First up this game is amazing. I haven't been this consumed by a computer game of any sort for years now. I have some feedback, which I'll list below, as well as some questions. The good: The D&D flavour throughout the campaign - the DM, his big brother, the whole thing - is so spot on that it actually makes me want to go back and buy the red box and play it with some friends. The game mechanics feel.. right. They just work well and are fun to use. I can sense the design playtesting behind the scenes. The art style is what got me interested in the first place. I love the faux tabletop thing SO MUCH. Ok, the bad (all campaign related): Sometimes I'll bungle a lunging hack or something without checking the range properly, and incredibly, I am left with no other option than to actually hit one of my own guys. I can't back out. I can't think of a good reason for this to be included. There should be a cancel action button once it has been committed, or a warning dialog, or both. Perhaps it is my skill level, or choice of tactics or something, but some maps are just so punishing. I'm not sure if this is a negative or not. It could be my choice of tactics or something. Questions I'm having a very hard time with the second mission of Compass of Xorr. I've tried a couple of times now and I just get monstered. Up until this point I had found things challenging but rewarding, but it is abruptly overwhelming and punishing. I can see what I'm supposed to be doing in terms of target priority, but I can't get to the servants fast enough, and they are agile enough to stay out of range for just long enough that my fighter is mauled to death in very short order. Those human men-at-arms or whatever have parry cards 100% of the time, and coupled with hugely damaging and penetrating cards, I just don't have a hope. So, how do I deal with this? grind? I hope that isn't the answer. I'm running a level 8 human fighter/dwarf priest/elf mage party. Suggestions Maybe break down experience by map instead of by module? that way failing has less sting Allow miniature change for the same character? More items for countering parry, or at least more of. In comparison to armour penetration, my options when it comes to getting through a parry heavy opponent are pretty thin on the ground.
Some tips: 1) Just ignore the servants. It's usually easier to just concentrate on killing the other enemies. Especially since they're mostly minions, which means that even with all the extra cards they'll get from the servants, they'll only be able to attack once per round. 2) Parry is a block card. It won't protect from behind so if you split your troops, you can usually find opportunities to hit the men-at-arms from behind. And even when you can't, you can usually just hit the dogs instead. 3) Parry is a melee block card. It doesn't help against your wizard's spells so your mage is free to target the men-at-arms. Hot Spot doesn't work quite as well on this map thanks to all the Raise The Alarm and Team Shift cards but everything else does. 4) The enemies do have some tough attacks but they don't really have that many of them in their deck. And if you can keep the dogs from getting behind you, Cowardly Attack isn't that bad. I've beaten the map using nothing but level 6 or below common/uncommon items so it shouldn't really require grinding to beat. But there's nothing wrong with skipping some adventure that feels too tough for a while. You can always return to it once you've leveled up or have better gear.
Thanks for the advice. I took some of it on board and it worked a charm. In the end I just tanked up with my fighter and did all the damage with my mage from ranged, getting the dogs and servants first. Handily the dogs had awkward armor, which slowed them right down. The third episode for this map was SO much easier too. : )
I agree wholeheartedly about how fantastically immersive and fun Card Hunter is, but the bungled lunges coupled with friendly fire incidents can be frustrating. I try to plan my moves meticulously but sometimes I get excited. I understand the devs wanting to make movement a commitment that cannot be readily cancelled once the warrior is in motion, but I can certainly manage to avoid stabbing a comrade even if I run in the wrong direction. The friendly fire damage component when a lunge has only allies in range is too much.
