Review of ``Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles'', an incredible game that uses ``dice'' to build decks instead of cards, and save the world by defeating random, random numbers, and luck-filled dice with strategy.
The roguelike game `` Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles '', in which you build decks using ``dice'' instead of cards to defeat enemies, went on sale on September 22, 2023. It is said that this game 'allows you to build a powerful dice deck,' but since deck building games already involve a considerable amount of luck, what kind of chemistry will it have if you add dice, which can be said to be a mass of luck? I can't even imagine what the reaction would be. When I played the game to find out the actual situation, I found out that strategy is surprisingly important in this game.
Steam: Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
'Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles' is the story of the mysterious star 'Astrea' and the six stars surrounding it. A long time ago, Astraea gave a relic called 'Astrium' to the children born in the six worlds. These children were called the ``Six-Faced Oracle,'' and they flourished a civilization that controlled astrology, but confusion broke out when Astrea suddenly became silent and lost her light.
Astraea's heart crashed into the capital of the 6th world, Aquarius, corrupting the souls of those with weak will one after another. It was thought that the relics scattered across the stars could be used to 'purify' the powers of darkness, but there was no longer anyone who could control the essential relics. However, as the corruption of souls spreads, the lost relics are awakened and the heirs of the six-sided oracle are summoned. The heirs set out on a journey to Aquarius, risking the fate of all the stars.
Players play the game as the heirs of the Six-sided Oracle. The first heir to be released is a character named 'Moony.' By clearing the game, you will be able to use other characters more and more. The game starts with Moony.
``Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles'' is similar to `` Slay the Spire '', `` Monster Train '', and `` Peglin '', where you step on the squares that branch out on the route one by one, and events occur in each square. It is a game where you fight against enemies.
The first square is the battle with the enemy. Immediately after the battle begins, the draw phase begins, and four dice are randomly drawn from your deck. Each enemy character has a unique die.
All dice are automatically shuffled.
The roll of the dice is determined.
The rolls of the dice vary; sometimes they just have numbers written on them, and sometimes they have special effects. There are two main types of results: 'purification' and 'corruption'. A blue number indicates 'purification' and a red number indicates 'corruption'. Purification heals allies and damages enemies , while Corruption heals enemies and damages allies . The rightmost die in the image below shows a ``1'' for ``purification.'' When played on an ally, this die restores 1 health, and when played on an enemy, it deals 1 damage.
You can see that the enemy's dice have a corruption mark. Rolls of Corruption can appear not only on enemy dice, but also on your own dice.
When playing dice, click on the die and then click on the target. I knew the enemy was planning to attack, so this time I played a die with a shield effect on myself. This will give you a shield, allowing you to block 1 damage from enemies.
It is possible to use all the dice in play in one turn, so you can use them as many times as you like. Next, we will use dice that have the effect of 'reroll'. Reroll is an effect that allows you to reroll the dice of any target.
You can check what kind of eyes a die has by right-clicking on the die. Below is the list of the dice that was on the far right earlier. The roll this time was '1', but there was actually a possibility that '2' or '3' had been rolled. By rerolling, you have a 1/6 chance of drawing a ``3'' and a 1/3 chance of drawing a ``2'', so you may end up with a better result than you currently have. Maybe there is a 1/6 chance that 'corruption' will come out, but here I decided to trust the probability and reroll the dice.
``Rerolling the dice of any target'' naturally means that you can also reroll the enemy's dice. When the enemy is planning a powerful attack, it is also a good idea to force a reroll. Let's play and pray for good numbers.
The enemy die's roll did not change, but the hand's dice's roll changed from 1 to 3. lucky.
Play the die that becomes 3 against the enemy.
3 damage was dealt and the enemy's health gauge decreased.
The played dice are discarded and returned to the draw deck when the draw deck is empty.
Play the remaining dice and press 'End Turn' when you have nothing to do.
Next is the enemy's turn. The enemy will take actions depending on the roll of the dice. There is nothing the player can do this turn.
When the enemy's turn ends, you go through the draw phase again and it's your turn. Think about your strategy with new dice.
When the player's health gauge decreases to a certain level, they will be able to use a special ability called 'virtue'. In addition to ``draw 1 die,'' ``reroll any 2 dice,'' and ``give the enemy Purification 4,'' Moony also ``flips 1 die in his hand until the end of the enemy's turn.'' I have one special virtue. The former three can be used ``as many times in one turn'' as the health gauge increases or decreases, so it's best to use them all before ending the turn. Special virtues can be used from the beginning of the battle regardless of the health gauge, but they can only be used once per turn.
So, I immediately rerolled using virtue. When your physical strength is low, you may be confused as to whether you want to recover or attack, but Tokuyoshi has the strength to guide you through this hesitation. All of these are powerful moves that can turn a crisis into an opportunity.
Another die that I would like to introduce is a die that has the effect of ``strengthening'' the value of any die with a purification action value of 1 to 6. As you can see, it has the effect of turning a roll of 1 into a roll of 6, and can only be used when the dice you have have a roll of '1', but anyway, if it's a '1', it's a single attack. Whether it's an attack or an all-out attack, it's a powerful one that will give you a 6.
This time, I used ``strengthen'' and set the die roll to ``6'' to ``give purification 1 to all.''
With the purification effect, allies will recover and enemies will receive great damage. strong.
'Purification' is not the only number that comes out of the dice you have. Occasionally, you may get a ``corruption'' that is out of line, and there is a restriction that ``corruption'' must be used within the turn. One of the points that makes Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles a 'strategy game' is how to deal with the effects of corruption, such as when used on an ally, the ally takes damage, and when used against the enemy, the enemy recovers. That's one.
For example, it's no good to play Corruption as is, so you can also 'reroll' it.
The 'Dice with Shield Effect' used at the beginning of this battle has the effect of 'blocking Corruption', so by purposely giving this shield to the enemy, it reduces the effect when playing Corruption on the enemy. You can also
One practical strategy is to inflict damage on yourself so that you can use virtue. Anyway, various patterns are possible.
Use these strategies to defeat all enemies and clear the square. You can receive rewards.
One of the rewards is new dice. ``Safe'' where everything has eyes of purification, ``Balance'' where there are two eyes of corruption but high eyes of purification, or ``Risky'' where there are four eyes of corruption but two very high eyes of purification. There are three options available. You can pick one from here and add it to your deck.
Once you receive your reward, move forward to the next square. There are various types of squares, such as squares where you can obtain 'star fragments' used for resource upgrades, and 'blacksmith' squares where you can create, destroy, and copy dice using star fragments.
In addition, 'Sentinel', who assists your character as an ally, will also appear.
You can also obtain what Slay the Spire refers to as 'relics,' or items that give you passive effects.
The last thing you will encounter as you progress through the squares is the chapter boss. With its powerful attacks and huge amount of physical strength, you won't be able to deal with it easily. I recorded a video of the first time I fought a boss.
Defeat the boss to receive powerful rewards. Use this reward to strengthen yourself and advance to the next map, 'Chapter 2: Astropolis Ruins.'
When I think of games that involve playing dice, the first thing that comes to mind is ``
The closest one is ' Dice Forge '. The sides of the dice can be permanently changed through 'blacksmithing' along the way, as well as some 'events' and the effects of the dice themselves, so you can do things like 'erase the disadvantages anyway' or conversely, 'reverse the disadvantages anyway', etc. It is possible to assemble dice with an ``absolute victory'' pattern that defeats the opponent with force. However, not all dice can be rolled exactly as you want, so the allocation of resources is important.
Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles is sold on Steam for 2,800 yen including tax. A free demo version is also available, so if you're interested, please give it a try.
Steam: Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1755830/Astrea_SixSided_Oracles/?l=japanese
◆Strategy memo for those who get stuck on the way
A memo of the basic strategy by the editor-in-chief of GIGAZINE, who took about 50 hours to defeat the true final boss, which is beyond the final boss.
・Focus on “safe” dice until you get used to them
The initial deck already contains some Corruptions, so if you draw ``Balance'' and ``Risky'' from the beginning, you're bound to have a tough time. Until you get used to it, the trick is to increase the number of safe dice and combine them with the 'New Moon Light' below. If you add safe dice from the beginning, you can get about 30 safe dice by the time you reach the final boss, which gives you tremendous attack power and is truly a one-hit kill. This 'New Moon Light' itself is a safe die, so it is counted as the best die.
There is also 'Star Blessing' which gives preferential treatment to starter dice and safe dice like this.
・If you have 3 hearts, 'Dedicate your heart' to get 'Star Blessing'
Unlike dice, most 'star blessings' are always activated if the conditions are met, so the more you have, the better.
It tends to be a good idea to choose conditions that are as relaxed as possible in the beginning. For example, ``Angel's Sandals'' is useful because ``every time you apply purification to the enemy 8 times'', it activates automatically without you having to consciously do so.
In particular, this 'Dice Forged Hammer' is extremely strong. It's strong because you can consistently rack up damage even if you don't draw a lot of dice in one turn.
'Illusionist's Stick' is also useful if you want to reroll a lot. It's great because it rerolls the enemy's dice and also deals damage.
However, be sure to think carefully about using the 'Black Hole's Blessing' when clearing a boss battle. There are cases where the disadvantages can be offset and there are cases where it is not possible, and it is OK if you can create a combination that eliminates the disadvantages at hand. For example, in the following case, if there are dice or blessings that can 'resurrect' this disadvantage will actually become meaningless. Moreover, the ability to draw two additional dice every turn is extremely powerful. If you end up with a die that doesn't activate your character's unique virtues, it's worth getting.
It is the 'Caution card' that can be revived, and every time you play 8 safe dice, you will be revived and you will be able to use all virtues, so it is essential if you want to use virtues frequently.
'Cursed toys' can also be revived.
'Dual Principle' can also be revived. However, this requires that you build a deck that flips around a lot.
・Choose a large number of dice that have your character's name written on the die type.
First, the key is to choose the dice that match each character's 'virtue'. For example, in Moony's case, corruption can be reversed to purification, so the dice that all say 'corruption', like the 'embrace +' below, actually become powerful attack dice. You can basically use Virtue once per turn, so you can't make everything covered with corruption like this, but if you collect a lot of safes at first and feel like you can control it to a certain extent, you can become covered with corruption like this, or the corruption value will increase. It's easy to choose dice that have the effect of growing larger.
At the same time, the following dice are extremely powerful because they flip over and over again. Moreover, since it is 'in battle', if you always flip it every turn, the dice will be quite strong the next time you shuffle. Dice like this are especially useful for boss battles, which are long battles.
“Seal of the Setting Sun” is also a die that can be combined with reversal. It is highly effective and highly recommended.
Regarding combos, 'Epic Dice' is a big hint, and at first glance you may think 'Why is this Epic...? Isn't it all about disadvantages...?', but when you think about it, it's actually a die that can do powerful combos! about it. So, if you look at various epic dice and think, ``The fact that there is such a thing...'', you can make a good dice. This method is recommended until you develop your own combo.
Similarly, in 'Blessing of the Stars', as you can see from the 'ceremonial feathers', 'destruction' is clearly advantageous for Moony. In other words, if the disadvantage of a black hole's blessing is 'ruin', then you should get it! It can be determined as follows. There is something like this for each character.
・'Forging' is a permanent effect
A die with a strong effect is always full of corruption, and there is a limit to how much it can be crushed by blacksmithing or events, so if you have a die with this kind of 'forging' effect, it will be quite effective. You can change not only the dice you have, but also the dice that appear when you are cursed, which is a great deal.
On the other hand, all of the 'unforgeable' dice listed below are pretty dangerous.
・'Tampering' is worth obtaining at any cost.
'Talification' is an incredible ability that transforms the enemy's corruption into purification. A must if you see it on the way. It's worth crushing all the remaining disadvantages.
There is also ``falsification'' that has no disadvantages at all.
・Anyway, accumulate “sacred”
If you find something that gives you ``holy'' with blessings or dice, try to get it as well. Since you can block total corruption, you can make a huge turnaround in just that turn. Stable play will be possible if you make sure that you can obtain ``Holiness'' from three sources: the ``Dice'' you have, ``Star Blessing'', and ``Sentinel''.
・True gambling is an “event”
It's a mix of all these incredible things. Upgrading Sentinel to maximum level is amazing.
・You can also increase “morality”
You may be able to increase it like this. As you can see, it's super strong.
・For those who have no idea how to defeat the true final boss
The deck, blessing, and sentinel when GIGAZINE's editor-in-chief defeated the true final boss for the first time looked like this. This is a deck built by counting backwards from the last attack pattern, and Sentinel is a bonus. I roll all my resources on epic dice. Click to remove the mosaic.
A forum related to this article has been set up on the GIGAZINE official Discord server. Anyone can write freely, so please feel free to comment!
• Discord | 'Tell me what roguelike games you recommend!' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1168479116958388305
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