Having shameful thoughts….

D

DArtagnan

Guest
So, I don't like to admit this - but I'm actually considering getting an iPad Mini.

I know, I know… I hardly deserve to live.

Still, as was the case with VHS vs Betamax, and even more tragic - the Amiga vs PC - it's the content that matters.

In terms of Apps/Games - the Apple crap clearly has the lead. It's just the way it is.

I was considering waiting for MS Surface - but it seems it will be way too expensive - and won't really be a very good tablet (more like a laptop).

I'm moving soon - and I'll be spending 2x25 minutes pr. day in a train - going to work. That means I could really use a light and convenient tablet to keep me busy.

Anyway, I could use some input in terms of games. It's been a while since I last checked out the RPG scene on the app store.

Any great recent ones? I seem to recall a ton of Apple fans claiming we'd see fantastic RPGs very shortly (and that was over a year ago). So, any examples? :)
 
The Mini is a complete ripoff! It's playing even more into the mentality that Apple fanboys will buy anything. ANYTHING. You get some of the worst pixel density and processing power in tablets that size... for 60% more in cost.

Something does not compute.

If I were buying one right now, I would likely opt for the Nexus 7.

Comparison of several models.
 
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Why would buying iPad mini be a shameful?

Between unintuitive, overcomplicated and bad OS that's still working (iOS) and new OS that will probably be buggy as hell (win8) I'd always choose the bad but working one.
The question is if android smartphone would be a better choice, but then again, who cares, it's all basically same shit, new wrapping. Whatever you buy, it'll be an expensive toy - if you can afford it you shouldn't be ashamed for it.
You shouldn't have a second thought about buying or not buying expensive toys because of the children in China that work 16 hours daily in smartphone factories. We can't do anything about that, it's a modern society that is combining the worst of capitalism and socialism, but is probably the strongest economy out there. It is based on some form of slavery, but at least the wealth stays in the country, it's not sucked out of it like in the case of colonies. Oops… I went off topic…

Anyway, do buy the goddamned bastard sword… Tablet… In the long run it's cheaper than buying newspapers every day to break the boredom in the train.

RPG scene in iOS app store is crap, the only game I've bought a few days ago is the one you personally have described a year ago on this forum as Oblivion light, or RPG for dumbs and dumbsters. It's Aralon. Dunno exactly if it's good or not - because KB:WoN got released, I still didn't try it. Apart from that one, I didn't see any RPG or fakeRPG in the app store that would interest me. Then again, I'm the sucker that despises mobgrinders. ;)
The only other game I've installed on my iPhone and deleted it the next day is Sims. It's f2p, it's not bad, but it sucks the battery too fast.
I have two friends that showed me many games they're playing in a past year, not only that I didn't care, but with majority of those I just got disgusted. Practically all of them have an ingame store where you pay a huge amount of cash for some silly ingame item/unit/building/currency/etc. For example you need to pay 100$ for a new builder unit in a strategy game - for god's sakes with 100$ one can buy 20 games on GOG, even more on a good day. IMO all ingame shops are a classic case of a fraud and should be declared illegal. Ouch. Again I went offtopic…

Anyway, as I've said, Aralon perhaps isn't something revolutionary, but it's the only game I've seen that made me buy it.
 
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The Mini is a complete ripoff! It's playing even more into the mentality that Apple fanboys will buy anything. ANYTHING. You get some of the worst pixel density and processing power in tablets that size… for 60% more in cost.

Something does not compute.

If I were buying one right now, I would likely opt for the Nexus 7.

Comparison of several models.

Everything from Apple is a rip-off. The problem is that they control the smartphone/tablet software market almost completely.

But the Nexus 7 = Android = Much fewer quality apps/games. I have an Android phone - and the availability of quality RPGs is near zero.

Which was my point above.

Oh, and it's not 60% more expensive.
 
Why would buying iPad mini be a shameful?

Between unintuitive, overcomplicated and bad OS that's still working (iOS) and new OS that will probably be buggy as hell (win8) I'd always choose the bad but working one.
The question is if android smartphone would be a better choice, but then again, who cares, it's all basically same shit, new wrapping. Whatever you buy, it'll be an expensive toy - if you can afford it you shouldn't be ashamed for it.
You shouldn't have a second thought about buying or not buying expensive toys because of the children in China that work 16 hours daily in smartphone factories. We can't do anything about that, it's a modern society that is combining the worst of capitalism and socialism, but is probably the strongest economy out there. It is based on some form of slavery, but at least the wealth stays in the country, it's not sucked out of it like in the case of colonies. Oops… I went off topic…

Anyway, do buy the goddamned bastard sword… Tablet… In the long run it's cheaper than buying newspapers every day to break the boredom in the train.

RPG scene in iOS app store is crap, the only game I've bought a few days ago is the one you personally have described a year ago on this forum as Oblivion light, or RPG for dumbs and dumbsters. It's Avadon. Dunno exactly if it's good or not - because KB:WoN got released, I still didn't try it. Apart from that one, I didn't see any RPG or fakeRPG in the app store that would interest me. Then again, I'm the sucker that despises mobgrinders. ;)
The only other game I've installed on my iPhone and deleted it the next day is Sims. It's f2p, it's not bad, but it sucks the battery too fast.
I have two friends that showed me many games they're playing in a past year, not only that I didn't care, but with majority of those I just got disgusted. Practically all of them have an ingame store where you pay a huge amount of cash for some silly ingame item/unit/building/currency/etc. For example you need to pay 100$ for a new builder unit in a strategy game - for god's sakes with 100$ one can buy 20 games on GOG, even more on a good day. IMO all ingame shops are a classic case of a fraud and should be declared illegal. Ouch. Again I went offtopic…

Anyway, as I've said, Avadon perhaps isn't something revolutionary, but it's the only game I've seen that made me buy it.

I've tried Avadon - and wasn't impressed.

I'm not actually ashamed (I don't really do ashamed in general, though it happens) - it was just a bad joke :)
 
Sorry, not Avadon. It's Aralon.
Dunno why I mistyped it... :(
Edited the first post.
 
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Oh, and it's not 60% more expensive.

You're right - it's 65% more expensive :D $329 vs $199 average in that category.

For gaming purposes, it should also be stated that the Nexus 7 has a far better GPU, again, for far less. On yet another note, if you're looking for quality RPG games on the go, get a Nintendo DS and be done with it. Tablet games (on a 7" screen) are always going to be lackluster. I certainly wouldn't want to play the upcoming BG "enhanced edition" on a full-size iPad, let alone a 7.9" version.
 
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You're right - it's 65% more expensive :D $329 vs $199 average in that category.

For gaming purposes, it should also be stated that the Nexus 7 has a far better GPU, again, for far less. On yet another note, if you're looking for quality RPG games on the go, get a Nintendo DS and be done with it. Tablet games (on a 7" screen) are always going to be lackluster. I certainly wouldn't want to play the upcoming BG "enhanced edition" on a full-size iPad, let alone a 7.9" version.

Well, in Denmark - the Nexus 7 (which is a very similar platform) is 2000 kr. and the iPad is 2600 kr. That's around 33% more expensive.

Again, the hardware is completely irrelevant here. I'm not interested in good performance and no games.

Nintendo DS is almost exclusively kiddie/jap RPGs - which I have zero interest in.

Also, I want a device I can comfortably read e-books on and surf the net with.

I agree that RPGs won't be able to compete with modern stuff on the PC - which is why I've never really cared for a tablet for gaming. But if I could get something decent for when I'm on the road - that'd be nice.
 
I see no reason for ipad mini. They did not include retina, also. From what i read it is not better from the competition and it's more expensive for no clear reason(othen than being apple).
I would go for a normal ipad or if i would stay on this category nexus or kindle.
 
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It would depend on the functionality once jailbroken. I wouldn't spend money on a tablet unless it let me do things that an Ipad can supposedly only do once jailbroken.
 
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I might be getting one for the wife for Christmas…..wouldn't ever use it myself but there are fringe benefits to making the wife happy. Very nice fringe benefits!!!

Personally I spent 4k on a kickass pc 3 months ago, so I'm very happy with my computing power atm. I'm all about the pc, anything else is just a waste of my time. Heck, my ps 3 has played 50+ movies and all of 3 video games, lol.



-Carn
 
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I appreciate the input - but it seems my post isn't actually read. I'm talking about a device for travelling purposes - and I've gone with Apple because they're dominating the software market in the tablet space.

So, I'm not really interested in alternatives that can't compete in the software market. I was just looking for some quality RPG titles.

But thanks anyway.
 
But, but, but… only idiots buy Apple products!

Just kidding!

There are some pretty good games for iOS devices. Unfortunately the app store is pretty hard to sift through to find those gems. It reminds me of all of the shovelware that was heaped onto Wii shelves a few years ago. And being a fan of rpg's, it is annoying to see all of the garbage in that section. I think the developers can pick the categories that their app fits in so you'll see a lot of non-rpg types in the rpg section.

As for games that you may be interested in, you could check the app store in itunes on your computer to get a better idea of what to expect. A lot of the iOS original rpgs have cuties, jrpg art, so that may be a problem. Here are a few examples: Exitium, Zenonia. The good thing about the games on iOS is that they are fairly cheap so if they suck you don't really feel like you got cheated. (and Android, just so you guys don't feel the need to crucify me for making it sound like only iOS games are cheap).

Here are some you might be interested in: Galaxy on Fire 2. I haven't seen much of it yet, but it looks like a mobile freelancer type game. I think the first game is free, so it might be worth a shot.

Ravensword. I haven't played it but it sounds like a Bethesda style game.

The Quest. I think this is a port of an older pc game, but it's decent on iOS. There is a lot of content (I think 14 expansions). First person, Daggerfall type game.

Undercroft. Free. Good, not great, first person "blob" (just learned that term recently) rpg.

Also, there are a lot of old jrpg's like Final Fantasy 1 - 3, Chrono Trigger (I don't really like jrpg's but enjoyed Chrono Trigger), Phantasy Star, Secret of Mana, Shining Force.

My personal favorite iOS game is Starbase Orion. It's heavily inspired by Master of Orion, and the developers are doing a great job of adding new features.

Sorry, I wish I could offer more specifics and better suggestions but I haven't played a ton of games. Starbase Orion tends to draw me back too often for me to try new games.
 
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I would go for a normal ipad

+1. One of the main reason for even having an ipad is the extremely nice retina screen, imo. Even the mini isnt small enough to fit in your pocket so just like the normal ipad it would have to be carried in a bag anyways.

King of Dragon Pass seems like a pretty decent game. Bought it but haven't played that much yet.
 
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But, but, but… only idiots buy Apple products!

Just kidding!

There are some pretty good games for iOS devices. Unfortunately the app store is pretty hard to sift through to find those gems. It reminds me of all of the shovelware that was heaped onto Wii shelves a few years ago. And being a fan of rpg's, it is annoying to see all of the garbage in that section. I think the developers can pick the categories that their app fits in so you'll see a lot of non-rpg types in the rpg section.

As for games that you may be interested in, you could check the app store in itunes on your computer to get a better idea of what to expect. A lot of the iOS original rpgs have cuties, jrpg art, so that may be a problem. Here are a few examples: Exitium, Zenonia. The good thing about the games on iOS is that they are fairly cheap so if they suck you don't really feel like you got cheated. (and Android, just so you guys don't feel the need to crucify me for making it sound like only iOS games are cheap).

Here are some you might be interested in: Galaxy on Fire 2. I haven't seen much of it yet, but it looks like a mobile freelancer type game. I think the first game is free, so it might be worth a shot.

Ravensword. I haven't played it but it sounds like a Bethesda style game.

The Quest. I think this is a port of an older pc game, but it's decent on iOS. There is a lot of content (I think 14 expansions). First person, Daggerfall type game.

Undercroft. Free. Good, not great, first person "blob" (just learned that term recently) rpg.

Also, there are a lot of old jrpg's like Final Fantasy 1 - 3, Chrono Trigger (I don't really like jrpg's but enjoyed Chrono Trigger), Phantasy Star, Secret of Mana, Shining Force.

My personal favorite iOS game is Starbase Orion. It's heavily inspired by Master of Orion, and the developers are doing a great job of adding new features.

Sorry, I wish I could offer more specifics and better suggestions but I haven't played a ton of games. Starbase Orion tends to draw me back too often for me to try new games.

Some very good input, thanks. I know all the games you linked to - except perhaps Ravensword. I'll check that out.

As for the others, they've all had something interesting. I'm a big fan of The Quest - though I primarily played it back on my ancient Pocket PC. It doesn't really take advantage of the hardware in iPads - but that's ok.

Undercroft was a decent DM clone - and I intend to play it at some point.

I was hoping for some new and deeper titles by now - but I guess all the greatness that some people have been expecting is a long time coming.
 
+1. One of the main reason for even having an ipad is the extremely nice retina screen, imo. Even the mini isnt small enough to fit in your pocket so just like the normal ipad it would have to be carried in a bag anyways.

The Retina screen does seem very nice, but I don't really see the point for games that aren't written to take advantage of it. It seems a bit like overkill for such a small device. Then again, I used to play games with 320x256 resolution on my Amiga and considered them high-res :)

Anyway, while the mini isn't pocket sized - it does weigh much less - and I've found the iPad too heavy for bed-reading and stuff like that.

King of Dragon Pass seems like a pretty decent game. Bought it but haven't played that much yet.

I'll check that out, thanks.
 
They come out with new products constantly... Waiting around for the ideal model = never buying anything.
 
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