The Match 5 is way harder than it has any right to be

[Chum]

The new update changed the AI of the Match 5 game Guy, and now he's so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hard. I litterally cannot figure out any strategy to beat him. I've tried to be agressive but he crushes me, I've tried doing nothing but being a blocker and it ends in a tie, which won't make him slam the table. I've looked up strategies and guides online but they are for his old AI and they dont work anymore.

This just should not be the case. This isn't promoting clever, out of the box thinking like adventure games should, nor is it a puzzle for you to figure out. This is just "are you really good at match 5?" and if you aren't, well guess what; you can't progress.

Before the update it was bad, he was a very good opponent, at least for people who hadn't really ever gotten practice. But he was forgiving enough that you'd probably stumble upon a solution if you kept trying. But now, he's gotten EVEN HARDER, and he basically acts as nothing but a wall that you can't climb unless you are better than him at the game.

Thats not fun. Locking players who aren't god tier at match 5 from seeing the rest of the game is not a good move, guys.

[Updaet]

I have the same problem. I am trying for 2 hours but he recognises every tactic.

[Lukas]

I'm sorry about the trouble you're having guys... I just tried to beat him and it didn't seem particularly difficult to me.

A good strategy is to be patient and one step ahead of your opponent. He's not as smart as it seems, he actually makes awful mistakes:)

[Chum]

... are we talking about the same thing here? When I was playing against him he was absolutely crushing me. I swear he was playing 3D globe chess, thinking like 5 steps ahead of me. I realised that he regularly tries to fake you out and make you ignore his carfully hidden win by placing a seemingly random peice down, and became paranoid at every single move he made. I cannot fathom how he is "making awful mistakes".

Either that or I just suck ♥♥♥♥ at match 5. Which may be the case, but even so. Like I was saying before, you shoul'd have to be good at match 5 just to complete the game, thats not complimentary to the games design. Thats making the whole game revolve around "can you beat this guy at this mini game" and if you can't, then you can't play anymore.

The least you could have done was give us an out of the box solution, like finding some other kind of way of making him mad, for those of us who can't play match 5.

[Lamkin]

I did make a post on Amanita's forums about a basic strategy. Disregard the pattern, of course, as it won't work...but maybe the strategy would help?
http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=4136.msg12281#msg12281

With a reminder to *always* block him each and every single time he gets three pieces in a row.

But yeah, I recall when that part of the game was updated for iOS...would agree that it got noticeably more difficult. :/

[Updaet]

I agree with Chum 100%, this mini game totally ruins the fun for me. And it's no wonder a developer could win a game more easily. ;)

[Updaet]

The only way I could solve this was this website. http://www.javascripter.net/games/xo/xo.htm Just set it to Size 10 and click what the bot has done and you get your next move.

[Rin D. Pryde]

OMG, I dropped this game years ago because I couldn't beat him. And you're telling me he became EVEN HARDER?! There goes my "woot, I'll finally finish it on the new engine" xD

[Kuba Amanita]

here's one more secret trick: keep playing and loosing. your opponent is dumber and dumber after each game.

[dav3]

I found this quite easy, did it on the first or second try. Beat him again after to see if anything else would happen.

Tips: Don't think about moves too hard. Try and go for double 3 in a row unhindered, then after you got 4 in a row and then guaranteed win. Also, always block when the opponent has 3 in a row unobstructed. You can't really lose only draw or win. Go in open spaces, don't build next to opponent if not needed.

By the way, the game is usually known as "5 in a row" in most places, not "match 5". :)

[Chum]

Originally posted by dav3:

By the way, the game is usually known as "5 in a row" in most places, not "match 5". :)

We don't really have a name for it here, we actually tend to call it "tick tack toe" because it functions very similarly, just with a larger board and mactching 5 instead of 3