Thank you for downloading! We were actually featured on the front page for the US App Store! We hope to improve it even more. I don't want to give away exactly what we're putting in the next update but it will definitely appeal to more people yet hopefully still keep the difficulty that we want for the game. One thing I'll say is that gem rates will go up a bit. As I said above this one, gem rates will be going up a little bit in the next update. We feel that users get more gratification from actually defeating the monsters and winning those gems. It feels more like an accomplishment.
Yeah we realized the balances are a little off. Thankfully we have you guys to confirm it. I'll try to find the source of this bug. Thanks again for the feedback. Yes, one time use. You can un-equip the items if you want to save them for later runs. This will be address in the next update. Slightly new implementation for timings. I'm overall confused with the point you're trying to get at with this. I also think there might be some confusion as to how you think the game works. Regardless, you need to explain to me why enemy #1 is impossible. You just left it at that.
I think the cue for when an enemy is going to make a feint is auditory only. That is to say that it has the same visual cue as other attacks but if you try to block it the enemy will hit you on the next attack whether you try to block the next one or not. EDIT: There actually is a visual cue for feints, so yeah, you can play it without sound.
Awesome game, really loving the art style and animations. I thought i'd offer some solutions to the difficulty which you could implement. Maybe you could have 5 or so different "maps", each one with different enemies, rewards, exp and each would follow a set structure. Maybe with different bosses on each one. For example. Beginner map - 10 enemies + boss, first 8 would be tier 1 enemies, last 2 would be tier 2 enemies + boss. Intermediate map - 50 enemies + miniboss at enemy 25, and final boss. first 10 enemies could be tier 2 level, followed by tier 3 until miniboss, then tier 4+ until boss. Expert map - 100 enemies + minibosses (following similar path structure of previous maps). Endless map - mini boss every 25 enemies, boss every 50 etc Boss Rush Map - Every monster is a boss. Gold Map - Every enemy is gold! Gold Boss Map - FUN! Rewards for each map would be related to difficulty eg. beginner = 100g + exp + item Maybe unique items/weapons/clothes/abilities for clearing specific bosses/maps. Extra Bursts as rewards - eg. a burst that gives you more HP, or gives you +1 combo. Each map could have set routes where you can change paths to find a different boss at the end of each path. Achievements - you could have an achievement for clearing each map, every boss within each map etc. Anyway, these are just some suggestions. The difficulty is challenging for a lot of players, so being given the option to select a map for difficulty would be nice!
Unfortunately i have to chime in concerning difficulty/timing/cues. It seems i lost all my skills with this game. I deleted it and now i'm waiting for an update to start all over again. From my side; take your time with it. And just saying, the game's core play, sounds and art style is gorgeous.
When I booted the game this morning, I tried immediately clicking the training dummy. I didn't even realize the dummy had apparently been replaced with a cave or something, and Hyper Light Drifter dude was inside! Of course he killed me pretty quickly. Not trying to be a bother, but is there any estimate on when we may see this new update?
So I know the training dummy seems to give out a reward once a day. Two questions: 1) Do you only get the reward if you combo well? I tried it earlier today and eventually killed it (not very skillfully) and received no reward. Then, just now, I scored a 12-hit combo and got the customary 1000 gold. 2) If you get the training dummy payout and then, for whatever reason, have to quit the game, can you get the training dummy money on the next playthrough? I think this may have happened to me. After fighting the training dummy, I was clicking on doorways (in case one would take me to a hidden area), and suddenly I was fighting...nothing? Just air, with the combo reticle. Of course I received no attacks. Only way to get out of that was to exit back to the menu.
I was pretty horrible at this last night. Each time I come back to it I am getting better though. Highest hit combo is 22 and highest parry combo is 7. Slowly but surely getting the hang of it.
I want to like this, but the difficulty ramps up too fast, and without rhyme or reason. The level ups feel forced, and like others are saying, it doesn't encourage learning. Also, the timing for each enemy is identical. Once I noticed that, I was able to beat any enemy until I slip the timing...then they just spam attack. It's just too fast, and I've been playing games for 27 years. Oh well, I just wasted 2 bucks.
This game starts off frustratingly hard, but I feel I am getting better at it. Getting 350-550 gems per run now, which is nice. The only upgrade I bought was the second combo. Aiming for the "successful attacks improve damage" axes next. No idea what the outfits do, I can't buy any yet.
@tmgalex Firstly thanks for the awesome game - really enjoying it, and I'm looking forward to the additional features your team has planned. However I had a bit of a strange run of events today... I noticed I had 3 gold sacks that "increase the chance of "goldens" by 50%" so I decided to equip them - the small guy that slashes downward in three encounters (one for each gold sack) was now gold and always had a first-initiative attack putting me on Parry mode and each time I was killed in one hit. What's the deal with these guys? I parried one almost 40 times consecutively only to die because I dropped the parry combo. I don't think I'm all that bad at this game and getting beat down like that was depressing, and I never even got a chance to get an attack in. Is there some large reward to beating these guys? :/ Also, there's these little blue bunnies (?) that appear randomly for maybe a second peeking from behind something - is there some kind of item or reward obtainable from tapping them? I could've sworn I tapped a few of them but I don't know if I got anything from that. Lastly, it seems at times I'm able to resist one more hit than I should (I have no upgrades so it's normally one hit and the next one will kill), and I can't exactly remember because things happen so quickly but I think there's a sound and a flash when it happens? Can you explain this as well?
The golden enemies are supposed to be very, very hard, and drop something special when you kill them, I believe. They always attack first, they always kill in one hit (regardless of any active defense you might have), and they always hit with a crazy amount of attacks. The flash and sound thing are feints. They are a trick done by the enemy. They are not actual attacks and you shouldn't try to block them. If you try to block them anyway, your character will lose balance and won't be able to block the next attack, no matter what you do.
It was difficult at the start, then got fairly easy once I understood that you can hit the third attack VERY early and still have it count, and that the fourth hit is just resetting your "stance." Your 3-hit combo is actually a 4-hit combination. Since every time you level up a new enemy is added into the mix (or an old one gets stronger), it might be nice to have a "mini-boss" of two or three of those new/modified enemies in a row, and you can't actually level up until you successfully defeat them. That way, it might feel a little less like a punishment every time you level up, as you'll already have found a way to deal with the new challenge. And only THEN do these foes get added into the normal patterns. And one time I literally got stuck doing a combo against air. There was no enemy present that I was attacking, there was no way to defeat it, and there were no consequences to missing - I'd just go back to fighting thin air again. Eventually I just had to quit out, and it listed my 40-hit "air combo" (as far as I got before I deliberately broke combo) as my best streak. It'll be awhile before I'll get a combo like that on a REAL foe ...
I got this one time, too. It was right after I had resumed after getting a phone call, so I don't know if that's what triggered it or not.
I agree with it being a tad on the difficult side. Also, there doesnt seem to be much of a point in leveling up, because the enemies scale. They dont drop more coins but just gain more health and attacks. The only 'reward' is the potential of higher attack/parry combos. Having fun so far though. Question: Is it possible to turn off the clunky localization? Although i would be okay with a Dutch version (personally I prefer english), that would only be the case if it were fully and correctly translated. Now, only the item and achievement descriptions are translated, and none of the rest of the interface. On top of that, the bits that _are_ translated seem to contain spelling/grammar errors.
Game Impressions Hello, all! I actually created an account here on the forums just so I could speak out in support of this game. It certainly isn't for everybody, but I think it's awesome and with just a few tweaks it could be perfect. I bought it on a whim, just based on the screenshots, and haven't regretted it at all. I keep finding myself coming back to it through out the day, and the "just one more try" bug gets me everytime. It's brutally difficult, sure, but isn't that the point? I was confused by the timing at first but once you get the hang of it and the enemy tells the game is clearly fair, just unforgiving. And the satisfaction of seeing yourself improve is immense. I don't see how this game could be passed over as way too difficult when trash like Flappy Bird took the world by storm and countless endless runners are just as unforgiving. Perhaps many of you have gone soft playing other tap-to-advance titles... Now that being said, here are my thoughts on imporovement: Offer two tiers of difficulty but have enemies give more gems on the harder difficulty. This would make the game more accessible and ease people into it. Currently the level-up system flies in the face of convention and that seems to be putting people off. Leveling should create peaks and valleys of difficulty in most people's minds and Combo Queen is all uphill. When people finally reach the next level they expect to be rewarded for their efforts by the game becoming a little easier for a brief period - this creates the feeling of growing in power. But the enemies get harder immediately, so it feels more like a punishment. Just when you feel like you're getting a handle on things the game gets tougher and you never get a moment of respite. Finally, I think more gems should be earned for longer combos on each enemy, even if it's only a little bit more. Currently, the only reason to keep a combo going is to reduce the amount of enemy attacks you have to parry. That's a pretty good reason, but I think people would respond better if they felt like they were earning more gems for being a better player. So essentially, the main flaw with the game, IMO, is not the difficulty but rather the sense of accomplishment felt by the player. But if this is addressed, this game could be an all-time great for me.
