Multiplat Balatro

[Duck Farmer]

Anyone playing this? It's a super addictive poker-themed roguelike. Deck builders are normally hit or miss for me but I bought this a couple of days ago and can't stop playing. Closest game I can think of is Slay the Spire but the deck building combinations in this game are even more batshit insane.

 

[James Colorado]

Haven't looked at it yet, but NL gave it an absolutely stellar review:

Review: Balatro (Switch) - Devilishly Compelling Cardplay, And A Clear GOTY Contender

A full house

www.nintendolife.com

 

[AFDogs]

I've put over 170 hours into Slay the Spire so if this is anything like that I'm all in.

 

[James Colorado]

Has been removed from the Switch Shop

Seems to be an issue with the classification due to the gambling element, will hopefully be up again soon.

 

[Duck Farmer]

Has been removed from the Switch Shop

Seems to be an issue with the classification due to the gambling element, will hopefully be up again soon.

Yeah, it's because of its PEGI rating due to "gambling imagery" associated with its poker theme. It's back on all the other stores besides Nintendo but I'd expect they'll fall into line soon. I bought it on Steam.

 

[James Colorado]

Yeah, it's because of its PEGI rating due to "gambling imagery" associated with its poker theme. It's back on all the other stores besides Nintendo but I'd expect they'll fall into line soon. I bought it on Steam.

View attachment 1921532

I could get it on XBox, but it's the sort of game I'd prefer on Switch, so hopefully it's up again soon.

 

[Mantastic]

I've been enjoying it a fair bit over the last week. Game opens up a lot when you unlock some of the crazier deck and jokers.

 

[AFDogs]

Snuck about 30 minutes into this last night.

Obviously very confusing early. Keen to start learning more and more about the game.

 

[James Colorado]

Back on the Switch Eshop, I grabbed it last night.

 

[AFDogs]

This is my new addiction.

Starting to learn the game and get better at it. Accidentally discarded hands and played them at the wrong times that cost me a couple runs. So good though.

 

[Duck Farmer]

Won my first game the other day after a half dozen or so runs with a "two pair" engine and the Spare Trousers joker which I levelled up to a 100x multiplier. The possibilities in this game are endless.

 

[AFDogs]

Changed majority of my high cards in my deck to hearts. Got the joker card that multiplies for every heart you use. Plenty of flushes, straight flushes and even a royal flush. A few other handy jokers and I breezed through for my first win a few hours in.

 

[Duck Farmer]

Just got another win by playing 3 card hands of threes of a kind using the ripped in half joker that gives you a +20 multiplier for playing three cards or less, another joker which gives you a multiplier equal to the number of times of your most played hand, and levelling up the three of a kind hand to Lvl 17 through buying Venus cards.

I know this paragraph makes no sense if you haven't played the game, but do yourself a favour.

 

[mickelboy182]

Only played a handful of games, but have managed to crack a million for a couple hands (before Ante 8 ends, haven't bothered with Endless yet). Excited to see just how high those numbers can get when you go on with the run.

 

[Mantastic]

Managed to beat Ante 8 with only playing 10 blinds for an achievement. Did it first try with the Ghost deck

 

[Duck Farmer]

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Managed to beat Ante 8 with only playing 10 blinds for an achievement. Did it first try with the Ghost deck

With High Card as the most played hand. Respect.

 

[Mantastic]

Trying to unlock everything and it's getting tricky! Up to 142 Jokers unlocked and the last 8 all have crazy requirements.

 

[Mantastic]

Finally unlocked everything and completed the collection. Beating ante 11 was no joke

 

[AFDogs]

Finally unlocked everything and completed the collection. Beating ante 11 was no joke

I can barely win a regular run. Only beaten ante 8 twice. Well done.

 

[mickelboy182]

Finally unlocked everything and completed the collection. Beating ante 11 was no joke

Do the unlocks only require up to Ante 11? That's surprising. I'm hitting a wall at Ante 14, feel like I need a spreadsheet at this point to actually min max

Maybe I need to unlock more jokers, I think I still have around 30 to go.

 

[Mantastic]

Do the unlocks only require up to Ante 11? That's surprising. I'm hitting a wall at Ante 14, feel like I need a spreadsheet at this point to actually min max

Maybe I need to unlock more jokers, I think I still have around 30 to go.

Yeah, only 11. There's only like 2 decks that'll beat Ante 14, so unlocking more Jokers won't help, you're probably using one already.

 

[mickelboy182]

Yeah, only 11. There's only like 2 decks that'll beat Ante 14, so unlocking more Jokers won't help, you're probably using one already.

Yeah Plasma deck is what I have been using, just can't get over the hump.

 

[Bender_]

Seeing a heap of press about this lately, even getting into a lot of top 5 GOTY lists.

Question is, is it rated so highly coz it's a card based game and lots of nerds like card games? Would a person that understands poker but isn't huge player enjoy it?

 

[mickelboy182]

Seeing a heap of press about this lately, even getting into a lot of top 5 GOTY lists.

Question is, is it rated so highly coz it's a card based game and lots of nerds like card games? Would a person that understands poker but isn't huge player enjoy it?

I find poker to be just okay, but love Balatro. If you like roguelikes and building synergies there's a good chance it will be right up your alley.

 

[dwwaino]

I've been slowly converting my Discord group and more are falling one by one as they listen to us talk about our numbers and jokers. None of us are into poker and you don't even need to know how to play poker. Sure it's poker hands but there aren't really the any rules from typical poker games. It's a deck shaping roguelike with the crack like "just one more run" type addiction. It's the perfect game for anyone just chilling and doesn't really want to play a game but maybe do something else like watch sport or hang out in a chat. I'm the kind of person who obsesses about min/maxing in RPGs so this is the perfect game for me to get to do it all the time. I'm to the point where I put on a high score run or tier list from Balatro University (Youtube channel) just because I find his voice and presentation calming and I get a chuckle when he says things like "I love it when I see Uranus". Watching others play has helped me with synergies that I didn't even know were possible.

Initially I only wanted to play white stakes games to see how big I could make numbers go but lately I've found myself trying to unlock plasma deck. Still can't get past blue stakes on my favourite decks so just trying some others to see if I can find any good cheese or synergies. Currently have Anaglyph deck to black stake as it's pretty vanilla and stacking the double tags has helped with some massive payouts. Just have been done by the ante 8 boss a few times due to cruel boss blinds and not having a plan B or just not having a good enough build. I got into a bad habbit of only looking for some of my favourite jokers and playing the same hands and it's only lately I've started trying some other combos and finding some pretty crazy synergies. The hump for me now is pivoting from a build that crushes mid game to something that can survive deeper than the first few antes into endless.