Difficult but not unfair part 2.
Tue Sep 14 2021 rj yjThe reason I entitled the review part 2 because it seems that my first review got accidentally deleted. Any how writing another. The game is a classic srpg with a grid and a turn based combat system. Let’s first address the elephant in the room — ‘yes’ the game is challenging that’s primarily because of the in game level up system where you can level up to unlock abilities but not improve base stats. In essence you can’t grind for hours to get OP base stats, as stats improve on a stage doesn’t carry over, only abilities unlocked does. This has a plus point as it forces the player to manage their resources carefully and play the battles more diligently, rather than going all guns blazing with the cushion of OP base stats to win the fight. My only gripe is that the game is too short. It needed either an additional stage or post game content. Unlocking achievements in GC is not post game content and replaying old stages incessantly can become mundane. Overall, I like the choice based dice system in between battles, the artwork and character design is great, and the battle mechanics is my personal favorite (this gives replay value in the sense one can experiment with different comps). I finished the game on casual mode with Oloch, Ranger, Dark knight and Sasquatch. The game was a 5 star experience for me.
First review got deleted.
Sun Jun 20 2021 mryukI wrote a very lengthy review the first time but it seems to of gotten deleted. I purchased every single game you guys have made and despite them becoming pay to win over the years a little bit I have stuck with being a huge fan. Though I have seen the games become more and more monetized which is disturbing. That said I think the quality of the games the artwork and I love that went into them is the best I’ve ever seen in the Apple store. Which brings us to this game, which I was very excited to see in the Apple store. It is an amazing idea and it’s done as well as your other games but it is like a pay to win Game without the ability to pay! It is brutally hard to the point of almost not being fun. The difficulty is just way too high. I’ve been stuck on the second stage for sometime and have almost everybody unlocked and at level three. I understand the game is to figure out how to use people properly and strategically but I feel like there’s only one way to do it and that’s if you’re lucky at the time and I am not finding it. I’ve been playing 100 times through and still haven’t beaten it. Definitely scares me for the third leveled seeing as the characters don’t get any better or stronger and often walk in so weak at the beginning that they die first fight. I would love to see you make more games in this direction but with The ability to change the difficulty a little bit.
I love you and I love your games
Sat Jun 19 2021 NabzalotThis one included. To everyone saying it’s too difficult - it’s a completely standard strategy game, please stop yelling at developers because you aren’t good at it. Get better, apply actual strategy, choose a balanced team. I beat every level in 1 or 2 tries, which leads to my problem: it went by way too fast! I beat the whole game in a single sitting. This is just a huge cry from your TD games. Obviously, with the change in style, I wouldn’t expect the same play length… but I did end it wanting a lot more. I’ll play some more and get some trophies but without more content it’s not enough game to satisfy. Simple pet peeve: your awesome stage selection screen has details like another castle, a cave, a clearing in the woods… but they are just visuals. I kept trying to click them, hoping for a specialized battle or mini game or something. And that huge castle at the end of the map is kind of a tease. Maybe it’s like “that’s the end of the level” but it definitely does not read that way. Regardless, I love this company and a, a huge fan of your games. If my only complaint is that I want more of it, take that as a great sign! :)
Fantastic Game, Too Hard
Tue Oct 04 2022 what to beFirst off amazing turn base game! The graphics are great, the gameplay is awesome and the characters are classic but also original. Secondly, man this game is a little too challenging and very inconsistent with its RNG. There’s not a lot of introduction with the characters nor an in depth tutorial that discusses the characters and their abilities as well as how they counter opponents/support your teammates. Because of this, it feels like the game kinda throws you in there and says good luck. This can be fun, but it also makes the game hard to learn because you have to fail over and over before you learn a good system. Then you fail and fail to mastery your system until you win. Lastly, I want to talk about the inventory system as its not clear what is best to use and what isn’t. Half of the items you receive at the start don’t often get used but then you earn items along the way. However, because you start with a full inventory you must remove items to get new ones but I’m never sure if its worth it to grab an extra item because the items overall don’t seem to get used. I wish this system was reworked a little and I wish you didn’t start with a full inventory as it’s tough to swap items in the middle of the game. Can’t wait to see future updates!
Ooof... just punishing.
Thu Jun 17 2021 GreyerlynxEDIT: Based on the developer response I’ve approached the game differently and it’s going better. The fact that your promotions don’t carry over to a new map/scenario is not at all communicated so it led to some confusion on my part. I’m trying to be more cautious and I’m having more success. I’m still not clear about the penalties for dying. It may just be the serious injury and I was just confused from resetting bay to level one with no notification.
Anyway. I’m having more fun.
I love the world and the previous games. Huge fan of the devs. This game has proven to be just punishing though. If one of your characters dies they LOSE A LEVEL and a max hit point. So I’m a bit over halfway through the first real area (orcs/wolves) and all my characters are back to level 1 and there’s no way I have any hope of defeating the big Ogre. It took out three of my people with one shot. Those level up orbs feel so pointless when the levels are lost so easily. I’m feeling pretty discouraged that I have to start over but I’m hoping I missed a difficulty setting or something. I’ve never seen a game like this punish you so brutally for making mistakes. You can’t ever retry a level if people die. Hopefully you’ll make some changes to account for more casual players.
Great BUT please fix Daily Challenge bug!
Fri Feb 25 2022 PrimordialstewI’m a busy person and love Ironhide games because they’re a great way to experience a well-designed, satisfying strategy game with a good amount of depth, but without the need to devote myself to hours of study just to have fun. So I loved the Arena update and the Daily Challenges are a cool and smart way of keeping the game fresh and interesting. I am often interrupted by work or family obligations (part of why I like Ironhide games is that usually this is not a problem!). When I come back to resume my Daily Challenge, I have to repeat the full startup sequence and find my current session gone, and I have to wait until tomorrow for a new Daily. This is a big bummer, please fix this and allow us to resume our game at least until the next Daily is released?
PS: would you consider adding Daily Challenge style content to your (IMHO) best-in-class tower defense games? Might be harder to automate level generation but I’m sure you could figure out! You could potentially give folks a chance to play a stage with a hero they haven’t unlocked yet and maybe that would incentivize more hero unlock sales. Love those games, would love to see you squeeze more replay value out of them, if it’s worth the dev time! Can’t wait for your next release. Keep up the great work!!
Communication is key
Tue Jul 13 2021 GaspatchosoupI was coming here to mention how I seem to have lost my promotions. It’s not or shouldn’t be too hard to have a pop up that mentions that. I thought I ran into a bug and started the game over again. This makes me not want to play the game. Who knows what else is not communicated. I was really stoked to try this game. This was actually the whole reason I got Apple Arcade. What a letdown. So the more I think of this it really gets to me. I really liked this company and the games they made. They were good quality stuff. I mean look up tower defense in the App Store and see how many games copy this art style. Then comes the last game and the paywalls and now this. They might saw the level thing is to make the game a challenge but I see it being just lazy. You basically can take the same thing and spread it across the whole game which is easier than making ai that scales. I hate seeing stuff like this. Companies who do good or you have a fondness for and just throw it all away to make a quick buck. Idk if I will finish this game but I know for sure I won’t be buying or downloading anything else they do. With the developer response why do devs do this. I put all my words here and what I had to say. I’m not going to go someplace else and say the exact same thing. If my feedback is important get it off my review. If you want us to go someplace else to provide feedback don’t have reviews in the App Store.
Casual level is too difficult
Thu Aug 19 2021 KalmidasDon’t get me wrong, I really like the game, but the casual level is too difficult. I’m all for a challenge, but when I’ve gone through something over, and over, and over, and over, and over, with several different character arrangements, and over, and over again, it generally means it’s a wee bit too difficult. On the plus side, I do enjoy the game which is why I keep coming back, but those last two levels are a doozy. I just beat the third level, and that was simply based on luck.
I’m all for keeping this as is, but could you please create an even simpler difficulty rating for people that truly want it to just be casual. Something stupid simple that you can win with your eyes clothes would be perfect. My son really just likes watching me play it, but it’s frustrating for both of us having to sit and watch the same cut scenes and same battle configurations every time. I realize for a game with only 4 levels that may be the point, but it doesn’t have to be.
And for that guy who said not to complain about it being too difficult…no, I’m gonna complain. The devs need to know. This game is fun, but ya made it too difficult.
Unbalanced and punishing
Fri Jun 18 2021 Vidley HI really want to like this game. I like all the developer’s other work, and the turn based approach works great. But it’s way too hard, with no way to progress and gain experience and make subsequent tries easier. It plays like a pay-to-win game that dropped the pay portion for Apple Arcade, but didn’t balance the difficulty. I’ve tried over and over and don’t get better. You lose your experience each time, which in theory is a fine idea that allows you to experiment and not worry about less used characters getting left behind in levels. But it also means your progression is wiped out and attempt number 20 (which I probably where I’m at) is just as hard as the first try. I don’t mind hard games. I love a tactical challenge. Give me Xcom on permadeath or demon souls and I’m fine. But this game lacks the balance and fairness that those have. It’s just too darn hard.
Update: I don’t think you fully ready my review. I don’t have a problem with the shift to not TD. The turn based approach is great. I love strategy and rougelite. I’m not opposed to a challenge. But I’ve tried the third world (mountains and trolls) at least 20 times with different team makeups. Sometimes I wipe on the first fight with bad luck, sometimes I get to the final fight where wave after wave outnumbers you. But I’ve given up because the difficulty is brutal. Even a glutton for punishment can get full.
Love the Adventures; Bossfights, not so much
Sun Jun 12 2022 FrumiusIt’s very fun. And, No, It Is Not Too Difficult. You just have to be very careful and deliberate. I love traveling along the trails, battling baddie encampments, finding treasures, chancing the unknown, dealing with ambushes and obstacles. I could do that all day long. I WANT to do that. That’s where the continuous action is. What gets tedious is the boss fights at the end. The game grinds to a halt there. They are long, protracted affairs with animated sequences taking up way too much time. The elements of tactics and strategy found on the trail are missing in the bossfights, or warped by the weird rules of the final arenas. Now, when I get to the boss fight at the end and just want to stop playing. I’ll have to set the game down for days before dealing with the tediousness of the boss fight. But I gotta complete that boss fight each time to save my characters’ experience gains. I wish I could save their experience gains *without* having to deal with the long endings. It can still be a difficult mission without the extended weirdnesses of the final boss fights. I would also love a mode where I could just travel the trails and do battles there for a much longer time — as opposed to the new arena.
