f13.net

Concept: Here's some generic fantasy elements stacked on top of a badly conceived puzzle combat system. Buy it and rave about it because you loved Bejeweled so much.

I tried it. It was neat for about 30 minutes and then enemies started getting like 20 fucking 4-in-a-rows to my single combo.

Me: Ahah. *carefully matches 3 skulls, leaving no visible skull combinations*
Enemy: *Matches some random set of mana, gets 10 combos, 3 sets of skulls from the sky, then uses all of its abilities at once*
Me: *is dead*

What a stupid game. And this is coming from someone who has played Lumines in 3 hour stretches.

I grabbed the demo of this last night.  I agree, it's bullshit how many pre-formed combos drop from the top of the screen.  They need to randomize that shit better.

I played this for an hour or two the other night.  It was amusing... I played a wizard, finished the demo and hit level cap.  Only died once, and it was due to me hitting the wrong thing(stupid laptop touchpad).

I do agree with the NPC combo chains, tho, they were occasionally nuts.  Some fights were very close because of them.

I'll prolly play it some more, try the other classes.  The idea of combat-bejeweled was kinda amusing.  It's certainly not ZOMG GRATE@@!!!!11, tho.

--
Alkiera

I love it.  I didn't have the same problem with getting owned as you seem to have and, frankly, when I did it was frustrating fun, rather than frustrating psychosis.  Items and different spells and skills used properly really tip the odds in your favour; as a Wizard I couldn't beat the troll without my own troll ring and gratuitous use of Mana Burn to stop the fucker regenerating.

The wife also loved the casual puzzle type fun.

Make no mistake, it's not a hardcore game as such, but it is perfect for the mobile platforms it's release on and for the IT Manager on a long train journey to Aberdeen.

Sorry, I'm sold on it.

I've pretty much beaten the demo to death (got all the runes, crafted all the items I might want, conquered both cities, built all the buildings, tamed a giant rat, learned all the spells) and might have to get the DS version soon.  It is pretty addictive.

I still think it'd be better if combos didn't drop from the top preformed.   :-P  OtOH, once you know to watch out for that, you can incorporate it into your strategy by trying to limit how much new stuff falls from the top.  I had a really fun time fighting the troll as a low level warrior by carefully keeping him from getting any skulls or yellow mana so that I could slowly wear him down.

Agree with Samwise.  You have to watch the top of the screen like a hawk, if dropping a column could conceivably put something dangerous in reach for the monster to do the next turn, avoid doing so if you can.  If you see a pair of skulls or a mana color the monster needs to rape you, avoid dropping columns near them, because odds are good that you'll be handing the monster what it needs on a silver platter.

I played the demo, and it was horrible. Puzzle Pirates is 10x as engaging.

Donkey!

I found it addicting as well, which is a total shame since there's no full version for PC  :|

Damn you for tricking me into downloading a demo for which there isn't even a full PC version announced  :-P

There is a PC Version coming out. As well as XBLA.

I would buy this on XBLA without a second thought.  I just can't bank on when it will ever show up.  I keep reading about neat things that are coming for XBLA like Catan and log on Wednesdays and see things like Castlevania.  It makes me sad.

vex

I'm scared of Castlevania being used that way.

Anyway, Catan is basically done. AFAIK, Big Huge Games actually finished it a while ago. I don't know what the holdup is.

Where's that announced ?

Picked up the full version for the PSP and am enjoying it.  Lite distracting fun.  Training up mounts, capturing foes, making equipment, about the only thing i haven;'t tried yet is sieging a city to build an empire but I'll get there.

Spells > Skulls.

See this is the sort of take good core game plus extenders and tweaks I wish someone would do with the MtG license, only online and persistant.  Fuckin WotC....

I can't stop playing this. I've got it going on PSP AND DS. I'm using the same class on both! Portable killer app, doesn't matter which system you buy it for (psp looks and plays better, GUFFAW, who'd have thought).

I played more of the demo, and I actually don't hate it as much as I did to start with. Sieging cities gives you an unholy amount of income, which I trained up my skills with. I also found all the runes in the demo which is a pretty neat distraction for crafting.

It's still pretty annoying they released a computer demo with no way to buy a PC version. I could actually see myself buying this if it were moderately priced (ie - $30 like it is now for DS)

I would recommend that someone trying this game out for the first time stay the fuck away from the wizard class.  I've played all of the classes except Knight pretty extensively now, and it is my opinion that wizards are fucking gimpy, at least up to level 7.  Having special abilities/spells that affect the game board is really crucial, and wizards don't get any.  Bah!

Druid is really fun, though.  Between things like lightning strike, entangle, and evaporation, you can string together some truly sick combos that would probably earn you a punch in the arm from a human opponent.

Knights get "stun" before level 7. It gives you another free turn and does 5 points of damage. On top of that, as long as you have the mana on the next turn, you can chain them together. Get two full red and green bars, and you can literally take about 8 turns in a row, not counting your chains or extras. It's godly.

Big warrior fan here myself--hide (learned from a captured goblin) combined with throw axe to keep from changing the board puts the AI on the "must change the board" mode, and every time a good combo drops, I nail him for 14-27 pts of damage.

Only thing that challenges me at all is the hefty citadel on "choose opponent", and only when I don't scale him to my level.


I don't like puzzle games much, and I hate bubble poppers. I played this for 31 hours in a single weekend (friday to sunday), and have been playing at least several hours a day, and can't stop....must...stop....can't....stop....

It's almost too easy to kick ass as a warrior, because you've always got options, even on a board that seemingly doesn't present any.  Lots of skulls on the board but no way to connect them?  Throw axe.  Need to make these pieces vanish to make that nice combo fall into place?  Spin attack.  Just want to shake things up?  Cleave.  Warrior has all the flexibility that wizard sorely lacks.

I don't think I even tried any of those skills in combination with Hide.  Sounds gruesome.

Thrust is actually deadly when used craftily.

And Seiging is HARD.

I have completed everything on the demo in every class.

I demand a PC version and I demand it now.  Otherwise, I'm popping out and buying a portable rig.  Which is fucking silly for a man of my age.

Indeed! I already browsed the local store if they have Puzzle Quest for either of the handhelds. Luckily for me they haven't. But I don't know how much longer I can resist just ordering it online.

That game is evil! Plus either I am going mad or there are Warlords references all over the game. Which was my favourite TBS for a long long time.

Edit: Ah, thats where Steve Fawkner went. At least I'm not mad  :-D

This game sorta mimics exactly what I had in mind for an MMO-ish Magic the Gathering. Only with Bejeweled. And only one large landmass and one player. But the proof of addictiveness is there.

Yeah, it was the first thing that struck me as well.  I still have no idea why they haven't done something similar.

You don't remember MTG by Microprose? Plus the two expansion packs, Spells of the Ancients and Duels of the Planeswalkers? It was very much like this. I totally loved the game.

I want to play the full PC version, dammit.

I loved that Mircoprose game.  Still have them and occasionally still play them.  It would be an easy fit to adapt that concept to an MMO but NOOOOOO, those fuckheads at WotC can't even program a revision to their client correctly, let alone try a new business model that would in no way compete with their paper market and not have to deal with their "virtual items" crap.  Bitter? Yes I'm bitter.

To rerail, just tried a siege at level 14; 200+ HP on them walls.  Who needs spells when your that beefy?

Yes.  I still have them.  I also have the Encyclopedia which was pre-MTGO.  There was also a wee addon for the Microprose one that allowed duels. 

However, that's not the point.  Stick Magic on a handheld with wireless head to head ???  WHY NOT ALREADY ?

I don't get it.

How do you get to run MtG on modern machines? I still have both the game and the expansion, but they hate my XP.

yeah i am still on the fence with this game... i guess i like it. but i hate bejewled so i am conflicted. the game could have been better. i need to see some high level matches to make sure it is even playable like that. all in all i am having a decent time with it.

Christ, I haven't tried in ages, but I seem to remember sticking them in 95 mode worked for me...

http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=42584&mode=thread&order=0

In case anyone was still wondering.

So I'm kinda pissed off about all the secrecy about the PC release date. Anybody have some inside scoop about what's going on there? I'd actually purchase this game if they'd hurry up and get it out.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070717005474&newsLang=en (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070717005474&newsLang=en)

UPDATE: Puzzle Quest announced for PS2 and PC for early 2008. That's good news that they've finally admitted it's coming to PC after getting us hooked on the demo, but it's bad news that we have to wait ~6 more months to get our hands on a game that's been out on DS since April.

Now that I caved and bought the DS they release a date. I'm sure the PC version is ready and waiting to be released. Damn them. At least I can say I don't have to wait.

I really, really, really don't understand what the holdup for the PC is.

Really.

It basically is a deal with the publisher. They want to saturate the Handheld market before giving away the PC copy to be torrented.

Because stealing games on consoles is harder, you have to buy extra hardware.

More than likely, Microsoft asked to delay the PC version until the XBLA version has been out for a few months.