Oh man. This is amazing news. I loved puzzle quest to death. So much that I have 1 of every class (including add-on classes) at lvl. 60. That should be an indicator of how much I love puzzle quest.
The first Puzzle Quest hit the sweet spot. The sequel, while not the train wreck some made it out to be, did not hit the sweet spot.
I didn't have problems with the hexagonal matching, which was novel. The AI was less cheap, and it was harder for the computer to get extra turns (matching five for extra turns instead of four saved the game).
The simplified "character" (ship) customization wasn't too bad (there were a few easy mode spam attacks, but not quite as many as in the first game), nor was the silly story, which, let's face it - was just about as silly in the first game.
But the pacing of Galactrix was awful - particularly the endless, redundant warp gate hacking and the glacial plot. The hacking gets easy after a while, after a steep curve, but you still come to resent it.
In short doses Galactrix is still sort of fun. But the relatively complicated and drawn-out puzzle mechanic overwhelmed all of the other game elements - ship parts, story, enemies, etc. Good on them for being adventurous, but this retreat to their familiar mechanic proves that they were aware of these problems, too.
@Sustenance: I think the atrocious performance of the game on the DS might have hindered it too. I don't know about other versions but the DS had PS1 length load times. Which is incredible considering it's not optical media.
@kingmanic: Interesting... and weird. I only bought the PC version, so I had no idea the DS had load times. Maybe it's related to the audio (swapping in and out of memory?). Now I'm reconsidering my eventual bargain bin purchase.
@Sustenance: Yeah, too long load times, and all the tedious jump gate stuff. The collecting of ores and such was somehow much less compelling than finding runes and weapons, steeds, and prisons in the first one...it just wasn't very rewarding. I worked out my killer combo very early in Galactrix, and never really needed to change it, whereas, in the first Puzzle Quest, I didn't have my uber setup until level 50 and after manufacturing all special items.
@JohhnyDamage: Really? I regret purchasing Gyromancer because it got old really fast. There's a huge lack of being able to control the outcome of the battle with skill. With puzzle quest, you had spells and resistances and items, all of which greatly affected the outcome of the battles.
I'd rather see squeenix and infinite interactive team up and make an awesome puzzle battle type game with an intricate and amazing story.
@jpgnotgif: Yeah, it was a good game I thought, but I ment it in the way that apparently developers are thinking that these types of games can be worth making.
Hrmm. More Puzzle Quest is something I can get excited about - but I'm not so sure I care for the new battle grid. Is it just me or does it look a bit... emptier? Than before?
Or perhaps it's really been that long since I've played Puzzle Quest.
One thing I really hope they keep is the animated world map - it bugs me that Gyromancer just has a path and some psychedelic artwork in the background when you're moving around.
Nooooo!!! Don't do it! It's not worth it! You may help yourself in the short term, but in the long run, you're only setting yourself up for failure!
DON'T SWAP THOSE GEMS TO GET RED MANA! Don't you see!? You're setting the goblin up for a 4-purple score and an extra turn! Go get those OTHER reds instead!
Thank god. My poor brain couldn't wrap around the puzzle shifting of PQ: Galactrix, yet, I wanted to love it because I loved the original Puzzle Quest so friggen much. I've got a DS copy and 250/250 achievement points for it on the 360.
There was a PopCap interview in Edge. During the interview the PopCap guys explained one key to their success was recognizing not only what did work, but also what didn't work in terms of sales for casual games. They named sci-fi themes and hexagonal match games as examples of things that don't work.
Then I read a preview for Galatrix that revealed they were doing both of those things.
After buying and playing Galatrix, I'm siding with PopCap.
Good news indeed. One of the best puzzle games of the decade was the original. Was playing it today on my DS for awhile.
Galactrix was a big letdown for me as well, so hopefully they will return to the roots as it were with this true sequel and improve on the formula that made the first one so great without ...ruining... the magic of such a brilliant game. Oh and hopefully they don't try to get uppity and use Bejeweled Twist as the premise for the mechanics (like that unfortunate Gyromancer game) because that would just outright kill the fun of the game in one felling blow.
KISS as they say. Don't alter the fundamentals of the formula but maybe just add a couple more layers to it somehow, or ideally just expand the trappings but leave the core gameplay alone, that sort of thing would be just fine.
Hell is taking something that works just fine, making a sequel and changing the stuff that made the first one great for the sake of "improvement". See New Coke.
@Sobersean: aka Doctor Aquafresh: If you just don't like the whole twist mechanic then I probably can't disagree with you much, but Gyromancer is really great. The unfortunate thing about it is that the demo doesn't actually cover the full game mechanic - in the full game, once you get past the levels that are covered in the demo, a penalty is instituted for performing twists that don't make matches (The enemy gains a substantially increased amount of power, you gain none, and all countdown gems decrease by 2). That, in addition to the far improved (both more useful and more interesting) powers of the higher level beasts turn the game from "eh" to "wow".
I do agree that the twist mechanic is different, but I found it kind of nice to play a game where an L shape of three gems was something I could finally use ;).
Plus the AI doesn't cheat hard like Puzzle Quest's did.
@gravaton: You just convinced me to give Gyromancer another try. I was pretty turned off by it, but I didn't get that far in. Visually I expected more from a Square project but, whatdoIknow.
I feel the same way @Sobersean does. If they stay really close to the original in terms of mechanics and stop that cheatin' AI a little... also a better story this time would be nice... Okay a few things here and there and this could be totally rocking. I forgave the original Puzzle Quest a lot of its flaws because it was their first time out... now it is time to make the awesome refined sequel.
It's nice that they're working on a sequel, but it would also be really great if someone, ANYONE, fixed the damn PS3 version.
Ever since I realized that the main menu music is NOT supposed to be playing over and over again constantly during gameplay, well... it kind of ruined the atmosphere of the game for me...
Sure, you can just go in the options, turn off the music and turn it back on, but all it does is play a random track, and you literally have to do it everytime you start a fight/return to the world map.
11/28/09
11/27/09
I didn't have problems with the hexagonal matching, which was novel. The AI was less cheap, and it was harder for the computer to get extra turns (matching five for extra turns instead of four saved the game).
The simplified "character" (ship) customization wasn't too bad (there were a few easy mode spam attacks, but not quite as many as in the first game), nor was the silly story, which, let's face it - was just about as silly in the first game.
But the pacing of Galactrix was awful - particularly the endless, redundant warp gate hacking and the glacial plot. The hacking gets easy after a while, after a steep curve, but you still come to resent it.
In short doses Galactrix is still sort of fun. But the relatively complicated and drawn-out puzzle mechanic overwhelmed all of the other game elements - ship parts, story, enemies, etc. Good on them for being adventurous, but this retreat to their familiar mechanic proves that they were aware of these problems, too.
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11/28/09
I'd rather see squeenix and infinite interactive team up and make an awesome puzzle battle type game with an intricate and amazing story.
11/28/09
11/27/09
Or perhaps it's really been that long since I've played Puzzle Quest.
One thing I really hope they keep is the animated world map - it bugs me that Gyromancer just has a path and some psychedelic artwork in the background when you're moving around.
11/27/09
It looks like the screen real-estate has been tweaked a bit. It might differ between game versions, we we'll see.
11/27/09
DON'T SWAP THOSE GEMS TO GET RED MANA! Don't you see!? You're setting the goblin up for a 4-purple score and an extra turn! Go get those OTHER reds instead!
11/27/09
11/27/09
Then I read a preview for Galatrix that revealed they were doing both of those things.
After buying and playing Galatrix, I'm siding with PopCap.
11/27/09
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11/27/09
@CiremoIV:
I suppose there's always this.
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11/27/09
Galactrix was a big letdown for me as well, so hopefully they will return to the roots as it were with this true sequel and improve on the formula that made the first one so great without ...ruining... the magic of such a brilliant game. Oh and hopefully they don't try to get uppity and use Bejeweled Twist as the premise for the mechanics (like that unfortunate Gyromancer game) because that would just outright kill the fun of the game in one felling blow.
KISS as they say. Don't alter the fundamentals of the formula but maybe just add a couple more layers to it somehow, or ideally just expand the trappings but leave the core gameplay alone, that sort of thing would be just fine.
Hell is taking something that works just fine, making a sequel and changing the stuff that made the first one great for the sake of "improvement". See New Coke.
11/27/09
I do agree that the twist mechanic is different, but I found it kind of nice to play a game where an L shape of three gems was something I could finally use ;).
Plus the AI doesn't cheat hard like Puzzle Quest's did.
11/27/09
I feel the same way @Sobersean does. If they stay really close to the original in terms of mechanics and stop that cheatin' AI a little... also a better story this time would be nice... Okay a few things here and there and this could be totally rocking. I forgave the original Puzzle Quest a lot of its flaws because it was their first time out... now it is time to make the awesome refined sequel.
11/27/09
Ever since I realized that the main menu music is NOT supposed to be playing over and over again constantly during gameplay, well... it kind of ruined the atmosphere of the game for me...
Sure, you can just go in the options, turn off the music and turn it back on, but all it does is play a random track, and you literally have to do it everytime you start a fight/return to the world map.
11/27/09