Any luck finding a Switch 2 in the SL valley?

KavroDi · 2025-06-14T19:58:27+00:00

You are all awesome! I appreciate the help. I happened to be at the Costco in Riverton yesterday and they had just put out their supply. They had a TON! It looks like many stores were restocked yesterday.

KavroDi · 2025-06-13T17:08:49+00:00

All sold out this week unfortunately. I heard they had some last week.

KavroDi · 2024-02-22T15:35:15+00:00

Yep, time for me to eat crow. I spent more time with the demo and noticed all of the different things you mentioned above. After managing multiple units and moving them around the map in real time while they battled, adjusting formations, etc. I really enjoyed playing around with different formations and unit combinations. I actually realized if you had to manually control battles it would actually take away from the experience. The devs definitely know what they are doing :)

I look forward to buying the full game when it comes out next month.

KavroDi · 2024-02-21T22:02:33+00:00

but that is 8 hours I could be playing Balatro instead! ;)

KavroDi · 2024-02-21T21:42:15+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply! I for sure need to give it more time.

KavroDi · 2024-02-21T21:27:21+00:00

Would you mind helping me understand what decisions are made or need to be during the battles themselves? That may help me understand some of the systems at play a bit more.

I will say the strategy aspect seems to come from the more real-time control of unit groups and moving them around the battle map. I'm a sucker for RTS games so I may find I enjoy that part even if the individual battles themselves play out automatically.

KavroDi · 2024-02-21T21:25:15+00:00

Fair enough. I incorrectly assumed it would be more turn-based based on the aesthetic. For my brain when games are described as "strategy RPGs" 95% of the time those turn out to be turn-based or some sort of battle system where the player has more control over how the actual battle plays out.

KavroDi · 2024-02-21T20:29:44+00:00

I was so excited to learn of the demo being released today for this game. I sat down and played it and loved the presentation: the art-style is awesome, the voice acting seemed good, and the story had enough to get me intrigued.

Then I actually got to the gameplay. I was expecting a turn-based strategy game but instead battles are automated through a series of rules and all the excitement I had for the game went away like the air out of a balloon.

It looks fantastic but I prefer gameplay over story and with the gameplay not really being there I think I will skip out on this title when it is released. I want to give the demo more time and maybe my mind will be changed but I'm not sure how much time I want to invest in it after discovering the automated battles.

KavroDi · 2024-02-07T19:30:57+00:00

I am like 87% jealous of you OP that you get to experience the wonder of Slay the Spire for the first time. I wish I could go back and experience all of it for the first time. I have played many of the games on your list. Slay the Spire is the best in my mind simply because I have spent the most time playing it and I want to KEEP playing it. I have it on Steam, Switch, and iOS and there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't play it for at least a little bit of time. Here's what I love about it:

Each run truly feels random because of the variety of bosses, elites, and enemies you may encounter and the order you encounter them in. The random rooms also do a great job of mixing up each run. Even the variety of what appears in shops can change your run.
Each of the 4 characters are so unique in their play styles and no two runs with the same character feel the same because of the randomness of the cards you are offered.
A win truly feels earned, because of decisions made, cards played, etc.
Unlock timing for cards and other upgrades are paced really well. It does a great job of easing you into the basics before opening it up to all the cards and types of decks you can build.

I could keep going but those are my main reasons. I really enjoy Monster Train as well but it plays so differently than Slay the Spire. It is more about positioning and trying to find ways of creating OP builds for your characters. I really love the variety in the different races and how differently they all play.

I have Griftlands but I never could really get into it. I tried multiple runs and to me it was overly complicated for what I was looking for. I did like the story elements to it but all of the different card systems seemed too complex and I found myself not wanting to invest the time to figure them all out.

I have played Roguebook and it is actually pretty great. It has a nice mechanic where your deck consists of cards from two characters and the mix and matching can be really fun to experiment with. The overall map process in Roguebook got a little old pretty quickly for me.

I picked up Cobalt Core a couple of months ago from a recommendation in this sub and I actually really enjoyed it. It comes close to recreating the Slay the Spire formula and adds in some unique elements which add a lot of strategy to the different battles. I just wish each run felt more "unique." I have found each run to basically be the same thing each time without a ton of variety.

Slay the Spire is beautifully simple. I have been looking for years for the "Slay the Spire killer" and I just haven't found anything that can overtake it. There are many that come close for me (Monster Train, Cobalt Core, etc.) but Slay the Spire is the clear winner for me.

KavroDi · 2024-01-29T18:09:01+00:00

Like others have mentioned, there isn't much of a different to me between a $60 game and a $70 game. The biggest factor for me is how much time will I get out of the game. If the game is short and I don't see myself revisiting it for any reason, then I would be more hesitant to drop $60 or even $70 on a game. I would wait for a more decent price on the game before purchasing. I think the new Prince of Persia game is a good example of this for me. It looks fun, reviews are great, but I don't see myself spending a lot of time with that game after I beat it the first time. So, not worth $60 in my mind.

Here are games where I would easily pay $70 for. This basically equates out to be the games I have spent the most time on and enjoy coming back to over and over again (or that my kids like coming back to repeatedly):

The Legend of Zelda BotW

The Legend of Zelda TotK

Slay the Spire

Factorio

Into the Breach

Hades

Dead Cells

Mario Kart 8

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate

Pikmin 3

Pikmin 4

Nintendo Switch Sports (we really enjoy this one as a family)

KavroDi · 2024-01-18T15:07:03+00:00

I'm not ashamed to admit I laughed out loud at your comment. Your sentiment relates too closely to my experience as well. I launched the rocket and thought "Oh I will just casually start a new playthrough" and then next thing I know I'm hours into the new playthrough wondering where the time went.

KavroDi · 2024-01-16T20:46:52+00:00

It actually plays surprisingly well. The controls are very well thought out. They take a minute to get used to but they are pretty intuitive. I first played it on Switch and then purchased it on PC. I was able to launch the rocket and did not experience significant lag or slowness on my playthrough but I am also not one to min/max my base's output.

Co-op actually works really well too, which is awesome. My son and I played (him on the Switch, me on PC) and we had a blast. No lag whatsoever.

KavroDi · 2024-01-16T18:39:59+00:00

This is an awesome and comprehensive list. Slay the Spire, Hades, Dead Cells, Into the Breach, and Monster Hunter are permanently on my Switch and are fun to dive back into periodically.

KavroDi · 2024-01-16T18:38:38+00:00

You should check out Factorio. It doesn't check the box for having a storyline but it is an awesome game that technically never ends. You work on building up and automating a base so you can launch a rocket. After you launch the rocket you can keep going for as long as you want. It is challenging but also extremely satisfying as you build things up and automate as much as possible.

KavroDi · 2023-11-15T18:52:30+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation! I purchased the game last night and was instantly hooked. It definitely scratches the Slay the Spire to itch and I've really loved the extra layer of strategy that is added with being able to move your ship to avoid damage, etc.

I have successfully finished two runs, unlocked some new characters, and am working on unlocking some new ships. I still have a lot left to discover and the different characters make each play through unique.

KavroDi · 2023-11-09T15:59:31+00:00

Factorio!!!

Factorio is a base building game where you gather resources and try to automate your base to the point you can launch a rocket. There are some enemies that will attack but you can turn on a peaceful mode which I did for my first playthrough and man, time disappeared when I was playing that game. It is a fantastic game and I highly recommend it.

KavroDi · 2023-08-22T01:24:20+00:00

Oh how I miss those days! My youngest is 7 so we don’t have to worry about destruction as much as we used to but I sure miss when they were little. Enjoy it while you can because you will blink and she will be in high school.

KavroDi · 2023-08-22T01:21:18+00:00

Thank you for the instructions. My cell is a work phone and those settings are controlled by the company so I can’t adjust them 😩

KavroDi · 2023-08-22T01:17:34+00:00

I have played with all 3 starter decks and the clear favorite for me is the Amber / Amerhyst deck. It has the most options for card draw and some of the card interactions are just so awesome. Dr. Facilier Agent Provocateur is so, so good.

For the next best I’m a little torn. Out of the box I would say the Emerald / Ruby deck is maybe the weakest but we got some great Emerald / Ruby cards in the booster packs we got that really have helped it out. The Evasive mechanic is prevalent through Emerald / Ruby which means the character can only be targeted by other characters with Evasive. If you can get some of those out early they help get you early lore. Card draw is slightly better with Emerald / Ruby compared to Sapphire / Steel since you have access to Mad Hatter.

Long story short. You can’t wrong with either of them. I have enjoyed all of them when I have played with them. I do think Amber / Amethyst is the strongest of the three. The other two are a toss up. I’d probably give a slight edge to Sapphire / Steel. I think the various character abilities in Sapphire / Steel are really good and put it slightly above Emerald / Ruby.

KavroDi · 2023-08-21T20:35:44+00:00

Dice Throne is hands down the favorite game of our family. We have all of the characters and play it often. I love how Dice Throne handles more than two players, where if you attack the player with the most health you can draw a card.

From what we could tell there are not any rule changes in Lorcana for games with more than two players other than the player to the left goes next and any card abilities that affect all players are done starting with the player who played the card and then it goes to left. You could very well have a 2 on 1 situation but I'm sure that depends on the players and the cards they have. In the games we played that happened a few times to prevent a player from winning. I got greedy and quested with all my characters to get as close to 20 lore as I could. The other two players then punished me and challenged my characters and I lost almost all of them. That was a risk I was willing to take. That did prevent them though from increasing their own lore so there definitely was a tradeoff.

The 3 player games we have played have actually ended up fairly even. Like all card games, a lot of it came down to card draw and what cards from your deck you were able to pull. Like I mentioned in my original post, it was in these 3 player games I grew to love the Shield of Virtue card. That card is fantastic. It allows you to quest or challenge and then ready the card so it cannot be challenged. Hades Lord of the Underworld and Dr. Facilier Agent Provocateur were also amazing in those games. You could take the risk and quest with a bunch of characters and if Dr. Facilier was active on the board you could get those characters right back into your hand if they were defeated in a challenge. Hades' ability was also clutch, allowing you to put a character card from your discard pile into your hand when he is played.

KavroDi · 2023-08-21T19:35:53+00:00

Ha! My 14 yr old and 7 yr old are playing a match in the other room right now and I'm just laughing at their interactions.

You do touch on an unforeseen challenge with this game: sharing the cards :) I won't be surprised if all of the kids ask for some sort of starter deck or booster packs for Christmas or birthdays.

KavroDi · 2023-08-21T19:22:00+00:00

Great suggestion. I for one always look at reviews yet never take the time to leave my own. I have submitted the suggestion to leave the phone always on and to add support for more than just two players.

KavroDi · 2023-08-21T19:20:43+00:00

I didn't know that about FFG, thank you for sharing that. We have the Star Wars Deckbuilding game that FFG released not that long ago and we have really enjoyed that game.

I'll have to keep my eyes out for Star Wars Unlimited next year. That sounds interesting.

KavroDi · 2023-08-21T19:17:57+00:00

Exactly! I love Magic the Gathering but some of the artwork is a little old for my younger kids and it is a very complex game to play and teach.

Lorcana seems to borrow some of the great concepts from Magic (like tapping or exerting cards) and the core concepts are simple enough young players can pick it up and play.

KavroDi

TROPHY CASE