@krakensoup You shouldn't skip a game based on someones warped opinion about it. Kirk and I had a long discussion about the game in the previous post on this site. The most he played was 5-7 minutes tops and had already made up his mind. He went into this game already thinking he'd hate it, so of course that what his mind was set to. I highly encourage everyone that even has a remote interest in the original mobile game, to try it for yourself.
@Kirk You can't give a review to a game that you already THINK you dislike. I'm not trying to force everyone into paying thousands on a game that I personally enjoy, but just hate when people think free to play means 'money sink' whenever you can actually just play normally without spending a dime. If NintendoLife, IGN, Kotaku, etc only played 7 minutes of a game and had to review it? Yeah the review would be bad or unfinished.
EDIT: Just read through your second message replying to another person in this thread. There has NEVER been any sort of popup notification to remind you to play the game. I've played this game going on three years and it's the only mobile game that gets that right. I have no idea where you're getting any of your sources, but I'm starting to think we have a huge troll here.
@Kirk It would be more understandable to feel like it was just an addicting slot machine if it weren't for that fact that EVERYTHING that you pull from the machine is useful. Of course some are better than others, but literally everything helps out, and there's no clear cut "jackpot."
There are three types of eggs in that machine, star, silver and gold being the best. Of course you want gold, but that silver or star egg can complete a team that the gold egg may or may not be apart of. Also, everyone knows not to just pull willy-nilly when they want to, every two weeks they introduce a new Godfest that have even higher rates of success for gold monsters, while also taking out some of the worse pulls.
That time span gives you more than enough time to rackup the currencies to pull for free, thus propelling yourself to get the best pulls with not much grinding.
I'll absolutely agree that the tutorial is outdated and pretty bland, but I have no idea what you're talking about when you said you have to log in to this and that? You download the game, they give you a unique friend ID, you set your name and you play? They may have added Game Center to log in aswell, but that's an IOS thing so it's not really included to this process. from there, you clear 5 stages of tutorials and you play.
It's the same style of rpg like most party based rpgs or mmos. You gain new characters through some means, level them up, evolve them to be better, and use them on your adventure to clear everything the game has. The best part about this game is that there isn't a storyline that would ever have to end. Some of the best games in history don't have/need a story, especially in this category of game. Tetris makes absolutely no sense and it's a classic, weird cubic shapes falling from the sky only to be deleted with a row? That's not a AAA storyline.
And as for 'addiction.' Humans can literally be addicted to anything. I'm sure there's someone out there with that plays this game for 15 hours a day and spends every cent they make advancing themselves. But that can happen to anything, anywhere, to any game. There was a news article about a kid in an asian country that DIED after a few day PC gaming binge. He died in the exact same spot as his gaming position, arms out and everything. Addiction like that isn't healthy at all, but to accuse one certain game for that is silly, when all games can be that. In reality, saying that a game can cause that should mean that the game is that much fun, or rewarding to MAKE people what that to happen, ya know?
The way the game is set up, it's ment to be a small time waster vs a time sink like every other console game in existence. Mario Kart is literally the same thing for every course, just looks different and turns here instead of there. Yet somehow having only around 36 characters and 48 tracks, that is ment to be enough forever? Yeah sometimes you'll get DLC here and there, but by the time the DLC comes out, you're hooked on another game.
The difference is PAD is updated almost weekly Japan side, and the US gets those updates as big monthly chunks instead of tiny updates. The original character roster was around (I'm guessing) 700. Now? We're heading to 2,100. And let me straighten this out before someone freaks out over me comparing Mario Kart to a mobile game: People are happy with a lot less these days, which is why something so frequently updated is this popular.
Dayz, H1Z1, Reign of Kings are all indie games that are constantly updated, and are mega popular. DayZ was the original reason I bought my PC. Almost everyone has a PC and a phone these days, so it just makes it more accessible as a mobile game. You have that with you 24/7 so something to pass the time on it is just a fine idea.
I have a friend that's only spent about 40$ on this game and is a higher rank than I am, and can do the same dungeons as I can. 5k vs 40$ shouldn't give you the same experience. I highly value this game for myself, so funding it and allowing to develop more content so I can enjoy it even longer is a perfect investment. Some people only feel like paying that small amount because maybe that feels like how much it should be worth, and that's just fine.
Kind of the same idea as Kickstarter, the company will ask for 100,000$ and end up with 200,000$ Well where does the extra 100k go? To making the game better, more promotion so it'll succeed, maybe a sequel. That's where the 3DS versions came from, that's where all the promotion goes. I haven't played a Free to Play game that has ever forced me to buy something that I couldn't get otherwise. I'm sure there are games out there that force you, but people these days are afraid to grind for what they want. Why do people call going back to work 'the grind?' Exactly.
@Kirk Yeah the whole thing sounds insane for outsiders, or people iffy about trying it out and becoming 'addicted' or something. When I first started playing (a few days after the game released in the US) I was hooked. It was like I was playing NES Mario for the first time ya know? It was a really new experience that was surprisingly deep for a PHONE GAME. I kept playing it, and as of today, I've logged in for 914(ish) days straight, without missing one.
I can only compare this obsession to that of a hobby, which it actually is for me. Like I've mentioned before I record tutorials and have streamed in the past for fans of the game and the community is generally great. It's that sense of "gotta catch 'em all" all over again. I have a nice gaming PC, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS and 360, and besides Halo 1-now, I've never spent this much time hooked on a game.
There's always this need to progress and be able to beat the hardest dungeons. People always liken the game to Tetris meets Pokemon, but for veterans, it can seem like Tetris meets Dark Souls. This game is insanely brutal in the hardest dungeons, and when you complete one without having to use a continue, you feel that great sense of "Holy Sh!t, I actually did it!" that only a few other games ever give you.
But the biggest thing I always want to tell people is, you do NOT have to spend money on this game. After hearing that, people usually start yelling that if you don't spend money on it, the game is a huge grind. Isn't 99% of every other game a grind? Even in the original NES mario you could grind for 1-ups. Grinding is here, and it will never go away. Want that sweet gun in COD? Grind. Need the fastest car to beat others? Grind. Need 13 more stars to open the next door? Grind. You can see where I'm going with that.
And if I'm being totally honest right now, I generate some revenue from my tutorials and commentaries, so it's not like 100% of it is out of pocket. It started out as me just playing some dungeons and recording them, to full blown in-depth tutorials that people actually liked. That goes back to how awesome the PAD community is, everyone is so helpful and don't care if you've spent 0$ to 10k. That sense of community and helpfulness has really pushed me to continue playing a game I was already addicted to, and to keep helping friends and new players alike.
@Kirk Dollars, yeah. A lot of it comes from streaming/recording tutorials to help new players. There are people nearing around 8k if I recall correctly. I guess it's better than buying crack lol
@Kirk For Western gamers, there actually IS a huge following for this game. The company has never been big on advertising for whatever reason like other mobile games (Clash of Clans, Candy Crush.) It's understandable to not know anything about this game or to have never of heard of it.
There are thousands of PAD players that have spent thousands on this game and help fund the company. As of writing this I've spent around 5k rolling for gods and refilling stamina, and there are people I know who play this game more than I do and spend that much more.
It isn't some kind of insult to Nintendo that a mobile game was reported to have made 2-4 million dollars a day for a few months (http://www.gamespot.com/articles/puzzle-and-dragons-nets-gungho-763-million-early-this-year/1100-6412192/) . The game was a great idea and the fact that people are spending so much on it is proof of that.
I'm actually happy that Nintendo wants to try mobile games or join forces with a company that could easily rival what they do based on an APP. That just sounds impressive doesn't it? It shows great growth from Nintendo, making games for mobile might be the future for them.
Comments 5
Re: Interview: GungHo's Daisuke Yamamoto Talks Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition
@krakensoup You shouldn't skip a game based on someones warped opinion about it. Kirk and I had a long discussion about the game in the previous post on this site. The most he played was 5-7 minutes tops and had already made up his mind. He went into this game already thinking he'd hate it, so of course that what his mind was set to. I highly encourage everyone that even has a remote interest in the original mobile game, to try it for yourself.
@Kirk You can't give a review to a game that you already THINK you dislike. I'm not trying to force everyone into paying thousands on a game that I personally enjoy, but just hate when people think free to play means 'money sink' whenever you can actually just play normally without spending a dime. If NintendoLife, IGN, Kotaku, etc only played 7 minutes of a game and had to review it? Yeah the review would be bad or unfinished.
EDIT: Just read through your second message replying to another person in this thread. There has NEVER been any sort of popup notification to remind you to play the game. I've played this game going on three years and it's the only mobile game that gets that right. I have no idea where you're getting any of your sources, but I'm starting to think we have a huge troll here.
Re: Feature: What the Heck is Puzzle & Dragons? - A Brief History, and Why Mario Got Involved
@Kirk It would be more understandable to feel like it was just an addicting slot machine if it weren't for that fact that EVERYTHING that you pull from the machine is useful. Of course some are better than others, but literally everything helps out, and there's no clear cut "jackpot."
There are three types of eggs in that machine, star, silver and gold being the best. Of course you want gold, but that silver or star egg can complete a team that the gold egg may or may not be apart of. Also, everyone knows not to just pull willy-nilly when they want to, every two weeks they introduce a new Godfest that have even higher rates of success for gold monsters, while also taking out some of the worse pulls.
That time span gives you more than enough time to rackup the currencies to pull for free, thus propelling yourself to get the best pulls with not much grinding.
I'll absolutely agree that the tutorial is outdated and pretty bland, but I have no idea what you're talking about when you said you have to log in to this and that? You download the game, they give you a unique friend ID, you set your name and you play? They may have added Game Center to log in aswell, but that's an IOS thing so it's not really included to this process. from there, you clear 5 stages of tutorials and you play.
It's the same style of rpg like most party based rpgs or mmos. You gain new characters through some means, level them up, evolve them to be better, and use them on your adventure to clear everything the game has. The best part about this game is that there isn't a storyline that would ever have to end. Some of the best games in history don't have/need a story, especially in this category of game. Tetris makes absolutely no sense and it's a classic, weird cubic shapes falling from the sky only to be deleted with a row? That's not a AAA storyline.
And as for 'addiction.' Humans can literally be addicted to anything. I'm sure there's someone out there with that plays this game for 15 hours a day and spends every cent they make advancing themselves. But that can happen to anything, anywhere, to any game. There was a news article about a kid in an asian country that DIED after a few day PC gaming binge. He died in the exact same spot as his gaming position, arms out and everything. Addiction like that isn't healthy at all, but to accuse one certain game for that is silly, when all games can be that. In reality, saying that a game can cause that should mean that the game is that much fun, or rewarding to MAKE people what that to happen, ya know?
The way the game is set up, it's ment to be a small time waster vs a time sink like every other console game in existence. Mario Kart is literally the same thing for every course, just looks different and turns here instead of there. Yet somehow having only around 36 characters and 48 tracks, that is ment to be enough forever? Yeah sometimes you'll get DLC here and there, but by the time the DLC comes out, you're hooked on another game.
The difference is PAD is updated almost weekly Japan side, and the US gets those updates as big monthly chunks instead of tiny updates. The original character roster was around (I'm guessing) 700. Now? We're heading to 2,100. And let me straighten this out before someone freaks out over me comparing Mario Kart to a mobile game: People are happy with a lot less these days, which is why something so frequently updated is this popular.
Dayz, H1Z1, Reign of Kings are all indie games that are constantly updated, and are mega popular. DayZ was the original reason I bought my PC. Almost everyone has a PC and a phone these days, so it just makes it more accessible as a mobile game. You have that with you 24/7 so something to pass the time on it is just a fine idea.
I have a friend that's only spent about 40$ on this game and is a higher rank than I am, and can do the same dungeons as I can. 5k vs 40$ shouldn't give you the same experience. I highly value this game for myself, so funding it and allowing to develop more content so I can enjoy it even longer is a perfect investment. Some people only feel like paying that small amount because maybe that feels like how much it should be worth, and that's just fine.
Kind of the same idea as Kickstarter, the company will ask for 100,000$ and end up with 200,000$ Well where does the extra 100k go? To making the game better, more promotion so it'll succeed, maybe a sequel. That's where the 3DS versions came from, that's where all the promotion goes. I haven't played a Free to Play game that has ever forced me to buy something that I couldn't get otherwise. I'm sure there are games out there that force you, but people these days are afraid to grind for what they want. Why do people call going back to work 'the grind?' Exactly.
Re: Feature: What the Heck is Puzzle & Dragons? - A Brief History, and Why Mario Got Involved
@Kirk Yeah the whole thing sounds insane for outsiders, or people iffy about trying it out and becoming 'addicted' or something. When I first started playing (a few days after the game released in the US) I was hooked. It was like I was playing NES Mario for the first time ya know? It was a really new experience that was surprisingly deep for a PHONE GAME. I kept playing it, and as of today, I've logged in for 914(ish) days straight, without missing one.
I can only compare this obsession to that of a hobby, which it actually is for me. Like I've mentioned before I record tutorials and have streamed in the past for fans of the game and the community is generally great. It's that sense of "gotta catch 'em all" all over again. I have a nice gaming PC, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS and 360, and besides Halo 1-now, I've never spent this much time hooked on a game.
There's always this need to progress and be able to beat the hardest dungeons. People always liken the game to Tetris meets Pokemon, but for veterans, it can seem like Tetris meets Dark Souls. This game is insanely brutal in the hardest dungeons, and when you complete one without having to use a continue, you feel that great sense of "Holy Sh!t, I actually did it!" that only a few other games ever give you.
But the biggest thing I always want to tell people is, you do NOT have to spend money on this game. After hearing that, people usually start yelling that if you don't spend money on it, the game is a huge grind. Isn't 99% of every other game a grind? Even in the original NES mario you could grind for 1-ups. Grinding is here, and it will never go away. Want that sweet gun in COD? Grind. Need the fastest car to beat others? Grind. Need 13 more stars to open the next door? Grind. You can see where I'm going with that.
And if I'm being totally honest right now, I generate some revenue from my tutorials and commentaries, so it's not like 100% of it is out of pocket. It started out as me just playing some dungeons and recording them, to full blown in-depth tutorials that people actually liked. That goes back to how awesome the PAD community is, everyone is so helpful and don't care if you've spent 0$ to 10k. That sense of community and helpfulness has really pushed me to continue playing a game I was already addicted to, and to keep helping friends and new players alike.
But yeah, all of this sounds completely crazy LOL
Re: Feature: What the Heck is Puzzle & Dragons? - A Brief History, and Why Mario Got Involved
@Kirk Dollars, yeah. A lot of it comes from streaming/recording tutorials to help new players. There are people nearing around 8k if I recall correctly. I guess it's better than buying crack lol
Re: Feature: What the Heck is Puzzle & Dragons? - A Brief History, and Why Mario Got Involved
@Kirk For Western gamers, there actually IS a huge following for this game. The company has never been big on advertising for whatever reason like other mobile games (Clash of Clans, Candy Crush.) It's understandable to not know anything about this game or to have never of heard of it.
There are thousands of PAD players that have spent thousands on this game and help fund the company. As of writing this I've spent around 5k rolling for gods and refilling stamina, and there are people I know who play this game more than I do and spend that much more.
It isn't some kind of insult to Nintendo that a mobile game was reported to have made 2-4 million dollars a day for a few months (http://www.gamespot.com/articles/puzzle-and-dragons-nets-gungho-763-million-early-this-year/1100-6412192/) . The game was a great idea and the fact that people are spending so much on it is proof of that.
I'm actually happy that Nintendo wants to try mobile games or join forces with a company that could easily rival what they do based on an APP. That just sounds impressive doesn't it? It shows great growth from Nintendo, making games for mobile might be the future for them.