Phoenix HD - Bullet hell Shooter by Firi Games (Universal App)

[SumoSplash]

Originally Posted by sapphire_neo

Oh definitely, in terms of pure design and gorgeous firepower the Corsair wins hands down. I love the missile barrage and the gatling gun, and the lock-on is a great way to generate health and drops. Not to mention the sound effects for the Corsair loadout are perfect. Trinity's weapons on the other hand sound very weak.

The Focus Vision is growing on me with each play, I love the gradual dimming and then watching the game come back to life slowly as you gain health. Very thematic and improves the ambiance, already bolstered by the new backgrounds.

I like the focus vision. The concept and presentation are great. But firstly, I don't need to be told by the game that I am low on health so I can 'focus' more on the bullets. Focusing on the bullets is inherent already and I can do this just fine on my own. Secondly, when you remain on low health for an extended period of time, you remain in focus vision, and the whole time I am in focus vision I would rather just be back in color. It's in this way that I find it to be distracting. I question WHY it was implemented, almost as if the only real purpose behind it is to tell the lesser player to get out of danger. It's pretty, but I don't see it as being necessary, and having it as optional would be great.

And the big thing with 'buying' upgrades is that I liked being able to determine my destiny within the game itself, not altering my mission beforehand by purchasing more health or more power ups or whatever. Everything was already supplied in abundance within the gameplay before the update. Now I have to buy them (with currency from the game) to make my ship its best. Ugh.

Hmmm... This update really has my wheels turning, good, bad and indifferent. What else would you expect from the makers of Phoenix HD?

[sapphire_neo]

Focus Vision is definitely a visual embellishment, much like the backgrounds, more than it is a functional enhancement and as such it makes sense that there should be an option to disable it.

Also, I'm #2 in Asia with the Trinity! But, when I was looking at the ship specific ranks, the #1 in the world is held by someone in Europe with 33mil, and when I switch to the default ranks the #1 is some guy in Australia with 12mil... very odd.

[Selachii]

Great feedback guys. First up, Phoenix HD 2.0.1 is rolling out as we speak, which fixes the issue some people had, like Poli (thanks for the crash reports!)

@sapphire: I don't know if you are a married man (i'm not), but I heard honeymoons aren't always what they seem Anyway, your feedback is much appreciated and much discussed here at Firi Games. I will not reflect upon everything your wrote at this point as I think we'll gradually get there.
Regarding the screenshot where you ask if we want people to buy drones, no, but we want the game to become harder when you progress. In the previous version there were a couple of hard turrets that were only used in a couple of mid ranged setups. Hence the 'end game' did not contain the most difficult possibilities. This model has completely been revised and was implemented regardless of boosts players might rely on. It is amazing players got to the scores they did in earlier versions, playing games that last hours instead of the mere minutes we intended

Phoenix Wake is indeed a 'luxury' boost, simply to save time. When activated your ship will fly at high speed and all ships will explode when they appear on the screen. This lasts for 20 encounters. Drops like weapon upgrades and coins occur as normal, powerups don't drop during that time. Hope that clarifies it.

This update brought a lot of new factors into the mix and shook up a lot of the existing mechanics. Trust me when I say that the whole endeavour is super scary and exciting at the same time for us devs and we're happy to receive your nicely elaborate feedback.

[your personal robot]

THIS is by far the most beautiful, most amazing Phoenix yet! I think, pretty much has been improved vastly. The new ship and its mechanic are creative and really cool. The graphics were always awesome but also got a lot better (more background, the amazing fade to black and white). I think the coin system is a perfect fit for this game. It was never leaving my device but lately I just wasn't playing it. But now, addiction came back. All prices are fair and you earn a ton of coins if you know the game. So, you now have goals to aim for, that brings back my motivation to play that game a ton! Wow, I cannot describe how much I love the update. The map based highscores, minimal menus, I love it! And yes, the resurrection animation fitting perfectly to the game's title.

I could happily die with this version of Phoenix. I'm blown away once again.
THE definite endless shmup for me.

[SumoSplash]

Originally Posted by Selachii

It is amazing players got to the scores they did in earlier versions, playing games that last hours instead of the mere minutes we intended

You mean I wasn't supposed to play for 6 hours straight?!?!

[sapphire_neo]

Originally Posted by your personal robot

THIS is by far the most beautiful, most amazing Phoenix yet! I think, pretty much has been improved vastly. The new ship and its mechanic are creative and really cool. The graphics were always awesome but also got a lot better (more background, the amazing fade to black and white). I think the coin system is a perfect fit for this game. It was never leaving my device but lately I just wasn't playing it. But now, addiction came back. All prices are fair and you earn a ton of coins if you know the game. So, you now have goals to aim for, that brings back my motivation to play that game a ton! Wow, I cannot describe how much I love the update. The map based highscores, minimal menus, I love it! And yes, the resurrection animation fitting perfectly to the game's title.

I could happily die with this version of Phoenix. I'm blown away once again.
THE definite endless shmup for me.

What is the maximum amount of coins you have won in a single run so far?

[your personal robot]

Originally Posted by sapphire_neo

What is the maximum amount of coins you have won in a single run so far?

Haven't checked exactly. But easily more than 1000. So, it's not a grind fest like most of the other IAP apps out there. Not at all.

[Selachii]

Originally Posted by SumoSplash

You mean I wasn't supposed to play for 6 hours straight?!?!

Haha, no that's fine (excellent even), but some of those 50+ mil games last over an hour on themselves.... 1 game!

[sapphire_neo]

Originally Posted by your personal robot

Haven't checked exactly. But easily more than 1000. So, it's not a grind fest like most of the other IAP apps out there. Not at all.

It might seem like 1k is a generous amount, but it doesn't stack up when you compare it with the basic boosts which cost upwards of 1k altogether, and upwards of 3k if you want drones too (and 6k+ if you want that revive too). You'll need 2 or 3 long farming runs to finance one ranking run, which makes it enough of a grindfest in my eyes. However, as I've already shown, it's not unthinkable to manage a good ranking run without any boosts at all. But if you want to play the money game you'll always be one step behind the asking rate, trying to break even and scrounge up more coins for those drones.

[SumoSplash]

Originally Posted by Selachii

Haha, no that's fine (excellent even), but some of those 50+ mil games last over an hour on themselves.... 1 game!

Yeah I was only teasing , I've never played more than 30 minutes. I think my high score has been around 7.5-8 million before my fingers gave out.

This is a moot point since you aren't altering the electricity melee attack for the Shogun, but I wanted to point something out. If you look at the Trinity and the 'blade' attack that comes out of the front of the ship, the distance at which this weapon strikes the enemy vessels is a good example of the distance I wanted the electricity to come to (so you could use the electricity AND graze simultaneously). This is similar to how you can get close to an enemy with the Trinity and use this blade attack and the other weapons it fires simultaneously. Moot point like I said, but I hope that makes more sense.