I wasn’t aware you could post from anywhere else. Here I was eating Fiber One just to have extra time to post.
Also mature enough to remember the Great Slitherine Betrayal and so shall not be revisiting their sacrilegious soil! edit: I take it as a given that I clearly mean “old” by mature, I am in no sense claiming actual maturity or I wouldn’t have skateboarded into town to buy chocolate today.
It’s got high production values. It works well. It’s polished. The core mechanics are very simple, though. I have got a couple of hours out of it today - enough to feel like the devs deserve my money - but it is brainless time passing. Some of the content also feels redundant - skipping to the next dungeon level (for example) involves a screen with a weapon ad on it. I’d rather just skip to the next screen, tbh. The ad and floor change animation makes earning gold take time. Progress is really determined by your level and chars. I now have a much better chance of criting; but I don’t need it for the first thirty floors (and the enemies im up against can’t meaningfully damage me), it’s definitely useful for about five floors, then the enemies are too serious for me to really take a chance anyway. Gold gain looks pretty constant across floors (60/floor) so the grind incentive is to do the dull stuff. Repeatedly. Some of the gear is nice. I enjoyed getting a legendary char (9,000 gold, one plus four-ish greens in a pack). This has f2p in its gene stock but is a well balanced premium experience. Do I like it? Not really. Have I played it reasonably compulsively? Yes. Could I have done more useful things today that left me feeling better by this point in time? Definitely.
@Quoad lol great post, I often feel like that after getting sucked into a game...especially when it’s one that feels like a waste of time or I later delete. Thanks for the post, that helps me make up my mind. If it had more depth and some deep RPG mechanics I’d be interested but it doesn’t sound like my kind of thing.
Just to add to that, enemies are pretty and different with varied names, all of which is entirely irrelevant for practical purposes. Combat is your number against theirs. If you don’t one shot them, you’re probably in trouble (because if they can survive one non crit hit, they're probably high enough level to one shot or two shot you). Because you can realistically heal 15-20% per turn, if being hit once for 50% wasn’t a fluke (ie, you actually missed AND the enemy hit) then you should back out now. There are status effects. They seem largely irrelevant - their only impact is slightly delayed damage. I think I could buy resistant armour, but it has yet to be worth it down to level 50 - only events really give poison or bleeding, those events give 5-10% for 3-5 turns / floors, any sensible party with a healer in it will squash that without a problem, and because damage calculations and survivability are so crude (see above) that’s not a significant factor in any sensible calculations. Leveling makes your numbers bigger. Of course you only level after exiting a dungeon bc otherwise it would go on forever. Character classes feel largely identical, except healers / clerics. Who heal.
I just paid 400 gold to start at level 30 or 40 (I forget). I pushed on to level 50. I made 1,300 odd coins (so presumably started on 30). -400 entry fee and it just isn’t worth the later starts. But the earlier ones aren’t interesting. It’s a difficult one.
I’m enjoying this but it does get a bit too repetitive. Does seem like enemies repeat way too often. Wish there was a bit more variety. $8 was probably a bit steep for what it is IMO.
I’ve spent far more on far more disappointing games. Although we probably all have. I had this on Switch already, and when I bought it I got pretty much what I expected, and really liked it (enough to buy it again for iOS, now that “my” Switch seems have become my son’s) That’s why I always recommend it, but make sure to also point out the whole “super casual” thing. It just clicks for me, for whatever reason, so I figure there’s probably others out there who would like it too.
I was not sure about this one at first. Damn. So simple, yet so addictive. Visuals are crisp and funny. It really scratch that one more run indeed. Really glad I bought it.
How are you playing it, can I ask? Pay to start low down and push for hardest levels? Or start early and grind for cash? (I’m not sure there’s much other potential variability in gameplay but would be interested if so!)
Up to floor 50, I usually just start from floor 1 and keep making the run to farm for cash. I think that where the creatures got a lot more deadly. From there until 100, I would usually pay to start closer to my next goal (not always the closest), and only run the full dungeon if I got low on cash. Past 100 I would start as close as possible . I tried a few different things to change it up a bit, like making runs with just my hero (no cards), just basic cards, sometimes I’ll make runs based on the characters that I think look cool (strategy be damned). If you do get into it and want to try to get as far as you can, focus on characters with stun and always bring the best healing potion you have... potions resurrect you 1 time per star, so it saves you dying from a critical.
Ok, and does this make any real difference? Afaict - down to level 50 - all characters really resolve to one number, which is the (narrow) range of damage they do. I can see stun as perhaps the only element beyond this. Archers, mages, whatever, all they otherwise seem to do is a damage number. Is that unfair? it sounds as if what you’re doing is making this damage number lower. I would expect (on my experience so far) that the only difference this makes is aesthetics (their number LOOKS different but ends up being the same) and not getting as far. Are there added dimensions / subtleties I’m missing?
I watched some gameplay and it really looks like it was built to be a f2p game but for some reason switched to premium? I can see why it’s addictive I guess it looks like a gambling game just wanting to collect more and get a bit further to unlock even more
No, you’re spot on. It’s just my own of messing around with game. With the exception of stun and potions helping past floor 100 (where a ton of things can just one hill kill you), I’m sure that there’s really much depth beyond that. But for me, it’s the perfect kind of thing for playing while I get stuck watching one of 5 Disney movies for the 1000th time because my child and wife have commandeered the tv.
I stopped around the time of my penultimate post. There are some games whose sole purpose, I think, is to distract people from the grim inevitability of death and the sheer horror of having to grind through twenty four hours of existence in a remotely meaningful way, and so they fill time with utterly vacuous pretty, sparkly, brainless things. There is no learning involved, no skill, and no progress. They are just a pretty sparkly brainless thing to stare at. This is one of those for me, unfortunately. I can’t play it without thinking that I am wasting my life in bad faith, in a way that is not the case for at least a proportion of some other games!
That IS unfortunate. I mean, Keen: One Girl Army is a game with a similar price-point (that, too, is arguably expensive...for a mobile game), but whereas Keen literally provides you an experience that respects your time, it sucks to hear (from this thread, I mean) that C.A.R.D's basically one of those "Thank your lucky stars there's a price on this thing" games.