Sorcery is extremely well done - it just oozes atmosphere. The “paper-doll” animations are very nice visually and fit the theme really well. You select the next step by moving your character on a map which is much more immersive than page numbers. And because there are houses, villages, etc. on the map it help inform your next choice better than the books ever did. And of course, the application keeps track of the fiddly bits from the books, things like “since you’ve made this guy your friend, you have a secret option to go to page X when this thing happens”. The original art from the books is also preserved when appropriate.
Gameplay changes are minimal from the book aside from the record keeping, but they did revamp the combat into a neat little mini game. The books were just comparing d6 + modifiers, but the game has a bit of an ebb and flow of attack/defense that the game describes in narrative; a nice touch.
I played the original books back in the 80s, it is surprising how much of it I remembered. That said, I hadn’t paid much attention to the pre-release information and I was surprised the game was not all 4 books in one application. $4.99 is a bit pricey for book 1 of 4, which is the smallest book from the original series. I completed it over a lunch break and now have to wait for the next installment; hopefully they will release them relatively quickly; book 1 doesn’t have an extreme amount of replayability.
Thanks for the detailed review!
Thanks for the detailed review!
Inkle makes some nice apps so I’m looking forward to trying Sorcery! out tonight!
Editer
1645
Ooh, grab this, folks! Kind of like a puzzly 2D Kerbal Space Program. I paid for it and no regrets.
RichVR
1646
Star Command released today on iOS. Android delayed.
Based on what Owen wrote about it over at Pocket Tactics, I have no desire to play Star Command. It was one of those reviews where it felt like the writer was struggling to find something interesting to say, and in Owen’s case all he could come up with is “it uses lots of colors”. :)
-Tom
Hi guys, a little recommendation.
For the most addictive turn based strategy on iOS, I highly recommend Kingturn RPG. It’s like a 2D version of Final Fantasy Tactics but with more user friendly interface for touch controls. I have both games and barely got into FFT.
I think what makes it good is that you need to capture the enemy’s spawn centre and that makes for a highly dynamic play, as compared to just finishing off enemies off one by one. So there’s a lot of strategies to apply. More importantly Kingturn provides a just one more turn feeling, played through its 30-40 hours length time over 2 weekends.
Get it for free now with a USD4.99 in app purchase for the entire game.
rowe33
1649
Your first three sentences sound like classic forum-bot marketing! The reviews on this look great though so I’ll check it out.
I’ve played a little of it and it is definitely worth checking out.
Nah, I an’t a spam bot. This is such an addictive little game that i just must spread the love.
Ascendancy is on sale for 99 cents. I’m sure someone has tried it. Is it worth my hard-earned dollar?
Also, saw a mention of North & South:The Game, which is a cartoony US Civil War game. I believe this is either a remake of a prior video game or a board game, but it’s really difficult to tell since my GoogleFu is weak. Official game website is here.
Sorcery is, for my money, the best RPG on iOS. However you have to appreciate these book based old school RPGs with fail states and a willingness to lose to random or difficult to predict events. If you want a modern “progress” RPG where victory is usually certain or if you’re the type that will excessively abuse the redo option until you get the result you want, it might not quite fit the bill. If otoh you like RPGs where you can be surprised or killed by choosing to open a door, you’ll like this.
Having little to no knowledge of the drama behind Star Command nor any of the reviews of it, I’m having fun with it so far. Roommate is reporting about the same. I’m an hour or two in, he’s about half that. So far so good.
Tom_Mc
1656
It’s a little crash happy for me. Otherwise it’s an ok game. But the crashes are a drawback.
Tom M
There is no reason to play that godawful iOS port of an already pretty godawful game when you can instead be playing Starbase Orion or Eclipse on your iPad. Ascendency is one of those half-baked “let’s chuck it up on the iTunes store and see if it sticks” approaches to iOS development. I’d be curious to hear magnet talk a bit more about why he likes it, though, because based on preliminary poking around, I don’t see the appeal.
-Tom
I will interpret that response as a “no” then. Thanks!
It is great. Both nostalgia- and innovation-wise.
magnet
1660
First off, I assume we can all play more than one iPad game. If you only have time for one game, then I wouldn’t choose Ascendancy, Eclipse, or Orion. Maybe chess?
Secondly, if you hated the PC version of Ascendancy then you shouldn’t buy the iOS version, unless the only thing you hated was the AI (it’s improved in the iOS version).
As a port, I think Ascendancy is fine. It’s not as wretched as Weird Worlds, and not as delightful as Ascension. It is highly iconographic, so if you hate Race for the Galaxy then you might have problems with it. My biggest complaint is that it’s too easy to exit the game unintentionally.
Since you asked, here’s what I appreciate about Ascendancy:
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Interesting research tree. In addition to the usual buffs to weapon strength, durability, and speed, there are options for relatively niche tactics, like forcing enemy ships to move toward or away from you, zapping their experience level, or supporting your own ships by absorbing their damage and beaming them power.
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Tactical maps. Sometimes you’re in the mood for tactical maps, and sometimes you’re not. Ascendancy has them if you’re in the mood.
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Node travel. I tend to prefer this in space 4x. Giant grids, like in Galciv, are meant for terrestrial games.
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3D maps. Lots of people hate them, and I can understand that. I like them for the same reason I like node travel. And it’s easier to manipulate them on an iPad than with a mouse.
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Ambience. This is hard to quantify , but the factions in Ascendancy are diverse and have character, sort of like those in SOTS and SMAC.
Naturally, YMMV.
