Axe and Fate.

[Greyskull]

Originally Posted by squarezero

No need for condolences. This is actually a pretty deep and well thought out RPG/dungeon crawler in the Dungeon Master/Wizardry 8 tradition. From the developer website, it's clear that it's a PC port, and not a bad one. It does require a healthy dose of patience, since little is explained within the game, and even the online "tutorials" are pretty skimpy. You can figure things out, if you give it time.

The game is also pretty freaking brutal. I have yet to complete the first battle: I got killed twice, then ran out of battery just as I was getting a handle on things.

One really cool thing is that the game is first person, but you play your 2 characters individually, switching viewpoints at will. Combat is highly tactical, with position, action points, and distance making a big difference. You can fry your ally with area spells, for example, if you are not careful. At first the set up seems pretty awkward, but once you get used to it, it feels natural. You can even set one of the characters to follow automatically, and sharing equipment is very easy and intuitive.

And yes, the translation (from Russian, it seems) is pretty bad. Again, anyone picking this up should approach it with a ton of patience.

Sorry if this post is a bit incoherent. I need to go to sleep -- I'll try to spend more time with the game tomorrow and post further.

Well, if it's a PC port there it must have a web presence somewhere. Anyone feel like scouring the interwebs for a demo?

[Gabrien]

Originally Posted by Greyskull

Well, if it's a PC port there it must have a web presence somewhere. Anyone feel like scouring the interwebs for a demo?

Actually, that's another strange thing. That being the case, I thought surely I'd at least find a video of the PC version on YouTube, but nope.

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by Gabrien

Actually, that's another strange thing. That being the case, I thought surely I'd at least find a video of the PC version on YouTube, but nope.

The tutorial images on the developer website show mouse and keyboard, so I assumed that the game had had a previous incarnation on the PC. It's possible that the developer is releasing the game on iOS and PC simultaneously, but I didn't find any evidence on the website.

[pka4916]

Spent 2 hours of searching this afternoon, and didn't find anything a far as a demo for the pc or whatever..
Did find a few screens on google images, but that's about it.

I really like the Idea of some kind of Ultima / The Quest clone
but with no footage... i dunnow..

Since you bought it, maybe you can provide a video?

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by pka4916

Spent 2 hours of searching this afternoon, and didn't find anything a far as a demo for the pc or whatever..
Did find a few screens on google images, but that's about it.

I really like the Idea of some kind of Ultima / The Quest clone
but with no footage... i dunnow..

Since you bought it, maybe you can provide a video?

It's been a while since I've done any iOS game videos. I'll try tomorrow night.

I spent more time with the game tonight: beat the first quest (your ship has been taken over by giant rats; you have to defeat them and find a navigation chart to your destination island), made it to an island, got a new quest and found the first proper dungeon. Except for the very poor translation (from Russian, I guess). I'm actually digging the game. It plays a bit like an FPS version of Final Fantasy Tactics, but with free movement rather than tiles. Visually, it's not that far off from Wizardry 8 or a later Might and Magic. The creature animation is pretty stiff, which I guess makes sense in a turn-based game. The art direction seems inspired by WoW, which doesn't bother me, but others may find problematic.

The actual RPG mechanics have some depth but also feel a bit restrictive. For example, you have to specialize in a particular type of armor to be able to use it -- it's not clear how you gain new specialization. Classes have corresponding races, with no visual customization. I'm currently playing a dwarf paladin and an elf mage; the mage feels pretty underpowered at this point, with only one available spell (I could have two if I'd chosen a different elemental specialty). Spells have visual effects, which are okay but nothing special.

Every action except looking around or targeting takes up action points. One nice thing is that you can tell at a glance whether you have enough action points to use a particular spell or weapon. As I mentioned earlier, you control your two characters separately, though you can easily set one to follow the other, which makes basic movement and exploration a lot easier. All in all, gameplay is pretty slow, at least till you get the hang of movement during combat and switching from character to character.

One encouraging sign is that even the first quest had some variety to it, with two different kinds of giant rats and a three headed "king rat" as a final boss.

Overall, I think fans of first person turn-based RPGs (and who can tolerate a crappy translation and some rough edges) should give this a look. The learning curve is pretty steep, though, and there's little help within the game. I would recommend that people spend time on the developer's website to become familiar with the controls and basic gameplay. Oh, and make sure to explore the ship's deck before going below to start the first quest -- there's tons of useful equipment that you don't want to miss. Save often.

[pka4916]

Thanks squarezero for the explanation. Much appriciated
got me a push further into the hitting the buy button..
Gonna try tomorrow to see if I can get some more details from their website.
Time to get some sleep now.. need to get up in 5 hours.. lol

[Greyskull]

Originally Posted by squarezero

The tutorial images on the developer website show mouse and keyboard, so I assumed that the game had had a previous incarnation on the PC. It's possible that the developer is releasing the game on iOS and PC simultaneously, but I didn't find any evidence on the website.

...or it could be a video of the game being tested on a computer. There are lots of videos of ios games which show them being controlled by mouse.

[Psiufoxx]

Nice, thanks SZ! Seems like ill be picking up this game after all...

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by Greyskull

...or it could be a video of the game being tested on a computer. There are lots of videos of ios games which show them being controlled by mouse.

No, I mean it literally: there's a drawing of a mouse on screen, showing when the righ or left click.

[ProgPariah77]

Squarezero, your "hands-on preview" has me at least interested enough to add this one to my watch list ... perhaps I'll bite if the price comes down ... Got to have SOMETHING to play once I've finished Baldur's Gate!