Puzzle Quest: Difference between revisions
m
→Challenge Of The Warlords contains examples of: replaced: [[Lord of the Rings → [[The Lord of the Rings (2)
m (Mass update links) |
m (→Challenge Of The Warlords contains examples of: replaced: [[Lord of the Rings → [[The Lord of the Rings (2)) |
||
(19 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
[[File:PQ_DS_01.jpg|frame|Enton is '''not''' the one getting an extra turn.]]
▲[[Puzzle Quest]] is a series of games from Infinite Interactive. At their base, they are [[Match Three Game|Match Three Games]] with [[RPG Elements]]. In each game, battles are fought by matching up various gems and other symbols on a grid. Depending on what the player matches up, the gems will turn into one of various types of mana or energy to use for spells/attacks, damage to the enemy, or bonus experience or money. The player can expand their power througchh the use of various mini-games, which represent [[Item Crafting]], learning new spells, or leveling up.
The games in the series include:
* '''Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords''': The first and most popular game in the series, based on the award-winning ''Warlords'' series of [[Real Time Strategy]] games.
:There are four classes, each of which with different priorities for the different gem types. For example, the warrior focuses on dealing more damage with skulls while the mage uses mostly red mana. Character stats more or less correlate with each of the gem types, increasing their effect when matched up.
* '''Puzzle Quest: Galactrix''': a science fiction-themed follow-up, released in February 2009. Your character is a newly-minted recruit from a [[Mega Corp]] that trains and employs those gifted with psionic abilities. While on a routine investigative mission, you and your mentor, Sable, stumble across a decimated research station and evidence of a galaxy-spanning threat. The game uses a hexagonal grid rather than an orthogonal one, and the direction that gems enter the field usually depends on the direction the selected piece moved. It suffered from similar supply shortages upon release.▼
:Except for your home city (which is already under your banner), all main cities on the map can be captured. This enables you to access a keep in that city, where you can train mounts, research spells, and [[Elemental Crafting|use runes to improve weapons]]. You will also receive gold each time you visit a captured city.
:After a PC demo was released, the game was ported to the Nintendo DS and PSP and released in early 2007. It performed surprisingly well with players and critics and ended up being ported to pretty much every system, including an expansion for the Xbox 360 and iPhone versions.
▲* '''Puzzle Quest: Galactrix''': a science fiction-themed follow-up, released in February 2009. Your character is a newly-minted recruit from a [[Mega Corp]] that trains and employs those gifted with
* '''Puzzle Kingdoms''' was released in May 2009. It takes place in a remixed version of ''Warlord's'' world of Etheria and adds [[RTS]]-style troop and resource management to the mix. You play as the heir to your small kingdom's leadership. You take it upon yourself to find the source of the sudden famine that has stricken your land, only to stumble across a plot by the god of famine. It features a puzzle style similar to ''[[Pokémon]] Trozei''.
* '''Puzzle Chronicles''', was released mid-April 2010 for many systems, featuring a desert theme and a gameplay style similar to ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo''. In it, you play as a member of desert tribe looking to free his enslaved people and gain revenge on the slavers that captured them. ''Puzzle Quest 2'' appears to be based on this game.
* '''Puzzle Quest 2''': a true sequel to the original; styled more on [[
----
== ''Tropes present throughout the series:'' ==▼
{{tropelist}}
* [[Boring but Practical]]: Several starter spells and weapons which players will use throughout the game
* [[Cap]]: Level 50 in ''PQ'' and ''Galactrix'', 20 in ''Kingdoms'' - though you have up to 12 Heroes to level up there.
Line 21 ⟶ 25:
* [[Crippling Overspecialization]]: Leaning too heavily on one type of mana/energy can leave you at the mercy of a more well rounded enemy, doubly so in ''Warlords'' if the enemy in question has resistance to your favored mana type.
* [[Death or Glory Attack]]: Deathbringer in ''Warlords'', Bola Mines in ''Galactrix''
* [[Exactly What It Says
* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]: Several gameplay elements do not impact the storyline at all. Turned up to ludicrous levels in ''Galactrix''.
** In the original PQ, you can invade and take over entire cities as tyrannical overlord, and nobody bats an eye in the main plotline (or cares that you're the tyrant of their city when they send you on quests.)
Line 28 ⟶ 32:
* [[Item Crafting]]: Via a mini-game. One of the series' biggest hooks.
* [[Level Scaling]]: Enemies are automatically scaled to your level in the story modes of '''Warlords'' and ''Kingdoms''.
* [[Luck
* [[Mega Manning]]: You can learn multiple enemy spells (or enemy equipment in ''Galactrix'') via a mini-game.
* [[Mook Chivalry]]: All battles are one-on-one. When you encounter groups of foes, they're usually fought in sequence. Averted in ''Kingdoms'', where every unit with enough mana can attack in the same turn.
Line 36 ⟶ 40:
* [[Support Power]]
* [[Unpredictable Results]]: Multiple spells/attacks destroy random gems on the board for various effects. Some other skills randomly transform gems into a certain color, skulls, or even wildcard spaces. In ''Kingdom'', units with Ranged attacks will attack a random enemy unit.
* [["Wake
▲* [[X Meets Y]]:
** Challenge of the Warlords:''Warlords'' meets ''[[Bejeweled]]''.
** Galactrix: ''Hexic'' meets ''[[
** Kingdoms: PQ meets ''[[Fire Emblem]]''.
** PQ2: PQ meets ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.
** [[Full
==
* [[Abnormal Ammo]]: The Gobshooter. It hurls ''Goblins''.
* [[All Powerful Bystander]]: The elder dragon Kelthurax, who would rather sleep than find out who kidnapped ALL of his dragon brethren (save Flicker).
Line 57 ⟶ 60:
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]
* [[Dragon Rider]]: Elistara. Do the sidequests properly and she'll form a bond with Flicker.
* [[Everything's Better
* [[Expansion Pack World]]
* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: Drong. He even eats {{spoiler|''Bane''. Or at least a portion of him}}.
Line 71 ⟶ 74:
** In the other, using the Home button to close the game in the middle of a cutscene could cause the event flag not to trigger and leave you unable to cancel the mission and restart, possibly resulting in an [[Unwinnable By Mistake]] scenario. In the other versions, the game would simply restart the cutscene.
** The iPhone version would randomly erase saved characters or lock out incomplete missions. The announced level cap increase isn't there (you still max out at 50) and the game possesses several harmless, but annoying recurring graphical glitches (most notably, replacing the images of multiple enemy types on the world map with that of an Arboleth).
** Not quite game breaking, but the original [[
* [[Giant Spider]]: Comes in three flavors: a usual one, one that howls like a wolf, and a ''fire-breathing'' one. The latter is the favored mount of Fighter and Wizard players.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: Averted; your character is devoted to Queen Gwendholyn, who by all appearances is a just and benevolent ruler.
* [[Guilt Based Gaming]]: When given the option to do wrong, you WILL be nagged to do the right thing. And punished for not doing it.
* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]/[[Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad]]: Syrus Darkhunter has a human mother and an elven father, and is not entirely welcomed by either race. It's part of the reason for his [[Deadpan Snarker]] personality.
* [[Hoist
* [[Honor Before Reason]]: The elder dragon Kelthurax is not only extremely old and powerful, but also a loner who doesn't like to be awakened or bothered. In one of Elistara's quests, she feels honor-bound not only to wake him and tell him of her mount's death, but ''ask him to be her new mount''. Amazingly, he lets her live.
* [[Horse of a Different Color]]: Many monsters can be captured and used as mounts. Including [[Giant Spider|giant spiders]], [[Rodent of Unusual Size|giant rats]], wyverns, [[Our Gryphons Are Different|griffons]]... Also, we meet a
* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons]]: One of your [[Optional Party Member|optional party members]] is a young dragon named Flicker.
* [[It Was
* [[Jerk
* [[The Load]]: Princess Serephine. Putting her in your party gives you a nice amount of gold and a useful item, and she comes in handy if/when you take on the Knightly Order subquest. But other than unlocking a couple of sidequests (all of which involve rescuing or protecting her from the men her father sends to bring her back), she's pretty useless and can be safely cut loose to make room for Winter or Elistara.
** Galnoth (Plague Lords/iOS) is even worse. He gives you a 15% boost in green mana resistance when fighting elves or dwarves, and nothing else. Did we mention you'll only fight Dark Dwarves, who use red-mana based spells?
Line 89 ⟶ 92:
* [[Missing Mom]]: Flicker's side quests involve his searching for other dragons in general, and his mother in particular.
* [[Motor Mouth]]: Khalkus. Whomever he's talking with ''[[Running Gag|constantly]]'' has to interrupt him in order to make him get to the point.
* [[Multiple Head Case]]: Dugog, the first boss, is a two-headed ogre. His extra head gives him an extra turn whenever he obtains gold.▼
* [[Multiple Endings]]: A choice in one of the first-chapter quests can unlock the availability of a [[A God Am I|different]] ending.
▲* [[Multiple Head Case]]: Dugog, the first boss, is a two-headed ogre. His extra head gives him an extra turn whenever he obtains gold.
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: So are the [[A Load of Bull|Minotaurs]].▼
* [[Optional Party Member]]: Only Darkhunter, Khalkus, and Sunspear are automatically added to your party.
▲* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: So are the [[A Load of Bull|Minotaurs]].
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]
* [[Playing
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: The Firewalkers.
* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Even though the Queen doubts the undead could rise, she nonetheless sends you in to figure out what all the
* [[Rebellious Princess]]: Serephine.
* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: Also scorpions, bats, spiders, and wasps.
* [[Runaway Fiance]]: Serephine
* [[Sealed Good in
* [[Shout
** Khalkus the dwarf looks remarkably like [[The Lord of the Rings|Gimli]] from the movies.
** Another for the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'': In the film of ''The Two Towers'', Aragorn tells Eowyn that it's hard to tell male dwarves from female dwarves because of their beards, and she laughs. In the game, the player character meets a female dwarf named Khrona… who has a beard.
** The elves are ruled by [[A Midsummer
* [[Smug Snake]]: Emperor Selentius.
* [[Spirit Advisor]]: {{spoiler|Sunspear}}, after completing the "Age of Honor" subquests.
* [[Tastes Like Chicken]]: Once you get to the Realms of War, Drong will start getting curious as to how ''stone'' tastes. Granite, porphyry, sandstone… you get the idea. He invariably describes the stuff as tasting like chicken. Although hard chicken, or gritty chicken. Then again, one of these quests triggers a rumor in Gluk, which reveals that ogres are notorious for [[Cordon Bleugh Chef|nasty-tasting, haphazardly-designed]] meals. Some sages' explanation? That ogres ''don't have taste buds''.
* [[Training Dummy]]: The Practice Dummy.
* [[Victor Gains
* [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]]: Princess Serephine's support ability uses this trope to improve your battle skill against honorable opponents that don't like to fight women.
** Which is kinda weird if your character is a woman. Maybe they are only opposed to [[Self-Deprecation|fighting ladies]]?
==
* [[Beehive Barrier]]: the shields in ''Galactrix'', at least as represented on the menus.
* [[Con Man]]: Pezt
Line 122 ⟶ 125:
** Or not. Nobody ever says it a theft after all... {{spoiler|And if you attempt to set Beta Prime free during the endgame, she instead chooses to stay with you, under the guise of Kirine Thwaites. Kirine was Beta Prime all along!}}
* [[Humanity Is Superior]]
* [[Humans Are
* [[Idiot Hero]] / [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: See [[Omniscient Morality License]].
* [[Mega Corp]]: Several, each with defining traits, while still being 'corporations'. [[The Empire|Lumina]], the religious and political capital of humanity, is not led by a CEO, but by an Emperor. Trident, a weapons company structured more like a military, complete with generals. The MRI, a faction dedicated to furthering Psionic potential in humans. And Cytech, who do robotics. And not much else. Not surprisingly, Cytech is EASILY the [[Humans Are
* [[Multiple Endings]]: Just a minor one, but a choice at the end affects one thing and determines whether you get a epilogue about [[Humans Are Special]] or [[Not So Different]] [[Humans Are
▲* [[Mega Corp]]: Several, each with defining traits, while still being 'corporations'. [[The Empire|Lumina]], the religious and political capital of humanity, is not led by a CEO, but by an Emperor. Trident, a weapons company structured more like a military, complete with generals. The MRI, a faction dedicated to furthering Psionic potential in humans. And Cytech, who do robotics. And not much else. Not surprisingly, Cytech is EASILY the [[Humans Are Bastards|least bastardly]] of the 4.
▲* [[Multiple Endings]]: Just a minor one, but a choice at the end affects one thing and determines whether you get a epilogue about [[Humans Are Special]] or [[Not So Different]] [[Humans Are Bastards]].
* [[Omniscient Morality License]]: Apparently trying to save the galaxy justifies all manner of atrocities. All manner being about two.
* [[Portal Network]]
* [[Recycled in Space]]
* [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]]: The Soulless. Really more of Scary Dogmatic Cyborgs.
* [[Shout
* [[Tetris Effect]]: Less so than the first game, thanks to the minigames and changes.
* [[Wrench Wench]]: Kirine and Lydia.
==
* [[Barbarian Hero]]: The protagonist is a paper-thin Conan imitation. In fact the whole game is basically one long homage to Conan. Including the snake cult!
* [[The Beast Master]]: The protagonist's spells in this game come from your warbeast (a nasty-looking dog).
Line 144 ⟶ 146:
==
* [[A Commander Is You]]: The battles are your army against the opponent's army, rather than one-on-one battles in Puzzle Quest.▼
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: The various Vice Boxes.
▲* [[A Commander Is You]]: The battles are your army against the opponent's army, rather than one-on-one battles in Puzzle Quest.
* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: In various kingdoms, defeated lords can be recruited to your party.
* [[Insistent Terminology]]:
{{quote|
'''Player:''' Please don't call me "Your Majesty."
'''Priestess:''' As you wish, Your Majesty. }}
* [[Lazy Backup]]: You can only take four Heroes and four different units into a territory, no matter how many of each you have in in your party.
Line 156 ⟶ 158:
* [[One-Hit Kill]]: A sufficiently high-level Magic unit can wipe out a lower-level enemy party with one attack.
* [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]]: Imps.
* [[Strong Flesh, Weak Steel]]: Unarmored peasants have higher defensive stats than Battering Rams and Catapults.
* [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]]
* [[You Require More Vespene Gas]]: You need gold to acquire and replace different units, as well as gain new artifacts, relics, and spells.
==
* [[Artificial Stupidity]]: The AI will do whatever the help arrow shows, even if it doesn't help them. It will also collect mana it CAN'T USE. And if your hp is low enough to be finished off by a weapon attack, sometimes it will use a spell.
* [[Barrier Warrior]]: The Assassin class is a mix of this and [[Glass Cannon]]. His/her primary ability is to use purple mana to go into "stealth" mode, which is really just using your purple mana as a shield against damage. While in stealth, all of your "-Strike" abilities do double damage. (Strike abilities turn gems into purple gems on the screen as well as damage the opponent, so there's a lot of synergy between covering yourself and hurting the opponent).
* [[Bonus Boss]]: Five of them (Kurak the polar bear, the Yeti, the Cave Ogre, the Arch Lich, and the Green Dragon). They're unlocked automatically as you level up, so you can tackle them at your leisure or not at all.▼
* [[Boss in Mook Clothing]]: Vampires. They have stupidly high rates of shield criticals (cutting damage taken in half, no matter how much or how little), have the egregiously overpowered spell Blood Drain (does damage equal to your current Red Mana total, heals itself for an equal amount, AND knocks your Red Mana down to zero), and spam their special weapon, Vampire Fangs (which inflicts the stackable Poison effect.)
** That said, Blood Drain is pretty much ''all'' they've got. The Vampire Lords, on the other hand... they have Charm (destroys all Skulls and gains life equal to the number of Skulls destroyed) and Bat Swarm (halves your defense and causes you to take 5 damage per turn for 3 turns) in addition to the aforementioned Blood Drain and Vampire Fangs. Good luck, ''you'll need it.''
* [[Bragging Rights Reward]]: Beating the [[Bonus Boss
▲* [[Bonus Boss]]: Five of them (Kurak the polar bear, the Yeti, the Cave Ogre, the Arch Lich, and the Green Dragon). They're unlocked automatically as you level up, so you can tackle them at your leisure or not at all.
▲* [[Bragging Rights Reward]]: Beating the [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]] in the handheld versions gives you a rather insignificant amount of gold and XP, considering the lengths you'll need to go to in order to defeat them. You don't even get the achievements of the [[Xbox Live Arcade]] or [[Steam]] versions.
* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: {{spoiler|Brek the orc shaman}}, which makes sense really.
* [[Evil All Along]]: {{spoiler|Your in-game guides, The Mother, The Maiden, and The Crone,}} were all a part of the [[Big Bad]].
* [[Good All Along]]: {{spoiler|Brek the orc shaman}} is simply trying to keep the [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Load-Bearing Boss]]: The Gorgon.
* [[Luck
** On the other hand, clearing red gems (whether that's done by you or the Yeti) will actually hurt it. But it will be healed anytime blue gems are cleared. To make matters worse, it has a spell called "Ice Breath" that changes 14 random gems to Blue
** The Arch-Lich is also stupid-annoying, thanks to its absurdly high Morale stat making it near-impossible to cast spells. Putting ''every single skill point into your Intelligence stat'' is the ''only'' way you'll have a reasonable chance of using your spells, so if your play style relies on them, '''''you're screwed eight ways to Sunday, no questions asked'''''.
* [[Mighty Glacier]]: Templars, especially later when you gain access to Templar-only plate armor and the Tower Shield. You'll be able to outlast anything short of [[Bonus Boss|the Green Dragon]]. (And you'll even be able to outlast the Green Dragon with the right setup.)
* [[Miles Gloriosus]]: Drayle.
* [[Obvious Rule Patch]]: Gold pieces and purple experience stars in the first game became less and less worth your time as the game progressed, so here, they're gone entirely, replaced with Purple Mana (shadow-element) and Fists, which are used to fuel your weapon/item attacks.
* [[One-Winged Angel]]: {{spoiler|The Gorgon}}.▼
* [[One Hit KO]]: If {{spoiler|True Form Gorgon}} gets to 60 red mana, she'll cast "Subjugation", a spell that causes you to instantly surrender and lose the battle, no matter how many HP either of you have left.
** The Yeti has Crushing Kill, which deals 999 damage at 65 red. He's also the second [[Bonus Boss]] you can face. The Iron Giant has it as well, but doesn't have the Yeti's rapid red mana gain to go with it.
▲* [[One-Winged Angel]]: {{spoiler|The Gorgon}}.
* [[Our Dwarves Are Different]]: The Dark Dwarves were apparently a very intelligent race, based off what you're told when you enter an entire laboratory and library full of research and test-tube experiments that they created. They're still short and talk in the stereotypical fashion for dwarves though.
{{quote|
* [[PVP
** Or, when faced with an enemy with ridiculous DEF capabilities, whichever spells lower defense the most/longest.
* [[Repeatable Quest]]: Many quests are repeatable, such as an early quest to patrol the area for monsters.
* [[
* [[Shout-Out]]: One of the quests is named IT'S A TRAP!
** An (old) NPC says, [[Diablo|"Hello, my friend! Stay a while, and listen!"]] later on in the game.
{{reflist}}
Line 197:
[[Category:Xbox Live Arcade]]
[[Category:IOS Games]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Puzzle Quest]]▼
[[Category:Video Game]]
|