Review: Gyromancer
- Thread starter John Funk
- Start date
Quite a shame that one single mechanic broke the fun factor. Is the computer also a cheating bastard here?
Bah bejeweled. I don't like bejeweled like puzzle games. which has blocked me from enjoying any of the Puzzle Quest like games, 'cause they all seem to use one form or another of it.
While I agree with the spirit of the review, the Idle twist system is the only thing that makes the game even a mild challenge. I'm not trying to be one of those obnoxious hardcore players who tells others that fake difficulty is awesome. I'm not even particularly good at puzzle games like this, but honestly before the Idle Twist penalty was added I literally took no damage ever.
I mean, having to make a hard choice about what to do about enemy skill gems is kind of the game. Do you think you can get rid of it fast enough and with few enough idle twists for it to be worth it? Are there better matches on the board for you to just focus on offense? Can you afford to just take the hit?
That sounds like a game mechanic to me, and not a bad one. Look, there's no apologizing for the story, some of the luck-based objectives (Get a cascade of a bazillion to unlock this) and the lack of complexity, it's a bad game. But Idle Twist isn't a gamebreaker. It's the only thing that makes the game more than "An easier version of Bejewelled Twist with pokeymans." Unfortunately all that ends up as is "A mildly tactical version of Bejewelled Twist with pokeymans that you shouldn't spend $15 on"
I mean, having to make a hard choice about what to do about enemy skill gems is kind of the game. Do you think you can get rid of it fast enough and with few enough idle twists for it to be worth it? Are there better matches on the board for you to just focus on offense? Can you afford to just take the hit?
That sounds like a game mechanic to me, and not a bad one. Look, there's no apologizing for the story, some of the luck-based objectives (Get a cascade of a bazillion to unlock this) and the lack of complexity, it's a bad game. But Idle Twist isn't a gamebreaker. It's the only thing that makes the game more than "An easier version of Bejewelled Twist with pokeymans." Unfortunately all that ends up as is "A mildly tactical version of Bejewelled Twist with pokeymans that you shouldn't spend $15 on"
I'd rather have a fun game than a challenging one. And prior to the Idle Twist mechanic, I was enjoying the feel of the flow of battle, it had a good back-and-forth feel kind of like a tennis match. It was easy, yeah, but it was kind of just fun to idly play it (like you'd play a few games of regular Bejeweled), and the Idle Twist ruined the feel of combat that was the only thing I'd been enjoying.Eudaemonian said:
I've no idea what you're talking about. Until Idle twist is introduced you can twist the same gems making no matches for like ten turns in a row and take no damage. The game would be about as hard as bouncing a ball against a wall without idle twist.CantFaketheFunk said:
I'm not saying it's a good game by any means - I stopped playing it rather quickly - but it's a REALLY dumb game without that mechanic.
Fair enough. I can see how it does kind of ruin the game as a mild de-stressor. I guess I just felt like the early play was less like a tennis match and more like a tennis match against a wall (Edit: The above poster seems to have come up with the same analogy while I was typing this, ha). I guess bouncing a ball against a wall is more fun than having three tennis ball launchers trained on your crotch, which seems to be where the difficulty was going when I stopped playing. Looking back, though, I guess I tolerated it longer because I went into the game expecting more of the RPG end of the difficulty and involvement than the Casual Puzzle Game End.CantFaketheFunk said:
I guess it's all about expectations. Your review is right on the money though that regardless of your expectations, you're going to be disappointed by this game.
I was torn between getting this or the original Puzzle Quest off of Steam a week ago. I'm glad I chose PQ, even though the demo of Gyro was really fun. That Idle Twist shit is a huge fun breaker, after all.
Only issue with Puzzle Quest:
Playing as a Wizard or Druid is like playing a Hard Mode, in a game that's already hard due to extraordinary enemy luck. They just die too easy...
Only issue with Puzzle Quest:
Playing as a Wizard or Druid is like playing a Hard Mode, in a game that's already hard due to extraordinary enemy luck. They just die too easy...
Meh, the game's pretty easy despite the Idle Twist thing, but I agree that it's not all that good. For one thing, the whole thing about some elemental types being strong against some others was obviously designed while under the influence of alcohol. Basically, purple monsters (Insects) are strong against almost anything and have no weaknesses at all. Once you figure that out, the rest is easy...
This is crazy. You guys had a casual game ruined for you by being 'too hard'? That's like having jello ruined for you for being 'too crunchy'. I own this game and you are about as off base as you can get. I hate to say this, but this is another example of why game reviewers aren't actually gamers. Listen to them at your own peril.
I guess they thought the fact that they throw locks all over the board was balance? They were wrong. I turns their elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors into Rock-Paper-Scissors-Dynamite.Jandau said:
Read Funk's reply to my post. He makes a good point. The more accurate analogy is that there was a package that said "NEW JELLO" and when you open it up you find that by "new" they meant "crunchy." If you wanted something crunchy it doesn't even really succeed, but if you wanted Jello it completely defeats the purpose.chessmasterhex said:
As a mindless time-waster Gyromancer drops the ball with the idle twist business and some very frustrating levels. As a normal challenging game it fails right off the bat.
In more ways than one. Only one of the two purple types throws locks around, the other does no such thing and is simply strong against everything. White monsters are strong against nothing and have a few weaknesses.Eudaemonian said:
Also, the fact that different rules apply to the player and the AI (AI doesn't need to work the board) means that some monsters are better suited to the AI. Anything that spawns large amounts of Rocks on the board is great for the AI, since it limits the player, but is also useless to the player for the same reason. There's an entire family of orange monsters dedicated to this. Guess which monster type I never used...