Many people have emailed me lots of great RPG suggestions for the site: RPG-site.com.

It’s hard picking which ones to add first, as there’s no way I’ve got time to play them all let alone write them all up. Currently I’m trying to prioritise classic RPGs (eg Bard’s Tale) and ones that are somewhat original (Book of Heroes, Silversword) - rather than wade through about a dozen Action KRPGs that look like Zenonia/Inotia clones. Combat-heavy/strategy RPGs are also being deprioritised for now.

But if anyone is really impressed by a particular game I haven’t yet managed to add, please feel free to help me out by providing some of the details I need to list them. Just drop me an email to istara@gmail. Specifically:

Freemium games: great for choice, or a complete curse?

There’s a spiralling profusion of these titles, and they’ve spilled across from the Farmville genre into other genres, such as RPGs. Certainly the currently limited-release Book of Heroes is generating a lot of controversy.

Now there are some ways in which optional, paid items can enhance a game without breaking it, or being necessary to complete it. Here are three examples:

1. Kingdom of Loathing
Kingdom of Loathing is a pre-Facebook html-based RPG that allows a certain number of clicks/quests per day. It’s completely free. But players can buy premium items in the store that act as stat-increasing accessories - in the basic, casual mode of the game. They’re not equippable in the various “hardcore” playthroughs. It also isn’t possible to buy unlimited quests: at some point you’ll have to wait for the daily rollover.

2. TapQuest
TapQuest/TapQuest II is an entirely free game. It has three base character classes. But if you want, you can buy a fourth character (a dwarf). You don’t need the dwarf, but if you like it, and you want to see what combat is like with it, it’s there for a small cost. There are also some bundles of items (potions etc) you can buy: the value here is pretty terrible and I would be surprised if the developer has sold (m)any.

3. Mage Gauntlet
Mage Gauntlet offers premium items that can help a bit in play, but aren’t vital. They also offer wearable hats, solely for the fun/fan value. You can get some hats in game, but there are others than you can buy. None of them - in game or out - have any stat effects, they’re solely for style - digital merchandise. A great way for fans to show support if they want to.

Given that freemium is clearly here to stay in the RPG category, let’s hope more developers implement it like this, and also give players the choice of buying paid-upfront versions as well.

The more RPGs you play on the iPhone, the more you discover that often the simplest, “retro” little games can actually be the most satisfying and enjoyable in terms of gameplay. Simple graphics can also be a lot cleaner and clearer on a small screen than the busy feel that more intricate and animated titles create. They also tend to be less battery hungry.

CrazyQuest
CrazyQuest reminds me very much of old text-based MUDs, except it’s obviously a graphical game. It has the same “rooms” structure, and the same waiting-for-a-respawn to kill monsters again. Best of all there are shops, which means you’re grinding for gold as well as exp/skill points, so you have more choice on how to equip your character.

Small RPG
Small RPG had me hooked until I sadly hit the highest level, after which there wasn’t anything to continue for, although the game kept going. While there wasn’t a shop, there was an inventory which allowed you to pick and choose equipment. It was also great getting enhanced and rarer items, which are well balanced to your level, giving a nice sense of progression as everything gets more powerful.

Yipe 5
Yipe was brilliant on Mac OS years ago, and has translated perfectly to small-screen iOS. It’s just enormous fun, both in terms of gameplay and its quirky humour. Often humour in a game can irritate, but in Yipe it’s warm and amusing. And there are multiple quests, so you get that real Classic RPG feel in a lovely retro game.

TapQuest
So much fun, especially being able to autoplay your characters and have them move and fight automatically across the screen. In many ways it’s more about managing your party than fighting with them. And there were (free) downloadable maps once you finished the pre-installed ones. It’s a pity the devs didn’t keep going, because it had a lot more mileage in it.

Also worth a mention, though they’re much longer and more involved games:

Dragon Bane II and Princess Demelza
Two very old-style but also lengthy and fully featured games, built on the same engine. These appeared to use no battery at all, so were perfect for playing when stuck in public transport for hours. A nice bit of nostalgia for those that remember the text-based RPG era, as they’re something of a hybrid between old MUD style games and graphical games.

A major problem for RPG fans is that the Games:RPG section of the iTunes App Store is absolutely crammed with absolute rubbish, which drowns out decent games and pushes them off the page.

Crap, non-RPGs

Just a glance at today shows the following:

- game guides/utilities (not games)
- a shooting game (not an RPG)
- “Big Sean Fans” and “Curren$y - Jet Life!” (not even games)
- several games clearly marked as Strategy games
- “Russian Doll” (no description, clearly not an RPG though)
- “UAngelHanna” (pathetic Japanese dating/sex type game)
- “Fun Flirt!” (ffs)
- “Camera Girl” (pathetic Japanese sex game)
- “Mystery of statue” (billed as an Arcade game)

What’s Not Hot

I’m not even impressed by the staff picks “What’s hot” selection or “New and Noteworthy”. For example it currently includes some game called “Great Little War Game” - click on it, and it says: “GLWG is the hit 3D turn-based strategy game” so what the hell is it doing in the RPG section when there’s already a Strategy section?

And “Baseball Superstars” - isn’t there a Sports section that should go in?

And “CosPlay” - some Japanese manga dress-up app.

No description/info

Another irk is games that have no description or info as to what they’re about. Often these are games (often at absurdly high prices - $40+) targeted to the Asian market, but there’s still no info. Then there are some games that may even be decent, but who the hell would know with no text and sometimes a single screenshot to recommend them?

Meanwhile, decent RPGs, lovingly crafted by hard-working and talented developers, get lost and buried. That’s bad for gamers and it’s bad for the genre.

RPG-site.com intentionally has no personal reviews, since people’s tastes vary so much when it comes to RPGs that one person’s opinion seems of limited value. Also, my personal preferences tend to lean towards WRPGs and Classic RPGs, though I play loads of Action RPGs and KRPGs as well. But people have requested some recommendations, so here is my personal Top 10 list of iPhone RPGs to date - not necessarily in exact best-worst order, they’re all wonderful:

1. The Quest (and its expansions)
I’m a classic RPG fan, and The Quest and its expansions provide hours and hours of quality, interesting, role-playing questing combating fun. What adds to the experience is the really active, friendly and helpful community here, and the fact that expansions are still being made.

2. Undercroft
Just a wonderfully designed game, and one that is appealing and accessible to both new and less experienced RPG gamers, as well as veteran players. I truly loved this game.

3. Rimelands
Rimelands has a somewhat unique dice-based combat system, but one you will quickly adore. Just a great action RPG with a classic feel.

4. Sword & Poker 2
It’s kind of surprising to me, finding myself putting a Puzzle RPG on this list, but this game was so addictive. The game/combat mechanic was brilliant, as was the saving up for really useful weapons and armour. It truly felt like an RPG, not just a card game with RPG elements tacked on.

5. Yipe 5
Quirky and brilliantly fun retro-style RPG. It hits all the right buttons, and is a really satisfying playing experience.

6. Underworlds
A wonderful action RPG, that got even better when they expanded it to a second chapter with more sidequests. Lots of great gear.

7. Dragon Bane II
Very retro, but also very enjoyable (as is the other title on the engine, Princess Demelza). A very long game, and also one that is very gentle on your battery.

8. Crusade of Destiny
Another amazingly ambitious game, that also manages to deliver. Repetitive grinding/levelling drags it down the list a little, but you will get hours of productive and interesting gameplay from Crusade of Destiny.

9. Ravensword
A very ambitious game engine, that worked flawlessly even on the older-generation iPhone 3 I had at the time. The mini-games were great, and also showed off the engine very well. A bigger world, and more items, would have put this near the top of the list.

10. Dungeon Hunter
A graphically very impressive action RPG, which is also somewhat easier than the average game. Given how tough and grind-heavy a lot of action RPGs are, I actually found this refreshing.

Honourable mentions

Tap Quest - strangely satisfying and addictive retro action RPG

Puzzle Quest - long and well-designed Bejewelled-style puzzle RPG

Vay - cult classic RPG, highly enjoyable

What is grinding? Briefly, it’s performing a highly repetitive task that earns you gold, items or experience. Think of the South Park kids spending weeks killing boars in World of Warcraft just to make their characters stronger.

Grinding is one of the categories I’ve included in the info of games features on RPG-site. Grinding can be useful (even fun) and it can be a loathsome, game-ruining abomination.

Good grinding
As an optional activity, grinding can be a very useful, elective method to build up your character or collect money for some nice weapon or armour. In a limited way, it can also be useful to level up a character to add a couple of skill points or get a new spell. Games that do this well include The Quest and its expansions. There’s no need to grind, and you’ll have to sleep for a week for monsters to respawn, but it’s a useful way to earn a bit more gold and maybe pick up some extra items.

Bad grinding
Bad grinding involves the forced repetition of an uninteresting task to actually be able to progress in a game. When grinding is not optional, but obligatory, it means that a game has been cheaply designed, since grinding greatly increases a game’s length but offers no meaningful or interesting extra content, or that it has been poorly balanced. Zenonia is a classic example, and one of the few games I’ve not bothered to finish for this reason, though I did enjoy the early sections and still recommend it. The early-to-mid game is fun. You kill stuff, you find items. Then suddenly it’s like the progress hill juts up into a vertical precipice, with you right at the bottom. Monsters become insta-death. Any new equipment you find is ten levels too high for you to use. You can’t advance, you can’t do anything, you have to go back and re-kill easier foes for literally hours on end just to make any progress. This is not fun. This is not good design.

Zero grinding
Some games, due to their form or design, have zero grinding - for example because monsters don’t respawn. This can be a problem in itself: if a game is too linear and you mess up your character’s skill point distribution, or use too many potions early on, you can really struggle in later, harder stages. This effectively self-nerfs your character and you may even have to restart. Or there is the situation in a game like Arvale Short Tales: Varju the Druid where the player keeps levelling despite reaching an effective power cap (damage and defence are limited by the best equipment available) but monster level and powerfulness keeps scaling. This was more of a glitch in design, it wasn’t intentional. But you’re effectively no longer able to grind for rewards while random monster encounters keep grinding your level and theirs higher.

So what we’re really looking for is a game that:

- doesn’t require grinding to progress
- allows some grinding for a sandboxy, less linear feel
- offers a way for less tactically-inclined players to build up for boss encounters
- doesn’t allow a character to get nerfed by excessive grinding

Different people have different expectations for what a role playing game should be.

Generally speaking there are several main elements which help define the genre. Wikipedia lists seven characteristics but that can be simplified into four main areas.

1. Quests
A main story and quest to follow, preferably with a good range of optional sidequests, and an interesting world to explore.

2. Character
Being able to customise your character, with various classes and skills and stat points.

3. Combat
The main mechanic of the game, where you fight monsters to earn gold and experience.

4. Loot
Different items that enhance your character, from weapons and armour to magic items and potions. Shops where you can buy and sell items. Crafting enhanced items.

Interestingly, some of the games that seem on the fringes of the RPG genre - for example the puzzle RPGs - can actually adhere more closely to these characteristics than other, more conventional games such as action RPGs. Chaos Rings doesn’t have towns or sidequests, but Puzzle Quest features both. Arvale Short Tales: Varju The Druid - a classic RPG - doesn’t allow any character customisation, but Choice of Broadsides - an interactive fiction adventure - does.

As a result, some RPG fans may get a more fulfilling experience trying some of the fringe games rather than sticking solely with the core titles.

Avernum VI is now out for Mac!

***ANNOUNCING A NEW WEBSITE FOR IPHONE RPGS! RPG-site.com***

Here’s a list of decent iPhone RPGs. Links in each section go to AppShopper not iTunes. These are in alphabetical order. New games will now only be added to RPG-site.com as announced above but this list will be maintained as an archive. Please do feel free to add comments below, as I will still see them and respond to them.

Quick navigation:

Classic RPGs:
Arvale: Journey of Illusion
Arvale: Ocean of Time
Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor
Dragon Bane II
Dungeon & Hero
Elven Chronicles
Inotia: A Wanderer of Luone - NEW
Princess Demelza
The Quest
The Quest: Islands of Ice & Fire
The Quest: Hero of Lukomorye I, II
Rogue Touch
Undercroft
Vay
Yipe 5

Action RPGs:
Crusade of Destiny
Dungeon Hunter
Kingdom of Gorath
Ravensword
Seed 1: Rise of Darkness
Underworlds
Zenonia

MMORPGs:
Cozyquest
Graalonline
Kingdoms Live
Outer Empires

Puzzle RPGs:
Aurora Feint II: Arena Daemons
Orions: Legend Of Wizards
PuzzleQuest Chapter 1 and 2

Skip to comments

Arvale: Journey of Illusion
Arvale is a classic RPG which came out for other devices some years ago, and is well worth replaying on iPhone. While the story is linear the game world is large, and some of the side quests will see you revisiting earlier towns. Graphically it’s bright, colourful and clear, the screenshots don’t do it justice. Weapons and armour decay per use, so you need to keep a good stock. The gameworld is also rich and detailed - don’t forget to talk to all the wheelbarrows ;)

Character creation: non, pre-defined
Story: interesting, lengthy and comic but very linear
Gear: just basic weapons, armour and potions
Sidequests: lots, some take the whole game to finish
Treasure: monster drops, chests
Features: comic dialogue, dungeon puzzles, equipment decay
Links: PDAmill forum

Back to top

Arvale: Ocean of Time
The lengthy sequel to Arvale, though it’s a whole new and different story. You’re propelled into the action straight away, and there are long, unskippable cutscenes at the start. All dungeons have good, challenging puzzles but you can solve most without hints/cheating. You replay dungeons later on with harder monsters, but don’t need to re-solve puzzles. You level very fast at certain stages: just a few monster-kills earn enough exp to level. Weapons still decay and are all basic, there are no enhancements or enchantments. The wheelbarrows are still chatty, but you might want to check out some barrels as well.

Character creation: non, pre-defined
Story: interesting, very long, very linear
Gear: just basic weapons, armour and potions
Sidequests: quite a few, depending which route you take
Treasure: monster drops, chests
Features: comic dialogue, dungeon puzzles, equipment decay
Links: PDAmill forum

Back to top

Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor
An old-school RPG with very nice graphics. Re-entering dungeon levels randomises them, so you can go backwards/forwards to try and bring up more chests, or merchant tents. Automatic healing over time helps save money. You also get pets through eggs and level them up with “sundu”. The pets add to your stats. You will want to get a good pet early on (eg from a glowing egg), as they take ages to level, and finding a better one later on means levelling it scratch. There’s only one save slot. Monsters constantly respawn, so you can grind as much you need to, which will be a lot. Some treasure chests are actually mimics (monsters).

Character creation: pre-defined with stat diceroll
Story: completely linear
Gear: basic & glowing weapons, armour and potions, artefacts
Sidequests: minimal, but some give skills/spells
Treasure: monster drops, chests
Features: pets
Links: TouchArcade Gamefaqs Inotia forum

Back to top

Dragon Bane II
Dragon Bane II is an old school RPG which you play with a party of up to five members. This game first came out for Palm OS a few years ago, but is very replayable on the iPhone. The graphics are unashamedly retro, but this is a long, in-depth RPG with interesting puzzles as well as combat. Tip: set the combat slider to “fast”. You don’t get to choose how your members level up, their stats go up automatically, but there are a few stat raising potions that you can tweak them a bit with. Inventory space is very tight, particularly as party members get full sets of armour. Expect to run backwards and forwards endlessly in the city waiting for spellpoints to return and the hours to pass until night/sleeping time ;)

Character creation: choose various pre-defined party members
Story: interesting, classic storyline
Gear: weapons, armour, jewelry, spell weapons
Sidequests: none
Treasure: lots of objects, many need identifying
Features: different party members, summoning creatures, night/day cycle
Links: Official manual Dragon Bane II Yahoo Group

Back to top

Dungeon & Hero
You play one of three pre-set characters in this classic RPG. Enemies respawn to help with grinding, and you will want to do quite a bit of grinding to level and earn cash. There are also ultra-hard red-aura monsters that drop much better items. Some monsters chase, some don’t. Skills unlock automatically every eight levels. There is only one town, which moves to a cave at one point, but it’s always the same five NPCs. Teleport points back to town are very welcome. If you talk to the female NPCs, you auto-heal for free. Sidequests are all “kill 20 of this monster, 30 of this monster” style. You can enhance weapons and armour with scrolls. Being able to hot-key potions is very useful.

Character creation: three pre-defined (fighter/archer/mage), stat choice
Story: linear, not very interesting or involving
Gear: weapons, armour, enhancement scrolls
Sidequests: some, most are basic “hunt [x] of monster [y]”
Treasure: chests, monster drops
Features: Red-aura special monsters, vibrate function, hot keys, runes
Links: TouchArcade

Back to top

Elven Chronicles
Elven Chronicles is described as must-have game for old school RPG fans, and “Zelda meets Final Fantasy”. I’ve bought it but not had a chance to play it yet. It’s a turn-based RPG with retro but very nicely drawn graphics. Apparently there will be future expansion packs, and downloadable content, including micropayment features, adding to the estimated 20 hours game play. You control up to two characters in combat. It’s in portrait mode. The developers also seem to be taking a lot of feedback on board to expand and improve the game.

Character creation: pre-made human solider, elven mage
Story: in-depth original storyline
Gear: weapons, armour, rings
Sidequests: various fetch quests
Treasure: rewards
Features: random dungeon maps
Links: Official site TouchArcade

Back to top

Inotia: A Wanderer of Luone
This is the sequel to Chronicles of Inotia but it appears to be a very different game. It’s single player, but you can hire up to two mercenaries and control and customise them. Gear will actually change a character’s appearance. And there’s an online mode with network battles and world rankings. The developer notes that the game doesn’t autosave, so you must remember to save your progress.

Character creation: five classes: Knight, Magician, Priest, Thief, Templar; roll for stats, pick name
Story: original saving-the-land story arc
Gear: item enchanting, rare items from merchants
Sidequests: 200+ single player quests
Treasure: quest rewards
Features: online mode, hire mercenaries
Links: Official site Inotia Twitter TouchArcade

Back to top

Princess Demelza
Princess Demelza is a new adventure built on the Dragon Bane engines. It’s another long, old school RPG which you play with a party of up to five members. You can swap different party members in and out at various inns, if you find more powerful ones or want a different kind of sorceror. Retro graphics and turn-by-turn combat. The trickiest thing is managing inventory space, which is very tight. High-level unidentified items are particularly frustrating: the NPC who identifies them is only available in the weekend daytime, every second week. And there’s no way to skip days, only nights. All that said it’s brilliant fun, and being simple, doesn’t drain your iPhone battery at all.

Character creation: choose various pre-defined party members
Story: interesting, classic storyline
Gear: weapons, armour, jewelry, spell weapons
Sidequests: none
Treasure: lots of objects, many need identifying
Features: different party members, summoning creatures, night/day cycle
Links: Yahoo Group with a Demelza walkthrough (in Files)

Back to top

The Quest
This 3D single-player RPG by Redshift came out for Palm OS and other devices some years ago. It’s so great that even if you played it back then, it’s worth getting again. There’s a huge game world to wander around, lots of dialogue, and some dungeon puzzles. It’s very fully featured with sidequests, puzzles, and many spells and skills to learn. Even fighter characters will find spells vital at higher levels. Diseases, plague and poison add difficulty. Expansions are also coming out.

Character creation: name, gender, portrait, class, skills, spells
Story: interesting and original, moral choices to make
Gear: weapons, wands, ammo, full armour, rings, amulets
Sidequests: plenty, game feels quite open
Treasure: loads of loot in objects and monster drops
Features: amazingly fun card minigame in taverns
Links: Catacomber forum PDAground forum Fan site Fan site for all Quest games

Back to top

The Quest: Hero of Lukomorye I, II
This is the second expansion for The Quest, the full name of the first part is “Hero of Lukomorye - Chapter I: Siege of Zlatograd”. Chapter II is also now available. These can be played stand-alone or installed into the original game. It is a lot tougher than the original Quest and Islands of Ice & Fire. There are new monsters, new spells, and new, superiorly enchantable weapons and armour, and features such as treasures hidden in wall-cracks. You can also restore lost XP. There seem to be five chapters in total. You’ll probably need to play all of them in order, otherwise your character won’t be strong enough.

Character creation: name, gender, portrait, class, skills, spells
Story: interesting, original storyline, exotic places
Gear: hundreds of unique weapons & armour
Sidequests: 30 quests and numerous puzzles
Treasure: loot in dungeons, monster drops
Features: reading books, card minigame
Links: Official site Catacomber forum PDAGround

Back to top

The Quest: Islands of Ice & Fire
This is the first expansion for The Quest. It can be played stand-alone or installed into the original game. Importing your character from The Quest is a breeze. It’s a great story, wonderful new locations, and has all the involving, storylike feel - with plenty of choices - that the original game has.

Character creation: name, gender, portrait, class, skills, spells
Story: interesting and original, moral choices to make
Gear: weapons, wands, ammo, full armour, rings, amulets
Sidequests: plenty, game feels quite open
Treasure: loads of loot in objects and monster drops
Features: amazingly fun card minigame in taverns
Links: Toucharcade 1 TouchArcade 2

Back to top

Rogue Touch
I haven’t played this yet, but it’s been recommended by other RPG fans. It’s a remake of the classic dungeon adventure. Each time you play the dungeon and loot are randomised, while you hunt for the same amulet. It has simple, clear, retro graphics. Completely redesigned for the iPhone, you can zoom in and out. It also has perma-death: you can’t reload if you die. There are apparently various secrets to be discovered.

Character creation: name
Story: none, random dungeon crawl each time
Gear: weapons, armor, potions, scrolls, staves, rings
Sidequests: none
Treasure: monster drops, chests
Features: random dungeons, traps, secret doors, other secrets
Links: Official forum Official site

Back to top

Undercroft
This is a brilliant game, it’s probably one of the best RPGs out there. It’s similar to The Quest, but with slightly more colourful graphics, and is party-based rather than single player. Combat is turn-based but works very quickly, fluidly even, it’s almost like fighting real-time. You can’t return to previous chapters once you move on, which is a bit of a shame for completionists that missed something earlier on. Depending on the success of the game, an expansion could be on the way.

Character creation: party with five hero classes to choose from
Story: lengthy and intricate plot
Gear: weapons, rings, cloaks, armour
Sidequests: lots
Treasure: barrels, chests, garbage, monster drops
Features: game guide in Help section, several Easter eggs
Links: Official forum 1 Official forum 2

Back to top

Vay
This party-based RPG first came out in 1994 and is described as a cult classic. It’s a linear story with no character customisation, but the graphics are very cute and bright. The menus have been completely redesigned in an iPhone slide-across style. Different characters join your party at different times, they’re all pre-defined with set classes. Certain characters can only wear certain items, and vice versa. Moving about is nice and quick, as if you double tap the character will run. The gameworld is extensive, and you should get many hours of gameplay.

Character creation: none, pre-defined
Story: linear
Gear: lots, different for each party member
Sidequests: none
Treasure: lots of loot in chests
Features: lots of original SegaCD cutscenes
Links: TouchArcade Walkthrough Vay info Official site

Back to top

Yipe 5
Yipe 5 is a wonderfully slick, retro-style RPG that continues on from the old Yipe quest games for Mac OS. It’s great fun, quite challenging, with plenty of items to earn gold for. The graphics are simple but well done, and quite comical. Grinding is needed, but because there are so many things to buy and the gold comes in quite quickly, it isn’t a chore. Monsters respawn in a managable way (about one per screen) so you don’t get overwhelmed. The game also includes a lot of humour. As another plus, it has minimal battery drain. You can also buy a toy model of the main Idle Hands monster. The developers are also planning to add “more quests and secrets” in future updates, and have been looking at OpenFeint.

Character creation: icon, choice of power, sneaky or enchant
Story: amusing, original King-gives-quests story
Gear: weapons, armour, amulets
Sidequests: some
Treasure: food and money from monster drops, chests
Features: humour, paid-resurrection, “secrets”
Links: Official site TouchArcade

Back to top

Crusade of Destiny
Crusade of Destiny is a 3D action RPG. It claims to have more than 40 hours of gameplay, with many lands and caverns to explore. There are many different damage types, with some monsters immune to certain ones. The different character types apparently make it highly replayable. Some grinding, and no map.

Character creation: warrior, archer or mage, limited customisation
Story: minimal backstory
Gear: armour, weapons
Sidequests: detailed sidequests
Treasure: monsters drop pelts, animal parts
Features: night/day cycle, free music tracks, open world feel
Links: Official site TouchArcade

Back to top

Dungeon Hunter
Dungeon Hunter is an action RPG. Graphics aren’t necessarily critical for an RPG, but these are astounding. Really fluid and beautiful. Sound effects are also great. It has real-time hack’n’slash combat. Dungeon Hunter has been described as Diablo for the iPhone. You should get many hours of gameplay out of it. The one criticism - though for me it was a plus - is that the game is pretty easy. It’s also a great game for loot lovers since there is a vast, endless amount of different types of magically enhanced gear.

Character creation: rogue, knight or mage
Story: interesting, classic storyline
Gear: loads to find or buy, special items, monster drops
Sidequests: different quests and missions
Treasure: find weapons, armour in barrels, chests
Features: five faeries to help you, real-time combat
Links: TouchArcade

Back to top

Kingdom of Gorath
Kingdom of Gorath is an action RPG. Unique features include sentient weapons “with a mind of their own”. You can also make enchanted armour, and you can publish achievements on Facebook. Some grinding required. The developers say they modelled the game after Diablo, and they appear to be improving it and adding game levels. These may or may not be paid add-ons. Currently Kingdom of Gorath is focused on dungeon diving combat, item collection, and character building rather than questing and missions.

Character creation: master sword, mace or martial arts
Story: linear storyline
Gear: hundreds of unique weapons & armour
Sidequests: more will be added
Treasure: hidden deep in the ground
Features: make enchanted armour, sentient weapons, achievements
Links: Official forum TouchArcade

Back to top

Ravensword
Ravensword is described as an epic 3D action RPG which is due out from mid-October 2009. It has also been described as “a cross between an adventure game and an RPG”. You have to go on an epic quest finding different runes to free a Kingdom. Ravensword is optimised for the iPhone 3GS but will run on older models at a lower frame rate. The developers have compared it to both Oblivion and Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii. There will also be a major expansion down the track, and Ravensword Online coming in 2010.

Character creation: The Unknown Hero, no creation
Story: full storyline
Gear: swords, bows
Sidequests: lots of sidequests
Treasure: not yet known
Features: open sandbox world, physics, magic runes
Links: Official site

Back to top

Seed 1: Rise of Darkness
Seed 1: Rise of Darkness was recently made a free app, funding itself via in-app purchases. These are beneficial but not necessary to complete the game. Your class is recognised by which kind of weapons you wield the most: sword, gun, lance or staff. Melee characters will find the early parts of the game easier than other classes. Items change your character’s appearance. Seed is apparently quite lengthy. The poor text translation has come in for a lot of critcism.

Character creation: pre-defined, later customisation
Story: in-depth, unique storyline
Gear: masses of equipment, including custom-built
Sidequests: lots
Treasure: monster drops, shops, in-app store
Features: combining items, in-app purchases, day-night cycle
Links: TouchArcade

Back to top

Underworlds
This is very much an action-RPG, often described as Diablo for iPhone. It recently got a huge revamp with better controls, better interface, and a whole new chapter (a free update for existing owners) which has doubled gameplay time. Best of all there’s a wonderful little minimap which is always on screen, and manages to be both clear but unobtrusive. Money also seems easier now. Inventory is still tight - there’s only eight slots for non-equipped items - but you can teleport to a merchant and back from any point during the game. Dungeons (at least in Chapter 2) respawn if you want to grind up a level or so, though you don’t actually need to grind. At the end you can replay - at any difficulty level - with your current character and items.

Character creation: name, portrait
Story: linear storyline
Gear: differently enhanced weapons and armour, many uniques
Sidequests: some in the second chapter
Treasure: monster drops, chests
Features: special attacks that use energy, so are like spells
Links: TouchArcade Official site

Back to top

Zenonia
Zenonia is mainly described as an action-RPG with cute, cartoonish graphics. It’s a big game with plenty to do and lots of sidequests. You have to make a major moral choice early on, which affects whether you play as Dark or Light. It does get a bit grindy at the highest levels: in the last section I started getting weapon and armour drops that were ten levels higher than I was. It would be some considerable hours of grinding before I could have worn them. Be careful where you save and reload, because if you’re reloading in an area of big monster spawn, you just die die die and it’s hard to escape even with a scroll.

Character creation: pre-defined warrior, assassin or paladin
Story: quite in-depth intro, moral choices
Gear: thousands of weapons and items, can add enchantments
Sidequests: plenty, accept up to five at a time
Treasure: monster drops
Features: weight affects speed, character must eat, equipment decays
Links: TouchArcade Official forum

Back to top

Cozyquest
This is a MMORPG which needs an internet connection to play. Content is being added all the time, and there is an active quest-coding community and very strong and friendly player community. It’s a very unique game, a bit like a cross between an old telnet MUD and Kingdom of Loathing, with better graphics. Some items are bought, others crafted by certain classes, others obtained through temple donations. It’s quite grind heavy, but very interactive. The developer Nils has added content over time. A lot of higher level characters will loan money to lower level characters to ease the grind. There’s an active in-game economy through the auction house and private sales of items between characters.

Character creation: name, gender, race, class, religion
Story: no overall story arc
Gear: weapons, armour, earrings
Sidequests: loads of different quests for different levels
Treasure: monster drops, lottery prizes
Features: weekly lottery, live chat tavern, guilds
Links: Official forum Cozybase

Back to top

Graalonline
Graalonline is a free, retro-style MMO. There doesn’t seem to be much of an introduction process, you’re just flung straight in. The social aspect is currently the main feature of this game, it’s even described as an “MMO chat game”. Apparently snow and having your own house are planned in future updates, as well as an online map editor. Many of the content and quests that exist for the PC version are being ported to the iPhone. The developers seem very active and responsive. Graalonline also features in-app purchases.

Character creation: gender, hair
Story: none
Gear: not much yet
Sidequests: quests will be added
Treasure: none yet
Features: in-app purchases, PvP
Links: TouchArcade

Back to top

Kingdoms Live
Kingdoms Live is an MMORPG, in the style of Famous app and many other Mob War clones. It needs an internet connection to play. You do quests or jobs to earn experience and money, and you get special legend points when you level. You can also buy more legend points, or get them for free by clicking ads and doing surveys. You only get so many quest points and attack points per hour. The main way to earn money is to buy land, which gives you a certain income every hour. Eventually it will go exponentially high. You can attack other players, and invite them into your army. Interactivity is limited.

Character creation: name, race, class
Story: no overall story
Gear: various items to enhance your character stats
Sidequests: quests are jobs to earn money and experience
Treasure: some quests drop loot
Features: real-time income earning, even when the game is off
Links: TouchArcade Fan site

Back to top

Outer Empires - NEW
Finally in the App Store, Outer Empires is a space MMORPG that is available to play both via web browser and on the iPhone. You you start out as a newly graduated pilot and work your way up to ruling your own Galactic Empire as you colonise planets and build mines and research stations. You’ll need to gradually upgrade your ship over time, with hold space and weapons and so on. You can also buy blueprints to manufacture things, and build a lab to research things. The OE community is very active, with lots of friendly factions, and the developers nearly permanently in the in-game chat channels. They’re also very active and responsive in the official forums.

Character creation: name
Story: open storyline
Gear: ship parts
Sidequests: transport, exploration, combat (unlimited amount)
Treasure: exp and credits from doing jobs
Features: colonise planets, mine resources, improve blueprints
Links: Official site OE Wiki

Back to top

Aurora Feint II: Arena Daemons
This is a puzzle MMORPG, but you can play offline as well as on. You can work in the mine - a touch-and-drag jewel-matching game - to earn crystals and buy weapons and magicbooks. And you can can create a “ghost” that battles other players. This is described as “real-time asynchronous PvP duelling” which means that someone can fight your ghost while you’re away, and vice versa. If your ghost wins you get honour points to buy Daemons which enhance your abilities. Also if you rotate the iPhone, the accelerometer swaps the puzzle orientation, creating more moves.

Character creation: name, portrait
Story: none
Gear: different levels of spells and weapons
Sidequests: none
Treasure: crystals from the mining game
Features: PvP puzzle fights, accelerometer rotation
Links: Official forums

Back to top

Orions: Legend Of Wizards
This game has been recommended though I haven’t yet played it. It’s a fantasy cards turn-based strategy game. You collect trading cards which are like battle units, travelling from city to city to battle local rulers using your deck. You then build things in that city if you win, which allows you to buy more cards.

Character creation: name, portrait
Story: conquering the world
Gear: duelling cards
Sidequests: none
Treasure: money from battles
Features: build buildings, campaign or duel mode
Links: Strategy guide

Back to top

PuzzleQuest Chapter 1 and 2
This is a brilliant game which really does manage to bridge the worlds of Bejewelled-style puzzles and RPGs. Basically you fight battles by matching game pieces, and you build up a range of spells over time to help you. Capturing foes, learning their spells, training mounts and forging items all involve variations of the gem-matching game, but with enough variety to keep it interesting. The game is very very long, as endless as you want it really, since you can keep forging new items and trying out new spells in different battles. You get stronger over time through levelling, and you also get much better at the game even without realising it. There are tons of quests and sidequests, some of which involve game-affecting choices (keep an item or return it, free a prisoner or turn them in, etc).

Character creation: name, class, portrait
Story: full storyline
Gear: magical artifacts and armour
Sidequests: several sidequests/missions
Treasure: gold from battles, quest rewards
Features: jewel-match style fighting
Links: Toucharcade Gamefaqs PuzzleQuest.ca

Back to top

Technology becomes a bore when it is an end in itself. Twitter should be the medium, not the subject. As a technology it has been old news for a while.

As a result, it’s time to start unfollowing anyone who twitters about Twitter. As this will predominantly include social media “experts” with multiple thousands of followers there should be few tears shed.

Being able to tweet “premium” or “public” tweets versus “private” or “personal” tweets would be a very useful Twitter feature. That way if you wanted to twitter your every thought, you could do it, but keep it out of your main stream of public tweets. Some blog services have Public/Private/Friends Only options. That would be very useful for Twitter. Friends could also perhaps choose whether to monitor your non-premium tweets, depending how close they really were to you, and how much they really cared about what you ate for breakfast/what toothpaste you used/how long your morning commute was/etc.

I see a split as something like this:

Premium
Tweets on interesting links, interesting photos, unique thoughts, original observations. The kind of stuff a normal person would take the time to write an interesting blog post about if they had more time.

Personal
Tweets on the minutiae of your daily life, your frustrations with minor things, a hi-score you just got in a game, a film or TV programme you just saw. The kind of stuff that is of little value or interest to anyone except the person it happened to, and possibly a couple of their friends or relatives.

This would also help professional twitterers who have work colleagues and clients and so forth reading their tweets. You can let people know about your products, your research, etc, and keep a more clean and professional Twitter profile/image by having your personal life tweets go to select personal friends. Currently one needs two accounts for this, which Twitter doesn’t make very easy.