Tobold's Blog
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
 
Puzzle Quest Online

I just discovered a game I must buy for my PSP. Puzzle Quest is a combination of RPG and puzzle game, and instantly addictive. How do I know that? I played the demo, which is available for the PC. Which is insofar strange as the game itself is only available on the PSP and DS, and not on the PC. But even if you don't have a handheld console, I recommed you download the demo and play it to the level cap of 7, because it is so much fun.

The principle of the game is simple. You have a character walking between points on a map, picking up quest. The quests lead to fights. And fights are handled with a Bejewelled-like puzzle game, where you need to switch tiles on a board to get 3 or more of the same type in a row. Just that in this case the tiles deal damage to the enemy, or give you mana of a specific color, or experience points, or gold. The mana you can use to cast spells, of which you gain more as you level up. Winning the puzzles isn't always easy, but you can't really lose. If an opponent beats you, you still get all the gold and experience tiles you collected and just have to start over the fight. Worst case scenario is fighting the mob so long you level up or gain the money for better equipment, and then you win. Besides that you can build up a castle, listen to rumors, buy and sell equipment, and do other typical RPG stuff. It's all in 2D, so it runs easily on a handheld, but the graphics are nice enough.

Of course I immediately started to think about a Puzzle Quest Online MMORPG version, although I doubt anyone will ever produce it. I really liked Puzzle Pirates, but Puzzle Pirates didn't let you level up and develop your character. Doing puzzles as a RPG combat would be a nice change from the autoattack-plus-special-attacks standard fare of MMORPGs, or the click-to-kill versions that are being developed. Puzzle games like Bejewelled have even more players than World of Warcraft, and tapping into these players and offering them both puzzles and a persistant online world with chat and character development could be really great.
Comments:
What you speak of exists, Tob. :)

Puzzle Pirates

Not sure of the link, else I'd post it. Blocked from most fun things here at work. Just google the above.

Now, I'm convinced I'll need to get PuzzleQuest for my DS.
 
Heh... smacks self for not reading more carefully.
 
Ill definately get that one for my psp.

Another interesting psp game i saw at EB games was a warhammer card fighting game, at the time it was 39.99 so i didnt give it much of a look. But definately another game worth checking out considering how well warhammer usually puts their games together.
 
Ahh, mohican, I was glad to see you qualified your remark with usually. Yes, usually, remember "Shadow of the Horned Rat" and the horrible sequel that I (fortunately) cannot remember the name of. Or my personal favorite, as a Tabletop game that is, certainly not the horrid PC version; Blood Bowl. Fortunately the WH40K Games stayed true to a more Tile & Turn-Based format, but then GW really redeemed themselves by returning to the RTS genre with WH40K:Dawn of War. Although I prefer watching the intro move to the actual game itself ;)
 
What you speak of exists, Tob. :)

Puzzle Pirates

Not sure of the link, else I'd post it. Blocked from most fun things here at work. Just google the above.

Now, I'm convinced I'll need to get PuzzleQuest for my DS.


Hehe, I already mentioned Puzzle Pirates. I still have it installed on my machine, but I rarely play. Most role-playing aspects, like leveling up, developing your character, chosing skills / spells, etc. are missing in Puzzle Pirates. Your gear in Puzzle Pirates is just for show, only your weapon has a small influence on combat. Compared to that in Puzzle Quest you have levels, points to distribute at each level, a castle to build up (including an option to build a dungeon, capture enemies to emprison there, and then learn their spells), gear that influences combat, and everything else a RPG should have.

Puzzle Pirates has more different puzzles than Puzzle Quest, which has only one. But then the one puzzle in Puzzle Quest never plays the same, because of the spells and abilities of your different opponents, while the Puzzle Pirates puzzles are always the same.

Try the demo and read a review before you get Puzzle Quest for the DS. Apparently the graphics on the DS aren't quite as good as on the PSP.
 
The DS version is still quite pretty but has the advantage of being able to use the stylus :)
 
I will have to check this out. The huge lack of RPG's on DS makes me very sad. I keep playing old GBA games. Currently replaying Link to the Past (which is a SNES port to GBA, so a replay of a replay!)
 
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