Overall, I love the game. It's like a single-player, one-hour Arhkham Horror game. But there are some tweaks to make it a little less painful to play - I'm really not looking forward to ragequitting and throwing the iToy across the room.

1) Prevent midnight locations from popping up when you have no chance to go to them before midnight (aka you close a location, a new Midnight location pops up, and it immediately becomes midnight). Amazingly frustrating since you've had NO chance to do anything with it. If I fail the test then that's my problem, but not being able to even try before I get penalized really sucks.

2) Allow us to skip the intro movies. Make it a switch in settings.

3) Gamecenter integration. I'd also love to know how other people are doing. ("X won in Y Turns with Z Doom tokens remaining!")

4) Make it obvious in the tutorial what the advantage of Outer Worlds is - I'm still not sure. More Elder Signs, maybe? What's the difference between Green/Yellow/Red glyphs?

5) A legend for things would be nice. Gun is common - I know that from Arkham Horror. Terror is the monster, and peril is the Skull (or maybe vice versa). But the others I'm still not sure about, and I've played AH!

6) Power rebalancing - some of the powers are considerably more butch than the others. The student, who I dislike in AH, is one of the most powerful characters here. But I'm not too sure of the use of Sister Mary's power (treat locked glyphs as unlocked? What's that gain me?), and Darrell's power may old add one to a CLUE, not to any glyph - not terribly useful. Make it turn one lore into 2, or 1 clue into 3 (or 4), and that seems a bit more balanced. And an investigator who gets an extra Red+Orange wouldn't be disliked, since there's one in AH itself, analogous to Gloria in Outer Worlds.

7) I, more than once, have wasted a card trying to gain a yellow/red, when I can't have it, due to locks or whatnot..

8) If I've already lost, don't string it out. If I need 3 glyphs, have no way to gain more, and have to sacrifice one, I'VE LOST. End it. Don't make me keep sacrificing glyphs. That's pointeless and frustrating.

9) Difficulty level. I'm already sick of rolling 10 glyphs needing (and failing to get) one single success. Give me a difficulty option, if only so that after losing 4 games in a row I can remember that it's possible to win.

10) Is the Glyph roller really random? See number 9. I do two of the 3 immediately, then wind up using 3 rerolls on 4 dice to get one miserable success - and failing.

11) Some sort of "news" button. "We're working on adding DLC".

12) DLC. Different/new/other card effects.

13) ADVERTISE - I bought/play AH, have bought expansions, so I'm the target audience. But I found out via a review site - so I'm glad I went on that day.

I think so far I've played 7 games and won 2. How'm I doing?

Thanks!

Oh, and 14: UNIVERSAL APP. I just paid $8 for the iPad app - make it universal. If I only want to spend $4 for the iPhone app then buy an iPad later, that's my own d*mn fault. But why the double-dip for iPad buyers?

I'm a new player myself, and am really enjoying the game. I have come across an answer or two for you:

2. If you tap the screen, it will skip past the intro (at least on the iPhone version). I agree it would be nice to disable it altogether in the settings menu.

5. The scroll is Lore and the magnifying glass is Investigation. Red glyph also has a "wild" cat that can be used as any basic glyph.

6. I'm still playing with the usefulness of all the abilities, but I'm okay with them not all being balanced against each other. Keep Sanity/Health totals in mind when looking at the characters with really powerful abilities - they tend to have a really low score in one or the other that makes them vulnerable. I always play with a random selection, so everyone gets a turn eventually.

8. If you tap the title of the current Adventure, it gives you the option of automatically failing it. It would really be nice if that were written somewhere, though, as I found out about it by accident. Saves me a lot of time now.

Most of the other issues I don't really mind - I like randomness in my games, as it means I get a lot more replay out of them. I do strongly wish there was a manual in addition to the vague tutorials, and I agree that it would be nice to compare scores/achievements with others.

1. This is directly from the board game and it's just a happenstance of random chance - I'm sure there are similar mechanics in AH

2. As said above tap screen

3. Gamecenter may not exist across all devices, as an android user I've never heard of it so I'm assuming it's some form of apple nonsense.

4. Outer Worlds are higher risk higher reward scenarios which only spawn from certain adventures in the main museum. Certain characters interact differently with outer world adventures.

5. Gun is common, Book is spell, Dagger is unique, anything else you need?

6. Again similar to AH every character has strengths and weaknesses, yes some come in handy more often than others, that doesn't mean they aren't balanced, just that they tend to come into play more often. I find the niche ones are far -more- useful but under a specific set of circumstances.

7. I've noticed that the card will appear greyed out in the android version if you would receive no effect from it - just watch for visual clues

8. The first point you've made I agree with. When we play this game on the table we generally stop when you don't have the dice to complete something, the fact I get to keep rolling when I have no chance of success feels draining and slightly sad.

9. On the green dice the faces are; one investigation, two investigation, three investigation, skull, terror, scroll - on average each side besides investigation is a 1 in 6 chance - those randomizers seem fairly accurate to me. Also it's rather a misnomer so say something is more or less random. Random means inheritly that any given result can come up each roll of the dice.

10. See above

11. That's what websites and twitter are for

12. The game just came out, give them some time to get it to 100% and then if they choose to work on DLC that would be wonderful - though I'd rather they turn this talent pool towards making more great portable games!

kleedrac said:

Oh, understood. There are 6-siders in the real game. But just because it's derived from a game with 6-sided dice, doesn't mean it can't be changed. Like I said, tweaks to gameplay. How many other games is losing the expected outcome? Like all the COC stuff, it's a bit... unforgiving.

kleedrac said:

2. As said above tap screen[/Quote]

Right - but why not make it easier? There's an options screen.

kleedrac said:

3. Gamecenter may not exist across all devices, as an android user I've never heard of it so I'm assuming it's some form of apple nonsense.

Yes, but I'm sure there's an Android analog, or use OpenFeint. It'd be interesting to see how other people do in comparison to you.

kleedrac said:

4. Outer Worlds are higher risk higher reward scenarios which only spawn from certain adventures in the main museum. Certain characters interact differently with outer world adventures.

Right - Gloria gets additional stuff. The higher-risk-higher-reward I hadn't thought of. Thanks!

kleedrac said:

5. Gun is common, Book is spell, Dagger is unique, anything else you need?

Sure - what's the one that looks like Saturn? That only appears at the locations (like the weird squiggle for "monster appears at location"), and I have no idea what it does. A legend page would be easy, since it talks about Peril and Terror and the like.

kleedrac said:

6. Again similar to AH every character has strengths and weaknesses, yes some come in handy more often than others, that doesn't mean they aren't balanced, just that they tend to come into play more often. I find the niche ones are far -more- useful but under a specific set of circumstances.

Yes - but how often do you use the student in AH, by choice? There are a couple "duff" characters - but I'm playing through the random sets of 4. Amanda appears to be the standout offhand, though there are a couple others that are either Really Handy and Not So Much.

kleedrac said:

7. I've noticed that the card will appear greyed out in the android version if you would receive no effect from it - just watch for visual clues

Nope. It does that, but it appears to let you use one that won't actually show due to a lock.

kleedrac said:

8. The first point you've made I agree with.

*laugh* Okay.

kleedrac said:

9. On the green dice the faces are; one investigation, two investigation, three investigation, skull, terror, scroll - on average each side besides investigation is a 1 in 6 chance - those randomizers seem fairly accurate to me. Also it's rather a misnomer so say something is more or less random. Random means inheritly that any given result can come up each roll of the dice.

Was more wondering if their randomizer was random enough. It sometime seems like the equivalent of rolling 15 dice and getting all 1s - twice in a session. Sure, it happens, but how often?

kleedrac said:

11. That's what websites and twitter are for

Thinking more about the people who bought this game because it looked interesting. And heck, the announcement of Elder Signs for iOS came out on twitter 2 or 3 days after it was available. So I found it by luck, which was odd to me. I'd rather not follow have to follow them just to hear extra things - my life's busy enough as is.

kleedrac said:

12. The game just came out, give them some time to get it to 100% and then if they choose to work on DLC that would be wonderful - though I'd rather they turn this talent pool towards making more great portable games!

That is fair. I wouldn't mind more DLC, but that's because of all their stuff, AH and this are what "clicked" for me.

I made a thorough post here , but I will give a short version. I don't have time to respond point by point but here goes. A list of things you should know or do:

• Calculating your odds in every situation, and plan accordingly. This goes for 'how many dice do I need to beat this task overall' telling you to drop yellow/red dice earlier. Knowing when to burn clue tokens. This will help decide which tasks your investigators should attempt.
• Knowing the faces of the dice are vital.
• Use items. Don't stockpile them.
• If you have a plan for the day (You go to X, she goes to Y, he goes to Z), don't be afraid to deviate. After you go to X and win, you might find the replacement task or other world location could be a better target, or a more necessary task you need to close. Reevaluate after each investigator.
• Build a balanced team. Know your strengths and weaknesses.
• This game is not easy. It's not nearly as satisfying if it were. The game is meant to be hard and luck based on many levels, but you have plenty of opportunity to make a difference. To tip the scales in your favor a little bit, so it's not quite so rigged. It's an uphill battle for sure, but you do have some help along the way. Just know that this isn't a game that's meant to be defeated every playthrough. Again, a more thorough post is linked at the beginning of this post.

Edit: Oh yeah, you asked a few more things.

• Saturn (Other World Location)
• Monster (Summons a monster)
• Cultist (Adds a doom token)
• Book (Spells, more likely to let you Lock dice and defeat monsters)
• Sword (Unique Item, more likely to add Red die)
• Gun (Common Item, more likely to add Yellow die)
• Clock (Advances the game clock by one)
• Brain (Sanity)
• Heart (Stamina)
• Shoe Print (Clue Token)
• Star (Elder Sign)

There is an in game tutorial that uses pictures and text rather than Video (because it doesn't work for a lot of people). Please use it if you have any other questions. Also, the rule book for the main game can be found here (PDF Warning). The game is mostly the same, so if you need to see icons or a more thorough explanation, feel free to look it up. The video tutorials are also online and can be found here (quicktime) or

Hopefully you have all of your questions answered. I think most of the issues are just lack of experience with the game. Go through ALL of the help guide topics and you will learn a lot. I will agree with number one and just had a painful experience to back it up: I had 13 elder signs and the computer had 8 doom tokens. I successfully finished an adventure which spawned a new location with a doom +2 at midnight. The clock struck midnight right after that and the effect was doom +2. So, the computer won the game 12-13. How do I counter that? Does that mean every time I get to the player before midnight, they need to skip a turn in order to prevent the untimely spawning? That almost sounds like a work-around.

A simple way to fix #1 (which I agree is annoying) would be to move the clock immediately after an adventure is resolved (i.e., before a new replacement comes out).

My biggest pet peeve are the 3 doom tokens at once. Yes, I want the game to be difficult and more challenging than the dice game version, but that is way too harsh and random. It's not a "challenge" if you can't do anything about it and it just ends your game out of the blue. 2 doomers, or a steadier stream of 1's would be fine, but 3 is too many at once.

And, this game needs a better scoring system, as I've described elsewhere. Or even just tracking of basic won/lost stats.

Grudunza said:

Good idea!

mbourgon said:

Click the Title of the Room/Adventure/Task/Card. If you haven't "rolled" yet you get the option to return to the map. If you have "rolled" you get the option to Fail Adventure. Not an optimal solution, but it speeds things up a bit.

mbourgon said:

I agree that it's super-annoying for something like this to happen (especially Horrible Visions . Woo +2 Doom =_=) but there are some strategic ways to avoid this. If you're really worried about a midnight effect popping up and ruining everything, don't have the last investigator complete an adventure. Go do something at the Entrance, or better yet, have them complete an Other World encounter. This way, a new adventure wont pop up right before midnight.

Addressing your points in turn, skipping where there's nothing to say.

1) Encounters are random. That's part of the challenge. This game is already easy enough without begging for it to be made easier, particularly not when you can avoid the problem through good gameplay. You aren't forced to complete a regular adventure on the turn before midnight; you can visit the shop, or if there's an Outer World open you can seal it. If you don't complete an ordinary adventure, you can't get a Midnight location. It's called "strategy".

2) You can skip the game start and end movies by tapping the screen.

4) The advantage of Outer Worlds is that they all give at least one Elder Sign. This is readily learned by playing the game and looking at the encounters instead of mashing the hotspots as fast as possible to get to the end.

The difference between the green, yellow and red glyphs should really be explained, though, as this is not so easily observed. In summary: the green glyph can give 1, 2 or 3 Investigation marks, Terror, Lore or Peril. The yellow glyph is the same as the green except Terror is replaced with 4 Investigation, and the red is the same as the yellow except 1 Investigation is replaced with a wild card.

5) You can figure out what the footprint is by playing, gun and book are the same as in AH. That leaves the dagger as a Unique Item. In symbols, everything is displayed as its icon anyway and Terror effects are all marked with the Terror icon to show that they're there.

6) If you think letting Darrell generate double-Lore wouldn't be game-imbalancing, then you have no business holding forth on this subject. Nor have you realised just how good adding one to an Investigation glyph is when you can do it every time you conjure. Wherever you have multiple Investigation tasks, it's worth a full extra glyph. (You'll also know what Sister Mary's power is worth the first time you get Did You Hear That? and a Fire Vampire out at the same time.)

7) It must really suck to be an iOS user, then, because the Android version won't let you use a card that will have no effect. If you're talking about trying to use a Tommy Gun when yellow or red are locked and losing half the benefit, well, tough - don't blame the game for your carelessness.

8) There is already a Fail Adventure button. Click on the title of the adventure at the top.

9 and 10) We all have our sob stories about the day the dice hated us and most of them are worse than yours. My personal harshest beat was rolling 25 green with Joe trying for a single Lore and whiffing. You are complaining that random dice rolls are random, and asking for a button to push that will make you automatically win the game. If you can't take losing, then don't play.

Oh, and since you asked: winning two out of seven is very poor. I lost my first game because I had no clue what to do, but after that I'd learned how the game worked and won my next six. Once you know what you're doing you should probably win at least four times from five.

mbourgon said:

Thanks for the advice, and "pass" on the condescension.

I've now played about 40 games and am winning 3-4 out of 5.

Most of my suggestions are just that - hey, guess what, I play AH and occasionally it sucks, too. But there's no reason for the learning curve on the game to suck. You want people to enjoy playing the game, not fighting over how the rules work.

Most of my suggestions are, honestly, so that more casual players don't just ragequit and give the game a 1-star review. "too tough, no explanation for what the stuff does", etc. Yes, things make sense the more you play. But that's an awfully steep learning curve. Certain things can be simplified, tweaked, explained. I felt the same way about "Necronomicon Horror", but they've since added a tutorial. The video tutorials for ES:O are quite good, they're just incomplete. A legend wouldn't be out of place. And I like what someone suggested about the clock incrementing before the new location is revealed.

Finally, I'd love to see them address the size problem - I'm sure you have the same problem on your phone. Scaled down, it's hard to tell whether it's a 1/2/3 clue glyph. Color Scheme could stand to be tweaked.

The game's awesome - I just want some of the rough edges polished off so I can show it off to my friends and have them be interested.

I know this is digital copy of the game, but I'm noticing some thing that should be added.

The board game allows a random Ancient one to be chosen. Also, there is a final battle if you acquire too many doom tokens. The final battle has been removed from the game. Will either of these options be added in this game?

I very much agree. It's sloppy design when you can make the best decisions possible with your rolls and be doing quite well (13-10 before midnight and going to win with the next investigator through buying an elder sign) then just randomly lose from 2 doom tokens at midnight. I thought the # of doom tokens was based on what areas had doom tokens as a penalty (which would be a better system IMO). Randomness makes sense thematically for the individual locations as an investigator going against a monster or whatever could fail. I don't get the thematic reason for making the # of doom tokens random.

Maarek said:

Well.. the final battle was not removed.. technically..

Azathoth does not have a final battle, not even in The board game, or Arkham horror for the matter.
As soon as he awaken in any of these games it's game over..

jgoahl said:

The reason is that you are not supposed to realy know how close the GOO is to awaken.. And Im totaly fine with that..
Oh.. he is 3 tookens away, that means 3 turns.. or 2.. or 1.. I dont know..

Suspens

Have had a lot of fun with this game. Definitely has peaked my interest in the Arkham Horror base game. One thing that would be nice is a little more fanfare at the end of the game. Especially after winning. After spending an hour it would be cool to be rewarded with a cool, longer, animated scene. I don’t know; maybe have Mike Bay direct something.