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How are phone/tablet games these days?
- Thread starter longdi
- Start date
You wish.
purseowner
Member
Call me when I can play Shiren and Disgaea on my phone.
James Scott
Banned
They can push beyond Xbox, most likely...but it's kind of hard to show off due to the lack of a physical controls and likely few care enough to try.
Saucycarpdog
Member
The incoming horde of people who, for some reason, have a bone to pick with mobile will tell you that they're all garbage games.
But they couldn't be more wrong. Mobile gaming has hit huge strides over these past 5 years alone and now has plenty of amazing games.
What kind of genres are you interested in playing?
But they couldn't be more wrong. Mobile gaming has hit huge strides over these past 5 years alone and now has plenty of amazing games.
What kind of genres are you interested in playing?
purseowner
Member
I meant an actual full-fledged Disgaea experience. It's why I intentionally didn't mention franchises like Atelier, which are now getting fleshed-out installments on mobile.
But Vita is still miles ahead when it comes to deeper experiences.
The games are there if you know how and where to look.
To me, the problem is just that it's hard to navigate through the sea of shit, so I'll either have to download everything(I feel is similar to what I like) or follow mobile gaming news, which I don't have the time for; I have to follow non-mobile gaming news.
That, and the control, I just can't get used to it no matter what, so I mostly stick with games designed to be played on phone/tablet, even if they are often more casual than the typical non-mobile games.
To me, the problem is just that it's hard to navigate through the sea of shit, so I'll either have to download everything(I feel is similar to what I like) or follow mobile gaming news, which I don't have the time for; I have to follow non-mobile gaming news.
That, and the control, I just can't get used to it no matter what, so I mostly stick with games designed to be played on phone/tablet, even if they are often more casual than the typical non-mobile games.
Dr. Benton Quest
Banned
KojiKnight
Member
Mobile experiences are different from console ones, snes or ps1 or any. You either like the predominantly simpler games with their cheap entrance fee but often expensive end games, or you don't.
Your best console like experiences for mobile inevitably end up being higher priced (for mobile) ports of console games... See your final fantasy or Sonic or Knights of the Old republic... And often those feel compromised by control options.
Your best console like experiences for mobile inevitably end up being higher priced (for mobile) ports of console games... See your final fantasy or Sonic or Knights of the Old republic... And often those feel compromised by control options.
enixbelmont
Member
I feel like it's good for old console ports, especially dragon quest.
But mobile exclusives, the hell even is there? Seems like a lot of mobile style games like endless runners/gacha stuff, and not much else to me. That said, some of those games are great.
But mobile exclusives, the hell even is there? Seems like a lot of mobile style games like endless runners/gacha stuff, and not much else to me. That said, some of those games are great.
Dr. Benton Quest
Banned
Mobile doesn't do console games very well but it is quite good at some older PC games.
Tons of wonderful rogue-likes and wrpgs.
Tons of wonderful rogue-likes and wrpgs.
It seems like mobile developers have largely taken a route that strays further away from my tastes personally. Five years ago, I was constantly downloading new games and filling up my phone. These days, I struggle to find anything at all. Every time someone claims some new game is amazing and I am persuaded to download it, I end up playing it for all of ten minutes. On top of that, many of the games I bought years ago and haven't gotten around to playing are no longer supported or will soon become unusable on IOS.
I much prefer more traditional experiences, and that is what I was looking for on my phone as I did enjoy the convenience of always having it with me. These days, I am rarely without a portable of some kind, whether it be Vita (which blows away the mobile library as far as I am concerned), Switch, 3DS/DS, or even the PSP Go. My phone as a gaming device has beasically become obsolete and I haven't seen anything to persuade me otherwise that isn't also available on a more fun to play platform.
I much prefer more traditional experiences, and that is what I was looking for on my phone as I did enjoy the convenience of always having it with me. These days, I am rarely without a portable of some kind, whether it be Vita (which blows away the mobile library as far as I am concerned), Switch, 3DS/DS, or even the PSP Go. My phone as a gaming device has beasically become obsolete and I haven't seen anything to persuade me otherwise that isn't also available on a more fun to play platform.
Saucycarpdog
Member
Great mobile exclusives(or started on mobile):
Monument valley
Card Crawl
Card Thief
Wayward Souls
SE's GO series
Device 6
Horizon Chase
Teeny Titans
Warbits
Framed
Badland
Sorcery! series
868-Hack
Ticket to Earth
Leap Day
Space Marshals
I could go on.
Agent_J
Banned
I used to really enjoy mobile gaming and was happy with the future until slowly but surely things got worse and worse. More microtransactions, more in-app purchases, more and more different forms of in-game currency.. it just all takes me out of the experience. But dig deep and you'll find worthwhile gems.
You've got games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Banner Saga, Shadowrun Returns, Invisible Inc., Skulls of the Shogun, XCOM, Shining Force and others on mobile today. It's not Disgaea specifically, but they certainly belong to the same category.
More_Badass
Member
You'd think after nearly a decade, people would have an understanding of mobile games and whatnot, especially on a forum like GAF. Like, it's been nine years since the App Store launched. Device 6 came out four years ago.
Greatest Ever
Member
Still mostly cash grabs or lame interpretations of genres that don't work with touch controls.
Shame they took so many good devs from actual quality platforms like handhelds, but it is where the money is.
Lifeline is a cool game though.
Shame they took so many good devs from actual quality platforms like handhelds, but it is where the money is.
Lifeline is a cool game though.
ieptbarakat
Member
I haven't had a good experience with phone games, in my experience they usually range from gacha games(roll for heroes/enforced friend system in party), always online games which continuously drain your data(nintendo), and ports of games I'd have a better experience with either at my pc or console.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links game held my attention for a little bit but I lost interest as with everything else.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links game held my attention for a little bit but I lost interest as with everything else.
Greatest Ever
Member
Damn, that is a weakass list of exclusives.
Saucycarpdog
Member
Now I remember how you got your tag
Greatest Ever
Member
Now I remember how weak the mobile platform is for playing video games onNow I remember how you got your tag
Do you like/play tabletop games? I admittedly don't play too much mobile games, but the ones I often come back to are the tabletop games made digital. Might be worth checking them out.
EDIT: also the choose your own adventure games are pretty enjoyable. There is Sorcery! 1-4 and Lone Wolf. All are pretty enjoyable if you like that type of game.
EDIT: also the choose your own adventure games are pretty enjoyable. There is Sorcery! 1-4 and Lone Wolf. All are pretty enjoyable if you like that type of game.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Clash Royale is legitimately great
Greatest Ever
Member
Yep, I was definitely one of the most avid supporters of mobile gaming in its infancy. Spent so much money on the App Store on my iPod touch 4th gen, played NOVA 2 on my birthday, shit used to have potential.
Then it became clear it was a race to the bottom. For every genuinely great game like Sword and Poker on the system, we got a thousand pieces of crap. Not to mention OS updates constantly break games, you can lose the ability to even redownload your games a la BioShock, and Apple's curation hasn't been great about getting great games to the top.
I can't believe I've been playing daily for 1.5 years. Crazy
Here is a thread from 18 months ago that should give you an indication. Examples of quality games and catalog diversity have only continued to increase.
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1160360
More_Badass
Member
How many of those have you actually played?
Shit, I really need to get around to doing the 2016 thread
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Same. Only game I've ever stuck with that long.... mobile or not. My gf and I are a 2 person clan and we both play every day. We even manage to get clan chests with just 2 people.
Craziest thing is, over those 1.5 years I've never spent a dime on it or really felt compelled to. I should buy something just because I think they earned it.
purseowner
Member
Half of those are on Vita though, with the added benefit of actual buttons.
Not arguing against the fact that the mobile space has grown positively, but the beefy experiences are still few and far between in comparison.
We have some GAF clans if you two are interested. Super relaxed.
You should join one of the GAF clans. Makes a huge difference having all your requests get filled. With only two people you'll only get 10 commons or 1 rare for each request and the extra 30 commons/3 rares for each request really add up.
Hearthstone and clash royale are both fantastic. Elder Scrolls Legends is also releasing on phones this month and is already on tablet. As mentioned above there's a ton of other great games.
Severed is fantastic as well.
Huh?
However you define "top" e.g. highest rated, most downloaded, most revenue etc most of the top mobile games are definitely not ports.
And mobile doesn't have "limited input options" unless you also want to consider a console controller has "limited input options" because it only has buttons and sticks.
ClayKavalier
Banned
Pretty crappy. It seemed like there was a bit of a heyday around the time games like Sword and Sworcery were coming out, I remember for awhile iOS was the most exciting platform for me personally. There's still great stuff but it's few and far between. For example, take these games.
Some are legitimately great. Sorcery! (and 80 Days by the same dev, which I liked more) are great adventure games and phones/ tablets are a great way to play them.
Monument Valley and Framed are very cool but both came out years ago. They both recently got sequels, which is nice, but games like these feel much rarer now than they did a few years ago. Both of these feel like a tablet is the most natural place to play them, and their touch mechanics feel very natural.
Then there's games like Badlands, which isn't a bad game but feels shoe-horned onto touch devices. I know a lot of people will disagree with that, but I'd far rather play that game with a traditional controller. If you must play a game of that genre on your phone it'll get the job done. And they often impress me with how well they translate controls, but they're still not to a point where I'm going to spend hours with them.
There's definitely resources out there to shift through the shit, and I'm always really appreciative of the iOS posts and threads, but a vast majority of iOS games are idle games, or Candy Crush clones, or pay-to-win things like Clash of Clans. And the cream of the crop like Monument Valley are still typically short and simple. Not surprising at all that many people don't find it worth the effort to seek out the worthwhile stuff. And personally I've played and enjoyed most of the games in that list above but have no idea what's coming out that could be interesting. I occasionally dig through the iOS threads and find something I really enjoy a handful of times per year.
Some are legitimately great. Sorcery! (and 80 Days by the same dev, which I liked more) are great adventure games and phones/ tablets are a great way to play them.
Monument Valley and Framed are very cool but both came out years ago. They both recently got sequels, which is nice, but games like these feel much rarer now than they did a few years ago. Both of these feel like a tablet is the most natural place to play them, and their touch mechanics feel very natural.
Then there's games like Badlands, which isn't a bad game but feels shoe-horned onto touch devices. I know a lot of people will disagree with that, but I'd far rather play that game with a traditional controller. If you must play a game of that genre on your phone it'll get the job done. And they often impress me with how well they translate controls, but they're still not to a point where I'm going to spend hours with them.
There's definitely resources out there to shift through the shit, and I'm always really appreciative of the iOS posts and threads, but a vast majority of iOS games are idle games, or Candy Crush clones, or pay-to-win things like Clash of Clans. And the cream of the crop like Monument Valley are still typically short and simple. Not surprising at all that many people don't find it worth the effort to seek out the worthwhile stuff. And personally I've played and enjoyed most of the games in that list above but have no idea what's coming out that could be interesting. I occasionally dig through the iOS threads and find something I really enjoy a handful of times per year.
I don't wanna do a list and it also depends on what one considers a "beefy experience", but in pure numbers mobile is not lacking in comparison to Vita at this point due to a library size of tens of thousands of titles. Many don't have controller support that's true, but some do which people tend to forget.
2blackcats
Member
Don't play on mobile too often but started Fallout Shelter recently, it's awesome.
More_Badass
Member
Games like this come practically every week, if not every month. It's insanely hard to keep with all the decent to great releases on mobile. It's like PC in that way, there's always something new and promising to check out
In the last few months or so, we got Yankai's Peak, Old Man's Journey, Predynastic Egypt, Topsoil, Onirim, Vignettes, Age of Rivals, Framed 2, Monument Valley 2, Pocket Kingdom, Missile Cards, Card Thief, Ticket To Earth, among others
Honestly, I haven't touched a mobile game for a long time, and I don't think you can compare them apples-to-apples to console games. In terms of the business model and design they're still a lot closer to arcade games and maybe some NES games.
I feel like if developers could get away with selling $30 mobile games they'd already have reached the level of 3DS and Vita games a long time ago, even without buttons.
As things stand now, gaming just isn't how I kill time on my phone, which is odd considering how much I play PC and console games. I can think of two non-port mobile games that have held my attention for more than half an hour: Sworcery and Undercroft. I've downloaded a shitload of games onto my phone but barely touch them because I'm actually more likely to spend that time reading on my phone.
I feel like if developers could get away with selling $30 mobile games they'd already have reached the level of 3DS and Vita games a long time ago, even without buttons.
As things stand now, gaming just isn't how I kill time on my phone, which is odd considering how much I play PC and console games. I can think of two non-port mobile games that have held my attention for more than half an hour: Sworcery and Undercroft. I've downloaded a shitload of games onto my phone but barely touch them because I'm actually more likely to spend that time reading on my phone.
ClayKavalier
Banned
Different strokes, but glancing through those on the App Store, none seem like anything I'm going to divert my limited game-playing time to. Card Thief and the two sequels are great, I've played those. I'm sure the others are very good for phone games, but none of them seem more interesting than Prey, ARMS, and Zelda, the console games I've been playing lately.
As far as having too many releases to keep up with, it seems clear you spend far more time than the average person keeping up on the iOS scene. I'm sure there's some people out there who wish they had the time to sample all the newly bred variants of kumquat on their backlog, but not many people can relate, and that shouldn't be surprising to the kumquat enthusiasts.
This is basically how I feel. It's not fair in many ways to compare console and mobile games, but they're competing for the same time. And there are some games, like the ones I mentioned enjoying above, that I do think are more interesting than most games on other platforms.
But the realities of the iOS marketplace make it so a huge majority of them are not interesting to me, and I'd rather just do a crossword puzzle, browse Twitter, or read GAF during the brief stretches I entertain myself with my phone than play some bullshit clicker game. And again, anything that requires more attention like a Monument Valley is competing with games on other platforms. I'm not going to waste my time with something that's good "for a mobile game."
WaterAstro
Member
Gotta Gatcha them all!