This game is too much about luck.

[TheronGodspeed]

It's not that the game is too hard. It's just too RNG dependent. Win or Lose, I want to feel like my decisions matter. That is NOT currently how this game feels, which makes winning and losing not satisfying.

[just playing for fun :)]

I just want to chime in about the forced discard, which is the best mechanic here. Clearly Dominion was a big influence on this game (its technically a board game for those who don’t know, and one of the best (also an online implementation as well)) and the discard mechanic allows you to actually see your deck, unlike many card games like Magic where you (usually but not always) wait for cards to drip in one at a time. The forced discard is actually a boon; you cycle through your deck and get to see your best cards faster and more often than you would if you played them once and only drew a card or two next turn.

I think the biggest problem right now is the lack of opportunities for thinning your deck. I understand thinning shouldn’t necessarily be easy to do, but a lot of what makes Dominion fun is that you (usually) have access to some form of consistent trashing. I think trashing, couples with random card availability and a large enough card pool, allows for more varied decks and experiences. Doing so would make fights easier so you would probably have to buff enemies a little though (and right now I think thEres some that are a tad too hard).

[kcaze]

I think RNG management is actually a pretty big skill to learn in Slay the Spire. I've been mostly playing the Ironclad mostly and managed to slay the spire twice in my last 3 runs. I'm only trying to build decks that revolve around building up strength, setting up vulnerable (and weak if I can get Uppercut), and then dishing out damage with Heavy Blade+.

To minimize the effects of RNG there are a few things I try to do:
1. Avoid elites and encounters as much as possible in The City and The Beyond. Each encounter can basically be thought of trading away HP and/or potions in return for a card / relic. It's worth doing in the beginning since I need to get cards and the encounters are relatively easy.
2. Always pick up one Headbutt since the put a card from discard on top of my deck helps minimize RNG a lot. Always pick up one Bloodletting and/or Exhaust since having 4 energy per turn helps minimize RNG where I'm unable to play a good card you have because there's this other good card I need to play. Always pick up one or two Uppercuts since Vulnerable helps encounters end quicker and Weak can be better than a block. Always pick up Evolve since once you upgrade it, you get some pretty good card draw to help give you more options per turn (Evolve+ lets you draw 2 cards per wound you draw).
3. Pick up Fire, Strength, or Block potions at merchants since they reduce the amount of HP I need to trade away in an encounter so if I'm still missing an important card, I could potentially go do an extra encounter and get that card without losing too much HP.
4. There's usually a route on the map without any elites and with more opportunities for bonfires that you should take. I usually upgrade cards at a bonfire if I have 55+ HP (and not too many encounters until the next bonfire).

I also have a set of cards I'm looking for in my strength deck builds: Limit Break, Spot Weakness, Inflame, the power that increases strength by 1 for every damage a card deals to me + Hemokinesis.

[Inactivist]

Originally posted by TheronGodspeed:

Yes, I have. And, many (though not all) do allow you to keep a portion or ALL of your remaining hand.

Really? Which ones?

What you're describing is a different style of game entirely. It's fine if it's not your thing, but I think you're failing to grasp how the game works.

[Samseng Yik]

Any card games, even the real life one, has RNG.

[dyslxeic]

The good thing about a forced discard style is that you can get cards like warcry and headbutt that do some cool things with hand manipulations.

[TheronGodspeed]

Originally posted by Inactivist:

Originally posted by TheronGodspeed:

Yes, I have. And, many (though not all) do allow you to keep a portion or ALL of your remaining hand.

Really? Which ones?

What you're describing is a different style of game entirely. It's fine if it's not your thing, but I think you're failing to grasp how the game works.

I'm not failing to grasp how the game works. I'm disagreeing with a design choice.
Nice try.

For your edification, here are Deck-builders with Hand-Management/no forced total discard:

Core Worlds
Nightfall
Fantastiqa
A Few Acres of Snow
Rococo
Eminent Domain
MageKnight

...and those are just the ones off the top of my head. Yeah, perhaps, I'm not the one failing to grasp how games work.

[Daylight]

Thank you for putting this up I could find a nice way to phrase it

[SephiriotH]

to Topic Starter: This game is not for careful planing but for making out most with the tools present. The decisions of poor thinking player never matters.

P.S. Beated the game with Silent on a 2nd evening. No luck/RNG involvement were noticed.

[Stempol]

its not really that random if your deck is constructed well (but it needs luck). both chara have cards that filter through your deck for free . Remember that you shouldnt take too much cards- i think 20-25 cards in deck should be the number to go to. (depends of course) and a lot of them should be filters. You can make infinity deck here (I have destroyed last boss in 1 turn).
Oh one things you can get pretty screwed on start of the game becouse there's no mulligan option, but adding it would make end game too easy.

[flower power]

People can pretty consistently win at this game. I've had streaks where I win 2 in a row. I don't get the "too random" aspect at all. I've played many roguelikes in my time and this is by far the one I was able to complete in the least games because it is super fair in how it treats you with hidden knowledge and the base mechanics of the game are super sound.

Honestly the guy above writing this review has played for 0.8 hours. I'm not sure what his agenda is but I'm mildly upset that it's about disparaging this great game.

[TheronGodspeed]

I'm not disparaging anything; I just want decisions to matter...a point which, apparently, you've missed, since you talk about winning. It's not about winning (or losing), it's about choices mattering and the luck aspect being lower. I think I've been ABUNDANTLY clear on that issue.

Oh, well...

[flower power]

Choices absolutely matter. You need to play for more than 0.8 hours to understand the RNG of a game. Obviously something about the game didn't tick your immediate boxes but you're then projecting all this other stuff onto it which is complete nonsense.

[TheronGodspeed]

Nonsense?
Ok, dude...

[geekettespeaks]

Originally posted by Ashrak:

I disagree with the op. That's what actually makes the game different from others. You CAN construct your own deck, but you have to manage carefully your choises. Risk vs Reward. That "rogue-lite" touch to the card game is excelent.

Agreed.

[LastEmber]

Originally posted by flower power:

Choices absolutely matter. You need to play for more than 0.8 hours to understand the RNG of a game. Obviously something about the game didn't tick your immediate boxes but you're then projecting all this other stuff onto it which is complete nonsense.

I agree. I feel like my choices are incredibly impactful at every stage of the game.

The automatic discarding is an interesting mechanic that allows for a lot of cool playstyles and strategies.

I think the biggest lesson for a new player to learn is that very often (upwards of 70% of the time, I'd say), the best card to pick is no card at all. I generally only grab one or two cards in the first whole map, and focus on upgrading them and the unique starting cards.You might be surprised how far the starting cards can get you, even without upgrading them.

If you grab a new card every chance you get, then you are increasing the chances that RNG will screw you over. To explain: If you have a deck full of various non-upgraded cards then you will need to get lucky EVERY TIME YOU DRAW in order to draw cards that synergize well together and are relevant to the situation. On the other hand, if you have a small deck full of upgraded cards, then you WILL draw those powerful cards every couple of hands.

Once you get a powerful card or two, you are able to make much better choices regarding which small cards will synergize best with your deck.

That being said, it's possible that an enemy is about to come in with a 30-40 dmg attack, and you don't draw a single shield or debuff, but it's also possible to draw 0 land after two mulligans in Magic. Such is the nature of randomness.