Games I am currently addicted to
Jun. 13th, 2013 12:19 pmiOS game the first: Puzzles and Dragons
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sineala described it as basically a combination of Bejeweled and Pokemon, and that's ... fairly apt. Gameplay is a lot like Bejeweled, except that instead of "swap two adjacent gems" it's more "move one gem as much as you want given a time limit; move ends when you run out of time or stop dragging that one gem". You have a team of five monsters with different color affinities, and making a line of 3+ of a color tells that color monster to attack. Clearing dungeon levels gives you more monsters that you can either put in your team, or feed to your team monsters to make them stronger.
It's free to play with optional purchase of an in-game currency that allows you to a) keep going in a dungeon if you die (restarting the dungeon costs nothing), b) restore stamina if you run out (each dungeon costs a certain amount of stamina, and it regenerates decently over time), or c) buy more monsters, with chance at awesome ones.
There is an in-game friending system that is easy to use, requires absolutely no interaction or conversation, and is not obnoxious in any way.
iOS game the second: Conceptis Fill-a-Pix
The most concise way I have of describing this is "minesweeper with logic. and no mines." There is a grid with numbers scattered throughout; a number in a square indicates how many of the squares adjacent/including are filled in (black). Each square will eventually be either black or light-grey, and the whole thing forms a picture eventually. (Some pictures are better than others.)
So, for example, a 9 means that all nine squares of the 3x3 grid centered on that square are black. A 0 means that all nine squares are shaded grey. A 6 means that three are grey and six are black; and so on.
They divide puzzles up into "basic logic" and "advanced logic". Basic logic are ones that are (theoretically at least) solvable by looking at individual clues. (They cascade -- so if you have a 0, and mark those squares as grey, and then see a 3 next to it, there are already 6 shaded bits so you have to fill in the other three -- but it's more straightforward.) Advanced logic are ones where you have to figure out how different clues interact.
The mechanics are fairly easy. There is a cursor; single-tap anywhere on the screen cycles the square under the cursor between black and grey and unsolved; one finger tap-and-drag to do multiple squares; two-finger tap-and-drag moves the visible part of the grid; two-finger pinch zooms in or out. None of those are location dependent. There are buttons at the top of the screen -- undo, redo, back to library, etc -- that are, but most of gameplay is just wherever your fingers happen to be.
Initial download is free, and there are two sampler packs -- one of 25 basic logic puzzles, one of 25 advanced logic puzzles, both sets with a variety of difficulties and sizes. Additional puzzle packs are in-app purchases, ranging from $3 to $6 per pack of 20.
Facebook game: Here Be Monsters
A lot of the facebooky games I have a love/hate relationship with; they are addicting but omg so annoying, and often require you to bug your Facebook friends for stuff.
This is not one of those. This, I just love.
There are several aspects to the game: catching monsters using traps and bait, crafting (including food and building items), gathering (including fishing and farming), and quests. It reminds me a little of Glitch, especially visually.
There is an in-game friending system completely unrelated to your Facebook friends; if you are in the same zone with someone, you can send a buddy request, and when you need supplies or whatever you can choose your in-game buddies.
The game is free, with the usual optional purchase of in-game currency, but pretty much the main use of the purchasable currency (aside from supporting the developer) is to not have to wait -- there are very few things that you can't get just by playing the game and being patient. (And you get one banknote with each level you gain, so you can e.g. buy a bigger backpack without spending RL money.)
MMO: Neverwinter
So I had to stop gaming for a while because of keyboard /accessibility issues, and when I got that sorted out, instead of the logical step of going back to games I knew, I started a new one; go figure.
Neverwinter is a free-to-play MMO, currently in open beta (which they are basically using to mean soft launch, as there will not be a wipe at hard launch, which will be in about a week), based on D&D.
The mechanics of gameplay almost feel more like Diablo than anything else, because primary attacks are done with the mouse (one on left-click, one on right-click). WASD movement (with mousy steering), QER as additional skills, 12 as less often used additional skills, 345 as item slots (e.g. health pots), F to interact.
Right now there are five classes -- great weapon fighter (two-handed swords etc, melee/aoe dps), guardian fighter (sword and shield, tank), trickster rogue (daggers, melee dps), control wizard (spellcasty ranged dps), and devoted cleric (heal or dps) -- with rumors of an archery ranger sort coming soon; and seven races -- half-orc, human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, halfling, tiefling -- with rumors of probably-drow as the next race, and also an additional race available if you buy the $200 sooper founders pack ahahaharight.
In-game currency is ... complicated. There is gold, which comes as loot drops and also from selling things, that's mainly used for buying potions and scattered other things. There is astral diamonds, which is used for the auction house and also buying other things including identify scrolls; you get them from some quest rewards and also daily invocations. There is zen, which is used for buying yet other things. Zen is purchasable with RL money, and there is also an AD/zen exchange in-game. Zen is used for purchasing the better mounts, keys to a lockbox that comes as a drop (that are basically the "ooh shiny spend money" lure that all f2p's have), additional character slots, additional bank spaces, etc.
Right now I have a tiefling control wizard and a half-elf trickster rogue, and I love them both. Had a half-orc great weapon fighter but didn't like it as much, and since you only start with two character slots I didn't have room to keep her.
One of the things I especially like about this game is that there is a sparkletrail to your quest objective. It can be turned off if you don't like it, and it isn't mandatory that you follow it, but it saves "where the hell do I go now" confusions.
For a MMO I find it deliciously easy to solo -- there are 5-person contents (shorter skirmishes and longer dungeons) that are easy to queue for but the rest of gameplay is friendly to single player; you get (at level 16) a companion, with various options including a healer. (Notable in this game is that you don't regenerate health even out of combat, except at campfire locations.) This probably means that other people will find it boring and/or easy, but whatever, I'm happy :D
(If you dedcide to play and want to friend me, I am @ysobelflp)
sineala described it as basically a combination of Bejeweled and Pokemon, and that's ... fairly apt. Gameplay is a lot like Bejeweled, except that instead of "swap two adjacent gems" it's more "move one gem as much as you want given a time limit; move ends when you run out of time or stop dragging that one gem". You have a team of five monsters with different color affinities, and making a line of 3+ of a color tells that color monster to attack. Clearing dungeon levels gives you more monsters that you can either put in your team, or feed to your team monsters to make them stronger.It's free to play with optional purchase of an in-game currency that allows you to a) keep going in a dungeon if you die (restarting the dungeon costs nothing), b) restore stamina if you run out (each dungeon costs a certain amount of stamina, and it regenerates decently over time), or c) buy more monsters, with chance at awesome ones.
There is an in-game friending system that is easy to use, requires absolutely no interaction or conversation, and is not obnoxious in any way.
iOS game the second: Conceptis Fill-a-Pix
The most concise way I have of describing this is "minesweeper with logic. and no mines." There is a grid with numbers scattered throughout; a number in a square indicates how many of the squares adjacent/including are filled in (black). Each square will eventually be either black or light-grey, and the whole thing forms a picture eventually. (Some pictures are better than others.)
So, for example, a 9 means that all nine squares of the 3x3 grid centered on that square are black. A 0 means that all nine squares are shaded grey. A 6 means that three are grey and six are black; and so on.
They divide puzzles up into "basic logic" and "advanced logic". Basic logic are ones that are (theoretically at least) solvable by looking at individual clues. (They cascade -- so if you have a 0, and mark those squares as grey, and then see a 3 next to it, there are already 6 shaded bits so you have to fill in the other three -- but it's more straightforward.) Advanced logic are ones where you have to figure out how different clues interact.
The mechanics are fairly easy. There is a cursor; single-tap anywhere on the screen cycles the square under the cursor between black and grey and unsolved; one finger tap-and-drag to do multiple squares; two-finger tap-and-drag moves the visible part of the grid; two-finger pinch zooms in or out. None of those are location dependent. There are buttons at the top of the screen -- undo, redo, back to library, etc -- that are, but most of gameplay is just wherever your fingers happen to be.
Initial download is free, and there are two sampler packs -- one of 25 basic logic puzzles, one of 25 advanced logic puzzles, both sets with a variety of difficulties and sizes. Additional puzzle packs are in-app purchases, ranging from $3 to $6 per pack of 20.
Facebook game: Here Be Monsters
A lot of the facebooky games I have a love/hate relationship with; they are addicting but omg so annoying, and often require you to bug your Facebook friends for stuff.
This is not one of those. This, I just love.
There are several aspects to the game: catching monsters using traps and bait, crafting (including food and building items), gathering (including fishing and farming), and quests. It reminds me a little of Glitch, especially visually.
There is an in-game friending system completely unrelated to your Facebook friends; if you are in the same zone with someone, you can send a buddy request, and when you need supplies or whatever you can choose your in-game buddies.
The game is free, with the usual optional purchase of in-game currency, but pretty much the main use of the purchasable currency (aside from supporting the developer) is to not have to wait -- there are very few things that you can't get just by playing the game and being patient. (And you get one banknote with each level you gain, so you can e.g. buy a bigger backpack without spending RL money.)
MMO: Neverwinter
So I had to stop gaming for a while because of keyboard /accessibility issues, and when I got that sorted out, instead of the logical step of going back to games I knew, I started a new one; go figure.
Neverwinter is a free-to-play MMO, currently in open beta (which they are basically using to mean soft launch, as there will not be a wipe at hard launch, which will be in about a week), based on D&D.
The mechanics of gameplay almost feel more like Diablo than anything else, because primary attacks are done with the mouse (one on left-click, one on right-click). WASD movement (with mousy steering), QER as additional skills, 12 as less often used additional skills, 345 as item slots (e.g. health pots), F to interact.
Right now there are five classes -- great weapon fighter (two-handed swords etc, melee/aoe dps), guardian fighter (sword and shield, tank), trickster rogue (daggers, melee dps), control wizard (spellcasty ranged dps), and devoted cleric (heal or dps) -- with rumors of an archery ranger sort coming soon; and seven races -- half-orc, human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, halfling, tiefling -- with rumors of probably-drow as the next race, and also an additional race available if you buy the $200 sooper founders pack ahahaharight.
In-game currency is ... complicated. There is gold, which comes as loot drops and also from selling things, that's mainly used for buying potions and scattered other things. There is astral diamonds, which is used for the auction house and also buying other things including identify scrolls; you get them from some quest rewards and also daily invocations. There is zen, which is used for buying yet other things. Zen is purchasable with RL money, and there is also an AD/zen exchange in-game. Zen is used for purchasing the better mounts, keys to a lockbox that comes as a drop (that are basically the "ooh shiny spend money" lure that all f2p's have), additional character slots, additional bank spaces, etc.
Right now I have a tiefling control wizard and a half-elf trickster rogue, and I love them both. Had a half-orc great weapon fighter but didn't like it as much, and since you only start with two character slots I didn't have room to keep her.
One of the things I especially like about this game is that there is a sparkletrail to your quest objective. It can be turned off if you don't like it, and it isn't mandatory that you follow it, but it saves "where the hell do I go now" confusions.
For a MMO I find it deliciously easy to solo -- there are 5-person contents (shorter skirmishes and longer dungeons) that are easy to queue for but the rest of gameplay is friendly to single player; you get (at level 16) a companion, with various options including a healer. (Notable in this game is that you don't regenerate health even out of combat, except at campfire locations.) This probably means that other people will find it boring and/or easy, but whatever, I'm happy :D
(If you dedcide to play and want to friend me, I am @ysobelflp)