I've been around here long enough to know what some of the better action RPGs are. And while I consider myself a fairly hardcore gamer, time is not usually on my side when it comes to gaming with a wife and two kids. I like both turned-based and action RPGs, but what I've been finding lately is that most of the turned-based games I've been playing - Ash, the Kemco games like Alphadia and Fantasy Chronicle - require some grinding, but not nearly as much as much as action RPGs. The stories flow naturally and as long as you do side missions, you typically progress at a good rate. That doesn't seem to be the case with action RPGs on the iOS. Even playing something more mainstream like the paid versions of Zenonia 3 or Inotia 3, you tend to hit a wall where the difficulty really ramps up (got much further in Zenonia 3 than Inotia 3 before this happened). So you begin to either have to buy IAPs or do a LOT of grinding in earlier areas to progress. Maybe it's just me in my old age . I used to play games like Diablo and never thought twice about whether I was grinding or not. I enjoy games like Aurum Blade where the story really doesn't matter, but also like a good story and it's those games where I'm finding the action RPG department lacking. Maybe I started late. But it almost seems as though even earlier action RPGs on the App Store have been tweaked to favor IAPs / grinding. Yes, there's really casual hack n' slashes like the Dungeon Hunter series. But just about everything else seems geared toward forcing you towards IAPs. What action RPGs on the iOS are more balanced as far as level progression / difficulty with an actual story?
Lol..I'm waiting for an arpg that doesn't have as much grinding. Of what I tried, Aurum Blade is the closest to me. The main campaign is short enough to me, and I felt like leveling up just for fun. I wish some of these arpg/krpg would remove the grindiness, or have a speed mode/easy mode to just speed up the progression. Since I'm not in school anymore, don't quite have the time to grind 40-50 hours...but not interested enough to buy any IAP.
Yep. I agree with Aurum Blade. I do play that game more with a Diablo attitude that I'm just going in to kick some butt and level up. As far as other ARPGs/KRPGs are concerned, it's not that I don't enjoy some difficulty, but it gets to a point where I also don't feel invested enough to spend hours and hours grinding or get IAPs. And the ones where I have felt the urge to complete the story, I've bought IAPs before and still died yet again trying to progress the story Maybe I just suck!
Squids The IAP are 100% not needed. At all. I bought the pearl fish (double in-game currency during missions) to support the devs, and not because I needed it. Heck, I didn't even use the in-game items, let alone buy them, and STILL 3 star'd each mission. I can't praise this little gem enough!
Don't know if FF:T would be considered an ARPG. Any feelings on games like Wild Frontier or Exitium? Guess my feeling is that there's tons of ARPGs/KRPGs I haven't played yet that I know are supposed to be "good", the problem is you really don't know until have invested a lot of time in them as to whether they become grind-fests or IAP-driven.
Have you tried Mage Gauntlet? If you read TA regularly and haven't, that must be a sin of the highest degree since Hodapp rolled out like 10 articles on it in a month. One of the best games of 2011. Aralon is another pretty good one. Didn't have to grind at all personally, but I've played through more Westerns than I could count. Took 15-20 hours to go through. The first two Dungeon Hunter games are pretty good dungeon crawlers too. If you don't have them, wait for them to go down to $0.99, which is often. Many people still say that Wild Frontier is the best KRPG on the AppStore, so I'd definitely spend some time with it. I'm surprised you think Inotia 3 takes grinding though. It's probably the easiest KRPG I've played on the AppStore. Inotia 2, however, is the most grind-heavy KRPG I've played. Still trying to finish it atm. On the very last boss fight, but my level just isn't high enough apparently. 35 hours in at least already. If you're looking for a nice console experience with a great story and plenty of content, get The Bard's Tale. Battleheart doesn't have a story, but it'd be hard to count how many GOTY nominations it got around the web. The game is probably 75% strategy. Most people still consider it a RPG though. Dark Meadow and Infinity Blade II? Gamevil's Hybrid series is also pretty nice. The Zenonia series is pretty meh now. Definitely have never bought a consumable iAP before in a RPG.
Oh, ARPG, action. No, FF:T is NOT that, at all. Maybe Soul Tamer Kiki? I like it. The visual style isn't something I'm too keen on (everyone seems to have just stuffed their face full of cake...) but it's well done and pretty fun.
Yep, have Mage Gauntlet and Battleheart and love each for what they are. Played both DH games (can't play the third or Dark Meadow/Infinity Blade/Bard's Tale for that matter on my 2G). Guess I was referring to more of the KRPG style. I started Wild Frontier today and so far it seems good so I may stick with it for a while. As far as Inotia 3, well, maybe that says something about my skills as a gamer. Or that I haven't been giving it enough of a chance, only at level 11 as a Mage and keep getting squashed by some of the early bosses like Kilgern and the Necromancer in the Catacombs. I know I should go back and grind more. Just when I get that feeling of needing to grind that early in the game, I get worried about how much it will take in later parts of the game. I got through about 80% of Zenonia 3 before I had the same feeling.
Did you finish Zenonia 3? Getting through 80% before feeling you need to really grind is pretty great for a KRPG, lol. Yeah, stick with Wild Frontier for now I'd say.
Haha..not what you'd want cause its grindy..but hear good things about Crimsonheart. I really want to get it..but people in the thread have spent >60-80 hours on that game at least! I fear it'll take over my life. =P lol..
I really recommend inotia 2, one of the greatest games on the iOS. I'm actually looking for the exact same kind of you tc. I've played A LOT of RPGs in the AppStore and inotia 2 is definitely the best one so far. Grind heavy, sure but it feels good when you grind, it's challenging and engaging. So far I've tried just about all krpgs in the AppStore and none come close to inotia 2 and I'm currently out of fun games to play . I'm waiting for the own a bar rpg and I'm hoping it will be fun. Might try aralon again, maybe the updates have improved it.
Sadly, I didn't finish Zenonia 3. I know it sounds stupid to give up that far into the game, but it got to the point where a lot of the story had already been told and the grinding wasn't helping. One thing I liked about Z3 was the ability to grind in the "Execution Room," which was a nice way of containing the grind. But the fact that you had to pay each time you used the room and my short time allotments, it became difficult to keep grinding that way without running out of money and then still getting killed. When I ended I was at one of the towns towards the beginning without a two-way portal and I would have had to track all the way back to where I was when the grinding started to get monotonous. I'm certainly not saying that I can't deal with grinding at all. It's a given in RPGs. It just seemed like the last few action RPGs got to the point of diminishing returns for the grinding and I hate the whole IAP concept (rather pay higher for a game not needing them than to rely on them). I probably will stick with Wild Frontier for a while since I've heard good things about it. And the story seems a bit different than the usual. Thanks, I might give Inotia 2 a shot as well. There are some well made KRPGs on the App Store. Just maybe a bit too time consuming for what I'm looking for vs. the enjoyability you get out of them.
Have you tried Silversword ? It's not an ARPG, but more of a turn-based RPG. It's really a gem. And it requires a reasonable amount of grinding. It's boasting around 30h of pure fun. It has become my favorite RPG and i'm actively, with others fans, helping the dev (on the silversword forum) to improve this game.
Kiki the soul tamer is a AWESOME addition to ARPGS/KRPGS on iOS very highly recommended ....IAP are slight to none and highly optional .... truly not needed
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still playing through Fantasy Chronicles for my turn-based game. And will probably stick to Wild Frontier for a while to see what it's like. Will keep those in mind though. One question I had -- I kind of alluded to this earlier -- was that some of the "older" RPGs like Wild Frontier (which I haven't played enough to know how necessary they are) seem to have migrated to the IAP system as well. Not sure about Wild Frontier, but I'm pretty sure that games like it, the original Zenonia, etc. were on the AppStore before IAPs existed. It's not the fact that they added IAPs, I'm just curious to know whether they tweaked the difficulty of some of the earlier games to favor IAPs. A lot of these games did cost more when they first came out so I wouldn't be surprised if this did occur. Again, I'd rather pay more up front than deal with IAPs and/or tons of grinding.
