The proper question would be to ask: "What's so great about Oblivion?" And if you don't know the answer to that question, you never will. It's a holy grail of sorts to many iOS gamers, the notion of having a respectable Oblivion clone existing on their iDevice. People are intrigued by the possibility that Aralon could be that game. It's as simple as that, really.
Yes. Yes you can. No iDevice game will ever truly mimmick the console experience provided by the Ps3 or 360. EVER. It's simply ridiculous to believe otherwise.
Nah there are a lot of games that just simply wouldn't work on a console, most casual games in fact. But of course if we're not talking about casual games than sure I guess it could be viewed like that, but it's really up to the person. I for one like playing games on my iphone much more than on my xbox 360 even when home and sitting right in front of it. Just my opinion.
Think about the relationship between God of War 3 (a PS3 game) and GoW: Ghost of Sparta (the PSP version). Obviously GoS is a smaller game than it's PS3 cousin, but 1) it's still a great handheld gaming experience; and 2) the fact that it's smaller in scale actually makes it fun in a different way than GoW 3. Now, Aralon is not "Morrowind Portable." But I would argue that something is gained when you fit a game like this on a portable platform. Personally I find the intimacy of the small screen makes the game more immersive, and the necessary simplification helps me to focus on the "fun" aspects of the game -- exploration, action, etc. That said, some folks would never see the point of playing a game like this on a "phone" (I'm looking at you, Gabrien). As to whether Aralon has its own personality, how could it not? This is not the product of a corporate team, but that of a small, dedicated group who are passionate about gaming. Sure, some aspects will look familiar, but you could say the same thing about most games in this genre.
As someone who was lucky enought to have worked on many of the Elder Scrolls titles so far released, I think it compares very favourably. If think fans of ES should feel right at home in Aralon. Biased? me? Mark (OLD Elder Scrolls, and Aralon artist)
Think of RAVENSWORD as sort of a test demo for ARALON. Why do I say this? Ravensword was the first game to implement an 'OBLIVION' - style gameplay for the iOS. From what I remember, there were only 2-3 developers at that time working on it. Aralon is going to be much more massive in scale and depth. They even hired a graphics artist that worked with Bethseda on the detailed environment of Oblivion to do the artwork for this game. This isn't Ravensword 2, so don't compare the two. The hype created is not developer/marketing (paid for) hype. It is a sincere feeling of anticipation for something truly original, in an app store saturated with Indie-knock-offs, and watered down, short-length games. If you enjoyed Oblivion or Fallout 3, this is the closest thing you are going to get to either of those games until Bethseda pulls their head out of their arse.
I think you misunderstood me SZ. It's not that I don't see the point; it's just that that fact alone does little for me either way. If you gave me Oblivion on the iPhone, I wouldn't think any more or less of it than Oblivion on the 360. I'd be asking the exact same thing on either platform: is it a good game? If I have said that I "don't need a console experience" on my iPhone in the past, that was in the context of responding to people for whom the notion of "a console experience" on their iPhone appears to hold tremendous inherent value. It doesn't for me, but neither do I have anything against it. It is a non-issue; the game is what matters. I'll surely be picking up Aralorn tomorrow, and for the record my expectations are relatively low. The only way I can envisage being disappointed is if I don't see a significant enough improvement from Ravensword, and from what (little) I know of the game that doesn't seem likely.
Also as somewhat of an aside, I want to add that I am no great fan of Oblivion or Morrowind. Mainly because the games felt too unfocused for my taste. So if anything, if this game is smaller in scope but tighter and more focused, chances are I'll only enjoy it more.
Thanks for the clarification -- your position makes more sense to me now. I think there's a very good chance that you will be pleasantly surprised. .
I'm excited about the game, and I plan to buy it soon after its release. But I'm not convinced it will THE GREATEST GAME EVER for a couple of reasons. First, RPGs obviously aren't for everyone. Second, I'm worried about the overall polish. My biggest fears are: 1) The animations/character movements will be unnatural or choppy. 2) The game will be buggy. It sounds like a huge game, so it might be difficult to catch and eliminate all problems. 3) The controls (including the camera angle) will be awkward or difficult to manipulate. 4) The game will be too unfocused. I just started playing the first Galaxy on Fire, and I lost interest after the initial missions, which took just over an hour. I don't generally enjoy leveling up simply for the sake of leveling up. That said, the trailers have looked great, and I hope a few hours in the game will put my fears to rest.
1) Animations seems to be more about taste than anything else. They're a lot better than Ravensword and for me at least not at all distracting. 2) There will definitely be a few glitches: it's a big game as you say, and not even Rockstar could get all the glitches out of RDR. Actual bugs should be few and far between, though, and there's a team at the ready to fix anything that might come up. 3) Controls and camera are actually quite good. One of my favorite things to do is to go to an overhead view with a quick upward swipe during combat -- Dragon-Age-on-PC style. 4) To me that's the strongest thing about Aralon: the game is very well paced, with one quest/set piece nicely leading to the next one. You can take things at your own pace, of course, but you will rarely find yourself wondering what to do next.
I'm assuming you have beta tested the game...how would you rank it? Does it live up to the hype of one of the best iPhone games in history? Would you recommend it to anyone?
I am a beta tester; I'm also friends with Josh, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Is it the best game ever? Who knows. But I can say that I've been playing the game pretty much at every opportunity for about a month, and I'm still having a blast with it. I can also say that there's nothing quite like it on any portable platform.
Wow that's very high praise. My expectations continue to skyrocket. I'm thinking this will be my first insta buy...and for such a reasonable price as well. I hate to draw irrelevant similarities like this, but this sounds like the closest thing we will get to Fallout 3 on the iDevice. While that's a presumptuous and silly thing to say, it's extremely exciting. Looking forward to it Also, I have seen you name in the App description of The Infinity Project before. That is my favorite FPS on the App Store, btw. You seem to have a lot of influence and you are connected to a lot of good games-how do you do it? Thanks
Oddly, I'm more focused on the 16th than I am the 25th of this month.... ...I have set aside cash ready to buy this as soon as it's out. Maybe it will rock my world, maybe it won't, but it looks set to raise the bar nonetheless and that's a good thing in my book. The reason I think this game (and others like infinity blade) is worth enthusing about, is that it marks another occasion where the line drawn between dedicated consoles and mobile devices gets blurred a bit more. Can't for the life of me remember the last time I woke up my psp... I felt that the AppStore was at one point a showcase for an all-you-can-eat casual gaming buffet, and whilst I appreciate the original concept of apple gaming/gaming on the go was bitesized chunks of gaming goodness, there's no reason why the iPad/phone can't also cater for dedicated gamers like myself. I just hope some people avoid adopting the all too familiar spoilt attitude if the price for this app is higher than your average hidden object/tower defence/catapult furious birds game. Anyhoo, can't wait, not long to go now ^_^
I'm in the same boat. I wasn't too happy with Ravensword. Yeah, it looked good, but it felt like a game made by a couple of independent developers. It lacked the focus, polish, and seriousness of an RPG produced by a major studio. Regarding Aralon, I'm still on the fence. Yeah, the gameplay is deep, you can ride a horse, and even do some fishing, but is it fun? Is the story something I could get into? And is it free of Russ' "twisted humor"? I'll likely have my mind made up on whether or not I should purchase after I see a review from Touch Arcade and SlideToPlay. I really hope this turns out to be a great game because I DO want to get it.
