you have to drop a powerful card onto a +2/+2 like I did last night. Actually what happened is I had one of those on the field and then had nowhere else to put a nasty beastie. I'm sure it feels a bit overwhelming at first, but the best advice is just to play. Try not to make nasty enemies stronger, and try to add to your investigator's best stat (if they have 3/2 and you have a choice of a 0/+1 or +1/0 for a bonus choose the one that makes them 4/2. Likewise, if you have to drop a curse on them, reduce the 2, not the 4. Play a couple of games and you will start to get a feel for it.
You get to keep the cards you unlocked at the end of the game via degrees, but always must recreate all of he cards created in game by mixing resources with the right investigator (like Hobo Camp with Lunatic).
One thing I found interesting is that I'm pretty sure you have to be ready to slaughter your investigators to get a good score. I haven't compared the reward for opening the gate yet (if there is one), but unless it's pretty massive you'll get more points largely by playing for more turns. The whole ending early on five investigators + 2 more thing means your best bet to keep the game going and score a bunch of points is to keep an investigator slot open at all times by building up the monster opposite it and feeding weak investigators to the monster so they never open the gate. Speaking of gates, I assume Open Portal is just an annoyance to block slots. Can someone explain the difference between Close Portal and Seal Portal? Also, keep hearing about mini-board-games and the like. Was this only in the original game before it was refined?
Close Portal is a 'curse' type of card like you find in other card games, i.e. it gives you a negative effect. In this case, the negative effect is that it has to be placed in one of your 'empty' Investigator slots. The Close Portal will prevent you from placing an Investigator in that slot for a period of time until the 'curse' wears off. Seal Portal is a 'buff' type of card in that it is used to remove a Close Portal that is in play. Essentially, it counters Close Portal so it is a situtional card. Bear in mind that Seal Portal can only be used if you have already played Dark Pact (enables your Investigators to cast spells) on one of your Investigators.
For those not in the know, there is a free app by Lucidsphere Media called ArkhamPI on the app store. It shows you all the cards available in Necronomicon. It sorts all the cards in categories, e.g. Spells, Potions, Monsters etc. and only shows the artwork without the stats. It also shows you the cards that you can unlock from having a high score. Suggestion for the developer: 1) In ArkhamPI, add the stats for each card! Maybe make a button that allows you to 'hide' stats or 'reveal' stats 2) In Necronomicon, an option to view all the certificates that you have obtained would be nice 3) Whenever I unlock a card, if I do not input my name in the highscore, it does not allow me to view the card I've unlocked and instead, immediately returns me to the main menu. Perhaps this could be changed?
