Yggdrasil for iPad - Ludonaute

[Fimb]

A bunch of answers, sorry for the delay, had to sleep a bit
So the game has a stats page to check your former scores.
It does not have a cooperative AI because it doesnt need any. It's a coop game, you either play solo with one god, or with many (six). It can be played as a solitaire, or you pass and play with your friends. You'll fight against the game rules (the baddies' cards) either way. There is a steep learning curve I presume, and it definitely helps if you play some games solo before you explain it to others. (GS took me a day to grasp everything, of course I wasnt familiar with the concept). The board -- as beautiful as it is -- can be intimidating, but after some plays it just clicks. The in-game tutorial wont help you a lot, you have to read the rulebook and check some youtube videos from the original game. There are some informative ones out there. About retina I dont know, you may be right; the game looks stunning as it is. Lets hope the graphical overhaul won't screw the nice 80MB size of the app, and wont cause any slowdowns on older devices ;

[Fimb]

Another thing. It definitely helps if you realize that there are nine regions on the board, and you can choose from nine actions -- three actions per round. Some of those are for long-term strategical advances (like getting some guys to fight on your side or leveling up your weapons against the baddies -- think about the Buddhas in Ghost Stories), some are for immediate effects (pushing a god back a bit on his track).

So it's nine things, three of those can be done per rounds (/per baddie card). I hope it helps.

[WakeOfPoseidon]

I got to play a few games last night, and for the most part, I think this is well done if you know what you're getting into.

A very good point of reference would be "Ghost Stories", both in game mechanics and general polish of the app.

The app itself:

• I've never played the physical version of Yggdrasil, but based on the pictures I've seen, (like Ghost Stories) this app does a good job recreating the graphics of the board game.
  
• As previously mentioned, it's not Retina, but it still looks good on the new iPad - it's nice and colorful, and I had no issues reading any of the text. Since it's primarily just a static game board with a few moving sprites, I wouldn't think a retina update would catastrophically increase the file size.
  
• Also as previously mentioned, there is no online mutliplayer, but that seems fine considering the type of game this is - cooperative games require a lot of verbal coordination, and probably wouldn't work well playing with folks without some form of communication.
  
• The "tutorial" isn't much of a tutorial, but rather a series of helpful hints to get you started. It doesn't really walk you through turns or tries to explain "why" you would want to make a particular kind of move. On the positive side, it does have pop up reminders you can turn on and off during the game to remind you what each area is for. My recommendation: read the included manual first (as it's not accessible during the game for some reason), then try to play the game in "tutorial" mode to feel your way around and learn what everything does.
  
• The english version has a fair number of spelling typos ("ennemies")
  
• The game has Game Center for score leaderboards, but unfortunately no achievements. Though, similar to the Nightfall app, you can unlock the promo heroes by meeting certain types of conditions, which is a great touch.

The game iteself:

• As I mentioned earlier, the closest gaming touchstone to this that I can think of is Ghost Stories. These two games have a great deal in common, and I think if you have some familiarity with Ghost Stories, you should be able to pick this game up fairly quickly.
  
• On the other hand, if you don't have that familiarity (or worse yet, no familiarity with the general mechanics of cooperative board/card games), it's going to take you some time to figure out what you need to do, as it can initially be a bit overwhelming. When each player has a total of 9 different activities they can choose from for any of their (typically) 3 actions each turn, it can be daunting. But once you wrap your head around what each thing does, things become more focused when you realize only a handful of those 9 different actions make sense at any given time. Coop games require the players to work as efficiently as possible while hoping it's enough to overcome the randomness of the enemy deck/combat dice rolls.
  
• As with most cooperative games, it can be difficult, especially as you increase the number of players. Your luck drawing enemies from the draw deck and for your combat rolls will vary, so you're most likely not going to win every game. Your best bet for the first couple of games might be to try choosing two players, and it'll take a little time before you figure out how to be most efficient. Once you get past the hurdle of figuring out what the purpose of everything is, the game is straight forward.
  
• Based on what I played last night, the difficulty seems to be in line with that of Ghost Stories, even though I feel like you do have a bit more flexibility with choices in Yggdrasil, which I like.

Do you enjoy Ghost Stories? If so, don't hesitate to pick this up. Yggdrasil is probably a bit more "family friendly" (Ghost Stories has a good bit of violent imagery, which may not suit kids younger kids) and has a bit more flexibility in action choices (not restricted by location for certain actions as in Ghost Stories). A fun game that's a great deal at $6, considering the physical game goes for $40 to $50.

[sladeums]

Originally Posted by WakeOfPoseidon

I got to play a few games last night, and for the most part, I think this is well done if you know what you're getting into.

A very good point of reference would be "Ghost Stories", both in game mechanics and general polish of the app.

Thanks for the thorough write up WoP !

I'm gonna pick this up tonight fer sure after I cash in some Viggle points for an iTunes card.

I really like the looks of the wide variety of available moves to consider each turn. Watched several vids on the physical version yesterday and think that'll help ease me into it.


(as an aside, thanks to you, I'm pretty sure I'll be hearing Pictures of a City and Cadence and Cascade in my head allll day long again!)

[syntheticvoid]

woah... game looks fantastic. gonna have to check it out ASAP. =oD

[PapaT]

Thanks for the review WOP.

Love Ghost Stories, so you have pushed me off the fence.

Must get this one!

[LordGek]

Originally Posted by Fimb

A bunch of answers, sorry for the delay, had to sleep a bit
So the game has a stats page to check your former scores.
It does not have a cooperative AI because it doesnt need any. It's a coop game, you either play solo with one god, or with many (six). It can be played as a solitaire, or you pass and play with your friends. You'll fight against the game rules (the baddies' cards) either way. There is a steep learning curve I presume, and it definitely helps if you play some games solo before you explain it to others. (GS took me a day to grasp everything, of course I wasnt familiar with the concept). The board -- as beautiful as it is -- can be intimidating, but after some plays it just clicks. The in-game tutorial wont help you a lot, you have to read the rulebook and check some youtube videos from the original game. There are some informative ones out there. About retina I dont know, you may be right; the game looks stunning as it is. Lets hope the graphical overhaul won't screw the nice 80MB size of the app, and wont cause any slowdowns on older devices ;

Yeah, I'm in, thanks for that confirmation!

I find games like these are almost like an adult activity center:



with all sort of little sub-tasks to keep you busy and your mind sharp.

[adamphetamine]

hmm it looks good but can't tell about gameplay. would love to check it out and play but i don't think I'm ready or willing to take the plunge yet. maybe in the future or after i hear a lot of impressions.

[Fimb]

Originally Posted by LordGek

Yeah, I'm in, thanks for that confirmation!

I find games like these are almost like an adult activity center:



with all sort of little sub-tasks to keep you busy and your mind sharp.

I think you just nailed it. With these kind of games the best part is the learning. I know I'll savour it as I can; that's what I did with GS, slowly raised the difficulty for myself. Can't wait the night when everyone's sleeping to try and hold back Fenrir and Loki! (The theme somehow stuck into my head: read through Norse mythology during the day. )

[WakeOfPoseidon]

Originally Posted by LordGek

Yeah, I'm in, thanks for that confirmation!

I find games like these are almost like an adult activity center:



with all sort of little sub-tasks to keep you busy and your mind sharp.

I knew that these types of games reminded me of something...and that's pretty much it

One suggestion to the developer for the next update - please include the ability to zoom in on things, particularly the cards, chits, tokens. For instance, it's hard to read the iconography on the ice giant cards when they are in play, as well as read what's on the Ragnarok/Angry Enemy Cards for when you're trying to add cards for a higher difficulty. A double tap zoom would go a long way towards fixing that.