This post is part of a series of everyday posts for Blaugust. If you’d like to know more, click here.
It is rare I chase achievements. If I do, it is only as a way to show off my love and dedication to playing a game I already love and am dedicated to playing. It is never for their own sake, at least not initially. Some of you may recall how much I loved playing Slay the Spire and that hasn’t changed (especially with some great updates), but I am really happy to finally be done with this stupid achievement:
The Transient is a rare(ish) spawn in the latter stages of the game. He has a ton of HP (999), does a ton of damage unless you hit him a few times, and disappears after around five turns. In other words, he is a late stag DPS race that you cannot exactly plan for.
It was fun chasing beating him at first, but I quickly realized I was going to need to get lucky and get a series of cards/items that would allow me to burst him down rather quickly. There was no poison stacking or defense stacking. Burst or fail only.
That kind of idea mostly works for this kind of game, but it was always going to be a letdown achievement for me. It requires no thought or strategy. Building toward taking out The Transient is no different from “building a deck that will beat the last boss”. The only difference is the degree to how quickly it beats the last boss or, in this case, a five turn race.
Other than the achievement, there wasn’t even a reward. I had hoped there would be a unique item or card to go along with it but no. You unlock the achievement outside the game and then you move on to steamrolling the true final boss.
And now I am done or done enough. I am 20 hours shy of 500 total logged for the game. I am sure I will poke my head in from time to time to see what any new updates bring. Hopefully they bring more and better achievements. Something that requires strategy or cunning or a different kind of luck.
When it comes to game achievements, I just want them to be a bit more or at least fun in their own right. That’s rarely the case though. If they are too easy, then they are meaningless. If they are too hard, then they are usually too focused on luck or grinding. Beyond that, they are rarely worth looking at unless the game itself is truly special. That’s probably for the best since I hate collect-a-thons and I hate dumb achievements.
I have no patience to play lesser games to trivial ends.
Murf Versus 