I also love how Madgarden is experimenting with some basic (well, at this point, but who knows what to expect in the future) emergent AI for the baddies. Humanoids in the dungeon are looking for treasure and grabbing loot they see laying about. These same humanoids also know how to use any spells or potions they have on hand (and how to use any of your stuff they might nick from you). So none of this is really scripted, just them adapting to stuff they find much like you're doing in the dungeon. I recall Madgarden himself being duly impressed how an Assassin snagged and used some of his own gear against him in some unexpected way (sure, he wrote the AI for the Assassin but just never realized how clever it would be to essentially use and combine the tricks he taught it against him). I'm sure he can explain this much better himself.
Only had a chance to play for a few minutes, but it's looking way beautiful on my 4, Paul. You're pretty good at what you do, huh? And very fast at updates, at least when those are in your own hands. Thanks once more. I'm searching for my Oxford Dictionary of Superlatives and will try to post another review soon. Mediocre, of course.
I feel like I am missing something in this game. Each time a new update comes out I reinstall it. Then, when I try playing it I have the same experience. I play for five or ten minutes and I think to myself, "this game is great, why didn't I like this before", then I open a chest or run over some trap, and die. Very frustrating. After a couple of times of this, I delete it again. I have played a lot of rouge-type games, and this is the only one that makes it so easy to randomly die over and over again. I could understand it if I was making some bad decision, like to attack someone strong, but these seem to be just arbitrary deaths. Am I doing something wrong? I want to like this game, but so far I find it more annoying then anything else. Many of you seem to love it, so perhaps some of you could give me some play-advice. Thanks, Michael
What a great description of your adventure with a wicked-strong foe. You are a wily fellow indeed. This is a good illustration of how one can have a lot of fun playing a difficult game, even without winning. As well, it shows how your imagination and wits and identification with your hero can light up a game and provide a very personal kind of satisfaction. I definitely relate. Whenever I start a new Fargoal game, I am starting a new story. Thanks so much for this.
Keep an eye out for floor traps. They're visible, they just tend to blend in somewhat. Or use a scroll of detect traps. Chests ... well, use a wand of opening or detect traps. Do that until you're strong enough to withstand whatever potential blow a trap might deal. FWIW, I've never had a problem with traps; they're just a normal and expected part of the game, but there are ways to deal with them. Just don't go blindly blundering through the dungeons and you'll be fine.
Hi Michael, there are some helpful hints above, and thanks for not giving up on SoF. I've been with it since the remake for iPhone started and it was not love at first sight for me either, it takes some getting use to for some of us. One thing I found helpful was when Madgarden put in the squire mode. When you die, you teleport to the last temple you visited. Sure, you have to go find all the loot where you bit the dust, but you don't have the huge dreadful feeling of losing all of your progress. I found that after I played here for a while, picking up tricks and things of my own, that playing on hero mode was much more tolerable and I was more ready to think my way through the maps instead of barreling through them and cursing the game when I died. SO, maybe start there if you havent already?
Pretty much agree with you. I have deleted and reinstalled this game many times. It is a high quality game but I just haven't connected to it yet. The added squire mode makes things better but, it is still missing something for me. I have almost bought the iPad version a number of times but just can't do it. Maybe I just need to invest some more time with this.
So I finally got down and nabbed the sword last night only to have it stolen away by some asshat mage, whom I proceeded to chase around until the dungeon caved in on me lol. Is there anyway to stop them from telepoting away from you when you are trying to kill them? I even tried setting up a beacon, but that failed terribly because the dude tp'd to a part of the dungeon I couldnt get to and I couldnt randomly tp there because of my beacon
I think the only way is to get "so" close as to not scare them, then hit them with a stun spell. And Madgarden loves to make this game as much of a ***** as possible
Mage's only have so much magical power before they have to recharge. Might be a good idea to see if you can tease him from a distance, make him waste his energy. Pay attention to his staff...
Yup, he's "The Mage," and he won't make things easy for you. Got any wands? Invisibility? Strength? Lots of different approaches to try. So how's everyone liking the hi-res graphics? Running nice and smooth for everyone etc.?
Well I was in the video settings menu noticing the new graphics selection between smooth and chunky. When I would select chunky it seemed nothing would happen the dot would not move to chunky. Also I could not select any other options including go back to main menu. Seemed I had to leave the app and go back in. I tried rebooting phone still seemed to be problematic. Went in a few more times and it seems if I wait 2-3 good seconds it will make the chunky selection and if I then select smooth it takes another 2-3 seconds. So I am not sure now if i was patient enough with my first handful of tests. I originally though app had hung. Now seems very reproduceable 2-3 seconds. Could also be my phone was acting funny because safari seemed to freeze up as well. iPhone 4 with ios 4.0.0
