Post by spike on Mar 19, 2012 15:30:19 GMT -5
Hi again.
Right, this is what you need to fix with Templar Assault. You need to fix secret rules that make me replay the campaign from the beginning because I made a decision that was reasonable but which conflicted with the secret rules, and is irreversible.
I learn how to play the game and I set off and spend my money on upgrades to Null Blades. Doh, my regular soldiers can't carry a secondary weapon, not even to switch to as an Equip option. Apparently Fleet engineers are incapable of building a scabbard. Or auto-scabbard, or whatever. Go figure. This is not because I'm stupid, or even because I'm reckless, there is no available information in game to help me avoid this career-ending "mistake".
But I have a thick skin so I try again. I take a different tack so I load up on Long Leviathans. That's interesting as far as it goes but it suggests to me that what I really should've done with my 5000 honor is bought some armour upgrades. So I start again and, well you know where this is going. Doh! I buy armour, but guess what, my guys can't wear it. Stupid me, I should've seen that coming right? Yet again I do something reasonable, there is nothing in game to tell me different, but I fall foul of the secret rules and again my career might as well be over - back to square zero.
Seriously, no one designs a game this way, ever, and for good reason. I am guessing this is still in beta... even so, really bad marketing. This is casual gaming. What's the most precious resource? The players' time. Their investment of time. So you can't take that investment of time and then throw it away because they took a reasonable action that violates a secret rule that isn't even telegraphed.
EASY FIXES:
Nice game, kind of interesting tactically. Quite hard, as your games tend to be. So you've got my money and my five stars on Free and Elite, but what you unfortunately won't have, until this problem is fixed, is my recommendation to any other human being to spend their time playing it. Sorry! (You know I love you guys!)
Right, this is what you need to fix with Templar Assault. You need to fix secret rules that make me replay the campaign from the beginning because I made a decision that was reasonable but which conflicted with the secret rules, and is irreversible.
I learn how to play the game and I set off and spend my money on upgrades to Null Blades. Doh, my regular soldiers can't carry a secondary weapon, not even to switch to as an Equip option. Apparently Fleet engineers are incapable of building a scabbard. Or auto-scabbard, or whatever. Go figure. This is not because I'm stupid, or even because I'm reckless, there is no available information in game to help me avoid this career-ending "mistake".
But I have a thick skin so I try again. I take a different tack so I load up on Long Leviathans. That's interesting as far as it goes but it suggests to me that what I really should've done with my 5000 honor is bought some armour upgrades. So I start again and, well you know where this is going. Doh! I buy armour, but guess what, my guys can't wear it. Stupid me, I should've seen that coming right? Yet again I do something reasonable, there is nothing in game to tell me different, but I fall foul of the secret rules and again my career might as well be over - back to square zero.
Seriously, no one designs a game this way, ever, and for good reason. I am guessing this is still in beta... even so, really bad marketing. This is casual gaming. What's the most precious resource? The players' time. Their investment of time. So you can't take that investment of time and then throw it away because they took a reasonable action that violates a secret rule that isn't even telegraphed.
EASY FIXES:
- When buying a Null Blade, fire a Y/N popup that points out only your Captain can use it (or whatever other classes can use it)
- Ditto with the upgraded armour.
- Failing that, mention the limitations in the item description (Doh!) or at least the in game Help.
- Failing even that, let me sell stuff back, at a small loss (after all it's not like the gear is used!)
- Failing all that, launch a splash screen at the beginning of the game that says "don't bother playing this game unless you visit our forum first and trawl through all the post so you can reverse engineer the rules. Sorry, we're too busy implementing the rules to bother telling the players what those rules actually are."
Nice game, kind of interesting tactically. Quite hard, as your games tend to be. So you've got my money and my five stars on Free and Elite, but what you unfortunately won't have, until this problem is fixed, is my recommendation to any other human being to spend their time playing it. Sorry! (You know I love you guys!)
