Tom’s review.
Ouch on score! But thanks for taking the time to write such an in-depth review. Agree with many of the criticisms & hope to address a lot of them over the next while :)
Yeah, sorry about the score. :( Some of those issues really kill the game for me. But I am really excited about the plans you guys have in store, particularly since many of them address some of the specific issues I have. I’m looking forward to jumping back in when you guys roll out the next update!
-Tom
Those changes seem like they could potentially give the game real legs. Looking forward to it.
So, this is coming out on Mobile on July 21st. Anyone know how it has been changed/improved since release?
I just got it on sale for 3 bucks on iOS.
The game is much, much better than I was lead to think through reading about it, so I am suspecting a lot might have been improved (that, or I got shit taste, your pick).
I think the game makes a mistake early on: you are to figure out the (unintuitive) hands-off movement of your characters, while learning the other mechanics (there is a deck building! although, again, in a not very intuitive way). But the real mistake to me is that the game forces your first two learning hours to be about grinding.
Once that unappealing early game is gone though, the game gets much deeper and more on the vain of the Majestic Carcassonne dungeon crawler it aims to be. Placing cards become very important depending on your class and setup. It is stimulating without being brainbusting.
As for iOS, I can attest that the touch screen versions feel perfectly at home. A bit on the crash side on my very old iPad 2, but the game saves everywhere, outside of combat. I was even surprised to find that the interface for the phone version was totally redone as to make it absolutely playable despite the lack of screen space! It is very, very pleasing. The only downsides are a couple of a bit lengthy loadings needed each time you want to restart a dungeon run (which may happen quick), and broken achievements support - I love iOS achievements, don’t ask.
Also: awesome soundtrack (but fuck that bard)
Haven’t played any of the expansion stuff, but really enjoyed playing the base game when it came out.
Thanks. But is this turn based or real time? I saw a mention in AppStore about timed missions…
It is turn-based, and the timed missions are, most likely, a reference to turn-limits on certain missions, i.e. grab that chest in less than 10 turns or such.
Excellent, thanks. One more question: is there cutesy character dialogue and if so is it easily skippable?
Very little dialogues: a very, very occasional text screen, some little taunts from bosses… but a freaking annoying bard who will sing horrible, awkward songs while seemingly being very proud of himself. You can mercifully shut his clap, although him being the only aural distraction on the strategic layer, it may sound dry without him.
Great, thanks!
It’s fun, and while the expansion sometimes has a “more of the same” feel, there’s enough that I think it’s totally worth it
So I bought the iOS version based on it being on sale, liking the aesthetic of the game, and enjoying dungeon delving. But I had never really read much about it, including this thread. That was intentional. I like trying small games without knowing much; similar to going to see a movie and ignoring the trailer so you don’t know much.
So I missed the first post:
And this post:
And… so I spent a while getting very frustrated because I could not control my adventurer. I was certain there had to be a way to control him/her but that I had missed it, and there was no help function. I was annoyed.
Now, finally, I get it. Now that I understand this disconnect is not due to a missing tutorial but rather is a core premise of the design, I’m really diggin’ it. A damn fine game.
Maybe I should read up more on games before I try them.
Yea this seems an almost perfect iOS game. My only wish is to resolve combat a bit faster.
Unlocking some of the last tier classes basically seems to solve the game… but still, can’t stop playing it.
Change it to turbo mode in Settings. Makes a world of difference.
Thanks for the tip! That did make things much faster.
This is sorta neat, but I feel the lack of documentation. Does physical attacks cancel magic attacks? It seems like my magic attacks sometimes don’t trigger when the monster uses a physical attack sometimes. I am pretty sure it’s not that I used a card that boosts my next magic attack.
They shouldn’t. What might be happening is that that monster is using an invulnerability to a particular element thing, which should have got its own icon.