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Plants Vs. Zombies 2 |OT| It's About Time

Hero

Member
I just did a full achievement run of PvZ1 prior to playing PvZ2, and they're not really comparable. The progression in PvZ1 is linear and skill based, with a small set of unlockable plants to augment the post-mainline content. In PvZ2 the progression is non-linear and grind or pay based, and that is primarily to drive the IAP mechanics. Eg if it's not clear to you what order to tackle stars, etc., you're more likely to spend coins on powers, or new plants, etc., in an attempt to get through content that would otherwise require high level play (or the cheese outlined above).

So now you're playing a metagame--what order do I play the stars in order to avoid the IAP walls, or how far can I get without paying anything. I hate that experience, and if I could have just given them $15 to play them go sans IAP I would have. But a key question to ask yourself is, would the mechanics and progression have been designed differently if there was no IAP? And the answer is of course. Because you can't do successful IAP without that inducement in the mechanics themselves. So it's lose/lose.

100% agree. PvZ2 is the new Diablo 3.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
I'll never play this game. Bought the original on Android, 360 and PC, but fuck them for making it an IOS timed exclusive. Shame, as I was really looking forward to it and still fire up the PC version.

the original game came out on Android over a year after the ios version, and it was an amazon app store exclusive for months on top of that. I somehow doubt it's going to take that long for this one.


This kind of attitude is truly amazing to me. The words free to play are so poisonous that it totally doesn't matter how it's actually implemented. The mere mention of the term is enough for people to be disgusted by the game.

there's good reasons for it, so I don't really blame people. Popcap and EA probably should have expected some level of push back.
 
How in the world are you supposed to beat the 3rd level of the side area where you get the graveyard eating plant, and you've got the 5 flowers that can't be eaten with one of them only 2 spaces away from the right edge?
 
How in the world are you supposed to beat the 3rd level of the side area where you get the graveyard eating plant, and you've got the 5 flowers that can't be eaten with one of them only 2 spaces away from the right edge?

Can you post a screenshot of this level? I might be able to help.
 
How in the world are you supposed to beat the 3rd level of the side area where you get the graveyard eating plant, and you've got the 5 flowers that can't be eaten with one of them only 2 spaces away from the right edge?

I know exactly what you're talking about. I've made it through this level by using Wall-nuts in fornt of every of the 5 sun flowers. I placed random high-ranged plants behind them and made shure that on every square sits a shooting plant.

Edit: I've also planted one row of sun flowers as well. And don't forget to use those super-shot-leafs.
 
Can you post a screenshot of this level? I might be able to help.

I don't have my iPad with me right now, but I'll try to reproduce it with ASCII art.

Code:
O O O O S O O G G
O O O O O S O G O
O O O O O O S G O
O O O O O S O G G
O O O O S O O G G

It's something like this. The S's are sunflowers that are on the black/yellow striped square meaning if a zombie eats that flower the level ends. The O's are squares which are initially empty. The G's are graveyards.

I can't even last more than 2 or 3 waves of zombies because they come too fast and I can't get the walnuts out fast enough because of the long cooldown.
 
I don't have my iPad with me right now, but I'll try to reproduce it with ASCII art.

Code:
O O O O S O O G G
O O O O O S O G O
O O O O O O S G O
O O O O O S O G G
O O O O S O O G G

It's something like this. The S's are sunflowers that are on the black/yellow striped square meaning if a zombie eats that flower the level ends. The O's are squares which are initially empty. The G's are graveyards.

I can't even last more than 2 or 3 waves of zombies because they come too fast and I can't get the walnuts out fast enough because of the long cooldown.

Stuck on this one too. Hardest thing I've ever played, including WipEout lofl
 

redcrayon

Member
I take out gravestones on those levels with the boomerang plant- when you feed it plant food, it fires in four directions, and two lots of plantfood is enough to knock out all gravestones in all 4 directions. Combined with the grave-eating plant, it woks pretty well.

I recommend getting a wallnut in front of the most-forward flower you need to protect, and then a series of snapdragon plants with overlapping fire around them. that worked well for me. The snapdragon plantfood ability kills everything on a 3x3 square in front of it- it's a great smart bomb.
 

Garryk

Member
For some reason, this game has no sound on my iPad. I have sound in my other apps, and I have the sliders cranked up all the way. If I reinstall will I lose my save data?
 
So for that level, if I remember correctly-yes the boomerang plants are imperative because they go through the gravestones as well as dealing damage to the zombies. I'll have to retry the level but I think the gravestone busters, boomerangs, walnuts and Kernel-pult are what I used to get past it. If you're allowed to use Potato Mines and Iceberg lettuce there too, be sure to bring them along to slow down the horde while you setup. Also-if you get plant food, you should use it on the potato mines to multiply them.
 

twofold

Member
I didn't find that level too difficult at all. In fact, I just gave it a second go and I passed it first time.

This is what my setup looked like. I deliberately avoided using any of the plants that get unlocked later in the game.

MMx2uDN.jpg

My strategy -

Plant a row sunflowers on the left. Use iceberg lettuce and potato mine to kill zombies while planting sunflowers. Add walnuts whenever the cooldown is up. Make sure to add them to a lane that has zombies incoming. Put down a row of yellow corn launcher thingys as quickly as you can. Add a bunch of offensive plants. Use plant food to take out bucket head zombies.

I use this same strategy on 99% of the levels, actually, and it seems to work on most of them. Kinda trivialises the game, unfortunately. I haven't found much of a challenge so far, even in the later levels.
 

Peagles

Member
This kind of attitude is truly amazing to me. The words free to play are so poisonous that it totally doesn't matter how it's actually implemented. The mere mention of the term is enough for people to be disgusted by the game.

Free to play just seems to suck the life and fun out of everything for me. Some of us just don't dig the whole meta-game that is free to play. I'd love to just pay retail price for PVZ2 and have a regular game like the first. Sure it looks a bit bland and the soundtrack is pretty much dead, but it'd still be a lot more appealing than it is to me now.
 

Evilisk

Member
Damn-Save Our Seeds II on Wild West World is hard as hell!

:O

Oh yeah that level, it's a real pain.

I can't remember how I finished it but I do know that the spike family of plants are your best friends since they can counter pianos + chickens without you needing to waste a slot for the lightning reed (which, outside of countering chickens, are really crappy plants).

Though if you use the 100 sun version of the spikeweed/rock/whatever, you have to replace them every time there's a piano.
 
Oh yeah that level, it's a real pain.

I can't remember how I finished it but I do know that the spike family of plants are your best friends since they can counter pianos + chickens without you needing to waste a slot for the lightning reed (which, outside of countering chickens, are really crappy plants).

Though if you use the 100 sun version of the spikeweed/rock/whatever, you have to replace them every time there's a piano.

Hmmm. I'll try swapping in the spike weed instead of the lightning reed.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
got that pirate area unlocked. even unlocked one of the perks available to purchase.


*CLICKTHEIMAGE*
 

SGRX

Member
It's an understatement for me to say this game is a huge disappointment. They obviously made it much more difficult to funnel users into the paywall. The nag screens, grinding and ridiculous, game-breaking pay2win powers, even though they can technically be ignored, just bleed all the enjoyment out of the game for me, leaving behind a product that just feels soulless and frustrating. If there were an option to just buy the damn game without the microtransactions, I would have happily done so.

Thanks EA.
 
I think I use the powers like once every 15 games, usually just to secure a Yeti.

I love this game so damn much. I'm enjoying the star challenges, so I don't really see the "paywall" as any kind of barrier to enjoyment.

If Kernel-Pult was Pay-Only I might feel differently to be perfectly honest, but it's not, and it's the most charming and amazing plant maybe ever, even in real life.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Kernel Pult is a devastating weapon in PvZ, especially when that shit gets grouped 3 or 4 deep. It's always a massacre.
 

see5harp

Member
Yea the Kernalput is basically all you need in the pirate levels too. They take out those bird things with a single butter shot. I was getting irritated in some of those pirate levels before I realized that. Also the big cost items like the cannon seems all but unnecessary when then plant food turns even a regular pea shooter into a gatling gun.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
enjoying the game a lot. won't spend a cent on items and have never used a single power item either except in the tutorials.

nag screens are pretty lame, but who cares, just keep playing it.

seems like a good amount of content, the 3 star challenges per completed level are good and hard as well, hope I don't ever run into 'this is impossible unless you pay' but so far unlocked the pirates level and have not had any 'you must pay' moments.

I'll never spend a cent on it, but would have happily purchased the game if it was just being sold. really disagree with their sales model but otherwise the game is great.
 

quetz67

Banned
Awesome game. If you go for all stars you easily get enough keys and only with half the stars you can open all 3 gates.

I am a bad gamer, but I am in Wild West already, missing only like 10 stars to face the final boss. Haven't bought any IAP yet and there was no need to play levels again and again (unless not being able to beat them).

Cheating a lot by using the extras (electric shocks mostly). Only once went through the pyramid challenge (13 waves) to stock up on money.

So you get dozens of hours without paying a cent and without any grinding.
 

SeanR1221

Member
Just unlocked the Wild West. Hasn't felt grindy at all. I'm personally loving it so much I bought the freeze pea, extra seed slot and squash to throw some money at popcap
 

jim2011

Member
I also just unlocked the Wild West. Been playing the game nonstop since last night. So addictive. Unlocked all the power ups/plants in the Egypt area and almost done with the pirate area.

Why anyone feels the need to pay I have no idea. I'll admit on some side levels I used the coins for power ups which helped me but I still have yet to pay a cent.

Loving this game!
 
Have you done the challenge pyramid yet? That drops keys too and starts out pretty easy. It's kinda like that endless mode from PvZ, you can save and quit at any time too. I did the first six levels to see what it was the other day and got 3 keys from it, I imagine I could make it to the 20s fairly easy.

yeah I've found keys aren't too difficult to get. The wave stage seems to drop them pretty regularly
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
While I enjoyed the original, this has sucked me in much more despite the challenge types repeating (limited sun, no lawnmowers used, pre-chosen plants, not planting on mold, etc.) Right now Pyramid 9-3 is kicking my ass.
LLShC.gif
33 stars in.
 

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
This kind of attitude is truly amazing to me. The words free to play are so poisonous that it totally doesn't matter how it's actually implemented. The mere mention of the term is enough for people to be disgusted by the game.

Why Core Gamers Hate Free-to-Play, by yours truly:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/29/why-core-gamers-hate-free-to-play

Bottom line? Freemium, even when implemented reasonably, doesn't feel good because it makes thoughts of money intrude into your head when you're playing, and money is the last thing someone wants to think about.
 
God I love this game.

Totally agree with Cyan's assessment, but every time I start get slogged down or disappointed, the sheer joy of a lightning rod plant and a kernel-pult in tandem keeps me from dwelling on it.

And surviving a flower trample challenge?? My god. So satisfying.

There are challenges now in the West where you have to like protect flowers and not spend sun for 1:30 that really do require using summons (lol ;D) but I've earned enough coin to implement them as a last resort.
 

KenOD

a kinder, gentler sort of Scrooge
Is there any point to collecting coins other than using them for cheat power ups?
 
The only figure I really want to see is the average amount of money spent per download.

Yeah that would be an interesting one
mine is £0.00
. Though I doubt we'll see that number unless it's somehow impressive. I've not really seen it high up in the Top Grossing apps list (here in the UK anyways). Currently it sits at no.40.
 
Thought I might bump this for the new Android players (like me!).

I've been playing the game for a few hours. I beat the first two worlds and I'm working on unlocking the third now. I'm really enjoying it so far and I'm not finding the monitization stuff as bad as I had imagined (though I had heard some of the key requirements may have shrunk compared to iOS, but don't quote me on that). Only negative things I have to say so far is that I don't like how the different worlds have their own sets of keys. Those should really work across worlds since they're so rare, IMO.

As far as the gameplay goes it's the same stuff I loved from PvZ1, but with extra stuff to make it more engaging and challenging.
  • The plant food mechanic is really fun and allows for much more stressful situations that you're able to escape from. I got so good at PvZ1 that I was never challenged until 15-20 waves into endless mode.
  • The new board types are fun. I like that tombstones are breakable with normal plants now (I hated wasting a plant spot on that tombstone eater plant.) The pirate boards are pretty tough because of the shorter lanes, which can make things tense.
  • The new zombies are pretty good too. The mummy that steals sunshine is a bastard and so is the pirate zombie with the bird that steals your plants. The yeti's aren't new, but I love how you get a goodies chest for beating them. I've gotten two of them so far with a few keys inside.
  • And I LOVE the new plant types! I haven't even unlocked them all yet, but the Bon Choy are one of my favorite new ones along with the Snap Dragons. I was weird-ed out by the new Double Flower since you don't plant it on top of normal sun flowers. Now it's its own seperate plant so you need to shovel the current sunflowers.
  • The "Cheat" powers aren't that fun, but they're helpful if you're in a jam. I would love a power that lets you rewind time up to a minute a minute in the game. It sucks to fail a mission because you accidentally planted something in the wrong spot, or barely missed one of challenge objectives.

I remember people being really mad that some of the old plants were locked behind a paywall, and it is disappointing that you can't get them in-game somehow. Having said that, I care a lot more about using the NEW plants than using all the old ones. I like to make new strategies instead of using the ones I used a hundred times in PvZ1. The fire stump is probably the only one one I really miss.

I hope that with the new monitiztion model that they're able to make more little additions to the game. I'd love to be able to buy a new DLC world or new plants in a few months to keep things fresh and get me back into the game. For a theme as rich as time travel it's a little disappointing that there's only Egypt, Pirates, and Wild West.
Where's the Middle Ages? Future? Disco?!
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
There was noteworthy update for the iOS version since this thread was last active:

What's New in Version 1.5.252123
In this update we’ve added the amazing Piñata Party, and other awesome features to improve gameplay! Changes include:

• In Piñata Party you get to battle zombies from all worlds in a special modern day front yard level for big prizes. You’ll have to plant fast though – Piñata Parties are only available for 24 hours at a time. Successfully beat three consecutive parties and you can win a mind-blowing mega prize by whacking open the massive Señor Piñata!

• Speeding up the level progression – now you can skip the map and move from level to level with ease.

• Twisting a few more dials in Penny’s dashboard to keep your peas shooting straight and help you keep those relentless zombies in line.

I haven't had a chance to check out the Pinata Party yet. I need to get back to this game.
 

krae_man

Member
I've hit a brick wall with the stars on the first stage. I started doing them the second they unlock and the third star for the 8th or 9th day I forget has "don't lose more then 2 plants" and "generate at least 4500 sun".

If it didn't have the "don't lose more then 2 plants" condition I could just put up a barrage of walnuts and remove all my offensive plants from a row with the last enemy on it and just hold off on killing him until I collect enough sun.

I could probably manage if I used every plant food on sunflowers but the stage has moments where the plant food needs to be used offensively. I bet it's way easier after I unlock an extra seed slot and the twin flowers and maybe a new offensive plant or two.
 

Radec

Member
I'm still in the Egypt level, will there be a Canon Corn plant in this game ?

What's the max number of plants that you can pick ?
 

krae_man

Member
Yes, you probably just can't do it yet. The sun challenges are waaaaay easier once you get the twin flowers.

Yeah I figured. Once I got enough keys I went for the grave killer first. So I guess that was my problem, especially considering the grave killer can't be used in most of the star challenges since it counts as a plant death.
 
Pinata Party is pretty easy but fun because you will gotta lots of firepower.

Completed two stage.

I did the Pinata Party a few days ago, but i couldn't figure out how to do the other two stages. Is it like doing 3 different stages, or is it more like going through 3 different rounds in a single stage?

I think I got a bunch of money for my prize, but I'd have preferred more keys!
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
This game drains my Galaxy S3's battery faster than my charger can replenish it.
 

CookTrain

Member
This game drains my Galaxy S3's battery faster than my charger can replenish it.

Ditto on my S2... thought I'd play it on the way to work this morning and was left high and dry after none-too-long. Whoops.

So in an effort to make battery not matter so much, does anyone know if you can transfer saves on Android as you can on iOS? My Nexus battery might hold up a little longer, but I don't fancy starting from scratch.
 
Ditto on my S2... thought I'd play it on the way to work this morning and was left high and dry after none-too-long. Whoops.

So in an effort to make battery not matter so much, does anyone know if you can transfer saves on Android as you can on iOS? My Nexus battery might hold up a little longer, but I don't fancy starting from scratch.

I downloaded it on my Nexus 10 after playing it on my Note 2 and it seemed to have carried the save over.

You MIGHT need to sync it with your Google+ account, but I can't be sure about that. I signed up to a G+ account just for the game stuff, never actually used the services outside of logging into it through apps.

I'm really happy about saves carrying over since I replayed PvZ1 on my android about 3 times when I bought a new phone, and when I reformatted my old phone before that.
 
Only maybe an hour into the Android version, but so far so good. I actually like the tweaks to the art style quite a bit, which surprises me since I never liked them much in screenshots or videos. My only complaint is the presence of the Halloween themes; I'd rather have a chance to get used to the bare style before themes came in.
 

CookTrain

Member
I downloaded it on my Nexus 10 after playing it on my Note 2 and it seemed to have carried the save over.

You MIGHT need to sync it with your Google+ account, but I can't be sure about that. I signed up to a G+ account just for the game stuff, never actually used the services outside of logging into it through apps.

I'm really happy about saves carrying over since I replayed PvZ1 on my android about 3 times when I bought a new phone, and when I reformatted my old phone before that.

Ooh, I just synced them up, but nothing came of it. I probably need to do something saveworthy first. Thanks!

EDIT: Victory! Thanks again!
 
Dammit! I did two of those house party levels in a row, but then I missed the third one so I didn't get the super prize!

To make it worse, the game actually notified me at work that time was running out on it! I assumed I'd have at least until I got home, but there wasn't anything there when I did get off work. :(
 
Dammit! I did two of those house party levels in a row, but then I missed the third one so I didn't get the super prize!

To make it worse, the game actually notified me at work that time was running out on it! I assumed I'd have at least until I got home, but there wasn't anything there when I did get off work. :(

I don't think the prize was that amazing--it was a costume for one of your plants, if I recall.

I'm not quite done with the game yet, but I'm considering a long post or even a thread asserting that F2P haters (I'm among them) were wrong--this is a great game, and a worthy sequel to the now-classic original.

Of course, I want to finish the game first, and make sure I won't be proved wrong :p
 
I don't think the prize was that amazing--it was a costume for one of your plants, if I recall.

I'm not quite done with the game yet, but I'm considering a long post or even a thread asserting that F2P haters (I'm among them) were wrong--this is a great game, and a worthy sequel to the now-classic original.

Of course, I want to finish the game first, and make sure I won't be proved wrong :p
You're right, I did get a chance to do that third party after all and it was just a costume for one of my plants. :\
Oh well, at least I get the 3 pinata prizes with each party match.

I'm also excited that there's going to be a Future stage. I had hoped it was unlockable, but I think it actually hasn't been released yet. Hopefully it will be available soon for a reasonable price (maybe free if we're super lucky).
 
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