Cardaire

Well worth the $4 I spent while it was on sale. Getting all the achievements took me around 10 hours and I don't really expect to replay it any time soon as getting all the achievements allowed me to explore most if not all of the side content. The secret final boss was probably the only challenging opponent in the game for me so I'm hoping there are more difficulty spikes like that in the game's upcoming sequel. Overall, an easy, casual experience for those who like CCGs and RPGs.

Keep up the tempo

It's Duelist Kingdom.

Very fun, short little indie game. Makes me remember why I liked playing TCGs. Unlike said TCGs, which remind me why I don't anymore.

game good

[h1]cardaire: the little game that [mostly] could.[/h1] do you remember a time when card games had all the content actually IN them and not sold as booster packs? do you remember a time when card games didn't need or want daily logins? do you remember a time when card games were focused on fun pve gameplay, as opposed to the grind that is a pvp ladder? if you, like me, remember all those things, then cardaire is DEFINITELY a game you should check out. [b]what it is:[/b] cardaire is a straightforward tcg like they used to make from about 1995 until about 2005. by that i mean that there's little bits of side content, like fishing and card collecting, but mostly, you're building a deck, sitting down across from a computer-controlled opponent and playing the card game on offer. this is a great little slice of what games like shandalar or the pokemon tcg or any of the various yu-gi-oh games could have become. a sort of staple of the video game landscape that doesn't try to force or trick you into spending more time with it than you should and that doesn't want to devour your wallet. [b]how it plays:[/b] cardaire's tcg is pretty simple. you have exactly two classes of card: sorcery/spell or creature/soul. sorcery cards are what they seem like: you play them and then they go to your graveyard. these do the most interesting things with the game, but they're not /grossly/ overpowered. souls are bog standard creatures like you're used to in other games. here, they have an attack stat and a defense stat and those work like you've seen before: the attack value cuts into the defense value. these are a little more bland and don't do enough with the setup on offer, but they're fine for what they are. one important thing to note about cardaire in particular is that there's a lane system, but ONLY the middle lane is important. that's the one you use to "defend yourself." well, that and that damage doesn't fall off [and there are no real ways to heal damage once it's dealt other than buffing your souls.] if you're ok with all of this, then you'll probably like cardaire a lot. it's a tiny open world, gated by your collection level [how many "new cards" you've seen] and the duels aren't particularly difficult - for the most part. as long as you make a reasonable plan, you'll be fine. [b]graphics and sound:[/b] the graphics are fine. this is a fairly standard rpg maker game that swaps out the generic kind of battle in those games with a card game. the card art is generally representative and pretty good, but there aren't a LOT of memorable designs here. the soundtrack, however, is great and i recommend leaving the music on all the way through. there are various different types of music on display and while there isn't what i would call "strongly thematic" unity between all of it, it does suit the mood of the game. [b]would i recommend it?[/b] wholeheartedly, yes. for the most part. but i'm getting to that in a second. it's a great little slice of game that is sorely needed in the modern gaming landscape. [h1]MASSIVE POST-GAME SPOILERS AHEAD. TURN YE BACK ALL YE WHO SEEK 100% ON YOUR OWN TERMS!!1!1!!11!!111[/h1] but should you 100% it? OH GOD NO. cardaire - for 95% of it's runtime is largely benign and very easy-going. even the final battles aren't particularly difficult going. the problem comes with the last 5% of the post-game content. now, i will say up front that this is ENTIRELY OPTIONAL - and ALL ON YOU if you want to go all in, but be warned: you're going to be pulling your hair out in frustration at the final 5%. the developer is IN LOVE with the idea that people should use the starter deck to get stuff done. it is unfun. the developer is also IN LOVE with rng toward the end here. also unfun. so, completionists beware! spoilers ahead for both those statements. STOP READING NOW if you intend to tackle this on your own: rng: there's an achievement that wants you to fish up a 75 pound catch. this is entirely rng based. it is miserable. you could get it on your first cast, or you could just be durdling around at the fishing hole for HOURS. starter deck nonsense: there's a mini tourney that you can enter. you can use one of the premade decks. one of these is the starter you started out the game with. one of the long-term achievements is to collect all the cards and card backs in the game. and you need to fight your way through the tourney, saving at every step, until you hit the LAST PART of that tourney. then you need to search around there. but man. it is TEDIOUS to fight tooth and claw to get to that point. [b]added in later:[/b] one final thought for the road. there's a person who hands out clues for some of the more obscure parts of the achievement hunt. that's actually great and i applaud that. but they should be WAY more spoilery and direct about MORE of the hidden things in the game than just four items. eg: one of the pieces of a torn up card i missed was in a place where i couldn't find a shrine. more direct information from that character about where that shrine was [because it's hidden pretty well] would have been helpful. likewise, it wants you to go and get something from a tree. good luck. there's lots of trees in that area and you will just be bumping against each tree and hitting space and hoping for the best. again: more direct clues would have helped a lot more. but just having more information in general about more of the achievements would have been great, too. this sort of design is littered throughout the game: ask the collector about your collection and he gives a near-full breakdown of what's going on and what you're missing. SUPER good information. [though he didn't do this for card backs.] so this idea WAS thought of. it just wasn't implemented wholeheartedly. my conclusion still stands: first 95% of the game is GREAT. would recommend. if you're a completionist? that last 5% is going to make you tear out your hair. if your purchase hinges on being a completionist, weigh your desires accordingly. (i want to stress that i picked this up on a whim at full price and greatly enjoyed MOST of it's runtime. i'm frustrated by the last 5% because most of the REST of the design is really pretty solid. aeiou thought about this game long and hard while they were designing it and it MOSTLY shows. but there's just some small areas of frustration that could have been dealt with in a more even-handed way that weren't.) [b]edit-ends-here[/b] [b]spoilers-end-here.[/b] so, as i say: completionists beware. [i'm not done yet, so i might swing back around here and spoil more egregious nonsense that i find in future.]

This game is a really fun experience, it perfectly encapsulates the feel of an early trading card game like Yu-Gi-Oh but in digital form! The primary game play experience is making your own deck from packs earned from fighting people, slowly putting together your own deck with a pretty simple battle formula ~ spells and monsters, some monsters have some basic abilities, but everything is really easy to wrap your head around. The further you get into the story the more you can modify and experiment with your deck in different ways, and despite it being simple a lot of cards interact in interesting ways in actual combat and there's a handful of built-in synergies in the cards. Deck building has a nice in between when it comes to limits, you need a minimum of 30 cards, but can go to a maximum of 90, though no npc you'll fight in the game goes beyond the minimum deck limit so there's no reason to, but from a casual perspective it's nice to not be so restricted, especially when your cards are limited. Of course you lose consistency as you stray way from the minimum anyway. The most unique aspect of this battle system is that to get energy (which you use to play cards) you need to discard cards from your hand, which really helps make combat progress more smoothly and is a huge help in early game if you end up with bricks in your hand! It perfectly fits the dynamic deck-building system and the cards you play with, though the only downside is that cards that draw cards or can summon specific cards from your deck have a massive advantage in play. Aside from this mechanic it plays atypically, you get energy, you use that energy to play cards, and the win condition is to get your opponent's life points to 0. This system does occasionally change in a couple minor ways as you enter various boss fights/new areas with field effects. These field effects mark certain play spots on the field (or sometimes all of them) and activates a certain effect when a monster occupies that space. For example it could be something simple like that monster gets +100 Health or Attack, other times it can be a lot more game changing with players losing/gaining life, drawing or discarding cards, etc. so it can spice up the game quite a bit at times. Unfortunately, depending on the type of deck you're running you can often ignore these changes entirely with little consequence. Which brings me to my last point in terms of actual card gameplay; difficulty, this game isn't very difficult. If I had to give it a rating I'd say it's probably Medium or Easy-Medium. Early game is definitely on the harder side only due to the lack of options you have in deck building, but once you have options if you're familiar with card games and deck building you'll be able to put something together that's consistent and strong, and this only becomes more true as you progress through the game. After I beat the first "Gym Leader" (Pin Challenger, whatever) I barely modified my deck only occasionally swapping out a card or two or adding a valuable card into it and sweeped the rest of the game. Don't get me wrong each of these boss fights have unique mechanics that they warn you about preemptively so you can adequately modify your deck but if you make a strong enough deck, then it won't matter what the mechanic is. All and all, the actual gameplay is a lot of fun, it never gets boring and I'm sure if you play different decks you do have to switch them up for each boss fight. and there's no punishment for experimenting with different decks either. Since this review has become kind of lengthy I'll summarize the rest of the Pros and Cons I have with Cardaire: Pros: -Fun Gameplay that plays beautifully into experimenting with new decks -Fun Deckbuilding Simulator -Art Style of the cards creates a great atmosphere -Unique mechanics for each area and boss -Fun Post-Game Content Cons: -Difficulty is low -Unique mechanics can often be ignored -The gameplay system can be clunky at first before you get used to it -Music gets old quickly and isn't always the best Overall Experience: 8/10