(I wasn't really sure whether to post this in Dev Feedback subforum, or in the FT2 subforum. Hope I chose correctly. :P )
A Review of Fish Tycoon 2 by Rainbowfish
-a veteran player of Fish Tycoon 1-When I did a random search for fish games on Apple Store and Fish Tycoon 2 came up, suffice it to say, I totally flipped out. I played FT1, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I had been waiting for years for the day that FT2 came out.
New Features That I Love:
- The graphics have been improved; the fish look awesome, and the shop looks so spiffy now! I am especially in love with the revamped
I will probably be in love with more, but have not discovered them yet, heh.
- New breeds, new fin types. Some of the renamed breeds make so much more sense now, as do the fins. I will not name names, so you do not get spoiled.
- Ability to buy multiples of the same item - this was a problem in FT1, and I am glad to see that it is fixed!
- Medicines and other items no longer occupy the same slot in the Inventory. Thank you so much.
- The Findex. I love, love, love the Findex! It is so much easier to keep track of what you have bred already, and what you still need to breed.
Gameplay:
It is very easy for a beginner to learn how to play the game. The controls are intuitive, and the tutorial is clear. In the beginning, it is a bit difficult to start out, but it is also almost impossible to make mistakes with what you have. The fact that one may earn extra coins from videos makes it easy to start over with eggs without having to restart the whole game. It is also easy to obtain enough money to treat outbreaks of diseases in the tanks.
The gameplay itself is fairly easy - breed, grow, sell, breed again. The challenge lies in the strategy - which fish to sell, which to keep, and which crossbreeds to try. It is especially challenging with only two tanks - the third tank costs gems (game currency obtainable by real-world currency) to acquire. It is possible to earn enough gems to get tank number three over time, however, by watching videos. The game definitely makes you think about which fish are valuable and which are not (for various reasons).
Feedback:
There are certainly a few issues which still need to be worked on, eventually.
A common complaint that I have seen involves the "high" cost of gems. However, I find it relatively simple to run the video ads while I'm watching real-world TV. So this is not a huge problem. The issue is when the game restarts, the gem-type purchases do not transfer over, which in fact inhibits players from making real-world purchases. When I wish to restart, I certainly do not wish to try getting another 1,000 gems from videos for tank number three! This might be circumvented by a method in which after actually earning tank three in the first game by either videos or payment, or both, then thereafter granting the player the 1,000 gems needed for tank three at each restart.
Another issue is that when one restarts the game, it's basically the same mechanism all over again. The puzzle is the same. So now here the challenge is not so much fun. I recommend randomizing the crossbreeding "table", so that in each game, Fish A and Fish B results in a different Fish C. It may either be randomized automatically, or the folks at LDW could assign one of several pre-prepared breeding tables to a game when they receive a restart request.
I think, though, that LDW would do much better in sales for the game if they turned FT2 into a game that continues "forever". One method for doing this might be that after they play and finish fully the basic game, then they would unlock additional features. For example, unlocking the ability to purchase a fourth, fifth, sixth, etc. tank, and the ability to play a "new" puzzle - perhaps a different breeding table, or an entirely new group of fish. The fish could either be different breeds/fins, or simply recolors of the existing fish and crossbreeding under a new table type.
There could be events - possibly, an "Event Tank" and a challenge that can only take place inside the Event Tank. For example, a Winter Holiday event would grant players a few eggs of specially colored breeds/fins, and the challenge there is to breed all 21 (or however many fin varieties there ends up being) before the event is over. They would have to do this in addition to "daily event orders" - customers ordering a certain number of an event breed/type. At the end of the event, the players could be granted the ability to "transport home" favored event fish into their regular tanks. (Another reason for needing 4+ tanks...)
There could be daily or weekly challenges, along the lines of "breed x of fish A and x of fish B for customer y".
I would very much love to see a type of "genetics" incorporated into an advanced tier of the game. For instance, breeding two fish A to each other might result, depending on their genes, result in a lighter or darker Fish A offspring. Or even different colors. You could have a store that offers "gened fish" for gems, or a "genetic injector". With weekly or monthly updates with new "genes" FT2 could run on for years!
I would also like to see more decorations, as well as the ability to add more than one of a decoration to the tank.
I'd sure like to see the crossbreeds added to the Findex. Each entry could have, say, a popup that shows the crossbreeds that you have tried which got the fish as as a result.
All in all, this is a very good start to Fish Tycoon 2, and I hope to see this game continue to be updated and improved upon in the future!
Thanks. 
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