The Shadow Sun - Now Available

Couchpotato

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Ossian Studios announces that The Shadow Sun is now available for purchase.

The Shadow Sun Live

The Shadow Sun has made its worldwide debut in the Apple App Store today! If you’ve been itching to play a great iOS RPG over the holidays, with thrilling combat, compelling story, meaningful role-playing choices, and a beautiful world to explore, then look no further. Priced at $7.99 for a limited time holiday sale, grab it while you can before it returns to its regular price of $9.99 on December 28th.

From the Ossian Team:

It was almost 4 years ago exactly (December 2009) that we sat down and decided to go all in and make an iOS RPG the likes of which nobody had ever seen on the Apple App Store. Since that time, many things have changed on the platform, but our vision and persistence never did. With The Shadow Sun, we released the deep, story-driven role-playing game we set out to achieve, and we’re extremely proud of the accomplishment. We hope you have fun playing it!
More information.
 
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We really need a brave soul to buy it, try it, and maybe even review it for the community.
A) because they will have to brave Smokers phone game bashing-- they have to be brave
B) because they have to spend the cash on a phone game that might suck and Smoker will never let you live it down!

heh any takers?
 
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I bought the game but I wont make a review. I get enough bashing already as it is. I have a few reviews on hand, but I'm saving them for tomorrow.

Wait I gotta go I smell the cigarette smoke.
leaving.gif
 
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We really need a brave soul to buy it, try it, and maybe even review it for the community.
A) because they will have to brave Smokers phone game bashing— they have to be brave
B) because they have to spend the cash on a phone game that might suck and Smoker will never let you live it down!

heh any takers?

A poster on this site is expert on Apple products and supports the idea that this kind of games can make it on phones.
 
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Yep, Mike Anderson will likely play this and give us a review or at least a link to his review on the site he freelances.
 
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He already has one here you go. Thanks for the review txa1265, and I agree with your conclusion.:thumbsup:


Link - http://geardiary.com/2013/12/19/oss...n-review-brings-a-deep-rpg-experience-to-ios/

When The Shadow Sun was announced it was a light in the eyes of iOS gamers – a REAL RPG being made just for US! Now more than three years later, has that light dimmed? Not really, surprisingly enough. We have gotten a couple of excellent Spiderweb ports (Avernum, Avadon), the open world Elder Scrolls clone Aralon and Shadowsword games which are a bit too RPG-lite, and the port of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition (with BG2 coming soon).

And … not much else, really. There have been some really good games released for the iPad, but very few that have been remotely satisfying for the RPG fanatic. So let me be clear – The Shadow Sun is NOT an 80-hour game, it will NOT cause you to uninstall Gothic or Dragon Age, it will NOT result in people buying an iPad JUST to play the game. However – if you are an RPG fan and have an iPad, you will not be wasting your money buying this game. The Shadow Sun has been a long time coming … but after playing it I am confident in saying it was worth the wait.
 
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Thanks, guys. As I say, it won't cause you to abandon your Gothic II replay, and the graphics are iOS circa 2010 ... but it is the best original iOS RPG I have played. (where is DArtagnan to remind me of how low a bar that is?)
 
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What no joxer post?
 
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I have an iphone, will it play on one of those?
 
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I have an iphone, will it play on one of those?
It should based on the games description. What iPhone version are you using?

Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
 
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IF I wasn't currently locked out of purchasing anything on the appstore, I'd so get this just to give it a spin. Though that price and the suggested 10 to 15 hours gametime make me want to wait for a sale. That's roughly the same as the current price on sale of Final Fantasy IV/V.
 
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I've played 45 minutes on iPad Air, and so far I think it's very good so far. Ossian seem to like making city adventures, and they seem to be pretty good at doing that. It is definitely more of a proper RPG than Aralon/Ravensword. If you have an Apple device then it is worth picking this up, for sure.
 
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Thanks for the review TXA! ;)

I wonder how it will run on my iPad Mini?

In any case, it sounds very good - except the length is a huge no-no for me in this particular genre. I'll most likely get it anyway, though.
 
I wonder how it will run on my iPad Mini?

In any case, it sounds very good - except the length is a huge no-no for me in this particular genre. I'll most likely get it anyway, though.

I actually started out playing it on the Mini and it played just fine ... one of the benefits of starting in 2010, I guess :)

And yeah, it is not a long game by our standards ... heck, I played more time in Gothic II last month just noodling around than a run-through takes. But for a mobile game it is pretty huge.

And I haven't played on my iPhone yet - installing this morning and will check it out.
 
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All reviews are positive, but with a few cons mentioned for example http://www.gamezebo.com/games/shadow-sun/review says 4/5 because:
•The basic controls can be clunky thanks to the virtual thumbstick. Map is useful but annoying to access.

Many used Aralon and Shadowsword to compare the game with… I did buy Aralon but it was so boring I've never finished it. For Shadowsword IIRC I've written on this site that it's an insulting cashgrab grinder.

Oddly, many also compare it to NWN. Guys, I hated NWN main campaign and besides NWN is not a phonegame.
So if anyone will make another review, please compare it with already existing phonegame gems: Chaos Rings 2 and Sacred Odyssey.

No review including txa's one mention:
- can we save the game anywhere or it's checkpoints system
- is it a grinder where all enemies have phoenix power or once killed stay dead for good

And since all those 4/5 and 9/10 reviews don't contain what I believe are the most important two things to say about today's games, I'm not buying. Yet.
 
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Oddly, many also compare it to NWN. Guys, I hated NWN main campaign and besides NWN is not a phonegame.

Sorry you don't like NWN, but it is actually a very valid comparison - because this is NOT some mindless 'phonegame' ... but much more in line with Ossian's 'Darkness Over Daggerford' and 'Mysteries of Westgate' expansions for NWN1 and NWN2.

No review including txa's one mention:
- can we save the game anywhere or it's checkpoints system
- is it a grinder where all enemies have phoenix power or once killed stay dead for good

Hmmm ... I guess I didn't mention those things. But here is one thing to know about me:
- If you don't hear me complaining about a stupid checkpoint save system (e.g. Shadowrun Returns, which has a non-mobile-friendly system) ... assume that either the game supports Apple's 'suspend & resume' or manual saves. TSS provides full 'save anywhere' along with an auto-save system.
- There are a couple of 'enemy wave' situations, based on 'critters', not real enemies. Aside from that, when you kill something it is dead ... and when you empty an area it stays empty.

I also played a bit on my phone and the game translates surprisingly well to the smaller screen. I was very surprised - I held out little hope that it would even be really playable. But I know Ossian initially planned it for iPhone before the iPad came out, and it took a while for them to decide to release for iPad, and they have tested on multiple platforms throughout.
 
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