I often wonder if game designers actually play the game that they design because some of the things they do don’t make too much sense for the player. They may be something that the designer thinks is a good idea but some items just end up frustrating the player and they move on. For example, when you start Castle Age, the designer feels you need to post a promotion for them but I skip that one. For every 10 battles you win, the designer thinks you should advertise for them so I skip that one too. Personally, this is just too often and 25 or 50 would be a better number. Just make sure the game is fun and interesting and you won’t need to force people to promote the game for you.

When you are in battle mode, you sometimes get a listing of players that is all 501 and all that seems to do for me is make me move on to another game. Don’t get me wrong, I think Castle Age is a pretty good game but I don’t think the self-serving promotion and restricting you to fight against players that are significantly stronger than you is good for the game.

Demi-Quests

This seems to be an interesting addition to the game in that you can gain Energy Bolts, Energy Potion and Favor Points to do other things in the game. I have been playing with other demi-quests that promise something will happen in time but it seems that you have to do boring and repetitive attempts with little chance of reward. This just gets frustrating and I move on once again. I really think you need to get something every once in a while, other than small amounts of gold, to make the game interesting.

Game Start

You should pick your hero each 24 hour period (one is 48 hours) and build on these since you will also get access to some different weapons and armor that don’t appear to be available anywhere else in the game. Demi-quest is different but I think it needs more and different payouts to remove the boredom from the process.

Like most other games, Castle Age rewards those that get others to join their team. The fact that you can upgrade your weapons every two players is good but usually the weapons are not that significant. It seems that Favor Points, and to a lesser extent Demi-Quests, are the only real way to grow with larger items that are useful. As usual I resist spending cash on Favor Points and just move on to another game. Castle Age is one of the few games that does give you free points every once in a while.

Make sure you are adding all the generals/heroes as you grow. A new General will be added to your team every five players as long as you have added the Hero. Make sure that your most powerful Hero is your General but also make sure you are using the proper Hero as General when you are performing Quests to gain access to other levels.