Challenge Run - No Gems

[BritishSass]

I've always been a fan of challenge runs on YouTube, so I wanted to see if anyone else has tried this one. The only other challenge I can think of would be no jokers, but I think this one'd be harder and more interesting.
Currently I'm walled at the fly fight (Which was also the first wall in my first playthrough with every gem) but I'd love to hear if anyone else gives it a try!

[yyflame]

Out of curiosity, why do a challenge run at all when the "game" is purely RNG based and there is literally no strategy involved whatsoever?

[☺ Gatorau ☺]

That's a big "Hell No" from me. I need every advantage I can get.

[BritishSass]

Originally posted by yyflame:

Out of curiosity, why do a challenge run at all when the "game" is purely RNG based and there is literally no strategy involved whatsoever?

Sometimes, you just want to see what's possible. For this one, it's the fact that I'm actually alright at Solitaire, and the jokers add strategy to it, so I just wanted to try something out there to see how far I can get without gems.
Plus, it made my replaying for those last couple achievements much more possible.

[Grey Alien]

Good luck! I think it's probably impossible but maybe with 1 health gem you could do it.

[bloo]

For what it's worth, I got up till crimson gem eye statue without buying any gems before giving up.

[BritishSass]

Originally posted by bloo:

For what it's worth, I got up till crimson gem eye statue without buying any gems before giving up.

Oooh, that's a good amount!! I've made it to the hedge maze, and poison's a part that worries me, but I'll see if I can match your progress! ^_^

[Grey Alien]

That is impressive, I will admit.

[BritishSass]

Oooh, now I have to be even more ready for this-- I want to see new game plus! Currently the poison is killing me, as I expected. Thought that I could block poison with shield... Nope. Just beat the eel, though, so I'm back at it!

[BritishSass]

Update on my progress again: I'm now at (Edit: placing, I wrote the wrong thing) the crystal staff. The crystal guard fight was a little rough, but keeping a mana storm ready for it was key. I've definitely noticed that combat encounters are harder than the normal encounters, and saving your jokers for fights tends to help a ton.

If anyone else is gonna try this run, here's my tips as someone bad at video games:
1. The game auto-saves after every solitaire game. It's okay to take breaks.
2. If you get mana storm, save it for fights. It's also great for if you have a lot of cards with bad effects you can't get rid of.
3. Going to the shop and coming back resets the layout of the hand. If you're not seeing a combo off the bat, it's totally valid to shop-reset it a few times and hope for something better.
3.5. If you die, it'll also reset it, and will let you have your jokers back.
4. You don't have to get every joker. In fact, I didn't, because I'm not a fan of the 2 Ravens joker.
5. Ranking the problem cards: Poison is killer because you can't block it when it's first placed on you. Crystal has two damage when you grab it so it'll hurt especially in the crystal guardian fight (which is why I had the mana storm for it). Locked cards can be a bit annoying, but no more than base game-- Just hope for the right joker if you're desperate. Maggots hurt a tiny bit but they're not hard to handle, just grab a shield first. The void and vine cards aren't too big of a problem either, I've done nothing special about those in either normal or this challenge run.
6. If you go into a boss with no jokers, may you be blessed by RNG because you may need it.
7. This game is very RNG-heavy at times, and this challenge takes that to the maximum, as your jokers and card luck are your big important helpers.
8. If anyone can actually beat the game (or at least reach that one boss) with no gems then I would love to see your hand with no gems and that very specific gem in the shop. It'd be awesome to see that someone made it that far! :D

[Grey Alien]

Great tips! It's amazing you got that far. Btw you don't have to go in/out of the shop to refresh the layout, you can just use the Refresh button on the in-game menu.

[BritishSass]

Welp, I've now proven to myself that it's possible to get to the Queen statue! (Just needed some joker luck on the Jack-- Tripeaks and the "clear all cards in a row" spell saved me.) Not too sure how to continue from here... Also, thanks for the tip!

[Canastus]

Wouldn't the gift you get at the last Jester encounter count as a gem? Without it you'd be forced to deal him 999 damage. Pretty sure that'd be an unwinnable scenario.

[Grey Alien]

As the developer I think it's OK to not call that a gem because otherwise it's definitely impossible to beat. It still might be impossible without a single health gem.

[TheLemon27]

Originally posted by Grey Alien:

As the developer I think it's OK to not call that a gem because otherwise it's definitely impossible to beat. It still might be impossible without a single health gem.

honestly i think its THEORETICALLY possible, considering the invulnerability and time dilation jokers exist. you'd just need to get REALLY lucky with rng to get a constant stream of those jokers (plus the refresh and/or triple peak joker, or just get lucky at clearing the board) and you could do it maybe :3

[Grey Alien]

Someone on social media has reported to me that they managed it but it was tough, as expected. Probably a lot of retries.