ITB - What I don't like
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 1:36 am
I *love* FTL (Adv. made it even better)! For the type of game it is (roguelike/adventure) I would rate it 10/10 for both value & enjoyment. Can easily play for over an hour at a time and several times per week. Expect to keep coming back to this game for many, many years.
But I've been very underwhelmed with this game and would rate it only 4/10. I find 10-15 minutes is about as much as I can tolerate before giving up in frustration and lack of enjoyment.
For background, I'm an older 50+ board/computer gamer and love turn based tactical games...
The simple art doesn't bother me, nor does the story concept...
In FTL you start weak and slowly build into an awesome ship and have to battle an awesome enemy. You may die along the way, but rarely (if ever) is it a result of inescapable game mechanics or randomness. Whether I win or lose in FTL, it's always fun and a rich experience. And it's rare to lose (if careful) short of the final battle. A single bad decision is rarely catastrophic, but a few closely spaced can be...
In this game, I don't see that progression. I have yet to finish the first island. You health pool is pathetically small for both the mechs and the power grid leading to incredible fragility. The powerups on the mechs are so slow/rare they might as well not exist.
The turn based combat is reasonably well done and enjoyable in the short term, but frustrating in the longer term.
Personally, I would have preferred to see a much deeper/richer progression for your primary mech, with the others being disposable and no penalty for losing. Less fragility in the main mech and less fragility in the power grid with opportunities for significant healing (similar to FTL). Maybe pilot auto-survival unless you lose all 3 mechs.
But I've been very underwhelmed with this game and would rate it only 4/10. I find 10-15 minutes is about as much as I can tolerate before giving up in frustration and lack of enjoyment.
For background, I'm an older 50+ board/computer gamer and love turn based tactical games...
The simple art doesn't bother me, nor does the story concept...
In FTL you start weak and slowly build into an awesome ship and have to battle an awesome enemy. You may die along the way, but rarely (if ever) is it a result of inescapable game mechanics or randomness. Whether I win or lose in FTL, it's always fun and a rich experience. And it's rare to lose (if careful) short of the final battle. A single bad decision is rarely catastrophic, but a few closely spaced can be...
In this game, I don't see that progression. I have yet to finish the first island. You health pool is pathetically small for both the mechs and the power grid leading to incredible fragility. The powerups on the mechs are so slow/rare they might as well not exist.
The turn based combat is reasonably well done and enjoyable in the short term, but frustrating in the longer term.
Personally, I would have preferred to see a much deeper/richer progression for your primary mech, with the others being disposable and no penalty for losing. Less fragility in the main mech and less fragility in the power grid with opportunities for significant healing (similar to FTL). Maybe pilot auto-survival unless you lose all 3 mechs.