Cardfighter's Clash - NGPC

[jb143]

After hearing so many positive things about Cardfighter's Clash I've decided to give it a try. While I have been finding it as addictive as everyone has been saying, it's also starting to get a tad un-fun...just a tad. Mainly because I rarely ever win a match. Most of the times I've won, it has been by pure luck. I have gotten a few nicer cards and have them in my deck but they rarely show up in a match, while almost everyone I play contantly uses good cards to pulverize me. It's a bit frustrating when I'm trying to build up for an attack and then they use 3 cards in a turn to lower all my cards BP.

Does anyone have any suggestions for strategies. I would really like to start enjoying this game some more.

And also, is there a scan of the manual anywhere? I've looked around but haven't found any NGPC manual scans.

[Drixxel]

I'm not sure about NGPC manual scans, but here are some tips.

Early on, I've found it helps tremendously to grind at Joy Joy to accumulate cards, alternating between matches with Taka (an easy foe) and playing the Neo-Carnival machine nearby. Cards that deal damage to the enemy the round they're played are quite handy early on and it pays to have characters in your deck that support each other. The team of Leona/Heidern/Ralf/Clark, all common cards in the SNK version, is infinitely useful when cards with high BP are few and far between.

As far as battle strategy goes, Unite attacks are key. Assuming you have the SP for it, a well-timed Unite 2 or 3 attack can cause severe damage, and the fact that your opponent can only use one character to block the onslaught means at least some hurt will be getting through.

[jb143]

The teaming up or backup aspect is something that I haven't quite figured out. I see the other guy doing it all the time though. I also haven't figured out how to make all the character card abilities work. For example, a card might say that it will lower an enimies BP but when I try it nothing happens. I have figured out how to make the unite attacks more effective though and tends to be only thing that saves me.

I've tried making use of the trading machines as well but every time I've stuck 10 crappy cards in, it would give me one just as crappy card in their place.

[Classicgamesdepot]

When your deck builds up, you will be in love with this game. Hang in there until you snag some nicer cards to build up a powerful deck.

[Mayhem]

You REALLY need the manual then. It explains how the combined attacks work, and what the symbols on the cards mean (one activates as soon as you deploy the card, one is a constant modifier, and one can be activated while the character is not frozen). Who can back up who though... you only discover that when you get the cards in question, but there's a huge FAQ out there listing them all.

[jb143]

You REALLY need the manual then. It explains how the combined attacks work, and what the symbols on the cards mean (one activates as soon as you deploy the card, one is a constant modifier, and one can be activated while the character is not frozen). Who can back up who though... you only discover that when you get the cards in question, but there's a huge FAQ out there listing them all.

Ah, OK. I did find an FAQ that explains this:
Triangle - Ability used as soon as the card is played
Circle - Constant effect
Square - Abilities can be used the next turn

I had figured out the triangle and circle cards. I guess it was the square that was confusing me. Do you have to tell it to be used somehow or does it happen automatically? Because if it's automatic then I haven't noticed it.

I did notice that who could back up who is listed on the cards but I wasn't exactly sure how to use them. Also, it's a lot to keep track of since you can't see all your cards at once. I'll have to try to find that FAQ you mentioned.

[AB Positive]

Ahhh, one of my faves...

Square abilities are done during your turn, there's an "ability" choice in the menu. Then you can do whatever you wish with it, although I believe only one per turn.

Combination attacks work as such - if you have at least 5 SP, when you go to attack you'll have an option:

Attack
2 Unite
3 Unite

the combination attack works like a single attack, but if blocked any power left over is transferred to the person. Think sort of like "Trample" in Magic the Gathering



some other tips:

ALWAYS put the lower health person first in a unite attack. This combines with the next tip as to why:

Especially early in the game when your deck is weak, you need to do something I call "Playing hundreds"

Try to block your opponent's single attacks in a way that leaves his characters with just 100 life. When they hit 100, never ever ever block them - they waste a spot on their table and helps avoid them building up SP by playing more characters.

Once your opponent has all three slots with characters at 100 life, build up your side, and your SP, for unite attacks. Every unite attack will go by as if unblocked minus 100, as the CPU will of course block.

Continue on and you'll win nearly every time. :)

Hope this helps!

[jb143]

Thanks, that's some great tips. I had noticed the "ability" option but every time I used it it said none were available. I've pretty much been learning by trial and error. The tutorial at the beginning helped but it doesn't go into much detail. The in game dictionary and little tips scattered through the game help as well but it's a lot to take in and remember durring a match....especially when I've never really played these types of card games before(other than a few times with my brothers Star Wars card game 10+ years ago).

[Mayhem]

You played Decipher's old SWCCG game? Well a bit... heh... I suppose I fell into CFC quite easily given I was playing that at the time. In fact I finished ranked #1 in the UK by the time the official tournaments stopped.

I was going to write some advice, but AB+ has given some good tips to consider early on before you start earning those better cards. Though to be fair, much of that continues to apply as you get better (and so does your deck), it just takes more strategy, thought and deck building nous (which to me makes up half the skill of playing the game) as you progress.

One thing I will note is that using an ability (square symbol) on a card freezes it until the start of your next turn, meaning it can't be used to block on the opponent's turn. Which version are you playing btw? There is naturally a propensity for the game to dish out cards more readily on the side you've chosen, be it SNK or Capcom. Hence to give some suggestions about what cards to look out for or try to get, I'd need to know what allegiance you are using ;)

[jb143]

You played Decipher's old SWCCG game? Well a bit... heh... I suppose I fell into CFC quite easily given I was playing that at the time. In fact I finished ranked #1 in the UK by the time the official tournaments stopped.

Yup, I just looked it up online and that was it. They had the starter box and a few expansion sets. I probably only played it with them half a dozen times and don't really remember too much from it.

Oh yeah, I'm also playing the SNK version.

[tentencanidae]

I got this came at Best Buy a few years back, for like $14.99. I never heard of it, and had seen no reviews at the time.. but I used to be a huge Magic The Gathering fan, and I'm a huge Capcom SNK guy... So this just looked like a perfect fit. It sooooo is. Love this game. Glad to see people speaking up about it. It's my second most played DS title, next to Dragon Quest IV.

[Drixxel]

The teaming up or backup aspect is something that I haven't quite figured out. I see the other guy doing it all the time though. I also haven't figured out how to make all the character card abilities work. For example, a card might say that it will lower an enimies BP but when I try it nothing happens. I have figured out how to make the unite attacks more effective though and tends to be only thing that saves me.

I've tried making use of the trading machines as well but every time I've stuck 10 crappy cards in, it would give me one just as crappy card in their place.

I didn't see anyone else answer your question about back-up, so here goes if you're still wondering. Assuming you have a card in your hand that can back up another card, it works thusly: 1) the card to receive back-up needs to be in play for at least one round, 2) you play the back-up card as if you were bringing that character out but place the card over top of the one already in play for a 300 BP boost.

As for the trading machine, rarely have I gotten anything worthwhile out of it but if you have a surplus of cards you may as well use them up. Another option is trading cards with the few NPCs that offer trades, occasionally something good will pop up. The Neo-Carnival machine I was referring to, though, is in Joy Joy and it's free to use, you just have to successfully navigate a series of yes/no prompts until you get a free card. You can use the machine again after a match.

[jb143]

Thanks everyone for your tips and suggestions. I think I'm starting to get the hang of things. I played for a bit last night putting my newfound knowledge to use. Before, some of the charaters I was loosing 0 to 1800. Now I was able to almost flip that...and got some nicer cards in the process. And 2 coins but I can't remember what they're for. Yay, the game is now fun again:D

[Kiddo]

Really late in the game, characters that can quickly KO (Akuma, Evil Ryu) or freeze (Yamazaki) opponent cards can be really useful (although most of these have low SP gain).

There's nothing like throwing out an 1000+ BP character on the first turn, then an Akuma on the second to knock out the opponent's card, and a Yamazaki on the third to freeze the next one.

[fishsandwich]

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet...

The original Card Fighter's Clash games (Capcom and SNK versions) are for the Neo Geo Pocket Color only. Card Fighters 2 is the Japan-only sequel with Japanese text.

The DS has one game... Card Fighters DS. My understanding is that the DS game is both different and inferior to the NGPC originals.

Anyone here played both?