First impressions thread

If you read what I wrote, it would not come of as rude, especially if you understand
the usual process of developing a game, not to speak of how to program a piece of software.
(ofc it all depends on what the programmers find hard to do, when it comes to programming)

And as I mentioned in the the post you quoted a piece of,
I only have played the campaign (atm) with a party up to lvl3-4,
without having tried multiplayer ...thus you might very well
be correct in that my argument is based on incomplete information.

 

yeah as I mentioned (maybe not clearly) in the quote you made from a piece of my post,
I have no clue how those cards work, if they are tied to items, what or how.

 

Just jumped into the beta recently and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS GAME! It combines all my favorite things.

Except for one GLARING idiotic and stupid design error. Multiple armors stacking. A shield and armor blocking, makes sense. But having two different armors apply to the SAME attack? Just dumb, silly and doesn't make sense. Maybe some CRAZY epic armors can do that, but armors should bring with them ONE armor piece, and the rest should be dodges or other things. The game gets silly and ridiculous with multiple instances of armor. It becomes dice rolls, waiting for your destroy armor spells and that's it. It's a huge design flaw that makes no sense, and isn't fun to play against. I hope it changes, and I think it should change soon. It's just dumb especially with an overall what I think is a masterfully put together game with a lot of GREAT stuff and GREAT ideas. Armor just seems like a glaring design flaw.

 

Goodness, Armor really did a number on you, didn't it? Sorry to hear you were so frustrated.

However, you have to realize: we have a huge list of places where people got stuck on something "really difficult," and in the end they all came down to strategy and item availability. Armor-heavy maps are among those places. Block-heavy maps are another: some people will swear straight out that enemies with Blocks are the worst problem in the game. "Armor? Eh, who cares, it's easy to bypass." Apparently, in this case, you found Armor difficult to bypass: congratulations on not getting stuck on range-2 enemies, or Block-heavy enemies, or Magic-using enemies, or all the other things that weren't a challenge for you personally.

The rest, once you've taken a deep breath, I think you'll see is overreaction. "Stupid"? "Design error?" "Glaringly" so? Your explanation is that having multiple Armor cards doesn't make sense in "the real world," which is not a "design error" by any means. You can carry three Weapon items into battle and use all the Attacks on all three; you can get body Armor from your Boots; you can physically pick up Racial Skills and move them to another character. That's the game, and there is no design flaw in this so far.

 

Block works as I would expect block to work. Yeah it blows when it happens but it make sense. Armor is literally just sitting out there mocking you. At the very least you'd think two instances of the SAME armor wouldn't apply twice. If the armor misses, all instances of that armor should miss. There are so many different and very uniquely useful armors in the game it wouldn't limit anything. Especially since generally armor will stay around for a while.

I'm sorry for coming off strong, I just really like this game. A lot. I just find it strange that the armor aspect seems like the weakest. It relies entirely on luck, it functions oddly compared to other aspects of the other game and just seems poor comparatively. I just feel like there has to be a better application of armor and what cards are added when you wear armor. For me it sticks out like a sore thumb. It's just my opinion at the end of the day, and at the end of the day I'm sure it won't mean anything.

Still love the game, I guess I just have to accept running into the brick walls of failure replaying a level over and over again waiting for the needed PERFECT draw to get through some scenarios instead of strategy and planning.

I will say that this seems to be an almost exclusively PVE issue as when you play PVP fully stacked it balances itself out generally. But many PVE levels end up essentially giant luck fests, and punish you for not starting with the perfect hand.

 

Which scenarios are you struggling with, Wolff?

 

It's not one in particular, it's pretty much most allies that get two armor it becomes this game of luck. If I don't get my discard/small pingy pierce damage or just get really lucky rolls I either A) Waste attack cards hoping they bust the roll or B) mindlessly run around staying out of range of whatever it is until I get EXACTLY what I need. Obviously crappy armor doesn't matter but two solid woods, or two tough hide (The immune to electricity fire one) just comes straight down to luck and really no amount of strategy gets you around it. Just have to draw your deck looking for the answer.

It's not fun having one enemy left who has two armors and the rest of the game boils down to who gets what first. Makes games unnecessarily long in an uninteresting way.

 

So I have been in the beta for about a week and here are my first impressions!

First off, this game is absolutely a blast! I was looking forward to this game, but to actually play it and for it to be what I imagined is so refreshing! It really brings back memories of board games like Hero Quest!


First off note that I have gotten to about only level 6-7 in Singleplayer, most of my game time has been spent in Multilayer as to not spoil it for when the game gets released!
Here are the things I like:
The rules are solid and simple, the art style is simply amazing and the Itemisation of having having cards linked to equipment really gives it an rpg side I like. The talent system always keeps me thinking, trying new things, different ways I can squeeze out different abilities and getting a new card that is powerful or an upgrade simply isn't always a quick replacement it requires a trade-off sometimes and I enjoy that.

Things I have found in the last week that seem to be some kind of bug. I am sure these have been reported but thought I might as well share my ideas about them too.

First off, this thing just seems overpowered, I got one, and can't imagine what having 3 would be like!


Second, Illusionary wall seems quite excessively overpowers, the thing that jarred me most and is probably a bug is the fact that even though the wall is set to be illusionary therefor your characters can not see through it, however non-descriminary effects like fireball or any aoe should still be able to hit people inside them. I think the card idea is good and would hate to see it go, if it were me, I would say it should be considered as a 'powerful' quality, and be considered a 'rare' card.
I saw a Staff that had 2 Walls of stone, 3 Walls of illusion and 1 maze, it made me shudder. XD

I really look forward to the continued growth of this game!

 

Well, that's great then. There are always people who just want to post a grievance, never come back, and never talk to other folks who'd like to help. It's distressing.

As to the Armor situation, two things:

First, again, "multiple instances of the same card" is part of how the game is designed. So, in "real life," a skeleton would be strong against Piercing Attacks: in Card Hunter, the skeleton must first draw the Armor card that grants immunity, otherwise the skeleton can be defeated with such Attacks just fine. That makes no sense. But if that's how they've set it up, then that's the rule: and you can either draw zero Armor, or draw five copies of the same Armor thanks to your Heavy Armor, Boots, and Helmet items. (Oh, and then you have to discard at least three of them at the end of the turn, rendering you vulnerable to enemies who can destroy your last two copies.)

Second, I disagree that winning against Armored enemies is "a matter of luck." What's happening here is "the enemies have defeated you," and the game is telling you to stop using that strategy against those enemies. Just look at how other people frustrated with the game described the situations I mentioned before:

There's the Block deal. So a mass of enemies with half a deck of Blocks pins you in a corner, and every turn they draw enough Blocks to stop every single one of your Attacks. Your Attacks only get through as "a matter of luck." Without luck, you die (according to people who get stuck here).

Or the enemies who keep you at a range where they can hit you but you can't hit them. On any given round, they may draw enough Move cards that you cannot possibly close into your range. You reach them only as "a matter of luck." Without luck, you die.

Or at least all of this is true until you get the right items and apply the right strategies. If you have anti-X cards and you're NOT bringing them into battle, then why are you going into battle against X-style enemies at all? If you DON'T have anti-X cards, then why aren't you either getting them or moving on to a different battle?

Card Hunter is unusual: it is an unforgiving game, and yet it was created today instead of back in the 80's. Unlike basically any game made by today's professionals, this one actually tells you "go back to lower levels and toughen up" or "skip this one, come back later."

 

Hi All

Got my beta key a few days ago!! I am absolutely loving the game!!

Just picked up a small error while playing and Im not sure where i should be posting it. The runed Breastplate seems to have a graphical error as the name on each of the cards of the equipment is incomplete. Please see pic.

Keep up the good work!!
Tooth

 

Hi all and thanks so much for the Beta Invite ! I have only had time to play for about an hour so far , but I'm really loving everything I have seen so far.
Its early days but this is the first game that I can honestly say puts together all the things I really love about gaming . Board games I love , Card / CCG TCG 's I love , Rpg / Strategy and all in one game !!
Awesome achievement guys ! And just loooove the geeky Nerdy cartoony look of the graphics etc.
have to go pick up my wife now but will certainly be playing tonight after she's gone to bed !
Thanks again

 

Hi, great to be here - and in keeping with the thread I would echo others in saying I love it so far!

To disagree with a couple of recent posters I would observe that I love the class and race system - and I look forward to many more of both to play around with. I also like the armour system - which for me has already contributed significantly to making me think about deck design and tactics in the game. I also particularly enjoyed the early troglodyte battles - and learning how to overcome their range 2 spears.

Like AndyPandy - I love board games, strategy games, RPGs and TCGs ... this is everything I love in one place. And the art is great (lots more please, take my pizza from me!), and the sound works ... and .. everything!

My only frustration at the moment is the lack of any indication of when adventures refresh - this is quite annoying as I would desperately love to try out my 3 new level 1 characters, test my learning against those early battles to see if I have indeed learned and improved and generally have fun messing about. If anyone reading this knows how / when things refresh - 24 hours after completing? At some fixed hour of the day? When Saturn moves into Pisces ...? Please, please let me know!

On a serious note ... there are several discussions elsewhere explaining what a wonderful job card hunter has done in ensuring that the game is not pay to win. As gold can be purchased (with pizza) - this implies that gold does not confer victory. If gold does not confer victory why is there any restriction on repeating adventures? Why am I staring at a screen wishing I could play what I want, instead of playing it?

Keep up the good work - and did I hear a rumour of co-op in the future! Oh happy day.

Gray

 

Fun, but a little too money-grubby. Sometimes it feels like you're punished for not spending money rather than rewarded for spending it. Especially in multi-player - it feels like you can pretty much pay to win. I dislike slot machine mechanics in general because they're total Skinner box traps that bring out the worst obsessive-compulsive and addictive behaviors in people.
A few cards seem broken. Illusory wall blocks all line of sight, blocks cone spells which should not require line of sight and overwrites other effects on the squares? I do not think the word "illusory" means what you think it means. Anvil Strike in the map that is basically one big maze is pretty much an "I WIN" card.
Multi-player should not boot you from the room as soon as the battle ends - give people time to do their "gg"s or talk strategy in private.
Some way to play with a friend instead of just against them would also be nice. Team multi or pve?

 

The opening sequence was a bit overwhelming. Since I tend to review all my choices before making a choice, it took me much longer than it should have. It didn't help that I didn't know much about how the game works ahead of time, but it didn't seem like there was quite enough explanation until after the opening. Once I got into the tutorial portion (unless the opening was part of the tutorial, too), I think Gary started explaining the appropriate amount of material without overdoing it.

I did run into one bug at the end of the goblin adventure, though (the one where the shaman was alone in the hut). I was finishing up with the last of my wizard's blasting cards because Gary had run out of things to do, and when I used a Little Zap, the card elevated like it was being used, but nothing else happened. I had to quit and start over (using one of my retries) in order to get past it, but I didn't run into that again.

 

Firstly I'd like to start by saying that I love the game. Everything from the Ad&D first Ed. modules at the start of each adventure to the disturbingly funny and accurate interactions between Gary and his brother.

That being said, I really don't like the pay model you are currently running. I know were still in Beta and these things may change but the current direction is a little worrying. Only allowing adventurers club purchases on a time limited monthly basis is really off-putting. I strongly urge you to have some kind of permanent baseline purchase of club access at a reasonable price. $15 or so would be around the right ballpark. Something that feels like you've made an actual game purchase.

I'm all for cosmetic additions that cost players, the pizza system seems fine for that. Costumes for PVP characters and such are a great way to have working micro transactions. Perhaps cheerleader/pet type observers could be cosmetic options that sit off the battlefield. I just think you need a simple, one time purchase option for baseline access to Treasure Hunt adventures and the (presumably deliberately) infuriating scenarios where you see epic items out of reach in the treasure box at the end of adventures. I feel it is very important these days to steer well clear of the dreaded "pay to win" vibe, of which there is currently a slight hint.

Cheers,
Glazia

 

Before trying multiplayer, I played throught the campaign adventures until forced to stop (there was a message about the DM not having the adventure prepared). Are these adventures what you mean by quests? Because, as far as I can tell, the items earned/purchased in the single player campaign aren't available in multiplayer and vice versa.

Well, here's the thing... I'm very experienced in tactical combat games, so on my first day, I won every game until my rating was over 1,000. But then, when I got matched against the highest rated players, they had such better cards that most of the time, no amount of clever utilization could make up for the difference in raw power. I love a challenge, but only if success seems possible.

 

This also may be part of your problem. Items earned in SP are fully available in MP, and vice versa!

 

Is there a way to directly challenge another player in multi? If not, there needs to be one, as well as the ability to auto-decline all challenges, accept challenges from friends, and block people.

When you have a limited amount of options to choose from and it keeps matching you against the same people who beat you in the last game it's amazingly frustrating. The lower-ranked player should be allowed to decline an auto-match with no penalty.

 

Not sure how narrowly you want to define first impression, so I'll just dump all the thoughts I have after five days on the Beta. Hopefully not too long.

I like the art style a lot. The deck customization coming in big chunks makes interesting tension. Do I equip something with a mix of awesome and crummy cards, or one with all pretty good cards.

I like that you guys have fun with the notion that this is something that's happening in Gary's basement, although I think you play on the whole "Dork in his Mom's basement" trope a bit too much, and it feels a bit mean at times. This is coming from someone who isn't a D&D player, but maybe lay off them a bit.

Am I supposed to be getting free pizza every time the Pizza Girl shows up in the storyline? It feels like I should be, but I don't think I am. I either needs to be clearer she's NOT actually delivering Pizza, or clearer that she IS.

The Pizza as currency is cute, but I think you force it into the storyline a bit much. I know you want to encourage players to buy Pizza, but right now the pizza girl appearances don't really feel any different from a pop up that says "BUY OUR IN GAME CURRENCY". A fair thing to do, but I get the sense you're trying to make if feel natural and part of the storyline. Even though they're more obviously OOC, I feel like the "here's a store, I'll give you some pizza, you can totally buy more dude" actually flows a lot better than the random "PIZZAS HERE" appearances.

When the multiplayer unlocks, I suddenly get all this high level equipment that makes all the stuff I've been collecting in the campaign look like crap. I understand wanting to keep one shared inventory, but it creates this moment where I'm building up my characters and suddenly the game says "HA! All that loot you've been getting is now garbage. Sucker!" I know the talents system and the unlocking of gear slots tempers this a bit, but I was really enjoying the feeling of the campaign, and the multiplayer ruined it a bit for me.

When I was working through the tutorial levels, I had the thought "Why the move cards? They seem pointless." Once the maps and scenarios get more intricate, they obviously matter, but the early scenarios you can complete with "Stand and hack at the enemies until they die." Basically the question "Why are there move cards?" takes too long to answer.