Thanks, all. Lots of stuff to try out here.
As newsletter to which I am subscribed mentioned Alphaputt. Oh holy hell is it beautiful and fun.
Can anyone recommend games that are super-quick to play and have good progression but don't feel overly addictive? I'm just looking for something to encourage me to step away from the computer for a few minutes at work, but won't become obsessive. I've tried games like Tiny Tower, and I love them, but I find it hard to put them down. So maybe this is just a bad idea after all...
Named before over here, but Fairway Solitaire took far more of my time than I wanted, and took far more time than I even want to admit. I had all these beautiful games on my ipad, but ended starting fairway solitair over and over and over again.
As newsletter to which I am subscribed mentioned Alphaputt. Oh holy hell is it beautiful and fun.
That looks incredible! I’m buying it now.
muraii wrote:As newsletter to which I am subscribed mentioned Alphaputt. Oh holy hell is it beautiful and fun.
That looks incredible! I’m buying it now.
It is so much fun. Also I was cussing at it.
That’s just crazy. Also, fun!
Good Lord prison break E is hard.
So, the Elder Scrolls Blades is officially out and (surprise!) it's micro-transaction freemium mobile garbage.
I had high hopes that it would be an open-world style experience on mobile like the Ravensword series. It's not. Go grind, farm materials to upgrade your stuff and your village, and wait for things to finish. Or you can pay gems to speed it up! Here... buy some more gems!
Also, the "levels" are just short hallways and the touch controls for movement are terrible.
Bummer.
So, the Elder Scrolls Blades is officially out and (surprise!) it's micro-transaction freemium mobile garbage.
I had
highhopes that it would be an open-world style experience on mobile like the Ravensword series. It's not. Go grind, farm materials to upgrade your stuff and your village, and wait for things to finish. Or you can pay gems to speed it up! Here... buy some more gems!Also, the "levels" are just short hallways and the touch controls for movement are terrible.
Bummer.
I got the notification it was available and it automatically downloaded to my phone. Logged in, played what appeared to be a 10-second tutorial and... got a message about it being a phased early access - come back later.
As far as micro-transaction trash goes, it’s a free mobile game. So, it’s not like this was unexpected. I’ll probably play for an hour to maybe a week or so and then never touch it again just like almost every other mobile game ever - both free and paid. Except Crashlands. Crashlands was badass.
As far as micro-transaction trash goes, it’s a free mobile game. So, it’s not like this was unexpected.
Agreed. I just wish they would've tried to innovate in this space.
Except Crashlands. Crashlands was badass.
Their site is hilarious and I love that it's a fully paid app! However, the video on the iOS app store is clearly from a version with mouse/keyboard. Does it control well on iOS? Does it use virtual sticks? (I hate those.)
Their site is hilarious and I love that it's a fully paid app! However, the video on the iOS app store is clearly from a version with mouse/keyboard. Does it control well on iOS? Does it use virtual sticks? (I hate those.)
Been a while, but I believe it was point and click and may have had the option to change to single or twin stick. Regardless, it actually handled really well.
I spent weeks after initial release playing on my phone and keeping my laptop nearby to help update the game wiki. Only game that has ever motivated me to be a wiki contributor and I’ve been gaming since the days of Pong. Even more shocking was that it was a mobile game.
I found that Crashlands controlled great on iPad; I found it usable but a little small for comfort on my iPhone at the time.
On that topic: Does Alphaputt play well on phone-size devices, or is it better played on a tablet?
I found that Crashlands controlled great on iPad; I found it usable but a little small for comfort on my iPhone at the time.
On that topic: Does Alphaputt play well on phone-size devices, or is it better played on a tablet?
I’ve only played Alphaputt on my phone (iPhone 7) and don’t sense any limitations. I haven’t noticed wanting to have more room to see things. The zoom and rotate controls are smooth and get me where I need to be, and there’s a button to toggle top-down mode if that’s ya jam.
I hadn’t heard of Crashlands and I’m not into crafting but this guy prefers mobile to keyboard/mouse: https://youtu.be/0laJjVaKVys
I do as well. The touch controls were really well done for Crashlands.
Thirded. I much prefer Crashlands on my iPad to playing on my PC.
I need to get some touchscreen gloves or something, though, because my screen always ends up with smudges all over it!
I do as well. The touch controls were really well done for Crashlands.
I assume you guys are talking about tablet-sized mobile? I found it way too cramped on a phone screen.
athros wrote:I do as well. The touch controls were really well done for Crashlands.
I assume you guys are talking about tablet-sized mobile? I found it way too cramped on a phone screen.
Yeah, I don't generally play many games on my phone that aren't designed for it. Too many UI's that were never optimized for that size
athros wrote:I do as well. The touch controls were really well done for Crashlands.
I assume you guys are talking about tablet-sized mobile? I found it way too cramped on a phone screen.
I played a bunch on my phone (iPhone 6 at the time). I never had an issue with it. iPad Mini was nicer, but the phone was perfectly acceptable.
EDIT: Reinstalled on my 7+. a) Thanks for that, guys. I was wondering what to do with my scads of free time... b) Looks and plays lovely.
Video guy hadn’t yet tried on tablet, just phone vs PC.
merphle wrote:Tscott wrote:Thanks to everyone who mentioned Konami Pixel Puzzle Collection. I just completed 100% of the puzzles. This apparently opens up expert mode which lets you redo all the puzzles, but you can't X out blank squares. So... that's a big NOPE for me, since I've no clue how I could live without that ability.
Ahh, you beat me. I’m at 90% and still chipping away. Great game for the low price of free.
I recently also got to 90%, but I found out I have completed all the non-boss levels. Since the game only allows you to play one boss level every 3 hours, the next 50 puzzles will take a very long time. Not a good way to end, but it has been one of the best Picross games on the iPad.
So, 3 weeks later I've now finished all the boss levels. The expert mode does not allow you to X squares, but if a row is solved, the game will put in the X's for you. Often, I was not using X's already, so I'm going to try to progress through the expert mode. There seems to be some more puzzles added as well. Finally, the boss puzzles are no longer time locked.
This is one of the best Picross apps on the iPad.
I assume you guys are talking about tablet-sized mobile? I found it way too cramped on a phone screen.
I played on an iPhone 5S - pretty small by today's standards at just 4" diagonal- and had no problems with it at all.
Yeah, I don't generally play many games on my phone that aren't designed for it. Too many UI's that were never optimized for that size
Butterscotch Shenanigans started as a mobile developer. Even now, any game you see of theirs on PC was most likely a port. Likewise, Crashlands was built for mobile at a time when most screens were right around the same size as the iPhone 5S.
Actually, one of the lead developers was in the hospital, expecting to die of cancer while they were working on it. He came through and is still one of the founding members of the team. The story is actually a very bittersweet and inspirational read.
https://toucharcade.com/2015/03/27/c...
Video follow-up: http://shawnstruck.blogspot.com/2017...
As I've said, I'm not huge into mobile games and even most of Butterscotch's offerings have only received passing glances, but on a personal level, BS is hands-down my favorite game developer in any game space. Even during a time of great personal tragedy, they were able to push their pet project and continue to infuse it with their unique style of fun and humor.
I don't know that I have the words to do them justice. They fully expected their project to die in a hospital bed with their brother and decided to give it their all anyway. Both the game and their friend ended up walking out of that hospital and the love they have for each other showed in their game. I was grateful to have been a small part of it.
I know the history of BS. I still am more of an iOS gamer than anything else, and when BS was still primarily mobile I was only a iOS gamer.
I just dislike playing games that were designed for tablets on phones. The UI was a bit cramped for my tastes, and the precision of touch movement was degraded because I have fat fingers.
It was posted on facebook that Dungeon Warfare II should be out on "mobile platforms" on April 3rd.
So, the Elder Scrolls Blades is officially out and (surprise!) it's micro-transaction freemium mobile garbage.
I had
highhopes that it would be an open-world style experience on mobile like the Ravensword series. It's not. Go grind, farm materials to upgrade your stuff and your village, and wait for things to finish. Or you can pay gems to speed it up! Here... buy some more gems!Also, the "levels" are just short hallways and the touch controls for movement are terrible.
Bummer.
And after using it for a little while (on Android, not iOS), you find it incentivizes NOT playing -- you earn chests faster than you can open them without using gems. Perhaps that balance will change later on, but right now I've spent a few gems to increase inventory space (the gems do appear as rewards/drops occasionally), and am sitting on a six-hour chest and 15 3-hour chests. I don't mind the limited dungeons so much; it's what I expected on mobile, but the balance of "fun" vs. "grind for materials" appears to have been ignored.
It was posted on facebook that Dungeon Warfare II should be out on "mobile platforms" on April 3rd.
This is wonderful news. I love the first.
muraii wrote:As newsletter to which I am subscribed mentioned Alphaputt. Oh holy hell is it beautiful and fun.
That looks incredible! I’m buying it now.
Alphaputt was on sale yesterday at $1.99 and I grabbed it for my kids. Not sure how long it will stay in rotation, but they loved it.
New Zombicide game: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zomb...
.....is single player. Bought just now and will give thoughts later. Note I've never played Zombicide.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/0...
Edit 1: I played through the first two Zones totaling 10 maps. I have access two five characters and have not bought/unlocked any additional ones.
Good: The scenario format is alright as the game has a lot of different types of missions and interactions. The game moves quickly because of the bookkeeping being done for you....I probably would not want to play this solo as a tabletop game. Finding and trying out the next character abilities and weapons is a classic gameplay loop and it is done well here. Being able to replay maps and try to Perfect them by not taking damage and earning more currency is a nice fun challenge. The spawn points spit out new zombies every turn which is a nice way to keep up pressure. Even when getting Overrun you earn currency for each kill that survives the party wipe. The BUY buttons on the DLC characters don't seem to actually do anything.
Not for me: As you unlock new stuff, the difficulty so far is mostly ramping up by just ticking up the stats on the zombies little by little each map. On one map I was only slightly less powerful than the onrushing horde....it took probably 20 minutes of me scraping away as many as I could for currency before they finally wiped me...I guess the currency might be worth it but it was far from fun. The UI when trying to scroll and view your characters and weapons is touchy....if you so much as tap on the screen where an upgrade button will be, it will do so and use your currency.
So I might play Zone 3 but I completely wore myself out of dungeon crawls with such basic combat systems from far too much time spent on the Diablo series and occasionally an MMO, so Zombicide doesn't seem to be my cup of tea.
edit 2: I completed Zone 3, which introduced more zombie types and, more importantly for me, required fully exploiting the different class skills on the different characters. And I liked it. I liked it so much that I also completed Zone 4, and now my team is a varied bunch of badasses. I look forward to playing through the remaining zones 5-8 and seeing where this goes.
(Re-adding the cross-post link to the Big Board Gaming Catch-All)
I took a look at the Zombicide page in the App Store. I’m kind of on the fence about whether or not I want to play it. It looks exactly like the board game, which I have mixed feelings about. Your edit #2 makes me a little more intrigued than I had been.
Here's a bit more about it from the Big Board Gaming Catch-all.
Re: Zombicide app...Igneus wrote:What I don't like is that seeing weapon stats while in a character is not able to be done properly. To see important things like dice count you have to keep going out and checking the weapon in the armory.
YES! This is awful. Especially for someone like me who hasn't played the board game.
A related annoying minor mistake is that the weapon stats screen, on adjacent lines of text, uses two different definitions of "range": (1) the distance at which a weapon may engage targets, e.g. 0-1 or 1-3, and (2) mathematical range, i.e. how much variation is there in how much damage the weapon does, e.g. 20-26 damage per hit. Does the board game suffer this ambiguity too?
Igneus wrote:The Assassin class is basically useless since all of its weapon dice is a count of 1. So even dual wielding you can hit 2 monsters, semi hard....Sure the assassin character Wanda can move a bunch but why run when you can stroll sucking up the cans of food every destroyed zombie has stored on their persons.
I actually use Assassin Wanda on most missions and have absolutely no use for the Scout Amy. Wanda is my weapon collector, button presser, and door opener. Everyone else in the party is there for firepower. And with the way I have Wanda equipped, with one knife and one revolver, she can one-hit kill many of the zombies either in her zone or the next one, which can prove very useful if I need the others' firepower for crowd control. Amy, on the other hand, is neither great at maneuver nor great at firepower. She also only uses melee weapons. By using Wanda like this instead of just another firepower character I get a lot more flexibility to move the guns forward while she runs around doing all the non-bang-bang work like collecting every single weapon on every map. (I have Perfect on all the maps through Zone 4.)
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