Octopus Overlords

Finally beat the game for the first time. (I know - sad). Was with the ironclad vs. the crow boss. And I think I agree that getting all of the unlocks for a character really helps. Or I just ended up putting together a decent deck haphazardly. Either way, I was glad to get that done. On to a new class.

I need to pick it up again, just work it into my rotation once or twice a week. I wound up really liking Monster Train and have done 7 or 8 runs in that. It's not as polished or focused, but it puts some really interesting spins on the formula.

Yeah, I have my eye on Monster Train. Will probably pick it up at the next time it goes on sale.

So I unlocked the Watcher with my first victory, and achieved my second victory on the first run with her. I don't know if she's overpowered, or if I just got lucky. I barely squeaked by for the win, but it was still funny to me - going so long without beating it, and then 2 in a row. I guess I'll go for a Silent or a Defect victory while working on their unlocks.

Baroquen wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 10:47 pm Yeah, I have my eye on Monster Train. Will probably pick it up at the next time it goes on sale.

So I unlocked the Watcher with my first victory, and achieved my second victory on the first run with her. I don't know if she's overpowered, or if I just got lucky. I barely squeaked by for the win, but it was still funny to me - going so long without beating it, and then 2 in a row. I guess I'll go for a Silent or a Defect victory while working on their unlocks.

I found a few things.

> The game makes more sense and gets easier. You will be begin to breeze through victories.
> You tend to jive better with some playing styles conducive to some characters
> Once you are ready to advance the game gets harder so overpowered doesn't figure in to it. Underpowered? Oh yeah. The green character with extra cards and the one that uses divine power get really hard for me to use as I move up the chain. OTOH, the extra card character with the right combo can breeze through anything but you can't even come close to counting on the stars aligning for it.

Finally, 7ish months after I first unlocked Ascension 20, I beat it.

Closing in on full Ascension for the Ironclad... This one might be a new health record--129. Sheesh; getting past 110 is pretty rare for me. 120 is unheard of; 129?



The Face of Cleric and Singing Bowl were key in raising my health, plus a Feed card. I went really low on defense for this build, and instead focused on raising my strength with Demon Form, then just beating people quickly enough that I could just heal large amounts due to my high health. Ornamental Fan and Captain's Wheel helped with 'free' block.

I picked up the free Downfall mod, and it's really breathed new life into the game.

Play as the bad guys, defending the spire? The bosses are the normal player characters? Your new bad player characters have their own mechanics?
Count me in.

Finally beat the 'post-door' game with my 2nd class--the defect.



I went waaayyy heavy on relics at the expense of all card upgrades after I got the Dig relic really early. Key to defeating the heart were the 'take 1 less damage' rod (meaning card plays in the endgame did not hurt me), thorns, and static discharge.

Fretmute wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 4:48 pm Have you enabled speed mode in the settings? It speeds things up drastically by reducing animation times. My games (the wins, at least ) are typically about 40 minutes.

Woo hoo, I knew there was a good reason to come back in this thread and read it...that alone was worth the (non) effort. Playing this again since I only played several hours the first time I tried it. Won the game with the first character and I feel like I'm on the cusp of doing it with The Silent (MUCH tougher to play IMO).

Great little game. Very addictive. I usually never care about Steam achievements, or even look at them, but in this case for whatever reason, I am really interested.

For anyone who loves this game, I recommend Pirate Outlaws as well. I assume it’s a clone of this, but also extremely addicting (and obvs with a pirates theme rather than whatever StS ‘theme’ is…weirdness? ).

Pirates plays amazing on mobile/tablet but it’s also now on Steam, with a recent patch apparently.

Downloaded and will give it a go. StS is a high bar, though!

Zaxxon wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2023 10:49 am Downloaded and will give it a go. StS is a high bar, though!

Yeah, agree. I have been sucked in HARD by it lately...like staying up until 2a playing, like I was still 30 YO. WTF man.

It's got its hooks in me bad, but lessening now that I have beaten the game with the first three characters. I'm not loving the last character (with the "states") but I am sure I will get into it. Maybe not since Hearthstone (which I consider the pinnacle of all deck games) have I put so much time into a game like this.

REALLY well balanced, polished, etc.

I've seen Monster Train and Monster Slayers mentioned (had the latter in my account already), but I think I like the clean simplicity of StS (but feel free to convince me to spend some more time if you think they're worthy).

Pirates has that same...aesthetic (and the art is fantasstic IMO) as StS. Very much an StS clone, for better or worse though.

By the way, what's more fun, Ascension, or going after ACT 4?

Carpet_pissr wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2023 3:28 pm I've seen Monster Train and Monster Slayers mentioned (had the latter in my account already), but I think I like the clean simplicity of StS (but feel free to convince me to spend some more time if you think they're worthy).

I like Monster Train; it has some cool ideas and mechanics the diverge from StS. But I'd say it's not as polished and lacks StS's distinct style. It's only $8 CAD (OR YOUR REGIONAL EQUIVALENT) on Steam until the 18th though, so you may want to give it a look!


Have you looked into Roguebook? I think it's very good, and I'd give it the bigger recommendation if you're looking for something that's more similar to StS. It adds a light overworld layer that's a lot of fun, and you take two characters on each run. This opens up a lot more build options as they have different skills that complement each other. There are four characters in the base game, plus another one in the DLC. It's set in the same universe as Faeria, and Richard Garfield was involved in its development. This one's on sale until the 16th.

Carpet_pissr wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2023 5:39 pm By the way, what's more fun, Ascension, or going after ACT 4?

Yes.

(I did Ascension first as it shipped first, but trying to beat Act 4 while on Ascension 20 is… challenging.)

Nowadays I will always go for act 4, but I generally keep Ascension at lower levels so I can actually have some fun, too. I’m just not good enough to go full send all the time and enjoy it.

I think I've played all of the alternative titles mentioned in the last few replies.

Most Time Invested: Monster Train
I think I have a few victories and various things unlocked. The mechanics were different enough to be interesting. Not insanely difficult. Lots of choices to customize your run along the way. Fun!

Most Forgotten: Pirate Outlaws
I think i do have this on my tablet and I enjoyed it. Forgot about it completely, and feel like re-installing and playing some more!

Least Played: Roguebook
This one didn't click with me as much. Interesting twists on the genre, but the map/exploration aspect didn't interest me like I thought it would. And the two character dynamics was different yet ... bland? (And was there a way to get cards out of your deck - if so I don't think I found it.)

Somewhere in the Middle: Slay the Spire
I enjoyed this one a lot, but not as much as some of you did. I think I won once or twice, and I definitely played with the different characters and enjoyed the contrasting play styles. That said, I don't have an urge to boot it up (and don't think it's even currently installed)

The best part about all of these games (IMO) is that you can play each in short burst. That really helps with my short gaming attention-span.

Since we are talking about other deckbuilders...I see that I have both Inscryption and Griftlands on my wishlist...anyone played those?

Finally, for some odd reason that REALLY bugs me, the pirate deckbuilder is called Pirates (sic?) Outlaws....not Pirate Outlaws. Or even (but weirder) Pirate's Outlaws....(Pirates' Outlaws?!) GRAMMAR, people! It's important!!

Inscryption is considered by many to be the greatest game in the history of the universe, but I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet myself.

Sudy wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2023 9:44 pm Inscryption is considered by many to be the greatest game in the history of the universe

Wow, that’s quite the endorsement!

I knew it made a big splash when it came out, thus my wishlisting I guess.

Thanks for the Roguebook suggestion, will check that out.

I tried Monster Train since it’s on Gamepass, and liked it immediately. The premise is a bit silly maybe, but no one (?!) plays deckbuilders for the story I guess.

FWIW I also consider these games to be really bad for me, like smoking. Perfectly honed to be absurdly addictive. Maybe the only thing worse in that regard is a game like Gems of War (Puzzle Quest) that mash up a deck builder with match three, gah. Electronic crack.

Beware if using mods...

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/s ... g-malware/

To be clear, it wasn't the mod version, it was the standalone version.

Not sure if this game was brought up in this thread or not, but I just received it as part of my humble bundle monthly subscription and it's pretty fun.

It's clearly heavily drawing on Spire's gameplay, but it has a few additional mechanics that I feel really add to the game style. Not worth the current price on steam, imo, but as part of a bundle it was a pretty good addition. I feel that if you like Spire you'll enjoy this.

I first tried this game on PC a couple of years after its release. I beat the first two bosses, but stopped playing because I thought the theme was bland.

I tried the game yesterday on Apple Arcade. Even though I died on the second boss, I had a lot more fun. I don't think it's because I was playing on an iPad; in fact, the touch interface led to some mistaken card plays on my part. I think it's because I was paying more attention to tactics this time.

But with Slay the Spire 2 coming out someday in 2025, I think I'd rather wait for that instead of putting deep roots into STS1. And I'd like to try a more thematic roguelike deckbuilder like Inscryption in the meantime.

Interesting video about the design of Slay the Spire.

I appreciated that video. Thank you for sharing.

Interesting that he both talks about Garfield and the first roguelike player v computer deck Builder but neglects to mention Microprose MtG Shandalar which I absolutely loved. I guess it wasn't roguelike enough? Still. I sat and watched the whole video. This makes me a bit more excited for StS II.

I also now think about going back to the game and starting from scratch... I don't remember how far I got in this game. It's been a while.

edit: Interesting. It says I've never played the watcher in my stats and only has me up to level 6/7. I guess that'll make it easier to start over from scratch and relearn this game.

Edit: So three days after picking this up again and I don't remember sucking this bad. I'm redoing down to ascension level 1 and I can't even get past that with defect.

Edit: And then I got a good first power card and ran through it like a warm knife through butter

Slay The Spire 2 is finally here! Check out the reveal trailer for the followup to the rogue-lite card battler. Slay the Spire 2 will have new cards, new characters and, of course, new ways to die. Slay the Spire 2 comes to early access in 2025.

Auto in just based on the first one.

I just recently started playing the original again. I recognize it is good, and I do enjoy playing it, but it's not something that I'm enthusiastic about.