Plants Vs. Zombies Catch-All

I played the demo and really liked it. Somehow I just wish you wouldn't have to click on the suns. What I like about TD games is that I can be doing something else at the same time, and build towers and watch what happens. Here my mouse pointer is always needed in the game window =\

wahwah wrote:

I played the demo and really liked it. Somehow I just wish you wouldn't have to click on the suns. What I like about TD games is that I can be doing something else at the same time, and build towers and watch what happens. Here my mouse pointer is always needed in the game window =

I actually had this same exact thought at first but then quickly forgot about it. After a while you realize that things would get kind of boring if you didn't have sun/money/etc to keep your eyes darting around in the search for loot.

Mystic Violet wrote:

Both. The problem is that PvZ's resolution is 800x600. I keep it in a window because the game in full screen mode is stretched significantly. ;)

That's my only disappointment with the game, really. If this was vector art and could be drawn at my native monitor resolution, it would be even more fabulous.

Hypatian wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

Both. The problem is that PvZ's resolution is 800x600. I keep it in a window because the game in full screen mode is stretched significantly. ;)

That's my only disappointment with the game, really. If this was vector art and could be drawn at my native monitor resolution, it would be even more fabulous.

Also, steam pop-ups take up the right 2 squares of the bottom 2 rows, making it difficult to see what's going on. Not a problem until 8 people start up Left4Dead back to back with some invites thrown in.

Mystic Violet wrote:

Both.

So much for waiting for the 360 version. ENABLER!

Al wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

Both.

So much for waiting for the 360 version. ENABLER!

CONFORM!

Honestly, I'm not sure how this game would fare with the use of a controller. It can get pretty fast-paced at times and scrolling through every selection would drive me insane. I'm not sure how a player would grab the sun power either. PvZ is a game built for the keyboard/mouse.

MeatMan wrote:

My only complaint (if you can call it that) is that the lawn mowers make the game too easy. I'm only about halfway done at the moment (just entered the backyard), and from what I've read here, it gets harder towards the end, so maybe I'll actually fail a level at some point and have to retry.

No kidding. I'm on level 5-4 and I still haven't lost. Every time I think I've lost a round, the lawnmower kicks in and saves the day.

Also, what I discovered last night is how easy it is to save yourself. For example, let's say that you have a Wallnut in place that is about to be destroyed. As long as you have the sun power, you can place another plant in that square the second the previous plant is destroyed. There have been a few times when I've replaced a Wallnut with another Wallnut in the exact same square. I don't know why that's allowed. Shouldn't zombies have control of the squares they're standing on?

Mystic Violet wrote:

Shouldn't zombies have control of the squares they're standing on?

I thought the same thing but can't complain when I am able to put some item on top of the zombie, but it is kind of strange when you are allowed to do that.

probably a silly question for a Tower Defense game, but does this game feature some kind of story mode? I always get my hopes up for a TD game with a story arc, and from bits & pieces it has at least a little bit of one. Any confirmation/denial?

It has a lot of ongoing jokes, but it would be a stretch to call it a story.

I finished Adventure Mode and all of the puzzles tonight.

Zombies ate my brains a few times on the last set of levels. I still don't really know how I survived the final round.

I had a work related late night update yesterday, which involved a lot of waiting. (I work at an IT company) I spent the first part of the evening listening to the podcast, which featured Rabbit's Raving Review of PvZ, so I read the article too. While doing the work stuff on my macbook I had my Windows PC booting up steam and checked out the store; 10 euros.... Couldn't resist. Played the first 10 or so levels, after that I had to do some more work, got an A-OK from the customer and went to sleep. Not a bad way to spend your evening. Will definately be playing some more tonight...

I wish I had PvZ on my work PC...

So I'm watching TV, sitting in front of my computer, exhausted and without the mental acuity to attempt an in-depth game like COD4 or GoW. SimCity4 had just crashed as I was building up (Jack) Bauertown so I was a bit burned out on that. I needed something light and I'd played too much Bejeweled Blitz that day.

Long story short, I bought it.

Okay, I'm in.

One question, though. How taxing is it on PCs?

I know PopCap is infamous for keeping their games spec-friendly, but I'm just curious. My laptop can't run any Steam games from Xbox (1) level on up. For reference, I can run BookWorm Adventures and World of Goo just fine on my laptop.

Aaron D. wrote:

Okay, I'm in.

One question, though. How taxing is it on PCs?

I know PopCap is infamous for keeping their games spec-friendly, but I'm just curious. My laptop can't run any Steam games from Xbox (1) level on up. For reference, I can run BookWorm Adventures and World of Goo just fine on my laptop.

You'll be fine. Worst case scenario you have to uncheck the 3D acceleration setting, the lone option you have to modify stuff. You know, so you can scale back that wicked 2-D animation. I'd say you're in luck Aaron.

Question for the rest of you: Can I transfer my save game (from work to home, heh)? I can't seem to find the directory / files.

# Processor: 1.2GHz processor
# Memory: 512+MB of RAM
# Graphics: 128MB of video memory, 16-bit or 32-bit color quality
# DirectX: 8 or later
# Hard Drive: 65+MB of free hard drive space
# Sound: DirectX-compatible sound

Sounds like you're probably going to be fine as long as your laptop is from this decade.

I've logged nine hours in this game over the past two days. My wife thinks I've lost my mind.

Dax wrote:

Question for the rest of you: Can I transfer my save game (from work to home, heh)? I can't seem to find the directory / files.

You can, but from what I've heard it's kind of in an obscure location.

I'm guessing it's somewhere in the Documents & Settings folder, because I just installed Windows 7--keeping my Steam folder but wiping my boot drive--and I lost my savegame.

wonderpug wrote:
Dax wrote:

Question for the rest of you: Can I transfer my save game (from work to home, heh)? I can't seem to find the directory / files.

You can, but from what I've heard it's kind of in an obscure location.

I'm guessing it's somewhere in the Documents & Settings folder, because I just installed Windows 7--keeping my Steam folder but wiping my boot drive--and I lost my savegame.

You absolutely can! I did this yesterday (but didn't load the updated savegame back to this laptop this morning... stupid dentist appointment!) and finished the story campaign while recovering a laptop one of my clients managed to pooch.

The file locations are different depending on your operating system and if you bought the game from PopCap or Steam.

The Steam/Vista solution is: Enable "Show Hidden Files and Folders"
Go to C:\ProgramData\Steam\PlantsVsZombies\userdata
Copy/Paste... Done!

EDIT: I think it's the same location for Windows 7
EDIT2: Fixed the path, maybe you can just do a console command copy paste without having to enable view hidden

Aaron D. wrote:

Okay, I'm in.

One question, though. How taxing is it on PCs?

I know PopCap is infamous for keeping their games spec-friendly, but I'm just curious. My laptop can't run any Steam games from Xbox (1) level on up. For reference, I can run BookWorm Adventures and World of Goo just fine on my laptop.

Check out the system requirements, they're pretty low (512 ram, 128 meg graphics card, etc).

On my gaming machine, I don't have even the slightest bit of slowdown (Flash Tower Defenses will often bring my machine to a screeching hault). Even with a screen full of plants that fire 4 or 5 shots at once, my computer doesn't suffer (although my brain can't really handle it).

Edit: Well f*ck. That's what I get for reading 15 other threads before this and not refreshing before I post.

Kewl.

Thanks gang.

Looking forward to giving the game a go tonight.

Aaron D. wrote:

Kewl.

Thanks gang.

Looking forward to giving the game a go tonight.

Just remember to hit the help button on the title screen to help you get your bearings before your first game.

wonderpug wrote:

Just remember to hit the help button on the title screen to help you get your bearings before your first game.

Good point! It really helped put a lot of the choices you make into perspective.
That said, I found a readme text file that helped flesh out some of the more obscure modes once you begin unlocking stuff. I'll see if I can find a link to it, but I'm at work and a lot of stuff is blocked. It should be fairly easy to locate either on the Steam info site or on PopCap.

Really wish I could play some more. Begouled is awesome!

EDIT: Found it.
WARNING: CONTENT SPOILERS! SPOILERS!!!!!
[quote=No Really, this page will tell you stuff about the game you may not want to know yet]
Helpful Readme that will tell you stuff about the game you may not want to know yet.

Thanks for the tips.

I'll definitely check out the Help files, esp. since this is my first Tower Defense game!

Sometimes coin collection gets hectic: I know I miss several. Small, but I wish there was some sort of reward for efficient resource management. It's a small thing but it'd be a nice balance to try to save as many suns as possible while still trying to survive.

Dax wrote:

Question for the rest of you: Can I transfer my save game (from work to home, heh)? I can't seem to find the directory / files.

Hey Dax! The directory in XP is: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\plants vs zombies\userdata

Glad to help out such a highly esteemed and attractive goodger!

Dax wrote:
Dax wrote:

Question for the rest of you: Can I transfer my save game (from work to home, heh)? I can't seem to find the directory / files.

Hey Dax! The directory in XP is: C:Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\plants vs zombies\userdata

Glad to help out such a highly esteemed and attractive goodger!

Thanks! I never would have found it under the 'common' directory- and you're not so bad yerself by the way!

Zombies on Your Lawn - Japanese Version.

So I downloaded the PvZ demo off Steam last night, played a couple levels, saw that it ran as smooth as butter, and promptly purchased the full game.

I only had time to go through the first 7 levels or so, but I had a total blast the whole way through. Fun, charming, polished, streamlined and addictive are the words that immediately come to mind, but that shouldn't be news as many seem to share the same sentiment.

I did realize last night that PopCap is really an odd bird. They're billed a "casual" games developer and I mostly agree, but their releases really seem to bridge the gap between casual and hardcore audiences.

When I think of casual software, I usually dismissively write it off as fitness & cooking programs, brain games, pet simulators and other non-game fare. Sure there's casual games too, like card and board video games, but again, most of it just seems to scream shallow' to me. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, but it just doesn't compel me.

Back to PopCap. So they also make casual games, but conversely, they seem to have mastered the art of simple addictive gameplay wrapped in a friendly and eye-catching, minimalist presentation. It's just nutty how well they are able to cater to a variety of gamer-types.