When you lose a life, the right-most request halves in value, making it easier to complete, and as 4 is the smallest amount you can achieve, that clears automatically for you. There are times when this can be useful to clear the last request if you are running low on colours. For example, if you need 64 whites, you can spend your moves arranging 5 blocks together (to get 32) and then lose one life, making it completable. And as you get a free life back for filling all requests, this could even be a free action if you use it tactically, maybe arranging the board so you use just enough colours to fill the last request but leave a better state for the next round. Note this only happens for the request on the far right, so if you have multiple requests with no moves left, not all of them will shrink. I'm also not sure why you think you get penalised for sliding tiles? Sure it still takes a move, but you can nearly always use it to make a bigger block that will save you time in the long run. For example at 9:32 in your video, you used 1 move to clear 3 blue blocks which only filled 8 request quota things. Instead, if you spent the move sliding the left column down 1, you could have got a chain of 7 blues (128), filling all three of your blue quota in one go and giving you a bit more for the blue overflow bucket. And because you get a free move for completing a colour in a request, that gives you an extra move on all 3 requests, essentially making the original slide free. So with one slightly different action, you could have finished with all the blues you need, and increased your chances of finding enough yellows by clearing 7 squares instead of 3. Luckily you still finished that round, but you could have had an easier time of it. Finally I do agree that it's silly having to draw out the lines instead of just tapping on the blocks, but I kind of like it because it gives me an extra second to think if I really want to clear that block (untracing the line cancels the action), or double check that I counted the right number of squares, etc. Without it, I'd probably end up wanting an undo button instead, for the times when I accidentally tapped on the wrong block or realised I only had enough for 64 points instead of 128.
For the most part, I feel I understand the rules. But still confused why sometimes the game will do what it did around the 8 minute mark in my video. And it still feels like a lot more luck than strategy. If you start off with a board that already forces you to use the extra tiles at the bottom and/or the arrows, your score will suffer right away. And you'll end up stuck sooner or losing lives sooner bc you used up those extra tiles very early on. And restarting a game takes several taps, so to keep trying for an optimal start is...not so exciting. And the scoring is definitely confusing for me. It looks like you get rewarded for never needing those arrows and wasting fewer moves to achieve your goal. Basically, having luck on your side. If you don't start off with a strong score, how does that affect your score down the line? Edit: I just got a really lucky start where everything went my way without needing to use any arrows or extra tiles. The next request seemed to have higher numbers than I would usually get for a second turn. Anyone know if the new requests are easier/harder depending on your previous turn? Did I imagine this? I think the more I play, the more confused I am about the rules and the scoring.
As I tried to explain above, using the arrows to slide tiles is key part of the strategy and not at all a wasted move if you use it correctly. If you can slide a row or column to make a longer chain, this can clear more of a colour in one go, saving you moves later so you don't have to go chasing after the little chains, and also filling up the spare blocks for when you really need them later in the game. I'm not totally sure how the scoring works, but yes, it looks likely that having more moves left on a request when you complete it will give you more points. Which is why I can see why that on paper, sliding a row can feel like a waste, especially when you lose a move off all the requests by doing it. But don't forget that completing a single colour in a request adds a move back on to that request, and completing an entire request adds a move to *all* the other requests. So if one slide lets you make a longer chain and complete multiple requests in one go, you get at least that move you spent back again, maybe even gain an extra move on top as well if that was the last colour in the request. This means that the slide actually helps you get a bigger score in the end. To try and explain this better than my previous wall of text did, look at 9:32 in your video. The current state is: 32B 16Y (4 Moves) - 32B 64Y (3 Moves) - 8B 16Y 16R (3 Moves) You collected a chain of 3, getting you 8 blue, leaving you with this: 32B 16Y (3 Moves) - 32B 64Y (2 Moves) - 16Y 16R (4 Moves) If you slid the left-most column down one instead, you get this: 32B 16Y (3 Moves) - 32B 64Y (2 Moves) - 8B 16Y 16R (2 Moves) Which feels worse. But because you now have a chain of 7 blue tiles that will get you 128, you actually end up with: 16Y (4 Moves) - 64Y (3 Moves) - 16Y 16R (3 Moves) when you add the one move bonus for completing the blue part of each request. So overall, after that one slide, you've have the same number of moves left on each request, but only need to find the yellows and reds, *and* don't have spend moves to find another 64 blue at the same time, like you did in the video. Not only that, but playing the odds, you know you'll need a minimum of 7 yellow tiles to complete all the yellow pars of the request, so you've now increased the chances of finding those extra tiles to the 7 new ones you'll get instead of the 3 you got in the video. Sorry this is a lot of text to wade through, but hopefully I've been able to explain why slides are actually beneficial and not a wasted move, and also making it very rare that you *have* to spend one of the extra blocks in the first few rounds like you described. If a request has 0 moves left and you do a move that doesn't complete a colour in that request, not only will you lose a life, but all the totals in that request will halve. For example, if it was 64 red and you lost a life, it will decrease to 32 red, and so on. Once it gets down to 4, it can't decrease any more (you can't get a chain of 1 tile), so it completes automatically. Note that this only happens for the right-most request on the display at the top of the screen, even if multiple requests have 0 moves left. Like all endless puzzle games like this, luck plays a huge part until you learn the strategies to either increase the chances of getting good luck, or minimise the damage caused by bad luck. Even now I get games of Threes where I've got to 768 with little effort, others where the RNG hates me and I struggle to get a single 192 tile. But I do totally agree that Threes did a much better job of explaining *everything*, so the game clicked with me much quicker and I at least feel mostly in control (spiteful RNG not included). Twofold misses a lot from its tutorial and makes you reverse-engineer how it's working, but I think I've got to the same point of understanding with it now, and can get scores of 18,000 and above more often than not. So I do think it's worth sticking with the game for a bit longer, because I'm sure it will click with you as well!
Thanks for explaining! I somehow missed your earlier comment. My current high is now over 14,000, but I honestly can't say if it's because I'm getting the hang of it or just had a really lucky run. Because I can end up with a game going awful pretty early on and it doesn't feel like there's any point in trying to save it. With Threes, if in pay attention, it doesn't go bad until much later. I think it's the combination of the inability to make matches from only partial groups of tiles (instead of the whole group) coupled with the small board and confusing rules and scoring that's making it hard to get hooked. And yeah, I meant you get penalized for using the arrows because it counts as a move. And still confused about the halving thing -- why is the game helping me out when I lose a life? And the drawing aspect still bothers me since it really serves no purpose. Could have just let us hold a finger on the shape to see the multiplier we'd get, then release to clear it. Maybe drag your finger away if you change your mind. Just seems the drawing is a main part of the game and serves no real purpose.
Yes, that's it. I love this game because of its animations. Nothing else. Definitely not its insanely deep mechanics. Nope. Just the animations. You nailed it.
It's weird. Here's why this game reminds me of Threes! and why I think its mechanics are deeper/more ingenious than at first they appear: I remember vividly when Threes! hit, I played a ton and then checked these forums to see if I was the only one who was seemingly getting worse the more he played. Others were having the same experience, where a scoring plateau was reached after absorbing the game's rules and mechanics, followed by an apparent drop in skill and score the more the player played and thought about the game. Eventually this was overcome the more one played and internalized the workings of the design. I'm not sure if the above makes sense or if I expressed it very well, but the same phenomenon has happened to me with twofold inc. It's what makes me continue to play the game despite some frustrations with the RNG color generation and confusion about some of the scoring mechanics. And like Boardumb, I like pretty animations flying all around my telephone screen.
I think another aspect that's getting to me is how you don't score points for a round unless you complete it. So I can put in all this effort on a round and then lose the game -- and my score is the same as if I didn't bother at all with that round. It feels off. Like, I get that being the case if our score was just how many rounds we survived. But it's bugging me that the matches I make in my final round don't count. I almost wish the scoring was just that -- how many rounds you last. Because then I would at least feel like I have a tangible goal -- survive as long as possible. The current score keeps tripping me up, though.
My 2 cents on why you have to draw the pattern instead of just clicking the blocks. Because it's more fun. Seeing the numbers double up is more exciting (not quite the right word) then just seeing what the total would be. Still don't quite get the scoring. But I am enjoying this one.
Wow, I just accidentally discovered this game has an undo feature! Edit: or, well, maybe not. I mean you can undo to the extent that you can replay the last move you made, but you can't change your move. Oops.
Every time you move, the move in the opposite direction is highlighted. You can see the previous state without penalty, but you can't change your mind about the move. I think the game would be friendlier if you could always undo your last move. I guess what this means is if you make a wrong move, it only costs 1 to change your mind instead of 2.
I think the game mechanics aren't good. The game shines when it comes to presentation! But it's horribly unbalanced. Luck outweighs skill by a mile. The longer I play the more frustrating this game feels.
