To complete level 5, "listen", you must connect the circular thing on the left of the abyss with collectors. Would have been nice if that was made clear.
Certainly doesn't lack for the number of levels! A few usability improvements: ((1)) squares marked with X should not filled as easily as unmarked squares, at least as an option in settings. Double click, for example, might be better, or hold a key. ((2)) when click n' hold marking squares with X, change should be based on first clicked square not simply reverse every square clicked. ((3)) all squares in a [0] column or row should default to black Xs, filling those 20x squares are really tedious ((4)) there should be a way to click and hold forced horizontal/vertical lines, either with a default behaviour for click n' drag or toggled on by holding a key. ((5)) finally I would have preferred a higher resolution screen for when I increase the application window size for 20x20 puzzles. Perhaps some of the above exist as unlocks?
Half the levels are spent teaching the player mechanics. You have an intuitive game with a fantastically polished UI. Ramp things up a little faster or add more levels. I personally completed all levels except one, level 20, on instinct, without pausing to think. You've down all the legwork already, just add more levels.
It would have been nice to know Jim was going to have to strip off his armor to put on his shiny new boots. Anyway another fabulous game from the most consistently original, ambitious developer.
Difficulty curve a little off. Effortless 3 stars on the regular missions without even trying out half the weapon types til around 13 while about half of the challenges are extremely difficult - and not necessarily the second half. I do like the way some challenges restrictions create different gameplay and force different approaches.
bugs encountered include not being able to stop for services, having to refresh after death (no score registered) and imprint of headless zombie stuck on windscreen until death. Nevertheless a really enjoyable game. The only thing I didn't like was the final part of the story mode - I hadn't specced heavily in weapons and had to grind some AP in other modes to pass the stage. I really think it would be better to have some intense vehicular boss action rather than finish on what's basically a minigame. At the very least some foreshadowing would be nice.
General strategy goes something like this: build an earth tower at the earliest chokepoint and an air tower at the last chokepoint and max the former ASAP (left hand upgrade). Then max the air tower (right hand upgrade). If there are a lot of barbarians you'll want to leave the earth on 2nd last form for a while and upgrade your air tower earlier. The rest is pretty easy but generally you'll want at least one more air tower near the first, another earth tower, and a fire tower (left hand side).
lvl 20 brilliant isn't bad. Prioritise the mana pool>lighthouses and DON'T hurry to destroy the ships, ensuring you always have a good 250 or so mana to W the occasional diver and smuggler champ and E iron guards. Just take it easy and keep a trigger finger on W.
Wacky controls? Changing a time-tested formula? It sounds like people are complaining about the classic run n' gun controls. Remember 2d metroid games and so on? Up/down for vertical shooting, back/forward+up for a 45 degree angle. More suited for a controller though imo. Anyway the game isn't loading for me I'll try again later...
It would be nice to have more ways to clear than simply dragging upwards or starting from scratch. Clear all of one type, clear one wall, hold a key and clear anything clicked, etc.
Technological limitations rather cripple this. It's much more efficient to game the system by spamming questions and watching for the "hmm this is interesting" while only superficially paying attention to ideas rather than actually consider appropriate fallacies. The necessary position of the counter argument often feels frustratingly imprecise and the phrase allowed is often only tenuously connected to the speech Socrates is then prompted to give. I feel sticking to the underlying skeleton of a logical fallacy multiple choice test gamified ina similar way would be more satisfying.
I actually think the game's really good. But between the upgrade system pushing players to focus on one cannon type and making the biggest ships only vulnerable to type 2 cannons I feel a lot of possible strategy has been unnecessarily cut out. I have no problem with the scrolling but the minimap could be more useful, it doesn't show enemies, wall damage or anything I would actually want a minimap for. Hope you make a Bells n Whistles 1.5 version.
Seems like skill balance is off, at least relatively early in the game (2-3 seals). Pure buffs and debuffs generally rather weak, aoe like destabilise is king. Menu navigation is also rather clunky and the map dude seems pretty pointless. Well polished game though, I'll postpone judgement for a while.
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