Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition |OT| The Only Good Game in the Series, Now Better

The AI doesn't cheat:

Hi All,

I can definitely state that the AI in NO way cheats, nor does it know what gems are going to fall. I wrote the AI code myself, so I am 100% certain of this.

Look at it another way...
a) I am a programmer, so I'm basically lazy
b) Writing a cheating AI with look-ahead & multiple board evaluations is a LOT more work than writing a non-cheating AI that merely evaluates a single board
c) If I wanted to make the game harder, I actually would have done the LAZY thing and just given the monsters more Life Points

Cheers

-Steve
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Source

I kind of dislike the updated game world but the new board is good.
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
It had its heyday during the PSP era.

Now those mobile games with YouTube ads have arrived, and it seems like one of them.
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yea, it did have its heyday, but I would still say it's a top 20, maybe top 10 puzzle game ever.

And if you spend $10 on this, you dont get YouTube ads or scummy P2W mechanics likee those mobile games where the later levels are impossible without boosts. I stopped playing those mobile games when I ran into that in Bubble Witch.
 
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diffusionx said:
yea, it did have its heyday, but I would still say it's a top 20, maybe top 10 puzzle game ever.

And if you spend $10 on this, you dont get YouTube ads or scummy P2W mechanics likee those mobile games where the later levels are impossible without boosts. I stopped playing those mobile games when I ran into that in Bubble Witch.
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This is exactly what I loved about the OG and hated in a lot of its mobile sequels and immitators. It wasn't trying to sell you anything except itself.

Most modern mobile milking machines make me break out in hives. I've been burned too badly too many times by a game with solid underlying mechanics and a decent progression that started fun but then gradually ramped up the skinner box past the point of toleration.

I know it's value added for whales (and the company, obviously), but the constant nickel and diming has more or less put me off F2P games for life. What distraction they offer just isn't worth it.
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
It had its heyday during the PSP era.

Now those mobile games with YouTube ads have arrived, and it seems like one of them.
Click to expand...

This isn't anything like 'Last War Z' or 'Whiteout survival' or one of those shitty games with ads of a man moving side to side shooting waves of zombies

I'll get this for Switch 2
 
DarkShadowXI said:
Does this look sharp and crisp on a Switch 2 or is it blurry?

Some Switch 1 games look terrible on the Switch 2 😕
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Looks fine to me. There is a 'Blur' setting the options.

Deerock71 Deerock71 im dead serious btw

KNfrvbIG4hQK23ZM.jpeg
 
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Game is kinda retarded. If the CPU doesn't cheat then the game must feed it what it needs to make it competitive. Feels like I'm playing match three so I can set up ridiculous combos for the CPU.
 
Kacho said:
Game is kinda retarded. If the CPU doesn't cheat then the game must feed it what it needs to make it competitive. Feels like I'm playing match three so I can set up ridiculous combos for the CPU.
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Ugh, for real?? Damnit. I'm getting burned with these cheaper game purchases lately, haha

Can I please play portable golfing and puzzle games in peace!
 
DarkShadowXI said:
Ugh, for real?? Damnit. I'm getting burned with these cheaper game purchases lately, haha

Can I please play portable golfing and puzzle games in peace!
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It's not a bad game, just feels unsatisfying because of what I mentioned. Every match feels like a fucking gauntlet.

Me: 3x blue or 3x red

*picks*

CPU: 30 second combo

I still win the matches but it's just ridiculous.
 
Kacho said:
It's not a bad game, just feels unsatisfying because of what I mentioned. Every match feels like a fucking gauntlet.

Me: 3x blue or 3x red

*picks*

CPU: 30 second combo

I still win the matches but it's just ridiculous.
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Yeah that's pretty annoying. Once in a while, okay, but if it's programmed that way…c'mon
 
Bit the bullet. Good game. If you got burned out of playing these kinds of games, it wont change your mind. You just go from spot to spot killing monsters and sometimes need to backtrack to the castle to collect the reward, but there's a bunch of Citadel stuff you can buy and do stuff like making weapons, increase skills, and learn monster spells by doing gem puzzles.

Took a warrior and played 3-4 hours straight. Pretty easy game. Got killed every once in a while, but only hard battle I couldnt beat in 3 tries was the two head Dugog (sp.) ogre boss.

I got an amulet from the elf companion to help do more damage to Liches. Killed a liche. Then it disappeared from my inventory. Not a big deal as here will be better magic items.

Only stupid thing was after I installed the game and got to the menu, the game froze requiring a hard reset right at the Welcome dialogue box. Restarted and worked fine.
 
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Bought this and it's been wonderful revisiting. I remember getting in my morning routine and playing a bit on my 360 before going to work for awhile.

If you loved the original, it's definitely worth getting. But man, I will say, it didn't take long for me to remember the rage the game induced, lol. When the CPU miraculously gets all the good shit, sometimes making you wait forever until the next move, lmao.
 
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MiguelItUp said:
If you loved the original, it's definitely worth getting. But man, I will say, it didn't take long for me to remember the rage the game induced, lol. When the CPU miraculously gets all the good shit, sometimes making you wait forever until the next move, lmao.
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I had a battle yesterday where the computer got a four-in-a-row vertically, and it dropped four skulls in that column from the top. Like yo, it's a bit unfair when you can't even plan for stuff like that.
 
Kacho said:
Game is kinda retarded. If the CPU doesn't cheat then the game must feed it what it needs to make it competitive. Feels like I'm playing match three so I can set up ridiculous combos for the CPU.
Click to expand...

Kotaku did an interview with the guy and he said something pretty interesting regarding that, the game actually cheats on favor of the player, toning down the "luck" both characters (players and AI) have, because players think it's natural for them to get combos but if the AI gets the combos they think it's cheating. So I guess they are just fed some rules and they follow them, it's not as if the game is that complex.

Personally still one of the best DS games ever made, already bought for Switch but right now playing the Bioshock games.

leRE5DXGAS8gpeIX.jpg
 
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I never played Puzzle Quest back in the day, and by the time match 3 games became really popular, it was all mobile slop. But I've always been kinda curious about why people are so into this game.

I'll probably just buy it on GOG - there's gotta be a reason everyone seems to like it.
 
You can tell the game was made when Lord of the Rings and World of Warcraft were at the height of their popularity and influence. The game has that vibe which is cozy as hell.
 
Gems of War is a F2P game in the same vein as PQ. Same company. Same Steve Fawkner. This new PQ game has the same look and UI feel as Gems of War.

If any of you are on the fence about a gem matching game and want similar kind of gameplay and feel and RPGish setting, just try out Gems of War. Make note that's a F2P game, so a key difference right off the bat is it's tons of optional mtx boxes and a much grindier feel to it.
 
ReyBrujo said:
Kotaku did an interview with the guy and he said something pretty interesting regarding that, the game actually cheats on favor of the player, toning down the "luck" both characters (players and AI) have, because players think it's natural for them to get combos but if the AI gets the combos they think it's cheating. So I guess they are just fed some rules and they follow them, it's not as if the game is that complex.
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I think this only applies on the easiest difficulty setting. Playing on normal, I've yet to see the computer miss an opportunity for a 4 or 5-of-a-kind, or to deal damage, whereas on the easy mode it will occasionally miss something.

EDIT: just had a siege battle use the "Hurl goblin" spell (removes a random gem and does 20x the thing) which randomly landed on the only +5 skull on the board (a 1/64 probability), dealing 100 damage and instantly killing me. Yep, their luck is very "toned down" lol
 
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jshackles said:
I think this only applies on the easiest difficulty setting. Playing on normal, I've yet to see the computer miss an opportunity for a 4 or 5-of-a-kind, or to deal damage, whereas on the easy mode it will occasionally miss something.

EDIT: just had a siege battle use the "Hurl goblin" spell (removes a random gem and does 20x the thing) which randomly landed on the only +5 skull on the board (a 1/64 probability), dealing 100 damage and instantly killing me. Yep, their luck is very "toned down" lol
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Oh, stop tempting me to start playing this, I'm behind schedule for the 52 games in 52 weeks challenge so want to minimize the amount of addicting games I play. Still need to finish three dungeon crawlers more too. I should also replay the DS one to check whether it was that bad or not.
 
jshackles said:
I think this only applies on the easiest difficulty setting. Playing on normal, I've yet to see the computer miss an opportunity for a 4 or 5-of-a-kind, or to deal damage, whereas on the easy mode it will occasionally miss something.

EDIT: just had a siege battle use the "Hurl goblin" spell (removes a random gem and does 20x the thing) which randomly landed on the only +5 skull on the board (a 1/64 probability), dealing 100 damage and instantly killing me. Yep, their luck is very "toned down" lol
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These PQ and Gems of War games, the only time the CPU will miss a 4/5 gem match is if it's XP. They might avoid that one if there's something better. But it's coded on Normal or up they never miss.

I never played on harder difficulties, but on Normal one thing I notice is if there's a chance of a 5 gem T-shape, the CPU might not be smart enough to grab it. Instead doing a 4 gem line. I dont know if harder difficulty fixes this.
 
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StreetsofBeige said:
Gems of War is a F2P game in the same vein as PQ. Same company. Same Steve Fawkner. This new PQ game has the same look and UI feel as Gems of War.

If any of you are on the fence about a gem matching game and want similar kind of gameplay and feel and RPGish setting, just try out Gems of War. Make note that's a F2P game, so a key difference right off the bat is it's tons of optional mtx boxes and a much grindier feel to it.
Click to expand...

Sheesh. I'm embarrassed to admit how many hours I spent playing Gems of War several years ago. I know I was over level 1k. Was in a few fun guilds though where people were pretty nice.
 
Puzzle Quest AI is cheaper than a two dollar whore and treats you even worse. The amount of "lucky" drops that it gets….there is some serious bullshittery going on there.

But damned if I don't love the fucking thing.

Galactrix is even WORSE when it comes to AI shenanigans, it basically ruined the game. Which was a bummer because the sci-fi concept was cool, but the cheapo difficulty made it the least fun game ever.
 
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