AI gets unfair advantage

[Coach's Coach]

Does anyone else seem to notice that the AI, no matter WHAT, gets combos and matches 4 or 5 in a row constantly? I like the game, and I don't play with the hint arrow, but even if I try using it (just to see if it gives me a similar advantage) it winds up setting up the enemy to get skulls and combos against me. It's like everything in this game is stacked against you, and it feels entirely unbalanced. It feels as though you need to grind to make progress.

That said, I still enjoy the game, but I really think they dropped the ball in terms of balancing things out.

Am I the only one who sees this?

Also, I can't stand forging items or unlocking spells - the very hard ones are ridiculous. Even with hint arrow on, most of the time there are no moves left on the board, and you're screwed. That should have been ENTIRELY done away with. It's a horrible system, 'cause it's really all based on luck. If anything, having the board wiped should just set you back a bit when trying to learn a spell, or forge an item.

[ρоѕιтяои_]

You're not the only one! Many of us have wondered the same thing as it just seems to, like you say, set you up to help the A.I. or just get combos and skulls at a pace that just does not seem like it could be random. Still one of my favorite games but I often squint my eyes at that A.I..

[SirNinja]

The AI does have the ability to see what gems will fall down next, and will often make a move accordingly. It's cheap, but at least it keeps things somewhat challenging. Setting the difficulty to Easy will make the AI sometimes "not notice" 4-of-a-kinds, etc., if you want to cut down on the blatant luck abuse.

Forging items is indeed often an enormous luck-based pain in the ass, but your reward is (at least potentially) the ability to completely break the game, when combined with abusable skills/mounts. High risk, high reward...

[Coach's Coach]

Ohhh, SirNinja, what game breaking combos should I try to forge? That might make me at least a little less irritated with the AI. ^_^

And it's nice to at least see solidarity - now I know I'm not the only one haha

[Chronos Notashi]

Originally posted by Χάος:

Ohhh, SirNinja, what game breaking combos should I try to forge? That might make me at least a little less irritated with the AI. ^_^

And it's nice to at least see solidarity - now I know I'm not the only one haha

Well, if you're using the RotPL mod, while this isn't crafted, there's definitely full Runic set as an Air Bard (or replace Runic Sword (+1 per 8 B mana/+1 per 8 G mana) with Holy Lance (+1 per 7 Y mana) if you don't want to wait for max B/G mana to reach abusable levels). With Inspire + the right spells and 16+ in all mana reserves (since Runic Helm/Cloak/Banner give +2 Life/Mana when Y mana + R/G/B mana respectively are 16+), you're unlikely to ever die unless the enemy gets an early advantage, or has a high enough air resistance to mess up your combos. Though on any class really, even just a Runic Cloak is enough to work with if you can't find anything else for the armor slot at the time.

As for crafted items, Rune of Jewels + Rune of Gods/Dragon (+ Rune of Poison/Plague) for +5/6 damage for every full mana reserve (and a 40% chance at poison/disease if using Gods), and Rune of Music + Rune of Dragons (power rune isn't as relevant here) for +5 to all mana reserves whenever you match 4/5 gems, is one of the most OP combinations that will lead to high skull damage (especially if you're a Hand of Power + Fireball-spamming Mage). Though Rune of Shields + Rune of Gods/Dragons on a Knight specializing in Morale can be pretty annoying and scary to fight against if you don't have high/regenerating life and/or high damage.