Just One More Run…The Roguelike Thread

#210

I am actually a little annoyed with Dawncaster - I had slowly been grinding up levels playing just Sunforge Mode, it was slow, but fun. This last patch completely changed the exp gain from a run and I was able to max level every class fairly easily since the patch. Granted, I was already within a level or two for all of them, but it just took one run and complete the first portal to max them all now.

I guess I will try to win with each maxed class now, but nothing really left for me to unlock. On to a new game soon.

#211

The new builds are very strange actualky.

I did finally get to the last boss of sun forge with an all blue deck, which was fub

#212

Will put this here instead of the What are you Playing thread since it fits in here.

I recommend Breach Wanderers: Deckbuilder - I am playing it on my iPad Pro, but I think it is also on android and PC.

This is a Slay the Spire inspired game with a bunch of interesting twists, but more importantly for me, with most of Dawncaster unlocked, a hell of a lot of things to unlock.

It is Freemium, but I have seen nothing in about the 5 hours of play this weekend that suggests there is anything to buy other than unlock acceleration. I bought the $2.99 new player pack after about 3 hours of play to support the game, but other than that, I don’t think I need money.

There are a lot of cool twists to the StS formula, like you can edit your starting deck, but also the pool of cards that you find along the way. Related to that twist is that you must take a card after each battle, but there are more opportunities to remove cards.

Really enjoying it so far.

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#213

Thanks for the info. This is one I’ve looked at a couple of times in the store but have thus far skipped in because of all the currency bundles listed as IAP. If it isn’t necessary I might just give the game a go.

#214

I’ve started to dive into Breach Wanderers and I agree that so far, so good. It doesn’t seem that the IAP does much other than maybe accelerate how quickly you grow your pool of cards and buffs and the such.

The only thing about it is that with the deck building it becomes a whole different beast than other games like StS and Dawncaster. It isn’t a complaint, but Breach Wanderers really isn’t as pick up and play for me as some others; this one requires a little more deliberate thought sometimes.

#215

Once you get to level 3 or 4 with a character you can use drafting for the deck and that will make it a little easier.

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#216

Ok, having played Breach Wanderers for a nice chunk of time over the weekend I can definitely see where the grind comes in to play. It is, of course, expected for a f2p game, and grind isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either, in roguelikes; but it looks to be heavy. I paid the $2.99 as well because the game seems solid and the gem boost means I’ll unlock characters faster. After that, though, there is another tier of boosts you can buy plus you can buy one of the currencies at any time.

None of this distracts from the core game, which is good. There are numerous things to unlock and upgrade, though, and the grind for the currency to do so is certainly looking hefty. The game gives you daily (hourly?) challenges to earn extra currency and has a quest system to work through as well, so there is plenty to do.

If this sounds like a complaint, at this point it is minor, other than the general statement that I would so much rather buy a premium game than pay for currencies, even if they end up being more or less the same experience; the latter just rubs me the wrong way.

I paid $10 for Slay the Spire, more for Dawncaster plus the expansions, and am happy to have done so. I’d so much rather have had this game cost $10 up front with a more reasonable grind than have it structured in a way where the grind looks to be such a slog that paying for currency boosts seems worth it.

All that said, this is a good one and since it is free to try, it is easy to recommend.

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#217

What is funny is that it is the unlock grind that appeals to me most, as this is primarily a business travel game for me. Getting all classes to max level in Dawncaster is what led me to seek out something new to work on grinding out when I travel.

#218

Oh, I agree that I like an unlock grind. I me stunned in that last that there are some good games - I think I mentioned Dicey Dungeon - that don’t have much of a progression system and my interest wanes a bit.

My point is just that this one seems a little heavy with, presumably, the intent to make you want to buy currencies.

It’s splitting hairs; it’s subjective; it’s not a game-breaker. I just find it a little more in your face and noticeable. C’est la vie.

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#219

This one is beating on me. I can’t get past depth 3.

One of my bigger complaints is the sometimes overwhelming status adds. I can’t stand going in to some of the boss fights and having them dump 80 stacks of leech on me at the start and then piling on poison. I don’t know how to counter stuff like that and when I get a card with cleanse it takes away 1-2 out of a stack of dozens.

Maybe I’m doing something wrong but I’m definitely finding this harder than others like StS, Dawncaster, Monster Train, etc.

#220

Was everyone else’s Dawncaster progress completely reset with the latest update?

#221

Hmmm, yes. It looks like you can unlock everything agin on the Rewards screen

#222

Yep!

I unlocked most of the gameplay aspect of a few characters.

This game really is peak STS-like for me

#223

I only seem to have 100 credits, or whatever they’re called. I’ll fiddle around.

#224

I picked up a Roguelike Humble Bundle a few weeks ago and have not really got to it yet, not to mention I picked up like 4 or 5 games in the Steam Sale that I have not tried yet - well because of a new job and a new Path of Exile season that I got a late start on because of new job.

So all that said -

I fired up Tainted Grail tonight and I have a question, is this game worth spending time on? It came in the Humble Bundle. But I have to say, being asked to actually walk around a deck building roguelike? Can’t I just have a tree? Do I really have to walk around and light candles? I know the answer is no, so what I want to know is - is it worth it? This game?

I think this is one of the things I love about Slay the Spire type trees. - There is no downtime of getting from one place to another. Even in MMOs, I don’t mind mindless fetch quests, I mind having to actually waste 10 minutes walking to get to them.

EDIT: And I literally just fell asleep in Chrono Ark’s tutorial battle.

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#225

Thanks for that mini-review. I added Tainted Grail to my Steam wishlist cause I saw you were playing it and the description looked interesting; it’s off the wishlist for good now.

Somewhat unrelated: what’d you think of Dice Legacy, another game I saw in your Steam activity? Been on my wishlist forever and the “mixed” reviews have scared me off so far.

#226

Playing a “cute” (?) little roguelike called Metal Unit on my switch for the past weeks. It was on a deep discount a while back. It has most of what I crave so it is perfect; PIXEL GRAPHICS, Sci-Fi setting, a plot, light Metroidvania elements, some light grinding for stats/gear and a difficulty curve made for braindead molluscs (I rarely search for challenges in my games aside from tactical round-based SRPGs).

I am intrigued by Hades Endgame but not for the higher challenges offered but for the morsels of character development of the excellent cast. It hurts me mentally to play it in white-knuckle-modus because my desire to experience more worldbuilding/lore/plot/character development clashes with its “big boys don’t cry” difficulty challenges “post-game”.

I still play Rogue Legacy 2 because it is a grinders dream and a good podcast game but that is also a different mindset for me…I gave up on RL2 plot early on. Too much mustache-twirling and navel-gazing. That is I game I really only play for its gameplay-loop.

It feels a bit crazy if I were asked to rank my overall TOP 10 Roguelikes and have a small Korean mid-tier game on top and a Supergiant game barely scraping by on the bottom…

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#227

Dice Legacy is interesting, because it is more like a worker placement, dice drafting puzzle game.

I actually need to give it a little more time.

But my initial feeling is that it is hard - and it is hard because there are probably very specific optimized strategies, and trying to deviate from those is a mistake. I don’t think you have a lot of options if you want to be successful. Which makes it more of a puzzle game to solve than a roguelike.

And since I really just wanted draft dicing - I end up just going back to Circadian Dice when I need a dice drafting fix.

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#228

Not that there isn’t a good selection of these roguelike games in iOS, but I really wish so many more of them came to mobile. STS and Monster Train show that a port is possible.

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#229

I recently finished Breach Wanderers, meaning I’ve maxed every character, bought every pack of cards, and have beaten every depth. There were a couple quests that were beyond my abilities or patience but feel like I got my money’s worth (free, with a $3 resource booster). It was a good game with some good cards and a few interesting characters. It doesn’t reach the heights of some of my favorites but I think it is definitely worth a look if anyone needs a fairly standard roguelike deck builder. One neat twist is the ability to customize decks beforehand and select your possible reward pool. Give it a look.

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