Puzzle Quest coming to XBLA Wednesday

[EddieA]

According to IGN, Puzzle Quest will be the XBox Live Arcade Title for this coming Wednesday.  They also announced that the PC version will be released October 22.  Gamespot has a preview detailing the improvements and tweaks made to the XBLA and PC versions.

[metallicorphan]

still waiting for sensible soccer,Tron games and the battlestar galactica game

[CeeKay]

sweet!  I'm having trouble finding a copy for the DS so I'm debating between that version or the XBL version.

[Simon]

Excellent, I've been playing this on the DS for a couple of months and love it. Screenshots look great.

[jersoc]

I'm so all over this. The new improvements sound great. i recently started playing the DS version again as well. This game is just crack in game form.

[Gratch]

One example of this is the spell timer. Some spells now have a cool-down time attached to them, so you can't necessarily cast them every turn; you have to wait from one to five turns for them to become available again. This makes the game fresh and interesting because a lot of the most powerful spells now have this tradeoff. You'll find improvements like this all through the game.

Can't say I'm crazy about this.  The early and mid-game were challenging enough without having restrictions put on what spells you can cast.

[Azhag]

What's the pricing going to be?

[Destructor]

All I have to say is this - if you haven't bought or played Puzzle Quest before, now's the time to get into it with the 360 or PC releases. It's a fantastic game that everybody should play.

[Misguided]

IN!

[Reemul]

yeah where is sensi, been wanting this more than anything else.

[Bullwinkle]

still waiting for sensible soccer,Tron games and the battlestar galactica game

Where the hell is Hoop World?

I'm in on Puzzle Quest, though.

[CeeKay]

One example of this is the spell timer. Some spells now have a cool-down time attached to them, so you can't necessarily cast them every turn; you have to wait from one to five turns for them to become available again. This makes the game fresh and interesting because a lot of the most powerful spells now have this tradeoff. You'll find improvements like this all through the game.

Can't say I'm crazy about this.  The early and mid-game were challenging enough without having restrictions put on what spells you can cast.

I'm assuming the PC demo that came out awhile back didn't have all of these improvements, including the cool down timer.  I liked that demo version, so it looks like I'll be grabbing the demo of the new version to see if I like the changes or not, and if I don't then I'll only get the DS version.

[Knightshade Dragon]

The cooldown timer actually is a good improvement.  The game is challenging but isn't savagely so.  If you guys have questions I can answer them....

[ATB]

I hope they are developing a PQ2 for the DS that fixes some of the niggling problems the original had. Overall, it is as addicting as the love of Jesus and like the latter, I definitely recommend the former!

[Gratch]

The cooldown timer actually is a good improvement.  The game is challenging but isn't savagely so.  If you guys have questions I can answer them....

The schizophrenic difficulty was really my only gripe about PQ.  I actually had to dial down the difficulty early on, but the final third of the game wasn't even a challenge.  I'll be interested to see how these changes affect things.  As long as they don't make it ridiculously hard, I'm cool with it.  I'm definitely going to get the XBLA version.  Having only played the DS flavor, I can't wait for the upgraded graphics.

How are the controls with an X-Box controller?  Both the DS stylus and mouse controls are perfect, but I'm a bit concerned about trying to use a gamepad.  Especially when you need to move fast.

[EddieA]

I'm assuming the PC demo that came out awhile back didn't have all of these improvements, including the cool down timer.  I liked that demo version, so it looks like I'll be grabbing the demo of the new version to see if I like the changes or not, and if I don't then I'll only get the DS version.

According to the developer, there aren't any plans for a new demo, but it's possible.

[Lockdown]

All I have to say is this - if you haven't bought or played Puzzle Quest before, now's the time to get into it with the 360 or PC releases. It's a fantastic game that everybody should play.

And so last night, after playing Team Fortress 2 for so long that my eyes were getting blurry, I decided to give Puzzle Quest a try for the first time ever.  [360 xbla version]

It took less than 5 minutes to download from Marketplace and I was in.

First things first.  Even though I knew Steve Fawkner was involved with this game, I didn't realize just how much of the Warlords Universe was a part of it.  It seems the whole game actually revolves around the lands of Etheria.  I also didn't realize just how much of the game is sort of a roleplaying game.  I had thought it was just playing bejeweled with some player statistics thrown in.  Now granted, I've only just started, but there are all kinds of things in here that I wasn't expecting.  Inventory, shops, equipment/treasure, leveling up, spells, character classes, quasi-questing, item creation, experience points, gold, and God knows what else I haven't even seen yet.

As far as the battles go - well, I've never played bejeweled before, so I'm not really sure I'm all that good.  I mean, I nearly lost the first fight against the practice knight.  If it weren't for that gemberry spell, I would have.     I'm not very good at looking at the board one-step ahead, like they instruct you to.  I can't tell you how many times the computer got 3 skulls in a row and burned me after I made a move.  I just can't see it.  I wonder if I'll get better as I play more?  I hope so.

Some of the spells look really cool.  I've started the main quest but that's about it.  I am sure I'll have a ton of questions for you guys as I roll along on this one.  I started on Normal difficulty, but I'm open to suggestions before I get too far.  Do you think I should change it to Easy, since I've never played PQ or Bejeweled before, or should I be ok?

Oh... and in summary - I'm extremely surprised and impressed with the game so far.   

[Gratch]

I picked it up from XBLA yesterday as well.  It's been a while since I fired it up on DS, and playing in HD with a new class is almost like playing a whole new game.  I'd forgotten how much fun it was!

As far as the battles go - well, I've never played bejeweled before, so I'm not really sure I'm all that good.  I mean, I nearly lost the first fight against the practice knight.  If it weren't for that gemberry spell, I would have.     I'm not very good at looking at the board one-step ahead, like they instruct you to.  I can't tell you how many times the computer got 3 skulls in a row and burned me after I made a move.  I just can't see it.  I wonder if I'll get better as I play more?  I hope so.

If it's any consolation, I've actually beaten the game (on DS) and still managed to lose twice to the first practice knight.    I had him down to 3 HP, and he got a cascade of 3 burning skulls and hit me for nearly 20 hp in a single shot.  A lot of your success - especially in the early game - will come down to luck.  If you're like the rest of us, you'll get the distinct feeling that the computer is cheating. 

[Greggy_D]

I think the price is around $15 on XBLA.

[Destructor]

I think the price is around $15 on XBLA.

1200 points according to the front page, which equates to...whatever the heck the conversion rate is for Microsoft's funny money.

[CeeKay]

did they toss out a demo on XBLM too?

[EngineNo9]

did they toss out a demo on XBLM too?

Every XBLA game has a free demo.  It's part of the deal.

[Simon]

The A.I. can still be a bit unforgiving at times, and I wish you could turn the controller rumble off in game since it's going off at every turn. Also I have the 16 second timer turned on but no timer is showing up when I play the quests. Other than that though they did a great job on it for the 360, gorgeous graphics and the music sounds great. It's a real pleasure to play it in HD and it's probably the best 1,200 points than you can spend on XBLA thus far.

If anyone wants to try out the multiplayer hit me with an invite.

[Laner]

If you're like the rest of us, you'll get the distinct feeling that the computer is cheating. 

Absolutely.  I learned pretty early on to *never* take the "hint" move that is offered - it almost always results in the AI taking advantage of you.

[EngineNo9]

So I tried out the demo for about 15 minutes and decided that this was worthy of my 1200 points.  Of course I just got 1600 points for $5 with that Halo 3 deal, but it seems worthy nonetheless.  Lots of fun so far, and I like puzzle games where it's not timed.

[Bullwinkle]

did they toss out a demo on XBLM too?

Every XBLA game has a free demo.  It's part of the deal.

Carcasonne didn't (or was it Catan?)

Is it a problem, by the way, that I played against the second guy enough times to get to level 6 before moving on?  Will that help or is the game leveled?  Is there a level cap?

[Brendan]

did they toss out a demo on XBLM too?

Every XBLA game has a free demo.  It's part of the deal.

Carcasonne didn't (or was it Catan?)

No, they both have demos.  Everything has a demo.

[Bullwinkle]

did they toss out a demo on XBLM too?

Every XBLA game has a free demo.  It's part of the deal.

Carcasonne didn't (or was it Catan?)

No, they both have demos.  Everything has a demo.

No. It was Catan.  Catan did not have a demo for a number of weeks when it was released.  I'm assuming it does now, though.

[Caine]

did they toss out a demo on XBLM too?

Every XBLA game has a free demo.  It's part of the deal.

Carcasonne didn't (or was it Catan?)

Is it a problem, by the way, that I played against the second guy enough times to get to level 6 before moving on?  Will that help or is the game leveled?  Is there a level cap?

level cap is 50. 
spoilerish question.

Spoiler for Hiden:

is it still possible to get insanely strong red attacks as the warrior/mage?  i one shotted the end boss because my big attack was so strong.  it's also how i was able to level the mount up to 50.

[Brendan]

did they toss out a demo on XBLM too?

Every XBLA game has a free demo.  It's part of the deal.

Carcasonne didn't (or was it Catan?)

No, they both have demos.  Everything has a demo.

No. It was Catan.  Catan did not have a demo for a number of weeks when it was released.  I'm assuming it does now, though.

That was simply an error in propping the content, not a policy change.  Regardless (and irregardless!), Puzzle Quest's awesome, and has a demo.

[EddieA]

I learned pretty early on to *never* take the "hint" move that is offered - it almost always results in the AI taking advantage of you.

Well, look at who's giving you the hint 

[Cleric7]

First thing I did was turn off hints in the options.
Strongly recommend this. The hint it gives you always draws your eye to that spot and it's seldom the best move...

[Misguided]

I wish you could turn the controller rumble off in game since it's going off at every turn.

+Infinity

I was trying to find the option to disable this after the first move I made.
So glad it's on XBLA, but what the heck where they thinking?
I don't want the darned controller rumbling constantly.

[Knightshade Dragon]

First thing I did was turn off hints in the options.
Strongly recommend this. The hint it gives you always draws your eye to that spot and it's seldom the best move...

Yea, that hint is working for the other side, I assure you.

[Misguided]

First thing I did was turn off hints in the options.
Strongly recommend this. The hint it gives you always draws your eye to that spot and it's seldom the best move...

Yea, that hint is working for the other side, I assure you.

Not necessarily true.
Here's the thing: the hint doesn't look ahead. It don't think it evaluates the board position following the move.
Steve Fawkner has stated the AI doesn't look ahead. So it isn't setting you up any more than the drop
code "cheats" (which has been put forth on many an occasion).
Sometimes, taking it can leave the board in a good position for an opponent JUST LIKE ANY OTHER MOVE.

[Destructor]

Sometimes, taking it can leave the board in a good position for an opponent JUST LIKE ANY OTHER MOVE.

Agreed.

Of course, with any move you take, you MUST look ahead. It'll make your life SO much easier.

[Nth Power]

I never cared much for the hints.  It seemed to screw me about as many times as it helped.  In any case, the game itself is hot sweetness.

[Misguided]

I wish you could turn the controller rumble off in game since it's going off at every turn.

+Infinity

I was trying to find the option to disable this after the first move I made.
So glad it's on XBLA, but what the heck where they thinking?
I don't want the darned controller rumbling constantly.

WOOT! from Qt3:

"Bring up the guide menu by hitting the xbox button, select personal settings, then vibration. "

Had the system for 2 years and no idea you could do this.

[warning]

Does it disable rumble for all games or just for Puzzle Quest?

[Autistic Angel]

It's a global change, but you can always change it back.

-Autistic Angel