Roguebook: Roguelike card battler. Probably no yaks.

Games
81

Well, my thread title was so very wrong. I keep encountering more yaks…

But I’ve also beaten the second level of progression (i.e. 2nd Ascension level). The pages are flowing and so are the accompanying bonuses. As for my heroes, they level up quite fast.

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The progression in this game is not a huge grind. I’m really enjoying the way this game supports larger decks. It’s a nice change to just be able to collect more toys.

The main possible issue is that a run is quite long. So I will often save it in the middle and get back to it later.

All in all, I’m having quite a bit of fun with it.

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May be quantifiable, but it feels like after my first two complete runs, subsequent runs are taking a lot longer . . . maybe I am imagining it, or maybe I am just exploring the map a lot better, not sure. I reckon the run time may be a little higher than a Slay the Spire run. I was super slow at those, normally 90 minutes plus, Roguebook maybe 120 minutes plus.

I have now had a shot with Aurora and . . . . am yet to really click with her. I like, a lot, that she provides a renewable damage sponge with her default heal back to full once per battle. Problem is, with base 20 health, prior to talent upgrade or meta-progress upgrade, lots of attack rounds will take that out in one shot. So sure, put up some defence, but when there is 40 or 50 plus damage incoming, I find myself having to put her to the back and put the other hero up front, which is then not making use of her special.

Frogs are cool. Love to spam out frogs and then use the Seifer card that doubles ally power to go from 20 or so frogs to 40 or so frogs. Frogs! Also loving the combination of her damage cards that multiply on your hand size with items that enable you to retain your hand, which maxes the card damage every time played. Feels like that could be a viable deck build . . . maybe?

83

I’ve unlocked Aurora but have yet to include her. From what you say, I can see why she is unlocked last. I’ll try a run later.

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Aurora has some absurdly strong cards, like the one that lowers cost of the other hero’s cards that turn. That, with some draw, and some energy generation…

85

Oh yah! That Aurora card is a great candidate for a cornerstone . . . imagine that combined with the item that retains your hand every turn, a gem that returns the Aurora card back to your deck whenever played, and a deck stacked in favour of cards for the other hero. Now that would be something.

All I need do now is play 999 games and I am sure to get this combination . . . . right? Math, help me?!

Update Wow, I just got that Aurora card that lows the other hero card cost by 1 in the turn it is played . . . but, I reckon it might actually become a dead card in my deck, because I already have 3 or 4 faeria boosts, and am retaining energy not used between turns (thanks to an item) and I do not have any cards that use up all remaining faeria to do X damage per spent faeria point (the frog has one of these). So . . . I may end up reducing the cost of cards I can play anyway . . . .

86

Just trying to play this game again. Didn’t click with me the first time, mainly because it was competing against Tainted Grail.

One thing I noticed was that the Dev recommend to turn off cloud saves due to a bug with the game. Just a FYI if anyone else is starting the game.

87

Went to the Avatar of Mist in my 4th real run. Had a nice Spirit / Draw / Rage / Block control deck going and pretty much stomped through the second and third world. Then I hit the Avatar of Mist. A mill boss? That’s a big turn off for me. I’m a big fan of control decks and this boss pretty much invalids my style of play.

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One of the things you can unlock from the upgrade tree is the ability to see what the final boss is, fyi.

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Thanks I knew about the unlock but for me; milling is a horrible mechanic. I guess I can restart until I get a new boss but Greed isn’t much better.

Anyways, I got to Epilogue 14 around 40 hours in. I’ll probably finish the next and final difficulty sometime next week but here’s some thoughts:

  1. The game have too much RNG. The Fairy Wells and Gem Stone mines are exceptionally strong and should be a natural progression not a lucky find. It’s really hard to beat Chapter1 on higher difficulty without them. Finding the wells can easily double the power of your deck. I rather win by something I did not because I got lucky with a dice roll.
  2. Uncovering pieces of the map. It was novel at first but there’s really no skills involved. It just introduce more RNG to an already large RNG game. This mean another portion of your run is determine by the Ink you get.
  3. Animation and playing the cards. It’s much too slow. Too much animation and lag. Playing cards like Ogre Cookie should not be this painful. This game needs to have animation cancel like Tainted Grail. For example, why do I need to see the first boss every time I start a run? It’s silly and a waste of my time.
  4. Interface. The interface is barely acceptable. So many annoyances, like why can’t I hold more than 3 ink? I don’t see anything game breaking with it. Why can’t ink stack? Why do I have to choose my difficulty selection every time I start a new game? Why can’t I see the compendium in the game? Why do I have to click on the shopkeeper after I click on him? I mean it’s just an extra click for nothing. Why is adding the gem to the cards so annoying? There are much more.
  5. The unlocking progression system is a marvel. I love the fact the important stuff is nearly free and the extra stuff cost quite a bit. It makes it so you don’t have to grind to really see the nice stuff.
  6. Deck size. Yes you will get a bigger deck than most card builders but you’ll also get much more draw and tutoring effect. The net result is nothing is different. So you’re just trading card removal for draw/tutor.

Despite all the above, I still kind of like the game. If you’re not going aim at anything pass Epilogue 10 then I don’t think anything of those items above will bug you. But if you’re really looking for a game where deck building and deck size is really different, I suggest Dark Mist.

Edit. I feel like I was too harsh on the game, but I feel there’s quite a bit of missed potential here.

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So, who else has completed max epilogue?

I joined the 2.6% of folks that have completed max epilogue runs recently. Whilst I still have some meta-progression to unlock, finishing max epilogue prompts me to rest from the game for a while, hopefully returning when there is more content.

Thoughts after many runs . . .

Challenge Level Roguebook at max Epilogue feels a heck of a lot less challenging than Slay the Spire at max Ascension and Monster Train at max Covenant. I was succeeding with at least 1 in 2 runs at late Epilogue levels, whilst in those comparator games I would be lucky to succeed with 1 in 5.

Deck Variety Feels to me like there are a heck of a lot more viable decks within Roguebook than in Slay the Spire or perhaps rather that the deck building is a lot more forgiving and fun. In Slay the Spire I often felt the entire run was made or doomed based on the first few card picks and pruning, whereas in Roguebook I often happily added stuff as I went along and found new synergies.

End Bosses I enjoyed playing against both once I had unlocked the meta-progression thing that told me which boss I would face up front. I can get on board with the idea that the Avatar of Mist deck dissolving power can be unpleasant, but heck, so can several of the Slay the Spire Act 3 Bosses, thinking of you boss that powers up every time X cards are played!

More more more I really want more heroes, more end-bosses, more acts (for variety, whilst sticking with 3 acts per run). I know there are lots more characters and units from Faeria not yet in Roguebook. I pre-commit to buying any and all DLC that adds this stuff. Gimme!

Challenges & Scoreboard Please please, I hope to see some special challenges, weekly challenges, and both friends and global scoreboards added. Something to add variety and challenge whilst waiting for new content.

Sharra In my humble, definitely under-strength relative to the other heroes. I ended up using her as a sort of ‘hard mode’.

Aurora Again, my humble, over-strength relative to the other heroes. Became an auto-pick for me any time I really wanted to be able to complete a run. Great standalone hero but even greater as a support for the other hero.

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And I think aurora has the lowest win rate. To me, that has nothing to do with power, though, and I’m sure you agree.

My issue with Roguebook is a lack of variety from run to run. I think they need more events, more enemy types, more artifacts. I definitely would not want more acts, personally, because that would mean longer runs. But if they added a big update with more content, I will probably buy it at that point

92

Adjusting my desire . . . indeed I do not want more acts per run, 3 is nice, but I would like more variety. For example, 3 acts per run chosen from 6 acts total. Knowing the ‘Faeria’ universe, there are plenty of further acts / lands / chapters that could be introduced :-)

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Yeah, I could certainly get behind that. Anything that increases variety

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A big free content, quality of life improvements and bugfix patch has landed. I am most excited about the gem mines, and intend to dive back in to try out a combination of Aurora and Sharra on max epilogue to experience them. Snip below is just some of the patch notes.

Hoping that with this big patch delivered, there might soon be plans shared for other new content, like new heroes . . .

NEW FEATURE: GEM MINES

Enter the mine, defeat the traps, loot the treasure. Gem Mines are a new unlockable area to explore.

Gem Mine features:

Traps

The gem mines are filled with traps. Each trap you defeat gives you access to more treasure.

New traps to encounter:

  • Swinging Guillotine

  • Crystal Door

  • Living Wall

  • Debilitator

  • Puzzling Wall

  • Orb of Resistance

  • The Three Flowers

Traps provide unique challenges to defeat them within a certain amount of turns. (Or in some cases… survive them).

New map and battle environment

Gem mines feature an entirely new underground map tileset and battle background.

NEW CONTENT

New Narrative Events

  • Rain of Fish: A unique event that requires Aurora in the party. (We plan to implement unique events for each hero in the future)

  • Imperial Camp: Choose to train with the troops, or swear an oath to the emperor.

  • Wheel of Chaos: Take it with you, or spin it for good luck.

  • Soul Pact: Offer part of your soul for additional power.

95

Oh good, they nerfed the crap out of primal skull. Think I’m going to continue to wait for more content before diving into this one, though.

96

20% off on Steam is just nudge I needed.

97

I have been playing this again since an option was added to play with Calamity 15+, meaning each of the ‘max’ Calamity options within the three trees, plus an extra one to three options, for a Calamity value of 16 to 27.

What I really love compared to Slay the Spire is the sense of possibility. Given the viability of fat decks, each run feels like a fun experiment in what might just work, rather than a rigid, discipline pursuit of a specific archetype.

Anyone else playing around in the Calamity 16+ range?

98

I just started playing this with the Switch release and I like it but I wonder if it will have much staying power for me. I barely lost my first game on the last boss because I didn’t get a mechanic, easily won my second, and by the third with one level of the extra difficulty I beat the first boss in my first turn with about 500 damage and 125 bleed and I made a mistake or that could have been 1k with 250 bleed. Like Ascension 1 Slay is pretty easy for me now but I’m not running around Act 3 just annihilating the whole level. A lot of the normal fights just feel like a time sink with no real risk.

I don’t feel like I had particularly good luck since I saw multiple copies of the cards I liked and hadn’t even unlocked the extra gem slot percentages.

I generally expect these games to start pretty easy since I am a decent Slay player but I don’t expect to be one turning everything from the start.

99

I am eyeing this one the Switch. I like to have deckbuilders there and never played this on Steam. How does it play on Switch? I have Monster Train and Slay the Spire on Switch too, should I add Roguebook to the collection? The art style and exploration look kinda neat, but you difficulty findings worry me.

100

Haven’t taken the plunge myself yet, but performance has been mentioned in the Switch thread: