I think it’s tough with card games because they come from a physical form of lootboxes. Being expensive is kind of baked into their lineage. Collecting cards is a big part of the fun, and if you made it very easy to do I think it’s hard to say whether people would enjoy them as much.
I don’t play any collectible card games anymore because I don’t want to pay for it anymore, but there is something very entertaining about the model even if it’s easy to argue it’s a scummy business model by today’s standards.
I haven’t looked into this game beyond your description, but it does sound like a pretty weird model. Do you also have to pay for cards on top of that?
I remember kind of disliking the arena system in hearthstone because I liked the game mode a lot, but as a casual player it was really hard to get to play it much. I guess they wanted to keep people from spending all their time there since you didn’t need to buy cards to play. I much preferred magic arena’s drafts where you pay an upfront cost but get to keep all the cards you played with. Much more accessible for casual players and more satisfying, too, since you always get something out of it.
I haven’t looked into this game beyond your description, but it does sound like a pretty weird model. Do you also have to pay for cards on top of that?
It’s not a card game, it’s an async autobattler. As long as all the characters are roughly balanced against each other, there’s nothing to be gained other than cosmetics (at the current state of the game).
It’s a shame that multiplayer games really struggle with paid models these days. It heavily cut into a player base if things aren’t free to play. That kind of forces all but the biggest releases to turn to other monetization models in order to keep the base game free.
Well, the Monster Hunter Wilds Beta test ended. I’m devastated honestly, because I didn’t get to play it enough! It started the day I had work and ended 2 hours after I got off today. I misread the timezone and I thought it ended on the 4th and 11:59am in my timezone. It ended at like 8pm or so.
So that’s too bad! Other than that ~8 hour treat that I thoroughly enjoyed, I’ve finally gotten around to Dragon’s Dogma 2 and I’m enjoying it as well (though slighted now after my favorite series was ripped away from me). It feels a little floaty for some of the characters, but it so far has been a good experience. I’ve been in a bit of a gaming slump so it’s been nice to relax some and play some nostalgic games right as winter is hitting.
The gaming slump I was in had me pretty much only playing Phantom Brave and sifting through little games like Sonic Mania, so I’m looking forward to the games I have on my radar cause it’s really the first time in a while!
Oh also, Amanda the Adventurer 2 came out and my partner and I played through it a little bit. It’s pretty good, although it isn’t the most straightforward. We had to use a guide for quite a bit of it and, while we were close to the right track for each puzzle, we just were not on the ball with what the developers wanted from us. I think the first game was a lot like that though if I remember, and so really what matters more with that in mind is how they continue the story and the atmosphere, which they really nailed. The perfect amount of corporate conspiracy supernatural demon cult technological red herring horror.
All in all, I guess being an adult means winter is gaming time cause I’ve been pretty much too busy the rest of the year to really want or have time to game. For me, a big part of gaming is how I’m feeling, sometimes I want point and pop, sometimes I want laid back, sometimes I want something new, and sometimes I want to make numbers go big. And sometimes, I want to do other things that aren’t gaming, which makes actually gaming feel a little guilty.
I also dabbled in the monster hunter wilds beta. It was what I expected and I’ll be happy to play the full version when it’s released. I think I bonked every monster available, both large and small. I tried out the weapons I’m likely to use.
Gunlance felt ok, light bow gun was interesting but more complicated than I expected. Bow was mostly the same but with some friendly additions. Switch axe ended up being my favorite of the beta. That thing just hits so quickly and wounds to easily that I don’t know if they oops’d the damage on it, or if I was just getting lucky. There were times when I’d break and make wounds in such a way that the monster would be basically stunned for a decently long period of time. If I had been partied up it would have been much too efficient. The other thing about it is the mobility of certain slashes. It took a bit getting used to, but it covers a lot of ground for a heavy blade.
After all that, I discovered the capture net would give both the insects and their essences, so I ran around hunting for endemic life and found a lot of little critters I otherwise would have missed. There’s a hornet that was endemic but could also poison you!
And I spent some time fishing. They really changed it up in this one. You need to reel in the line slowly to actually entice the fish to bite. I wasn’t completely comfortable with it at the end of the beta, but it also feels like they’re going to work on it a bit more.
As for other stuff I played. I continue my usual dedication to a few missions a week in helldivers 2. It’s a very fun game made by some very dedicated folks, and I’m down to blast some things every now and then. I finally got my nerve up to continue playing satisfactory. I usually stop right around coal power because it’s at that point that you can really automate the world… It’s just the amount of math and just waiting on materials to build so you can finally get exponential with your growth. I’m still very much in that stage currently. I need to upscale everything but I’m waiting for materials and to make sure my power situation is handled before I go nuts.
Bonanza Bros, Blast Corps, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Vampire: The Masquerade -Bloodlines, Cruisn World, LEGO Battles, NBA Jam
Bonanza Bros would be a great couch co-op multiplayer game in a world where we need more. It would benefit from some gameplay tweaks, and adding online play and 4 players would be big.
Blast Corps was awesome, I found it to be an extremely underrated Rare game. This game in an engine with simulated rubble and crazy explosions would be a gem. I also think changing the camera to first person should be an option at the very least.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days got its cutscenes remastered. I want the full game. It was dripping in atmosphere, and I loved the premise of scouting the new worlds. The graphics could use an upgrade, and the combat could be brought up to par with KH2. But, I love the leveling system and think it would barely need touching.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is awesome and not super long. It’s extremely buggy, but luckily there’s a modder named Wesp5 who has spend YEARS creating an Unofficial Patch, to a point where all the cut content is restored and it’s essentially feature-complete. There’s a version that just patches the game, and a restored content version. I think he should be given a team and be allowed to curate content and rebalance cut mechanics for a remake. It would be magical.
Cruisn World is one of my favorite arcade racers ever. It has untouchable vibes, and I’d just like to see that with a nice sheen over it, maybe more levels and vehicles?
LEGO Battles is an RTS for the Nintendo DS. Put it on PC, nuff said.
NBA Jam is not very niche. I want a remake, and I don’t care if it’s up-to-date. It’s the best sports game period.
I’m not personally a fan of Nuketown so I won’t be playing the 24/7 playlist but I’ll be on BO6 all weekend for sure. The game isn’t perfect by any means but it scratches the shooter itch really well.
It’s one of the coolest concepts I’ve seen for PSx. It’s a rhythm game that loads into the console’s ram, allowing you to swap the disc to one of your CDs and could generate unique levels for your songs.
While looking it up I did find there was a PS3 port, but I don’t know how good that is or if it has the same custom level feature or not. I’d love a modern version that looks visually similar but allows you to either input a playlist from a service like yt or use your own local files to generate unique levels.
From what I’ve seen, it looks good. Can’t play the demo for the 2nd game, but from some of the footage I’ve seen, it looks fun. Thanks for the suggestion.
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