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  1. #1
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    After Three Games...

    Okay, I've played a little and I think I'm ready to give some feedback. I'll definitely be adding more as I play more, but I thought I'd give an absolute first impression.

    1. It seems sort of unfair to judge the game mechanic as it is now. The fact that most of the activated abilities can't be used yet sort of throws the system for a loop. The opponent's activated ability is incredible, and it doesn't ever get the chance to use it.
    2. The animations are great, but a couple -- especially Supernova! -- could do with some speeding up.
    3. The field of view is suffocatingly narrow, but I assume that too is just because you're using a beta engine.
    4. Did you mean for the Arcane Burst effect to be "up to 4" or "exactly 4?" As it is, it is exactly 4 and I'm not sure that's necessarily fair.
    5. It'd be nice for the Change View and Done buttons to be a bit larger -- or at least colored differently from the background so they stand out a little more.
    6. Effects seem to stack for allies, but not for heroes. I know Kyle said that effects won't stack at all, but I actually kind of like the idea of being able to use a "burn" effect for heroes. I'm not sure how to balance it all on to one card effect though, since burning a hero is usually a lot more powerful than burning an ally...
    7. An undo button would be VERY, VERY helpful. I can't tell you how many times I've sacrificed a newly-drawn card by mistake already.
    8. There seem to be a dearth of cards with similar effects: Freezing and Webbing are the same effect; Engulfing Flames and Poison Gas are the same card with different art. I've never read anything about whether there is a cap to the number of identical cards you can have in a deck, but this is a way around that rule.

    More to come!

  2. #2
    Junior Member Insectosaurus's Avatar
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    Agree it would be very helpful if there was an undo button, at least at the sacrifice stage.

  3. #3
    Shadow Era's Avatar
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    I know, I've done that myself when I'm trying to play quickly and forget what stage I'm on. "What?? NOOOooo not sacrifice! I meant CAST!!" But maybe it's like chess, and once you touch the piece you have to move it... or not...

  4. #4
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    Yeah, and I'm not quite sure how it would work out in realtime play, but it's something to consider.

    I'd like to really focus in on number 5 though. One other thing that came to mind while I was playing was the size of the buttons and UI elements compared to the relative to the area where pretty much nothing controlable happens. You can tap a card to bring it to focus, but that's really about it. Say what you will about the franchise, but the whole time I was playing, I found myself wishing there were Pokemon-on-the-DS-style big buttons. I mean, look at these things:

    (the bottom half of the screen, if you've never played before, is the touchscreen.) What I want to point out is how all the buttons are located down where the player's fingers are, and they're big, juicy and satisfying to press. Disturbing mental images aside, there you have my point: none of the buttons at the bottom of that screen are innocuous-looking. The ones in SE as it is now almost blend in--and they're small--which is something you definitely don't want in a system where you have only a couple very frequently used buttons.

  5. #5
    Junior Member Regenwolke's Avatar
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    Same here about the sacrifice step: i forgot about the sacrifice phase and already wanted to cast a spell, and *BANG* there was my new ressource... ;-)

    Don't really know if i would like an undo button there, but i definitely thought the same as it happened to me!

  6. #6
    Member grenadedodger's Avatar
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    I'm going to have to disagree about the sacrifice step, it should stay as it is, if you mistakenly sacrifice a card then that's your mistake, you shouldn't make it again. Secondly after a good few games the sacrifice step is going to become second nature anyway so it's a moot point.

  7. #7
    Member kirkwb's Avatar
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    You don't want to turn off new players if some simple color changes or a banner will help make which step you're in more obvious.

    You snooze you lose does not make a very friendly game.

  8. #8
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    I don't think there should be a redo, made the bed, lay in it. But, color changes and banners I like. The color change today saved me from sacrificing the wrong card more than once!

  9. #9
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    Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I've decided that I don't want an Undo button. I would, however, like the Sacrifice and Cast buttons to be in a different places. You sort of get into a muscle-memory situation with this game beacuse there are really only two buttons in the game: the Sacrifice/Cast button in the center-bottom of the screen and the Done button in the bottom right.

    This is one of the problems I've seen come up with trading card games implemented electronically in the past. When you see the card you wanted come up, your brain follows this trajectory: Step 1) Use it. But games with rigid turn phases like SE want you to: a) End Sacrifice Step, b) Use It! So it should be no surprise that so many people have done what I have: hit Cast--OHCRAPNOWAIT, I DIDN'T HIT DONE FIRST.

    I guess you have a couple options if this is something that you want to work on: you could a) make it possible to sac a card whenever you want -- effectively scrap the sac step and make the player's turn a four-phase turn (draw, main phase, battle and end) so when you click on a card in your hand, it gives you two seperate buttons to sac or cast; or b) you could keep the sac step but make it so you don't officially have to end it (which would involve taking away the ability to sac from your hand if you've already cast something this turn). Thing is, I think option B would have the same OHWAITCRAP moments that the current system has...

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