I am liking this game a lot. Lots of fun. It does chug a lot once you get to about the 6th level on the iPhone 4. It makes it pretty hard to play as it is essentially in slow motion. I don't expect games to be optimized for 2 1/2 year old phones. I think I am just reaching a point where a few good games can't be played on it. Def worth playing on a 4 (it's free duh) but just expect some rubbish performance at higher levels.
So in the arena, do you only get prizes if you are in the top 100 of your guild? Also this game definitely seems pay to win. I don't use that term lightly but there's literally no way to do well without paying or grinding a very long time. Also, the rate at which you earn gems is laughably slow.
Well do you mean tokens? 'cause I earn gems at a nice pace. 2 days playing and I have already upgraded all power-ups to lv4 and about 5 characters to level 1. Now to pass the Depth and get that cool-looking Ember!
If you are not in the top 100, I think you either get 1/10 the prize or 5 tokens. That's why I switched to the TOUCHARCADE1 group. I think I'm 8th there it something. There is a point though that those that do pay have a better chance of placing in the higher ranks. But it's freemium, I didn't exactly expect it to be balanced towards the gamer. Looks like all but 1 of the current batch of hacker guilds have been given the boot.
Progress Has anyone unlocked every character without IAP? Or to put it differently: has anyone beaten Castle 2 - and what happens then? I just pumped a lot of tokens into a 716 run with Blaze which got me through Graveyard 2 (unlocking Ezora which I am now leveling to 1 star) but Sewers 2 just owned me and doubling the prize to continue is pretty steep to be honest. Those last levels must be really brutal. Currently, I have Ulrich, Merida and Blaze on level 2 and everyone else at level 1 except for Ezora - with this group, I can get to Dungeon 1 without buffs but Depths 1 is still no walk in the park. By the way: why is it called "Depths 1" if there is no "Depths 2"? Or is Castle 2 just the last stage to unlock a character and the cycle just continues? I wonder what Depths 5 must be like ...
I haven't personally, but from watching replays, it looks like the stages keep going. I've seen a Forest 3, at the very least.
Level one is nothing try spending 10,000 gems just to gain level Two For one character. Seems incredibly pricey.
I paid for Hydra outright, but that's the only thing I purchased. I've now unlocked all the others (finally beat Courtyard II last night). Actually, 10,000 is only a few runs worth once you start doing a little better. I have eight guys at level 2, and haven't purchased any gems. Level 3, now that I'd agree with, but if there weren't any long term goals, what would the point be?
How do you get gems? Is there a faster way than picking them up one by one? It seems like picking up 10,000 gems would inherently take a long time. My initial reaction to the game is that it seems too grindy/paywalled to me too, but it could be that I'm not appreciating how it develops if I play it more. How many hours of play did it take for you to collect over 100,000 gems?
The IAP feels dirty? Let's say for the sake of argument that Nimblebit released Nimble Quest with the game play exactly as is but there was no option to buy gems, red gems, unlock characters or additional tokens, and the game cost $0.99. Would that feel dirty? You'd still have to grind out all those kills and/or gems to level every body up, you just wouldn't have the option of skipping that if you felt you'd have a better time fast forwarding through the growth phase. Because that is exactly how they would have released the game, as it is, since all of their testing for game balance is done with no option to buy IAP, and it's why the TA Guys are up on their games. They play just fine for $0. If you want all L3 characters in Nimble Quest before next Wednesday, yeah, you'll probably have to pay money, but that's your choice. Nothing dirty, nothing required, nothing leveraged by them to force it upon you. It's a single player arcade game that hands out gems and tokens like candy on Halloween. The "guild" stuff is cute, but, really, really superfluous to the rest of the game.
Perhaps "unsuccessful". If progress in the game is too slow for most people, it doesn't really solve the problem if a few TA superstars can tackle it. Making a game that only the best 1% of players can enjoy is like teaching a class that only the best 1% of students can master. Sure, it's great for those students, but what about everyone else? I can't tell if this game is like that---I haven't gotten far enough into it---but it's easy to point to games that are appealing to testers (who, almost by definition, are among the more capable and engaged players) and yet too inaccessible for most.
Man, Courtyard 2 is beyond brutal. I have everyone at two stars except Ezora, but even with the vitality and attack buffs the sheer number of enemies is insane. I'm sure if I got a solid string of power ups it would be manageable, and I certainly do appreciate the challenge, but it's definitely daunting. On the bright side, I got a new high score, so that's awesome. But I'd love to unlock those last two characters without dropping coin on them. I'm more than slightly terrified by what castle 2 will look like, though.
I think those who are uncomplaining are missing the point Nimble Quest is not there to grind. Just enjoy the exprience. Its not about getting to the end its about the fun of playing. Sometimes when my lead character fails to perform I ram them into a wall. It teach them an important lesson.
