iOS Games Thread Catch All

Natus? Listen to the nice Ranger....

I’ve been playing Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space, a free JRPG from some people behind Chrono Trigger. I’m about 3 hours in and it seems like the best original JRPG I’ve ever played on mobile. Here’s a link to a Kotaku writer’s thoughts:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sour...

You all exert too much control over my life.

I've joined the Star Traders ranks: https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/...

Yeah, same here. I ended up getting Star Traders on PC based on the talk in this thread, and so far my reaction has been: "Where has this game been all my life..." I suspect getting it on mobile would cause major disruptions to my productivity. Is it even playable on a phone? There are so many tiny UI elements!

I'm running it on an ancient iPhone 6s Plus and it looks fine. I think that's a 5" screen?

They made some smart decisions in scaling the UI to smaller screens (pop-out side bar menus, etc).

Blind_Evil wrote:

I’ve been playing Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space, a free JRPG from some people behind Chrono Trigger. I’m about 3 hours in and it seems like the best original JRPG I’ve ever played on mobile. Here’s a link to a Kotaku writer’s thoughts:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sour...

I put in an hour of so last night. The Chrono Trigger influence is very heavy, to the point that it almost feels like a re-interpretation.

I'm very interested to see how this goes over the next few hours as so far it has been a story driven JRPG, without any micro transactions or energy gates.

Really liking Another Eden. Anyone know if there is any reason to save up my free Chronos Stones or should I just spend them on summons as they come in? Also what do I do with all the 3 star characters that get summoned? It seems a waste to try and lvl them up if I have 4 star characters to use instead?

Another upvote for Another Eden. I actually passed it by thinking it wouldn't pique my interest. I typically fall off of mobile games within a week or two max anyway. You guys kept talking about it and I figured "what the hell" and loaded it up while my morning coffee was brewing yesterday.

...I barely got any work done all day.

It's a surprise to see a free game that doesn't pull out all the F2P clichés to try and nickel and dime you to death.

Yes please.

Nomad wrote:

Really liking Another Eden. Anyone know if there is any reason to save up my free Chronos Stones or should I just spend them on summons as they come in? Also what do I do with all the 3 star characters that get summoned? It seems a waste to try and lvl them up if I have 4 star characters to use instead?

Maybe if you've got a boss to beat that is vulnerable to the special moves from those characters, it would be worth it. But certainly the first several chapters of the game don't have that kind of challenge, unless you're going after the optional boss fights.

Well Aldo and another main character are stuck at 50, due to the bottleneck of collecting bits to go from 3-4 stars. Overall it’s still a very strong game, but the endgame can be painfully tedious.

They want you to buy some bits I guess?

Mr GT Chris wrote:

They want you to buy some bits I guess?

Sort of. The stuff needs to be farmed from a dungeon that needs a key. The drop rate is very low. You get four keys a day, or you can buy them with shards that either take a long time to collect or you can buy with real money.

That's some real crap. Not worth starting to play with knowledge of that.

Nomad wrote:
Mr GT Chris wrote:

They want you to buy some bits I guess?

Sort of. The stuff needs to be farmed from a dungeon that needs a key. The drop rate is very low. You get four keys a day, or you can buy them with shards that either take a long time to collect or you can buy with real money.

Is this after the main storyline is finished, or does it come in sooner than that?

I'm about 10 hours in or so (a decent way into the third world) and so far the lack of anything pushing me to spend money, wait x minutes before making another move, or log-in every x hours to get a special drop has been amazing. This feels like a game I could (should?) have just paid $10-20 upfront for and i would have been perfectly happy with that.

I think I’m at the very end. Just got the drop tonight so I’m good to go again.

Evolution is out on iOS, Android, and PC! AWESOME! Search for "Evolution: The Video Game".

One of my favorite games going digital. There are no best strategies in Evolution; it’s not a broken game. To win you must understand not just all the cards and mechanics but also the overall game state and each player’s options in each game, and adapt accordingly.

Digital homepage

Here is the end state of my first game after launch:
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/DKEN4mX.jpg)

Scores:
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ueErz1m.jpg)

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

One finger death punch?

Although..... My current mobile downtime beau is Duolingo. Learn a language in 5 minute increments!

¡Estudio español, mi amigo! Es muy divertido

charlemagne wrote:

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

What kinds of games do you like?

My go to ios games are Ascension (played against the cpu), and Polytopia. I don’t think you can get a full game in within 10 minutes for either, but they’re turn based so it’s not a problem to stop and resume whenever.

athros wrote:
charlemagne wrote:

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

What kinds of games do you like?

Ah good question, sorry! I’ll play pretty much anything. Favourite games are rougelikes or anything with a good story, but I’ve been curious about the digital translations of board games which seems to be a thing on iOS.

charlemagne wrote:

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

Sid Meier's Ace Patrol (and the other one, Pacific skies is even better)
Landgrabbers
San Juan
Frozen Synapse

Apart from Frozen synapse these games don't have much dept, but I love love love playing them now and again.

charlemagne wrote:

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

I've been playing Carrot Defense. It's a really enjoyable tower defense, great on the iPad. Each level is about 10 minutes. There are at least 150 levels (not sure exactly - I haven't gotten to the end of the map), plus a daily level. Free, with absolutely no need to spend money on IAPs, and no intrusive advertising.

charlemagne wrote:

Ah good question, sorry! I’ll play pretty much anything. Favourite games are rougelikes or anything with a good story, but I’ve been curious about the digital translations of board games which seems to be a thing on iOS.

You’re in luck on Roguelikes:
Michael Brough - most of these are quick to pick up and play. They also have a solid quick save every turn with easy resume when the app is reopened. I’d recommend looking for videos of how they play before buying them. All cost some amount of money.

Others that I’d recommend:

  • Hoplite - far more tactical and a puzzle. All moves are easily calculate-able just by viewing the board state.
  • HyperRogue - a score chaser and somewhat mind bending on the view
  • Pathos: Nethack Codex - loosely based on Nethack. Totally free.
  • Ananias Fellowship - very interesting roguelike. Has a PC version that I believe you can try out.
  • Pixel Dungeon - a good, almost traditional roguelike. Built for mobile.
  • iNethack 2 - Nethack v. 3.4.3. It might be a bit cramped on your phone but it is the full 3.4.3 Nethack release.

There are more, but I’d only recommend them if you ever get an iPad (and some are iPad only).

Board games are all over the place, so I’d ask you to be more specific on what you prefer there - American? Euro? Style? etc etc etc.

DonD wrote:
charlemagne wrote:

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

I've been playing Carrot Defense. It's a really enjoyable tower defense, great on the iPad. Each level is about 10 minutes. There are at least 150 levels (not sure exactly - I haven't gotten to the end of the map), plus a daily level. Free, with absolutely no need to spend money on IAPs, and no intrusive advertising.

Free, no IAP... are there ads?

BadKen wrote:
DonD wrote:
charlemagne wrote:

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

I've been playing Carrot Defense. It's a really enjoyable tower defense, great on the iPad. Each level is about 10 minutes. There are at least 150 levels (not sure exactly - I haven't gotten to the end of the map), plus a daily level. Free, with absolutely no need to spend money on IAPs, and no intrusive advertising.

Free, no IAP... are there ads?

Just picked it up. From what I've seen so far - about 5 missions in - you can choose to watch ads to get ~20 gems for IAPs, but I haven't been forced to watch any ads so far.

Looking at my phone for what I play when waiting for a computer to reboot ot something to install I see

Solitaire city, drop 7, and Sudoku

They are all easy to play in short bursts, save your game progress, load fast and are easy to kind of numb out and play.

I recommend Paint it Back

vypre wrote:
BadKen wrote:
DonD wrote:
charlemagne wrote:

Can anyone recommend me a game good for 10-ish minute bursts? I have a lot of short waits at work and instead of staring into nothingness or refreshing instagram again it might be nice to play something quickly. I’d be using a first-gen 10.5” iPad pro, if that changes anything.

I've been playing Carrot Defense. It's a really enjoyable tower defense, great on the iPad. Each level is about 10 minutes. There are at least 150 levels (not sure exactly - I haven't gotten to the end of the map), plus a daily level. Free, with absolutely no need to spend money on IAPs, and no intrusive advertising.

Free, no IAP... are there ads?

Just picked it up. From what I've seen so far - about 5 missions in - you can choose to watch ads to get ~20 gems for IAPs, but I haven't been forced to watch any ads so far.

This kind of makes me suspicious. Free apps with no ads or IAPs are unicorns. The app publisher is trying to make money somehow, and if that somehow is not visible, it might be nefarious. If they make enough money from optional ad watching, that's fine. But if that is the only way they make money, then the game will be designed somehow, perhaps subtly, to make players want to watch those ads.

I'm not trying to poop on anyone who loves the game. If it's fun and it hasn't messed with your device, then that's great. I'm just super paranoid after all the stories about apps doing underhanded crap behind the scenes.