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Wait, really? poo poo I guess I got really unlucky cause I always get the card that gives you one curse per ring before that point, which is basically a death penalty.
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Dec 20, 2021 18:31
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Jesus, I haven't even seen that one. That could end everything.
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Dec 20, 2021 21:06
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While we're waiting; I got to show off a bit of the art & visual resources earlier, and there are still a couple of things I want to talk about regarding... Music Layering Did you know there are only three battle tracks in Hand of Fate? They tend to repeat, but they're effective. Each track has three music files that the game can seamlessly switch between depending on how "dynamic" the action is. There are multiple factors that go into figuring out what "dynamic" means, and I don't know all of them, but your combo meter and how recently you got hit are definitely factors. You can see a demo of the layering here: https://youtu.be/wdjA700wXzU The music in this game was composed by Jeff van Dyck. You can listen to the OST on the YouTube playlist he made, which also links to buy the music if you're interested. Most of the OST tracks are a bit different from the game's versions. The Dealer's Voice The dealer's audio clips are roughly categorized in the following sets:
There are a few audio clips I couldn't show off in the main LP, but some people who worked on the game gave me the OK to post some clips extracted from the game: https://youtu.be/w4Dxt-2kyzk
Chinese VO The game has some interesting language options; Defiant managed to get a wide variety of translations. What's also kinda cool is that there is an option for Chinese audio. That's right—every single one of the Dealer's voice clips have a Chinese equivalent, probably Mandarin. You can see an example in this video as I run through the game's intro and first dungeon with the subtitles on. You'll see the dealer animations were only ever done for English voices. The game also has the graphics for a Chinese title screen, so I admit I'm curious about what prompted this particular translation and recording effort. Cool nonetheless. bacon There are audio files labeled bacon01 through 05. It's just the sound of bacon frying. That's probably for a fire sound effect. Anaxite fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Dec 21, 2021 |
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Dec 20, 2021 23:53
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Some of the former Defiant members said I was okay to post specific audio clips, so I can show off a few more of the Dealer's stuff I couldn't in the main LP, including:
https://youtu.be/w4Dxt-2kyzk Seriously, there's a lot of voice stuff.
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Dec 21, 2021 18:26
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Anaxite posted:Jesus, I haven't even seen that one. That could end everything. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=483464644 Experience the ＨＥＡＤＲＵＳＨ of your Curse card stack going to the bottom of the screen
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Dec 21, 2021 20:50
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Seraphic Neoman posted:horror  I did have a look at the game's text to see what curses it has, and there are definitely some I have never run across that would be awful. I think I may have run across the one you mentioned after all, but we'll see. There are so many.
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Dec 21, 2021 22:43
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Part 21: Endless Mode, fourth run Warning: The main videos are meant to show you what the game is like at its hardest, and for that reason have been minimally edited, so you get the full experience. Endless Mode, Final run part one (uncut) (YouTube) Endless Mode, Final run part two (uncut) (YouTube) Endless Mode, final run highlights (YouTube) Endless mode got pretty hard last times I ran it, but it's time to see just how cruel the game can be when you push Endless Mode far enough. And since I did want to show off Iron Hunger at least a little bit… I use it to get as far as possible. Past level 30. Oh, the run starts off as innocuous as the other Endless Mode runs: there are very easy enemy cards, minor curses that you know you'll eventually remove at a Priest or Healer, and lots of gain opportunities. As you keep going down, though, you'll notice that the Gain cards get smaller and smaller, leading to single gold or food increase. Going past the point I got to in the other videos is where the game starts asking you if you've been stocking up on everything you possibly can. Because if you haven't… you'll die from that 50 health Pain Card, take damage just due to having rings, and rage when the Queen and King of Dust appear every single goddamn encounter. I was pretty tired at the end. Level 30 is the point at which the game gives you an Achievement for surviving this far, and it gets even worse after that. I got what I think is the single-worst curse in the game, Blighted (the one which prevents you from being healed), and it feels like the clock just starts ticking down to your death after that. You can technically keep going, but you need to be really lucky. The irony of doing this run as Iron Hunger is that even though you have to deal with the difficulty of an extra resource, not consuming food negates all cards and effects that explicitly take or cost food, making your life easier than expected. You need a lucky break at the beginning, after which you can keep going very, very far. One small correction: According to someone on Discord, the generic Shop card you can slot in your deck always gives a 3-card equipment choice and food if you are on starter equipment. It wasn't due to the Iron Hunger fate. Endless Mode is done, though… and there's only one thing left. Anaxite fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Dec 22, 2021 14:57
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Are you going to look at the final deck and talk about what you think of all the cards?
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Dec 23, 2021 01:15
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I want going to post a card-by-card analysis for the entire set of cards, but I will post my thoughts on a good deck for hard mode. Any particular things you want to see?
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Dec 23, 2021 13:12
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Well I'd like to hear what you think of the event cards and which ones are worth using. Mainly because I can see that this game has a "no risk no reward" thing, but some may actually be too risky.
Tombot fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Dec 23, 2021 |
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Dec 23, 2021 14:25
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No promises, but I'll see what I can do after the last video
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Dec 23, 2021 15:47
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Tombot posted:Well I'd like to hear what you think of the event cards and which ones are worth using. Mainly because I can see that this game has a "no risk no reward" thing, but some may actually be too risky. There are a few cards that do have rewards for no risk, but you need to dig appreciatively deep into their event chains to get at them. Something like The Maiden is the exception, that's the game's freebie.
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Dec 23, 2021 22:18
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The end. Part 22- The Dealer, hard mode (YouTube) Part 22- The Dealer, hard mode (uncut) (YouTube) The Dealer has toyed with us for the last time. Let's not only take him down, but also humiliate him in the process. We're taking him down as the Warlord. The strategy is no different from a regular run, but the dungeon becomes even less forgiving, so you have to be much better about following it. Good preparations are important; let's have a look at the encounters and equipment I put in. It's not 100% optimized, but it's very close, and has the variety I needed… and there will be no Dragon equipment in this deck.  The Captain, Wheel of the Gods, and Local Peasant, are all safe cards that will, at worst, do nothing. The Kraken and The Tavern are a bit of a gamble, but I at least know how they go, and there is potential for reward (and getting the Kraken set would have been hilarious). A Winding Trail and Battle Practice are relatively easy to deal with, and I needed to put in battle cards.  Cave Rescue and Dead King's Hall were also needed to round out the deck, but they do have some nice gain. Dead King's Hall also tends to have traps I can exploit. Desert of the Damned and Holy Forge are safe cards at worst. Giant Eagle isn't great, but I didn't hate it as much as other options. Holy Patronage is safe at worst, and might be useful if I can bless myself.  Lost Island has a cost, but has large enough gains I would consider it. Metal Ore and Noble Trader can be useful in the right runs and will cost me nothing at worst. Shop is a breather card at worst, and an expensive way to get supplies at best. Soul Gem is absolutely crucial. I will want to remove a curse at least once.  I treat Tavern Wager as an easy fight card I can bypass if I have the resources. The Apprentice, Elder Lizard, and Angry Guild master are usually safe and may have benefits. Lonely Bard is safe to ignore. Treasure Chest is not safe, but its pain to gain ratio is very good.  Blacksmith's Gratitude, Loan, and Marketplace are either safe or pure gain. Helpful Priest is safe to ignore. Maze of Traps is a risk, but usually predictable with possible gains. Stranger in the Shadows is also safe, considering we're not going to get Holy Touch.  The Lovers is a filler fight card which will give us gains. Trading Post, Wandering Minstrels, and Merchant's Favour are safe with possible gains. Food Wagon is a net benefit at all times. Goblins was added because of the need to round out the deck, and it's extremely safe as far as fights go, with gold and food benefits.  Mister Lionel is safe and sometimes beneficial, and the Maiden is always useful. The Altar is safe to ignore. Twisted Canyon can be useful, though it's also safe to ignore.  Sword/Axe weapons work best for me, so I favored those weapons that either have 30+ damage, or a nice effect. Thunderstrike is the exception because lightning is pretty useful.  There aren't many shields or armors that I care for. Fortitude's Breath and Innocence are generally useful to navigate the dungeon, whereas the Skeleton King Shield was taken in case I wanted to stun better. All the armor is heavy, and they either add effects to increase defense in some way, or increase mobility. Anything else is a tradeoff.   Helmets were also hard to pick. Explorer's Helmet, Scavenger's Cap, and Oracle's Diadem are the only ones I care about for easier exploring, food gains, and the ability to plan better. My thought process for Fate's Folly and Golden Mask are that gold gain improvement is better than other things. And the Skeleton King's Helm was just in case I could get the whole set. Hag's Wraps is just fantastic. Crushing Grips is okay in that I had a chance to stun on counter, but it was added for fun.  I don't know which are the best artifacts, but I took the ones that could either cause fire/lightning damage, stun enemies, freeze them, or boost my resources. I'm less confident about those.   Rings are hard to pick. I mainly split my needs into health, gold, food, and damage. Incredible: Occult Ring: The player inflicts 3 more damage for every curse they have. We'll have curses by the end of the run. Great: King's Ring: During combat, will deflect any killing blow on the player at the cost of 10% of their gold per blow. No effect on zero gold. You hope you'll never need this ring, but a Hail Mary is never bad. Master Ring: The player receives +1 gold per ring (including this one) after every encounter. You will almost certainly pick up many rings along the run, and this way you can afford more shop services, or work against gold loss effects. Ring of Return: The player receives +1 gold per reflected projectile, up to a maximum of 10 per combat. Actually pretty nice to build up gold for shops! There will be a lot of combat. Ring of Reward: After every third combat, the player draws 3 Equipment cards and keeps 1. Again, there will be combat, so have some free equipment! Explorer's Ring: Grants a food bonus for revealing every encounter on a level. The food effect is a bit better than the Guild Master's ring. Good: Berserker ring: Every 6 kills the player makes in a single combat, they receive +30 health. It's useful to have this effect, depending on how bad you are at combat. Golden ring of pain: The player inflicts +1 damage per 20 gold in their possession, up to a maximum of +10. Depends on how the run ends. Plunderer's Ring: With every Gain card, the player receives +1 gold and +2 health. It's not much, but it's something. Guild Master's ring: The player receives +1 food whenever they enter a shop. You may not need this, but free food is free food. Trader's Ring: Whenever the player sells an item, they receive +2 food. Misc: Skeleton King Ring: While the Skeleton King Sword, Shield and Helm are equipped, Pain cards also give a random gold or food bonus. It was a "just in case" item. Ring of Experience: After every successful combat, the player receives +1 Max Health per blessing. I made a mistake putting this ring in my deck. And that's that. Anaxite fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Dec 26, 2021 15:46
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They weren't kidding when they called it "hard mode", you were cursed right out of the gate. Edit: Oh wait, this isn't endless mode, this is Dealer hard mode and that was always one of the curses. Whoops, so much for my reading comprehension. I think I actually saw the explosion warnings this time, they look like little vortexes of magical energy, also I really liked it when you hit the Dealer with his own energy ball and it sucked in all of the skeleton bones off the table and into the vortex behind him, that was a really cool effect. Tombot fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Dec 26, 2021 |
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Dec 26, 2021 17:31
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Soul Gem came in CLUTCH
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Dec 26, 2021 21:04
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Tombot posted:They weren't kidding when they called it "hard mode", you were cursed right out of the gate. I mean to be fair either way it's hard. I hope this little writeup for the last dungeon answers your question a bit with cards and card building. The strategy for building an encounter deck yourself is as follows when you have everything unlocked:
Equipment cards are first about seeing the cards at least once to learn their effect, then figuring out your play style and how you enjoy fighting... until you get to rings. There are so many rings. You can pick them based on your play style, you can go through them one by one... or you can ignore all that. I've ignored the Recommended Encounter & Equipment button for the sake of the LP, but you can just let the game pick for you and you'll probably be fine. Seraphic Neoman posted:Soul Gem came in CLUTCH Strong contender for best goddamn card in the game.
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Dec 26, 2021 22:37
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And as I was encoding and uploading the last episode, I decided to try a last run in Endless Mode... and somehow managed to clear the generic Test of Pride encounter I thought I would never be able to do. I died the next floor but hey, there you go. It's actually possible to get this sword that you can only get by visiting a specific encounter at high enough current+max health with no curses on you. Aside from its damage against Court enemies it also has an ability which, when used, does a leaping sword attack against the nearest enemy. It's the same animation as in a high combo attack, so presumably similar damage.
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Dec 26, 2021 22:41
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I suppose that when you reach this point in the game you don't really need to take many risks anymore, you already have everything you could ever want. By the way, have you ever actually managed to get all of the dragon equipment in one run, how plausable do you thing that would be?
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Dec 26, 2021 23:56
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Tombot posted:I suppose that when you reach this point in the game you don't really need to take many risks anymore, you already have everything you could ever want. By the way, have you ever actually managed to get all of the dragon equipment in one run, how plausable do you thing that would be? Easier than you might think; OP showed off how rings can stack on themselves to help with resource generation and gaining equipment. So combine that with some equipment gain encounters and you can get the Dragon equipment fairly quickly with a bit of luck. Honestly the hardest item to get in the set is probably the Dragon Ring, since you can only buy it in shops. That said, I've only ever got the whole set in Endless, the dungeons end to quickly to get it all in normal single player.
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Dec 27, 2021 02:39
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To be honest, I never got the full dragon set. But it's correct that is not necessarily hard. If I really wanted to force it I would do a run where I have nothing but that set and a lot of rings, then find the right shop and hope for the best.
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Dec 27, 2021 14:08
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I did, and its is so worth it. So much power and best of all flame trail. Just keep on running an dodging and everything short of the dealer or the kraken dies.
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Dec 27, 2021 23:29
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Thanks everyone. We're done here, and this LP is off to the archives. If you haven't given the game a try yet, I hope you will! Both it and its sequel are lots of fun.
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Jan 4, 2022 17:40
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That was excellent. Thank you for the LP. 
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Jan 4, 2022 17:57
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Definitely enjoyed this LP, thank you!
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Jan 4, 2022 18:59
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Thank you for the LP, Anaxite. It was an excellent watch.
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Jan 4, 2022 19:45
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Great job, I've always wanted to see somebody actually complete this game. Speaking of sequal, does anyone here have any opinions on it? It's like it just came out and nobody played it, people always think of this game but not what came after and I find that rather odd.
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Jan 4, 2022 20:02
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Tombot posted:Great job, I've always wanted to see somebody actually complete this game. Speaking of sequal, does anyone here have any opinions on it? It's like it just came out and nobody played it, people always think of this game but not what came after and I find that rather odd. I love Hand of Fate 2 to bits, and would LP it if I wasn't doing 3 dozen other things. In my opinion, HoF2 resolved a lot of issues HoF1 has (hyper-aggressive combat, no card searching/sorting, each card not always unique), and it's got more Dealer-y goodness. Quackles fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 20:32
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Tombot posted:Speaking of sequal, does anyone here have any opinions on it? It's like it just came out and nobody played it, people always think of this game but not what came after and I find that rather odd. Boy I sure do. HoF II is very much a two-steps-forward-one-step-back in my eyes. Like they went in a good direction with it, but the actual steps were extremely flawed. -The combat is no longer as "mindless" as in HoF I, different enemy factions have very different fighting styles. Problem: Different enemy factions are also weak to different weapons and you cannot switch weapons before initiating combat. The different enemy factions are also all kind of a pain in the rear end to fight. The thieves teleport all the gently caress over (gently caress the poisoners, those enemies are straight up bad design), the Northerners have a combo interrupt move (which you can get used to but it really knocks you off your rhythm which just feels frustrating instead of difficult also the bolas are annoying). The Corrupted are kind of the fodder enemies but they also don't play well with a lot of card effects, so if you need to get a token for knocking down X number of enemies, you're SOL if you're on a corrupted stage. -There are numerous tokens you unlock through using different equipment. Problem: there is a fuckton of equipment and the requirements to unlock them are extremely lengthy or extremely specific. Some of them are actually detrimental to the thing you're trying to do, like the mask which makes the pendulum slower. -The additional chance minigames are a mixed bag. The pendulum I like, the dice loving suck and are the reason you will put the Gambler's Ring in your deck and never take it out. Losing those always feels like bullshit. -The segmentation of cards into Regular/Platinum/Brimstone is actually a massive issue because you are limited to how many plat cards you can put it. There is exactly 1 plat card that is worth it, 2 if you're playing on a stage with a specific gimmick. This actually gets super obnoxious since The Old Maiden becomes a plat card so you no longer can use it as free resources. -Every loving card has some gimmick associated with it, you no longer stack the deck with cards like Soul Gem (with like 1-2 exceptions). Most of the time it's either chance or dice so you end up with a really unpredictable deck which sort of defeats the purpose. -The story is much better and while the final boss in HoF I is more interesting mechanically, HoF II's is much better narratively. -The map challenge additions are a mixed bag but once you ease into them they become fairly fun. But word of warning: play the chapters out of order if you need to, some fairly mid-game chapters can be obnoxious roadblocks without future equipment. Quackles posted:no card searching/sorting in the vanilla game, sorta. In the DLCs? woo buddy. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Jan 4, 2022 21:54
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Seraphic Neoman posted:Problem: Different enemy factions are also weak to different weapons and you cannot switch weapons before initiating combat. You actually can switch weapons right before combat (access Inventory during the encounter), unless you're ambushed. Seraphic Neoman posted:-There are numerous tokens you unlock through using different equipment. Problem: there is a fuckton of equipment and the requirements to unlock them are extremely lengthy or extremely specific. Some of them are actually detrimental to the thing you're trying to do, like the mask which makes the pendulum slower. Yeah, a lot of the equipment tokens were added later on. I have issues with the Charged Bash ones. And Intriguing Sword. Intriguing Sword takes forever even if you grind for it. But the reward's worth it. Seraphic Neoman posted:-The additional chance minigames are a mixed bag. The pendulum I like, the dice loving suck and are the reason you will put the Gambler's Ring in your deck and never take it out. Losing those always feels like bullshit. Huh. I liked how they changed things up. To each their own, though. Seraphic Neoman posted:-The segmentation of cards into Regular/Platinum/Brimstone is actually a massive issue because you are limited to how many plat cards you can put it. There is exactly 1 plat card that is worth it, 2 if you're playing on a stage with a specific gimmick. This actually gets super obnoxious since The Old Maiden becomes a plat card so you no longer can use it as free resources. I'm going to address these together: honestly, I think most of the platinum cards have a use, and I believe I've used all of them (though The Silver Man I don't use very often - and it's a pity Death's Garden unlocks so late). And the fact that each card is differentiable, unique, and has a bit of scenario associated is a plus in my eyes. Seraphic Neoman posted:-The story is much better and while the final boss in HoF I is more interesting mechanically, HoF II's is much better narratively. Agreed. Seraphic Neoman posted:-The map challenge additions are a mixed bag but once you ease into them they become fairly fun. But word of warning: play the chapters out of order if you need to, some fairly mid-game chapters can be obnoxious roadblocks without future equipment. Are you talking about Justice? You're talking about Justice, right? (Or maybe the Chariot if you run out of food, but I'm going to assume you mean Justice.)
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Jan 4, 2022 22:22
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I actually meant Strength, that one is incredibly mean for the point you unlock it at. But Justice is pretty rough too. I actually have a really easy time with Chariot and use it as one of my two farm maps, the other being The Tower.quote:I'm going to address these together: honestly, I think most of the platinum cards have a use, and I believe I've used all of them (though The Silver Man I don't use very often - and it's a pity Death's Garden unlocks so late). And the fact that each card is differentiable, unique, and has a bit of scenario associated is a plus in my eyes. So the card I'm talking about is Dealing With Thieves. That card, in my eyes, is a massive game changer which deserves the slot I sacrifice for it. Two Platinum Gain cards is absolutely ridiculous, you instantly trivialize food challenges and set yourself up for the rest of the journey plus you get a fuckton of gold (I kinda never go for the HP tbh). That makes the downsides of the card worth it, one of which in my eyes is that it takes the Plat slot in your deck. I actually never unlocked Death's Garden so I'm not sure how good it is, but I doubt it can compare to two plat gains.
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Jan 4, 2022 23:01
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Death's Garden is 4+ Food Gain right away. After you've used it enough times, there's a small chance for a gold gain as well, I think? Though it's been overshadowed a bit by Rana's Remarkable Fishing, but that only came out to celebrate the release of the last DLC. And yes, god, Strength is the 'get good at combat or have a bad time' map. I remember unlocking Lion Heart early and that helped a lot.
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Jan 4, 2022 23:55
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Thanks for the LP, Anaxite! Was nice to finally get to see this game's conclusion - both the story and logical extension of how far someone could take endless mode.
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Jan 5, 2022 02:52
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Jossar posted:Thanks for the LP, Anaxite! Was nice to finally get to see this game's conclusion - both the story and logical extension of how far someone could take endless mode. Indeed.
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Jan 5, 2022 08:53
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 18:06 |
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Jossar posted:Thanks for the LP, Anaxite! Was nice to finally get to see this game's conclusion - both the story and logical extension of how far someone could take endless mode. Glad you liked it  Seeing that people have gone even further on Endless was crazy. Wild. But I'm satisfied with where I ended up.As for HoF 2, I started giving it a shot. It was definitely different. I can see how it could be viewed as a step back, but it seems a lot more fleshed out in its execution.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:58
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