Originally posted by mattcushman:

There are so many elements of this game to like. The graphics are evocative, the upgrade trees are fun to explore, but there are some balance/logic issues that need attention. Two boss fights come to mind:

1) The boss who summons bushes to lockdown the field, then summons hags that knock you back to your starting square, and the boss hits your original square with an area attack. If you get stuck in a corner with a hag on the other side of the boss, without an area attack, it's impossible to get out of the corner with the rate of respawn of shrubs + the hags spawning knockback shots. It's a total lockdown combination. Would recommend either 1) Adjusting the shrub spawn rate, especially next to the player, or 2) Changing the logic of the hags to have a secondary / tertiary attack. While the encounter as written right now is certainly challenging, it's a cheat. Getting stuck in a gameplay loop where there is no escape is the sort of frustration that makes people ragequit and leave bad reviews. This post is in lieu of the bad review because I really like the game play that is here and I already did the ragequitting earlier.

2) The boss who summons 200 armor for himself and then hits you with an apocalyptic "always" attack several turns later that will be several times your maximum hit points unless you were able to whittle away his armor in time. Unmissable autokills are not fun. Even if you have a armor killing deck with shields, if the right cards don't come on the right turns, you die. No skill, no strategy, just the cruelty of the RNG. Please don't combine the "always" with the "apocalyptic" unless you a) Reduce the frequency of the apocalyptic armor up or b) reduce the amount of armor. 200 armor at level 1 is WAAAY too high. Level 1 is for noob characters that just came through the portal. Please scale accordingly. The number of times I have *just* gotten through his armor only to have it spring back into place a turn later is *MADDENNING*. Would recommend a delay timer where he can't immediately resummon the armor right after it's been broken. Allow at least one full unarmored round.

Originally posted by dr.k:

Originally posted by mattcushman:

There are so many elements of this game to like. The graphics are evocative, the upgrade trees are fun to explore, but there are some balance/logic issues that need attention. Two boss fights come to mind:

1) The boss who summons bushes to lockdown the field, then summons hags that knock you back to your starting square, and the boss hits your original square with an area attack. If you get stuck in a corner with a hag on the other side of the boss, without an area attack, it's impossible to get out of the corner with the rate of respawn of shrubs + the hags spawning knockback shots. It's a total lockdown combination. Would recommend either 1) Adjusting the shrub spawn rate, especially next to the player, or 2) Changing the logic of the hags to have a secondary / tertiary attack. While the encounter as written right now is certainly challenging, it's a cheat. Getting stuck in a gameplay loop where there is no escape is the sort of frustration that makes people ragequit and leave bad reviews. This post is in lieu of the bad review because I really like the game play that is here and I already did the ragequitting earlier.

2) The boss who summons 200 armor for himself and then hits you with an apocalyptic "always" attack several turns later that will be several times your maximum hit points unless you were able to whittle away his armor in time. Unmissable autokills are not fun. Even if you have a armor killing deck with shields, if the right cards don't come on the right turns, you die. No skill, no strategy, just the cruelty of the RNG. Please don't combine the "always" with the "apocalyptic" unless you a) Reduce the frequency of the apocalyptic armor up or b) reduce the amount of armor. 200 armor at level 1 is WAAAY too high. Level 1 is for noob characters that just came through the portal. Please scale accordingly. The number of times I have *just* gotten through his armor only to have it spring back into place a turn later is *MADDENNING*. Would recommend a delay timer where he can't immediately resummon the armor right after it's been broken. Allow at least one full unarmored round.

The encounters aren't broken IMO but i do think it limits you to certain classes that can deal with them. Only really a problem the first time round when you dont know what you are facing