grrrrrrrraaaaahhhHHHHHHHHHHHHhh......

i missed this one as well.......gosh darnit!!!!!

GRRAHRGHAAAAH! I missed another good one!!

Well, darn it. I downloaded this, but my computer crashed so I was unable to install it before the time limit.
Shame, too, because this looked like the best game I've seen her on Gamegiveaway.

Wonderful game. Stayed up past midnight until conquered. Ha. I just couldn't stop. I love that each level was actually beatable. Most games of this type just throw more and more stuff at you until you die and so you're just trying to beat your previous high score. Much love.

This must be the worst shoot I've seen in the last 20 years. Ever seen a shoot whith only 1 dimension to move? Yeah, this is the first, amazing right? You can only go on the left and right! No forward nor backward. Ever seen a shoot, with no enemies? Your right, you also have that in that game : 1 enemi every 15 secondes on some levels. Ever finished a game you really don't like? I did with this one... welle it took a bit more than half an hour so it's not like a crazy thing to do.
So I could say this game really sucks. A lot.

I have no problems with the game. No problem with graphics 'Rocks , or dragon wings etc'. The gameplay is fast and not so easy at the hard setting. If you edit the save game file....save a copy before editing ....just to be safe.
Thanks GGAOTD!!!

addition to post #2

After reading others posts... I still believe this is my favorite game from here. It is a bummer that some people are having problems with the graphics. There must a a trial version for people to TRY it first!
I think that the graphics are very nice. Gameplay is smooth on ths dual 2GHZ. I dont have any special video card.
I really like medevial dragon warrior dungeons and dragons style games. The first game i ever played where i wrode a dragon was when i was about 18 years old "20 years ago". So this one is very nice to me. I have no problems with pieces dissapearing in the graphics "Rocks, or dragon wings etc.". The gameplay is actually very nice and isnt to easy at its harder settings.
I did infact finish the game rather quick after i figured out how to edit the save files. I wasnt disappointed when i finished the game, i just hoped to see Part2 and Part3... the rest of the saga...

I hope that 300AD builds more on this game in the future. Maybe ad more of a storyline, and make it so it is more like a RPG also. Yup, maybe even ground sequences with a different player interface to go along with this one...

A+++

Installed just fine after extraction, but when game started, had a rolling bar couple inches big at the top and 3 columns left to right which were all blurred but looked like the same starting paragraph on each.

Would seem a setting for video is off?
HP Multi Media PC, XP

Thanks, Kim and thanks to GGAOTD for the diversity of their games. I know some have said some are too young, but I play all of the Lord of the Rings, Eragon, etc., which sometimes can be a lot of mental work, so I like relaxing to something more "childlike" lol.

I installed the game at 3:51 PM, and uninstalled at 6:36 PM. It took me just over 2.5 hours to beat the game on normal difficulty. Everything in the game was much to slow. It feels like it was created with Point-and-Click Software. There was no variation in the firing rate whether you held the button down or clicked quickly, so I just held it down.

Graphics are okay, game play is okay. I don't think I would pay $20 for this game though. That said I did give it a Thumbs Up, because it was somewhat enjoyable.

Thanks Game GotD, and 300 AD.

Nice game for younger children. Far too easy for teenagers and above.

Thanks to 300 AD and GGAOTD for another game today - the dwarf-game yesterday was really cute, so I'm giving this one a try, too. The dsl download/setup took less than 3 minutes on my Windows XP system and the 'patch' at their website took even less. Thanks!

This games plays and sounds fine on my system, uses the arrow-keys and the mouse and is one of the easier games for me to play with my hands. Thank you so much for another great game offering!

# 39: Well, I clicked one of the 'three' red dots on the map, a little screen appeared and then go play the game. Also, I picked the 'witch' and she flies a unicorn, so she must be a 'good-witch' with virginity intacted, as the legend's say, and dragon's are usually not considered evil either.

Thanks to WR-Stephen for the great links in his review and all the other comments,too. Again, thanks GGAOTD - I appreciate the 'new to me' games that you offer each week.

Awesome game and like this giveaway. Thanks

This is a fun game and very addictive. Another game that is hard to stop playing. This is similar to space shooter type games, but it's not in space and you shoot monsters instead of enemy ships. When you destroy a monster, it sounds like an exploding ship would sound in space shooters...LOL

I recommend this game if you like shooters, but be warned that once you start, you won't be able to stop.

Does not work with my vista HP, even when in compatibility mode.

Thank you GGOTD. It's been a very nice weekend. Both the games that were offered were great fun games without any problems. Your doing a great job of offering a nice variety games, see you next weekend :) .

Can someone please answer my question (#39) I would really like to try the game out. Thanks

Brendan, comment #50 have you tried changing the graphics setting in the games options menu? One one of them the dragon and all the enemies disappear, but on the other setting (I think it's open GL) it works. If it still doesn't you may need to update your openGL drivers. I posted a link to a download page for several OpenGL files in yesterdays review which you can find in the forums; just look below the system requirements section for the link:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3588

I hope this resolves your problem.

nice game really good action and fun

bummmer on the xp machine either plays with shots showing and no dragon or dragon shows but no shots :-( time for a new graphics card

downloaded, registered at ggotd.
opened game for version which was 1.3 then closed to install patch, installed patch to 1.4
opened it, said it was 1.4 version. closed it.
left to have lunch, came back, opened it and now it wants to go on the internet.
it is not an internet game where you have to play online.
my bitdefender says it wants to call home, why?
has anyone else had this do it to them?

Installed and played fine on my XP system. I then went back and installed the patch. I was able to just extract the patch files to the ArchMage folder and was upgraded to the 1.04 version. I don't know if sludgehound (comment #41) had to do it different because he has Vista or that he hadn't installed the game first. It seems to run 'just a little' choppier after the upgrade, not sure why.

Those that have finished the game already; which mode where you in? There is 'easy', 'normal', and 'hard'. I think default is set to normal, has anyone finished the game in 'hard' mode? Does it get any harder the finish the game? I played in 'normal' mode and was 'killed' a couple of times and have not yet finished the game.

As said before, not a bad game. It could be a little more challenging but then, maybe that's what the 'hard' setting is for. :)

Great game for killing time or sharing with a younger generation. I got this the last time it was offered and kept it on my system after I beat it because it was a game my grandchildren loved to play when they would come over. I lost it when my system crashed so I am very happy to see it come around again

Such a shame, the setup file is damaged and can't be extracted... :-( So i can not play the game! :-(

I'm not sure if 1.04 fixes this, I just installed it but I'm not going to try it out yet. I was playing and got through a ton of stages. I decided to let one of the kids play and made them a new profile. They played for a bit and stopped (actually I wanted to play again) and I switched the profile back to mine. Everything I had done was gone other than my score. All the spells I unlocked and all of the areas I opened were gone.

Other than that, it's a really fun game but I'm not in the mood to redo all of that at this moment.

Why are you complaining, it's not call of duty, it's not unreal, it's not a host of other top level, multimillion dollar company's commercial product. It's probably the coding of one or two guys who love doing this stuff. Enjoy it or not, it's free for now, and they are trying to make a couple of bucks. Don't buy it, buy it, whatever. You would probable complain about a free meal.

Downloaded it fine, played it for two hours and finished the game??? Yes, the game is rather easy for adults I may say. Not the kind of game I'd like to keep (finished it anyway). But it IS a good game, in spite of its rather 'challenging' levels. Oh, for the downside, it lags a little during later levels, but not too much of a problem. Got to download it, for those who have not, not a bad game really. Thanks again GAOTD and 300AD. Your games are good.

I am not a fan of these kinds of games... very dissapointed at the selections of late.

Played this in prior giveaway and liked it. Vista HP fine.
To use Patch file...must first create an empty folder ArchMage.
Put the 2 files from the patch in it. (I put both games, and the 2
within games) in there. Now run the usual setup file from GOTD.
You will get ver 1.04 shown in Credits in game menu.
Couldn't get it by overwriting a plain 1.03 folder with the patch.
files. Just stays at 1.03
Neat little flying dragon w/ spell mixer if you rem it.

All of the games here by 300AD do not work on my new Vista Dell Inspiron 1525. :(

Can someone tell me how to start the game? I didn't see a hint window and I clicked all around the map but nothing happened. Also, is the Witch good or evil? Thanks

Martin and Gymbo, comments #23 and 25, I seem to remeber having the same problem the first time I got this last October, but it was resolved by changing the settings in the options menu. There's openGL and D3D. For me if I have it set on D3D; everything but the explosion effects disappear, but setting it on openGL, everything is visible.

I hope this resolves the problems you have.

Regards

Stephen

Whoops, my bad. This is 300AD, not Rakeingrass. No wonder it's so much worse than Jets n' Guns. :)

Answering number 23 problem: The shadows are the enemies, just try hovering yourself over the shadow and fire.

Wow. What an amateurish top-down shooter. This is nowhere near as good as Jets n' Guns by the same developers.
Controls are broken - side-to-side movement only, and you move faster with mouse rather than keyboard.
Can't remap controls.
Power-ups are timed, not per shot, so there's no reason not to just hold down the shoot button.
Had one level where I killed >100% of enemies, so their code is buggy. Also, levels ended prematurely with rune bonuses uncollectable.
Crappy help system. Started the game, no way of knowing what to do next. Finally clicked on a red dot (which wasn't hugely obvious, but I was looking for it) and was greeted with a random series of tips that repeated themselves before they finished scrolling through all tips. So you can't be sure of knowing everything you need to know to play...

Very fun game, thank you GAOTD and 300AD! :)

@ #27

What do expect man, it's FREE giveaways on this site after all!

Im going to give it a go, thanks GOTD...

I can't get the sound to work and when I play the game the sprites are invisible. The sound problem is apparent on the game from yesterday too, Phantasia 2, although the graphics seem to work ok on that one.

Seems to run fine on Vista Home Premium. Have not tried the patch yet, but it is available on their site.

Curious if Vista users have run with success yet.

The only game I've enjoyed from this site in MONTHS has been Puzzle Myth. Repeats and Shoot 'em Ups ... ah today we get both. Why bother even checking anymore? As for this game - I found it frustrating and uninteresting the first two times, and doubt that is going to change. Not everyone has first class computer gear, assuming that would help the frustration, - some of us are lucky to even have one.

Version 1.03? I thought its at leas 1.04 or higher by now, I have the version 1.04 somewhere in my hdd.


According to http://www.300ad.com/archmage.php there is a patch to 1.04 http://www.gameofyear.com/download/archmage104patch.zip not sure if it will work with this.

#18: TAPASH, Kingmania has been offered twice on GGAOTD:

July 6th, 2008 at http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/king-o-mania/

and prior to that:

May 25th, 2008 at http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/kingmania/

an interesting game with some annoyances.

I have no comments to make on the current offering as I do not like top down shooter genre.

I have exactly the same problem as Martin #23.
Running XP Pro, and never had a problem with ANY game before, let alone a small one like this.

Good game. Can't beat the price. Sounds are cool.

Something must've gone wrong with my installation. I have background, sound, shadows and shots, and that's it. No dragon, no player, no enemies. Kind of hard to play then...

1) Cost: their website says $12.95 to buy, not $19.95 (Free here, anyway, but there were comments that $20 was overpriced!)

2) Definitely check out the sponsor's site, since they have other FREE full game versions available as well as trials of many other cool games!

Decent little game, and I do mean little.....got to the end in like 2 hours. Maybe the patch will give more levels or something. Nice little time waster, wish it wasn't so easy though!

I love you guys......I have yet to be disappointed....Thanks Thanks and Thanks some more