LETZ: The Story of Zed HD - (by About Fun)

[LordGek]

Originally Posted by Misguided

The more I play this one, the less I think it will be a long-term game for me. I give it points for being extremely creative, but there are some gameplay elements that I really despise. Chief among these is the bonus lottery. These look like little slot machines with a spinning dial containing pictures of items. You have to tap on the lottery within a few seconds or it will disappear.

One of the items in the lottery is called a Revealer, which is absolutely pivotal (too much so in my opinion) to hitting the time objectives on the levels I've been playing. Some letters of the target word for the level start out unknown, and the revealer makes them visible. Prior to a letter being known, you can't collect that particular letter and get credit toward the bonus word. So you might be making the word "Bowler" and see "??wler" at the top of the screen. Collecting a B or O won't give you credit toward the word until those letters are revealed.

So, what happens is when you see a lottery, you end up with your finger hovering over it for several seconds hoping a revealer comes up. This "drop everything to get the revealer" aspect runs completely counter to the nature of the rest of the gameplay. You can buy upgrades (coins can be earned as you play or purchased) that slow down the lottery dial or extend the length of time the lottery lasts, but these only exacerbate the problem, because it means more time sitting there waiting for the right symbol to show up. The whole thing becomes an exercise in frantic matching, punctuated by periods of waiting with your finger hovering over the lottery. For me, at least, not fun. I don't have a problem with the lottery reward being random, but IMO making me stop matching to wait a few seconds and tap a symbol was apoor design choice.

I want to comment on the art direction. Again, kudos for consistency of design here. However, there are too many objects with the same "intensity" in terms of visual and aural feedback. There's so much happening on screen, I often don't even notice things like lotteries or chests until I hear the sound they make when they disappear. Why is it that items vanishing make a more prominent sound than when they show up? This one is really baffling to me. Making some of these items oversized or have a more prominent glow might have made them easier to spot quickly.

One minor thing. I would not give the player an objective they an not physically complete, such as requiring a certain number of words to be made in expert mode when they are playing in casual mode. Yes, the objectives are optional, but people who are completionists may find this frustrating. Just a thought.

This game is frustrating to me, because I think there is so much potential, and the love and creativity that went into it is palpabe, but I feel that it is wonderfully flawed more than wonderful.

As I stated earlier, I want to like it but the early levels being completely endless rendered any score ranking meaningless.

Score = How long you stay on an easy level until your hand cramps up.

[Misguided]

That particular aspect doesn't bother me, but for a stats junkie/ leader board guy like yourself, I see where that would be a big deal.

[About Fun]

Guys, thank you all for your comments.

It's really hard for us to hear such feedback, mainly, because you find some game elements quite unsatisfying.

Let me react on one or two things.

The revealers are crucial but there is no need to stop the playing while waiting for a revealer. If you have the upgrade that slows the lottery down, you can keep on playing and then just choose a revealer when it appears. Or there is another upgrade that grants you revealers for regular matching. Moreover, you have some chance to get a revealer just for better matches without any upgrade, so you don't need to wait for bonus lotteries. Of course, if you want the time objective, then you need to grab any chance to finish as soon as possible.

The game options are widely open. Moreover, in expert mode, the letters look differently, so you can read them clearly.

The waiting after the "story word completed" is surely an issue for further polishing/balancing. At the moment, our choice is that the player does not loose any found words (and stars) and coins given in this "last hurrah". We shall consider speeding up the process considerably in a future update.

Again, we are sorry that our game does not seem to be your cup of tea. Maybe if you play later, more challenging levels, or other modes, you'd find it different. We will surely try to balance few things you have mentioned in future updates.

[Misguided]

Originally Posted by About Fun

The revealers are crucial but there is no need to stop the playing while waiting for a revealer. If you have the upgrade that slows the lottery down, you can keep on playing and then just choose a revealer when it appears. Or there is another upgrade that grants you revealers for regular matching. Moreover, you have some chance to get a revealer just for better matches without any upgrade, so you don't need to wait for bonus lotteries. Of course, if you want the time objective, then you need to grab any chance to finish as soon as possible.
.

Thanks for the reply. Speeding up the "last hurrah" would be a nifty thing, to be sure.

Some people may be able to tap on the symbol when it appears, but I'm just not that quick (even with the slower reel). I'm not sure which upgrade lets you get Revealers for regular matches...is it Zed Aid 2? That would help.

As I said before, it is really obvious how much work has gone into LETZ. Despite the issues I have with different aspects, I'm glad I bought it, and I hope it does well for you.

[About Fun]

Originally Posted by Misguided

Thanks for the reply. Speeding up the "last hurrah" would be a nifty thing, to be sure.

Some people may be able to tap on the symbol when it appears, but I'm just not that quick (even with the slower reel). I'm not sure which upgrade lets you get Revealers for regular matches...is it Zed Aid 2? That would help.

As I said before, it is really obvious how much work has gone into LETZ. Despite the issues I have with different aspects, I'm glad I bought it, and I hope it does well for you.

Thank you.
Yes, it is Zed Aid 2.

[slewis7]

I too am enjoying the game despite my issues with it. It is just that it is obvious a lot of effort went into making the game so polished, yet the game play itself is a bit of a letdown in comparison. I guess I was expecting more of a word game. I have finished World 1 and I hope that the next world gets more interesting.

[About Fun]

Originally Posted by bramblett05

Where's the iPod version?

Update is finally online!