After unlocking everything.. what's the point of ascension?

[imuyloco]

So what's the point of it?

Do you unlock more stuff/are there more enemy types/are there secret unlockable cards for each class or do you just keep going for the challenge? Going all the way up to ascension 10/20.. seems like it would just be more of the same, repetitive.

As a roguelike it seems to be lacking heavy in variety, same enemies, same cards, 3 classes with a 4th coming after about a year.. no real dlc plans in sight like gungeon or isaac.

Not a bad game but this game seems overhyped as all hell tbh.

[Sanfe]

I was wondering too. Finished the three basics runs (I don't have the fourth since the update didn't hit on microsoft store Game Pass), and I enjoyed it very much. But I don't feel like playing if there are no new things. In Deadcells, for instance, they "lock" content behind a difficulty wall, but not only weapons or items, but also enemies. Which means there is a huge variety in the gameplay, and, on my part, an incentive to carry on and enjoy mechanics I love AND discover new aspects of the game, whatever it is.

Is that the case in Slay the Spire? I perfectly understand the challenge, and I bet finishing the game in A20 must be pretty though and rewarding. Or does difficulty "only" raise the stats of the mobs and the global harshness of the game (less heal etc from what I understood)? Can mods enhance the experience (based on what I'm seeking)? Thanks :)

[sandman25dcsss]

Originally posted by Spider Jerusalem:

I was wondering too. Finished the three basics runs (I don't have the fourth since the update didn't hit on microsoft store Game Pass), and I enjoyed it very much. But I don't feel like playing if there are no new things. In Deadcells, for instance, they "lock" content behind a difficulty wall, but not only weapons or items, but also enemies. Which means there is a huge variety in the gameplay, and, on my part, an incentive to carry on and enjoy mechanics I love AND discover new aspects of the game, whatever it is.

Is that the case in Slay the Spire? I perfectly understand the challenge, and I bet finishing the game in A20 must be pretty though and rewarding. Or does difficulty "only" raise the stats of the mobs and the global harshness of the game (less heal etc from what I understood)? Can mods enhance the experience (based on what I'm seeking)? Thanks :)

Yes, there are many mods with new characters and new monsters. Also consider custom runs, many modifiers change the game in a revolutionary way.

[Sanfe]

Originally posted by sandman25dcsss:

Originally posted by Spider Jerusalem:

I was wondering too. Finished the three basics runs (I don't have the fourth since the update didn't hit on microsoft store Game Pass), and I enjoyed it very much. But I don't feel like playing if there are no new things. In Deadcells, for instance, they "lock" content behind a difficulty wall, but not only weapons or items, but also enemies. Which means there is a huge variety in the gameplay, and, on my part, an incentive to carry on and enjoy mechanics I love AND discover new aspects of the game, whatever it is.

Is that the case in Slay the Spire? I perfectly understand the challenge, and I bet finishing the game in A20 must be pretty though and rewarding. Or does difficulty "only" raise the stats of the mobs and the global harshness of the game (less heal etc from what I understood)? Can mods enhance the experience (based on what I'm seeking)? Thanks :)

Yes, there are many mods with new characters and new monsters. Also consider custom runs, many modifiers change the game in a revolutionary way.

That's good new! But since there are no mods on the Game Pass Version and not even the latest version, I'll have to buy it on Steam (unless I missed something). Don't wanna ask too much, but what mod would you recommand?

[sandman25dcsss]

I cannot recommend any mods because I use just QoL mods, but https://steamcommunity.com/app/646570/discussions/0/3667553591699820274/ has a good list.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

Originally posted by Spider Jerusalem:

In Deadcells, for instance, they "lock" content behind a difficulty wall, but not only weapons or items, but also enemies. Which means there is a huge variety in the gameplay, and, on my part, an incentive to carry on and enjoy mechanics I love AND discover new aspects of the game, whatever it is.

Funny, I wanted to enjoy Dead Cells, but I took one look at how much grinding was involved and my eyes glazed over. Putting almost everything in the game behind unlocks just for the sake of having things to unlock isn't interesting to me, I just want to play the damn game.

I much prefer that StS respects my time by letting me play the full game (almost) right away. Then it's just about mastering the challenge, improving my own skill as a player rather than just racking up enough currency points.

[Khor]

Originally posted by Mega Missingno.:

Funny, I wanted to enjoy Dead Cells, but I took one look at how much grinding was involved and my eyes glazed over. Putting almost everything in the game behind unlocks just for the sake of having things to unlock isn't interesting to me, I just want to play the damn game.

I much prefer that StS respects my time by letting me play the full game (almost) right away. Then it's just about mastering the challenge, improving my own skill as a player rather than just racking up enough currency points.

Dead Cell`s unlocks are probably on-par with having to grind 20 Ascension levels on EACH character.
In both cases, if you dislike something, mods (and cheats) are there for a reason.

DC is a staple of its genre, well worth playing if you`re in that kind of games.

[Nightmyre]

The ascension trees basically make it a new game every ascension level. Some are a bit less of an intense increase than others, but you should basically consider ascension zero as "easy mode".

Unlike in other games, where harder difficulty levels just make the AI hit harder or have more HP - in this game, you need very different strategies as the ascension levels increase. You'll very quickly find that your janky strategies that worked at ascension 0 simply will not work *at all* as you climb.

[Sanfe]

Originally posted by Mega Missingno.:

Originally posted by Spider Jerusalem:

In Deadcells, for instance, they "lock" content behind a difficulty wall, but not only weapons or items, but also enemies. Which means there is a huge variety in the gameplay, and, on my part, an incentive to carry on and enjoy mechanics I love AND discover new aspects of the game, whatever it is.

Funny, I wanted to enjoy Dead Cells, but I took one look at how much grinding was involved and my eyes glazed over. Putting almost everything in the game behind unlocks just for the sake of having things to unlock isn't interesting to me, I just want to play the damn game.

I much prefer that StS respects my time by letting me play the full game (almost) right away. Then it's just about mastering the challenge, improving my own skill as a player rather than just racking up enough currency points.

I understand but I think I wasn't clear enough, my bad. What I meant is that in DC, you simply play the game and unlock new things, you don't focus specifically on grinding, it comes with the flow and it is never a chore. I understand that Ascension 1-20 modify the game in depth, but I was more wondering about whether or not, while increasing the difficulty / modifying the game in A-x, I would happen to find new relics, cards and monsters to deal with.

[gwaihirj]

You can see whether or not you have seen every relic there is to see in the Compendium section of the game.

[Smiles]

I haven't played any other deck building games, but have played some rogue likes (e.g. sunless seas, FTL, darkest dungeon, don't starve, invisible inc, dungeons of dredmor). Darkest and FTL held me the most probably. So far, Slay the Spire has been amusing and fun -- and I've only played the Ironclad class.

I picked it up on a sale for half price, and its worth that certainly at least.

[millahnna]

Honestly, I don't bother with it. I play two other roguelike+deck building games and I'm just not into the progressively harder gameplay thing with either of them. This is probably for the best since it's taking me quite some time to memorize enemy patterns. What I AM into is the trying to build a deck around RNG shenanigans (there's a particular silent build I still haven't pulled off because I never see the cards for it), firing up weird custom games, and the daily climbs. I still find plenty of replayability and I've only done one level of ascension on each character.

[DJDiceZ]

Originally posted by Smiles:

I haven't played any other deck building games, but have played some rogue likes (e.g. sunless seas, FTL, darkest dungeon, don't starve, invisible inc, dungeons of dredmor). Darkest and FTL held me the most probably. So far, Slay the Spire has been amusing and fun -- and I've only played the Ironclad class.

I picked it up on a sale for half price, and its worth that certainly at least.

Just in time for the new character then. One of the most pleasant surprises this game had for me when i started out was the realization that each character is completely different.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

Originally posted by Khor:

Originally posted by Mega Missingno.:

Funny, I wanted to enjoy Dead Cells, but I took one look at how much grinding was involved and my eyes glazed over. Putting almost everything in the game behind unlocks just for the sake of having things to unlock isn't interesting to me, I just want to play the damn game.

I much prefer that StS respects my time by letting me play the full game (almost) right away. Then it's just about mastering the challenge, improving my own skill as a player rather than just racking up enough currency points.

Dead Cell`s unlocks are probably on-par with having to grind 20 Ascension levels on EACH character.
In both cases, if you dislike something, mods (and cheats) are there for a reason.

DC is a staple of its genre, well worth playing if you`re in that kind of games.

It really doesn't feel anything alike at all. With Dead Cells I was playing a fraction of the game with only a small handful of items. StS I'm still playing the full game with everything in it, just at a lower difficulty level, and unlocking difficulty levels doesn't really feel like an arbitrary grind because I have to master each one to be ready to tackle the next anyway.

[DJDiceZ]

Originally posted by Mega Missingno.:

Originally posted by Khor:

Dead Cell`s unlocks are probably on-par with having to grind 20 Ascension levels on EACH character.
In both cases, if you dislike something, mods (and cheats) are there for a reason.

DC is a staple of its genre, well worth playing if you`re in that kind of games.

It really doesn't feel anything alike at all. With Dead Cells I was playing a fraction of the game with only a small handful of items. StS I'm still playing the full game with everything in it, just at a lower difficulty level, and unlocking difficulty levels doesn't really feel like an arbitrary grind because I have to master each one to be ready to tackle the next anyway.

And i think that suits both games fine. They were fun. I feel like it's not good for a card game to be gating cards through unlocks, unless it's specifically designed as a CCG, while on the other hand, a game like dead cells is fine as you can fully rely on your mechanical skills to beat it, and the unlocks keep the game fresh rather than hard cap your ability to progress toward the end of a run, save for a few really early unlocks (like the flasks).

Not saying that StS's unlocks are critical to make progress, but that if they were, it would be much, much worse than an Action Roguelike that is based on your cognitive abilities, muscle memory, etc...

[Khor]

Originally posted by Mega Missingno.:

Originally posted by Khor:

Dead Cell`s unlocks are probably on-par with having to grind 20 Ascension levels on EACH character.
In both cases, if you dislike something, mods (and cheats) are there for a reason.

DC is a staple of its genre, well worth playing if you`re in that kind of games.

It really doesn't feel anything alike at all. With Dead Cells I was playing a fraction of the game with only a small handful of items. StS I'm still playing the full game with everything in it, just at a lower difficulty level, and unlocking difficulty levels doesn't really feel like an arbitrary grind because I have to master each one to be ready to tackle the next anyway.

Personally, i find much more grindy having to unlock a20 on a per-character basis.
Once you do Ascension once and play a couple of runs for each Character, you should know what you are doing.
Anything below A15 feels like an hand-holding tutorial that gets inflicted on you for EACH character, no thanks


Dead Cell has the Legendary Forge that`s pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
The rest of the unlocks go pretty fast. (except stuff like the 4th health potion or the 25k starting gold, but those would just make 0-1 cells runs a bit too easy, so it`s by design )

Not having one weapon unlocked doesn`t detract anything from the one you are currently using.
And actually, you don`t want most of the items unlocked for a run
Back in the day, before Custom Mode, we had the "original save" and another one with "just the good stuff"

Anyway, the point was, maybe try to mod the game and play it again? It`s absolutely worth it