I am writing my impressions of Culdcept Begins, which just released on 7/17. I will keep updating this impressions article as I play. At this point, my progress is 4 hours played, story up to Chapter 4, and card packs unlocked up to the first set.
Introduction: First Time with Both Culdcept and Card Games
There are two things I want to clarify first.
The last time I played a Culdcept series title was Culdcept Expansion Plus, which was released on PlayStation in 2000, and I played it years later around 2010, well after the PS3 had already been out for a while, so naturally I do not remember this series itself at all. So I cannot write comparative impressions as a series title, and I will not.
Also, I almost never play card games in general, so I cannot compare it from a genre perspective, and I do not understand card-game terminology at all. Because of that, I will not write about those kinds of technical points in this impressions article either.
In short, I can say I am a first-time player of both Culdcept and card games. This will be an impressions article written by that kind of beginner and newbie.
Before Release
That said, being a beginner did not mean I did nothing until launch day; I prepared by reading not only the official site guide but also articles online. In particular, this one line in the article below left a strong impression on me, and once I actually played, I immediately felt how useful it was. Thanks, 4Gamer.
Today’s ultimate tip for beginners is probably going to be, “For now, just put Steam Gear in your Book.”
— (Translated from Japanese) 「カルドセプト ビギンズ」開発陣に“俺が考える初心者向けブック”をプレゼンし合ってもらい，AI対戦で争ってもらった | 4Gamer.net
Gameplay Impressions
Early Game
A tutorial framed as lessons at a Scepter school. The win condition is basically just this: “collect the target points and return to the starting tile.”
So anyway, I got cocky after beating the so-called honor student, then lost normally or barely won close matches, and it ended up feeling like a pretty good difficulty curve.
Even when it takes longer, each match is around 30 minutes at most. My memory is super hazy, but I feel like matches took longer back in the old PlayStation days, so just as explained before release, it seems they really did speed up match pacing.
Another thing I liked is the voice callout of each card’s English name when opening card packs. Just getting a new card already feels exciting, but hearing that callout gets me even more hyped. My favorite is “Vitality.” I could not help but think of “Fatality” from Mortal Kombat.
