Philipp
12-11-2010, 10:05 AM
My first impression with the game was: great fun, but it would have been much better with more rooms to explore and a lot more warrior types to beat.
Now (after beating the god-king twice) I'm thinking: They did everything right -- what better approach than to have fans DYING for more content right now? We'll grab every update, we're looking for more news online, some of us might even pay extra to get more stuff, we want new content so much that we've been turned into long term subscribers to the idea of Infinity Blade! What better way to approach this from a long term perspective? The game is already in the charts -- maybe it has the power to stay there for a long time or come back whenever something new is released.
The bloodlines approach, too, isn't bad. I think it's mainly a way to get away with having a big loop in the game while still creating that suspense of disbelief. However, it also adds a certain Epic-ness, and it gives us a shared experience and common ground for online discussions. When you play the game, you feel you are part of something bigger -- you can almost sense that thousands of other players are going through the exact same path as you. You keep faithfully playing bloodline after bloodline even though you know it's the same but while it is like "work", you feel like you achieve something for your character. The repetition is almost zen like.
Still... I want much more rooms and more warriors to beat and more story and more stuff to buy :) I guess that's exactly what's in the plans, we'll see how that works out. Perhaps after a certain while, it might also be nice to add perhaps one or two extra tactical angles to fights. Right now we got dodging, blocking, attacking, tapping when swords connect, magic spells, etc., which is cool already. Perhaps it would be enough if some enemies would actually need specific sword hit angles to beat them -- like maybe monster X is heavily armored on its right side, and the best way to beat it is to hit the lower left or what-not. Just something to keep the fighting strategy long-term interesting.
It'll also be interesting to see how multiplayer fights will be done. Part of the battle system right now requires enemies to "show" their move in advance so that we can properly dodge, parry or block (oh, is there a parrying tutorial anywhere?). Using a real-time fighting system where our hits are instant, how can that work?
One minor wish: Please give us a way to see our warrior from at least one more angle when we access the shop screen. I sometimes just feel like looking at the full armor, sword, helmet etc., not just the current close-up. Another full-screen angle, and perhaps a way to make a photo (we can always take a screenshot by pressing the Home and Power button simultaneously, of course; if anyone's interested, I made one of what happens after the god king is beaten). It might even make us share and show off our characters online much more, helping the game spread even more by word-of-mouth (yeah right, as if they'd need that, already being number 1 in many countries!).
A second minor wish: I often miss the Dodge buttons on my iPad, they're too small. I read here that actually it's enough to just touch the side of the screen... if that's true, then perhaps make that UI feature more discoverable.
I've also seen the suggestion of archery here... now, that would be a different game, but if it's by the same makers, I would probably instantly buy it. A sniper game in a medieval castle environment... with the arrow-shooting itself being the core of the game play, with tactics as varied as the current sword fights in Infinity Blade. Give us Infinity Bow in 2011, mmookay? :)
Now (after beating the god-king twice) I'm thinking: They did everything right -- what better approach than to have fans DYING for more content right now? We'll grab every update, we're looking for more news online, some of us might even pay extra to get more stuff, we want new content so much that we've been turned into long term subscribers to the idea of Infinity Blade! What better way to approach this from a long term perspective? The game is already in the charts -- maybe it has the power to stay there for a long time or come back whenever something new is released.
The bloodlines approach, too, isn't bad. I think it's mainly a way to get away with having a big loop in the game while still creating that suspense of disbelief. However, it also adds a certain Epic-ness, and it gives us a shared experience and common ground for online discussions. When you play the game, you feel you are part of something bigger -- you can almost sense that thousands of other players are going through the exact same path as you. You keep faithfully playing bloodline after bloodline even though you know it's the same but while it is like "work", you feel like you achieve something for your character. The repetition is almost zen like.
Still... I want much more rooms and more warriors to beat and more story and more stuff to buy :) I guess that's exactly what's in the plans, we'll see how that works out. Perhaps after a certain while, it might also be nice to add perhaps one or two extra tactical angles to fights. Right now we got dodging, blocking, attacking, tapping when swords connect, magic spells, etc., which is cool already. Perhaps it would be enough if some enemies would actually need specific sword hit angles to beat them -- like maybe monster X is heavily armored on its right side, and the best way to beat it is to hit the lower left or what-not. Just something to keep the fighting strategy long-term interesting.
It'll also be interesting to see how multiplayer fights will be done. Part of the battle system right now requires enemies to "show" their move in advance so that we can properly dodge, parry or block (oh, is there a parrying tutorial anywhere?). Using a real-time fighting system where our hits are instant, how can that work?
One minor wish: Please give us a way to see our warrior from at least one more angle when we access the shop screen. I sometimes just feel like looking at the full armor, sword, helmet etc., not just the current close-up. Another full-screen angle, and perhaps a way to make a photo (we can always take a screenshot by pressing the Home and Power button simultaneously, of course; if anyone's interested, I made one of what happens after the god king is beaten). It might even make us share and show off our characters online much more, helping the game spread even more by word-of-mouth (yeah right, as if they'd need that, already being number 1 in many countries!).
A second minor wish: I often miss the Dodge buttons on my iPad, they're too small. I read here that actually it's enough to just touch the side of the screen... if that's true, then perhaps make that UI feature more discoverable.
I've also seen the suggestion of archery here... now, that would be a different game, but if it's by the same makers, I would probably instantly buy it. A sniper game in a medieval castle environment... with the arrow-shooting itself being the core of the game play, with tactics as varied as the current sword fights in Infinity Blade. Give us Infinity Bow in 2011, mmookay? :)