Best bang for the buck in IOS?

[SamuraiMegas]

It's actually the Ace Attorney Trilogy* it's a very good port too.

[marurun]

I really like the Marvel Puzzle Quest freemium game. It is indeed a freemium game with gashapon-style loot grabs, but at the same time, the game isn't so stingy with characters you never feel like you're advancing.

Here's how the game works: It's a match 3, like Bejeweled. You match colors by swiping on the screen. When you match colors, you get AP in that color. That AP lets you use special powers. You can have a team of up to 3 Marvel characters, and each character has 2 (rarely) or 3 (everyone else) powers of different colors. Once you have enough AP in a particular color you unleash powers on the opposing computer-controlled team. These could damage one player or damage a whole team. They could set various counter tiles or shuffle the board, or even destroy tiles on the board.

Your characters start out as comic book covers. You add a cover to your roster and they become a character on your team. You power them up by collecting new covers to power up existing powers or add new powers. So when you start out your character will have a single level one power. You can use covers to power up a particular power to a max of level 5. Your characters can have a total of 13 power levels. So you can have your powers at 5, 5, 3 or 5, 4, 4. So you'll never be able to have all your powers at max. Characters have rarity values ranging from 1 star to 5 stars. Higher rarity characters can achieve higher character levels. So a 1 star character will max out at level 50 and can't be made a champion (see below). A 2 star character can reach level 96 AND be made a champion and rise further to level 144. 3 star characters are the game's bread and butter. Achievable and powerful. They can reach level 166 and then be championed up to 266. 4 star characters are much harder to obtain but are the fastest growing pool of new characters. They are largely for long-time players to slowly advance one grueling level at a time. 5 star characters you get by dumb luck and in truth, I have been selling them off to make room for my 3 and 4 star characters. Probably a bad move, but we'll see. I'll address why I have to do that below.

The game uses two currencies. Scratch that, 3 currencies. The common currency is ISO, which lets you level-up your characters (generally, not specific powers). Once your character has all his or her powers you can spend ISO to max that character's level and then make them a champion. Once you are a champion you can re-assign power levels (maybe you were 3,5,5 before, but for an upcoming battle you want to be 5,4,4 instead). ISO will be in high demand when you are lower level, since you constantly need more to keep leveling up your characters once you add new powers or power levels to them. But in the late stages of the game you'll have more than enough and it won't be as much of an issue. Hero points are the rare currency. You use hero points to buy cover draws and vault draws and to add slots to your team roster. You start out with only room for 1 character in your roster. To add more characters you have to have a cover available and enough hero points to add a slot to your roster. New slots get progressively more expensive up to 1000 hero points. I recommend not spending hero points on random draws. It can be REALLY tempting, but don't do it. It's much more useful to spend it for new character roster spots. As you advance in the game you will end up having to discard covers for not having enough roster space for new characters, and you'll want to do that as rarely as possible. The most rare currency is command points. They can be used to buy power levels for 3 and 4 star characters, but also to pull special very rare covers. Just hold on to those for now. You won't earn many until you're into the game a bit. Just sit on them at first.

All the various currencies can be earned as rewards for winning battles and as various point awards in PVE and PVP events. Basically, during events each battle not only gives you a completion award but also gives you points on your event score. The more points you earn in an event the better your reward tier. You'll get ISO, hero points, command points, and even character covers as rewards.

This is very much like most other freemium games out there, but the roster of Marvel characters is very interesting, their powers are fun to combine in neat ways, and the basic match 3 gameplay mechanic is simple and addictive enough to be inherently rewarding. Also, there are some really neat boss events. And once you've played enough you can join an alliance. I tend to quit most freemium games I've tried, but this one just happened to stick with me for some reason.

[jp1]

So many great suggestions already. The new design of the app store is a little annoying to me to be honest, so finding what I'm looking for by browsing is more of a tedious project than an enjoyable experience. Because of that, I really appreciate all the suggestions and especially the excellent write up. I am compiling a list at the moment, but will probably pull the trigger on at least a couple paid games in the following days. The Marvel game sounds pretty addictive as well, the original Puzzle Quest comes to mind. I'll be giving that one a shot tonight.

Still open to more suggestions here. I don't often invest in phones with the horsepower of this one, and I have 200+ GB to use.

I love the idea of any game that also includes an Apple tv version. I happen to use the Apple tv as my main entertainment hub in the living room, so beefing that up at the same time would be great.

Thanks again for the input fellas!

[jp1]

I've spent a little time with Marvel Puzzle Quest. Really loving that selection right now! It's easy for short session play, but deep enough to stay involved.

I think I got really lucky receiving a level 40 "rare" character right in the beginning though. It seems like he really reduces the challenge factor, but I'm not sure I want to occupy his spot with someone else just yet. Anyway, great little time killer with substance.

Thanks!

[casterofdreams]

I think someone mentioned Super Mario Run so I second that. For other paid apps don't forget the mobile port of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and The World Ends With You. Other recommendations would be Crypt of the NecroDancer, the GO series (Deus Ex, Lara Croft, Hitman), Out There Omega Edition, Ridiculous Fishing, and last but not least, the three Rayman Run games (based on Rayman Origins/Legends)

Freemium recommendations would be Fallout Shelter, Magikarp Jump, and Fire Emblem Heros.

[marurun]

I've spent a little time with Marvel Puzzle Quest. Really loving that selection right now! It's easy for short session play, but deep enough to stay involved.

I think I got really lucky receiving a level 40 "rare" character right in the beginning though. It seems like he really reduces the challenge factor, but I'm not sure I want to occupy his spot with someone else just yet. Anyway, great little time killer with substance.

Thanks!

The nice thing is, the game has enough prologue matches to ease you into the game. If you play every single match enough times to earn all the rewards you'll stock up on characters and be ready to step out into the event space.

In figuring out which lower level characters you ultimately want to keep when moving into higher level characters and play, this tier list is really useful. Unfortunately, it's been fallow since July, so the latest batch isn't included, but you aren't likely to encounter them a ton just yet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 1590670468

[prfsnl_gmr]

Speaking of bang for you buck...

If you have more than a few spare hours (and more than a few spare GBs of storage) Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Icewind Dale, and Planescape Torment are all on sale right now. You could get all of them for just over $20, which probably works out to less than $0.01 per hour of gameplay.

[jp1]

Speaking of bang for you buck...

If you have more than a few spare hours (and more than a few spare GBs of storage) Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Icewind Dale, and Planescape Torment are all on sale right now. You could get all of them for just over $20, which probably works out to less than $0.01 per hour of gameplay.

Damn, I think I missed the boat on this. Planescape was already on my radar as well.

Has anyone tried Oceanhorn? With the TV app included it looks like a promising game for the price.

[prfsnl_gmr]

You and me both! I went to pick up BGII this morning, and the sale was over...

I have Oceanhorn, but I haven't played it yet. It's supposed to be very good, though.

[jp1]

I've spent a little time with Marvel Puzzle Quest. Really loving that selection right now! It's easy for short session play, but deep enough to stay involved.

I think I got really lucky receiving a level 40 "rare" character right in the beginning though. It seems like he really reduces the challenge factor, but I'm not sure I want to occupy his spot with someone else just yet. Anyway, great little time killer with substance.

Thanks!

The nice thing is, the game has enough prologue matches to ease you into the game. If you play every single match enough times to earn all the rewards you'll stock up on characters and be ready to step out into the event space.

In figuring out which lower level characters you ultimately want to keep when moving into higher level characters and play, this tier list is really useful. Unfortunately, it's been fallow since July, so the latest batch isn't included, but you aren't likely to encounter them a ton just yet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 1590670468

Ahhh, so it seems I was mistaken. As the game aptly pointed out, my characters aren't THAT powerful.

Yelena Belova and (2) Hitmen are kicking my ass on a regular basis.

I switched up and removed Bullseye from my roster, added in a level 40, Model 40 Iron Man, Level 40 Rocket and Groot Most Wanted, and rotating Storm Classic, Captain Marvel, and Thor (2 star counterparts) for the third spot. Still they wipe me out with no problem every time.