This game aint right and thats sad.

[Kigre]

I end my runs at the start of "The Final Mission"
The game, in my eyes, ceased to be fun at that point. Even with a lot of cards unlocked and deckbuilds that fairly easily gets me there. Its fun on the way there and i really enjoy the game.

But the final missions... nah man, forget about it. Its frustrating, annoying enemies and suddenly the deck, the strategies, the tactics, the upgrades, isn't useful enough anymore.
Which is weird right!? Why would the game allow me to get that far only to say "Nope, wrong deck!" LOL. That is so lame.

Learn a thing or two from Hades!!! Best rougelike ever made imo!

I really enjoyed the game in the beginning, then it just got less and less fun with the mechanics as the game progressed.

Also the AI cheat. They know what cards you get and very, very rarely do they allow themselves to get kicked/pushed off map. It does happen for sure but the AI cheats and it feels unfair.

Then i noticed, I.e that going for block was kinda useless when the enemy attacks exceeds WAY beyond the block i had. 3-4 block cards to stop ONE enemy attack!? Yeah ok, pointless cards for pointless strats.

Fun to begin with then the game nosedives.

That is all. Just a small rant.

Now on to other games. o7

[Air Master Burst]

I actually think acts 2 and 3 are a bit too easy, especially act 3, but I've probably played more deckbuilders than most people. Act 4 is where it starts to get interesting, and I think the finale is a lot of fun.

This game doesn't cheat, at least not on Purist. Enemies will always try to avoid moving into position to get pushed, no matter what you have in your hand.

Block can be viable through the endgame, but you really need the right cards and enhancements, and you're not guaranteed to get them every time.

(Actually, it DOES sort of "cheat" in your favor on the lower difficulties, autodrawing move cards and giving rollbacks, but I don't think that's what you meant)

[Kigre]

I just found the design mechanics got more frustrating than enjoyable.
I have a rule, when there are more elements of frustration than there are of joy, i stop playing the game and that is what has happened here.

It was fun in the beginning tho and i cant really say ive experienced such a hard drop in enjoyment of a game ever...*shrugs.

Either way, i'd say i got my moneys worth but i wouldnt recommend it to anyone.
Which is funny, cause i did recommend it to my friends the first two days of play.

I have since retracted that statement. :)

[evlieghe]

I've played a couple hundred hours and at one time, I hit a limit on the final stage at purist level. The fault was not the game mechanics, just my deck not being suited.

After a few dozen tries being obliterated, I've begun building my deck focusing on what I needed in this final stage and I did go to the ultimate fight a dozen time in a row and won on purist level.

It's hard to find the right balance but moving isn't effective since ennemies follow you when you use move cards. So I designed a deck to move with attacking and grappling cards.

And then I focused on momentum to pile up counter and dodge (counter and dodge together is waaaaaay more effective : You use dodge to avoid being hit since counter is less effective with ennemies hitting harder and you use counter to hit back)

Since I don't use movement cards, my combo don't drop and I can use combo cards to hit hard.

The fun in this game is, you can always progress and the random card deal add some fun since you can always find a way to cover your need. I don't have the momentum mastery or the opportunity to get missions that give momentum ? Then I just use a combinaison of focus, jab, split kick...

Yes it's quite frustrating when you begin a turn and you've been dealt cards that, no matter what, will make you loose. I however declined the redraw upgrade earlier that would have saved me...
Is the IA cheating or did I took risks that didn't pay ? 99.99% of the time, I failled because I lost concentration and/or I put myself in a bad situation where only a lucky card draw could save my ass.

There is no cheating in this game, just bad planning or risks that didn't pay.

[Kigre]

Ok ok. I get you. I just found the progress in the game was more frustrating than enjoyable.
Thats just me tho.

But here is how i know the AI cheats sometimes.
They will move into a "kick out" position always when I DONT GET any cards that can kick em off. And when i do get a card that can kick em off, they are not in pos.
Its so obvious.

[TDude]

I'm sure your feedback is appreciated by the devs. It sounds like you had a decent enough time that it wasn't an awful experience :)

I just want you to know that from a game design and coding perspective, it would be *really* surprising if they designed any of the enemies to move based on what's in your hand. It would be more difficult to code for basically no benefit.

You're blaming the wrong things.

[Kigre]

A.I cheating aside i'd say im blaming the right things, thats why i stopped playing! :)

[Spawnling]

Originally posted by Kigre:

Also the AI cheat. They know what cards you get and very, very rarely do they allow themselves to get kicked/pushed off map. It does happen for sure but the AI cheats and it feels unfair.

If AI reads your hand it does so very poorly. It's more likely that you don't build your deck right, if the AI can outmanouver you that easily.
This is from one run:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789865245
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789865361
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789865473
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789865600
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789866291
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789865709
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789866410
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789866581
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789866681
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789866763
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789866837
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789866989
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789867047
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789867141
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789867232

[Kigre]

I already have the proof i need to know that they do.
Its whatever tho, stopped playing the game but not mainly because of that.

The game just took a nosedive in the fun department.
It happens.

[Air Master Burst]

"Proof" would be something like pictures or video. You know, like the other person posted to show you how the AI clearly doesn't cheat. It's ok to accept that you're bad at things sometimes. I've put at least a hundred hours into Total War and I totally suck at those games. And that's fine!

As far as this game goes, I probably get more ring out kills than regular ones. Those rooftop maps where they keep dropping ninjas at you turn into a Monty Python sketch.

[Kigre]

I dont need to prove anything here, as i said, "I" have the proof i need to know that they do.

AND that's not why i quit. That was just a sidenote.

Again, the game just took i nosedive in the fun department.
THAT IS THE MAIN REASON I QUIT!

And that's fine, it happens to some games.
This was just so noteable i had to vent and i have zero desire to venture back.
Which rarely happens to this degree.

[Zephyr]

I totally don't understand why the last mission is so different in your eyes from the rest of the game. For me the enemies used in the last mission are mostly using the same tropes and systems that were introduced through the rest of the game: Gunner who moves when you do, big brute with auto attack, ninjas using injuries if left alone and generic stun bâtons guys. By the end of the game you MUST have ways to deal with all of that, otherwise you usually don't survive the mafia level. You need your pushes, you need your stuns, you need your throws, you need your non-counterable moves, then you need the flavor that makes your class your class. If nothing, the final level is a bit more merciful in that you are rewarded for focusing on XI in the first stages as you don't need to clear the board until the final stage.

My main problem with the game is there wasn't any content added since a while, and at the moment the content as it is can't keep me hooked. For me new cards isn't really content, I don't feel much joy at seeing new cards. I think the game could benefit from having more themes of enemies, more levels/storylines with branching paths, more classes... That kind of thing.

The AI in general also always try to NOT be in a position where they can be pushed out of the board. They are smart enough to do that, so in some cases, unless they have no choice to hit you, they will be content to always stay away until you have a way to move them and push them in the same turn. This has nothing to do with card reading, it's a general behavior.

And yes, block by itself is often not good enough when you reach middle to late game, hence why you need very strong dedicated block cards combined to dodges. Counter deck as such are often underwhelming to new players because when you're new, you actually don't have dodge cards unlocked, or the really strong blocking ones. As people have told me when I was still learning, if you want to play with a counter deck, you REALLY want to go all out in the defensive play. Half-arsing it just won't be enough.

[Lukebig222]

I do feel like the optional missions punish you for having a specific play style. Mostly because critical rewards are locked behind them. Half of them I would prefer to have a loss condition on so I am not running into a unwinable battle later in the game. It’s horrible trying to build a counter deck, but a debuffer is making things difficult at a distance, but that wouldn’t be a problem if I at least didn’t feel like I was going to punished in the long term with no reward.

Game needs some quality of life fixes. They have something, but we are all getting upset over how cool of an idea it is, but something is just missing.

[Vektor T]

I don't think the AI "reads" you hand to avoid a ring out, I think they avoid putting itself in a ring out position most of the time regardless of your hand. And that's good otherwise it would be a cakewalk. Still, with decent deck building and focus, you can outmaneuver the AI most of the time and get some ring outs most of the fights.

About the final mission, first time I too fought it was cheesy. But once you know what to expect, up some levels to get better cards and have decent lucky in the early missions, it's doable most of the times. You will get your ass kicked if you can't counter what the "final boss" brings, but anyway what you need to defeat him is actually very good or even OP in the rest of the game so you should be getting it anyway.

That said, the first final mission, the "melee" one, becomes very easy after you learn the game and have good cards unlocked. The second one, the "range + melee" one, is difficult most of the time, but winnable most of the time. But, well, I only play in the difficulties where you have rerolls. I can't imagine it will be very nice to play without it.

Plus: what I miss at least on those difficulties is the AI being more agressive. It seens it will never have more that two enemies moving to attack you at the same round and it becomes kinda sad when you have a great deck and want them to came at you with everything they got.

[Spawnling]

Originally posted by Vektor T:

Plus: what I miss at least on those difficulties is the AI being more agressive. It seens it will never have more that two enemies moving to attack you at the same round and it becomes kinda sad when you have a great deck and want them to came at you with everything they got.

Well on Brutal you lose the moment you fail a mission challenge, so the AI stalling can be quite evil

[Michanicks]

Originally posted by Lukebig222:

I do feel like the optional missions punish you for having a specific play style. Mostly because critical rewards are locked behind them. Half of them I would prefer to have a loss condition on so I am not running into a unwinable battle later in the game. It’s horrible trying to build a counter deck, but a debuffer is making things difficult at a distance, but that wouldn’t be a problem if I at least didn’t feel like I was going to punished in the long term with no reward.

Game needs some quality of life fixes. They have something, but we are all getting upset over how cool of an idea it is, but something is just missing.

Counter-attacker deck could be fixed if instead of useless bonus health enchantment it would have "Bounty hunter" to compensate the inability to complete tasks for money.