Well, the card-game bit's certainly pretty fun!
monele wrote:About the card game : so far I don't think I have a good feel for it. I mean I understand how it works but I haven't grasped how to become good at it. Seems a bit random to me.
So do most card games until you get used to them, and obviously it's certainly plausible with this one that you could get defeated by bad luck even if you're an extraodinarily good player. It seems a little Rummy-esque, and I'm a big Canasta fan, so... while I wouldn't say the game just clicked for me, some simple tactics suggested themselves pretty quickly.
The thing to remember with such games is that there are certain cards, or combinations of cards, which are worth so much more than most cards that it's often worth giving away a few points here and there in order to prepare yourself for getting the big points later... and worth taking a small points hit to prevent your opponents getting hold of big points. Thus, pay attention to the 20-point cards, and Yakus, and you can more or less ignore the 5-point hits unless you have nothing better to do.
Some general guidelines:
- If you notice an opponent has two of the three cards to make a Yaku, and you have the option of taking the third, take it even if it's not the highest-scoring card you could pick up. If you have a choice between two cards and one of them makes a Yaku with even one of your opponents' cards, take that one.
- If you need a particular card and you have it in your hand - be it a card for a yaku or a 20-point card - then remember each suit only has four cards and exploit that. If two cards from that suit have gone already, and you have two in your hand, you can more or less safely lay one of them and pick it up next turn with the other. If you have three, it's probably worth laying the one you want the least first, because if another player has the fourth card from that suit they might well snatch up a good card before you can get to it. Leave it there 'til it goes then you're safe to lay and pick up the two from that suit you want.
- You can't plan for the Gaji card, so don't try to. However, if you depserately want a particular card - say it's 20 points, or you have two for that kayu already - don't leave it laying around on the table until the Gaji card has already been played.
- Always prefer cards your opponents might be able to pick up to cards that you know only you can pick up.
monele wrote:Also, when playing against two people (or even just 1 on 1), I realized I didn't always know who was playing which card. Is there any way to have the current player highlighted when cards fly around? ^^;
Mmm, I had trouble with that, too... perhaps grey out the portraits of the players who aren't 'up', or give them a border or something? I'd be tempted myself to have a little isometrically-displayed card table in the mostly-unused space centre-top, with little figures around it who are either leaning back or forward at any one time, but it's obviously more art and more effort...
(Speaking of art - I spent the whole game thinking "I recognise this art style, I've seen stuff by this artist before" - I was still totally suprised to see it was Magi, who I only know from CA prior to this. This crazy internet-connected world is a small one after all!
)
*brandishes Lemma-fan flag* OOps wrong one... *Takes Lemma-SOFT fan flag*
Looks like I have counter-ammo for next time Lemma tries teasing me about... fruit >_<;