Had my first win in Spellrogue, which I'm actually digging.
Things really came alive when I realized, partway through the run, that dropping a die showing 6 on a "+1 to your die" spell results in two dice, showing 6 and 1. (And, similarly, adding +3 to a die showing 5 ends up with a 6 and a 2.) I ended up with a great engine going, where I'd drop my sapling dice; take one of my rolled 6s (almost always had one); get it glimmering (so it increases another die by 1 when used) (and eventually add a bless), pump it into a 6-1 pair 3 times, each time giving another die +1; drop a 3 onto my "add +1 to every roll (and eventually +1 bless)" spell; throw all my little dice into the "Attack, +3 Strength when depleted" to boost myself; then eat a badguy with my growing blade. Leftovers got dropped into the "Big Hit + More for each bless" countdown spell.
Most 3rd-stage enemies died on turn 2.
Agreed 100% that the events are boring. A lot of times you'll get a choice between a Water, Earth, or Fire spell, and gotta be honest I'm not 100% sure what those mean, yet, from a gameplay perspective.
I like Rituals! Especially ones that are quick to use (Sapling Dice are my favorites).
He's apparently the Necrobinder and you can summon his pet gigantic skellyman hand "Osty". Things also appear to animate, and it has me unsettled but curious
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Oh damn, I thought they had nixed the notion of StS2. This rules.
He's apparently the Necrobinder and you can summon his pet gigantic skellyman hand "Osty". Things also appear to animate, and it has me unsettled but curious
Not he, She!
Anyway, cool. 2025 early access is so far away though it's hard to get too excited. I look forward to Jorbs going slowly mad from fans asking about it constantly.
The merchant seems to be selling Defect cards, so we might not be out our beloved robot man yet. Curious if the Watcher will come back as she's the most flawed character currently - wrath is just real hard to balance. But bringing her back with a bigger emphasis on if X card was Y, then do Z combos could let her find a healthier place
Oh damn, I thought they had nixed the notion of StS2. This rules.
I know when Unity was busy tripping over their own dick, the STS team was one of the first to come out and say "Hey, we're working on our next thing and also getting off Unity for our next thing", but I don't remember if they said what the next thing was at the time. I guess it was this, because STS2 is on the open source Godot and not Unity.
Oh damn, I thought they had nixed the notion of StS2. This rules.
I know when Unity was busy tripping over their own dick, the STS team was one of the first to come out and say "Hey, we're working on our next thing and also getting off Unity for our next thing", but I don't remember if they said what the next thing was at the time. I guess it was this, because STS2 is on the open source Godot and not Unity.
Hm, not sure where I got the idea there was no StS2, but hey, happy to be wrong.
Oh damn, I thought they had nixed the notion of StS2. This rules.
I know when Unity was busy tripping over their own dick, the STS team was one of the first to come out and say "Hey, we're working on our next thing and also getting off Unity for our next thing", but I don't remember if they said what the next thing was at the time. I guess it was this, because STS2 is on the open source Godot and not Unity.
I'm fairly certain the merchant seeking defect cards is more of a tease about Defect still being in the game than anything else.
Though Claw becoming a colorless card with some buffs would also be fine - if it started with higher base damage, better scaling, and upgraded to have even better scaling, it'd be rampage-in-a-can which is a perfectly cromulent place for it to be
So how complete was StS when it started EA? Is this a "go ahead and jump on early access right away" kind of situation?
StS EA isnt a good measure for this. Looking at the previews we already have art for cards, which StS didnt have ( and i dont mean the beta art, that is retcon art ). It also only had two characters and no ascension. But I started following the game when it was pre-steam via the stimhack discourse.
IIRC when it game to steam in 2017 it had ascension ( but to only 10 ), and defect was still under design.
I expect this EA to be significantly more feature complete.
I just went through the basic game (no ascension) and have completed runs with all four characters. The difficulty curve on the deckbuilding is kind of odd in this game. Because of how unlocks work, the game actually gets harder as you unlock things even as you get better at playing the game, just because the odds of you finding the pieces you need for a decent combo become harder and harder to put together. Even when you are pretty good at the game and understand the range of different builds and important pieces, there's still a pretty good number of runs that you just burn out on because you end up not getting pieces that work together.
Still, it's a pretty addictive game and I can see why the game is as popular as it is. I enjoyed my time with it, though it would be nice if there were more than 4 characters to play with.
You unlock stuff so fast, and there are so few unlocks, that to me it feels like a non-issue basically. Certainly compared to lots of other roguelikes/lites with meta-progression, StS feels like it barely has any of that stuff. I can't really imagine someone being "pretty good at the game" and yet still unlocking cards. Like, what? I'm not pretty good at the game and I've beaten A20 on every character multiple times.
In other words, if you think that there are runs where you burn out because you didn't get pieces that work together, probably you're not pretty good at the game! You have more to learn!
I just went through the basic game (no ascension) and have completed runs with all four characters. The difficulty curve on the deckbuilding is kind of odd in this game. Because of how unlocks work, the game actually gets harder as you unlock things even as you get better at playing the game, just because the odds of you finding the pieces you need for a decent combo become harder and harder to put together. Even when you are pretty good at the game and understand the range of different builds and important pieces, there's still a pretty good number of runs that you just burn out on because you end up not getting pieces that work together.
Still, it's a pretty addictive game and I can see why the game is as popular as it is. I enjoyed my time with it, though it would be nice if there were more than 4 characters to play with.
For what it matters, without Ascension and on low levels, the best players can win like 99% of the time. So, there's always room to improve even if you feel like you had bad luck in card draws or whatnot!
I just went through the basic game (no ascension) and have completed runs with all four characters. The difficulty curve on the deckbuilding is kind of odd in this game. Because of how unlocks work, the game actually gets harder as you unlock things even as you get better at playing the game, just because the odds of you finding the pieces you need for a decent combo become harder and harder to put together. Even when you are pretty good at the game and understand the range of different builds and important pieces, there's still a pretty good number of runs that you just burn out on because you end up not getting pieces that work together.
Still, it's a pretty addictive game and I can see why the game is as popular as it is. I enjoyed my time with it, though it would be nice if there were more than 4 characters to play with.
For what it matters, without Ascension and on low levels, the best players can win like 99% of the time. So, there's always room to improve even if you feel like you had bad luck in card draws or whatnot!
Step 1: don't force build an engine.
Engines are fun but not required. "handful of good stuff" is enough beat down most of the time especially A10 and below. Especially if you're skipping cards because they don't fit your game plan- sometimes that's the game telling you what your new plan is.
Running Defect for example I always aim for the CLAW IS LAW claw/ice orb deck. Lots of ice, lots of claws, murder murder murder while generating absurd amounts of block.
Yeah, the odd difficulty spike was when I had the first 3 of 5 unlocks completed. When I got to about 3 to 4 unlocks it got easier as I gained access to some better cards. There is a stage though as you are learning the game where you don't know all the good pieces yet, or even what upgrades change and the addition of a bunch of mid tier cards causes thr game to get harder. Maybe it's just a matter of the speed of the rollout adding complexity faster than you can learn.
If you do out of game research, I am sure it is a non-existent difficulty spike.
I just went through the basic game (no ascension) and have completed runs with all four characters. The difficulty curve on the deckbuilding is kind of odd in this game. Because of how unlocks work, the game actually gets harder as you unlock things even as you get better at playing the game, just because the odds of you finding the pieces you need for a decent combo become harder and harder to put together. Even when you are pretty good at the game and understand the range of different builds and important pieces, there's still a pretty good number of runs that you just burn out on because you end up not getting pieces that work together.
Still, it's a pretty addictive game and I can see why the game is as popular as it is. I enjoyed my time with it, though it would be nice if there were more than 4 characters to play with.
For what it matters, without Ascension and on low levels, the best players can win like 99% of the time. So, there's always room to improve even if you feel like you had bad luck in card draws or whatnot!
Even on A20, i believe the best player's winrate is around 80% if they're really try harding. Certainly not my win-rate, but then i just yeeted a rotating A20 winstreak as Watcher to a Bird Cultist. Not... like Bird Cultist and multiple other things, just a bird cultist. That was pretty awkward.
Anyway, i find focusing on combos and specific card combos to be a trap - outside of Watcher, who's kinda designed to function that way (Which is why she either goes big or goes home. It's somewhat frustrating). Generally the best approach on A20 is "What wins the next floor". If you already have that on lock, what about the next elite? what about the act boss? etc. Sometimes i might take cards because i know they arent good right now, but they could pop off big time if things line up - Meteor Strike, Grand Finale.
In fact, here's a run i finished prepared earlier
Took meteor strike as my boss reward in act 1 because my deck had a bunch of X cost cards and a recycle already, so i had some ability to cast it, and i knew it'd be amazing if i got snecko eye next. I proceed to get snecko eye! Then i immediately duped it at a shop when i was offered the chance to do so. Then i slammed AfO both times i saw it, because it's real potent in Snecko decks (honestly more so than it is in Claw decks)
It was a hairy win where i blew through both my Fairy in a Bottle and Lizard Tail to get the Heart down, but a win is a win is a win.
Corruption is a really good example, actually! As strong as it is - and to be clear, it's really strong - I've made decks that don't take it. Even with feel no pain and dark embrace, taking it would make the deck worse
And that deck is just the simple Second Wind + Power Through combo where you use those two to produce massive amounts of block while thinning your deck dramaticlly.
On the other hand, everyone knows Corruption/Dead Branch
@Caedwyr the other thing about unlocks in StS is that unlike a lot of games where the meta progression is a direct power increase, StS's unlock system serves as a complexity check to keep new players from being overwhelmed. If you're unlocking stuff, you're implicitly good enough to handle the increased complexity
Yeah, I can see why they did it, it was just a weird feeling of me enjoying a bunch of interactions after the first couple rounds of unlocks, but doing too well at the game so I unlocked other stuff too quickly for my taste and not being able to easily recreate those fun interactions (unless I play a lot and get lucky).
Strangely for me, despite really liking the game, as soon as I beat the non-ascension game on each character I became uninterested in continuing. I'm not sure why I had this type of reaction, since other roguelikes I normally enjoy enough to want to continue a bit further after beating the game. Maybe its because there's so many cards it becomes harder to put together a specific combo which is the fun part for me in games like this, instead as noted previously you want to aim for a collection of the good stuff.
It also just might be that I have that reaction to deckbuilders, since I've also had a similar feel with other games like Ancient Enemy. They feel more puzzlelike to me, so once I've solved the puzzle my brain is just done with the game.
All in all, though its a solid game and I can see why it is so popular.
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Things really came alive when I realized, partway through the run, that dropping a die showing 6 on a "+1 to your die" spell results in two dice, showing 6 and 1. (And, similarly, adding +3 to a die showing 5 ends up with a 6 and a 2.) I ended up with a great engine going, where I'd drop my sapling dice; take one of my rolled 6s (almost always had one); get it glimmering (so it increases another die by 1 when used) (and eventually add a bless), pump it into a 6-1 pair 3 times, each time giving another die +1; drop a 3 onto my "add +1 to every roll (and eventually +1 bless)" spell; throw all my little dice into the "Attack, +3 Strength when depleted" to boost myself; then eat a badguy with my growing blade. Leftovers got dropped into the "Big Hit + More for each bless" countdown spell.
Most 3rd-stage enemies died on turn 2.
Agreed 100% that the events are boring. A lot of times you'll get a choice between a Water, Earth, or Fire spell, and gotta be honest I'm not 100% sure what those mean, yet, from a gameplay perspective.
I like Rituals! Especially ones that are quick to use (Sapling Dice are my favorites).
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
it's great
because if so, hell yeah
i would kiss those bones
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Steam: Thera
Not he, She!
Anyway, cool. 2025 early access is so far away though it's hard to get too excited. I look forward to Jorbs going slowly mad from fans asking about it constantly.
The merchant seems to be selling Defect cards, so we might not be out our beloved robot man yet. Curious if the Watcher will come back as she's the most flawed character currently - wrath is just real hard to balance. But bringing her back with a bigger emphasis on if X card was Y, then do Z combos could let her find a healthier place
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I know when Unity was busy tripping over their own dick, the STS team was one of the first to come out and say "Hey, we're working on our next thing and also getting off Unity for our next thing", but I don't remember if they said what the next thing was at the time. I guess it was this, because STS2 is on the open source Godot and not Unity.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
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Iirc, defect wasn't in at launch. I can't actually remember when I jumped in to playing StS. Before the Watcher and the Heart, for sure.
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Hm, not sure where I got the idea there was no StS2, but hey, happy to be wrong.
God, Unity. What a clusterfuck.
I'm fairly certain the merchant seeking defect cards is more of a tease about Defect still being in the game than anything else.
Though Claw becoming a colorless card with some buffs would also be fine - if it started with higher base damage, better scaling, and upgraded to have even better scaling, it'd be rampage-in-a-can which is a perfectly cromulent place for it to be
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
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Switch: 0293 6817 9891
StS EA isnt a good measure for this. Looking at the previews we already have art for cards, which StS didnt have ( and i dont mean the beta art, that is retcon art ). It also only had two characters and no ascension. But I started following the game when it was pre-steam via the stimhack discourse.
IIRC when it game to steam in 2017 it had ascension ( but to only 10 ), and defect was still under design.
I expect this EA to be significantly more feature complete.
And i'm still slaying the spire
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Well ok dark + good stuff BUT STILL
Died against the heart because the deck got a bit bloated and I didn't get the engine up in time. Alas.
Still, it's a pretty addictive game and I can see why the game is as popular as it is. I enjoyed my time with it, though it would be nice if there were more than 4 characters to play with.
In other words, if you think that there are runs where you burn out because you didn't get pieces that work together, probably you're not pretty good at the game! You have more to learn!
For what it matters, without Ascension and on low levels, the best players can win like 99% of the time. So, there's always room to improve even if you feel like you had bad luck in card draws or whatnot!
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
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Step 1: don't force build an engine.
Engines are fun but not required. "handful of good stuff" is enough beat down most of the time especially A10 and below. Especially if you're skipping cards because they don't fit your game plan- sometimes that's the game telling you what your new plan is.
Running Defect for example I always aim for the CLAW IS LAW claw/ice orb deck. Lots of ice, lots of claws, murder murder murder while generating absurd amounts of block.
I actually play that build like 1/20 games.
If you do out of game research, I am sure it is a non-existent difficulty spike.
Even on A20, i believe the best player's winrate is around 80% if they're really try harding. Certainly not my win-rate, but then i just yeeted a rotating A20 winstreak as Watcher to a Bird Cultist. Not... like Bird Cultist and multiple other things, just a bird cultist. That was pretty awkward.
Anyway, i find focusing on combos and specific card combos to be a trap - outside of Watcher, who's kinda designed to function that way (Which is why she either goes big or goes home. It's somewhat frustrating). Generally the best approach on A20 is "What wins the next floor". If you already have that on lock, what about the next elite? what about the act boss? etc. Sometimes i might take cards because i know they arent good right now, but they could pop off big time if things line up - Meteor Strike, Grand Finale.
In fact, here's a run i finished prepared earlier
Took meteor strike as my boss reward in act 1 because my deck had a bunch of X cost cards and a recycle already, so i had some ability to cast it, and i knew it'd be amazing if i got snecko eye next. I proceed to get snecko eye! Then i immediately duped it at a shop when i was offered the chance to do so. Then i slammed AfO both times i saw it, because it's real potent in Snecko decks (honestly more so than it is in Claw decks)
It was a hairy win where i blew through both my Fairy in a Bottle and Lizard Tail to get the Heart down, but a win is a win is a win.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
Coincidently my ironclad youtooz came today and it's pretty nice.
And that deck is just the simple Second Wind + Power Through combo where you use those two to produce massive amounts of block while thinning your deck dramaticlly.
On the other hand, everyone knows Corruption/Dead Branch
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Switch: 0293 6817 9891
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
Strangely for me, despite really liking the game, as soon as I beat the non-ascension game on each character I became uninterested in continuing. I'm not sure why I had this type of reaction, since other roguelikes I normally enjoy enough to want to continue a bit further after beating the game. Maybe its because there's so many cards it becomes harder to put together a specific combo which is the fun part for me in games like this, instead as noted previously you want to aim for a collection of the good stuff.
It also just might be that I have that reaction to deckbuilders, since I've also had a similar feel with other games like Ancient Enemy. They feel more puzzlelike to me, so once I've solved the puzzle my brain is just done with the game.
All in all, though its a solid game and I can see why it is so popular.