Iphone RPGs with depth?

Isn't Silversword supposed to be a deep iOS old school style rpg (Bards Tale like)?

I've had it sitting on my iPad for many months, but haven't started it yet myself. I did notice that a free expansion had been released a few days ago, which I thought was interesting for the iOS world these days.
 
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Come to think of it, how about the Fighting Fantasy games? They are more like choose your own adventure books with light RPG-elements, but they might be of interest. Those things were quite popular in book form during the 80's and were advertised as RPGs, even though they were not real RPGs.
 
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I played Silversword for a bit awhile ago and wasn't impressed. It was clearly inspired by the original Bard's Tale, but seemed very basic even when compared to an ancient game like that. I also remember being annoyed about something related to intentionally incomplete documentation unless you payed extra for the full manual.

One game I did enjoy was Lost Star, though it's more of a game of tactical battles with decent RPG elements. It had some surprisingly deep gameplay and strategy and was a great challenge on hard difficulty. There is some replaying of battles for experience/gear required though.

Life of a Wizard is a really interesting game too, though certainly not for everyone. More of a life simulator then a real RPG where you play the life of a wizard all the way from early childhood, through your adventuring days, to eventually being the royal wizard for a kingdom. It tracks dozens of stats/skills/other info about your character.
 
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I dont think its fair to compare the iPad to PC games (modern), but it certainly seems to offer a much better experience and at a fraction or the price and many more western games than the Nintendo 3DS at the moment or the original PSP imo. It even has more crpgs and pc style games than the vita.

For instance read this review:

http://www.wargamer.com/article/3343/ipad-game-review-legion

"In summary, Legion for iPad is an incredibly deep game for iPad. While some grogs out there might consider this as more of a beer and pretzels game, akin to Panzer Corps, it certainly is among the most well-thought-out and full-fledged games on any mobile platform. I don't think it's fair to compare this game to most PC games, despite the fact that it's a port. Instead it should be compared to its competition. The game far outshines Total War Battles, for example, and is a clear step up in the complexity of mobile games. There are downsides: combat and diplomacy could have more options and the graphics, while adequate, could be improved for retina displays. With that said, this game is an impressive port and is a must have for any gamers who want to give strategy gaming a try on the iPad. I'm excited for the future of mobile gaming, and by extension, war gaming. For a long time there has been a legitimate concern from many wargamers about the lack of depth being brought to the mobile front. Slitherine, however, appears to be one of the few companies willing to take a shot and develop more PC-like games for these devices, and I can only hope that they continue. For now, we may have to settle for simpler games like Legion but with the direction Slitherine is going, and the rapidly advancing technology on mobile devices, it's hopefully only a matter of time until Slitherine attempts a more ambitious port. War in the Pacific anyone? One can only dream."

By any mobile playform he probably meant any mobile or portable platform.


Leviathan: Warships also looks at least as deep as fire emblem or the 3ds fhost recon game:

http://toucharcade.com/2013/04/17/p...iler-youre-gonna-ship-yourself-on-april-30th/

Amd the Xcom game that is coming out will be the exact modern pc game that like still costs $50 and the 3ds or vita will never get it imo. Plus there is an original xcom clone clled cowboys vs cows or something. Also try slitherine's Battle Academy -- its a full pc game as well. What i dont get is why apple keeps putting pressure on all devs besides swuare enix to price the games so low qnd constantly offer discounts?
 
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And what happened to the iOS port of legend of grimrock? This game would really shine and stand out on the platform.
 
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And what happened to the iOS port of legend of grimrock? This game would really shine and stand out on the platform.

Still unannounced officially ... everyone points to the iOS code in the initial versions, which is true ... but until they clearly announce we just won't know. I find it hard to believe it wouldn't play wonderfully on everything iPad 3 and better - since I have run it on PCs with lesser hardware.
 
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I dont think its fair to compare the iPad to PC games (modern), but it certainly seems to offer a much better experience and at a fraction or the price and many more western games than the Nintendo 3DS at the moment or the original PSP imo. It even has more crpgs and pc style games than the vita.

No one buys an Ipad instead of a PSP or vita. I think a PC comparison is very valid as both platforms are multipurpose and have a lot of crossover in user base. Plus this website deals mostly in PC games, so when we talk about anything else, the comparison will always be made.

Also, if you read the legion review, the reviewer seems to me to be saying that the game is deep and complex only compared to the other war games on the platform. And thats not really saying much.
 
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No one buys an Ipad instead of a PSP or vita.

Wait ... what? Perhaps not iPad (though I *would* say iPad Mini / Kindle Fire / Nexus 7) ... but do you not think there is a *direct* AND *causal* relationship between the rise of smartphones and the plummeting sales of PSP/DS/3DS/Vita?

I would say it is undeniable ... and in reality when you can get a better Final Fantasy on the iPod Touch than the Vita, and the devices cost about the same ... and the iPod Touch does so much more ... it is easy to understand WHY the sales of these new devices are doing in a year what the DS and PSP managed in a month just 5 years ago.
 
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Wait … what? Perhaps not iPad (though I *would* say iPad Mini / Kindle Fire / Nexus 7) … but do you not think there is a *direct* AND *causal* relationship between the rise of smartphones and the plummeting sales of PSP/DS/3DS/Vita?

I would say it is undeniable … and in reality when you can get a better Final Fantasy on the iPod Touch than the Vita, and the devices cost about the same … and the iPod Touch does so much more … it is easy to understand WHY the sales of these new devices are doing in a year what the DS and PSP managed in a month just 5 years ago.

I don't disagree at all, I just did a crappy job of expressing my point. I should have said something more like, no-one who specifically wants to play PSP/DS/Vita games looks at the Ipad and says "just as good". But in a world where your average person is unlikely to carry more than one or 2 gadgets, the appeal of a smart phone and by proxy a larger tablet that runs all the same software is undeniable. But its not specifically the games that are the draw. More like the Ipad/whatever games are just barely good enough for the casual user, combined with the other software/features available, and not wanting to haul 3 or 4 specialized devices, chargers, cases, etc around.
 
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no-one who specifically wants to play PSP/DS/Vita games looks at the Ipad and says "just as good".

Totally agree ... something like playing Modern Combat 4 on iPad - looks fantastic (better than many PC shooters), but the soft controls ... mediocre at best..
 
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Here is the port of the original Xcom I was talking about (plus the latest PC version is also coming):
http://pockettactics.com/2012/07/11/aliens-vs-humans-x-com-reborn-on-your-ipad/

There is also a port of the original PC Dungeon Master called Dungeon Masters:
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=173351

Also, Battle Academy proved that there is a market for iPad games that cost $20. ALso Strategy & Tactics: WOrld War 2 seems to be pretty deep in terms of small-scale strategy from what I have been reading if you are into the genre:
http://www.gamezebo.com/games/strategy-tactics-world-war-ii/review

"Strategy & Tactics: World War 2 bills itself as a grand strategy game, which it most assuredly is not. There’s nothing like the depth of options or length of play you’d expect from that genre. It does, however, contain a pleasing amount of strategy for an empire-builder. Too many of these sorts of games are just attritional scraps for the most territory. And while some open and custom play modes in Strategy & Tactics: World War 2 fall into that trap, most of the scenarios do not."
 
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I actually really enjoyed playing RPGs on my DS, there were some really good and deep games on there. Nothing I've ever played on the Iphone even came close to something like one of the newer Dragon Warrior titles. It's somewhat sad because the DS (or 3DS) really was a very good RPG platform, but people stopped making games for it because (presumably) of the IOS and IOS RPGS are mostly awful or at least limited.

But as I said earlier, I'm still a big fan of IOS games, just not IOS RPGs for the most part.
 
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Civ Rev is the exact same game as the Console versions, which were themselves a dumbed down (but good fun) version of the PC series. There is also Ascendanxy which is a port of a full blown PC 4x game and starbase orion, another good 4X game designed specifically for iOS.
 
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The title thread is "iphone RPGs with depth". Listing games over and over again from other genres doesn't actually help your stance.
 
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Exactly! There are good iPhone games, even ones with depth ... But full quality RPGs remain elusive. Look at Ossian's The Shadow Sum, delayed from original 2011 release? These guys are a pro house, struggling with making a full mobile RPG.
 
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I still think Avadon, and Avernun escape of the pit are deeper than any portable rpg games.
 
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They also are not Iphone games.

But yes if you talking about the IPAD, then those games prove it's possible to create good RPGs on the Ipad, it's just that the only ones which exist are PC ports that many of us have already played.

I still think Avadon, and Avernun escape of the pit are deeper than any portable rpg games.
 
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I was talking about the iPad Mini actually. Its a great product at a great price for just gaming and netflix. Its actually priced just right with the vita and 3ds for the 16Gb. And, yea there are ports but the next jeff vogel games may launch simultaneously on the iPad as other platforms. Also,nintendo seems to be just focusing on ports lately with the new donkey kong country returns game for. 3ds being a port and zelda being ... errr read this:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=542268
 
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