Brandnew Boy By Oozoo

[awp69]

I deleted this a while ago since it was kind of a pain to get going on a 3GS (basically, if you don't get a Game Center connection right away, it hung). So does anyone know if the update fixed that bug?

After getting it to run, it played pretty well and was fun. Just don't want to go through the hassle of making room for it again if the loading issue is still there.

[Exact-Psience]

Originally Posted by awp69

I deleted this a while ago since it was kind of a pain to get going on a 3GS (basically, if you don't get a Game Center connection right away, it hung). So does anyone know if the update fixed that bug?

After getting it to run, it played pretty well and was fun. Just don't want to go through the hassle of making room for it again if the loading issue is still there.

Very rare, happened only once this week (i play this everyday since a couple days before the update). But yeah, the game center issue is still there, but it's improved much.

[awp69]

Originally Posted by Exact-Psience

Very rare, happened only once this week (i play this everyday since a couple days before the update). But yeah, the game center issue is still there, but it's improved much.

Thanks, might have to give this another try -- just need to finish a game or two to make room for it!

[Joe Koch]

Anyone know how to fight the final boss? I've beaten every stage and ".1" second stage, but I can't click on the boss icon for the last stage. Also, how do you get WhiteHadall's boss summon? All I have are Frankentiger and Mimi. Beating White's boss stage just gives me a Mount upgrade every time.

[oooooomonkey]

Well I'm not sure what's took me so long to pick this up, but boy am I glad I bought this today as its really cool. Loving how simple the controls are, now this is how to do an iPhone rpg the right way.
Well worth taking a look especially while it's on sale.

[Ayjona]

I'll preface the whining below with this: I am still glad I purchased Brandnew Boy, and would probably have been so even if I had bought it at full price. It is a durned enjoyable game in spite of whatever criticism I will shortly level at it.

That said, time to whine a bit, in the hope that someone mistakes my nerd rage for suggestions for improvements. This game is a strange beast indeed. In some regards, the graphical quality and presentation is excellent, many graphical elements are both immersive and slick, and the animations are occasionally spectacular. But at the same time, the shop UI is an unpolished mess (chaotic, confusing, blindingly ugly icons and overflowing text are particular standouts), the game is not fully retinafied (on the iPhone 4), the environs are bland, and sometimes, I can't tell if I'm enjoying a visual masterpiece or a failed experiment in progressive art.

There is also the fact that the game only launches successfully about little less than half the time on my iPhone 4 (iOS 5). Every other or third launch or so, the loading times are short, but the other launches, the game goes on loading for 5+ minutes, then freezes. A very patient person might have fullfilled all the conditions of a proper bug tracker, but after staring blankly at the screen for another 2-3 minutes, I abandon hope and hit that home button.

It is also one of the few iOS apps I've found that resists being forcefully quit from the multitasking tray. Removing Brandnew Boy once from the fast app switched state actually leaves it frozen in memory, and upon the next launch, the screen goes black, and almost immediately resumes the music from the point where I last exited the app (provided music was still playing).

But in spite of these technical issues, the only thing that actually detracts significantly from my gameplay experience is the combo timing bar. Having to watch a graphical indicator just below the actual fight in order to time combos properly is a concept I find very unintuitive. I would have been so much happier with a visual integration of the timing mechanics into the attack animations of the player character (even if this resulted in a more abstract indication, and more challenging timing). Instead of watching the enemy to prepare for evasive maneuvers, or just to enjoy the combat animations, I am watching a line travel across a bar, mini-game style. For me, it breaks both immersion, and (often more importantly) gets in the way of other mechanics, such as dodging.

And this is where some of you might even experience the slowly creeping, subtly disquieting, and subconsciously harrowing sensation that I am on the verge of actually posting a solid suggestion for future improvement. But if I was, I would now ask Oozoo to include an option for a visual indication of combo timing in the attack animations of the player character in Brandnew Boy 2/any significant update to the original Brandnew Boy. But I did not, so there!

And yet, all this said, I like Brandnew Boy. That, if anything, earns Oozoo my respect and curiosity for future relases

[Exact-Psience]

The bar bothered me too, especially after being more comfortable with the gameplay. At first it seemed nice to have it to aid in combo timing, but later on, more often that not, it forces your eyes to be on the bar rather than on the action.

As an improvement, maybe if we have the option to hide the timing bar, better

Still, it is more important to look at the action rather than the bar since looking at the bar will make you dodge less and get hit more.

Fortunately, i dont experience the crashes much. It crashed on me once on startup (either monday or tuesday it was) but never happened again so far. Never has it crashed on me mid game.

As with the Shop UI, it still needs some tweaks to be perfect, but believe me, the improvement has been massive since the Korean version, and improved more on the latest version.

[Joe Koch]

Originally Posted by Ayjona

But in spite of these technical issues, the only thing that actually detracts significantly from my gameplay experience is the combo timing bar. Having to watch a graphical indicator just below the actual fight in order to time combos properly is a concept I find very unintuitive. I would have been so much happier with a visual integration of the timing mechanics into the attack animations of the player character (even if this resulted in a more abstract indication, and more challenging timing). Instead of watching the enemy to prepare for evasive maneuvers, or just to enjoy the combat animations, I am watching a line travel across a bar, mini-game style. For me, it breaks both immersion, and (often more importantly) gets in the way of other mechanics, such as dodging.

Just use the female character. No rhythm mechanics involved, just mashy goodness.

[oooooomonkey]

I have to agree with the above about the timing bar. As cool as this game is it seems strange that you miss the action by constantly looking at the bar.
I'm liking the new women character for not having the bar.

[syntheticvoid]

They just released a lite version of BNB - it's the Infinity Mode... =o)