DLC Single player content

[Casul Gamer]

I feel like the base game is an amazing value and the DLCs seem good if you're planning on doing battle mode, but it's a little disappointing that they don't add single player content (aside from the puzzle DLC).

I really enjoyed the World Bosses and Oversky missions with the unique fights in many of them. However, I'm already more than halfway through them (probably would have finished them already if not for Pandora mode).

I guess the only thing I can really think of (aside from saving Oversky and World Bosses until you buy the DLCs) is the Dragon's Lair mode which does offer (sort of) new content that will be more interesting after getting DLC cards for my decks.

It's just kind of strange that they put all this work into creating a great base game (and the DLC cards seem really cool too), but then they didn't add any new missions with the DLCs. There's even lore and backstory around a lot of the cards which could have been weaved into the new missions.

Some people have said the devs are busy working on a new game so maybe they didn't feel like putting a lot of effort into the DLCs, but it's still kind of sad. Maybe I'll get into battle mode at some point, but I have health issues and find that kind of thing exhausting. I also have a feeling that I'm going to get crushed by other players. I'm also thinking about doing build videos for Youtube, but most people aren't content creators like me.

[Mustardoish]

One game that is Deck Drafting and PvE is Nowhere Prophet. It is as if Faria and FTL had a love child. On hardest difficulty the game is certainly no pushover and the replay value is very high. Personally I really enjoyed the world-building in it, but your mileage may vary.

[Ertzi]

Originally posted by Mustardoish:

One game that is Deck Drafting and PvE is Nowhere Prophet. It is as if Faria and FTL had a love child. On hardest difficulty the game is certainly no pushover and the replay value is very high. Personally I really enjoyed the world-building in it, but your mileage may vary.

Aaaand it's a roguelike. What a surprise. Looks slightly interesting otherwise, so I might pick it up on a huge sale. Map is very Slay the Spire, which is a game I grew bored of very quickly, so we'll see. The battle system looks way more interesting than in StS though. Thanks for the suggestion. I will check out every card game I hear about.

[Casul Gamer]

That card hunter game looks really cool. Can't believe it's free. I haven't gotten around to playing it yet, tho. Gloomhaven I also have had my eye on, but probably won't buy unless it's discounted a lot. I guess I might try the Witcher game since it's free idk.

I did recently start Legends of Runeterra which is free to play. There's a single player mode like Pandora called Lab of Legends where you choose a deck and then get random cards and various special bonuses which you get before each new battle. It's actually very difficult, but maybe bc I'm new to card games.

As for pre-ordering Roguebook, I only did it so I could play the early access version of the game and also bc there was a 15% off sale. The only negative things I heard about it were from people who played the demo version and were disappointed they couldn't play more of the game.

I didn't get the Deluxe version bc I felt there wasn't enough extra content (in terms of gameplay) to justify the extra price. If they had said there would be patches and updates to the deluxe version later on, I would have considered it since I'll probably buy the DLCs at some point.

[Ertzi]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

I did recently start Legends of Runeterra which is free to play. There's a single player mode like Pandora called Lab of Legends where you choose a deck and then get random cards and various special bonuses which you get before each new battle. It's actually very difficult, but maybe bc I'm new to card games.

Now this is more what I am looking for! I checked out Legends of Runeterra on your tip and found a nice little gem. An actually fairly monetized card game with single player content and interesting mechanics. It's still only Magic Lite, but there are enough "instants" and meaningful choices to make the games interesting. Thousand times better than Hearthstone for example, which is boring as sh*t. The fact that you get to choose who to block is huge. The games are actually enjoyable.

I like the Lab of Legends solo "draft" mode quite a bit. I did two runs, got 7/9 on first try, and 9/9 on second, but I play a lot of card games and would call myself a veteran, so pretty obvious to me which are good choices in the drafting portion. Still, it's fun to start a new run and see what sort of wacky combos I will get this time. The rewards come at a ridiculous pace too, but I assume that is only because I just started. Rewards will probably dry up soon, because Riot wants that money.

I will not get too excited yet, as the Lab is the only solo content so far, and I would prefer a more robust single player campaign in my games, but Runeterra is definitely a game that scratches my card game itch in the right way. Only time will tell how long it keeps me engaged, but I got a very positive first impression, and given that I usually dismiss all new card games in seconds, that is saying a lot. I will keep playing for a few weeks at the very least. Thanks for the tip, that was a good find!

[Casul Gamer]

I guess if I get bored, I'll check out some of the ones you recommended (Chroma and Card hunter are at the top of my list). I guess you can't play HEX: Shards of Fate anymore? That's the problem with investing money in these online games.

One game I'll mention that's not a card game, but strategy/tactical RPG is Demon's Rise. The graphics aren't great and reviews are mixed, but it's pretty good imo. There's at least one battle that's way too hard and you either have to grind or turn down difficulty (I'd recommend the latter). Also, you can use sweetfx/reshade to improve the graphics, but it cause my game to freeze.

Yeah. I'm really loving Legends of Runeterra's Lab of Legends. I think I like it better than Roguebook atm (which is kind of sad). It is kind of unfortunate there aren't any other single player modes aside from basic AI matches.

I'm still going to try and collect the cards just in case there are new single player modes added. There's a way to set which group of cards you want to earn as rewards and then the wild cards I think allow you to craft any group. With certain groups they also give XP bonus so pay attention which sets have that.

I like the game not just for the gameplay, but also the art style and themes. It really feels like I'm on an epic adventure with the different voice-overs and stuff. I would be more than willing to pay for a full-fledged single player mode, but I have my doubts given the nature of these type of games.

I'm new to card games so I was dying on the first or second round at first, but managed to get to round 9 last night. I'm still trying to understand when I'm able to use which cards. Faeria is nice in that you know exactly when and how many cards you're able to use.

[Ertzi]

Now is the perfect time to start Card Hunter. The new developers finally awoke from their slumber and things are happening. A new event started TODAY (goes for only a week) where everyone gets a daily log in epic chest just for logging in. This is huge. There are no log in rewards normally, and for a new player the epic chests are incredible. There is also something called Loot Fairy Madness starting today, and I don't even know exactly what it is yet myself. There is normally a Loot Fairy in one module per day, which gives awesome loot. I guess there are more now.

[Ertzi]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

I guess if I get bored, I'll check out some of the ones you recommended (Chroma and Card hunter are at the top of my list). I guess you can't play HEX: Shards of Fate anymore? That's the problem with investing money in these online games.

One game I'll mention that's not a card game, but strategy/tactical RPG is Demon's Rise. The graphics aren't great and reviews are mixed, but it's pretty good imo. There's at least one battle that's way too hard and you either have to grind or turn down difficulty (I'd recommend the latter). Also, you can use sweetfx/reshade to improve the graphics, but it cause my game to freeze.

Yeah. I'm really loving Legends of Runeterra's Lab of Legends. I think I like it better than Roguebook atm (which is kind of sad). It is kind of unfortunate there aren't any other single player modes aside from basic AI matches.

I'm still going to try and collect the cards just in case there are new single player modes added. There's a way to set which group of cards you want to earn as rewards and then the wild cards I think allow you to craft any group. With certain groups they also give XP bonus so pay attention which sets have that.

I like the game not just for the gameplay, but also the art style and themes. It really feels like I'm on an epic adventure with the different voice-overs and stuff. I would be more than willing to pay for a full-fledged single player mode, but I have my doubts given the nature of these type of games.

I'm new to card games so I was dying on the first or second round at first, but managed to get to round 9 last night. I'm still trying to understand when I'm able to use which cards. Faeria is nice in that you know exactly when and how many cards you're able to use.

Demon's Rise is very off-putting to me graphically, but otherwise seems semi-interesting. Probably won't bother though. I usually don't mind graphics too much, but something about that game's look irritates the heck out of me. Just looks amateurish.

But Legends of Runeterra... Oh boy. I have put insane hours into it already and I am having a blast. It is very addictive to do more Lab runs, even after you fail. There are so many fun variables in any run. I managed to craft a situation last run, where I got a 5/4 Quick Attack unit at the start of every game. Just insane. The polish is also incredible and the game flow pretty perfect. I am loving the game. I basically only want to play LoR right now.

At the bare minimum I will complete all the Region Roads to get all the free stuff. We will see how difficult advancing your collection becomes after that. I am almost interested to try the PvP draft side (Expeditions); that is how good the game is. Not interested in Constructed at all though. Apparently the meta is in a horrible place because of one single toxic deck.

I would pay a large sum of money to get a proper single-player campaign for this game. Would be the best thing I have ever seen in card games after HEX's campaign. Imagine all the regions... I am also seriously considering buying the Dark Horizons event pass, not because I need anything in it, but because I kind of want to support the devs. What an amazing hidden gem that got past me because it was not on Steam.

[Casul Gamer]

Ok, I'll set up my account with card hunter. I kind of like focusing on one thing at a time, but I think I'll lose interest in Legends of Runeterra if there isn't more single player content.

One thing that makes me optimistic about LoR is that I was reading that the Lab has had a lot of different modes in the past: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Lab_(Legends_of_Runeterra)
One thing is co-op vs. AI mode which I'd at least consider, but I'm afraid I'll piss of my partner by sucking. still better than Pvp

One thing that makes me less optimistic, however, is that they're coming out with multiple new games (one's a turn-based RPG and possibly another is an ARPG) so they might put less effort into Legends of Runeterra going forward.

Yeah, I'm not into PvP either, but I would consider if I got really got a game I really enjoyed. I guess that's good there's a draft mode so you don't end going up against an OP deck. FWIW there's a lot of people in r/LegendsOfRuneterra asking for more single player content as well, but devs probably think there's more money in PvP (pay-to-win)

I would also pay quite a lot for a single player version. They could even add extra RPG elements and take leveling up cards a step further and maybe also have armor and items your champions could equip.

I'm generally not looking for new card games (other than recently reading this thread or checking Steam's recommendations), but I signed up for a free trial for Amazon Prime and they gave a free epic wild card so I figured ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Fair enough. The sale prices for Demon's Rise are kind of mediocre as well (in addition to being a somewhat rough game overall). If you do try it some point, reshade settings like vibrance, image sharpening, levels, curves, HDR (I forget the exact ones I used) do actually make the game look good.

[Casul Gamer]

So I played Card Hunter. It seems pretty good, but I'm not really in the mood to play. I'll probably play it for the next few days to get the extra loot. A few months ago I was really in the mood for a dungeon crawler with grid based combat (actually surprisingly hard to find).

It would be nice if more of these card games had progression. It seems like the most you get usually is gradually collecting cards and then fighting generic AI battles. I recently installed Causa, Horus Heresy, Mythgard, Chroma, Gwent, and Shadowverse, but I'm guessing they're basically like that with no PvE depth (although some have 'campaign' modes where I maybe there's some story).

Or roguelikes like Roguebook, Across the Obelisk, Monster Train, Neoverse, Tainted Grail: Conquest, or Trials of fire where you might get some progression, but then lose it once your run is over. I've only played Roguebook so I don't know if it's different with other games. All you get with roguebook in terms of progression are things like more starting gold, better starting cards, better healing items.

There is a game called Talisman which I had a chance to get really cheap in a bundle awhile back, but I wasn't into card games then and trying to save money. It actually looks like it might have some progression - it talks about leveling up characters in the description.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/247000/Talisman_Digital_Edition/
I'll probably grab on the next Steam sale, but it's probably like Card Hunter (and Roguebook sort of) where you have party members that then have card abilities. I'd still like something like the standard CCGs where you play cards as units and spells, but then you level up your champions like King's Bounty. Legends of Runeterra's Lab of Legends is the closest thing except you don't get to build your own decks..

There's also Thea: The Awakening which I recently got in a bundle. It's a 4x fantasy strategy game with cards. It's a bit different and I'm not sure I'm in the mood to play it, but it definitely seems to at least tick the progression box. It has 90% positive on steam too.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/378720/Thea_The_Awakening/

Edit: Just started playing Hand of Fate 2 and I'm not sure it's actually a card game. They use cards as your items and to tell the story and other things, but you don't actually have cards to play during combat (at least not as far as I've played). There are some cool soulslike elements so it's worth playing if you're into that (there's also 'Aprentice Mode' to increase your damage and automate parries)

Something else kind of interesting is Hand of Fate 2 which I picked up free on Epic. It's a roguelike card game, but also an action RPG. It's kind of strange - although they did also try doing action ARPG with Magic: Legends...I haven't played it yet so I can't say whether it's good or not (I did try Magic: Legends, but quit after 30 minutes)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/456670/Hand_of_Fate_2/

[Ertzi]

Yeah, I feel you. Card games with RPG elements and proper progression are like unicorns. It is simply a genre that almost never gets new games. You would have loved HEX: Shards of Fate. It was exactly what you wanted. I had about 6000 hours in that game. Years before it hit Steam. It had account leveling, champions with different powers and individual levels & skill trees, quests, equipment for cards, a world map to explore, dungeons... It would have had multiplayer dungeon raids eventually, all with cards. Sigh... Oh well. Still bitter about it. They could have f**king made the game playable offline at least.

Magic: The Gathering (Microprose, 1997) computer game is STILL probably the second closest to what I want, which is crazy. It had card shops and dungeons, and you built your deck and collection while you explored and fought the enemies on the map. No one makes games like that anymore, for whatever reason. It's all just roguelikes or competitive card games. I still live in the fleeting hope that some day some weird developer who loves card games delivers what I have always dreamed of.

I knew about all the games you mentioned in your last post, I even own Talisman. It's pretty fun, but make no mistake, it is a board game, not a card game. No progression past individual games. Fun for a little while but very casual and nothing to sink your teeth into.

I have no interest in the Hands of Fate franchise or Thea. I have circled those games many times already. Neither is enough of a card game with deckbuilding and collecting. If I want an RPG I play better games for that genre. I just want to collect cards and experiment with decks and tweak them in a meaningful way.

[Hideo]

@Ertzi: Something that came to mind: What about old videogame adaptations of trading card games? They might not as massive as you'd like, but they're still charming to me. They're also a time-capsule.

I have fond memories of playing Pokémon Trading Card Game on the GameBoy Color and Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition on the GameBoy Advance.

[Ertzi]

Originally posted by Hideo:

@Ertzi: Something that came to mind: What about old videogame adaptations of trading card games? They might not as massive as you'd like, but they're still charming to me. They're also a time-capsule. :tobdog:

I have fond memories of playing Pokémon Trading Card Game on the GameBoy Color and Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition on the GameBoy Advance. :lunar2019piginablanket:

Oh yeah, I love those. I am big into nostalgia. They just can't be my main game. I also own Metal Gear Acid 1 & 2 on Playstation Portable, just because they are card games. And obviously I spent most of my time in Final Fantasy VIII playing Triple Triad. :D

@Casul Gamer --> Man, I still only have 3 completed champions in Lab of Legends. Those final three fights are brutal. Pretty easy to get past first two bosses, but then no chance sometimes in the next fight. Well, at least I have plenty to do in the game still. They just added more champions into the Lab too in the last patch. :P

[Casul Gamer]

@Hideo: I'm too much of a boomer to have played those, but I did watch someone playing an old Pokemon game awhile back and it did look pretty fun. Is there a specific version you'd recommend (I'll be emulating it ofc)

@Ertzi: That's awesome they added new champions. Are you talking about not beating it on the hardest difficulty? I've still only won once on the easiest difficulty. I know I could look up strategy guides, but I like figuring things out on my own.

The funny thing is the run I did win was someone I thought was weak and the bonuses I didn't think were that good, but the sapling/poro combo turned out to be OP...or I got lucky idk.

Microprose? That's a name I haven't heard in awhile...That old MTG game (Shalasta?) was mentioned in this Reddit thread about single player card games: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/ct5ooy/card_games_with_significant_singleplayer_campaigns/
I guess there's mods to make the game better. I'm trying to sort out what to do with a new PC I got so starting a Shalasta playthrough is kind of on hold until then.

I was also thinking about grinding during the Dark Horizons event to get the Champion wildcard, but my interest is waning in the game somewhat. With Pandora, you were at least unlocking new cards you could use in other single player modes.

I checked out some of the other games mentioned in that thread and nothing really jumped out at me. Most of the Steam reviews were kind of meh - mostly positive, but most people were giving lukewarm recommendations.

Ascension was one mentioned that did sort of catch my eye, but I'm not sure how much there is in terms of single player content. Have you played it? I might buy it for the Steam summer sale if I can find more info on it.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/320430/Ascension_Deckbuilding_Game

I think the thread is still worth checking out. Interestingly, that Metal Gear Acid series was also mentioned in the thread. There are some other Reddit threads about the topic, but I'm sort of getting fatigued looking.

One other game I found is a strategy RPG that has light CCG elements called Ash of Gods. Reviews are mediocre and not sure how fleshed out the CCG part of the game is, but figured I'm mention it since it might not be on people's radar.

[Hideo]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

@Hideo: I'm too much of a boomer to have played those, but I did watch someone playing an old Pokemon game awhile back and it did look pretty fun. Is there a specific version you'd recommend (I'll be emulating it ofc)

Do you mean card-themed ones or in general?

There are only two videogame adaptations of the Pokemon TCG: Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Trading Card Game 2. The second game was released exclusively in Japan, but not too long ago a fan-translation was released, which is awesome and a childhood dream come true.

The games in general: Generation 1, i.e. Red & Blue (1996) and the two years later released Yellow version have their charm. But I am of the opinion that Generation 2 is the best, i.e. Pokémon Silver & Gold (1999) and the one year later released Crystal version (enhanced). I'm sure that it's nostalgic even to people who never played it before - try and prove me wrong.

Back then, the developers at GameFreak didn't know that Pokemon will be as longlasting as it now is, and assumed that Generation 2 will be the last, so they put all their soul into it. There exist remakes, in the case of Generation 1 even two, but I still think that everyone should experience the originals first.

Someday, I want to play all those elaborate Pokemon romhacks and fangames that people have created over the years.

[Ertzi]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

@Ertzi: That's awesome they added new champions. Are you talking about not beating it on the hardest difficulty? I've still only won once on the easiest difficulty. I know I could look up strategy guides, but I like figuring things out on my own.

The funny thing is the run I did win was someone I thought was weak and the bonuses I didn't think were that good, but the sapling/poro combo turned out to be OP...or I got lucky idk.

No! I am actually having problems on Normal mode. The difficulty ramps up so much after the second boss, and you sometimes need to have exactly the right combination of powers to have a chance. Sometimes the AI has a god draw as well and I never had a chance. I am kinda bummed that healing is so important in Labs. Often that decides the run, which is a bit lame. I just got my 4th win yesterday. Still plenty to do. I still absolutely love the mode. Oh by the way, they are planning to add a co-op mode in Labs... ;) At that point I would lure all my friends to it.

On another matter... Wow, that thread is great! So many new suggestions. I will need to go through it with a fine-tooth comb. Oh yesss, more card gamesss...