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iOS Gaming August 2017 | Better Layton Never

Matt Frost

Member
Can’t get the link to pull up but Danmaku Unlimited 3 is out. $4.99

Great week for iOS gaming!

5$ is an introductory sale lol i will have to decide to pick two between Cat Quest, Arkanoid vs Space Invaders and Danmaku Unlimited 3... damn
 

awp69

Member
5$ is an introductory sale lol i will have to decide to pick two between Cat Quest, Arkanoid vs Space Invaders and Danmaku Unlimited 3... damn

Definitely get Cat Quest. The other two are a toss up. I’d say DU3 but it’s pretty similar to the first two so if you want something different, go for AvSI. That said, always good to support an indie dev!

Sorry, wasn’t much help.
 

PittaGAF

Member
Watch out your backlog guys.

Just a friendly reminder that Darkest Dungeon is out in 2 weeks and Warhammer Quest End of Times in a month or so.

And FFG may or may not announce something HUGE (albeit niche) next week at Gencon.

Just saying.

:p

BTW.....I was just browsing my '2017 hype' list....do we know anything about these titles...what happened to them?

Night call
Inside (hoping for a port like Limbo)
Sigma Theory (apparently next year)
Galactic Keep expansion (was recently published on Steam)
Static Sky
Antioch (apparently delayed until further notice)
Duelyst (on hold while dev concentrates on expansions)
Gorogoa
 

Matt Frost

Member
Definitely get Cat Quest. The other two are a toss up. I’d say DU3 but it’s pretty similar to the first two so if you want something different, go for AvSI. That said, always good to support an indie dev!

Sorry, wasn’t much help.

Ok Cat Quest and... since i have Steredenn i might go with AvSI... Cat Quest now, will decide on the other two tonight... tough week
 
Cat Quest seems real solid. Like Crashlands it is just fun to bop around and kill some monsters and do some light looting, all with these rather nice controls. Also like Crashlands I wonder if the game might fall off the repetitive cliff in a few hours, but the first hour seem pleasant enough and it is probably worth the asking price at least.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Cat Quest seems real solid. Like Crashlands it is just fun to bop around and kill some monsters and do some light looting, all with these rather nice controls. Also like Crashlands I wonder if the game might fall off the repetitive cliff in a few hours, but the first hour seem pleasant enough and it is probably worth the asking price at least.

My problem with Crashlands is that the repetition comes from the grind of materials and SUPER slow progression. I can play that for an hour and feel like I got NOTHING done. Cat Quest is the exact opposite. You're finding new gear in every dungeon, upgrading things via quests, and grinding gold to buy new gear/upgrade old gear ALL the time.

I'm about to hit level 50. The quest I'm currently on took me to a location I hadn't been to yet with some new monsters, so that's fun!

I think the ONLY gripe I currently have with the game is that there are no set bonuses that I can see. Like, I have 3 pieces of gear that are clearly meant to be worn as a set, but the stats aren't as good as some of the mix and match stuff I have. I think I'd like to see that as a possible feature added later on. Would make the combat and building that much more exciting and varied!
 

awp69

Member
For me the only real comparison to Crashlands is the controls. There’s no crafting here. It’s all combat and story (and looting/upgrading equipment).

Even with much more casual approach to crafting in Crashlands compared to other games, I still generally hate crafting — going to find resources, etc.

So Cat Quest has much more appeal to me. Can’t comment on longevity yet but I’ve definitely enjoyed what I’ve played so far.
 

awp69

Member
My problem with Crashlands is that the repetition comes from the grind of materials and SUPER slow progression. I can play that for an hour and feel like I got NOTHING done. Cat Quest is the exact opposite. You're finding new gear in every dungeon, upgrading things via quests, and grinding gold to buy new gear/upgrade old gear ALL the time.

Well said. This is exactly what I was attempting to say.
 
My problem with Crashlands is that the repetition comes from the grind of materials and SUPER slow progression. I can play that for an hour and feel like I got NOTHING done. Cat Quest is the exact opposite. You're finding new gear in every dungeon, upgrading things via quests, and grinding gold to buy new gear/upgrade old gear ALL the time.

I'm about to hit level 50. The quest I'm currently on took me to a location I hadn't been to yet with some new monsters, so that's fun!

Glad to hear you are a much higher level then me and still enjoying it. The repetitive related concern I had was that their is not a lot of depth in the equipment system so far (although I have started picking up minus stats items which are a little more interesting at least). So although you are grabbing new stuff constantly and making big progression, if the new equipment is nothing more then slowly increasing stats it is gonna make Cats Quest feel very samey.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Glad to hear you are a much higher level then me and still enjoying it. The repetitive related concern I had was that their is not a lot of depth in the equipment system so far (although I have started picking up minus stats items which are a little more interesting at least). So although you are grabbing new stuff constantly and making big progression, if the new equipment is nothing more then slowly increasing stats it is gonna make Cats Quest feel very samey.

Gear stat growth is largely treadmill based, but you will have to be smart about it at some point. You start to realize you can't ignore magic stat because enemies who are strong against melee damage will be VERY strong against melee damage (some enemies may take 200+ melee damage from me, but I've run into some who take 1). And vice versa for ignoring melee damage.

You also start having to decide between armor and HP tradeoffs. I've got a piece of armor that gives me like 690 HP, but zero armor. I believe armor is like a Halo energy shield or whatever - regenerates over time and gives you a buffer before you start taking true damage. So that's something. I tried that super high HP armor at one point...It was cool, but good luck healing back all that HP, ha.

I've made a suggestion to the devs to look into set bonuses. There are some awesome as hell looking gear sets, so adding passive bonuses (increased AoE damage, leech life percent, chance to negate damage, etc) would give you a real reason to deal with the tradeoffs each piece of gear presents.

E: So the dev for Nexomon chimed in at TA saying that there are IAP available to basically gacha your way to rare/legendary monsters. So....That's a thing.
 
cityglitch is a clever movement-based puzzler with an array of tricky mechanics as you carefully move around claustrophobic grids to activate runes

cityglitch by Peter Rockwell
https://appsto.re/us/jVFukb.i
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFzSY1LcY04

1_cityglitch_pc.png
5_cityglitch_pc.png
 

awp69

Member
cityglitch is a clever movement-based puzzler where an array of tricky mechanics as you carefully move around claustrophobic grids to activate runes

cityglitch by Peter Rockwell
https://appsto.re/us/jVFukb.i
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFzSY1LcY04

Swim Out by Lozange_Lab looks like a unique and interesting turn based puzzler:
https://appsto.re/gb/E3XXhb.i

These look good, especially Swim Out, which piqued my interest when I first saw it, but they’re gonna have to wait. Spending way too much lately.

BTW, for anyone who never played Corpse Party, it’s really good. Definitely a creepy game with some disturbing moments but also some humorous writing. Very unique experience. And glad I finally tried it out while it’s on sale (at an amazing price).
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
OK - last post about Cat Quest for now (you know, until I finish post game)!

I finished the main game at level 57. Really cute story how it all came together. Post game has a bunch of stuff to do (including some quest boards that were previously inactive), so I'm going to get to work!

My quick parting thoughts! If I were going to sell this game to a friend, this is what I'd tell them:

The Good

The story is cute and family friendly, and the artwork is great. I love how new gear shows up on your character, so there's a sense of achievement and progression there. I also like that the game rewards you continuously. Dungeons are great ways to grind XP and gold, and they have regular and gold chests to find. Finding duplicate items increases their level and makes them more powerful, so there's always a reason to explore and grind (so you can use your favorite looking gear you fashionista, you!). There are some super hard side bosses and quests to do, so you'll have quite a bit to do after you finish the main quest.

Magic and melee are both super useful for various reasons - combining them will often yield the best results. It encourages you to focus on certain aspects of character growth but also makes you keep your eyes on other aspects of play.
I didn't use the ice spell until the last 3/4 of the main quest. That was silly because that spell, when used correctly, can turn the tide of battle.

The Bad
The only real thing I don't love was already stated earlier - gear is ALL about numbers. While each piece has 4 stats (Armor, HP, melee, magic), you find yourself stacking to your style. There is a point where gear becomes "+20 armor, +24 melee, -50 magic" or "-20 armor, +100 HP, -30 melee, +40 magic" and stuff, so you do find yourself messing around in that regard. But the lack of set bonuses (because there are a bunch of armor sets) means you're not really messing with gear unless it has optimal stats. I would love to be able to wear the White Mage set and have a bonus to recovery/healing spells, or wear the Spike Tank (or whatever it's called) set and have it so my enemies take a percentage of melee damage, etc. I can sort of see why they didn't do this (some passive bonuses might break things), but it would be a fun addition for future expansions/updates.

Buy or Pass?
If you can't stand the control methods of Crashlands and Battleheart Legacy (kind of a touch/drag to move to a point), pass.

Now, if you didn't mind that or even quite liked it...

Was Crashlands fun but too grindy? Did you find that you would chop wood and beat up dinosaur looking dudes for hours on end, only to craft a spiked club that's multiple tiers of garbage below the same damn thing you've been using for the past 4 hours? Did you enjoy exploring the world and discovering all the neat little spots? Cat Quest is a buy!

Did you love the strategy and story telling of Battleheart Legacy but find yourself dying repeatedly because it's unforgiving? Did you ever wish that there was an easy mode (that wasn't called easy mode because you're not a baby and you only play normal/hard)? Cat Quest is also a buy!

If you were mixed about both of those games and thought the control system was "serviceable", you probably want to wait for a sale.
 

Mudo

Member
Quick Egglia impressions for those holding out due to the $10 price tag. My suggestion is do not buy at that price and know what you are getting before buying (at any price).

While the game is premium with no IAP, it sure does act like a game that would have them. There are timers and energy meters for everything from growing items to power up and evolve your spirits, to using your spirits in battle. spirits have an energy meter that QUICKLY diminishes while using them ,and you have to use an item to restore it, or wait. If you wait it takes a very long time. If they don't have enough energy you simply can't take them with you into levels until they do. While not always necessary to have, they are the only way to cast attack, support, and healing spells. Oh and levels/enemies have generally super easy to defeat, but sprinkled in the mix are monsters that are FAR stronger and can kill you in a couple hits. They would be impossible without your spirits. Random super difficult monsters on otherwise joke-level difficulty makes no sense and only frustrates.

Dice rolls determine how far you can move on a turn (Levels are hex grids there is zero "free" movement in this game not even in your town/base, another big disappointment). Dice also determine your attack strength so your journey through each level is down to luck. The levels so far are short with a few monsters, some trees to chop down for crafting later, and treasure chests.

Loot in the game is basically crafting ingredients with sparse items used for powering up your spirits. I haven't run into any equipment or anything like that.

NPCs in your town all have friendship levels with you. You can give them a gift once every 24 hours and they gain points while in battle with you. However, the only way to progress the main story is to become better friends with 1 specific NPC that does not go into battle with you, so the entire story is locked behind a gift-once-a-day mechanic with this person. More waiting.

The story is stupid and silly and completely inane. I have no interest at all with what is going on, and the characters aren't much better.

Pros are the game is beautiful and music is lovely. Everything wrapped around those is mediocre to bad.

I feel like this was intended to be free to play and they changed their mind along the way, but the dumb timers and energy bars were left in the game. I'd say wait for a deep discount it's not horrible it's just not....good either.

Very disappointing waste of potential with this game. Ah well.....
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Quick Egglia impressions for those holding out due to the $10 price tag. My suggestion is do not buy at that price and know what you are getting before buying (at any price).

That's a bummer. I was SO wanting to pick this up, but kept hearing about timers and crazy grinds. Maybe if it goes on super sale I'll still snag it, but what you wrote is a (very appreciated) red flag.
 
Quick Egglia impressions for those holding out due to the $10 price tag. My suggestion is do not buy at that price and know what you are getting before buying (at any price).

That is disappointing to hear, sounds like the game is a bit of an avoid. It is perplexing to read just how much game content is tied behind timers. I can understand the practise in f2p games (and even very light timer usage in some premium games) but having the game progress locked behind daily gifts just sounds bizarre.
 

awp69

Member
Wanted to chime in on the Egglia impressions. I also got it at launch but haven’t posted about it because, honestly, I haven’t played it a lot.

Pretty much agree with most of what was already said.
It’s very clear that the game was designed for F2P and probably switched over at the last minute. It’s annoying but nothing is game breaking. I can imagine it would have been a LOT more annoying if they were fully used to entice people to fork over more money.

One thing I will add to the music and art being fantastic is that the writing is also top notch. Lots of humor and just very well written in general.

The biggest problem with the game (and I am far from finishing it) is that while there’s plenty to do, there’s little depth to any of it. It’s really repetitive. The combat is not all that exciting. Quests are very short. And the biggest problem, I feel, is no overarching story.

So it’s sad that they had talented artists, writers and music directors but just put it into a shell of a game. Again, lots to do but no real feeling of being in a larger adventure.

Hope they can take the team and can come back with a fuller experience. I’d actually enjoy more of a traditional story based RPG over all these little things like micromanaging the furniture in your house and stuff like that.

Guess the game is doing amazingly well in Japan so who knows.
 

awp69

Member
Going back to Cat Quest and it makes me think of how poorly Egglia turned out. Sure that game has artwork, music and writing that is up there with classic AAA RPGs, but amongst other things, it was missing one main thing — fun!

Cat Quest may be a casual RPG (although I have died a fair amount more than I’d like to admit), but it’s just a blast to play and gives you such a warm fuzzy feeling. It’s faster paced than Battleheart Legacy and not as deep but it has me hooked nonetheless.

Really glad I picked it up and one of my favorite games this year.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Going back to Cat Quest and it makes me think of how poorly Egglia turned out. Sure that game has artwork, music and writing that is up there with classic AAA RPGs, but amongst other things, it was missing one main thing — fun!

Cat Quest may be a casual RPG (although I have died a fair amount more than I’d like to admit), but it’s just a blast to play and gives you such a warm fuzzy feeling. It’s faster paced than Battleheart Legacy and not as deep but it has me hooked nonetheless.

Really glad I picked it up and one of my favorite games this year.

Im actually considering trying Battleheart Legacy again after I finish Cat Quest. I'm itching for more!

Also, there's a chance that we will see a dog based expansion. That would be amazing.
 
With regards to Egglia, I can't say I'm not enjoying it really. A couple of thoughts:

Wish they added equipment. You only bring your spirits to battle. That's it. No weapons and armors whatsoever.

Building up and decorating your house is pointless, IMO.

Never cared for deep stories. What story was there, I enjoyed.

Haven't finished yet, but I'm thinking endgame would consist of finishing stage 2 of every area and defeating the bosses, collecting every spirit, 100% the eggpedia, and probably maxing friendship and spirit levels (for those completionists).

With that said, I'm still having fun with the gameplay, even though repetitive.

I do hope they make another mana-esque game with improvements.

spirits have an energy meter that QUICKLY diminishes while using them ,and you have to use an item to restore it, or wait. If you wait it takes a very long time. If they don't have enough energy you simply can't take them with you into levels until they do.

I don't think spirits have energy timers. Those timers are for companions who randomly pick up loot every couple of turns. You can bring any spirit anytime. Not that this information matters, anyway. :)
 

heringer

Member
Shame about Egglia. The presentation appears to be lovely, at least.

Honestly, I think they should have gone full on Harvest Moon formula. It's kind of baffling that no one gave a fair shot at the genre yet. It's absolutely a perfect fit for mobile.

The official Harvest Moon game is decent enough, but still falls short compared to stuff like Stardew Valley.
 

awp69

Member
Might have come off too harsh on Egglia. I wouldn’t write it off completely. It’s just one of those games where you can tell there was so much talent behind it that it hurts that it didn’t turn out to be something better. The blatant F2P mechanics don’t help.

That said it has enough charm and polish to still recommend giving a try....when it drops in price and with lower expectations.
 

Mudo

Member
Might have come off too harsh on Egglia. I wouldn’t write it off completely. It’s just one of those games where you can tell there was so much talent behind it that it hurts that it didn’t turn out to be something better. The blatant F2P mechanics don’t help.

That said it has enough charm and polish to still recommend giving a try....when it drops in price and with lower expectations.


Yeah it's not a horrible game but man, it's just really repetitive, grindy, and aimless. There IS a ton to do, but actually doing it all isn't a ton of fun. I keep playing it s but at a time, and it is stunningly pretty, but it just gets boring and feels like I'm getting nowhere.

About spirits and energy- sorry it's whatever that meter is under their info that drops every time you take them with you into a level. I thought when it got to 0 the character was greyed out and wasn't being used but maybe they are still there with you lol. i think the fact that they had a diminishing meter that sloooooowly refills, or requires an item to restore, triggered me and i wasn't thinking clearly after that point :). MORE FTP MECHANICS yay!
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
So is Egglia worth checking out if/when it goes on sale? Is there any end-game to speak of?

Also, finished Cat Quest! Level 90, all dungeons, all sidequests, 4/7 spells max level! I'll grind to 99 for fun at some point, but I'm not going to bother getting all the equipment from the gold chests in the dungeons. Not having an indicator in game means I'll have to run every single dungeon again, and that's not happening.
 

awp69

Member
So is Egglia worth checking out if/when it goes on sale? Is there any end-game to speak of?

If you lower your expectations based on our comments here, then sure. As far as an end game, I haven’t seen one and sounds like there really isn’t one other than I guess building your town out, making friends, collecting spirits through eggs, etc.
 

PittaGAF

Member
follow.trail is a brilliant puzzle game that is driving me crazy.
Slick elegant and simple app and massive amount of puzzles, introducing new elements constantly.

The sun switching thing is mental in later levels.
Highly recommended if you like these games.

follow.trail di Grzegorz Pykacz
https://appsto.re/it/qqtzkb.i
 

Matt Frost

Member
Batter layton never i bought Cat Quest... first impressions are overwhelmengly positive. Controls are just perfect, so easy to use. The whole game just oozes charm. Loving it. Is the mobile Zelda i never knew i always wanted. GOTY so far. And i only played 30 minutes of it, just keeps getting better and better. This is just paw’some stuff. Purrfect.
 

Matt Frost

Member
What an amazing 2017 so far...

Cat Quest
Red’s Kingdom
After the End: Forsaken Destiny
Steredenn
Kalimba
Dungeon Tails
OXENFREE
FORMA.8
Death Road to Canada

All premium... #KeepThemComing
 

awp69

Member
What an amazing 2017 so far...

Cat Quest
Red’s Kingdom
After the End: Forsaken Destiny
Steredenn
Kalimba
Dungeon Tails
OXENFREE
FORMA.8
Death Road to Canada

All premium... #KeepThemComing

Aside from Death Road to Canada, which I have had trouble getting into, great list!

Although F2P (but very fair with a few IAPs), I’d also add Rogue Wizards to my favorites for the year. And Ticket to Earth, which I hope chapter 2 comes soon.
 
This is going back a month or two but what were peoples impressions of Monument Valley 2? I kinda forgot about it when it dropped, but was clearing out my wishlist earlier and found it proudly holding a position there.
 

Matt Frost

Member
Aside from Death Road to Canada, which I have had trouble getting into, great list!

Although F2P (but very fair with a few IAPs), I’d also add Rogue Wizards to my favorites for the year. And Ticket to Earth, which I hope chapter 2 comes soon.

Thats why DRtC is my last pick on the list... i can see it does what it does very well but i have trouble getting into it too. The zombie part is amazing, the rest of the game removes my desire to keep playing. But i sure had fun for like two hours or so. I hoped the perm upgrades was going to get me hooked once and for all as i love the theme, but i just cant with so many other games around and the UI. Maybe i will remove it from the list on second thought lol
 

awp69

Member
Was thinking about it and for those that like Cat Quest, I’d recommend trying Rogue Wizards. It’s different being turn based and harder. I mean it is a rogue like but not punishingly difficult. All dungeon focused with the over world being for upgrades, learning spells, buying equipment, etc.

All that said it has a similar feel to Cat Quest. It’s free so if you try and like it, I’d recommend getting the gem doubler. After that, it’s challenging but a good challenge — not paywall level challenging (at least for the 10 or so hours I’ve played). Also is fun enough that you don’t mind if you die and replay dungeons or bosses.

Anyway, some food for thought. Cat Quest is still an overall better game. Rogue Wizards is high on my list right now though.
 
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