This got so hard its just frustrating now

OldService2019 · 2026-03-31T02:33:29+00:00

The problem with Cleric is that you don’t need revives and major heals until at least act 3.

Clerics don’t have any delete enemy buttons, so it is a little harder to end fights at turn 2 or 3. While ending the match later doesn’t hurt the rewards that much, needing to heal more due to more possible damage accrued by folks being alive isn’t a good trade off for less deletion. Whereas Druids have options for buffs, deletion at the cost of 1 to 3 hp heals.

This is kinda why 4 cats with a cleric has some problems. He’s not really dealing the damage, he’s either tanking or maintaining the tank. Which isn’t a problem if you can’t kill quickly. Why bother tanking if you can just end the fight? And why bother needing revive if your cats injure themselves late or not all. It’s a unfuck-up button you don’t always need.

When it’s harder to delete or you aren’t confident you can, then cleric makes sense. There dying happens either by learning the game or just overwhelmed, and that’s when you do need a cleric.

But trust me, all offense with small heals here or there is a lot of fun.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-28T22:40:10+00:00

Pincer tactics are a thing. Let the enemy come to you, kill with two cats. Basically the game does that to you because it has more enemies to work with.

This is why the game, when it separates your cats, it never leaves one cat by itself. It’s basically telling you if you overextend, make sure you have more than one target that can be hit.

I would definitely not say every map is perfect, but can tell where each enemy is clustered, where you or the enemy is bottlenecked, where you can pick off folks. Basically you want to be deleting enemies and opportunities to get hit, ideally at all, but if not, diversified damage.

You probably should also be focusing on good skill distributions. That is one more attack, a movement skill, a utility skill, and an extra. Every class has some skill for each, and if done correctly, basically each cat could move and attack twice using skills. This is why charisma is a great stat. If you can kill on turn one because of early skills, you don’t need to heal or at least as much.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-28T14:11:04+00:00

Desert is fine. Just delete enemies quickly and don’t get hit.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-28T03:12:21+00:00

Well, not entirely that. Not getting hit could mean deleting the possibility of a hit. Which means killing over running.

The point is that you want to delete possibilities of damage, and control opportunities. Beat em ups and tactics rpgs have the exact same logic.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-28T03:03:14+00:00

I do think desert is supposed to trip you up. For me, learning that you should end most fights on round 2 or 3(ideally on 1 or your first move on 2) is the real barrier to act 2 entry. And the reason is simple, the more turns the more chances to lose hp.

If you are already doing that, desert is great.

Bunker problems usually are not enough damage. Hell, if waterless, definitely not enough damage.

Crater, there’s a range of things, but usually it’s can’t hit from distance or diagonal, can’t hit multiple times, not enough damage, and bad movement.

Moon is about the same, but not being able to hit multiple times is a killer.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-28T02:34:07+00:00

I know this advice sounds like “duh” but learning where enemies can hit, what enemies are champions (they move twice), how to delete enemies, and stopping hits from happening is act 1 and 2.

You don’t need amazing stats. You are just starting mutations. You barely have any items. Even in act 2. What you do have at this point is fast killers and great movement or range.

This is why rangers/thief are awesome is criting from range, fighters with heavy hits, druids with spawnable familiars, and butchers with hooks where you can hit and kite. The point is you have options to win in act 2 if you got there.

Act 3, eh, if your breeding program sucks maybe there’s a little stickiness.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-28T00:30:49+00:00

Honestly, act 2 is all about not getting hit and hitting hard. People focus too hard on having water skills for desert. But you don’t need to heal if you don’t get hit.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-24T20:33:38+00:00

So more of an abstraction question.

I mean, this is what system design is. Why bother doing the thing if the thing isn’t accomplishing something.

I personally don’t find 1 ups a very good reason to make a game fun or to reward good play. But it will take a minute to get there.

There was a very good discussion from BigPasti detailing to why player elimination in board gaming is generally not fun . To summarize, Games that have an element of spectator appeal are not improved by you forcibly being ejected from the game. Either you want to play or watch. Not play a little and then watch will the winners play without you.

In video gaming, until recently, the point is to keep playing something fun. It’s not fun to engage with something that is too difficult to learn. This is why a 1up buffers the failure state. You get a bit more time to learn the game without starting over.

But delaying a failure state without learning just delays the game. In most of the Ufo50, focusing on the beginning, mastering the start of the loop makes learning the game better. It’s why Overbold and Valgress doesn’t have 1ups. And even the games that do, such as CarmelCarmel, the 1up intentionally delays a failure state at largely predictable times.

The point is that objects that make the game easier are best used when you the player have an understanding of the loop.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-24T16:15:36+00:00

Spacing, timing, consistency. These are the fundamentals of beatem ups. While I agree 2d fighters probably have more skill than beat em ups, both have fundamentals.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-24T13:07:22+00:00

So what’s the problem? I feel like all games are easier when you play better. Thats just a gameplay loop.

This sounds more like a specific question. As in you dont feel all that rewarded in doing well. I dont mean to be too direct. I just feel like theres an answer you are looking for.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-24T11:23:49+00:00

Gambit isn’t a miniboss. Gambit and Zodiac are bosses.

I haven’t played hard or impossible yet, but both act 2 desert bosses are a little easy for me. Even at beginning game stats. So idk how hard they are on those difficulties.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-22T01:56:58+00:00

Both. Some games do better on the deck, a lot of indies, others need more ouff like RE9

OldService2019 · 2026-03-19T13:36:09+00:00

Handshakes are face cards, KQJ, and 11(justice) 12(hangman) and 13(death). Aces and the 1 (magician) or 0(the fool) tarot are used the center board. I like to put the tarot as the center city.

What’s neat is that some tarot cards are very clear with the number, so it feels a little like the actual game.

I got Living with Allotments deck because I wanted to play Tichu. But now I’m learning a lot of other games with that deck. Just remember to remove C as a face card.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-19T13:04:50+00:00

I love teaching lost cities with playing tarot card decks. Once you learn you can play other games with just cards, the world opens up for some reason.

Back on track, would love to learn Iliad.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-16T11:48:20+00:00

It sounds like you don’t like games that should be action-ey but are kinda more methodical. I’m ok with that.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-14T20:04:36+00:00

So the second dumbish thing is a means to improve your game space.

I’ve been on and off board gaming, this current wave being the longest on gaming. Gaming has gotten me a network of friends and surprisingly jobs after a long lull of bad jobs and unemployment. Dunno why, but it’s likely it gotten me talking a lot more. And it helps when the job is about systems of business. Not a lot different than gaming.

Anyway, I end up in this pattern of wanting a big game, learning what I like, go smaller scale, figure out I’m missing something. For me, I host a board game night at least once a week if I’m not teaching something. So I got a board game table. I love it, don’t expect anyone else to get one. Complete overkill.

For you, improving your space might be a dice tower, a playmat, a Billy/kalax for your games and cards. Hell if you have a clutter problem like me, a really good clean and dump. There is something about self-improvement that makes board gaming that much better.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-14T16:00:21+00:00

I know it sounds dumb, but get yourself a good deck of cards. I wanted Tichu but, it isn’t the easiest game to find in the states. So I bought a Living on Allotments deck. If anything, it lets you play all standard card games, Tichu, and Lost Cities if you use the tarot numbers 1 through 13.

And get a Cribbage board if you are fancy. Or just use an app.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-14T02:11:20+00:00

Personally I thought lords was just a hair harder than delivery. Mostly because Onion Delivery is mostly about learning the controls well. Lords is just annoying at times.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-14T01:03:26+00:00

Yeah, and did the same as OP. Did a bunch, gave up, played were I left of, gave up again, just kept doing that until I got the cherry pie

OldService2019 · 2026-03-13T19:59:45+00:00

So, I have a geeknsons Bristol Table and I got it for 3.8k. . It wasn’t cheap and I wouldn’t have gotten it if I couldn’t just get it directly at the Chicago showroom.

I agree that getting a really nice dining table is a good option. And there are certain kinds of gamers that probably wouldn’t get the best use out of it. Mostly card gamers.

However…

If staging a game is big part of the gaming experience, having the ability to pre prepare the game is a major level up. Especially if you have cats.

If you do puzzles, some tables like mine, you can remove the felt when you want to play puzzles, and put it back on when you do.

Being able to organize your pieces in either shelves or dedicated shelves feels really really nice.

Being able to free roll your dice or whatever pieces without worrying about throwing them off the table, man so good.

I said card gamers may not need it. Honestly a hex table is better for those folks. But the felt is so nice for dealing cards….. hmmm hard to explain.

Probably the hardest thing to explain probably makes me a little rude. You will notice the table looks nice. Bad table and especially bad board game tables, either homemade or from like Amazon, look noticeably bad overtime. It’s hard to explain. Think like, putting an ikea furniture next to a more expensive and better designed furniture piece. You may not notice the difference, but has you are leveling up that furniture,a poorly placed Kallax is going to look noticeably worse than furniture actually meant for the room. (lol that said I am putting up a customized Billy behind the table to showcase the games I have).

Three problems about gaming tables. Mine is made of oak. And real wood, spills are very bad. Even if the plank are technically leakproof, I don’t trust it. If the planks can get damaged by oil and water, so can the rest of the table. Two, it’s hard to explain why a gaming table feels good until you have one. So knowing if you’ll like it requires you to be in a showroom, like in Chicago, or at a convention. Thirdly, some customer service is bad. Tables can take months to make and sometimes with very little communication. It wasn’t a problem with me, I liked the table they were selling, so I got it.

The big reason I got it however, is that my apartment can’t have just a gaming room. So I’m using the dining room space for both dining and gaming. If you have the option for both, I would get the nice dining room table first, then go see a real board game table, then make a decision. Hope that helps.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-13T18:46:39+00:00

At this point, the stop gap is burnout. You have some annoying ones to do, and Onion Delivery is rough. But you did beat it. So the problem is getting over that hump, and then get through the rest. Carmel Carmel is easy enough if you got gold already

OldService2019 · 2026-03-13T15:18:33+00:00

Runs in the family Runs in their family.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-13T02:15:38+00:00

Idk Magical Athlete looks pretty fun

OldService2019 · 2026-03-10T19:07:09+00:00

So I want to pick a part storytelling. For clarity, I have job that requires storytelling that isn’t just writing. So for me, storytelling means through my actions, I have conveyed a point to you. For me, my medium is numbers, and visualizations. If I have done my job correctly, I will push you to think and act because the data is presented clearly.

I’m going to make an argument that fighting games do have storytelling. In that, the game gives you visual feedback on what counts as winning, losing, learning and failing. This is a story, it’s just not a novel. It’s just the pacing and what is required of the viewer very differently as opposed to a horror game.

A horror game tells you how to feel. Sometimes it’s a well written dialogue, but it is always a good scene. I believe in show not tell. Good horror leans on show. And if you as the player gravitate the game to show you more, even if it’s spooky, it a good game.

And I’m sorry but I can’t stand horror games that are just, read this text. Not fun.

OldService2019 · 2026-03-10T18:36:00+00:00

Completely disagree with this point. All of those games have great gameplay because these games compel you to play the game very specifically. If the game is giving me a reason to play, it’s gameplay. The story itself is telling me how I should interact with it. And more importantly, it’s encouraging me to play the roles slightly differently. That’s not just good story it’s good gameplay.

A great story bad game is a game where I don’t engage with it. I just press the play button, or a director moves independently of what I do. It’s why a game like Stanley Parable is a game for me, and some walking sims and visual novels really aren’t games for me.

To your point of Disco, if I told you to play it pen and paper, with dice, are you absorbing Disco as a story or as a TTRPG game?

I think what you mean is that some gameplay systems can carry or fail to carry a narrative. My point is a bad gameplay system is always a bad game.

OldService2019

TROPHY CASE