Card/puzzle games - sate my PC thirst!

zhen_rogue

I'm asking for your recommendations on card/puzzle games that I can play on the PC.
Surely, there's some out there that I havent played, and i'm dying for a fix.

Here's what i've played already:
M:TG online beta/free trials (the king of card games, but expensive to get anywhere in)
Spectromancer (aka the "who got lucky enough to draw the astral guard" game)
PuzzleQuest (I can't wait for galactrix, I can't wait for galactrix, I can't wait for galactrix)
Etherlords I/II (very solid card game, mixed with some other RPG/Strat elements)

Here's what I like:
Card games.
The only reason I finished FF8 on the PSX was simply to keep collecting cards and playing tetra master.
M:TG is my fav by far - but i'm not in a place where I want to start dumping cash on building decks again, ugh.
Spectromancer was fun for almost two days, but lack of any deckbuilding and being at the total mercy of the random draw is very short-sighted.
Puzzle quest was awesome, splicing the RPG/story element with the puzzle game. Lots of fun.

Here's what I don't like:
Monthly fees/subscriptions.
Game mechanics based purely on random elements, no strategy.

Thanks in advance G&T, for any and all suggestions.

emnmnme

If you play a few rounds of Surakarta, you'll like it. You play against an opponent and try to force him to lose pieces through feints and sacrifices - kinda like checkers. There's probably some free Flash version floating around on the internet somewhere.

Jubeh

There's Kongai at Kongregate. It's a card game somewhat based on fighting games, somewhat based on the Pokemon battle network thingy. It was designed by David Sirlin, who's a top Street Fighter player and the dude doing HD Remix right now.

http://www.kongregate.com/cards

There's also Alteil, but it's been a while since I've played. If it's the same as it was, then randomness is a big factor. Only in that you can't choose who your units attack. It's completely random, and tends to screw you over a lot.

http://www.alteil.com/

PMAvers

Puzzle Pirates on a doubloon (read: no subscription) server?

zhen_rogue

Most of those I hadn't heard of yet - thanks for the leads.
Puzzle Pirates wasn't my cup of tea, the games seemed a little too "time limit/cartoony" and not enough "strategy/turn-based" for me.
Of the suggestions, Altiel seems closest to what I was shooting for - i'll give that a try first.

Please keep the ideas coming!

TychoCelchuuu

Armageddon Empires might work.

zhen_rogue

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

Armageddon Empires might work.

This also looks like a possible winner - the hex layout and subjects also remind me of Conflict for the NES.
Nostalgia +1!

It's a pity there doesn't seem to be a cross between M:TG and Spectromancer - M:TG is absolutely huge these days in terms of cards/costs/expansions/etc, and Spectromancer is just too small in almost every regard.

If only I was a game designer...

Kelor

How far off is Galactrix?

zhen_rogue

Kelor wrote: »

How far off is Galactrix?

Last I heard it was Q1 2009, which was a disappointment after the original Oct 2008 date.
Hopefully, it doesn't get pushed again.

taliosfalcon

You might like Poxnora Its like a combination CCG/Board game. The board aspects give it a lot more strategy than most CCGs, and while there is some deck building involved cards/figures are cheaper than magic, and due to the higher emphasis on strategy you don't necessarily need to buy the best cards to win, so your not constantly buying new cards.Not to mention they're pretty good about not making old cards obsolete with with expansion releases. You can play for free as much as you want with the starter decks, although the game is much more fun once you get your own

edit: one other great thing about poxnora that i've only seen rivaled by MTGO in its glory days is that it has a large, consistent community. There's pretty much always 80+ people playing in the ranked room, and more in the others so its always easy to get a game going

spacepotato

You can actually get by on MtG online without it becoming a huge moneysink. As long as you're happy enough playing casual games, you can buy a few tickets and use them to get bulk commons/uncommons. There are bots all over the trade channels where you can get tons o' commons and uncommons for just a buck or two. You'll be locked out of some cards and events due to cost, but you can still put together a pretty powerful deck without a ton of rares.

GoodOmens

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

Armageddon Empires might work.

Yeppers. It's highly random and sometimes unforgiving, but it's always fun to wander around the desert and occasionally find a nuke that you can drop on radioactive zombies. Plus there have been 2 expansions, the most recent of which tweaked some of the combat mechanics and made infantry more viable.

GoodOmens

Oh, and you may want to check out Etherlords or its sequel. The overall gameplay is like HOMM, but the battles are very much like M:TG.

zanmatto

Try out Spectromancer.

It's pretty neato.

lowlylowlycook

zanmatto wrote: »

Try out Spectromancer.

It's pretty neato.

OP wrote:

Here's what i've played already:
Spectromancer (aka the "who got lucky enough to draw the astral guard" game)

zhen_rogue

GoodOmens wrote: »

Oh, and you may want to check out Etherlords or its sequel. The overall gameplay is like HOMM, but the battles are very much like M:TG.

Oh man, I completely forgot Etherlords and EtherlordsII.
Played the both, and liked them a lot.
I enjoyed the fact that you had to re-work your deck for almost every battle, in that there wasn't simply an 'uber deck' of cards that won every fight it got in.

Great recommendation, i'll add it to the OP under games i've played.

zhen_rogue

Ok, need some "name that game" help.

I seem to remember that not long ago (last year or so) there was a hybrid card game/board game type schtick that took place in space.
It had a subscription fee and/or cards to buy, but also had free beginner's stuff.
I thought Pox Nora was very similar, but this was definitely space and I think more of a 'monopoly' type board game and less of a table-top RPG style.

So, name that mix of monopoly, space, and magic:the gathering please!

n00bish

You're thinking of Star Chamber, I believe. It's on the Sony Station now though, so eh.