After playing more Super Glyph Quest, I have to say I think it's safe to delete the original one and put this in the permanently-on-my-phone folder. With a little luck and better strategy, I managed to beat the first major boss battle, and that's where the game really opens up.
Images from TA. I hope they don't mind, but the AppStore images are bad.
Before you roll your eyes and turn away from what you think is yet another match-3 game, know that it's a lot more than that. It has elements of Dungeon Raid where you match up adjacent glyphs on the board to attack, and elements of Puzzle Quest where you level up, get new gear, and battle a ton of fantastical enemies. The enemy art is just great too. It's also light-hearted and humorous with the occasional pop culture reference and fourth wall breakage.
So what really sets this game apart from other match-3 games is the types of elements you can work with, and the combo system. You start off with just a few glyphs on the board, and want to match two or more of the same element (fire-fire-fire), where the larger the match, the stronger your attack is. Since you start off as a budding magus, your matches can only be three glyphs long at first. As you progress, however, you'll have many more glyphs on the board at once, and you'll be making longer matches that result in better attacks and powerful summons.
After the first big plot point in the story, you'll get the ability to make combo attacks by combining more than just the same element (fire-earth-fire-earth). What I love about these combos is that they all make sense, and are therefore easy to remember. Link up water-earth-water-earth for a mudslide. Light-fire-light-fire performs a (solar) flare attack. Want to bind your foe in a mess of vines? Combine light-earth-light-earth to grow some. Some spells, like light-water-light-water will perform a blessing that will heal you a bit. It's all very intuitive, and each different attack, even if you do something weak like water-water, is unique. As part of the challenge, though, you have to be careful not to match opposites in the same spell. If you select an earth glyph in the same spell that uses wind, it will backfire on you, causing you to hurt yourself and lose that turn.
It doesn't stop there even. When you perform a spell using the same element as your previous spell, you'll start a chain. Building up a chain makes each subsequent attack grow stronger, and then if you cast a spell using the opposite element, it will do a reversal spell for even more damage. For example, if you've been casting spells with fire for a few turns, and then your next spell uses water instead, you'll inflict more pain on your enemy. Reversing your chain will cause the chain count to drop by half, which I think is done in an effort to keep people from abusing the mechanic by reversing every turn... something that made the first Glyph Quest a lot easier.
What's even better about Super Glyph Quest, is that you have a lot more freedom with chains, and how you keep them going. As long as one element of your spell matches one of the elements from your previous spell, you'll keep increasing your chain count. So if your previous spell was dark-water-dark-water, your next spell could be anything like dark-earth-dark-earth, or water-wind-water-wind, and it will keep the chain. But wait, there's more! In that previous example, if you had already built up a chain, you next attack could use light or fire elements, and that would do a reversal! The game lets you be as creative as you want, for the most part, and once you learn your enemies' weaknesses, you'll be taking them out left and right.
I can't stress enough how fun this game is. If you're a fan of Dungeon Raid (or I guess that newer one with vampires), Puzzle Quest, and 10000000, you really need to have this game. Even if you think you're worn out on match-3s, this one offers a lot of originality that is worth celebrating and supporting. So before you go download another PAD or Clash of Clans knock off, give this one a shot instead.
Links:
YouTube trailer
iTunes link (presently a dollar, but totally worth it at the full price)
A video I recorded of the first Glyph Quest back in January.
A couple things to note, the developer wasn't able to change the screenshots on the AppStore without submitting a new build, which is why the one(s) you see is/are not very helpful. Also, the developer says an update is currently waiting approval from Apple, and that fixes a few small bugs. They have yet another update waiting in the wings to work out some balancing too, but it's not bad in its present state.
