When I first booted up Super Gems3 during its early access period, I'll admit my excitement was tempered by what felt like a diamond in the rough. The game has been a bit rough out of the gate, and that's putting it mildly. As someone who's played every installment in the Super Gems franchise since its debut back in 2015, I've developed certain expectations about polish and presentation. What struck me immediately was the janky melee combat system that feels like it needs another two months of development time. The character movements lack the fluidity we saw in Super Gems2, with hit detection that occasionally misses the mark by what feels like 15-20% in tight combat situations.
The real elephant in the room, however, has been the challenge reset situation. The developers announced they're wiping everyone's progress on incomplete challenges due to unspecified backend problems. Now, I understand technical issues happen - I've been covering game launches since 2010 and can count on one hand the titles that launched perfectly. But resetting progress days after players paid that $20 early access premium leaves a sour taste. From my tracking, approximately 68% of early adopters hadn't completed the advanced gem fusion challenges yet, meaning the majority of dedicated fans are seeing their efforts vanish. It creates this weird psychological effect where you're hesitant to invest time in any challenge, wondering if it might disappear tomorrow.
What fascinates me though, beneath these launch woes, is the incredible potential shining through the cracks. The new gem combination system allows for what appears to be over 150 possible fusion outcomes, a significant jump from the 87 combinations in the previous title. Once you push past the awkward combat mechanics, there's genuine innovation in how the elemental gems interact with environmental factors. I've spent about 45 hours with the game already, and the depth of the crafting system continues to surprise me. The way light gems now refract through ice crystals to create temporary platforms? That's brilliant design, even if the tutorial explaining it was criminally brief.
The limited tutorial does players a real disservice, especially newcomers to the series. I found myself consulting fan wikis and Discord channels far more than I should have to for a triple-A title. There's this incredible gem resonance mechanic that the tutorial completely glosses over - it took me three hours of experimentation to realize you could synchronize complementary gems for area effects. Honestly, if the developers had just included two more tutorial levels explaining these systems, the initial player retention would likely be 30-40% higher based on my analysis of similar game launches.
Here's where I might contradict some critics: despite the rocky start, Super Gems3 has the foundation to become the best in the franchise. The backend issues, while frustrating, appear to be the kind that can be resolved with patches rather than fundamental design flaws. I've noticed the development team pushing out hotfixes at a remarkable pace - three in the first 48 hours alone. Their communication on the official forums has been transparent, acknowledging the melee combat needs work and promising a comprehensive fix within two weeks. This gives me confidence we're looking at short-term growing pains rather than permanent problems.
What truly sets Super Gems3 apart, and why I believe it's worth sticking with, is the revolutionary gem customization system. The ability to socket secondary properties into primary gems creates crafting possibilities I haven't seen since the heyday of classic RPGs. I've already theory-crafted builds that could completely change how we approach endgame content. The potential for speedruns alone makes me giddy - I estimate skilled players could shave 20-25 minutes off completion times once they master these systems.
The reset situation, while poorly timed, might actually work in players' favor in the long run. Having played through some challenges multiple times during testing phases, I've discovered more efficient approaches that I wouldn't have tried if my progress had remained. There's something to be said for forced repetition revealing hidden strategies. The developers have promised double reward tokens for affected challenges once they're restored, which shows they're trying to make things right.
As I continue to explore Super Gems3's sprawling gem mines and crystalline forests, I'm constantly torn between frustration at what's broken and admiration for what works beautifully. The atmospheric storytelling through environmental details alone is worth the price of admission. Those shimmering cave paintings that reveal the history of the gem civilizations? Absolutely stunning work that the marketing materials barely highlighted.
My advice to fellow players is to view this launch period as an opportunity to master fundamentals while the kinks get worked out. Focus on understanding gem properties and elemental interactions rather than rushing through challenges that might reset. The true secrets of Super Gems3 reveal themselves to patient players who experiment with unconventional combinations. I'm already planning content around the most broken gem synergies I've discovered - wait until you see what happens when you combine three corrupted fire gems with a purified water crystal. The results are... explosive, to say the least.
This might not be the polished gem we expected on day one, but I'm convinced that with some developer love and community patience, we're looking at a potential game of the year contender. The foundation is simply too strong, the innovations too significant to write off over temporary technical troubles. Sometimes the roughest stones produce the brightest gems once properly cut and polished.
