I've never quite figured out why people go so crazy over Nerdook's games. They're usually quite simplistic and about as visually/graphically appealing as Windows 1.1.

Oh this is *fun*. Best of Nerdook. I did run into some oddness after several games -- I've had footprints leading nowhere, causing me to lose a province.

Oh yeah, now I'm getting it all the time. Footprints leading nowhere, and I suppose no daimyo on the board.

I liked this one thoroughly.

With the good powerup-system, it could do with some more provinces.

bio

I've actually had quite a good amount of success prioritizing the ally regeneration skill. At normal difficulty, I had problems related to learning the game, but once I beat it once, I was able to finish the other difficulties without defeats, despite some rather dicey situations.

This is yet another quality offering from developer nerdook. But the one thing I am compelled to say is that it certainly is "minesweeper-inspired" in that it takes a few notes, but does not function much like a minesweeper type puzzler except for the notion of tracking the Daimyo with his footsteps. Discovering that was my one note of disappointment in an otherwise enjoyable title.

Interesting game, tricky though. Apparently I'm really good at finding the Daimyo, but really bad at beating him. Which made me realize that those "permanent" upgrades are only permanent if you defeat him.

@LittleGhost

All remaining Mooks join the Daimyo fight so fight them if you can, thanks to joye for this info.

Very strange bug ... (on Hardcore, so far) though I don't have any defeats, my campaign eventually shows me with 2 defeats. Some odd saving thing, I suppose.

My previous report with the footprints may be due to my own error.

Some random notes.

If I have time, I'll come back and list the additions (enemies, terrain) to each level. Feel free to crib any helpful bits if you're doing a full guide.

Two things which might not have been mentioned (I've read through twice, but I'm fuzzy today).
Every conquered province will add an enemy advantage.
And surrounding each daimyo are the sum of all the remaining mooks in the province.
Both points should affect strategy. For instance, if a warrior type has yet to be introduced, adding a buff to them won't matter.

I agree on the archery thing.

A wild suggestion, just for verisimilitude: make the samurai only pick adjacent tiles to explore, like he's actually scouting the land on foot. Now that would be *difficult*. And it would be awesome in a hex grid, too.

By the way: the art and music are quite beautiful. Recommended for a late night snack after watching melodramatic samurai anime.

I am having an issue where once I click on a province, I can't do anything else.

At the two lower difficulties, the Brute is kind of worthless. I frequently saw him lumber toward an enemy while my Samurai finished fighting a different enemy, turned around, passed the Brute, and killed his target for him. But on Nightmare, enemies have much more HP, so you spend more time whacking them and less time running from target to target. Then the Brute starts to shine. Meanwhile the Monk becomes less effective, unless you have enough energy to keep reviving him.

I agree that the archer is pitiful. The super samurai should commit super seppuku for commanding his allies so poorly.

I use the Brute to keep the Archer alive. The Monk seems to need lots of speed and damage to do any good, but later I need him as another body for the same deal... keep the Archer alive.

Here's the thing... if you click on a square with mooks, and then leave it to fight later:

Wooo, broke 400,000! There's a surprising amount of replayability (read: help, I am addicted) just in trying different strategies. And you really have to watch the battle, too; though the movements are random, even 2 notches of experience boosting does make a difference.