Amazing game
Thu Apr 14 2022 Beezer the TurnipStructurally, this game is sort of a hybrid between a strategy game and an RPG. I find that it's helpful to think of it more like an RPG myself, where you play the clan, rather than an individual character. Your clan has a destiny, which will lead you to riches and glory if you are strong enough to hold onto it, or will leave you forgotten and destitute if you don't.
Gameplay then, is about surviving and building your strength (especially in the strength of your leaders) long enough for your destiny to roll around, and in the face of inevitable hardships you'll find. The game does hide a lot of information from you: It's the sort of game that's much, much easier once you've beaten it once or twice already, which can be good or bad depending on what you like in the game. There's also a fairly significant random element. Even your best laid plans can fail, or your insane adventures succeed, if the dice gods favor or hate you that roll.
Nonetheless, I've spent hours and hours enjoying this game, and I really do think it's great.
Almost Perfect
Fri Jun 10 2022 Lucienz1First, let me say this is one of the best games that I’ve played. You basically play as a clan trying to survive in a fantasy world where your god has just been killed. The progress of your clan is extremely engaging and some of the events that pop up are really interesting (i.e., how do you handle having an ally clan that has accepted your religious revelation taking the position that non-believers are heretics and can be enslaved?).
But there’s one huge and pretty glaring problem. This is an extremely short game and it breaks my heart because the game length is artificial. Basically, the clock starts ticking once a single event chain, which occurs very early, starts. After that event triggers, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing or what you want to explore, once the event chain ends so does your game. This is extremely frustrating especially in the context of King of Dragon Pass which would allow you to decide when to start a Tribe (and thus start the end game). I feel like the game would be significantly improved if there was a way to allow players to determine when the end game chain begins (maybe when you’ve completed a certain number of rituals) but as it is, there’s no way to do this and it doesn’t matter what other event chains you’re in the middle of (and will never see the ending of) or if you want to play longer.
Excellent, Ambitious Game with a few blemishes
Fri Jul 27 2018 keleb.fruankWhile I was never a big fan of King of Dragon Pass, Six Ages really sucked me in. Improvements to the combat system and the changes to simplify/abstract a few systems (particularly food) have really made the core stories shine. And it’s hard to overstate how ambitious this game is compared to most others I have played on the iPhone.
While I have a lot of things that I wish could be different, I think most of them make the game better. For instance, I really wish I could wipe out other clans, particularly my smug, conniving, weak, and stupid Wheel neighbors.
The game is not without flaws however. The game seems to have a time limit that cannot be changed and gives no warning. Events and outcomes can be very random. Even when it feels like there’s a reason you lost a battle or a party of explorers never returned, the game gives you no information or clue on why.
Being able to restore definitely helps with this but I don’t think players should have to do that just to get a new dice roll on an event.
I am definitely looking forward to the next few chapters and hope this game does well.
Come back to Glorantha a second time
Sun Jul 01 2018 VananNever in my wildest dreams did I think there would be a sequel to King of Dragon Pass!
Six Ages takes all of the lessons learned from porting KODP to iOS and streamlines a lot of the more fiddly bits of the original game.
The game casts you as an entire tribe of horse riding barbarians who have to struggle to establish themselves in a land where the rules are different from Earth and everything is alive. This game will challenge you to think like a barbarian and guide your tribe to wealth or ruin (and perhaps even more!) The game is turn based, with you choosing actions for your tribe and resolving situations that occur as time passes. There is combat, trading, diplomacy, magic, rituals, and more as you learn about the weird and wonderful world of Glorantha.
The music, visuals, and gameplay are a step up over the original and it is a worthy successor. I found a play through took about three days of concerted effort which is shorter than the original “long game” from KODP but in general I found it to be very rewarding with lots of opportunities for alternative approaches in subsequent playthroughs. Additionally, the developer has committed to introducing new scenarios into the game for no additional IAP charge.
In general this is a very promising and exciting continuation of one the most unique and immersive roleplaying/simulation games ever made!
Disappointing - For Only One Reason
Mon Jul 09 2018 Dante Rising<edit> I have changed the rating from three stars to four. Even though the smaller font issue still exists, it is obvious the developer is active with the community, and it is not a bug. </edit> This is a five star game that I have dropped to four stars for only one reason. The text font size is significantly smaller than their earlier game, KoDP. For a title so reliant on text, this is borderline unforgivable. Either the 'larger font' option is currently bugged, or the developer has made a design decision that has reduced the quality-of-life over their previous game. Opening the games 'side-by-side' shows this dramatic difference in text scale. Hopefully this can be addressed in a patch, and I can improve the rating. I was a huge fan of the first game, and I find myself struggling to play this one.
Other than that, fans of KoDP should immediately purchase the title. Anyone else looking for a text-heavy immersive experience is likewise urged to try the game. But if you are a potential customer who is frustrated when games feature small text- I advise caution on your decision.
Too arbitrary
Sun Mar 07 2021 Harry AstleI gave this game a lot of chances and even read the manual several times. Been trying it off and on for a couple of years. Game would be fantastic if it had any way of measuring how well you’re doing whatsoever. I genuinely think that the developer wanted to hide the game mechanics. Because then we would understand just how poorly they were put together. The artwork is nice, the stories are nice, but it all really counts for nothing if the game itself is unplayable, which it absolutely is. I’ve had games where I completely random clicked on events and it didn’t even make me do any worse. The quality of the storytelling actually backfires when you invest yourself in the story but then realize that your decisions are not relevant. I’m not going to look up a guide online for how to play this game like 90% of the other players have done. That would defeat the purpose of playing the game. I suspect if online guides didn’t exist that this game would have a much lower rating. Although, after reading many of the five star reviews, it’s obvious that many of them are completely fake.
For any fan of interactive fiction
Fri Jun 29 2018 Spoomlet42It's a miracle that this exists at all - King Of Dragon Pass was a hidden gem almost 20 years ago and never really got the recognition it deserved. This game retains the core of what made that game great - learning the way of life and outlook of a richly-imagined culture with an imaginative system of myths and laws, in one of my favorite fantasy settings ever dreamt up.
There's quibbles - I'm maybe not as enamored with the prose or music, and some sentences could use an editing pass. It exceeds KODP in other areas, though; visual art and quality of life in particular. Really though, don't let that discourage you - if you loved KODP, this has the same magic. If you didn't play KODP, buy both.
I'm writing this review because it'll help this game's discoverability on the dreaded app store. I'm never moved to do that. This series is essential.
Don’t hesitate! Just buy!
Thu Jun 28 2018 Satisfied to a high levelTo start off, I have been waiting for this game for a few years now! Having previously played KODP and hearing about I sequel I was exited! I have nothing but good things to say now that I have had it for some hours now.
If you’ve played KODP then this will feel like home with the advantage of now feeling like you have more control over your tribe and the decisions made. However, this also allows for more strategy and therefore more trial and error. I am very satisfied with this aspect. This means that every game can play out in different ways and you can have different approaches.
For those who are playing this as a separate game and have no KODP experience. This is an all around good strategy/management game. Lots of devastating events which makes for even sweeter victories. However, this game requires time and commitment to enjoy. You can sit down and expect a quick play through. The creators have clearly put a lot of TLC into making this and it requires the player to do the same to really enjoy!
I’m so glad that there developers who can commit to putting out such amazing material and I look foreward to the new content that will be released!
Lacks feedback features
Fri Jul 27 2018 KazimirsIzidorsFun, interesting, yes... but it gets very frustrating very fast, since there is basically no way of gaging your progress. There is no way of knowing if you are growing, or wasting your time. Everything seems to be completely random, and when you think you are progressing and doing well in one field, all of a sudden it turns out you are not. I wish there were graphs or progress bars or percentages, anything showing what my status is in, for example, war, or rituals, or food, or diplomacy. It’s just frustrating to play something for many hours and out of nowhere, when everything seems to be progressing nicely, the clan disbands and you loose. It keeps happening to me over and over again and it’s just not fun, and I loose interest. Why should I keep playing a game where I keep loosing, and I never know why? Why would I keep playing a game where everything seems to be random and I never get feedback on my actions?
Confusing
Wed May 13 2020 Dreaming of WolvesI didn’t expect such a high learning curve. Be forewarned. Devs gave me a website guide of sorts, but it’s very vague. The tutorial is only slightly more vague. Such a shame because I really want to get into this game, and perhaps one day I’ll redownload it and it’ll click. But right now, it definitely does not click.
However, clearly a lot of love and effort went into this title and it really shows, in every detail, all of that text. Therefore I only take off one star. I don’t know what else the devs could do other than somehow come up with a way to lower the insane learning curve. Apparently this title is easier to learn than their first game though, and hopefully the next installment may be even easier and some day I can fully appreciate the game without dying because I have no idea what I’m doing.
