I've also noticed that the music has this weird clipping effect, a rhythmic "chun chun chun" that lies under each piece. It might be a problem with compression; whatever it is, it drives me a little nuts. I could always play with it off, but I like having the mood music.Originally Posted by Jason Lutes
As for enemy equipment, hold down the left or right bumper to switch the portrait screen to the touchpad. You'll then be able to click on enemy equipment and spell effect icons to see what they do. You'll also be able to click on the enemy's portrait to see its stats.
PS Damn it, Gek!
I've also noticed the music clipping as well, but I actually kind of enjoy it. Probably because I've long had a soft spot for glitch.
What drives me nuts is how l can't see what's going on behind those 4- and 5-of-a-kind announcements when an enemy pulls off some insane series of moves because they take so long to fade away. I also hate that I often have to wait for them to go away to take my follow-ups.
Despite that, I'm loving the hell out of this game.
Picked up the DS version because it was the first I found. The text and graphics are not a problem, it's all very discernible, including the red skulls. They glow red, it's hard to miss. I actually like the interface, getting help is pretty easy once you figure it out, but you HAVE to use the touch screen for everything. That sucks, because it's giving me hand cramps trying to use it constantly. If I was sane, I would just put it down and do something else, but I am obviously not.
Thinking of picking up the PSP version if I can find it and ripping it to a memory card, I tried out the demo on it and liked it a bunch. The music sounds much better on the PSP than the DS, I too noticed the clipping effect.
I have both versions.
The stylus control on the DS version drove me crazy. Just way too touchy and, oddly, sort of complicated (especially when accessing help text). But I'm not a fan of stylus-controlled games to begin with.
On the other hand, the big, bright PSP screen and the PSP controls are terrific. And, as someone else pointed out, if you rip the PSP version to a memory card, the loads are basically non-existent. It's tiny, too - about 70 meg. So the PSP version wins for me in pretty much every meaningful way except for the companion skills bug.
Since I've got the PSP version coming and I want to do some comparison play, how does one go about ripping a UMD to your memory card to use it as a disc cache?
Thank you!
So the GameStop, despite website claims to the contrary, did in fact have it in stock when I stopped on the way home. Huzzah.
Good:
- Love that the demo wasn't the full 1-7 story. Was cool to find a couple of smaller questlines early on to break up the "I've done this already" doldrums.
- Continues to be fun past level 7.
- Everything that was good about the demo is still good.
- Rumors add life to the world.
Bad:
- Either my DS is flaky, or there's sound issues. I haven't tried headphones, it might be my speakers. But not a big fan of the sound, coming from PC.
- The touchscreen aspects seem "twitchy". When I click on a gem it'll register two touches so select/unselect. This is bad when I'm trying to get info on my newer spells, since I end up casting instead of getting help.
- The graphics are different. Nothing that can be done, but coming from the PC demo, I got spoiled.
- Multi-player is direct wireless and both people need a card. I'd love to play this online with you guys. I'd also probably be able to sell a few copies if I could play direct wireless via download.
The good far outweighs the bad. It's easily a "one more fight" game that ends up embodying the QT3 name.
You have to hack it first, which ideally means putting one of the custom firmwares on it like 3.10OE. Depending on what version firmware you are running this could be easy (1.5) or hard (requires old version of GTA:Liberty Stories).
There are definitely sound issues. I set the sound effects to "Loud" and music to "Very Soft" and the reverse appears to happen.
I'm still loving the game overall, though. There's a metric ton of gameplay packed in there. I just spent half an hour levelling my Giant Rat mount and would keep going if I didn't have other things I need to do right now. I love how once you get a mount it shows you riding it on the overland map! Also really enjoying the way the Druid is playing and getting into a groove with his abilities.
I hate all of you that have this game.
Sorry ;) (ok, not really)
I got the one and only copy out of 4 stores in my area, which was PSP.
I do, too, and my hate will slowly intensify until the PC version comes out.
Ok, I found the PSP version. It sucks that it has that huge bug in it, but it sounds like a better comprimise than dodgy stylus controls. I also will be playing it on the train, which is way too bumpy for accurate stylusing regardless.
I've been playing this on the DS quite a bit over the last day or so and I haven't encountered any flaky stylus problems.
I think that all depends on how adept a stylist... stylusist... you are. I also haven't had any problems but my wife had a little bit of a learning curve getting comfortable with it.
Flaky is a bad description of the DS stylus and Puzzle Quest. It's not the DS that is flaking out, it's the user, because the stupid circles are so small. It seems to be 100% accurate, but that doesn't mean you won't get careless and hit the wrong spot sometimes.
By the way, I finally got a copy (DS). The manager of the local Game Crazy evidently set one aside for me, for "the guy who keeps calling about it."
When I called to see if they had any in, the guy asked me if I'd called a few times over the last few days. When I said yes, he said they'd held me a copy, despite not knowing my name.
w00t.
Too bad about the various issues with the ports. DS has sound problems (heard it on a co-worker's) and lack of d-pad controls, PSP has glaring bug and, well, is on a PSP. I'll probably pick up the PC version too when it comes out. Or on XBLA, whichever comes first.
My stylus issues aren't accuracy related, they're "register two taps at once" related.
I do love the "shoulder button swaps screens" feature, though. Being able to swap and then tap anything and get info is sweet.
Oh my god. I can't stop playing this game. It's so goddamn addictive.
I'm playing the PSP version. I don't have a problem with the load times at all... there are some pauses here and there, but it's dealable. I hope the bug isn't too major. The graphics, however, look very nice on it. Great sound too.
I mean, every battle takes an hour! There is a ton of content in this thing.
Does anyone have an idea when the pc version is coming out? I'm planning on picking up the DS version tomorrow, but if it's only a month away I could probably wait that long.
From what I've heard, the PC version is a long way away. The demo was released to hype the handheld versions. A full PC version isn't even announced.
Loving this game so hard.
I hope to have mine on Monday. Bless them, they sent it 2-day instead of regular ground. That would really rock, because I have a day off next Tuesday.
Not soon enough, dammit, not soon enough!
That approach worked in my case: dl'ed the demo Thurs. night, bought the DS version on Friday.
Its a pretty good strategy IMHO. Has any other handheld published done that?
Is it just me or is spell research about a billion times harder in the real game than the demo? I captured an ogre and was trying to win his spell and lost the puzzle like ten times in a row, no matter how many different strategies I took.
I've also a hard time acquiring spells. Think its the hardest variant of them all.
Still its a fun challenge and if I fail a couple of times in a row I go do some other puzzles to stay in a sane mind (As far as that is still possible) :)
Seems only fair, as getting new spells is one of the biggest benefits of going up a level.
Well I've put in about 4 hours on the DS version so far and while it’s an amazing game I do have some negatives.
- The graphics. I really find the graphics sub par. The DS should be able to pump better graphics then this. Honestly and this is not a joke looking at the puzzle pieces it seems like I am playing the game on a cell phone. I guess it might be because the DS screen is a lower resolution but damn for me the PSP version just blows it away.
- The touch screen. Yeah it’s great but while its not flaky its more finicky then anything.
- The sound. Something just isn’t right with it and people have made comments on it in this thread so I won't elaborate on that.
-The speed. I am not really sure what is going on with this either but I seem to notice that the game pieces seem to move really slowly almost like the DS can't keep up.
Those are the negatives and most of them are really minor.
The positives really do out weigh the negatives on this game though and if you get either version you’ll be happy no doubt.
Yeah, the PSP has really good graphics. Definitely a big plus for that SKU.
It sucks they didn't implement being able to use either the stylus or the Dpad. I mean, the controls for the PSP version would directly translate to even the same physical locations on the DS. Just plain lazy on their part.
The PSP has really good, clean sound.
The PSP lags when a spell effect is shown the first time in battle. Is that when the DS one lags as well? Subsequent spell effects show no lag. Also, the pieces never lag either.
The negatives were enough for me to choose the PSP version, even with it's really lame no-party-effects bug. I'm very happy with that version.
Overall though, I think no matter what the SKU, it's an absolutely amazing game.
Last edited by flyinj; 03-24-2007 at 12:41 PM.
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