This is exactly the kind of game that I love playing. But with that being said, there are several things that need improvement.
The rewards are not very rewarding, which means it's super grindy. I've had to replay the first level over and over to get enough gold to upgrade troops. Materials are hard to come by, and the random factor of the blacksmith makes it feel pointless. Using all level 3 materials to get a bronze or iron item makes me feel cheated. Blacksmith plans are far and few between, meaning I have to experiment to find recipes, which is just dumb. I'd rather spend my time playing the game than experimenting with materials to try to find exactly the right combination for an item that my units use.
I'd also rather spend my time playing the game then having to wait forever to see my rewards, and which units leveled. The results screen is way too slow.
It's a good game with a solid start, but a few tweaks would make it great. 4/5
Only a few suggestions. Add a feature that indicates what effect upgrading a stat will have. IE when mousing over an upgrade, indicate what the new value for that upgrade will be. This helps especially when using the 5X or 25X upgrades. While the constant restart/grind is understandable for a game such as this, even at 4X, early levels seem slow and monotonous. Perhaps add an 8X speed? Finally, once you've finished all the research, having points/resources invested in research speed is pointless. Maybe add a new research that can be done multiple times that increases a stat. It could even be a random one.
Not having vision for the first few seconds, and having barriers spawn a few blocks away from the entry-point is dumb. I shouldn't have to constantly restart to get an achievement because I literally can't avoid a barrier.
Great game, but a few features would be useful. 1. an option to "hold" particular items and prevent them from being melted; either individually or by item type. 2. The option to not display item pick-up text; it causes lag at higher levels when a few seconds of lag means you're dead. 3. The option to turn off the magnet. This goes along with the previous one. When your ship is picking up items, it causes a lot of lag making it difficult to play the game at higher levels. I have to keep my inventory full at the end of each round just to keep from getting lag spikes during the next round caused by picking up items. 4. A visual adjustment for gear. As far as I can tell, all the gear can spawn with the same visuals. There's no way to quickly tell what type of armor/shield/weapon/drive you picked up without scanning over it.
I've been enjoying this game immensely, and all the updates. Once I hit level 501,1 All units stopped spawning. Until an update makes post 500 gameplay, I'll be sitting on 500, 19 racking up resources.
Overall I liked the game. However, there were a few things that need to be resolved.
1. Archer Arrows collide with terrain too much. Trying to hit targets can be difficult when they run into invisible walls.
2. Kreds for wheel tickets in combination with a chance for nothing. I used 6 tickets earned in game to roll for the "premium" items twice, and both times, got the "you get nothing" "prize." Why on earth would I spend kreds on something that may yield nothing?
Those are just the two things I wanted to point out. Some of the other comments address other issues.
Level 40, not a single blue or purple weapon. Insane difficulty for every level, replaying levels countless times.; what does it take to find a blue or purple weapon; the soul of my first born child?
"Also thanks...Dr. David Dewitt at Liberty University for providing lots of support and biological guidance."
I Had him for Cell Biology in my undergrad :)
This is by far the best flash RPG I've ever played. I played Final Fantasy 7, X, X-2, and XII, and I don't think this is a rip-off at all. It's a completely different game, with a different plot, with some similarities. I thought it was great that I was familiar with the battle system because of my previous game experience. Though it wasn't as extensive as final fantasy, it was definately the longest for a flash RPG that I've ever played. I finished all the quests, got all the best weapons, did everything in the game you could do pretty much, and it took me ~60 hours for the 3 games, with about ~40-45 of it in the third chapter. I love the random snippits of funny humor that was thrown into the game as well. Talking to random people to see what they say was always amusing. Don't listen to the haters. Awesome job, awesome game, and I really look forward to the next chapter.
So what's everyone's preferred unit? I personally like the Defender, great range of 3, fast attack, plus consecrate and better attack against fliers, can't go wrong. Maybe there's something else I should try though.
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