Doctor Who Legacy – Tutorial

A few years back I spent many a happy hour playing Pirate Galaxy. I later started a blog about it called Cryonite Cove. I’ve already posted about that here and there so I won’t repeat myself. However I had a great time at the Cove and it was popular with readers. My Doctor Who:Legacy (DWL) posts have had almost as many hits as my wolf tattoo, so that’s all the encouragement I need to jump on the bandwagon.

I’ve created a new profile so that I can restart DWL from the beginning, and will blog my way through the episodes. I’ll only be using the characters and extras that drop free. Obviously I’ll be earning crystals as I go, but I’ll hold off buying characters with them until and unless I get stuck.  I’m not out to compete with Adipose, the VisualRecord, or the DWL wiki, which would be a fool's errand. This will be more of a shared journey though the game. There will be some hints in there I’m sure, plus observations, moans and discussions about the television show. Please add your own comments and feedback as we go, so I know that I’m not talking to myself.

We’ll start at the beginning with the tutorial. Yes I know you don’t need hints on how to get through it, but that’s not the point, see above.

Tutorial

Preceding Episode: This is where you start. I’m not going to explain how you download and install the app. Who’d want to read that?

Following Episode: Nightmare in Silver: Closed For Business

If you’ve played DWL then you’ve been though this tutorial. It’s on rails, so you have little freedom of action other than quitting story segments. The tutorial sets the scenario and introduces you to the basic game play. There’s no, “This is the Doctor, he’s an alien…” so the game assumes you know who and what Doctor Who is. There seems to be no way to replay this tutorial later on. I had to create a new Google+ profile to start the game again from scratch. This isn’t unusual though. There seem to be few games where you can restart with the same log in. Maybe it’s because that would be a free way to freshen things up when you became a little jaded. Obviously game companies would prefer that you spent cash on extras and premium areas instead. That’s reasonable. Everyone’s got a right to earn a living.

You're sure that dress
goes with Green?

So the story starts on the streets of Cardiff, 16th October 1978. Why? I don’t know. Cardiff is no surprise as it’s new Who’s home. I looked the date up and learned it was the day of Pope John Paul II's election, plus Kapil Dev made his test debut. The Tardis Data Core told me that in the Whoniverse, the 4th Doctor and Romana were looking for the 3rd segment of the Key to Time on Earth in 78, though that was in Cornwall. Maybe it’s the birthday of one of the game designers. Maybe I need to get out more.

The 11th Doctor and Madame Vastra exit the TARDIS mid-conversation, text appearing in a box below the pictures of the characters. Be aware, do not click the little ‘x’ in the top right corner, because this exits the story. I did this when I first played, and as I’ve said it’s not easy to revisit the tutorial. The Doctor and Vastra have a little debate about what’s going on and the Sonic Screwdriver is soon being waved about.

I hope that The War Doctor’s dig at his future selves in The Day of the Doctor, “What are you going to do? Assemble a cabinet at them?” points to a little less sonic shuffling from the 12th Doctor. It’s not a weapon, yet 10 and 11 were always jabbing it in hostile faces to keep them back. I know it might give an aggressor pause, but this tactic was overdone. I’d rather The Doctor offered them a jelly baby, feigned idiocy or otherwise used his brain and personality to gain the upper hand.

The Doctor and Vastra conclude that the Sontarans (Hooray!) are somehow involved, and then they spot you hiding behind the bins. Luckily Vastra decides to help you up rather than dice you up. That’s when three Sontarans appear.

The tough streets of Cardiff

I love Sontarans, they’re one of my favourite monsters from the show. I remember watching Field Major Styre in The Sontaran Experiment which was first shown in 1975, so I was 8. Yes I am old. Ever since I’ve been a fan. Strax is a great character but I hope he hasn’t led his race to becoming simply comic foils.

The Doctor, no doubt waving the Sonic about, asks Vastra to help him outsmart the “armoured potato men”, which I must say seems a little racist. Vastra gives them a warning, and then reassures the Doctor that while the Sontarans have the numbers, they (and you) have the intelligence. Then the game play starts.

The tutorial takes you though the basics clearly. It explains about your health bar, which is at a feeble 166. As long as you keep it to the right of the screen then you’ll be okay. If it gets down to zero after receiving damage, then you lose the match and anything you collected in that contest. The idea of colours is explained, the 11th Doctor being Blue and Vastra yellow. If you line up 3 or more gems of one colour then all characters of that type attack. So if you were to line up 5 red gem in this match then you’d do no damage (no red characters), though the red gems would still vanish, which might bring more yellow or blue onto the board.

The little gears icon at the top is pointed out which is used to exit the match. To me it looks like a settings icon so I think they could have chosen something a bit more intuitive.

The gem board is then explained, and you are told that you have 5 seconds to drag one gem around, rearranging other gems in its wake. 5 seconds is longer than it sounds, and you can form a lot of patterns in that time. Of course it’s only 5 seconds as long as you keep touching the screen. If you take your finger off sooner, intentionally or not, the game progresses.

Your first task - Tricky

The game then explains multiple attacks, so that more than one colour combination in a move is possible and they all count. It then highlights a specific gem move on the board in front of you and tells you to watch the Doctor. You make the move (you’ve no choice), and see the Doctor blast one of the Sontarans from the screen.

Now it’s their turn, and the Sontarans hit you for a laughable 5 points of damage. The effect of Pink gems is explained and you heal yourself of all damage. Next the tactic of using more than 3 gems to boost damage is illustrated, simple enough. The next step from there is learning that a combo of 5 gems inflicts damage to all the enemies on the board. This is important, and you should try to get in the habit of looking for such rows. Now early on in my DWL career I thought that you needed to use a whole column or row to damage all opponents but that’s not the case. The rule is 5 gems or more in a single combo. It doesn't have to be in a straight line, it can be a cross, a t-shape or any other combination. The game is clear on this, but only shows a column being used. I only realised my mistake by reading the DWL Wiki. 

By now the second wave of Sontar’s finest is in your face, consisting of one Sontaran. The game tells you that you have mastered the basics, and it’s time to crack on. An example of moving a gem to create more than 1 matching set is illustrated. This skill is acquired over time, very effective but seeming difficult at first. Keep practising and before you know it, you’ll be tracing a balletic path of death through the gems, piling high the bodies of your enemies.

At least the Doctor has hair

The cool down time of the enemy is briefly explained and is easy to miss. The number under the opponent tells you when they will next attack. There is also a description of what they are going to do. Here the Sontarans just attack, but soon you will face foes that will heal themselves, lock gems in place, poison you and so on. This is vital information and you should always pay attention. If you are low in health and see that in 1 move, 2 of your enemies will attack then you’d better match up some Pinks. If you see that you have 2 moves before they heal themselves, it’s time to deal them some serious damage.

Onto special abilities next. As you will know by now I’m sure, each character has their own ability. For the Companions these become available after a certain number of turns. For example at level 1, Vastra can inflict 150 points of damage to all enemies every 9 turns. Her ability is called Riposte at this level. Each incarnation of the Doctor has their own ability, but instead of being turn based they become available after a certain number of gem combinations. So 2 combos of 3 gems in a turn is better than 1 whole row of 6, as it brings the Doctor’s special one step closer. At Rank 1 (Doctor’s have Ranks, Companions Levels) the 11th Doctor’s ability is Cunning, which deals 200 damage to all enemies after 15 combos. However if you save this ability and rack up an additional 15 combos, then he will be able to dish out 500 points instead. All Doctors have two level special abilities, which in some cases is actually an inconvenience.

Flashy

In the tutorial you will now see the Doctor’s portrait surrounded by a rotating flash, indicating that his doubled-up ability is ready. This option comes up much earlier in the tutorial than in regular play. Tap the Doc’s portrait and confirm the use of Cunning. A close up flash of the Doctor sweeps across the screen, the poor Sontarans get fried, and a greyed out portrait icon drops towards your team. The match is over and you are victorious. Nice one.

We now go back to the story, with the Doctor complaining that none of this makes sense. He says that the Sontarans invade Earth much later in the 20th Century, and he knows because he was there. This must be a reference to The Two Doctors, which takes place in 1985, just 7 years after this tutorial. I wouldn’t call that ‘much later’ but never mind.

Vastra suggests that if there’s a Sontaran battle fleet in orbit then they’d better get this human i.e. you, somewhere safe. She also thinks it would be a good idea to get some help. The Doctor agrees, and says that he has someone in mind. You all go back to the TARDIS and the Doctor gets busy with the console. He picks up multiple Vortex Manipulator signals, and realises that the Sontarans have mastered time travel, using it to go back in time and alter the outcome of every major inter-galactic war. They are doing this to create one final, ultimate war. All bets are off you might say, and every race, planet and individual in history is back in play. This is a convenient way for the game to include anything and anyone from Doctor Who’s 50 years of history. It's also consistent to the shows internal logic, or at least as consistent as Doctor Who ever gets.

I'd look for River first too

The Doctor decides that you must all go back and collect allies, as there’s strength in numbers. Vastra starts this off by calling Jenny Flint, the greyed out icon you briefly saw at the end of the battle, and Vastra’s human wife. Is this the first mobile game to include a same-sex inter-species marriage? Good to see that they’re not being stupidly coy to avoid upsetting the one or two conservative players that might take offence.

That’s pretty much it. Next you see Vastra’s experience scale get a boost, and discover that you now have the chance to add the lovely Jenny to the team.

Welcome to the Doctor’s new adventures, says the game, and asks if you’d like to take the Main Menu tutorial. I would if I was you. This tutorial is more traditional, lacking a story but taking you through how to chose an adventure, add Jenny to the team, explore the abilities of characters, etc. etc. The Perks section is a bit of an add on rather than being completely integrated as they only came along with version 2.0 of DWL. It’s clear enough though. 

In my opinion this is a good tutorial. It shows you enough to get you started, sets up the story, and shows an accurate picture of the game. After the tutorial you’ll either wipe it from your device or have your appetite whetted. I do think that it’s easy to misunderstand or even miss completely some of the finer points, and it’s not easy to get later clarification explanation in the game. For instance I couldn’t understand the Upgrade system at first. Luckily there are some good places to look for help, the best I’ve found so far being the DWLegacy wiki. Bookmark this one, I’m sure I’ll be linking to it several times in future posts.