Ren'Py Astral Lust [v0.3.1c] [Victorius]

[Ferghus]

The first Beta version did a massive rework on cards in that they now have upgrades (typically up to three, but some go up to more like retaliate's 5). Also, there are numerical limits on how many cards of the same type can be played in a deck, though upgrading sometimes alters that. So you can't just rely on having n^1,000,000th copies of one busted card. Synergy becomes a bit more important. Also, card draw got buffed significantly via kick and gunshot potentially giving a card draw with each play, as well as faceless giving a net gain of cards in your hand up to like +3. (The latter... it's a crazy good card for getting what you need into your hand.) Which means that Hierophant is arguably still the strongest card, cuz it lets you play more from the large hands you can wind up with. Tower is less of a necessity for late game, too, because that means there are card gain cards apart from it that work with the Hierophant. Also, Hierophant is no longer really as necessary at the same time because cards and card synergy can be stronger. Finally, in Beta1 the enemies that should be immune to stun aren't, presumably due to glitch. So dragons can be bulldozed with stunlock from hypnosis, the empress, headbutt, despair, the emperor and similar cards lol.

The fact that you have to rely on tarot cards itself is flawed. Your deck is basically barely functions without them. In a good deck builder, your deck should still feel useful and effective without the best cards. Like the cards you're listing is probably the same card combination everyone else uses because everything else sucks. You can't use poison, bleed, or stun effectively when enemies are outright immune, leaving the only viable choice being raw damage. What good is a cool thematic deck if there's a roughly 1/3 chance you'll be curbed stomped into oblivion. Status immunities in this game is handed out like candy.

And as you get into late game, slow/burn decks will get you killed more often than fast decks due to the fact that enemy damage scales poorly with your defense cards and evade is essentially useless because of how unreliable it is. Without Heirophant, you either do no damage or you take damage that turn. Buttstroke and Kick or whatever is essential because of said terrible damage scaling. There's no room for variant decks because the cards that can reliably defend you are few. And don't get me started on consumeable cards.

What we need are cards that feel interesting or rewarding to play. Like maybe a card that replaces itself with a different card when played. Or maybe card stats/effects that scales with the number of enemies. Or card stats that scale with the number of cards belonging to a category (like status, or guns, or rarity) in your deck. Or cards that heal/buff/award an action point if you don't take damage the turn they're played. Or cards that scales with the number of times it or another card is used. Or makes you stronger when you're affected by a certain status effect (and cards that inflict those effects on you on purpose as a drawback). Or cards that put free cards in your hand while another card gets stronger based on the number of cards you played this turn. Basically anything to break the monotony of "I spam the strongest damage, defense, and damage reduction cards I own until I or the other guy dies." It should feel purposeful without also feeling like you have no choice but to utilize a given card.

 

[iSuppose]

You make good points for the pre-beta version, and to some extent beta-1 as well. They really need more cards that give Clarity (energy). Hierophant being the only one is to the game's detriment, and effectively seals off power cards from being used. IDK how to feel about it, but tarot cards... I wouldn't really call them great by comparison to some of the other buffed cards in the current version. A lot of cards got changed and apart from Hierophant (which I'd agree good decks rely too much on) I feel like only Empress is reliably solid (gives stun 2 and vulnerable, but you can't play abilities for like 3 turns, so it's sometimes a questionable pick depending on your deck). [Edit: Actually on reflection Moon can be pretty strong because despite high energy cost the werewolf ally takes some aggro.] I do like some of the card upgrades and changes, in that I think some progress towards what you talk about is being made here or there, though not all changes were improvements. (I still think lifesteal sucks and a 3% upgrade to vampirism should not count as a real upgrade worth two cards, I feel.) Also, something needs to be done about cards in excess of max upgrade slots. As is they don't do anything, and you can't even sell or get rid of them. (Though maybe they'll be converted to class experience or something in 3.0 when that finally comes out? IDK.) Crafting is more or less glitched in the current version, which is also very annoying. Currently the only real use for resources is to increase vendor affinity or whatever. And it may be a bug but I sometimes lose card upgrade progress which bums me out.

 

[Ferghus]

You make good points for the pre-beta version, and to some extent beta-1 as well. They really need more cards that give Clarity (energy). Hierophant being the only one is to the game's detriment, and effectively seals off power cards from being used. IDK how to feel about it, but tarot cards... I wouldn't really call them great by comparison to some of the other buffed cards in the current version. A lot of cards got changed and apart from Hierophant (which I'd agree good decks rely too much on) I feel like only Empress is reliably solid (gives stun 2 and vulnerable, but you can't play abilities for like 3 turns, so it's sometimes a questionable pick depending on your deck). [Edit: Actually on reflection Moon can be pretty strong because despite high energy cost the werewolf ally takes some aggro.] I do like some of the card upgrades and changes, in that I think some progress towards what you talk about is being made here or there, though not all changes were improvements. (I still think lifesteal sucks and a 3% upgrade to vampirism should not count as a real upgrade worth two cards, I feel.) Also, something needs to be done about cards in excess of max upgrade slots. As is they don't do anything, and you can't even sell or get rid of them. (Though maybe they'll be converted to class experience or something in 3.0 when that finally comes out? IDK.) Crafting is more or less glitched in the current version, which is also very annoying. Currently the only real use for resources is to increase vendor affinity or whatever. And it may be a bug but I sometimes lose card upgrade progress which bums me out.

I'm not saying all the tarot cards are great, but the ones that are great are a head above what you can craft. Combined with the ability to somewhat pick the good ones from the bad mean the more effective ones inevitably end up in people's decks compared to extremely rare cards that practically never drop because of how low drop rates are.

I don't know what's in the recent updates, but I can't imagine it being all that large in scale too due to the inherent complexity of deck builders in general. Speaking of allies, the dev should probably give them toggleable skills with cooldowns if they haven't already. In the public version, your allies are basically meat shields that randomly does something every turn. I feel like they would be more meaningful if you could activate a skill to, for example, reshuffle your hand, give you temporary buffs, clear debuffs, restore your health, or alter the effect of certain cards in your deck. It would be even better if the skills unlocked or improved as your relationship level improved. It doesn't make sense that MC and the girls he's getting close to can't seem to effectively cooperate in a life or death situation.
Alternatively, they could go the Sunrise City route and have allies add a signature card or 2 to the deck.

 

[iSuppose]

Yeah, allies could definitely do with some buffing/spicing up, though even just as meatshields I'll admit they're certainly better than nothing. Also as a sidenote, given how hard it is to get luck I feel like it should do more than it currently does, which hasn't much changed apart from the wheel of fortune card getting a minor buff. Stats in general could really stand to have more impact, all told. Int still does like nothing and Wis only matters at 10, for instance. As for how impactful current card changes are, I think it'll depend on whether (and if so, how) what I've seen is tweaked in future updates, and what the class system looks like within the context of the 3 options that have been unveiled as part of 3.0's promotion. That said, they did change a fair bit more than I had originally anticipated, all told. Though maybe I just have a low bar, IDK, lol.

 

[QQP_Purple]

Honestly I find the card system in this game to be just right. And this is primarily because it is NOT complicated. And that is a good thing. I know there are people out there who enjoy Magic and the like that will surely find the system disappointing and lacking in customization and strategic depth. But for the rest of us it's just a combat system. And as a combat system I enjoy the fact that my deck is basically composed out of just a couple of varieties of attack and defense cards with the odd status effect thrown in.

In short, I have my auto attack, my defend and my one or two spells, only in card form. And that's just the way I like it.

 

[Ferghus]

Honestly I find the card system in this game to be just right. And this is primarily because it is NOT complicated. And that is a good thing. I know there are people out there who enjoy Magic and the like that will surely find the system disappointing and lacking in customization and strategic depth. But for the rest of us it's just a combat system. And as a combat system I enjoy the fact that my deck is basically composed out of just a couple of varieties of attack and defense cards with the odd status effect thrown in.

In short, I have my auto attack, my defend and my one or two spells, only in card form. And that's just the way I like it.

It's pretty evident the dev's basing the combat system off of another well known deck builder, which you clearly don't know about. You're missing the point that the dev evidently likes that game enough to emulate its combat system. We're talking about the deficiencies in the recent versions of the combat system in the hopes that the dev corrects these problems and succeeds in their effort.
Who is this "rest of us"?

 

[iSuppose]

Honestly I find the card system in this game to be just right. And this is primarily because it is NOT complicated. And that is a good thing. I know there are people out there who enjoy Magic and the like that will surely find the system disappointing and lacking in customization and strategic depth. But for the rest of us it's just a combat system. And as a combat system I enjoy the fact that my deck is basically composed out of just a couple of varieties of attack and defense cards with the odd status effect thrown in.

In short, I have my auto attack, my defend and my one or two spells, only in card form. And that's just the way I like it.

All said, not sure if you're gonna like the newest update if that's true for you. Many cards are limited to 1-2 copies in a deck now. I'd even go so far as to say that for higher rarity cards 1-2 is almost always the cap even with upgrades, having 3 or more of a card excepting some upgraded generics is pretty rare. So unless you have a really small deck you're likely gonna wind up having to mix and match multiple cards of the same type to be effective. Also, you almost need a larger deck to take proper advantage of card draw. It also is a bit more focused on synergy and for me felt a bit more strategic to play.

I'm surprised you liked the card system as it was before the update, but understand liking card combat and the game more generally since even with some arguable flaws it was and is one of my favorite games of its type. Do you also feel stats are too weak in terms of their impact on combat, though, if you don't like to rely on card complexity? Personally, I think they tend to be, especially ones like intelligence, charisma and wisdom. (With the lattermost being very all-or-nothing.)

That said, pretty much regardless of changes, when stunlock on all enemies goes away and stun immune opponents get their mojo back, I'm probably gonna have to do a complete deck rework. XD

 

[Grigo3411]

SAVE PLZ

 

[Dragon59]

SAVE PLZ

Who is PLZ and how and why are they in danger?

 

[Zweihain]

Does victorius made other games?

 

[QQP_Purple]

Who is this "rest of us"?

Those of us who are not into deck builders, card games and thinking-skill based combat systems in general but really like the game otherwise.

Like, I am not averse to a bit of skill in my combat systems. But I prefer physical skill (like dark souls) to having to sit down with a spreadsheet and figure out a deck. So like when ever a game forces me to build a deck I always go like this:

1. Are there any stun cards, especially AOE stun. If yes GET THEM ALL.
2. Are there any AOE attacks that do good damage? If yes GET THEM ALL.
3. Are there any debuffs that are OP and preferably AOE? Throw a couple in.
4. Fill the rest out with attack cards.
5. Ignore defense unless there are no cards to stun the enemy out of attacking you.

So my ideal combat system here would be simple to learn, require very little skill or thinking and revolve around finding a way to OP your self into a deck that just demolishes everything by default and lets you enjoy the rest of the game without a combat system in the way to annoy you.

 

[Penitensary]

Those of us who are not into deck builders, card games and thinking-skill based combat systems in general but really like the game otherwise.

Like, I am not averse to a bit of skill in my combat systems. But I prefer physical skill (like dark souls) to having to sit down with a spreadsheet and figure out a deck. So like when ever a game forces me to build a deck I always go like this:

1. Are there any stun cards, especially AOE stun. If yes GET THEM ALL.
2. Are there any AOE attacks that do good damage? If yes GET THEM ALL.
3. Are there any debuffs that are OP and preferably AOE? Throw a couple in.
4. Fill the rest out with attack cards.
5. Ignore defense unless there are no cards to stun the enemy out of attacking you.

So my ideal combat system here would be simple to learn, require very little skill or thinking and revolve around finding a way to OP your self into a deck that just demolishes everything by default and lets you enjoy the rest of the game without a combat system in the way to annoy you.

I'm more defensive minded, so i usually go for defensive cards (buffs, heals) and DoT effects so my opponents bleed to death while trying and failing to hurt me.

But yeah, in games like this stuns are king.

 

[Ferghus]

Those of us who are not into deck builders, card games and thinking-skill based combat systems in general but really like the game otherwise.

Like, I am not averse to a bit of skill in my combat systems. But I prefer physical skill (like dark souls) to having to sit down with a spreadsheet and figure out a deck. So like when ever a game forces me to build a deck I always go like this:

1. Are there any stun cards, especially AOE stun. If yes GET THEM ALL.
2. Are there any AOE attacks that do good damage? If yes GET THEM ALL.
3. Are there any debuffs that are OP and preferably AOE? Throw a couple in.
4. Fill the rest out with attack cards.
5. Ignore defense unless there are no cards to stun the enemy out of attacking you.

So my ideal combat system here would be simple to learn, require very little skill or thinking and revolve around finding a way to OP your self into a deck that just demolishes everything by default and lets you enjoy the rest of the game without a combat system in the way to annoy you.

Considering the OP has pictures of card-based combat, I'd imagine not that many people that hate or dislike card games play this game.

I don't know if you're joking or not, but I don't think people generally use spreadsheets for card games. Most of these things tend to be casual enough that a working deck, if nonoptimal, can be cobbled together with easy-to-spot broken combos like low cost and high card draw, bleed/burn/poison with high defense, and control decks (aka chip damage + remove anything you don't like as soon as you see it). Like the strat you're proposing (which sounds like a janky control deck) sounds generally nonoptimal for most games/situations, including this ones, and I'm surprised that's been working out for you.

Either way, card games are meant to have diverse options, and making it so that only one or two kinds of decks work basically wastes the effort that went into creating all the other cards. Like outside of expensive pay-to-win TCGs, it would be counterintuitive to come up with a bunch of cards no one wants to use. It's like going to a restaurant and having everything but 2 items on the menu be perpetually unavailable.

But again, the dev is obviously a fan of these kinds of games and you downplaying comes off as tone deaf.

 

[QQP_Purple]

Considering the OP has pictures of card-based combat, I'd imagine not that many people that hate or dislike card games play this game.

I don't know if you're joking or not, but I don't think people generally use spreadsheets for card games. Most of these things tend to be casual enough that a working deck, if nonoptimal, can be cobbled together with easy-to-spot broken combos like low cost and high card draw, bleed/burn/poison with high defense, and control decks (aka chip damage + remove anything you don't like as soon as you see it). Like the strat you're proposing (which sounds like a janky control deck) sounds generally nonoptimal for most games/situations, including this ones, and I'm surprised that's been working out for you.

Either way, card games are meant to have diverse options, and making it so that only one or two kinds of decks work basically wastes the effort that went into creating all the other cards. Like outside of expensive pay-to-win TCGs, it would be counterintuitive to come up with a bunch of cards no one wants to use. It's like going to a restaurant and having everything but 2 items on the menu be perpetually unavailable.

But again, the dev is obviously a fan of these kinds of games and you downplaying comes off as tone deaf.

All I am saying is that I like the system as it is right now because it lets me play without having to get all professional about it and learn a whole card game. I ain't opposed to more depth being added for those that do want that. But like, just don't forget to throw a bone to those like me and make sure there are some staples in there that fit any combination and generally count as "noob friendly can't go wrong if you include this card".

 

[Ferghus]

All I am saying is that I like the system as it is right now because it lets me play without having to get all professional about it and learn a whole card game. I ain't opposed to more depth being added for those that do want that. But like, just don't forget to throw a bone to those like me and make sure there are some staples in there that fit any combination and generally count as "noob friendly can't go wrong if you include this card".

Not once have I said that we should make the game extra hard or complicated. The whole time, we were discussing how there's basically only one way to build a working deck (as of the public version) and that's the issue. That's like me saying "everything but the soccer ball is deflated" and you coming up and saying "that's the way I like it. I don't want to be forced to play other sports" as if that was a point of discussion in the first place.

 

[yannick12]

I just love the combat system in the game so much lol... collecting cards, making strategic build etc...
It remind my of MTG ( Magic the Gathering ).

 

[Game Lord]

All I am saying is that I like the system as it is right now because it lets me play without having to get all professional about it and learn a whole card game. I ain't opposed to more depth being added for those that do want that. But like, just don't forget to throw a bone to those like me and make sure there are some staples in there that fit any combination and generally count as "noob friendly can't go wrong if you include this card".

I think the main issue with the proposal you’re wanting here is, which the game was until this latest update where the Dev tried balancing the card deck more is, the game is a porn game to be with which has a limited audience to begin with. Add to that that it is a card deck building combat strategy game and once you’ve said card battle to it, many players are opposed to that and won’t even bother trying it out. So the Dev more than likely knows who he is building his game towards, those who want some semblance of actual strategy and sound deck building, otherwise the game becomes a snooze fest. Throw in OP cards and you are going to turn off your main audience. That’s my train of thought anyway. I could be completely wrong here though too.

 

[Homnde]

What's the max level for all stats? Is it 10? Cause i'm on day 80 and 10 was the limit for a long time now. Dunno how i would defeat giants or dragons like that lmao

 

[NotSoTasty]

Soo how are things around here?

 

[n00bi]

0.2.5 beta is out for patreons.
looks like he's been busy with this battle card crap.
I liked this game somewhat, but i hated the battle card thingy.
Now the the game will be dead to me. ffs, its a adult/erotic/porn game. not friking dungeons and dragons.