Post by boogiepop on Jun 8, 2024 12:08:16 GMT
So, I finally got around to playing Slay the Spire yesterday. Here's how things went.
Downloaded it for Linux. The game wouldn't run. Found a fix someone posted online which required changing one line of code, and "Voila!"... it worked.
My first thirty minutes or so playing the game were extremely frustrating. I wanted to play via keyboard only, and it's not really made for that. There are some actions that must (as far as I can tell) be done using a mouse, and switching off between the two is annoying. I was actually accidentally playing cards I didn't want to and such, so I abandoned that first run once I got a grips on the controls.
How one screws up controls for a card game, I'll never know. They should have just allowed a selection between mouse and keyboard and given full support for all in-game actions to both. As it is right now, I can't stand using the second character since every time I want to discard a card, I have to reach for the mouse, and then leave the pointer on a "safe" spot of the screen lest it start selecting stuff I don't want selected. Gah!
Okay, now onto the game. This is more Dominion (or perhaps Thunderstone) than anything else, and seems to rely heavily on combos and permanent buffs. Hence, how well you do depends heavily on what you receive as cards and (likely more importantly) items that provide said buffs. On my first real run, I was immediately given two items that increased the amount of gold I received, so I found myself wanting to see just how much I could amass. I set out on a path which pitted me against the maximum number of monsters and bosses and amassed 700+ gold by the time I reached the end. I was too greedy, however, and went into the level 1 boss without healing at the rest spot before it. I decided I wouldn't take the level bosses so lightly and restarted.
"Oh! But now I've unlocked a new character!
Okay, I'll give him a try, I guess."
This time I cleared the entire first floor without breaking a sweat, which was nice and all, but I had way too many cards that caused discarding, and (like I said earlier) having to switch back and forth between keyboard and mouse controls constantly was simply too obnoxious, so I abandoned that run.
I started another one with the first character but didn't like the first few things I was given, so abandoned yet another run after only a few minutes.
Then, I stated one more, got a very nice combination of buffs which worked well together and just happened to pick up a couple of rare cards that worked with that theme. (I was made into a vampire and lost a life at the beginning of each round to draw an extra card, for those who care. Oh, and I got an artifact which let me heal at the end of any encounter where I had less than 50% life.)
The rest of the game basically played itself. I couldn't keep track of all the block bonuses I was getting, and I never had to heal... I just trounced anything I came across. I didn't even try to take care when selecting cards for my deck; every time I was given the option to (except once, I think), I added a card, so by the game's end I had a large, somewhat unfocused deck. It didn't matter, I won anyway (though the final boss did put up a really good fight). I got the okay ending instead of the good one (dealing only 750 or so damage to the "true" boss), but whatever.
So, here's what I thought of the game mechanics. (I'm not going to go into graphics or music, since there was really nothing remarkable about either of them.)
There are far fewer interesting choices to make than the game might lead you to believe. Whenever given the option of taking damage/getting cursed, etc. to get some awesome goodie or simply doing nothing, you should nearly always go for the goodie. The only reasons you ever shouldn't is if it's going to kill you immediately or completely goes against what you've got going for you in your deck and current collection of buffs. The cards you are given also leave little actual choice. "Hmm, should I get that rare card that's already upgraded or the common one that isn't?" is not a real decision.
As for battles, your options are generally straightforward. You have a limited number of actions, and, since you can typically see what the monsters are going to do, you'll be using whatever cards in your hand respond to them. Sure, there are decisions to make, but I never had to stop and think seriously between two courses of action. There was always an optimal answer, and it would just take a few moments to hash out which one that was.
Did I enjoy my time with Slay the Spire? Absolutely. It was a wonderful diversion for a few hours. But I think it's best looked at as a rental game; play it for a weekend and then never come back to it again.
Downloaded it for Linux. The game wouldn't run. Found a fix someone posted online which required changing one line of code, and "Voila!"... it worked.
My first thirty minutes or so playing the game were extremely frustrating. I wanted to play via keyboard only, and it's not really made for that. There are some actions that must (as far as I can tell) be done using a mouse, and switching off between the two is annoying. I was actually accidentally playing cards I didn't want to and such, so I abandoned that first run once I got a grips on the controls.
How one screws up controls for a card game, I'll never know. They should have just allowed a selection between mouse and keyboard and given full support for all in-game actions to both. As it is right now, I can't stand using the second character since every time I want to discard a card, I have to reach for the mouse, and then leave the pointer on a "safe" spot of the screen lest it start selecting stuff I don't want selected. Gah!
Okay, now onto the game. This is more Dominion (or perhaps Thunderstone) than anything else, and seems to rely heavily on combos and permanent buffs. Hence, how well you do depends heavily on what you receive as cards and (likely more importantly) items that provide said buffs. On my first real run, I was immediately given two items that increased the amount of gold I received, so I found myself wanting to see just how much I could amass. I set out on a path which pitted me against the maximum number of monsters and bosses and amassed 700+ gold by the time I reached the end. I was too greedy, however, and went into the level 1 boss without healing at the rest spot before it. I decided I wouldn't take the level bosses so lightly and restarted.
"Oh! But now I've unlocked a new character!
Okay, I'll give him a try, I guess."
This time I cleared the entire first floor without breaking a sweat, which was nice and all, but I had way too many cards that caused discarding, and (like I said earlier) having to switch back and forth between keyboard and mouse controls constantly was simply too obnoxious, so I abandoned that run.
I started another one with the first character but didn't like the first few things I was given, so abandoned yet another run after only a few minutes.
Then, I stated one more, got a very nice combination of buffs which worked well together and just happened to pick up a couple of rare cards that worked with that theme. (I was made into a vampire and lost a life at the beginning of each round to draw an extra card, for those who care. Oh, and I got an artifact which let me heal at the end of any encounter where I had less than 50% life.)
The rest of the game basically played itself. I couldn't keep track of all the block bonuses I was getting, and I never had to heal... I just trounced anything I came across. I didn't even try to take care when selecting cards for my deck; every time I was given the option to (except once, I think), I added a card, so by the game's end I had a large, somewhat unfocused deck. It didn't matter, I won anyway (though the final boss did put up a really good fight). I got the okay ending instead of the good one (dealing only 750 or so damage to the "true" boss), but whatever.
So, here's what I thought of the game mechanics. (I'm not going to go into graphics or music, since there was really nothing remarkable about either of them.)
There are far fewer interesting choices to make than the game might lead you to believe. Whenever given the option of taking damage/getting cursed, etc. to get some awesome goodie or simply doing nothing, you should nearly always go for the goodie. The only reasons you ever shouldn't is if it's going to kill you immediately or completely goes against what you've got going for you in your deck and current collection of buffs. The cards you are given also leave little actual choice. "Hmm, should I get that rare card that's already upgraded or the common one that isn't?" is not a real decision.
As for battles, your options are generally straightforward. You have a limited number of actions, and, since you can typically see what the monsters are going to do, you'll be using whatever cards in your hand respond to them. Sure, there are decisions to make, but I never had to stop and think seriously between two courses of action. There was always an optimal answer, and it would just take a few moments to hash out which one that was.
Did I enjoy my time with Slay the Spire? Absolutely. It was a wonderful diversion for a few hours. But I think it's best looked at as a rental game; play it for a weekend and then never come back to it again.
hope you are ok dude
