Game said to drop a comment, so I shall!
I really enjoyed it, thanks for making it! Those last 10 levels were HARD....
also i love the game and watch mode its addicting :D
just sideloaded this! what an amazing and unique puzzle game. it perfectly scratches the minesweeper itch while being its own clear thing, and the aesthetic of it is top notch. being able to leave notes with B is such a great feature as well.
feedback: leaving notes with B is good, but once you write a note you can't get rid of it again if you know its wrong but dont know the right thing to replace it with. also, a how to play page would go a long way to making this game stand up on its own
overall, really great little game on my playdate! super satisfying to pick up and play a few rounds whenever
Wow an update! Haven't played a match with my friend yet as shes still asleep, but quick notes:
I was thinking about that with Promote, that for it to help Tokinko out it would need to be usable somewhat often and how she struggles to collect blood with her low mobility. Something I was thinking about earlier would be to make one of the relics more useful in giving you some small amount of early game starting blood. Gogo Stones are good for multiplying and getting killed to make a bunch of blood, but of course your opponent has to actually kill them for that. I had considered, what if you could kill a gogo stone yourself, perhaps if its surrounded on all cardinal directions like a normal go stone, it would die on its own and drop a reduced amount of blood? This could let the relic potentially be used quickly at the start of the game to get maybe 5 blood or so, which could be useful on a handful of characters who have a cheap ability they want to have in their pocket. Of course, if this happened, it would probably make something like gogo stone near mandatory on Tokinko and maybe a few others, so maybe a simpler solution like letting Tokinko start the game with a small amount of blood would be better and less game changing.
The puzzles being called "Levels" for that reason makes sense, and I do like the distinction. The easier ones feel to me like a crash course tutorial in how a certain piece works, and I'm all for that.
Also, I really like the Promote idea for Tokinko! If it didn't cost too much blood, then her strategy would be to get some blood early, then set up strategically and think ahead. Any of her pieces could become something more dangerous at a moment's notice, so an opponent would need to be thinking of how to defend against it currently and in the near future. I'd be interested in seeing how that works out in-game.
This can be a general feedback thread I don't mind!
I fully agree that United Earth's units are super good, most of their pieces are so powerful they work in almost all situations. Battleships are extremely versatile, given enough time any of the weaker ships can become one as well, and the the Artillery have some of the best area denial on the board.
As for Tokinko, I don't play them much, but my friend chooses them a lot when we play together. I've definitely noticed a lack of "offensive speed" with Tokinko. I'm the type to choose weirder characters like Metonym and Soft Swarm, and I find I'm always "leading" the battle, making the offensive moves and forcing her to react, almost never the other way around. I wouldn't know how to change this, as Shogi is inherently a slower and more tactical game with much of a pieces movement blocked due to "the drop rule." Relic choice can go a ways to mitigate this, but I haven't messed around with the relics fully enough to really grasp their usefulness to the best potential.
Found a few more things I noticed!
Oh and as a general update, after playing more matches, Metonym's best and most versatile piece is definitely the skull piece, and I would say her worst piece is the wet fish. The fish basically only exists to awkwardly stab a faraway piece, and then after that is almost never worth hooking back, can't attack again, and will probably never move again. Not to mention its horizontal movement at your home base is so small compared to all the other pieces doing big wacky jumps across the board to kill things, it just feels to me like the weakest link.
Two more things I just noticed while doing puzzle after puzzle while listening to anime music.
was not sure what to title this lol
Right off the bat, wanna say, this game is so cool. I love the art and the vibe, and how every character controls the same but the pieces give them different gimmicks, it's all so sick. I spent like 3 hours just doing matches with my friend online, trying out characters and generally having fun.
Of course, after playing it for 3 hours, I have a few thoughts, so might as well give some feedback! First things I wanna say are what I consider the biggest changes I'm thinking about.
That's the general, main game feedback out of the way. I guess next would be some more specific, balancing type feedback, but I don't have much, and plus I'm not even good at normal chess so I sure don't know how to balance XESS, so take it all with a grain of salt.
I don't have much to say about other characters, either from lack of playing or just nothing meaningful to say. I've played every character at least once, but that doesn't mean I fully understand how they work or anything like that. Anyway, last thing I have to note is a short list of a few bugs I noticed, or just weirdness I encountered.
Uh, I think I'm out of things to say. Overall I really really love this game, sorry for rambling! Glad to see it come out, especially with the kickass art it has.
also i have no idea how to pronounce XESS lol