Weird balance to the game

[Flavour Beans]

I feel like this game's fundamental flaw is that, in nearly any case (can't say if there are any cards with special mechanics), the worst possible thing that can happen is *you* busting.

Since you're surviving for many more encounters than your opponent, they can't care less what happens to them while you need to plan for not just what's in front of you but to come away with enough health to carry on further.

Therefore, you're massively incentivized to stand earlier than than 17, because you're better off taking a few damage than risking taking a ton, and the game becomes a matter of both sides scraping together a few points of damage here and there until your opponent busts a couple times from bad luck or you bust a couple times from bad luck and restart your run because there's no recovering from it.

The game becomes incredibly tedious like this. Therefore, I feel like busting is way too severe of a punishment, to a point where it throws the entire game off.

I can appreciate what you're going for here overall, I just think it's holding itself back some.

[ecchiRhino]

yeah it's way too much damage they should find some diffrent damage calculation.
maybe if you bust you get damage for how much you got over the blackjack and then for how much diffrnce you had before assuming you weren't winning already.
if you have 13 and enemy stand with 17, you pull a 10 and bust.
you get (23-21= 2) + (17-13= 4) = 6 damage.
it's a bit more complicated than the current calculation and it will mess with current hp system and cards suits system.

[JanFeederII]

You are also given absolutely massive health pool and there are plenty of ways to heal yourself even outside going hearts deck. Also think about this game more like roguelike, you are not supposed to always win, There are times you are given cards between rounds that will not really help you much, and other times you get yourself absolute bangers that allows you to steamroll your opponent. Busting force players to not just bruteforce the game, but playing smart. I will give you a hint. You can look up what cards are still in your play deck, so if you see there is more cards that will bust you, just stand, instead of risk it.

[jokeserver]

Hm, I was struggling a lot for health in diamonds in the basement area because the area has no heal options. The first area has one heal event (stay a night), and another event that deals you damage regardless of choice (have a drink), so busting quickly adds up. And some enemies like rats can reliably get 18-20 before standing so even standing to be safe can whittle down my health.