[James] i bought slay the spire a few months ago. the decision was brought about by three things: i'd been watching northernlion because we have a thing for bald men, and a lot of his earlier videos were slay the spire gameplay. well technically he still streams STS to this day. #2 i'd also put in many hours in vampire survivors and i realized that i like the gameplay of accumulating synergistic abilities. #3 all my friends play roguelikes like balatro and binding of isaac, and i want to see what's up with those, but balatro looked overwhelming and i can't play bullet hell. all my friends are also into undertale but i've never played it due to my lifelong struggles with dodging objects, inclusive of dodgeball.
[escott] anyway slay the spire is amazing it's not as hypnotic as vampire survivors but it's a bit more addictive for me, smth abt how the rng works makes you want to keep on playing because you know exactly how the cards you drew fucked you over so you want to see if your next run will be better. it obviously involves a lot of strategy but it's not really a strategy game per se, like if i'm really trying to dissociate i can watch a video and play a decent game at the same time. the art rocks too and the lore is solid.
[James] i especially love the defect's character design, albeit i haven't played much of him. we've been sticking to silent because escott likes dishing out multiple cards. tickles something in his brain.
[puppy] i'm REALLY close to beating it, and by beating i mean beating act 3, cuz there's many more hours of gameplay after act 3. i got to the boss of act 3 like yesterday and i was really close i was just a cocky idiot
[James] that's the last thing that makes this game special to me. it has the right level of complexity where building an effective deck is straightforward but it's also complex enough that you can blunder pretty easily. and losing just pushes you back into the game.
[escott] it doesn't make me as high as vampire survivors does, boy vampire survivors can shut down my brain really well, but after one 30 minute game i'll be like ok i'm done that's enough stimuli for me.
[annie] UPDATE: I BEAT ACT 3 !!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY and i can't believe i did it with a shiv deck, thought that was dumb and i wouldn't make it and then i was like wait a minute what i won?? oh i was fighting the act 3 boss LMAO and honestly it was pretty clean the shiv deck worked i still can't believe it AHHAHA like the others were talking here about how the appeal of the game for us is the rng-powered repetition of losing right, so when i was doing the act 3 boss it felt like nothing, i didn't even notice i was fighting the act 3 boss, i was so used to losing haha, i fixated too much on the like more minute details of making sure im working my deck right