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The iOS Gaming Thread December 2012: Santa touched me somewhere weird.

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PFD

Member
Is there any disadvantage to passing time in Baldur's Gate? I just got the identify spell, and I rested a lot so that I can identify a whole bunch of items.
 

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
I just got to the end of the Naskel Mines and got totally wiped by Mulahey at the end, I think my party is way underlevelled. I had the crazy mage and his angry sidekick with me but I've booted them to pick up Minsc - is there a decent mage I can pick up somewhere? I think I need some stasis spells or something. I managed to get out of the mine, I'll go back when I'm a little stronger. Where is a good place to level if I'm really under powered?
 
Hmmm... after getting a vita and upgrading my 3ds to XL, I really do appreciate ios gaming more.

fast app switching, super fast loading from opening app to gameplay ( pay attention sony/nintendo!).

This is how portable gaming should be.
 

PFD

Member
Annoyed that a lot of developers still aren't supporting icloud saves in their games. Rageee

I believe Apple's ridiculous save file size restrictions are partly to blame here.

I just got to the end of the Naskel Mines and got totally wiped by Mulahey at the end, I think my party is way underlevelled. I had the crazy mage and his angry sidekick with me but I've booted them to pick up Minsc - is there a decent mage I can pick up somewhere? I think I need some stasis spells or something. I managed to get out of the mine, I'll go back when I'm a little stronger. Where is a good place to level if I'm really under powered?

Actually, I picked up a mage right NEXT to Mulahey. From the entrance to Mulahey's room (inside the dome thing), go top right, and you'll find him just standing there. I think his name was Xen or something. I stumbled upon him by accident while trying to position my party so that Mulahey and the mobs would attack from the same direction.

I'm just a bit further than you on the main quest, but I'm already level 3. I haven't done any 'grinding' just for the sake of leveling, but I did a bunch of sidequests. They give a ton of XP.
 
Hmmm... after getting a vita and upgrading my 3ds to XL, I really do appreciate ios gaming more.

fast app switching, super fast loading from opening app to gameplay ( pay attention sony/nintendo!).

This is how portable gaming should be.

I... what

I'm another triple-device owner but I can't agree at all. The 3DS and Vita restrict themselves to one "large" application at a time so it doesn't have to worry about competing with other apps for resources - an integral step in increasing the production value of the games on that platform. Similarly, it's the only reason games on iOS load faster; in a lot of cases, there's simply less to load. Theatrhythm is a great example; A5/A5X devices are probably capable of many more things than the 3DS's hardware is, yet the iOS version of the game is scaled down considerably from the original in part because it has to run in a multitasking OS where it could have as few as 50% of the hardware's total resources available to it.
 

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
I believe Apple's ridiculous save file size restrictions are partly to blame here.



Actually, I picked up a mage right NEXT to Mulahey. From the entrance to Mulahey's room (inside the dome thing), go top right, and you'll find him just standing there. I think his name was Xen or something. I stumbled upon him by accident while trying to position my party so that Mulahey and the mobs would attack from the same direction.

I'm just a bit further than you on the main quest, but I'm already level 3. I haven't done any 'grinding' just for the sake of leveling, but I did a bunch of sidequests. They give a ton of XP.

Ah awesome. I saw that cave but never went into it. I an see it as a good place to hole up as well, that could work. Really need to take out the minions quickly so I can focus on Mulahey. Hmmm...
 

PFD

Member
Ah awesome. I saw that cave but never went into it. I an see it as a good place to hole up as well, that could work. Really need to take out the minions quickly so I can focus on Mulahey. Hmmm...

Yea, in fact, you can actually kite Mulahey inside that cave without attracting his minions if you're careful. You'd still have to fight them on the way out, but it'll be easier than fighting both at the same time.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
I... what

I'm another triple-device owner but I can't agree at all. The 3DS and Vita restrict themselves to one "large" application at a time so it doesn't have to worry about competing with other apps for resources - an integral step in increasing the production value of the games on that platform. Similarly, it's the only reason games on iOS load faster; in a lot of cases, there's simply less to load. Theatrhythm is a great example; A5/A5X devices are probably capable of many more things than the 3DS's hardware is, yet the iOS version of the game is scaled down considerably from the original in part because it has to run in a multitasking OS where it could have as few as 50% of the hardware's total resources available to it.

I actually prefer being able to have multiple games in memory, to just one. I'd buy a version of the phone with 4GB of ram if I could, so every last thing I use fast-switches. In what ways do you think Theatrhythm was scaled down though for the latest iOS hardware though?
 
I actually prefer being able to have multiple games in memory, to just one. I'd buy a version of the phone with 4GB of ram if I could, so every last thing I use fast-switches. In what ways do you think Theatrhythm was scaled down though for the latest iOS hardware though?

I can't help but feel games should be immersive to the point that you shouldn't feel the need to switch between multiple games rapidly. That's just my thought on the matter, besides the technical point I was trying to make.

The iOS version of Theatrhythm has a lot of graphical details scaled back from the 3DS version, especially if you're on an iPhone 4, where you're not getting much more than static images behind the gameplay elements. On other devices it's a bit closer to the original game but animations in general have much less frames of animation - most noticeable if you watch your party members during a BMS. The framerate also never quite hit the constant 60fps the 3DS version runs at while I was playing on stream, and took a noticeable dive at points (especially when something in the background received a push notification).
 
I... what

I'm another triple-device owner but I can't agree at all. The 3DS and Vita restrict themselves to one "large" application at a time so it doesn't have to worry about competing with other apps for resources - an integral step in increasing the production value of the games on that platform. Similarly, it's the only reason games on iOS load faster; in a lot of cases, there's simply less to load. Theatrhythm is a great example; A5/A5X devices are probably capable of many more things than the 3DS's hardware is, yet the iOS version of the game is scaled down considerably from the original in part because it has to run in a multitasking OS where it could have as few as 50% of the hardware's total resources available to it.
I love my other handhelds as well. But I still feel like fast booting is preferable on the go.

And even for smaller psn titles and what not take waaaay too long to go from boot up to game ( them publisher logos and stuff).
 

Minsc

Gold Member
I can't help but feel games should be immersive to the point that you shouldn't feel the need to switch between multiple games rapidly. That's just my thought on the matter, besides the technical point I was trying to make.

The iOS version of Theatrhythm has a lot of graphical details scaled back from the 3DS version, especially if you're on an iPhone 4, where you're not getting much more than static images behind the gameplay elements. On other devices it's a bit closer to the original game but animations in general have much less frames of animation - most noticeable if you watch your party members during a BMS. The framerate also never quite hit the constant 60fps the 3DS version runs at while I was playing on stream, and took a noticeable dive at points (especially when something in the background received a push notification).

I definitely had a smooth 60fps on my iPhone 5, but I didn't realize they removed animations. I don't really think it's so much a hardware issue for the newest devices than them choosing to not implement it on just those devices but not older ones. IMO they shouldn't have even supported the iPhone 4 the way they did.

I do like being able to switch between games though, play a few rounds of Theatrhythm, maybe a quick level of some puzzle game, then something else, and back to Theatrhythm, without having to spend more than a half second waiting for them to load. Seeing how you have things like FF Tactics and Baldur's Gate (I think, if not, there's plenty of other console/pc ports you can substitute) among other very serious games supporting fast app switching, I don't think there's any inherent sacrifice with strong enough hardware. At the rate tablet/smartphones develop, in another 3 or 4 years the baseline will be much higher too making it even less an issue.
 

xJavonta

Banned
I haven't been gaming on iOS since my niece broke my iPod Touch 4th gen so I need to get a new one/an iPhone.

Which piece of kit would be best? I'd prefer to buy something that ran games better than my old iPod did but without going into super-expensive iPhone 5 territory.

iPod touch 5, iPad 4th gen, iPad Mini. iPad 4th gen would be the best for gaming though, as it's more future proof than the other two.
 

Mrbob

Member
Not really sure how iOS is much different than Vita. You just need to get used to the layout. You can easily switch between programs in Vita as well. If you want the Vita the save the data and suspend in memory, well, I disagree. I don't need every game on suspend hogging up resources. In fact, forgetting to clean up manually on Ipad gets annoying at times because other games will crash or slow down because the device is trying to run too many things at once. I wish Apple would put a hard limit on the number of programs saved into memory. Maybe let you favorite a couple if need be and purge the rest when not used.
 

Mairu

Member
Not really sure how iOS is much different than Vita. You just need to get used to the layout. You can easily switch between programs in Vita as well. If you want the Vita the save the data and suspend in memory, well, I disagree. I don't need every game on suspend hogging up resources. In fact, forgetting to clean up manually on Ipad gets annoying at times because other games will crash or slow down because the device is trying to run too many things at once. I wish Apple would put a hard limit on the number of programs saved into memory. Maybe let you favorite a couple if need be and purge the rest when not used.

I'm not going to deny that every once in awhile there's a certain app that might be breaking the rules when it comes to suspending data and slowing things down, but I almost never manually clear out apps on either my iPhone 5 or iPad Mini
 
I'm not going to deny that every once in awhile there's a certain app that might be breaking the rules when it comes to suspending data and slowing things down, but I almost never manually clear out apps on either my iPhone 5 or iPad Mini
Yeah, from what I've heard the whole "Clean out your multitasking bar to improve performance" thing is mostly myth and placebo effect.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
I'm not going to deny that every once in awhile there's a certain app that might be breaking the rules when it comes to suspending data and slowing things down, but I almost never manually clear out apps on either my iPhone 5 or iPad Mini

Same. I rarely manually clear them. And iPhone 5 seems to be better at having multiple programs in memory at once, which is awesome.
 

Pachimari

Member
I have a bad habit of clearing out my multitasking bar all the time, it's horrible. My imagination says I'll save battery. :(

Should i get vice city or borderlands on ipad? Or is there something else better right now?
Get Vice City, it's great.
Forget about Borderlands, it were not that well received.
 

PFD

Member
Yeah, from what I've heard the whole "Clean out your multitasking bar to improve performance" thing is mostly myth and placebo effect.

Yes and no. iOS by default will automatically shut down apps that are running in the background when it needs more memory, and it's pretty efficient at doing so. However, apps with notifications are excluded from this behavior (Skype, Facebook, Tiny Tower, etc...) and closing them manually will help free up memory. That's why some apps actually specifically ask you to avoid closing them from the multitasking bar if you wish to continue receiving notifications.

Should i get vice city or borderlands on ipad? Or is there something else better right now?

Avoid Borderlands iOS like the plague. It's horrible.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Probably a stupid question but how do I make it to where I don't have to enter my Apple ID password when I download apps?

You don't have to enter passwords for updating apps, but you always have to enter the password when downloading completely new apps.

If you're using multiple accounts on your device you have to have entered the password at least once for the prompt to go away when updating apps associated with an ID you're currently not logged into in the store.
 

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
FFD is pricey when not on sale, but a no-brainer at its discounted price. If I remember right my clock time was 41 hours at the end and I blasted through it.
 
Same. I rarely manually clear them. And iPhone 5 seems to be better at having multiple programs in memory at once, which is awesome.

1 gb ram vs 512 off 4 4S

You don't have to enter passwords for updating apps, but you always have to enter the password when downloading completely new apps.

If you're using multiple accounts on your device you have to have entered the password at least once for the prompt to go away when updating apps associated with an ID you're currently not logged into in the store.

Actually if you buy an app, you have 15 min to buy apps without pw.
 

oipic

Member
I feel I've reaped many times the value of Ascension (and expansions) at full price, so yeah, I hereby join the chorus and suggest that anyone who has overlooked it (for whatever reason), or thinks the genre may not be their thing, at least give it a go.

Spend 30 minutes with it - if it 'clicks' for you, you will be in love.
 

PFD

Member
Beamdog has just submitted a huge update for BG:EE. It should be out within a week on the appstore. It includes a 'smart radius' feature that should make it easy to click stuff on iPad, and a large list of changes/fixes including updated cutscenes and new rest videos. The full changelog is up on their website (PC patch is already out.)

A new Bard's Tale update added 'support for full 2x retina on iPad 4', whatever the hell that means, lol. Game was already retina.
 
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