Puzzle Quest and Suiko
So yesterday I heard about a great-sounding game called Puzzle Quest for the DS and PSP. I hadn’t heard anything about it before, and the most unusual thing was that I heard about it from 3 different sources; vl, GAF, and SoSZ. It was described as a “RPG/Puzzle hybrid” and that is, more or less, what it is.
I visited the official site for the game last night. They have a downloadable demo that lets you reach up to level 7 (and a certain point in the plot). From the look of it, there’ll be two kinds of multiplayer, and the interview at GAF said that it has 40+ hours of gameplay (though it is the developers talking, and that’s almost never accurate).
Basically, if you take something like Bejeweled and add an open-ended storyline system along with stats, special abilities, and equipment that affect the game board, opponent, and the effects of actions, you’d have this game. You take turns with your opponent, each switching two gems and trying to get 3+ in a row or column. Depending on what object type you match up, you get mana, gold, or experience, or damage your opponent. If you get 4+ in a row, you get an extra turn, and like Yoshi’s Cookie (I’ve only seen a bit of Bejeweled) you can and should chain together combos to get even more stuff.
This game’s from the company that made the Warlords games for PC. If that means anything to you, let me know, because I have only heard of the series maybe once or twice, long ago.
So yeah. Try the demo. It kept me interested for more than 2 hours last night, and I’m already planning on getting the game.
Other than Puzzle Quest, finished Suikoden 2 (with a couple hours to spare on Clive even at the ending… how did that happen?) and I’m 6 hours into Suikoden 3. This time around, I’m going to play through each character’s first 3 chapters all at once, because I’ve heard it can help you understand the characters better. Suiko3 has had a lot of criticism, but I really like a lot of the features – The Trinity View system allows for a deeper plot, and the battle positioning/timing system along with skills makes for more strategic normal battles. I’m not enjoying the plot as much this time around (since it’s my 4th time through), but I’m playing my least favorite chapters first, so we’ll see if that changes.
Lord Yuan Shu Said,
March 23, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
Good job on the Clive quest. Did you just skip through all the dialog, and / or do the early matilda trick? I did it recently also and it wasn’t as hard as I remember it being…
You must be playing Chris’ chapters. I hate her story except for the end of her third chapter. I enjoy Geddoe’s for the challenge and Hugo’s entertains me for some reason, I think it’s because I like the ducks and lizards.
niahak Said,
March 23, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
I think the main difference on the Clive quest was I never tried to get into most superficial story stuff – I used to go around talking to the townspeople and I’d go really far out of my way to get some stars early. I did the early matilda trick but I didn’t do the die-resume thing (since I got Futch and Humphrey anyway, it wasn’t worth the time saved).
I’m actually playing through Hugo’s chapters. I like the ducks and lizards, but they don’t make up for Hugo’s sort of cliche personality (though to his credit he grows later on). I really like Geddoe’s (it’s difficult and Geddoe is awesome), and Chris’ is okay (too easy early on, but I do like her Chapter 3). I’m also trying to win all optional-win battles, and Hugo’s in Chapter 2 was rather annoying to build up to (no bujutsu). I think Geddoe’s against Sarah is the same way though, so we’ll see.