Puzzle Quest

[quote name='utopianmachine']Just wanted to share this little blurb from the March 2008 EGM. Thought it was amusing enough to share. I don't agree with it, really, as I think the RPG elements are what set the game apart, but still.[/QUOTE]

I have to agree with that totally. The fact that a game that's essentially the same as a hundred flash puzzle games with crappy writing and half assed RPG elements added continues to be so popular astounds me. And I hate the fucking cheating AI. You can't make a chain of four if the fourth one is off the top of the screen! What the hell is that?
 
[quote name='rainking187']You can't make a chain of four if the fourth one is off the top of the screen! What the hell is that?[/quote]

I'm confused what you're referring to. All the gems are on the touch screen playing field, so no gems are "off the top of the screen." Can you elaborate?
 
Yeah, the Bane battle is a lot of luck. I got past him on my 4th try after getting obliterated the first 3. Just got a ton of red skulls/had luck with the Death Bringer spell a couple of times and wiped him out pretty quickly.
 
The spell Death Gaze will instantly kill Bane; you can take him out on turn 1 if you forge enough equipment to start out with sufficient mana to cast it.
 
Since his res got too high too quickly, I just used brute strength to knock him out. I had forged a couple of items (granting +7 damage for EACH mana pool that was full) and took him out with normal 3 skulls.
 
I just loaded up my Puzzle Quest game to see what I had. Apparently I never even hit level 50. My items have massive synergy though. I'm using:

Horns of fire (+2 morale, +24 red mana at beginning of combat)
Veil of Wind (+2 air mastery, +24 yellow mana at the beginning of combat)
Firewalker's Staff (+5% Fire Resistance, +1 damage for every 4 Red Mana)
Dragonhorn of Wind (+6 to all mana whenever you match 4 or 5 gems, +8 yellow mana at the beginning of each combat)

The key spell is flaming skulls, and the giant spider's web spell. So basically, all I need is to dilly-dally around until I get one 4-combo and I get all kinds of mana. Then I web Bane for several turns (duration is based on your yellow mana), make a bunch of 4-combos, cast flaming skulls, make more 4 combos, etc.

The key is to never give Bane a 4-combo or a skull combo and you're set.
 
[quote name='utopianmachine']I'm confused what you're referring to. All the gems are on the touch screen playing field, so no gems are "off the top of the screen." Can you elaborate?[/QUOTE]


There are gems that drop down when you get rid of the ones that are already there. I don't know it works exactly, but it would frequently make a chain of four where the fourth one was ready to drop down and I couldn't see it, but it seemed to always know where they were.
 
[quote name='rainking187']I have to agree with that totally. The fact that a game that's essentially the same as a hundred flash puzzle games with crappy writing and half assed RPG elements added continues to be so popular astounds me. And I hate the fucking cheating AI. You can't make a chain of four if the fourth one is off the top of the screen! What the hell is that?[/quote]

I really enjoyed this game and thought it was innovative. But I think you and all the other critics have very valid complaints about the game. Especially the AI.

But calling the writers assholes is not very nice. For shame EGM.
 
[quote name='RollingSkull']Try working up some money and buying your battle skill up in the church. I can't understand how classes that have a 4pt buy-in for battle skill ups are even playable.

If you've got some broken spells, you best use them before his resistance reaches infinite.[/quote]

I'm a Knight, and I definitely don't have any broken spells. My most useful spell is Sword of Sirian, but Bane is marvelous at blocking it 75% of the time, having Spell Resistance nearly all the time, although I'm not sure how he does that.

[quote name='q 3']The spell Death Gaze will instantly kill Bane...[/quote]

Ack, I never mess with learning spells that are of the 'very hard' class. Matching 26 scrolls? That always seems so impossible when I attempt it. I just always reach a point where there are no more moves left.

Anyone know where I can find a list of all the Rune items and what combination of items you need to get them?
 
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Well, this game took something that is furiously addictive amongst the casual gaming demographic and gave it just enough appeal to be furiously addictive across the board.
 
I appreciate your link, banpeikun. The final battle is just so frustratingly hard, I'm having a hard time going back. I did learn a new spell the other day that turned all green gems into skulls, and I could see that being a great help if the gems fell my way. Of course, everything in the game is about gems falling your way. I really want to beat the game to have the finality and to totally feel I can jump into Puzzle Quest: Galactic, but Bane is hard.
 
The most important thing is to look one step ahead. You have unlimited time, so consider what the playing field will look like for each move you consider. Make sure you don't give up a 4-of-a-kind or, to a lesser extent, skulls. You can't predict what pieces will come down the top, but you can minimize your risk exposure. Force him to play into you.
 
[quote name='utopianmachine']I'm a Knight, and I definitely don't have any broken spells. [/QUOTE]

ARE YOU KIDDING?

KNIGHT LORD!

Doubles the number of purple stars in play, then your turn ends. But doubling the number of purple stars almost always results in at least a four of a kind, in which case you get an extra turn instantly. You can chain 4 or 5 Knight Lords in a row to max your mana without them getting a turn, then Stun, which should do ~8 damage and make them lose a turn... Knight Lord is free mana forever, Stun is free turns forever.

Throw in a Vigil to make sure you never run out of mana, then permastun them to death in 10 hp increments.

Every char is broken, especially Knight. Knight was my first character and I beat Bane easy, I don't know what my items were but they probably sucked since I didn't like the minigames.

Edit: Forgot, throw in a Favor to heal if you ever run low on HP for whatever reason... Favor + Knight Lord = instant 100% HP.
 
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Dragonhorn combos very well with Knight Lord, and I assume Koggit was using that since Knight Lord doesn't give you mana, right?
 
[quote name='banpeikun']Dragonhorn combos very well with Knight Lord, and I assume Koggit was using that since Knight Lord doesn't give you mana, right?[/QUOTE]

I just checked my items and I'm using Harp of Fire which definitely helps. You can just spam Knight Lord endlessly with it. I took it off and ran out of mana when I tried that. So I guess Harp of Fire is necessary. I don't have Dragonhorn so I'm not sure.

You definitely gain a little bit of mana just from Knight Lord, from random matches (same goes for damage from random skull matches), but not enough to do the infinite Knight Lords.
 
ugh, how many side quests are there right at the end of this thing? i just got the tooth, and figured i'd be finishing up any time now, but there are like 20 sidequests that have popped up. i'm only at level 41ish so i figure i have a bit of grinding left to do. but still. man. sidequests.

i do like how the spell research and item forging mixes the standard gameplay up a little though. i especially enjoy the spell research. is it just me, or do the items in this game seem useless? i've gotten a ton of runes, but have no ambition to forge. here's hoping the sequel simplifies the menus and item system.

it's funny how i played this a ton when i picked it up last year and got to level 36ish, and then didn't play it again until earlier this week. now i can't put it down again. fun little game.
 
Hmm, just started playing this, not too sure what exactly to buy. I'm a warrior, Level 9, about 2000 gold right now. I know it's all really personal preference, but some pointers to what I should begin to purchase and go for would be great. :)
 
I don't remember buying much... sorry! Get whatever you think you need. Usually it's +damage stuff to get through the battles more quickly.
 
The items you can buy in the shop aren't really all that useful. The items you win from accomplishing quests, sidequests, and forging of runes are far more useful.
 
Alright then.. how about my citadel? And should I just equal everything out when I level up (preference I guess, but I really have none so yeah)?
 
[quote name='Kekumba']Alright then.. how about my citadel? And should I just equal everything out when I level up (preference I guess, but I really have none so yeah)?[/quote]

Focus on pumping your cheap level-up stats. Warriors I think get Battle and Fire Magic as their 1-cost stats, which are GREAT. Buff them and maybe splurge for a 2-cost every couple of levels (Favor cunning. Though you will need all colors to cast spells, splashing in off color magic won't help you. Still, the % boosts from stat-ups are big, so drop a little in everything for the first couple of levels.). You can pay for attribute increases at a temple in your keep, they all cost the same there, so you lose out by paying more at level-up.

For shop items, buy whatever sounds useful. At a high-end game, the Firewalker Staff is probably the only thing that you really, really, REALLY wanna buy (Especially for warriors), but gold won't likely be in short supply, so kit yourself out with whatever you think would give you an edge. The bosses don't pull punches, so don't gimp yourself now to cost yourself in the future.

Get stables and a mount ASAP so you can bypass weak battles on the map. Make sure that for each "arc" of the game, you at least conquer one town in the area to get income flowing.

Really, there isn't a trick to the game that has to be learned. I beat it without using runes at all, for instance. The entire thing turns out to be real intuitive, so you can see the benefits of your choices fairly easily. You won't likely screw yourself over, and even if you can do, with a mount you can just bypass battles and restock gold from your towns endlessly and buy yourself up some skills if you need to cheese it up a bit.
 
[quote name='RollingSkull']Focus on pumping your cheap level-up stats. Warriors I think get Battle and Fire Magic as their 1-cost stats, which are GREAT. Buff them and maybe splurge for a 2-cost every couple of levels (Favor cunning. Though you will need all colors to cast spells, splashing in off color magic won't help you. Still, the % boosts from stat-ups are big, so drop a little in everything for the first couple of levels.). You can pay for attribute increases at a temple in your keep, they all cost the same there, so you lose out by paying more at level-up.

For shop items, buy whatever sounds useful. At a high-end game, the Firewalker Staff is probably the only thing that you really, really, REALLY wanna buy (Especially for warriors), but gold won't likely be in short supply, so kit yourself out with whatever you think would give you an edge. The bosses don't pull punches, so don't gimp yourself now to cost yourself in the future.

Get stables and a mount ASAP so you can bypass weak battles on the map. Make sure that for each "arc" of the game, you at least conquer one town in the area to get income flowing.

Really, there isn't a trick to the game that has to be learned. I beat it without using runes at all, for instance. The entire thing turns out to be real intuitive, so you can see the benefits of your choices fairly easily. You won't likely screw yourself over, and even if you can do, with a mount you can just bypass battles and restock gold from your towns endlessly and buy yourself up some skills if you need to cheese it up a bit.[/quote]

Kick ass, thanks a ton! :applause:
 
[quote name='Kekumba']Kick ass, thanks a ton! :applause:[/quote]
Er, I MEANT to say the % boosts from EARLY stat-ups are big, so Cunning from 1 to 2 gives you a LOT of bonus whereas Cunning from 21 to 22 is a lot smaller. As a result, you might wanna splash a little of everything early just for the bigger boosts.

Of course, that doesn't mean you don't want to focus on your mains. Buffed up fire magic keeps the red mana coming which allows you to Cleave or Throw Axe a lot for good damage. Keep Fire Magic high to keep your red mana full (Firewalker Staff increases skull damage if you have lots of red mana) and a good battle as well means for just matching 3 skulls you'll do quite a nice amount of damage, a lot more than your opponent can do without spells.
 
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I can't wait more new puzzle quest in just a few hours.

I've been replaying as a wizard recently. I found the knight far far easier to play. But Wizard is ok.
 
Thanks for the strategy for the Knight. I'm a level 49 wizard in the DS version, but my wife just started the XBLA version as a Knight (she chose her class based on which character picture she liked the best ... typical). I've been trying to help her strategize, but I'm not familiar with the Knight spells, which seem weaker to me. Already helped her to get a griffin mount, as I use Death Dive a lot with my character.

She's been stuck at Dugog for several days now, and I remember being stuck at him myself for a long time. Any tips? I think she's at Level 15 or 16. Trying to keep her spirits up, but she's getting discouraged. I did tell her that once she gets past him it's more or less open sailing until the end.

Will probably start an XBLA game myself because I really want those achievements, even though I haven't finished the DS game yet.
 
Dugog does so much damage matching skulls that the key is to look ahead and make sure your move does not create a skull combo or any 4-combo. If you can take away his damage-causing combos, then you buy yourself time to chip away at his life and kill him.
 
It also might help if you can get some health regeneration running during the fight. See if you can get a troll ring. I think it gives +2 HP at the beginning of each turn as long as you have at least 8 blue mana.
 
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