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Puzzle Quest - Where's the Love?


dogbert

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I've played more hours of Puzzle Quest on my PSP than any other game this year. It's by far the most addicting puzzle game out this year & there's no thread for it on LCVG! That's a crime I'm solving right now.

 

What's Puzzle Quest I hear you cry? It's a Bejewelled clone currently for the PSP & DS, though a PC demo is available, and it's coming sometime this year to XBLA. Yes, a Bejewelled clone. So why the excitement? It's all down to the wrappings - the game is a traditional swords & sorcery RPG where every battle is a Bejewelled showdown against an AI opponent. As you progress, you gain experience & level up, increasing your strength, 'random drops' etc, and gain access to new skills.

 

Skills? You can take upto six skills into battle. Each skill manipulates the board or does direct damage to your opponent. Damage? Yep, this is an RPG. You have hitpoints, as does your opponent. You win by killing your opponent.

 

PQ_Xbox360_05.jpg

 

Like I said, Bejewelled with a RPG wrapped around it :) There's a 'world map', quests, random battles, side quests, companions to unlock, mounts to capture & train up, cities to siege & takeover for income, a citadel to build up, enemies to capture & steal skills, items to forge, runes to capture for better itmes, and Bejewelled.

 

It's utterly addictive. Digital crack in fact. The two current versions both have their flaws - the PSP is buggy (companions don't work at all, but you quickly get past the point of their worth), and the DS interface is finicky. But ignore all that - this is a fantastic game on both platforms & soon, it'll be on XBLA.

 

I'm upto about level 40 & have a good chunk of story to go. I have no idea how many hours I've clocked in, but it's been money well spent (thanks, Gamefly!). I'll be buying the XBLA the day it comes out.

 

I warn you - it's crack, but in the best possible way.

 

PQ_Xbox360_08.jpg

PQ_Xbox360_01.jpg

PQ_PSP_18.jpg

PQ_PSP_23.jpg

PQ_DS_01.jpg

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I have a level 43 Knight on my DS.

I think this one is really well suited for the touch-screen... although I haven't played it on any other system...

 

Tom and I have done a few duels as well, which is fun. (They have a handicapping system so you can play with characters of different levels...)

 

My only complaints are:

-you don't get to name your character

-some features aren't explained well (what do some of the upgrades to your citadel do? Runes are not introduced at all, they're just there for you to figure out on your own...)

-occasionally the "randomness" of the board seems questionable when the AI is playing...

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I want to pick this up. Is there a consensus as to which is better, the PSP or DS versions? Or are they equals?

 

I'm a fan of the PSP version despite the bugs. I think the interface is easier & faster despite the touchscreen on the DS - that seems very "sensitive" to the stylus.

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-you don't get to name your character

 

At least on the DS version, you can rename your character. At the selection screen, pick the class you want to be. There will be a default name given to you. Go to the name field and change it. I've been playing for about a week or so and have a level 17 (18?) Warrior named Tonner.

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At least on the DS version, you can rename your character. At the selection screen, pick the class you want to be. There will be a default name given to you. Go to the name field and change it. I've been playing for about a week or so and have a level 17 (18?) Warrior named Tonner.

 

Huh... wish I had known that... level 43 is a bit too far to reroll, so I guess I'm stuck with Hanthas.

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this game is digital crack. i've been playing for at least a month straight.

 

has anyone had their game lockup on them. its happened to me at least once a day. it could be because i never turn off my DS. though no other game does this...

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I hope nobody has dismissed this game because of the Bejewelled aspect. I've always disliked Bejewelled, but I love this game :)

 

has anyone had their game lockup on them. its happened to me at least once a day. it could be because i never turn off my DS. though no other game does this...

 

It happens with the DS version. I've only seen it once, but my coworkers (who have played the game a heck of a lot more than I have) have all seen a few lockups.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I picked this up last night, started playing after I put the kids to bed, and I only stopped when the battery on my PSP died at 2am. Like Covak, I was never much of a Bejewled fan, but the RPG elements and resultant strategy makes this game a ton of fun. As is my norm in RPG games I rolled a wizard, but he is only level 9 or so. I am thinking about starting a few more characters to get a feel for them before deciding which one I will finish the game with.

 

I have been looking for a new game to get psyched about since I quit WoW...I think I found it. Thanks Brian!

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-some features aren't explained well (what do some of the upgrades to your citadel do? Runes are not introduced at all, they're just there for you to figure out on your own...)

 

 

The Citadel and the runes are explained a bit in the manual. I just bought this game for the DS on the strength of the recommendations here. The depth of the game is just now becoming apparent to me. It is highly addictive.

 

My gripe is only 2 save files. One of my poor sons is going to be stuck out for a while. :)

 

 

Carlos.

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I have this on the DS and I love it but my only real complaint so far is that the computer seems to get a bit too lucky for my liking. I've gotten enemies down to less than 20 health and I'll have 80 and they'll pull off a huge combo that drops me down to 5 in no time. Other than that, I think it's a great and innovative game.

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Yes, I am level 16 now and I am starting to notice some pretty extraordinary combos pulled off by the cpu just when it needs it the most. I have seen the computer skip over matching four to get another turn and instead match three, only to score a huge combo when those three clear and the colors that drop just happen to be set up perfectly for an extra turn plus big damage.

 

And I still cannot beat the damn troll, lol.

 

But it is a lot of fun regardless. :)

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This game was fun for about 2.5 days, but it's so unbalanced that I don't see any point to playing it anymore. Now I can basically decimate any opponent usually without them even taking a turn. To get any enjoyment, I'd have to ban myself from various skills/items...but it really shouldn't be the players job to figure out what's broken and what isn't, and when something is "too" broken to be used. That should have been taken care of in playtesting. There are so many different easy to implement ways that they could have used to get rid of "I Win" buttons, and they didn't bother to use any of them.

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  • 1 year later...

I got suckered into buying the XBLA version last night to play against a buddy. Great fun! Seems they added spell cooldowns to the XBLA version (and PSN version, I'd guess) for certain nasty spells, which I think puts a big damper on those "I win and you don't get a turn." buttons. I think I'll have to grab the expansion.

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