What am I doing wrong?

[Puzzlefuzz]

I hear someone here say they went to 11.000.000 in 7 hours. I have played for about 2 hours now, and I am not even on 200.000. It seems the time is always running out for me, or I die, I am not sure, as I can not see any counters anywhere, not for time, nor for hitpoints on myself.
Is the most viable strategy in this game to just rush all combinations you can see and hope for the best? Trying to get the right things going when you need them, seems to be almost impossible, as very often when I need a specific thing, the board is almost free from those, or they are in unplayable positions.
At this rate, my time to get to 12.000.000 points is more like 7 years than 7 hours.
I have a feeling I must be doing something completely wrong, or I have missed a vital feature. Any ideas, anyone?

[Biohazard063]

The higher your diffuculty the higher your score multiplier gets.
Also you do know you can upgrade your weapons/shield etc. right?
As far as matching goes. I suggest just to match as much as you can. Creating matches of 4 and higher as well as chains wil also give time bonusses when you get the right perks.
Also, you can't actually die. The game ends when you reach the left side of the screen and enemies that hit you will only push you back (unless you have a shield).

Once you get to a decent enough level you have to be an idiot to get anything lower the 1 million. You'll still need some luck to get to 10 M though...

[LucK_]

The person above answered pefectly. Also I got 14.9 mil after 7 hours >:)

[Puzzlefuzz]

Thanks for the reply. I have cleared all the stuff on the first three levels, but on level 4 I hit a brick wall, I struggle hard to get more than 200k. And every time I try I get an abysmal amount of gold and resources, so I guess I will have to do it 100 times before I clear the level...

I have also upgrade all I can as i go, but still I usually die/or the time runs out before I get to the end of level 4. So you say, one can not be killed, strange, what is the use in armour and shield then? It sounds like it is all about time, then?

That seems a bit disappointing and less complex then they should have made the game, in my view.

[thebadson42]

The armor lessens how far you get pushed towards the edge of the screen and can delay how often the enemy attacks. The shields can nullify a hit or two all together. They are both very important in getting a good score.

[Crunchles]

Have you upgraded the areas where you upgrade the sword, staff, armor, and shield? Because that's also a thing.

[Puzzlefuzz]

Hmmm, I have to check that about upgrading the shops, but still I do not have enough money to buy much. Anyway, I am having fun with the game, but I will most likely never get bragrights about how fast I reached 12.000.000 oints. :-D

[LucK_]

Puzzlefuzz eredeti hozzászólása:

Hmmm, I have to check that about upgrading the shops, but still I do not have enough money to buy much. Anyway, I am having fun with the game, but I will most likely never get bragrights about how fast I reached 12.000.000 oints. :-D

It's not about how fast, it's about how many! I curently have over 17,000,000 with about 11 hours played >:)

[Puzzlefuzz]

Hehe, that last posts confirms that there is something at the core of this game I do not grasp.
As I see it, to get points I have to be fast, very fast, if I am not, the time will run out, and it is back to start. If I could fight those fights in turnbased style, I would certainly be able to win, but as it seems to me, I loose most games because the time runs out. I think my record now after 3 hours play is about 230k or something...
And I should add that three in a row games, has always been my favorite arcade games, so in general, I know what I am doing, but this game obviously wants me to do something I do not grasp.

[LucK_]

Puzzlefuzz eredeti hozzászólása:

Hehe, that last posts confirms that there is something at the core of this game I do not grasp.
As I see it, to get points I have to be fast, very fast, if I am not, the time will run out, and it is back to start. If I could fight those fights in turnbased style, I would certainly be able to win, but as it seems to me, I loose most games because the time runs out. I think my record now after 3 hours play is about 230k or something...
And I should add that three in a row games, has always been my favorite arcade games, so in general, I know what I am doing, but this game obviously wants me to do something I do not grasp.

Hey, it's all about your rank! Being top rank (Hero I believe) gives you +120x multiplier, which gives you 120x more points! It's very difficult and there's a bit of luck involved. I would say after 3 hours played you're doing just fine. You only get the top scores when you have leveled everything up (which is a total grind!) and when you reach the top rank! Good luck!

[Puzzlefuzz]

Ahhh! So the multiplier is the reason why I am confused.

I must say I agree with you grind point then, hehe. Then I just have to keep going and soon, I'll be there. I guess this game is most about achievemnts then. Thanks for clearing it all up for me. :-)

I think it could have been an idea for the game designer to add a simple instructions manual to the game, at least to avoid the confusion I have been put through. With the score I have now at level 5, I would expect the game to have about 100 levels to get to the max score, but I guess the progressioncurve is a bit different than usual in this game. :-)

[LucK_]

I've beaten the game but it's still fresh as I assigned myself a goal of reaching 1,000,000 gold (Got 250k so far) and getting all achievements. Me and a friend are also competing for the highest score! :)

[jaerak]

Biggest tip I can give other than matching tiles quickly is to make a mental checklist of which tiles you should be looking for at different stages of the game.

Generally, any time you have "downtime" (freely running) you should be looking to clear wood and stone, and if there's none of that, you should be clearing backpacks and shields. Also you shouldn't ALWAYS rush to match keys when you're facing a lock. Sometimes it's better to clear other useless tiles during that time so you have a board that's more "rich" in useful tiles.

Save shield tiles if your Shield Counter is already at maximum, and try to keep at least one item slot open at all times so you don't waste backpack tile matches. The exception to this rule is if your three/four saved items are critically important for a near boss (three weapon items for example) It's perfectly fine to waste a key item in order to make sure you're making your item stores more useful.

You've probably already checked out the guide section here, but just in case you haven't go check them out!

http://steamcommunity.com/app/227580/guides/

And shameless plugs!
My guide on Board Texture and Board Manipulation:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=121573337

[Puzzlefuzz]

Excellent stuff Jaerak.