Expensive!
I'm all for a simplistic control system and classic side-scrolling action, however the power-ups ands shrines that have to be purchased to make any progress become very expensive, very quickly. While enemies drop more gold as you go on, for me it never seemed enough! I found myself neglecting all armour and weapon upgrades simply to afford the shrines that keep you alive.
So its totally random?
Tried buy even amounts of everything - lost
Tried ALL swords - lost
Tried armor and SOME swords - lost
I really dont like the idea of random in in RPG especially when theres no way to get better
what... the hell... can tmake it past day 8 awesome
meh...
This isn't a bad game, believe me. It's well done as far as visuals, but some of the mechanics need to be reworked. I've been playing this for a few days now and just decided to review it. The reason being that I died just now. Why? Because my lifespan ran out before the first soulshrine appeared. Another complaint is the amount of money received after battles. It's too low.
Trigger Knight, as a game, is fun. The whole concept is interesting, not exactly new, but has enough that it's pretty entertaining. However, there are a number of problems with it, which have been mentioned in other reviews. They are:
Lifespan is the cheapest way to drain your money or kill you that I've come across. Not only does it not make any real sense, but with each Soulshrine use, the cost goes up by 70 gold. That's even more than the armor and weapon growth by day, and it adds up too quickly to cope with unless you plan on using vouchers. The actual tools which you should be focusing on to stay competitive are overshadowed by a silly system whose spacing is too random to be reliable.
Battles are also too luck-based. I've died on more than one occasion by the Lifespan running out because the player and enemy decide to stand around for a good 20 seconds. Maybe the player has a chance to order a dodge or double-attack if they have a good reaction time (signified by red flash on the screen that lasts a second or two)? Also, the dragons literally require a Divine Edge to defeat, or at least high-grade armor and weapons with an Elixir, and start coming far too early to manage without aforementioned "cheap" and random item. Perhaps make a specific day, like the 15th, Dragon/Boss Day so you will know when dragons start appearing, and can prepare accordingly. After said dragons, when we'll probably be in near-death range unless a Divine Edge was used, in which case it shouldn't have an effect, put an elixir shop so we aren't immediately killed by the next enemy.
Certain shops that have obviously been randomized need to have useful spacing. An elixir shop when I already have elixir is a wasted shop, and same for all other items; 2 Soulshrines next to each other is redundant, but lifespan shouldn't be used in the first place; Armor and Weapon shops when I've already fully upgraded are wastes of space, so maybe Weapon shops become other places to use the vouchers or Divine Edge shops, and Armor shops become hospitals where they restore most of your health?
Those are the big complaints. Graphics and audio were pretty good, and the idea was very cool. Just make the game playable as a game, not as a frustration source.
At first I thought this game was going to be all style and no substance, but I was surprised by the amount of depth I found in it.
At it's heart this is a resource management game. You're basically managing when to buy and when not to buy. The randomization of monsters and stores helps add tension but at times I feel it's a double edged sword.
It's one thing not knowing what you'll face next, it's quite another when the game hardly ever gives you any attack upgrades which forces you to spend all your money on armor and potions to maintain your health. Or maybe the game makes you face a dragon only 2 minutes in, an impossible encounter unless you happen to have the divine edge, or worse it never gives you a soulshrine.
The luck aspect of the game needs to be tightened up a bit, either that or introduce a way for the player to change their situation in the face of bad odds.
P.S: I'm a sucker for cute anime characters.