As I've mentioned before Griftlands describes itself as 'a deck-building roguelite where you negotiate, fight, steal or otherwise persuade others to get your way ... Every decision is important, be it the jobs you take, the friends you make, or the cards you collect!". It's one of my favorite games because I love how it's nontraditional approach to storytelling and that it's made a game where talking out your problems is a real options. I've been experimenting with all manner of Let's Play settings and thought Griftlands made a natural next inclusion!
I highly suggest you head over the the Griftlands Steam page and pick the game up!
The last time we were here we didn't even survive the day. I think it's safe to say a large portion of the blame for that can be hung on me taking THREE traits that benefit your late-game and the early-game not at all. I'm going to make sure I don't make that mistake again and, just to be sure, switch my outfit too!
As far as perks are concerned I'm switching up two out of the three and moving a bit towards survivability. A good first step in winning any contest is not to be killed!
Fast Learner is staying because I absolutely love it but now we heal automatically after every battle and all items have 1 additional use! There are some incredible single use items in this game so the ability to double their use can be substantial if effectively leveraged.
Lastly, we're again entering the Griftlands at level 1 prestige, let's see if we can survive this time.
Stop me if you've heard this one before ...
Sal returned to town looking for revenge and with only one name on her mind: Kashio. Thankfully Fssh was able to get a drink into her hand before she got into any real trouble. Old friends were good like that.
Fssh had set aside Sal's old boombox and by 'boombox' I mean weapon hiding crates! Remember those super powerful single use life-saving items I mentioned earlier? Well now we have 2 of them. Not a bad way to start the day!
When pressed for some work Fssh shrugged and passed her off.
"I've got a few people in my pocker," Fssh whispered sliding another drink across the bar. "Aweir, Eedlit, and Dellena. They're easy people to find. Tell 'em I said I'd settle their tabs if they can get you some work."
I guess a free lunch does still exist! After a steaming bowl of eyes Sal hugged the bartender, avoiding her creepy robotic eye, and hit the road.
The roads of the Griftlands are slimly, twisting, and dangerous. You never know why you are going to meet just around the next corner, or what that might stab you with. Looking over the notes she had taken at the bar one job stood out. One of the jobs was to deliver a courtroom summons, the next was to join a deliver team, and the third was a rescue from bloodthirsty bandits.
After a quick meeting Sal accepted the mission and, as this could get messy, started practicing her stabbing combos and hit the road west to the kidnapping site.
About haldway there Sal came across some sort of strange shrine sitting quietly on the side of the road. It doesn't look at all Heshian. Never one to insult fate, Sal made a small offering and kept moving. Just because she didn't understand didn't mean she could't be respectful.
Sal crawled across hthe ridge on her belly until she had the perfect view overlooking the camp. From this view she was able to see clearly enough: These were no bandits. Military scum...
"Hey asshole!" Sal shouted from the top of the ridge, "Yeah I'm talking to you suit, dummy!" the dusty wandered said, silloetted in the sun.
With one grand leap Sal was in the air and then, as so often happens, the ground. She landed like Batman.
|After some spirited back and forth Riito was able to be talked out of making this mistake. The old 'I'll drown you in this swamp' argument is almost as persuasive than just doing the job!
Getting the cultist back to her friend at the bar was no problem.
"Thank you Sal, Hesh's tendrils truly quiver where you walk." Dellena said cheerfully handing over the payment.
Checking the Quest Board on the way out of the Watering Hole provided needed guidance.
There was a drifter named Pau offering a rare Vroc Whistle to help convince their friend ... something? Sal stopped reading after the word 'whistle'.
A few miles down the road Sal found herself face to face with another one of those weird Hesh cultists. Gosh, are they all so needy? The cultest explained he needed a mess cleaned up but the orange sludge dripping from it was an abomination and their god forbit them from touching it. Thankfully Sal's god LOVES abominations so she got straight to work loading the trash into a card and dragging the card down the path.
Before long another drifter came over the horizon, shouting.
Quickly this turned into an argument, which of course, looks like this.
In the end, the stranger was sent packing! Screw them!
After some weird Heshian 'thank you's Sal hauled the Spark to the camp and dumped it out of sigh when a commotion rang out and she saw the Luminary who hired her being town down by someone that looked like... a priest?
"Yeah well like, how do you know it's not by ... uhhh Heshes slimey will, or whatever, that I was brought here?" Sal asked not at all confidently.
Again a terrible argument broke out but, though they would never admit it, Sal had always wanted to get into a shouting match with a Priest. When that came to pass and , they know they were 100% in the right, there was no way they could lose. Sure the priest said some things that cut her to the core, but before long they were sent grumbling away.
The argument was so ferocious it really helped Sal perfect some techniques and hit that ::wink wink:: next level.
Now, back to that hunt for that Vroc Whistle. The hike to the rondeaus point was long but came with no major interruptions. When Sal came to the common building where she was set to meet Pau she smiled: another Cultist.
Sal wasn't sure what the context of the 'talking sense into' was there but, it had been working so far! She accepted the challenge and the duo hit the road together. Miles passed quicker with company.
You find Llullably in a town square speaking to a gathered crowd from atop a small box.
"The Cult would have you believe Hesh is a loveless being - a creature of will and powerr alone. But does Hesh not make it's presence felt in all our lives? And is that not in itself an act of love?"
Pau spit on the ground grumbling that these are not Hesh's teachings. As they started to reach for their blade you stepped in front of them and cleared your throat.
At first the crowd was on the side of the Sidewalk Preacher but it was soon made clear why they weren't working form, you know, in door. Over a hour ever argument Lullaby could present Sal smashed. How could a loving tentacle god allow the Griftlands to exist? Before long the Preacher had lost their flock and almost everyone had gone home very depressed. it was awesome.
The cards in this game are so unique and interesting. They make imagining the action in a cinematic way in your imagination very easy! Take this card:
As the priest charged forward Sal shifted before kicking a clump of mud up towards her eyes. Filthy!
Battles present like this. The last card I played created a copy of Mud Tosser which gives me some combo I can use with Hammer Grip for extra damage! VALUE CITY!
At the end of combat we're given a decision about if we want to execute the enemy we've bested. While Sal has always wanted to cus out AND beat up a Priest they arn't really trying to kill one so ...
Quest complete. Vroc Whistle aquired. On the walk back to Fssh's bar Sal stumbled upon a desolate battlefield and, after a few hours of digging, found a working combat drone! MAJOR SCORE. All of a sudden between Handy, Vroc Whistle, and Combat Drone Sal has all kind of unique pets to help in combat! Which is good! Because Sal then got jumped by a wild yote.
Before long Sal was back at the bar getting pawned off on another regular looking for fodder.
Phroluk ' of the Beasts' sit's in the corner of the bar, super dramatic, in low lighting.
He was looking for some help trapping an exotic and highly murderious animal. Did he need Sal's brains or brawn?
He needed bait.
Tune in next time yall! I'm only stopping RN because I seem to have pushed PeakD to it's limi and I can add more pictures to this. I really hope you appreciate the effort here. This took hours and was deff more than just screenshot copy and paste. If you want to read more please hit me with a follow to see more content soon!
Want to be there with me for the whole wild ride? Join us over at the The Crypto-Gaming Guild discord. We are looking for game captains and folks who can help organize. If you are interested, please step up.
The games we are currently focusing on are:
Rising Star
Splinterlands
UpLand
Neon District
Alien Worlds
Lost Relics
eXode