Monster Train

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Baroquen
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Monster Train

Post by Baroquen »

Seems like we don't have a thread for this, (or my searching skills are lacking). So in the push to have separate game threads - here we go.

So I picked this up when it went on sale for the release of its DLC. I agree with what others have said about it. Very reminiscent of Slay the Spire, but with enough twists to make it interesting. Of course, I'm a sucker for gameplay unlocks, so I figured I'd like it anyway.

Played a couple runs, and learned the ropes. Got my first win on my third or fourth run. Just lucky? But it feels like with increased options to tinker, you can meld a strategy a little easier than StS? Either way - it's fun. And with that win, I've now unlocked the third clan so we'll see what that's like.

Anyone buy the DLC? Worth the money? It seems like the main draw is an extra clan, and since I've got most of the default clans to explore, I might pass on it for now.
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Sudy
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Re: Monster Train

Post by Sudy »

I'd jotted down some thoughts on this one but never got around to creating a thread. It gets a high recommendation from me. On the surface it doesn't appear as polished as a game like Slay the Spire, but it's got a ton of replayability and is extremely addictive. The expansion just came out... I haven't picked it up yet--I intend to unlock the fifth race first (which I should do after this run; if I win, it will be my 10th).


Random thoughts:

- The music is really good. Perhaps not as memorable as StS, but very close. I find myself humming the themes.
- The graphics and text are kind of... uninspired. They're not bad. But they look kind of like a mobile game. This doesn't play like a mobile game, but it has the appearance of one. The character models have grown on me, they're kind of like paper dolls with independently animated limbs. There's only one battle screen background, but this really doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. And after all, isn't there only one in each act in StS?
- There are some frigging annoying sound effects. The cat merchant? It really feels like they were aping the odd yet charming StS merchant. But boy did they miss the mark. Even Mrs. Nym commented that the sound annoyed her from across the room. The enemy wound sounds are fine... until the final battle of each round where you're fighting a boss you may be hitting dozens of times. These repeated grunts may also raise your loved ones' eyebrows.
- The interface is very functional, which I appreciate a lot. You can access the logbook on any screen from the escape menu. The exception would be the game speed button, though maybe I just haven't figured out how to use it effectively. Right clicking will speed you up one level, but you have to keep clicking to get to the higher speeds, and then back to normal.
- The 4th race is a lot fresher and interesting than I'd expected.
- Difficulty, at least initially, is a lot milder than StS. I think I won my first six or seven runs. (Mind you, I have experience with the genre.) And I don't think this is necessarily a downside... those late game defeats in StS can be extremely deflating. (Though the wins feel all the sweeter.) The optional conditions you can enable for bonus rewards at the start of non-boss missions are a nice touch, but they can really break your run... it isn't always easy to calculate what you'll be able to endure. Which it shouldn't be; but it makes it a bit of a coin toss. For those who don't consider it cheating (or don't care), you can alt-F4 to reload the current battle. But note that the seed is saved; you'll still be starting with the same hand. But it might get you out of a jam if you placed units without paying attention leading to an early wipe. I remember a game where I placed a unit on the wrong floor by accident, and it boned me. It was extremely frustrating. It wasn't not my fault, but it would have been a cheap way to lose a run I'd invested a lot of time in.
- While at first it seems to undermine the surprise, I've learned to love that the game calculates the damage each unit will take each round before the battle unfolds. You can still affect it by playing your cards, but it means you don't have to pull out a pen & paper or calculator to play optimally. Though you'll still need to do plenty of (IMO enjoyable) minor mental calculations to ensure you're playing your cards the best way.
- Compared to StS, the stats are going to feel somewhat bloated. At the ends of some runs you'll have multipliers on top of multipliers. It's like Paper Mario vs. Final Fantasy, or Magic the Gathering vs. one of the eastern CCGs where units have HP in the 1,000s. Here, it's often functional but it still feels less clean.
- I don't know if I like that some of your starting cards are random each run (from within your chosen clans). It's not an unreasonable mechanic, and it's nice it forces you into some strategies you might not otherwise consider. But when I'm saddled with, say, emberdrain cards I haven't found a way to use effectively, I'm a little annoyed.
- Each clan seems to have some core combos that can be exploited for ridiculous returns. When you uncover them it feels amazing. But at higher difficulties I suspect they may be the only route to victory.
- I also don't know if I like that the covenant ranks (i.e. unlocked difficult challenges) are the same each game, scaling on top of each other. I think that's the same as it works in StS, but it's sort of boring to start each game with the same blight card in your deck (not that it actually affects gameplay much, and there are some relics etc. you can find that actually make this a benefit).
- Extremely minor, but some NPCs and units have "hurry up" lines and emotes. Unless it's relevant to the gameplay or characters, I hate that. Let me play at the pace I want to play; it's a turn-based game for Pete's sake.
- The mods and daily runs look like a lot of fun, but they don't contribute toward unlocks or achievements, so I kind of feel like there's no point in spending time with them. At least until I've unlocked everything, and which point I'll probably have long burned out. On that note, I see about 10 OOers from my friends list on the in-game scoreboard, and most seem to run out of steam around the 5th win. That's actually not bad considering it's probably 10+ hours of gameplay depending on how successful you are, and that's a lot of value for the price. You haven't "beat" the game till the 25th covenant it seems, and only one person on my list has achieved that. (That would be 25 winning runs with all progressive difficulty modifiers unlocked.)
- There are a few cards and units that just don't feel useful, but perhaps I just haven't learned how to exploit them yet, or they're bolstered by other cards and relics I haven't unlocked yet. The post-boss bonus reward option to increase the number of cards you draw each turn also seems like it would very rarely be the best choice unless you have a very specialized deck. You're almost always going to want the one that increases your energy or the number of units you can place on each floor.

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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Sudy
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Re: Monster Train

Post by Sudy »

The fifth race's mechanics are also fun and refreshing, but I feel confused as there's push-pull between rapidly sacrificing units and maximizing their life span. Obviously, the gameplan likely isn't meant to be universal across a deck/all units, but I found it really hard to plan a path during my first run. I also found it too cumbersome to have to plan out turns so that the right things were dead/rezzed in time for the boss fights.

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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Sudy
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Re: Monster Train

Post by Sudy »

I picked up the expansion. The sixth race is also interesting. I haven't made it to the new boss yet; I've actually kind of hit a wall. After winning 90% of my games before covenant 10, I'm now finding I can get really screwed over by poor unit choices or generally scattered decks. It's starting to feel a lot more like a roguelixx for better or worse.

The new pact shard improvements can be very powerful, but they can also completely blow out the difficulty scaling early on. I kind of wish they weren't there to tempt me. But after a few attempted runs I now know what to avoid. Unlikely my first run on which I just took everything. That didn't end well. 8-)

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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Baroquen
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Re: Monster Train

Post by Baroquen »

I unlocked the fourth clan in the middle of a run today. I just looking for something to pass the time, and wasn't super set on playing MT but it was ideal for a quick gaming session. So since I wasn't really investing in trying to win another run, I decided to experiment and try the Hellion alternate hero, and ended up trying an imp deck. Well that was fun! It worked very well. Paired the hero with the Rally ability with the armor stacking unit. And had a rage building unit too. Picked up an artifact that kept rage persistent. Threw those units on the top level, and let them buff up each round, while the other units/spells picked off the units on the way up. It all worked really well.

Looking forward to trying the new clan sometime soon.
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Zaxxon
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Re: Monster Train

Post by Zaxxon »

This came out of Switch this weekend, and I picked it up. ($29, and includes the expansion DLC) It's quite clearly heavily influenced by StS, but that's not at all a bad thing.

Only done a few runs and unlocked the third clan. Certainly promising so far. I don't agree about the art being uninspired. I think it's pretty good, and I appreciate that each card is animated.
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