Kaycees mod and its rigged matches (Please fix)

[TieDyeShyGuy]

Contrary to popular belief yes there absolutely are situations that are rigged and outside of any skill issues the player may or may not have and ive ran into a few but this ones happened repeatedly.
Before others or a mod say its challenging(challenging isnt cheated) and its reliant on rng(rng isnt rigged) or claim that it cant happen. It absolutely has and will on occasion happen to myself or others.


Example
multiple skulls active (single life, one point of damage on scales, totems on battles etc)
If leshy has the double strike or bifurcated strike totem and has a turkey vulture (3 att 3 hp) in reserve to play first turn and the game does not give you a air defense card or a card with 2 3 damage on your first draw (or if you dont have 2 3 pairs of pliers)
You cannot win. You will take 6 points of unavoidable damage and there is NOTHING you can do about it. You have now been cheated out of winning that match before you even got to play. And no there are not item interactions outside of having 2 3 pliers to prevent this loss. You cannot affect the card as it has not been played. You cannot hook the card. You cannot cut the card. you cannot bleach the card.

It is literally rigged from the start and there is ZERO possibility of winning. That scenario is actually impossible to win against. (go ahead try save scumming when you run into it and you will spend quite some time trying to disprove this) You will lose on first turn and there is not a single thing the player can do about that. Ive ran into this combo at least 4 times and its just the end of a run.
There is not one thing you can do to prevent yourself from dying instantly. and with one life thats a rigged game over outside of your control.


Please have anyone do something about that. a hotfix or something. Remove leshys ability to play rigged hands. This isnt the only rigged combo the game will throw at you. This kindof stuff shouldnt be in the game. If the player is going to fail it "should" be because the player made a mistake not because artificial difficulty deems you dont get to play that run.


Tl;d
Usually losses are a skill issue vs rng. However
Rigged matchs with zero player agency need to be removed. It is not always rng.
Certain rigged hands or rigged draws need to be removed for fair play.
Difficulty is one thing, Cheating the player with rigged hands is not difficulty.
Fix it.



Edit:
For the record.
I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love this game and gotta add act 2 is the best part because of the ancient Gameboy Pokemon TCG style and system. Not just downing on the game.

Correction you need a 3att or 3 pairs of pliers to survive first turn of the rigged match. I was wrong =)

[Secundus]

Hello there!

Thanks for writing a detailed review of the possible scenarios that can be frustrating or difficult to play against. While our team is currently working on our next game, I always take note of the feedback such as yours so that future gameplay choices can be designed in different mediums (in terms of difficulty, replayability, strategy-making, etc.).

While I am not entirely sure if there is such a mod, our modding community has done a tremendously good job at creating mods that alter gameplay. Perhaps you can find one that is overlapping with your request!

Thanks once again and please keep the feedback coming!

[RequiemsRose]

It would be nice to rein in the RNG a little bit, but i also found out that kaycee's mod kind of expects at least some item reliance as well, especially if going for achievements like skull storm (still havent managed, dang it). There are absolutely some matches that just end up entirely unwinnable, even if you get the redraw when save scumming (seems rare, not entirely sure what triggers it, if you do get it then you also get stuck with the redraw if you keep reloading). I even get that with so much determined by RNG that might still be true, but slightly less often would be a bit nice.

If it doesn't change or you want to continue before any changes end up happening, i have noticed that kaycees mod can be a bit item reliant as well. Make sure you unlock the painting puzzle, and having pack rat(s) doesn't hurt either. Use items that you dont have much use for (in my case stuff like frozen possum or boulder are immediately rejected, squirrel is often used quickly, might save black goat or item cycle it depending on deck setup, etc) and replace them with a packrat or a backpack map node. I personally prefer the packrat because you can use it almost every battle to switch around items (moreso if you slap something like unkillable or fecundity on it) but the map node gives you slightly more control over what items you do get since you can actually pick out of an assortment. Even when your own cards fail you, having items like the scissors, knife, hourglass, or sometimes even the rotation one can help a surprising amount on the continued survival front.

[TieDyeShyGuy]

I mean its clearly a bug for whats allowed to draw but seems it wont be fixed and will continue to cheat players out of runs unfairly.
Since this is being used for feedback for the next game and not in anyway going to help get this game fixed.
Id like to be clear here on one thing. Im not saying im the smartest or very skilled at this game but math is math. That isnt a situation that is "difficult" to play against. Or in any way challenging. If this happens. there is zero agency. It is the next run. Do not pass go. Go back to start. Run is dead.
This scenario is literally rigged against the player. You cannot beat this. Unless you can explain how without the game fairly giving the player that specific loadout of items in the shop and draw a survivable hand that the turn is in any way winnable even with the fair play mechanic or save scumming for an illegitimate win. That scenario and others like it are outright broken or rigged. Being difficult is not the same as rigging the game entirely.There should be a stopgap/failsafe for that kind of possibility to at the very least allow it to be winnable.
Even a scenario such as Too fast too soon is at the very least beatable as it doesnt start turn 1 with cards off field and allows prep time and items but with many skulls you tend to have only 2 items. You cannot have 3 pliers. This is not survivable.
Unless used in a direct kill the player with no option to win for lore reasons. this is unacceptable for normal gameplay unless explained to the player there is a chance they will lose with zero possibility of a win on occasion.

Could be a simple oversight with draw mechanics vs powerful cards +2 etc but seems like a simple if etc is etc then etc doesnt/does happen unless im mistaken.

Another example is two center space elks with bifurcated strike on turn 1. without a specific 1st turn hand. your doomed

[Zer0 X]

Not exactly the same problem, but I've had consistently terrible luck on Leshy specifically where the deck feels artificially stacked. In all 12 of the runs I've done after deleting save data, 7 of my runs at Leshy the hand and top 2-3 cards would result in an auto loss [which thankfully items are overpowered] where i'm not kidding, ANY OTHER DRAW FROM MY DECK would result in not losing on the prospector turn. Theoretically because its a card game this could happen at any time but considering its happened ONCE outside of Leshy...on the third boss... it just feels very purposeful when I can go the entire game drawing what feels like normal and even losing the occasional non boss, to drawing the exact worst possible cards when the majority of my deck would cause a stable board state.

[α E-MAN-cipation Ω]

Yeah, the game is rather rigged, but that's fine, I guess.
Been having horrible third bosses and whatnot.
Then again I'm still rather bad at the game, even with fired up Wolf Cards to 8DMG and 8HP at 2 blood cost.
Yes, it does seem impossible to beat sometimes, like it really is impossible.

[Hariman]

It's honestly tiresome hitting perfect counters that can't be beaten by your current deck.

Especially when it's the final boss or a later boss.

[DiamondSTFU]

I'm convinced that at least in Kaycee's mod, The final Leshy is totally rigged, I have the best cards with multi hit, Large damage (6 or more) in my deck and FOUR times a row, I don't draw them, Or the cards that i need to play them (Black goats+ Two other cards with Black goats ability) This NEVER happened with other bosses in all FOUR runs.

[Hariman]

Originally posted by DiamondSTFU:

I'm convinced that at least in Kaycee's mod, The final Leshy is totally rigged, I have the best cards with multi hit, Large damage (6 or more) in my deck and FOUR times a row, I don't draw them, Or the cards that i need to play them (Black goats+ Two other cards with Black goats ability) This NEVER happened with other bosses in all FOUR runs.

It really does make the Fair Hand mechanic the most powerful thing in the game.

The fair hand mechanic makes sure you have SOMETHING you can play on turn 1, so if you only have one combination of cards that's playable, you WILL get that on turn one.

[phantom]

I have not seen that turkey vulture. That said while it is very unfair it is not unbeatable. You can end the game before it spawns. You can use stinky, air block, or Cuckoo. Though in the first two cases you would need to deal 3 damage to survive.

Though given how much offensive is prominent in Skull Storm Cuckoo is the only one I can see being used outside of flukes. So yeah pretty unfair for triple strike.

For double strike I fail to see the issue. Just do 3 damage.