Hex - PvE review

Discussion in 'Off-Topic' started by Kalin, Mar 13, 2016.

  1. Kalin

    Kalin Begat G'zok

    Anyone remember this game? I'm pretty sure there were threads about it a couple years ago, but I can't find anything on the forums.

    https://www.hextcg.com/

    Anyway, I recently saw an ad saying they finally released the SP campaign, so I decided to give it a try. First of all, I have a really cheap computer so there are some performance issues... if I'd known they used Unity, I wouldn't have installed it at all (why do people insist on using 3D engines for card games?). My internet speed may be a factor too, like with the 4 second pause in the coin flip before each battle (it takes several seconds for CH battles to load too).

    The gameplay is exactly like M:tG, so much so that WotC sued them. You have Shards (lands) that give you Resources (mana), Troops (creatures) that fully heal at the end of turn, Quick Actions (instants) that you can play in response to anything your opponent does, and all the same turn phases including a main phase interrupted by an attack phase. So you also have all the same problems too: mana screw (but you get unlimited draw-1-less mulligans), stalemates where neither player wants to risk attacking, and lots of clicking the "Pass Priority" button (and accidentally skipping one of your phases sometimes).

    After Hearthstone and SolForge, I was expecting this "campaign" to be just a half dozen battles against preset AI decks. What I got was basically a full RPG with NPCs to talk to, maps to explore, quests to complete, and battles against preset AI decks. You start by creating a champion (3 classes, 8 races, but two races are male-only) then there's a tutorial dungeon with unique opponents for each race. After that you get to explore the main world map, daringly named "Adventure Zone 1", which seems to be half the size as CardHunter's campaign. And I wouldn't be surprised if races belonging to the other faction saw a significantly different adventure map; the dialog would certainly be different.

    There are a bunch of neat features, though possibly too many... Campaign opponents have interesting decks and abilities, and some battles have global effects. Your champion has a special ability (based on class), special boosts (based on race, class, and the combo), gets a talent point each level to spend on a skill tree (based on class), and can equip items that boost one card each. Also, some cards have sockets you can put gems into to customize them (you have an unlimited amount of all gems). But the one feature they've bragged the most about (since the Kickstarter video 3 years ago), the one thing no one else had ever done before, the Double Back... that's not implemented yet.

    The thing that impressed me the most was the quest to rescue some lost gnomes. Finding them was fairly easy and safe, I guess giant worms don't find elves tasty. But once you meet them, you have to decide how many to take with you on the trip back (you have to rescue 60 to complete the quest) and then that many copies of the card "Lost Gnome" are added to your deck. And instead of the safe path you used to get there, you now have three paths back: you can fight one battle against the worm mother, or two battles against adult worms, or three battles against baby worms. If you win those battles, then you drop the gnomes off at a safe point and can go back for more. Or, if you're like me and can't beat any of the worm battles yet, you choose 0 gnomes and go do something safer, like clearing a castle full of zombies or diving into a piranha infested river.

    Anyone else play this?
     
    Lord Feleran likes this.
  2. timeracers

    timeracers Guild Leader

    I play this, I like the auction house. Also you may want to look into the frost ring arena(PvE) if you need more cards or gold.
     
  3. Kalin

    Kalin Begat G'zok

    What do you get from the arena? I have lots of gold, but nothing to spend it on. Is there any way to see what things actually sell for in the auction house?
     
  4. timeracers

    timeracers Guild Leader

    You get mostly equipment and gold. Gold is mostly used on buying from the auction house. Lots of things get sold in the auction house. Using the filters and the search you should be able to find what you are looking for. Note: using filters while searching through cards are bugged but you can still use the search thing.
     

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