• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

iOS Gaming Dec/Jan: GET

J

JCho133

Member
Holy cow! Blek is coming to 3DS!!

It's great to see iOS games expanding

And Puzzle and Dragons Z looks super cool, as well as that Mario edition
 
A

awp69

Member
JCho133 said:
Holy cow! Blek is coming to 3DS!!

It's great to see iOS games expanding

And Puzzle and Dragons Z looks super cool, as well as that Mario edition
Click to expand...

Be a real man and forget about Puzzles & Dragons. Get Hero Emblems, screw freemium and enjoy a hard core match 3 RPG!!!

:)
 
G

gazele

Banned
That WWE Immortals game (basically a re-skin of the Injustice game) is out now if anyone is interested in checking it out

I'll give it a shot but as with all F2P games I'll probably get bored of it quick
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Anyone in here still keeping up with Kairosoft's releases? I have some iTunes bux and an itch for one of their games. What's the best of their output over the past year?
 
O

OccamsBlender

Member
JCho133 said:
Out There is an absolute must have, definitely pick it up.
Click to expand...

Out There looks great! I loved 80 Days, this looks like it has everything I loved and then some with a new flavor.

Been trying the puzzles Badass recommended, so far so good!

Any good short RPGs? I'm about to beat Secret of Mana iOS and I'd like to find some shorter RPGs. I know the Dragon Quest games are great but they're massive! I'm looking for a commute friendly RPG.

Thanks!
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Shadowmatic finally released! Been waiting for this for a while
https://appsto.re/us/AYXpU.i
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBMVAfnmkC0
2.jpg


shadowmatic.jpg
Click to expand...
 
M

More_Badass

Member
OccamsBlender said:
Out There looks great! I loved 80 Days, this looks like it has everything I loved and then some with a new flavor.

Been trying the puzzles Badass recommended, so far so good!

Any good short RPGs? I'm about to beat Secret of Mana iOS and I'd like to find some shorter RPGs. I know the Dragon Quest games are great but they're massive! I'm looking for a commute friendly RPG.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Tactics Maiden is a really good SRPG.
Everybody's been praising Hero Emblems, so that's worth a look
 
W

Wthermans

Banned
awp69 said:
Just caught up to you and, yeah, that Cloisters battle is pretty tough. Came close to defeating him once, but need to keep at it.

All of my emblems are still on the first (300 coin) upgrade. Wondering if I need to get the next upgrades before moving on? Think they're 2000 coins so will take some grinding but love the gameplay enough to not mind.

If I anyone has gotten past that area with just the first upgrades, I'll just keep going at it and just try to keep planning ahead on each battle.

I don't get to play as often as I like. Just amazing to think I've already sunk 4.5 hours into the game and am still on the first continent. Long game, which is great because I'm loving every minute of it -- even when I lose!
Click to expand...
I did it with only the 300 coin emblems. I had 5, 5-match blocks though. I just combined 2, 5-match blocks, DPS like crazy (while using Crosses to clear the debuff), then another 2, 5-match block combo.

Just finished grinding the 2K emblems and moved to the second continent. All heroes are level 15 right now.
 
O

OccamsBlender

Member
More_Badass said:
Shadowmatic finally released! Been waiting for this for a while
https://appsto.re/us/AYXpU.i
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBMVAfnmkC0
Click to expand...
This looks totally sweet!!

More_Badass said:
Tactics Maiden is a really good SRPG.
Everybody's been praising Hero Emblems, so that's worth a look
Click to expand...
I'll give TM a try, I love FFT!
Everyone seems to be raving over Hero Emblem's Match 3 more than storyline or other things RPGs are usually played for. I know Kemco has a dizzying number of JRPGs out but I've heard they are really hit or miss. Anyone here managed to sort the good from the bad?
 
A

awp69

Member
OccamsBlender said:
This looks totally sweet!!


I'll give TM a try, I love FFT!
Everyone seems to be raving over Hero Emblem's Match 3 more than storyline or other things RPGs are usually played for. I know Kemco has a dizzying number of JRPGs out but I've heard they are really hit or miss. Anyone here managed to sort the good from the bad?
Click to expand...

There are some really good Kemco games and some just okay ones. But my personal favorite is Fantasy Chronicle. Very polished, great story and some unique ideas. It's been out for a few years and yet I still consider it to be their best.
 
O

okno

Member
Honestly, Hero's Emblem isn't the most amazing game ever. The story is generic as all hell, the characters are trite and the only unique thing it has going for it is how but used the match-3 mechanic in battles. This part about the game works very, very well, because you have to think about every match you make and can't do things just willy nilly. Matching pieces does not afford you points. It will either heal you, increase your defense, attack the opponent, or unleash a skill. There is, of course, an element of randomness to deal with, but the game seems mostly fair. It's rare that a board feels unfair, and the challenge from the game truly comes from playing the game at its own game. The game is unrelenting and unforgiving, but it is incredibly rewarding and when you do well and beat that boss, you feel like you actually did what had to be done to win and didn't win by just pure luck and randomness.

That's why I love the game. I will say the game is doing a very good job at pissing me the fuck off enough to stop playing for a bit, but I have no plans on giving up.
 
A

awp69

Member
okno said:
Honestly, Hero's Emblem isn't the most amazing game ever. The story is generic as all hell, the characters are trite and the only unique thing it has going for it is how but used the match-3 mechanic in battles. This part about the game works very, very well, because you have to think about every match you make and can't do things just willy nilly. Matching pieces does not afford you points. It will either heal you, increase your defense, attack the opponent, or unleash a skill. There is, of course, an element of randomness to deal with, but the game seems mostly fair. It's rare that a board feels unfair, and the challenge from the game truly comes from playing the game at its own game. The game is unrelenting and unforgiving, but it is incredibly rewarding and when you do well and beat that boss, you feel like you actually did what had to be done to win and didn't win by just pure luck and randomness.

That's why I love the game. I will say the game is doing a very good job at pissing me the fuck off enough to stop playing for a bit, but I have no plans on giving up.
Click to expand...

I can agree with you that the story is nothing special. But the gameplay alone makes it an amazing game to me at least. And you hit it spot on as far as that goes. This game takes skill and planning to win. It isn't the typical match 3 RPG like Puzzles & Dragons and the billion other games that try the combine the genres. It is very hard but, as you say, fair in that it can be beat if you put your mind to it. And,yeah, it feels great when you finally win a boss battle that's been driving you nuts.

And as cliched as the story and characters are, the animations and amount of polish also are fantastic.

It's the gameplay and strategy, however, that put this on the top of the heap for puzzle RPGs IMO.
 
O

OccamsBlender

Member
Thank you, this is precisely the info I'm after! I'd heard that a number of Kemco games had interesting growth systems and fairly trope-y but well executed stories but that's what I'm after.

awp69 said:
There are some really good Kemco games and some just okay ones. But my personal favorite is Fantasy Chronicle. Very polished, great story and some unique ideas. It's been out for a few years and yet I still consider it to be their best.
Click to expand...

http://toucharcade.com/2012/01/24/fantasy-chronicle-review/
This? Grinding aside, this looks good! I'll give it a shot.

Kemco fandom reminds me of Kairosoft fandom a bit; there's so many titles and they've got a lot of similarities among the titles and hard to pick where to start. Kemco titles even more so than Kairo.

Thank you again.
 
A

Anilones

Member
I've finished the third continent of Hero Emblems without too much difficulty, but the next part is really a step up for me, especially as I've purchased all available items. So I've decided to go back through all the dungeons trying to collect the treasure chests in case I've missed any emblems or spells.

EDIT: I've read that it's blue chests which contain the skills and emblems, although I haven't verified this.
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
Anilones said:
I've finished the third continent of Hero Emblems without too much difficulty, but the next part is really a step up for me, especially as I've purchased all available items. So I've decided to go back through all the dungeons trying to collect the treasure chests in case I've missed any emblems or spells.

EDIT: I've read that it's blue chests which contain the skills and emblems, although I haven't verified this.
Click to expand...

Blue chests drops emblems and skills.
I'm on 3 continent and got two UBER Emblems that are 2 tiers over what I can buy in the island.
I was replaying a previous boss dungeon to get 1K gold and last emblem....and while doing so I got two much better emblems and tons of money (I obviously skipped the lower emblems).
Not that the game is any easier anyway :p

I've read on TA there is a steal skill that grant you uber emblems stolen from bosses, but I didn't find it yet.

As a side note I noticed the various special quests items you find can be used in specific locations or with specific people to get ultra emblems or super skills.
And beware...sometimes the same objects can be traded with different people with different outcomes (but you can do it just once...so you have to make a choice).

Super cool.
Best match 3 game since the original Puzzle Quest.

Also...finally swapped two super Emblems (the cross).
I wasn't disappointed either :D
Insane.
 
F

Flunkie

Banned
Fuck you Hero Emblems for not starting up muted when my phone was in silent. Goddamn I cannot stand games that do this shit. I have one very angry girlfriend...
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
Flunkie said:
Fuck you Hero Emblems for not starting up muted when my phone was in silent. Goddamn I cannot stand games that do this shit. I have one very angry girlfriend...
Click to expand...

Today's (just published) update should address that, among other things.

Wife wanted to kill me too for same reason.
 
A

Anilones

Member
PittaGAF said:
I've read on TA there is a steal skill that grant you uber emblems stolen from bosses, but I didn't find it yet.
Click to expand...

I've had that for a little while now - Heist - and it's absolutely terrible. All I've ever received is a potion or other consumable item, even when wasting it against bosses.

EDIT: I read the latest posts on the thread, and it appears that Heist may actually be useful, but only in a couple of places.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
gingerbeardman

gingerbeardman

Member
Mario said:
Starts being more understandable remembering they are a boutique ad/design agency based in London(?) I guess.
Click to expand...
Ustwo Games is 8 people working separately from the design company.

Rough calculation:
84 weeks total for the game and expansion.
8 people means 672 man weeks. Approx 13 man years. So salary about $100,000 (£65,000) per person per year.

I'm sure they had are few contractors in, most notably the sound and music guy. So the salary figure will be less than the above.
 
O

OccamsBlender

Member
Mario said:
Interesting brief article regarding Monument Valley today on Gamasutra

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/234335/Ustwo_reaps_nearly_6M_in_Monument_Valley_revenue_to_date.php

I'm surprised the game cost so much to make to be honest. Quite a bold investment, especially in light of the sales curve which implies they wouldn't have come close to making that back without the Apple featuring.
Click to expand...

It's not ENTIRELY absurd; the team was small but given the level of seniority of the staff and the fact they're in London, those salaries weren't cheap. Though I'm surprised they were able to get this level of polish in the levels in a mere 10 months. Other games I've played that were praised for similar levels of polish took more time than that. I'm sure there was a lot of iteration needed on the tools end, as Forgotten Shores took half that time for roughly the same amount of content.

1.4 million, 140k/month. I wouldn't be surprised if salaries were around 100k/month for those 8 team members, especially given how senior some of them are. Though that 10 months is JUST for levels, I'm sure the tools, art and general prototyping took some more time but with fewer team members.
 
J

JCho133

Member
awp69 said:
WTF??? What made you change your mind?

Edit: Nevermind, you must just be a wuss. ;)


And to answer your question from that other forum: Why, yes, yes it is!!!
Click to expand...

I was about to buy it then got distracted and lost the urge to get it.

And heh heh I'm trollin a bit
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Has anyone who bought the complete AA5 episodes still see the game mentioning that you can buy the remaining eps.?
Granted I bought them MONTHS ago and I thought I had them activated since then but the buy prompt is still there for the remaining eps.
 
M

Mr.Fresh

Member
More_Badass said:
What genres do you enjoy? Also you might want to skim this thread
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=921676

My favorite recent release is Space Marshals. Really good dual stick shooter that has a tactical element that others lack, due to stealth mechanics, open levels, and customizable loadout
Click to expand...

awp69 said:
And there were two other great releases this week:

Gunbrick, a very unique puzzle platformer

And, my week's amazing time hog, Hero Emblems, which I can't seem to pull myself away from. If you like match 3-RPGs, with a much heavier emphasis on the RPG than most, it's a must have. Very addictive and extremely challenging but in a way that is really satisfying when you succeed.

To take all my time away from Gunbrick and Space Marshal - - both of which are fantastic - - says a lot.

Bonus : all three are pure premium goodness.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply but thanks you guys gonna check them all out now been busy the last few days.
 
PittaGAF

PittaGAF

Member
WOW.

I was totally unprepared but entered the ancient tome dungeon in Hero Emblems and I managed to survive.

So freaking epic.
 
F

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Tizoc said:
Has anyone who bought the complete AA5 episodes still see the game mentioning that you can buy the remaining eps.?
Granted I bought them MONTHS ago and I thought I had them activated since then but the buy prompt is still there for the remaining eps.
Click to expand...
What happens if you go into Purchase Content and click Restore? If after doing that it still won't work I suggest uploading your save to the cloud, then deleting and reinstalling the app.

If you bought the Main Story Set the individual episodes should be greyed out like this:

ibr4fmJ9JofvIK.PNG


While purchasable content should show lit up:

i8mMVD7uffDgn.PNG
 
A

awp69

Member
killercow said:
Gameloft just launched a new teaser website called "stand against chaos":

http://standagainstchaos.com/


If you look inside the website's code, you'll find a reference to Dungeon Hunter V, namely a website (inactive for now):
http://new-staging.gameloft.org/mini...ngeon-hunter-5

So this could be a countdown to the announcement of Dungeon Hunter V.

The URL is active at Gameloft.com:
http://www.gameloft.com/minisites/dungeon-hunter-5/
Click to expand...

After the epic screw up of Dungeon Hunter IV (and III for that matter) hope the game returns to its more story driven Diablo-ish roots....and is premium.
 
A

awp69

Member
killercow said:
Amazing! And without any iAPs to boot! I wonder how it's controlled though.
Click to expand...

It's controlled by touch. Touch the direction next to the ball to move. Stuck on a level that introduced jumping and seem to be following the directions on screen but can't get it to jump. Being half asleep probably doesn't help. I'll get back to it later and give more Iimpressions.

In some ways I wish there was an option for tilt controls (ball rollers and racing games are the two genres I tend to prefer them). Don't see any options to change. But the touch controls are probably more accurate.
 
K

killercow

Member
awp69 said:
It's controlled by touch. Touch the direction next to the ball to move. Stuck on a level that introduced jumping and seem to be following the directions on screen but can't get it to jump. Being half asleep probably doesn't help. I'll get back to it later and give more Iimpressions.

In some ways I wish there was an option for tilt controls (ball rollers and racing games are the two genres I tend to prefer them). Don't see any options to change. But the touch controls are probably more accurate.
Click to expand...

Is there MFi controller support?

Also, take a look at this:

B7eBdlGCcAAFI2b.jpg:large

http://www.earthprimer.com/

Earth Primer, A sandbox god game coming to iOS soon.
 
A

awp69

Member
killercow said:
Is there MFi controller support?
.
Click to expand...

Doesn't look like it and there are no options whatsoever that I can find.

Oh and I figured out how to jump -- just double tap in the direction you want to jump. Have no idea how you are supposed to understand that from the tutorial.

Not sure quite yet what I think of it. A little slow and easy so far but I imagine things pick up.
 
M

Mudo

Member
Just popping in to say I bought into the hype and got Hero Emblems yesterday. I am LOVING it so far (still just on first continent - grinding cause i already hit a wall lol). The battle music right now reminds me of something from Radiant Historia on the DS hardcore and I adored that game's soundtrack.

Also bought that new Kemco rpg Revenant since I have not picked one of their games up in awhile and I heard this one was pretty good. May report back if I can pry myself away from Hero Emblems long enough to try it.

Has Kairosoft released anything lately? I got that Kairobotica game and that may be the last one I played (was just OK to me...). I'd kill for a Game Dev Story sequel - and while we're at it, why not a Dungeon Raid sequel (or even update). Did whoever made that just drop off the face of the earth? Are they aware that they may well have the best "Match 3 style" game on iOS? Only 10000000 comes close in my book. Darkin was just alright for me. Hero Emblems may compete also, I just need to play it more. Whew. Enough rambling
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Recommend me some casual puzzle/card deck games for my mother (on PC)
7
239
Syphon Filter replied
LTTP: Sackboy – Awful
2
90
4K
nial replied
The coolest enemies in gaming?
2
75
3K
FoxMcChief replied
LTTP: King's Field: The Ancient City
Opinion
13
474
IAmRei replied
The "Rewind" feature in PS Classics and Forza Help Save A LOT of Time
Opinion
10
505
Senua replied
Top Bottom