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[XBLA & PC] Gyromancer: Square-Enix & PopCap take on Puzzle Quest
Lunker
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Registered User regular
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6XcAtrgn8
From GamerBytes:
A couple of weeks ago we spoke of Gyromancer, an upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title being published by Square Enix. Now the game has been officially announced, but what surprises us is that PopCap are also involved.
Gyromancer mixes the world of Bejeweled, specifically Bejeweled Blitz, and has created a Puzzle RPG similar to Puzzle Quest. You rotate jewels within a square in order to connect 3 or more together, which allows you to cast spells against your rival.
It does look a lot like Puzzle Quest, but it has a gigantic slap of polish on top of it. It's got all the spectacle of a Final Fantasy game, but in a puzzle setting.
There is no current date set for the game, but I would expect it to come out sometime next year.
It's very clearly inspired by Puzzle Quest, but considering Square Enix has tons of RPG experience and PopCap has tons of puzzle experience, I would wager this could be an insanely well-balanced and extremely polished iteration of the puzzle-RPG subgenre. And if there's one thing Puzzle Quest desperately needed, it was polish. As a PQ devotee, I'm way excited.
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Truth. I loved PQ, but damn if it didn't need both better balance and more polish.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Not to say I still don't fucking love PQ. I have both on DS and never go anywhere without them!
The Raid
Goddamn cheating-whore AI. Oh, you moved one piece and five skulls fell down magically in a column? Screw you!
and, i've bought like every iteration of the PQ games
Having a touch screen or mouse is really a requirement for me, true.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
- 'even still'?
wtf does that mean...
Niiiiiiiice.
Galactrix is the last one so far.
The Raid
I will be lining up digitally to buy this day one.
maybe it was called Puzzle Kingdom? i forget.
The Raid
Me will loves this.
Lulz omg.
Seriously though, looks good.
If it were successful, I don't think Square-Enix and PopCap would have any qualms with bringing it to every platform under the sun: DS, PSP, WiiWare/PSN, iPhone, the works.
Also, its not just on XBLA, it will also be on Steam.
The potentional hilarity of this announcement
Square Enix and PopCap working together? What could this mean?
FFVII Bejeweled? Line up 3 Aerises (Aerisii?) in a row, and that ends your game
Chrono Peggle? Now, normal Peggle is augmented with time-shifting- so you have to take into account your past and future marbles- because you will be using them, repeatedly.
Feeding Frenzies 2-8 are already announced
Plants v. Zombies Fabula Nova Chrysalis Saga Exa Maximum Trisius?
The World Ends With Zuma? Spit out Noise to chain 3 CDs together! Play against the clock or for your very lives! Fun for the whole family!
I welcome this change, just for the photoshops that will occur
Bold was already done, and believe it or not, it actually did end your game!
The Raid
:^:
Though in a right and just world, Square-Enix would reuse assets from FFXIII in order to make the most jawdroppingly beautiful 3-D console version of Bookworm Adventures, starring Shivabike.
I remember when I was writing up the "Chrono Peggle" entry and thinking, "That actually sounds like a really fucking cool game"
Could you imagine Peggle where going back and forward in time changes your board as well as which marble you're on, i.e. changing powerups? I think that sounds like a cool game
All the minigames in future FFs will now be fuckawesome
Morvidus: What the fuck?
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAH
BWAHAHAHA
BWAHAHAH
So good :0
Puzzle Kingdoms wasn't that great IMO. The AI was beyond bad and they really nerfed spells to shit.
This looks pretty good though.
Definitely true. Unfortunately, they removed the "good" when they made Kingdoms. It just felt tedious and boring to me. I enjoyed Galactrix, except that for some reason my copy (Steam) would randomly crash to desktop at short intervals.
I guess what I'm saying it, hooray if this is a spiritual descendent of PQ that actually works.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Seriously. Both Galactrix and PK were terrible for different reasons, but I have faith that Square and PopCap can remedy this current lack of puzzle RPG goodness.
Abysmal AI. There doesn't seem to be any AI "strategy" just do shit randomly. Often it would do shit that simply didn't make ANY sense. The battle system is just plain un-fun and manages to be even more repetitive than Puzzle Quest. In PQ, you could at least skip random encounters with a higher level mount or wipe out most "trash" mobs (and bosses O_o) in a single turn.
Spells are (mostly) worthless, units are clear upgrades/downgrades so there's not so much diversity in play-style, and all the customization options are basically worthless because you run into the obvious upgrade/downgrade problem.
Some of the mini-games are alright (I liked the "wipe out the board" one) but there's little else that was redeeming about the game.
Any idea about a release date? And when the inevitable lawsuit will come?
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
I gotta quote this. I recently started playing PQ again and it's addicting as hell, but FUCK if it isn't full of bullshit. I haven't raged this hard at a game in years and I can be a pretty angry person at times.
Aside from what templewulf mentioned, the following scenario has made me rage quit PQ a few times and go play something else:
Highest cunning goes first. Enemy starts. OH WTF? 5 fucking skulls lined up with two 5 point skulls in the line. Then the enemy gets six turns in a row which lands me at under half health before I even get a turn? GG.
All that said, this game looks like it could be good. I wonder what the story is going to be like? The art direction is fantastic. Has anyone else found themselves far more excited for XBLA releases than full retail games as of late?
It has been said many times that the AI does not cheat. It doesn't know what is off screen any more than you do and just makes clears with the best odds of a chain kicking off. You have had just as much luck, you just notice it more when the enemy does it.
http://forums.infinite-interactive.com/showpost.php?p=1329#2133
I'm playing through it again on my iPhone, and for every lucky cascade the AI gets, I get a lucky cascade. The AI will often miss obvious matches of four or five too.
It could also just be a bigger deal for me because I played druid. But yeah, I can only play pq for like an hour before the nonsense annoys me to hell.