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View Full Version : Some feedback



pixsmith
08-25-13, 03:14 AM
As Castle Story is nearly a year old and I was among the first players to join, I thought I'd share some feedback about why I still play this game when I have left so many others behind: what I love about it and what bugs me about it.

I'm a level 30 player and I play almost every day. Frequency ups when I'm really engaged in an exciting quest but I'm not obsessive, it might just be once a day for collections at quieter times.

In real life I'm in my early 40s with a demanding career and family commitments.

So here goes, in order:

1. I love the artwork. I simply wouldn't keep playing if the buildings, objects and characters weren't so cute and pretty to look at. I am STILL blown away when I zoom in on things and see how beautifully designed and detailed they are.

2. I love the unfolding story. I played Dragon Story for quite a long time and got to a high level before I lost interest. Castle keeps me coming back because there is a story threading the quests together. (Even if it is a very loose/light thread)

3. I love the variety and town planning aspect to it. You can spend hous planning how your kingdom is going to be arranged and how it will grow (when we get more space ;-))

4. I love the random drops we get when we do our collections. A bit of light armor here, some flour there ... I love feeling like I just got saved some effort ... And I love Sir Pigglesworth and never knowing whether I'm going to get something amazing like 5 gems or just another bit of bacon like my other pigs.

5. I love going on adventures and the feeling of anticipation just before I tap on my castle to find out what I've got. Like others, though, I will admit to being disappointed on the "return on investment" at times (sorry TL; sometimes the effort just feels out of whack with what you get.

6. I love the Royal Exchange. Please can you give us more trades!? I'm always maxing stone and wood - any chance of trading those?

7. I like the idea of special buildings/items you can only buy with gems. There are good ways to get gems for free (maybe we could get more trades like the pie/lemonade one that is based on graft rather than random drops?). I like them because they are a good way a paying real money into the game without feeling like you are *****ing by speeding up a quest. Having said that I wouldn't pay money for something that is just a decoration. So, I have bought the Fortune Teller's Hut. For me, it's a guilt-free buy. I get to say thanks to TL for a great game and I get to look forward to some better-than-average random drops ... And another beautifully designed building, of course.

8. Okay, now we're getting into the don't likes ... Mild one to start. I didn't get on with the timed quests that were going on for while. It's a mild complaint because I can imagine some people love them. But for me, an attraction of CS is that you can play it in you own time; crops don't spoil, food doesn't go off. I couldn't sustain playing the restaurant story games for that reason.

9. I don't like being dependent on random drops to complete quests. It's lovely that a random drop can help you to complete a quest more quickly but the idea that one player could be grafting away for months to get an Alicorn part while another player gets it straight away just doesn't sit well with my sense of fair play.

10. Tied in with number 9. I don't like feeling that TL make quests dependent on random drops as a way to make players so frustrated that they pay for gems to skip quests. For me, skipping or speeding up parts of quests is *****ing. My Alicorn wouldn't feel the same if I'd just bought him. And even though I am heartily sick of searching the Desert Sands I'm not prepared to get my Dragon any other way than finally getting a burning ember to randomly come my way...

11. I hate gem traps. It doesn't matter how careful you are you always lose some gems this way. My worst sting was losing 16 gems by accidentally speeding up a Cathedral collection. So, like others, I would only buy gems with real money if I knew I was going to spend them straight away on an object. Which is a shame, because I like upgrading my buildings and would use gems to speed up building upgrades if I had a reliable stock of gems.

Anyway, in round-up, I clearly love this game. I've never gone to such effort to give detailed feedback about a game before. I'm really excited about the impending anniversary update so please keep up the great work on this game. Thank you TL.

kudukuda
08-25-13, 03:27 AM
This is really well put. It covers most of the good and the bad about CS, and from a veteran.
I think TL deserves cudos for thier efforts.
Happy 1st birthday (coming up)!!