Balatro (PS, Xbox, Switch, Steam)

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Thanks – sounds like a perfect fit for work breaks, think I'll look to pick it up and chip away at it then 

Productivity be damned indeed 

More like break works, am I rite?

Localthunk knows exactly what he’s doing with that trailer 

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Julius said:

Thanks – sounds like a perfect fit for work breaks, think I'll look to pick it up and chip away at it then 

Don't sit on the toilet too long.

[WackerJr]

So I picked this up on Apple Arcade a few days ago and wow is this thing addictive!  

I’ve completed the eighth ante three times so far, but still don’t feel as though I’ve got a decent strategy.  Any tips?

[Dcubed]

6 hours ago, WackerJr said:

So I picked this up on Apple Arcade a few days ago and wow is this thing addictive!  

I’ve completed the eighth ante three times so far, but still don’t feel as though I’ve got a decent strategy.  Any tips?

General good tip is to try and follow what the game is trying to give you, instead of trying to force a specific hand.  If the game is trying to give you two pair upgrades and Jokers that get boosted with two pairs? Then stick with two pairs.

Generally in most cases, you will want to stick with one particular type of hand for most of your run.  Flushes tend to be fairly reliable, but if the game is refusing to give you Jupiter cards; or Jokers that synergise with Flushes? Then there’s no point in trying to force it, just abandon the Flushes and stick with what particular hand each run is nudging you towards.

That being said though? If you ever manage to see Blueprint or Brainstorm? Then do whatever it takes to make sure that you get them.  They’re probably the single most powerful Jokers in the entire game.

Edited October 3 by Dcubed

[drahkon]

7 hours ago, WackerJr said:

still don’t feel as though I’ve got a decent strategy.

There's no one-for-all strategy.

As Dcubed says, don't hesitate to switch tactics when the first hand you're going for isn't getting anything useful later on in a run.

On early difficulties you can easily change up your run even in higher Antes (4-6).

Then again: I always think it's fun trying to build your entire run around the first good joker you get early

[Glen-i]

12 hours ago, WackerJr said:

Any tips?

Don't sit on the toilet too long.

[Dcubed]

Super Saiyan cards incoming?

Edited October 23 by Dcubed

[Julius]

Thought this had already been addressed, but anyways, PEGI are trying to stick to their decision to rate the game as 18 due to "gambling". 

Localthunk responds in kind: 

I mean, he's right. Taking aim at the waste basket that is EA Sports' football game not called FIFA is hilarious, I'm all for punching down on their practices 

[Hero-of-Time]

Absolute joke of a decision. 

[drahkon]

To be fair, my life was ruined for a while after Balatro was released

[Dcubed]

PEGI are a complete joke.

On a similar matter...  The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case got pulled from the UK eShop suddenly out of nowhere a few weeks back, with no explanation given...  This happened shortly after reports came out regarding a hidden easter egg carried over from the original Famicom game, where you could get one of the ladies to strip off their clothes for your enjoyment.  Naturally, most people assumed that this was the reason for the sudden eShop delisting and was expecting it to be removed...

Nope.  Turns out that there's a hidden Blackjack minigame, so of course it gets slapped with a PEGI 18 rating.

Moral of the story? Full-on female nudity? Yeah, that's perfectly fine for children.  Blackjack though? Oh no!!! Gotta protect our precious children from a game with no actual real-life gambling!!!!

I'm 100% convinced that they're attacking anything with a "casino aesthetic" on purpose as a smokescreen, so that they can continue taking their bribes from lootbox peddlers like EA while maintaining a veneer of protectivism.  There's no way that they don't know what they're doing by letting EA continue to sell lootboxes to children.

Edited Monday at 02:15 PM by Dcubed

[Julius]

Maybe my memory's a little hazy, but wouldn't this also mean that if Nintendo were to re-release some of the DS Mario games with the casino mini-games, they'd be slapped with an 18 rating if released today, too? 

[Dcubed]

1 minute ago, Julius said:

Maybe my memory's a little hazy, but wouldn't this also mean that if Nintendo were to re-release some of the DS Mario games with the casino mini-games, they'd be slapped with an 18 rating if released today, too? 

PEGI's new rules on simulated gambling don't apply retroactively, so any game that gets a straight re-release would not be affected (i.e, Super Mario 64 DS would maintain its current PEGI 12 rating if it comes out on the inevitable DS NSO for Switch 2).

[Jonnas]

There was an European ruling about a year or two ago about this precisely: for whatever reason, it was imperative that "depictions of stuff that resembles gambling [e.g.: casinos]" be regulated. No steps whatsoever towards actually classifying FIFA cards and the like as gambling. It's like they heard complaints about "gambling issues in videogames" and did less than minimal research on the subject.

In an age where microtransactions and lootboxes are at all-time predatory high (and countries like Belgium already took steps to start banning shit like that), it was the most tone-deaf thing I've ever seen the EU do. And that's saying something.

[Julius]

30 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

No steps whatsoever towards actually classifying FIFA cards and the like as gambling. It's like they heard complaints about "gambling issues in videogames" and did less than minimal research on the subject.

What's even crazier is that FIFA/EAFC still has gambling sponsors on shirts in-game (unless the player is under 18, as is the case IRL); I get that's what the sponsors are paying for, but gambling sponsors being allowed to advertise in a game with a 3 rating is madness. 

What's interesting @Jonnas is that Astro Bot actually had a casino level (there are slots machines, cards, you name it – it was my favourite level in the game which is why I remember it so clearly) and only released back in September, so obviously as Localthunk was getting at, it really depends on the size of the developer or publisher when it comes to how much leniency you'll see. Maybe it's the fact that you aren't playing the games yourself? 

31 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

and countries like Belgium already took steps to start banning shit like that

Immediately what I thought of, and I will always have respect for Belgium being the only ones to actually take any action when it comes to FUT. 

Shame about the rest of the world having governments and organisations full of spineless cowards. Can you imagine if the EU had an iota of the balls it took to stand alongside them? Ultimate Team in its current state would be finished. Can't even begin to describe how much I would love for that to be the case. 

[Cube]

Belgium doesn't deserve that much credit, it's just an anti-video game law rather than something to protect people - that kind of predatory stuff is still allowed in kids toys (and is quite rampant in it, using all kinds of addictive tactics to increase sales). Any laws regarding loot boxes should apply to the sales method in all mediums, not just video games.

I think the main problem Balatro faces is how it has specific poker hands in it, so it has to tell you how they work. PEGI are being a bit too strict on this, really. For lootboxes, with various governments saying that they're not that big a problem (like the UK), they can't really decide for themselves that they're harmful. They don't need to accept bribes as, unfortunately, the law protects lootboxes in this manner. It's all that PEGI don't want to face a likely pricy lawsuit where they have to prove the harm caused by lootboxes to win. 

[Dcubed]

Balatro taught me how to gamble with Poker.  That’s why I won £10,000 the other day by playing a flush five

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

Balatro taught me how to gamble with Poker.  That’s why I won £10,000 the other day by playing a flush five

Damn! You get me every time!

[Hero-of-Time]

 

In Australia both it and EA FC are rated M, so at least there's some consistency there.

[Glen-i]

11 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

In Australia both it and EA FC are rated M, so at least there's some consistency there.

See, if it was like that, it wouldn't bother me so much. It's the blatant double standard we're seeing that annoys me so.

[Hero-of-Time]

6 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

See, if it was like that, it wouldn't bother me so much. It's the blatant double standard we're seeing that annoys me so.

Exactly and that's what's annoying the developers so much. It's one rule for the small guy and another for EA.

[drahkon]

29 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Exactly and that's what's annoying the developers so much. It's one rule for the small guy and another for EA.

Perfect representation of the rest of the world...

[Dcubed]

Of course they see nothing wrong with it.  They’re getting paid a handsome bribe behind the scenes and you can’t convince me otherwise.