I've no idea, why people have problems with so called 'deserters', I've finished a game, got all stars and I still have no fkn idea what 'deserters' are. I was just running like crazy, building things, spamming rockets, lasers and whatever weapon was nearby.
Could be very well made, but instead it's still micro-transations loaded pay&click. My judgement was made as soon as I saw VIP X, not to mention all the (crap) items, ranks, unlockables and everything else.
Well, cashgrab - 2/5.
P.S. Don't get scammed, original is actually pain in the ***. If you complete it first [like I did], insane will be 'relatively' piece of cake. Few levels require certain strategy to be passed, floor + fast rocket can usually be complated by MAINLY walking/jumping instead spamming focus.
For anyone wondering about tower runs: http://www.kongregate.com/forums/2835-cardinal-quest-2/topics/473778-post-your-highest-score-for-tower-run-here?page=1#posts-9371001-row
It's kinda similar strategy to impossible badge on suicide act-3 [see my previous comment, sort by rating], except for important details. Once you learn how to abuse mage's dmg/cooldown, everything becomes simplier.
I followed FaeRhan's comment, but If I didn't pick certain skill (middle-left tree, first brown ability), whole playtrough would go to waste.
Comments are right about design, game completion is just 'endurance' and it's sad to see people being punished for picking different playstyle.
Could be 4/5 [very good game, but common concept/execution), but it receives '-1' for lack of reset button (right click -> play, as workaround) and '-1' for spawning coins on the other side of laser, I've menaged to pull some crazy plays, but it's still restart in many cases. If I were irritated/bthrt by 'grief' during hard badge, you would get 2/5. Final, 3/5 currently, 4/5 with reset button, 5/5 with coin fix.
Not very balanced game, If you're playing for the first time. You can't easily complete it on your first attempt without understanding basic mechanics. Few tips: 4th companion is useless, waste of experience, better use it to upgrade 10xp skills, don't purchase 25xp skills either.
I've used archer/monk/brute [brute early, but max'd archer's dmg], buy focus chakra asap, save power and use clones to fight boss. Other skills: Souldrinker, multislash, light foot, both armors, wineflask, quickstrike. Try to find boss first, clear VISIBLE soldier tiles [except traps], later pick all the VISIBLE monasetry/silver. If you still have clicks, keep them for extra XP/silver after boss
Last boss isn't as hard as you may think as soon as you fully upgrade your ship/pulsar and learn the pattern. No dmg on other lvls is extremely easy with fully upgraded laser, maybe except for lvl10, which luckily can be also rushed with pulsar. Ohh... and farm cash on lvl 13 [requires decent laser to get 50x combo]